Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Tires CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ally concerned,” she said. “The of ficer just took the report and walked away. The girls were struggling to change the tires themselves.” Carolyn Howard thinks the tire slashing incidents just add to the list of parking problems on campus and that tighter security could prevent this problem. Nicole Simpson, a second-year criminal justice student, agrees. A friend called her Saturday morning to tell her the police were at Simpson’s Toyota truck, which was parked in front of Capstone with a slashed tire. “The campus might want to think about having more securi ty cops outside, because that’s a lot of damage,” she said. Howard suggested cameras in parking garages as well. Derrick Huggins of Parking Services said the case rests with police at the moment, but “once I’m privy to informati'on, we’ll take action,” he said. Until then, Lt. Johnson sug gests basic safety measures. “Other than residents’ and stu dents’ being vigilant and calling in suspicious activity, there’s little you can do,” he said. “But travel in groups. Be watchful. If someone appears to be looking in vehicles, call the police.” The crime affected local tire stores as well. “I had 12 to 14 slashed tires re placed, and I had a few calls from people waiting for insurance,” said Tony Kowell, manager of Firestone Tires on Gervais Street. Neither Ellis nor Johnson ex pects this spree to occur again anytime soon, and the area does not have a history of tire-slashing problems. Although reluctant to com ment on whether or not suspects have been identified, Johnson would not say whether any sus pects have been named, but he said, “I’m confident the suspects will be identified and arrested,” he said. Michael LaForgia contributed to this story. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk ®hotmail.com Five Points CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 old; the area was built in the 1920s, he said, and took off com mercially in the 1950s. Just a year ago, city officials discovered a sinkhole in the middle of Saluda Street. Brandes said a lot of prob lems with the sewer system were discovered upon investigation. The next thing the city should do after it finishes the beautifica tion project “is to repair all of the water and drainage systems that are too old and out of date,” Brandes said. “We have a big sewer project of about 26,000 feet of sewer lines that need replacing,” he said. Phase I — which involved work on the Five Points fountain — was completed in 2001, and Phase II will include a major streetscaping of Harden Street and. other streets that run through Five Points, including Blossom and Gervais streets, along with the smaller connect ing streets Devine, Saluda, Greene, Santee and Pavillion. Brandes said the beautification team wants construction to move slowly. Trying to accomplish all the proposed plans at once would require a complete shutdown of the Five Points area, he said. “It will take about another year to plan; after that, we want to start around 2004 and take any where from another year to 18 months to two years of construc tion, and we hope to finish either late 2005 or 2006,” Brandes said. First-year biology student Tracey Rooney lived behind Five Points for 10 years before she moved to Northeast Columbia. She said she would appreciate the change. “I think if Five Points needs anything, it needs to be more eye pleasing,” Rooney said. “It could definitely use some redecorat ing.” The shared business commu nity within Five Points is excited about the prospect of new busi nesses the project might bring in. “I’ve been involved with the project for the past 10 years as a board member, and this is some thing we have worked very hard for,” said Debbie McDaniel, own er of ReVente, a women’s clothing store in Five Points. “I think any area that undergoes any type of renovation or restoration receives a lot of generated interest We were the first store to use federal fund ing, and that alone has made our store very appealing visually.” At a public meeting last Wednesday, contracted companies tried to work with residents and business owners on the most con venient times for construction. “The meeting was purely to bring information to the public,” Brandes said. “We’re still early in the process, so we’re just trying to let people know as much as we can about what is going to happen and give them a chance to give their opinions and voice their problems. We want everyone in Five Points, from students to pedestrians to residents, to have all of their needs met throughout this and be incon venienced as little as possible.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Fund-raising CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Development Office would release the goals and objectives of the cap ital campaign. There is also a debate brewing in the university community over how USC’s success as an educa tional institution affects private development. Senior Director for Development Cantey Heath said people feel good about giving to USC when they see it has out standing students, faculty and re search. Others think USC needs to increase its private funding so that it can develop nationally rec ognized programs first. Sorensen said his solution is to continue improving USC’s aca demics while fund-raising at the same time. “The Board of Trustees has hired me and said, ‘We want the profile of the university to be raised. We want the university to be more successful doing its re search, its teaching, its outreach.’ And if you want to do that, all of that requires money, and so we need to raise more money.... So, I’m unequivocally committed to raising money, and I don’t need to spend 12 months here to figure that out,” he said. He said his overall message is that USC needs to continuously encourage private donations, even when there isn’t a capital campaign in progress. USC’s current $302 million en . dowment is a success for the Development Office, which has greatly expanded its operations in the last decade. But, in comparison, the endowment at Yale University, which has fewer than half the stu dents USC does, is nearly $11 bil lion. The Board of Trustees’ goal is to have an endowment valued at $600 million by 2005. An endow ment is a sum of money that is in vested; only interest earped off that investment is spent. The problem with relying on private donations to finance en dowment is that it would take about $132 million in donations to compensate for every 1 percent of USC’s operating budget. State leg islators are predicting a midyear, across-the-board budget cut of about 5 to 6 percent. USC is al ready dealing with a budget deficit of nearly $20 million this fiscal year alone. Sorensen said the university should also pursue fund-raising options that haven’t been ex plored in the past, such as mutu ally beneficial partnerships with corporations. Another problem Sorensen must face is prioritizing. Even with successful fund-raising, there’s still only so much to go around. The administration will eventually have to decide how much it values scholarships, fac ulty chairs, building renovations and other initiatives. There are other ways to increase university funding. One way was seen in the 17 percent tuition in crease that began this semester. But the administration recognizes that tuition has a critical point. If USC’s tuition keeps rising, it could price itself outside the market of affordable public education. Another way is through federal funding. Sorensen said he has met with U.S. congressmen tom South Carolina several times in the first months of his tenure to discuss possible provisions for funding in federal bills. He also works with lobbyists for the same purpose. USC can also raise money through other methods, such as using profits from the Russell House Bookstore and Dining Services. Sorensen said he would consider certain auxiliary fund raising possibilities during the coming year. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Donor restrictions upset gays BY DARRYL NEWMAN THE HOI Nl) IT (NEW MEXICO STATE I'.) US CRUCES, N.M. (U-WIRE) — Students at New Mexico State University expressed their con cern about gay people not being allowed to donate blood as United Blood Services mobile units were present on campus last week. Cesar Trujillo, president of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Friends at NMSU, said in a phone interview that he tried to donate blood during his first year at the university, but was denied be cause he was gay. “I felt wrongfully excluded and discriminated against, but I kind of see where it comes from. There was, and still is, a big scare,” Trujillo said. Glenna Telles, the Las Cruces, N.M., center manager for United Blood Services, said anyone at a high risk for AIDS is not allowed to donate blood. According to Telles, NMSU is one of the largest blood-donating areas in the coun ty. Telles said United Blood Services is not making a j udgment about people’s lifestyles, but can not accept blood from people who are a high risk for HIV and AIDS. Potential donors are asked a se ries of personal questions. Trujillo said that, when people want to give blood, they are not asked what their sexual orientation is, but whether they have ever en gaged in same-sex intercourse. “United Blood Services pro vides a very needed service, but some of the restrictions are out dated and need to be changed,” Trujillo said. Felicia Ribas, a second-year Spanish education student at NMSU, said the position taken by UBS is discriminatory. “There is an equal risk factor for gay and straight people concerning AIDS,” Ribas said. Ribas added that the public is not aware of this situation. When Janice Blacker discov ered that people who have had same-sex relations were prevent ed from donating blood, she was shocked. Blacker has donated'blood in the past, and said she was not aware of the immediate disquali “I was asked if I have ever had sex with a monkey. It’s just ridiculous. Even if someone did have sex with a monkey, I seriously doubt he or she would admit to it” JANICE BLACKER NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT fication. She was surprised by a fe w of the other questions. “I was asked if I have ever had sex with a monkey. It’s just ridiculous. Even if someone did have sex with a monkey, I seri ously doubt he or she would ad mit to it,” Blacker said. Students oppose animal dissections BY DAVID CRARY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Increasing numbers of stu dents are asking to opt out of the science class ritual of dissecting frogs or fetal pigs, branding the practice cruel and insisting they can learn as much from computer simulations. A 16-year-old honors student in Baltimore was removed from her anatomy class last week after re fusing to dissect a cat, then allowed back in—with the option of com puter alternatives — after protesters picketed the high school. A student delegation from Woodstock Union High School in Vermont helped get a bill intro duced to allow students to use computer models instead of par ticipating in dissections. The hill died in the Senate Education Committee. According to the Humane Society of the United States, eight states have approved opt-out poli cies — California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. A similar policy is pend ing in New Jersey’s legislature. The Baltimore case illus trates how quickly a teacher’s classroom decision can become the focus of ideological contro versy. Oh Sept. 23, Jennifer Watson was taken out of her Kenwood High School honors anatomy class and placed in a general sci ence class after she asked for an alternative to cat dissection. The next evening, Humane Society of ficials attended a school board meeting, requesting that dissec tion alternatives be provided dis trictwide. -The following day about 20 protesters picketed outside Kenwood High, and school offi cials announced Jennifer would be allowed back in her class to perform computer-simulated dis sections. The Humane Society esti mates that 6 million animals — mostly frogs, fetal pigs and cats — are dissected annually in American schools. The society distributes anti-dissection videos and loans computer software to schools interested in offering al ternatives. Lesley King, the Humane Society’s director for education and animal welfare, said school districts can save money by pur chasing reusable dissection soft ware rather than buying dead an- ' imals that can only be dissected once. The 9,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers is wary of the push for alterna tives. Although it urges teachers to be sensitive to students’ objec tions, its formal position says, ”No alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissec tion.” The pressure to cut back on dissections is even being felt in college and graduate programs. King says the Humane Society ac cepts the need for dissections in veterinary education, but urges schools to use only animals that have been euthanized because of illness or old age. Hungry? Not only will we feed you at our FREE tailgate party, but we'll also feed your spiritual hunger. • •• WIDE OPEN meets every Sunday at 11:45 a.m. with a FREE home-cooked meal, followed by a time to meet with Living God. 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