FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1,2002
PHOTO BY ERIC SUTTON/THE GAMECOCK
Steve Hager, editor for High Times, signs autographs for
students after the legalization of marijuana debate Saturday.
urug aeoate
draws more
than 1,000
Speakers urge students to weigh all
sides of marijuana legalization
BY EMMA RITCH
THE GAMECOCK
More than 1,000 people turned
out for Wednesday night's debate
about marijuana legislation, forc
ing organizers to turn about 400
people away from the packed
Russell House Ballroom.
The ballroom, which seats 650,
was filled to capacity by the time
moderator Brook Bristow intro
duced the two speakers, High Times
editor Steve Hager and former Drug
Enforcement Administration agent
Robert Stutman. High Times is an
international publication that sup
ports making marijuana legal.
The debate format allowed
Hager to speak for 15 minutes, fol
lowed by Stutman. The audience
then participated in a question
and-answer session.
Hager discussed why he wanted
the “full-out legalization of mari
juana.” He gave five reasons: its
♦ MARIJUANA, SEE PAGE 2
Uncertainty surrounds
U.S. education budget
With Congress in
recess, questions
remain about
funding for aid
BY ALLYSON BIRD
theuamecock
Congress has recessed for elec
tions, but the 2003-04 national ed
ucation budget has not yet been
approved.
And that's what upsets Rep.
George Miller, D-Calif., the senior
Democrat on the House Education
and Workforce Committee.
“They are asking schools to be
held accountable for results, while
at the same time, they shirked
their responsibility to cast a vote
on an education budget because
they didn't want voters to know
that they might vote to cut finan
cial aid and education spending,”
Miller said in a news release.
Miller said parents should
know what to expect of financial
aid next year. His news release cit
ed a College Board survey that
said tuition increased 9.6 percent
in 2002 and that the average stu
dent-loan debt has nearly doubled
during the past seven years.
But an additional College Board
survey found that financial aid
has increased more than 10 per
cent during the past year and 117
percent during the past 10 years.
Pell Grants, which do not have to
be paid back to the government,
increased 23 percent.
Peter Keitel, president of New
York State Higher Education
Services Corp., said he expects
major Title IV funding to increase
3.9 percent nationally under
Bush's proposal for the 2003 fiscal
year. Title IV funding includes
such federal financial aid as Pell
Grants and Perkins Loans. Bush's
plan would include continuing the
$4,000-maximum Pell Grant while
♦ BUDGET, SEE PAGE 3
Index
Comics and Crossword 6
Classifieds 9
Horoscopes_ 6
Letters to the Editor_ 4
Online Poll _ 4
Police Report _2
Weather
TODAY TOMORROW
&
High 63 High 60
Low 41 Low 34
Inside
♦ VIEWPOINTS Rob Seal
questions the obsession with
irrelevant “news." Page 4
♦ THE MIX Christian artist
Bebo Norman will come to
Columbia’s First Baptist Church
for a concert Sunday. Page 5
♦ THE MIX Motive behind
slaying of Jam Master Jay
comes into question. Page 5
♦ SPORTS The Gamecock
football team hopes to beat
Tennessee Saturday for the first
time since 1992. Page 7
Trick-or-treating, Greek-style
Boys and Girls
Club children
come for candy,
haunted house
BY KIMBERLY HUNT
THE GAMECOCK
Laughing goblins and scream
ing cheerleaders poured into
McBryde on Wednesday for
“Trick-or-Treat with the
Greeks.”
Armed with empty Wal-Mart
bags and vampire teeth provid
ed by the Greek organizations,
about 150 elementary- and mid
dle-school children from three
Columbia-area Boys and Girls
Clubs showed up to take ad
vantage of a Greek-style
Halloween.
“This festival might be the
only trick-or-treating these kids
get,” said Sara Harden, director
of operations for the Boys and
Girls Club.
The Sigma Nu fraternity and
the Kappa Delta sorority spent 10
hours building a haunted house
in Sigma Nu's lobby. The chil
dren obviously feared the frater
nity members who were inside
donning blood on their chests
and dark circles around their
eyes.
“I'm not going in that junk by
myself,” 9-year-old Antonio
Archie said.
Not wanting Antonio to miss
out, David Johnston, a third-year
advertising student and Sigma
Nu brother, took Antonio's hand
and led him and a group of other
children inside.
“This festival might be
the only trick-or-treating
these kids get.”
SARA HARDEN
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS FOR
THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
The screaming kids sprinted
out of the lobby and away from
the orange-clad criminal with a
buzzing chainsaw.
“It was really scary,” 10-year
old Delaquan Williams said.
♦ HALLOWEEN, SEE PAGE 3
■■■■■■■■■
Ghoulish games
Kyarl
Williams,
left, and
Alexis
Huguenin,
fifth
graders at
A.C. Moore
Elementary
School,
playtic-tac
toe at
Capstone's
Halloween
carnival
Thursday
night.
PHOTO BY
CANDI
HAUGLUM/THE
GAMECOCK