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— University of South Carolina FRIDAY Mf)\/FI\/IRFR 1R 9009 Vol.96.No.38 www.dailygamecock.com TRlUMl, INU V L.IVI DlLiX 1J, ZUUZ Since 1908 II.. Newsplex unveiled PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Ifra and USC’s Newsplex had its grand opening Wednesday. The facility is a $2-million, 5,700 square-foot micronewsroom that will provide an environment media convergence. Patterson death ruled accidental Delayed toxicology reports show no illegal substances BY ALEXIS STRATTON THE GAMECOCK Toxicology reports released Monday ruled the death of a first year Patterson student acciden tal, as students still try to cope with her loss. Jessica L. Horton, from Suwanee, Ga., fell from the sixth floor of Patterson Hall at about 6 a.m. Aug. 18. She died three hours later at Richland Memorial Hospital from multiple trauma in juries. The toxicology reports, com pleted by Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, were released almost three months after her death. “The reports showed no alco hol, no illegal substances,” Watts said. Watts could not be reached for comment on why the reports, which were initially to be released 30 days after the accident, took so long. Russ McKinney, director of public affairs at USC, said the stu dents have dealt admirably with the tragedy. - “I’ve been at the university for 15 years, and we always tend to underestimate how students will deal with the unexpected,” McKinney said. “The Housing staff did a good job keeping the residents completely informed.... We are very proud of the way stu dents dealt with it.” McKinney said that although “a tragedy like that could be very disruptive” on campus, the stu dents were generally able to main tain cohesion and order. He said that’s mostly because the time of Horton’s accident, early Sunday morning, meant it “didn’t affect normal activity in and around the dorm.” Gerte Luna, Housing Department director, also thinks the students and university have dealt well with the tragedy. “It is the first time in my mem ♦ HORTON, SEE PAGE 3 PETA wants spurs gone from mascot BY WENDY JEFFCOAT THE GAMECOCK USC received its fourth letter from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals this week, this time asking USC to remove the spurs from the Gamecock mascot. The letter asked for a compro mise, and PETA hopes USC’s new president, Andrew Sorensen, will be the one to make the change. The animal-rights group asked for the change because PETA thinks the university’s mascot has negative associations with the illegal sport of cockfighting. This is “to ensure that there is no correlation between the bloody, gruesome sport that is cockfighting and the school’s teams," said Kristie Phelps, senior campaign coordinator for PETA. She said now is as good a time as any to bring the issue up; Oklahoma voted last week to out law the sport. That makes it the 48th state to ban what PETA called a “cruel practice” in its let ter to Sorensen. Phelps said the spurs displayed on the school’s logo are much like the sharpened razor blades at ♦PETA, SEE PAGE 2 Sleep-out to fight homelessness Students will spend night outside to experience a night with no home BY ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK Mack, who has dealt and abused drugs and served time in jail, lives under a bridge. Lisa Embry-Franklin is a ju nior at Clemson who, three years ago, lived with her family in shel ters. These two very different peo ple have experienced homeless ness, and both will speak on the subject Saturday at One Night Without a Home, an event in which students will sleep in card I---— board boxes at Davis Field to raise awareness about homelessness. Participants can arrive at 6 p.m., and the event will run from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. “People are building card board-box houses. It’s going to be cold,” said Daniel Regenscheit, a first-year journalism student. Regenscheit is an active member of Food Not Bombs, which is pro viding food for the sleep-out. Food Not Bombs serves the homeless every Sunday at Davis Field, but ♦ SLEEP-OUT, SEE PAGE 2 BLAGKHAWK DOWN PHOTO BY JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK U.S. Army National Guard Blackhawk and Apache helicopters were on display at the Blatt P.E. Center on Thursday. Student campaigns for military National Guard brings statics display to Blatt BY COREY GARRIOTT THE GAMECOCK The National Guard landed an Apache and a Blackhawk heli copter Thursday near the Blatt P.E. Center as part of a visibility campaign. The two helicopters were on display near a rock-climbing wall and a firefighting unit to show the diversity of National Guard em ployment opportunities. Fourth-year public relations student .Tripp Hutto coordinated the event. Hutto, a glackhawk pilot, cre ated the display for a final pro ject in his public relations cam paigns class. The class requires students to create their own cam paign. For instance, one student advertised for a hotel in her hometown. “I work for the National Guard full time, so I just combined my job with school,” Hutto said. For the campaign, he brought in several specialties in the National Guard: helicopter pilots, firefighters, special-ops teams and raid teams. Part of the static equipment did not make it to Blatt because of problems in some of the units. A weapons-of-mass destruction raid team had to cancel for train ing, and an Avenger weapons team had a death in the unit. But Hutto flew in the Blackhawk himself. Though it was unarmed, Hutto said it can support “hellfires and special-ops equipment” and carry 11 combat ready light infantry. Hutto has been in the Guard 13 years and has been flying the past three. The National Guard has funded his college education, and he still works for it part time. “I fly the Blackhawk as an M day soldier, which means for one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer. And then I have my full-time job, where I’m in the Public Relations Office for the ♦ CAMPAIGN, SEE PAGE 2 Saddam approves return of inspectors UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq’s acceptance of a new U.N. resolution gave a green light for the return of weapons inspectors whose searches will test Saddam Hussein’s commitment to dis arm and avert a new war. An advance team is set to ar rive in Baghdad on Monday, and the U.N. inspectors are to begin their work Nov. 25, U.N. officials said Wednesday. In a nine-page letter of accep tance delivered to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraq said it wants to prove to the world that it has no weapons of mass destruc tion. But the letter’s harsh, anti American and anti-Israeli tone raised questions about Iraq’s fu ture cooperation and treatment of the arms inspectors. Annan, speaking to reporters in Washington after meeting ♦ IRAQ, SEE PAGE 3 PHOTO BY CHUCK KENNEDY/KRT CAMPUS President Bush meets with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan In the Oval Office on Wednesday. Index Comics and Crossword 6 Classifieds 8 Horoscopes_ 6 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll 4 Police Report 2 Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 64 High 59 Low 53 Low 45 Today | ♦ ON THE WEB For state, nation and world briefs, visit www.dailygamecock.com. ♦ VIEWPOINTS Rob Seal discusses the variety of people one can encounter while working in retail. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX ’80s Weekend kicks off today with a special concert. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS Dondrial Pinkins will make his debut as starting 1 quarterback Saturday when USC travels to Florida. Page 7