The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 24, 2003, Image 1
www.dailygamecock.com _FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2003 Since 1908
Patel leaves meeting;
tensions rise in Senate
by MICHAEL LAFORGIA
the gamecock
Facing a subpoena hearing from the
Student Senate on Wednesday, Student
Government President Ankit Patel
walked out of the meeting—but senators
voted to move the hearing to next week.
Political tension was manifest at the
Senate meeting that featured deception
charges leveled at Patel.
Earlier this week, College of Liberal
^Arts Sens. Adam Hark and J.D.
'Shipman served Patel a subpoena ask
ing him to answer questions about his
conduct before the Board of Trustees
this past summer. Hark and Shipman
said Patel violated SG code 103.05, which
prohibits SG members from appearing
before the Board of Trustees without
first consulting the Student Senate.
Minutes from the June 27 Board of
Trustees meeting record Patel asking
trustees to raise the student activity fee
to $66.
Patel tried to address the subpoena
issue while he was delivering his exec
utive report, but was forced to leave the
stage after Hark’s motion to end the re
port passed.
♦ PATEL, SEE PAGE 2
“I did not lie at any time. I offered myself
to answer any questions that they might
have had, and when I did, they asked me
to step down.”
ANKIT PATEL
STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT
“I’m absolutely shocked that he left
today. What he did was run away from
the conflict, and he ran away from the
conflict because he didn’t have answers.”
i.D. SHIPMAN
LIBERAL-ARTS SENATOR
Baby, it’s cold outside
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Students on the Horseshoe rejoice at the sight of 2 inches of snow yesterday. Many gathered across campus to bombard each other with
snowballs, make snowmen, go sledding down the Bull Street hill with homemade sleds, and Just enjoy a day of no classes.
Springing
onto the
market
How a dryer hose and a
golf ball became famous
BY ALLYSON BIRD
THE GAMECOCK
Three years ago, none of his friends would have
believed Michael Hicks of Spartanburg if he had
said Accuthrow would be a nationwide hit.
But now, three years later, Hicks’ toy invention
appears in 115 specialty stores across the country
and will be hitting 24 Wal-Marts over the next few
weeks.
Hicks estimates that between 25,000 and 30,000
products have been sold over the past three years.
Hicks invented the toy, consisting of a colored
tube and a rubber ball shot out of one end and caught
in the other, after getting fired as an electronics tech
nician. He was helping a friend change a dryer hose
from a washing machine when he came up with the
idea.
“I said, ‘I’m going to bend it in the shape of a ‘U’
and put a golf ball in it.’ The rest is history,” Hicks
said.
He ended up playing
with his invention for
hours.
“Everyone said I’d
lost my mind,” he said.
From Feb. 16 through
19, Hicks is taking his
invention to the
International Toy Fair —
in New York, where he
hopes the big-name toy
producers will take notice.
bui now ne worns exclusively ior Accutnrow, op
erating his business from his home. Whereas he
used to put in 12-hour days, five or six days a week as
a technician, Hicks said that he now works 12 to 20
hours per day, seven days a week between account
ing, generating publicity and handling paperwork.
He also maintains www.accuthrow.com, a site com
plete with a demonstration and world record titles —
the number one spot is held by Hicks’ teenage son.
He and his son Josh used Fort Lauderdale beach
es as the test market for the toy by demonstrating
it on the beach and selling it for $14.99. Today,
Accuthrow sells for $12.99. Sales off the shelf began
back in Spartanburg with Imagination Station toy
store.
After a local news station covered the toy, the
store ordered 50, but Hicks insisted it order 250.
People lined up, waiting for the store to open, so they
could get their hands on the new toy.
“Within 15 minutes, they were sold out. 252 sold in
two days,” Hicks said.
Mark Slogin, owner of Imagination Station, ad
mitted that he was a bit skeptical at first. But once
♦ ACCUTHROW, SEE PAGE 3
Students manage Horseshoe restaurant
BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA
IP^THE GAMECOCK
Students in Jules Pernell’s
restaurant-food-production class
are swapping pencils and books
for kitchen knives and trays to
produce an upscale buffet four
days a week at McCutchen House
on the Horseshoe.
Pemell, who acts as executive
chef, said he was excited about
the operation.
Obviously, it’s a large task,
but it’s an opportunity for our
students to be at the forefront of
what’s happening at the
Horseshoe,” Pernell said. “It
gives me a great deal of pride to
be associated with it.”
USC President Andrew
Sorensen, who first proposed
turning McCutchen House into a
learning center, said he was
pleased with its progress.
“I’m delighted how it’s all
turned out,” he said. “What I es
pecially like in this era of fiscal
stringency is that this pays its
own bills.”
The student-run buffet comes
after the Faculty Club, which was
located in McCutchen House, was
forced to close because of USC’s
financial problems.
“The former Faculty Club was
a private club, dues only,” said
food-service director John Antun
as he darted around the kitchen
wearing a bow tie and apron.
“They couldn’t make a go of it fi
nancially.”
McCutchen House first opened
its doors for business Tuesday
and served 56 customers that day.
“I’m delighted how it's all turned out. What I
especially like in this era of fiscal stringency is
that this pays its own bills.”
ANDREW SORENSEN
use PRFSIDFNT
“It was hectic, but it went
okay,” Antun said.
Ninety-six people came to
lunch Wednesday.
“We’re hoping to see a trend,”
Antun said. “I think we will, too,
because everyone was really hap
py.”
Antun said the kitchen facili
ties at McCutchen House had fall
en into disrepair before his team
arrived.
“We started cleaning up and
fixing up Nov. 15, and the whole
♦ MCCUTCHEN, SEE PAGE 3
Index
Comics and Crossword 7
Classifieds_ 10
Horoscopes_ 7
Letters to the Editor 4
m, On ine Poll_ 4
Police Report 2
Weather
TODAY
TOMORROW
Inside
♦ VIEWPOINTS David Stagg
shares how he spent his snow
day. Page 4
♦ VIEWPOINTS Ben Edwards
warns the new administration
not to get hung up on old
issues. Page 4
♦ THE MIX Learn the fine art of
ethnic cooking and eat at the
GMP no longer. Page 5
♦ SPORTS The women’s
basketball team loses to
Tennessee 97-78. Page 8
Real-life addiction
‘Lowbrow’programs seem to have irresistible lure
BY ALEXIS STRATTON
THE GAMECOCK
First-year student Stephanie
Pappas said she is ashamed to
watch the ever-popular reality
TV shows that have come to
dominate prime-time television.
But, like millions of other
Americans who tune in week af
ter week, she still does.
As producers and networks
have discovered, reality televi
sion shows continue to maintain
their worldwide popularity de
spite the growing number of out
landish situations and numer
ous sequels.
Pappas, an international-stud
ies student, said she watches
“The Bachelorette” and “Joe
Millionaire” despite her person
al feelings toward such shows.
“Things like ‘Fear Factor’,
where they’re like eating bugs
and other disgusting things —
it’s just beyond common decen
cy,” Pappas said. “I know it’s
kind of sleazy and terrible, but I
still watch it.”
Since the creation of the real
ity television concept, produc
ers have been seeking bigger,
better and more shocking story
lines. The latest of this wave in
cludes “Man vs. Beast,” “The
Bachelorette,” and “Joe
♦ REALITY TV, SEE PAGE 2
i ii nr....
Sanford
urges big
changes
for state
COLUMBIA (AP) - In a
Wednesday-night speech over
shadowed by the state’s budget
crisis, Gov. Mark Sanford
promised little in the way of new
programs while telling the
Legislature he wants support to
restructure state government.
Sanford also
laid out his terms
for supporting a
cigarette tax in
crease to cover
shortfalls in state
Medicaid funding:
lower income tax
es.
“I wish I was as- Sanford
suming leadership
of a state whose budget was
sound, but everybody in this
chamber knows that it is not,” he
continued. “Our budget is a
mess,” and there is a “disconnect
between the promises of govern
ment and our ability to pay for
those promises.”
The state’s budget might fall as
♦SANFORD, SEE PAGE3
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