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STATE Businesses worry about bike boycott MYRTLE BEACH (AP) - Some Grand Strand businesses are worried about a possible biker boycott of the annual Harley Davidson rally in May. “There is some concern out there,” said Ashby Ward, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce president. Bikers were angry because charges were not filed against a police officer whose car collided with a motorcycle and killed two riders during last May’s Harley Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally. Prosecutor Greg Hembree said in September that Lance Cpl. James Costello would not be charged with reckless homi cide because there was not enough evidence to warrant the charge. The Highway Patrol also decided not to cite Costello. Port funded for role in anti-terrorism CHARLESTON (AP) - New fed eral funding will help pay for the Port of Charleston’s role as a staging ground for anti-terror ism measures and devices. The $13 million in federal money was announced Friday. About $9 million will be used to renovate and equip a com mand center for “Project Seahawk.” An additional $4 mil lion will be used to test existing port equipment that screens car go for radioactive materials and chemical and biological weapons. “Project Seahawk” is a joint effort of federal, state and local investigators to pool security re sources and share information. “We’re a major seaport on the East Coast, and anything we do do that puts us ahead in safety and security people should fa vor,” State Ports Authority board Chairman Whitemarsh Smith III said. ' “If we’re going to live with terrorism in the future, we need to monitor our ports.” NATION Police make arrests in anti-war display NEW YORK (AP) - More than 250 people were arrested during a massive demonstration against possible war in Iraq as tens of thousands of protesters packed a 20-block area north of United Nations headquarters, New York police said Sunday. Most of the 257 arrests were for disorderly conduct and oth er minor violations that mostly resulted in tickets to appear in court, police said. Five people were arrested on felony charges and 53 on misdemeanors. The New York protest was just one of scores that brought out millions of people across the nation and around the world Saturday. Rome claimed the biggest turnout — 1 million ac cording to police — and London reported more than 750,000 in what police called the city’s largest protest ever. Police in New York said the crowd that chanted and listened to speakers in the city’s bitter cold was about 100,000-strong, while organizers estimated it at three to five times that size. Ridge expects risk level to be lowered WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Sunday he thought the current terrorism threat level would likely be low ered from the high-risk orange level, but wouldn’t say when. “When it is lowered, and I’m confident it will be, then there will be an appropriate explana tion at the time,” he said. Ridge defended the Bush ad ministration’s decision last week to increase the level to the second from the top on a color coded scale of five, even though the government later deter mined that some of the informa tion which led to the upgrading was likely fabricated. “The decision to raise it to or ange was not based on one or two sources,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” WORLD Alleged bin Laden tape insults Bush CAIRO, EGYPT (AP) - An au diotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden calls President Bush “stupid” and claims American war^plans against Iraq are part of a plot to attack Muslim na tions in the Middle East and North Africa. The tape was the same 53 minute recording from which a few excerpts were released Thursday by the British-based Islamic Al-Ansaar news agency. It began appearing in full Sunday on Islamic-oriented Web sites. Imran Khan, who runs Al Ansaar, told The Associated Press that the tape circulating Sunday “was the same one we released and I helped translate last week.” In the full tape recording, a voice said to belong to bin Laden says the U.S. goal in waging war against Iraq is to change the re gional map to benefit Israel. NATO reaffirms alliance solidarity BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (AP) - NATO, in the midst of its biggest rift since the Cold War, broke a monthlong stalemate Sunday over defensive actions in case of war in Iraq, reaffirming alliance solidarity while supporting U.N. efforts for a peaceful solution. “Alliance solidarity has pre vailed,” NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said. ”We have been able collectively to overcome the impasse.” After France was shut out of the room, Germany and Belgium dropped their objec tions to starting the planning for Turkey’s defense immediately, NATO officials said. Belgium insisted at the last minute on linking any eventual NATO deployment to develop ments at the U.N. Security Council. But the final statement says: “We continue to support efforts in the United Nations to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.” V Snow storm closes airports, churches; five deaths so far BY ROGER PETTERSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS One of the East’s worst storms of the season blew heavy snow along the Ohio Valley and into the mid-Atlantic states Sunday, shutting down two major airports and canceling church services. More than 3 feet of snow was pos sible in the mountains and other areas had floods and mudslides. At least five deaths had been blamed on the weather since snow burst across the Plains on Friday and Saturday. “This is looking like the largest storm this year and it may be one of the top five in our recorded history,” Lora Rakowski of Maryland’s Highway Administration said. “You name a place, they’ve got snow—and a lot of it.” The snow was part of a huge storm system that also produced thunderstorms in the South, in cluding an early morning torna do that damaged a house in northern Florida. In Tennessee, where more than 7 inches of rain fell earlier, a mudslide early Sunday destroyed an apartment building outside Knoxville, chasing out several dozen tenants. One man was hos pitalized in serious condition, the Knox County sheriffs office said. West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise declared a state of emergency as his state had 20 inches of snow in the north, floods that blocked roads in the south and ice else where. Some 27,000 customers were without power. Williamson closed its flood wall as the Tug Fork River rose toward a crest of up to 3 feet above flood stage. Radar showed snow falling Sunday from Missouri to New Jersey, and flakes fell at a rate of up to 4 inches an hour in parts of Maryland. Forecasts ranged from a foot of snow by late Monday in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to 20 inches in New Jersey and 2 feet in Maryland and northern Virginia. The National Weather Service forecast up to 3 feet of snow in West Virginia’s most mountain ous counties. Greg Hannigan of Hagerstown, Md., trekked through the snow to church Sunday andTound he was the only one there. “When Catholics don’t show up for church, you know it’s a bad storm,” he said. The Washington area’s Baltimore-Washington International and Reagan National airports closed until further no tice. Dulles International Airport had just one runway open during the afternoon. About three-quar ters of flights at Philadelphia International Airport were can celed, spokesman Mark Pesce said. Amtrak suspended service be tween Washington and Richmond, - Va., said spokesman Dan Stessel. Monuments and museums in Washington were closed, and President Bush’s usual heli copter ride to the White House from Camp David was replaced by a two and a half hour drive on snow-covered roads. New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey declared a state of emergency, giving state police au thority to close highways, but spokesman Micah Rasmussen said there were no immediate closures. Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner also declared a state of emergency and mobilized National Guard troops to help clear roads. Nonessential travel was prohibited. Hospitals in northern Virginia and Maryland asked for volun teers with four-wheel-drive ve hicles to help employees get to and from work. “I’m already getting calls from employees about tomorrow,” Patty Burch, clinical coordinator at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Va„ said. “It’s very nerve-racking out. there, because you can’t even find the road,” Merrie Street, a spokeswoman for the Harford County, Md., emergency center, said; More than a foot of snow was possible in New York City, which readied 1,300 plows and 148,000 tons of salt, Kathy Dawkins, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Sanitation, said “This is the 14th storm we’ve had in 12 weeks,” Philadelphia Managing Director Philip Goldsmith said. “Our folks have worked hard, and they’re going to be working hard in the next couple of days.” To the west, snow-covered, icy roads led to Sunday church ser vice cancellations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. The weather-related deaths in cluded two in Illinois, one in Nebraska, one in West Virginia, and one person killed in Iowa when an Amtrak train slammed into a car stuck on the tracks in drifting snow west of Danville. Speaker CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 with his reading of “Relativity” by Albert Einstein. After studying liberal arts, Friedman earned master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Chicago and be gan his career as a researcher at the High Energy Physics Labor atory at Stanford University. In 1960, he joined the physics faculty at MIT and began a col laboration with physicists at Stanford to study the makeup of atoms. In addition to teaching, Friedman became director of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science at MIT and was head of MIT’s physics department. For more information about the program, which is sponsored by USC’s Physics and Astronomy Department, call 777-9672. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Monday, February 17 Open Celebration Sponsored by Carolina Unity Week Committee 12 PM to 2 PM, Greene Street Bamboozled - Film Forum Sponsored by Carolina Productions 7 PM, Russell House Theater *WRHA Movie, The Color Purple, 8 PM* Wednesday, February 19 Open Hone - Campus Style V Sponsored by Cltplma Unity Week \ Committee 6 PM to\ PM ^ " Meet in front of RussA House at 6 PM Brown nsored by Carolina Productions 8 PM, Russell House Theater ovie, The Color Purple, 8 PM * Friday, February 21 Mural Dedication Sponsored by Carolina Unity Week Committee/Speaker-Carl Wells 12:30 PM Greene Street Dance Marathon by Dance Marathon Executive Committee Russell House Ballroom rolma Productions House Theater *WRHA Movie, Save The Last Dance, 5 PM, Monsters Ball, 8 PM * Tuesday, February 18 Unity Through Safety Sponsored by RAD and Carolina Unity Week Committee 7:30 PM, Golden Spur *WRHA Movie, Finding Forrester, 8 PM * Thursday, February 20 Black History Quiz Bowl Sponsored by Office of Multicultural Affairs 6 PM, Russell House Theater . Arts Festival | Sponsored by Carolina Unity Week Committee \^J7PM, Russell House 2nd Floor Lobby A Choral TapestryX^. Sponsored by USC Concert Gfcdr 7:30 PM, School of Music/Rooma06 *WRHA Movie, FindingForrestei\8 PM* i. ^ Saturday, February 22 Dance Marathon Sponsored by Dance Marathon Executive Committee Ends @ 10 PM, Russell House Ballroom *WRHA Movie, Save The Last Dance, 5 PM, Monster's Ball, 8 PM* - — ——... I * Join Hands in Unify Sponsored by Student Government * University Housing, and the Division of StudShfcatfcl Alumni Services ' For more information, please call 777-1407 1 Student Business Informational Meetings: Monday, February 17 5:30 PM RHUU 203 Tuesday, February 18 5:30 PM RHUU 203 The Student Business Incubator Center is looking for students who have ideas for starting their own business. Six new companies will be added to the Center this spring. EMCILUBgB BUT mi LEMBTiB TO: Capital up to $1,000 Local telephone and computer connection Computer workstations with printer Financial Management/Accounting software Access to business machines Rent-free office space at 1233 Washington Street Legal and business advice Applications are available online at www.sg.sc.edu and are due Wednesday, March 5, 2003 by 12:00 pm in Russell House, Carolina Underground. j