University of South Carolina Libraries
STATE Subcommittee approves DMV bill COLUMBIA — The Senate Transportation Subcommittee on Tuesday approved a bill that would substantially reform the troubled Division of Motor Vehicles. The bill removes the DMV from the Public Safety Department and makes it a stand-alone Cabinet agency with the director appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Under the bill, drivers could get tag renewal stickers and registration from DMV offices, countv treasurers’ offices or private entities. Those agencies could charge a service fee more than the standard $24 for the transaction. Drivers’ license expiration dates would be extended from five to ten years for most peo ple. The bill also allows the agency to enter into contracts with public and private entities to administer driving tests. The DMV came under fire last summer when a new com puter system designed to streamline operations created longer lines at offices statewide. The bill has already been ap proved by the House. Sanford not called yet for military duty COLUMBIA — More South Carolina National Guardsmen and reservists are heading to active duty overseas, some to support President Bush’s effort in the Persian Gulf while oth ers will see duty in Kosovo. Thirty members of Gov. Mark Sanford’s reserve unit based at Charleston Air Force Base have been called to active duty. There are about 130 men and women in the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the latest call ups bring the number activat ed to about 45, said spokesman Lt. Col. Chris King. Sanford has not been called, King said. The 30 men and women “could be used anywhere to support the situation” in the Persian Gulf. The call-ups are for a one-year period, King said. Sanford is a lieutenant and health-services administrator with the unit and leaves for his training Saturday. NATION Flag referendum hearing planned ATLANTA — Georgia voters will get a chance to tell law makers what they think about the state flag Thursday in the first planned hearing on a ref erendum to change the official banner. A top House Democrat, Rep. Calvin Smyre of Columbus, said a public hearing will be held Thursday afternoon near the Capitol. It will be the first time Smyre’s Rules Committee has considered the matter, although a vote is not planned. “I want to go ahead and move on this issue, and get it behind us, in full public view,” Smyre said. Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue has suggested a non binding referendum next March to determine whether people like Georgia’s current flag, which was changed in 2001 to all-but eliminate the Confederate cross. Perdue’s plan calls for a two part vote. First, voters would be asked whether to keep the cur rent flag. Then voters would be able to choose between two for mer flags. DNA evidence links La. serial murders BATON ROUGE, LA. - DNA evidence has linked the slaying of a college student to a serial killer who has murdered four other women in Louisiana, au thorities said Tuesday. Carrie Lynn Yoder, a 26-year old graduate student at Louisiana State University, was found dead Thursday in a marsh not far from where another vic tim’s body was discovered. Authorities had already linked the killer to the unsolved murders of Gina Wilson Green, Charlotte Murray Pace and Pam Kinamore, all of the Baton Rouge area, and Trineisha Dene Colomb of Lafayette. Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade said Tuesday that DNA evidence left on the victims con nects all five murders to one man. Green, 41, was found strangled in her home Sept. 24,2001. Pace, 22, was found stabbed to death in her home May 31. Kinamore, 44, was abducted from her home July 12; her throat was slit. Colomb, 23, was beaten to death and her body found in rural Lafayette Parish on Nov. 24. ! WORLD Russia delays vote to ratify arms treaty MOSCOW — Russian lawmak ers postponed indefinitely a vote Tuesday to ratify a U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty, as the par liament speaker warned that a war against Iraq could endanger the pact. The treaty, agreed to last May by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush, re quires that the two nations cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to 1,700 to 2,200 deployed warheads each, by 2012. Russia’s lower house, the State Duma, had been expected to take up debate on the treaty Friday. But the Duma Council, which sets the legislative agenda. Dut off the vote indefinitely and did not set a new date. “We consider ratification very important, but now this step is not justified,” said Sergei Shishkaryov, the deputy chair man of the Duma’s international affairs committee. He added that “in essence, we are standing on the threshold of World War III.” Ethnic conflicts lead to deaths in Nigeria LAGOS, NIGERIA - Ethnic clashes in an oil-rich area of Nigeria have left eight people dead, including an employee of ChevronTexaco, officials said Tuesday. The clashes between ethnic Ijaws and Itsekiris came as the country prepared for presidential elections. The campaign for the vote, set for next month, has al ready been marred by political vi olence. Ijaw official Alhaji Dokubo Asari said Tuesday Ijaws were in v,x caoixigxj cxiigij' ai 111c guvcxii ment and Itsekiris, accusing the two groups of working together to create voting boundaries that are unfavorable to the Ijaws. The Ijaws, with 8 million peo ple, are the largest ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta. They accuse Nigeria and multinational companies of unfairly favoring smaller, rival tribes with lucra tive contracts and development projects. The latest violence started when Ijaws raided two Itsekiri villages Monday, torching homes. Most of those killed were women and children who were unable to flee, resident Tuoyo Ineh said by telephone. -1 f' New 24-hour library service allows nonstoo research BY KEITA ALSTON THE GAMECOCK 1 When the Thomas Cooper Library closes and students still need information for a paper, their research doesn’t have to stop there. The Richland County Public 1 Library has reference librarians available seven days a week ] through its first 24-hour online : reference service. The online service, “Answers Now,” is a “global reference ser- i vice for people that need to find ; answers to questions no matter 1 what time it is, day or night,” i said Padgett Lewis, public-rela tions manager of the Richland County Public Library. She said the online service was “launched quietly” in the fall of2002. To access the online reference service, log on to the Richland County Public Library’s Web site at www.richland.lib.sc.us. Then, click on the green-and-black icon at the bottom of the Web page that says “Answers Now.” After patrons enter their per sonal information, they can type their questions into the box. They can then interact with an ■ online reference librarian who helps them get the information and resources they need. Padgett said she hopes this service will help students finish late-night research papers. She said there was a myth that libraries were going to be obso lete in the future. ■ “This myth is false because here is so much information hat you don’t even know,” she said. This online reference ser vice “provides students with the ools to find the answers to ques-. ions they may have,” she said. The service was made in part >y Library Systems & Services, j.L.C., which has been providing irofessional library services, ;uch as cataloging, systems anal ysis and research assistance, for nore than 20 years. Now, the :ompany has provided new tools • ind new ways for reference li marians to meet the changing lature of library usage. “We would like to get evalua ions and comments from what beople think about the online ser vice,” Padgett said. “From there, ve could'develop ways in which he service can be enhanced.” The service, Padgett said, is a bartnership of three county li braries: the Richland County hxblic Library; the Brisbane City Council Library Service in Queensland, Australia; and the somerset County Council libraries, Arts and Information service in Britain. “We wanted to jointly combine he project in order for the three branches to work together,” 3adgett said. “We are hoping that his service will provide quality services and information that will be helpful to assist students n their research.” She said another reason for he online reference service is hat Australia has a sister-state relationship with Sout Carolina. - “We havahad good busines relations with Australia, Padgett said. Christine Mackenzie, manai er of the Brisbane City Counc Library Services, said the onlin service “has provided significar cost and resource-sharing ben< fits.” “The venture strengthens ou links with these overseas 1 braries and allows us to shar knowledge and expertise globall in areas such as marketing staffing, as well as online refej ence services,” she said. Each of the three libraries wi be responsible for working eigh hour time slots. This will alloi the 24-hour reference service t serve people in the three area around the world. “This connection allows th three libraries to truly becom global sources of information in unique, innovative way,” sai David Warren, executive dire< tor of the Richland County Publ; Library. “By expanding the le1 el of services in each location, w position the libraries as a read resource 24 hours a day, seve days a week. Partnerships lik this, the first of its kind on a glol • al level, are just another way th: Richland County Public Librar is working to serve the needs ( our community.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Iraq CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Arab efforts to avert a war. ♦Troops in the Kuwaiti desert loaded their ammunition and combat gear into fighting vehi cles, ready to invade on short no tice. ♦ Airlines around the world began canceling flights to the Middle East as fears of a war in :raq kept passengers away in iroves. ♦ U.N. weapons inspectors lew out of Iraq, the latest in a steady stream of foreigners to sbandon Iraq in recent days. In Baghdad, residents stocked up on nod, lined up for gas and taped heir windows for fear of flying dass from U.S. bombs. ♦ Apparently jolted into ac :ion by Washington’s ultima turn to Saddam, Iraqi Kurds le key cities for mountain village seen as potential sanctuaries Iraq retaliates against th Kurd’s Western-protected ei clave. ♦ Russian lawmakers pos poned indefinitely a vote to ratil a U.S.-Russian nuclear arm treaty, as parliament speake Gennady Seleznyov warned the a war against Iraq could endai ger the pact. Look for the newest issue and the top 10 things that make USG unique in the newest garnet&black on stands March 31. I Summer 2003 Financial Aid Applications available on-line www.sc.edu/financialaid Application Deadline: April 1.2003 at 5:00PM Office of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships 1714 College Streef —-—I Attention Aspiring Artists! The Backpacker QualityGear is celebrating its 30th Anniversary and wants you to be a part of it! 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