The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 19, 2003, Page 3, Image 3
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
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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
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