Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Awards Day honors 'brightest’ BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK . USC held its annual Awards Day ceremony Thursday after noon on the Horseshoe. Student Life Director Jerry Brewer said the award cere mony is always held on the third Thursday in April and recognizes students’ academic, service and leadership achieve ments. The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award's, given in recognition of character; the Steven N. Swanger Leadership Award; and Outstanding Senior awards are among the top awards given out by the university. Fourth-year biology student Becky Floyd and fourth-year fi nance student David Schroder won the Sullivan Award. Floyd and Schroder were also named Outstanding Seniors and list ed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. Floyd also won the Brian Comer Student Government Scholarship. bourtn-year nnance student David Bornemann won the Swanger Leadership Award. Other students \yere recog nized with awards from USC’s various colleges and depart ments. Brewer said Awards Day has been a longstanding tradi tion at USC. “That’s when the universi ty comes together and honors the best and brightest,” Brewer said. Brewer also said the Honors and Awards Commission se lects the winners of the top awards and the individual de partments select the rest. He said some awards in clude scholarship money, books, prints and other forms of recognition, some of which are unique to the departments. After the ceremony, Brewer said he thought it went well. “I think it was one of the best ever,” he said. ‘‘Everything went well; the weather was beautiful.” Brewer said every year he attends Awards Day, he thinks the recipients are the best group of student leaders he’s seen, “but every year, they get a little bit better.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com / University Awards Day The following students were recognized for various major awards: ALGERNON SYDNEY SULLIVAN AWARDS . Rebecca Floyd and David Schroder STEVEN N. SWANGER LEADERSHIP,AWARD David Bomemann FRESHMEN COUNCIL MARIE-LOUISE RAMSDALE SCHOLARSHIP Tyler Jeffrey BRIAN COMER STUDENT GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIP Rebecca Floyd and Manasi Sinha STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP Marcus Alexander REMPEL AWARD Lucille Mould GEORGE A. WAUCHOPE PHI BETA KAPPA AWARD Joyce Stuckey THOMAS MOORE CRAIG LEADERSHIP AWARD Lara Bratcher ODK OUTSTANDING SENIOR Lauren Vaughn MORJAR BOARD UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP Cailin McLaughlin, Sarah Ross and Carla Wynn 2003 CAROLINIAN CREED STUDENT AWARD Alison DeCamp and Lauren Vaughn JACK KENT COOKE UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLAR Kristina Cooper BARRY M. GOLDWATER SCHOLAR Andrew Frassetto • FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS x Christina Klein and Sarah Schoener NATIONAL SECURITY EDUCATION PROGRAM SCHOLARS Joshua Boyd, Lindsay King and John Nicholson III NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOW Jason Morton THOMAS R. PICKERING FOREIGN AFFAIRS FELLOW Thomas Griffin III and Jessica Taerman TARGET ALL-AROUND SCHOLAR Anna Fox ~ TRUMAN SCHOLAR Lara Bratcher MORRIS K. UDALL SCHOLARS Ruth Bergen, Paula Randier and Holly Tyler USA TODAY ALL-USA ACADEMIC TEAM Suzanne Pickard STATE Senate raises sales tax limit on cars (AP) - Senate budget writers Thursday raised the sales tax cap on cars from $300 to $2,500, generating a potential $93 mil lion for public schools next fis cal year. The current sales tax is 5 per cent, so that means under the current law a person buying a $6,000 car in South Carolina pays the same sales tax as a person buying a $50,000 vehicle. The new plan would raise the limit on car purchases to $2,500, forcing peo ple who buy vehicles for $50,000 or less to pay the true sales tax. The Senate Finance Committee approved increasing the sales tax cap as well as elim inating a tax break on manufac turing equipment. The two changes would bring in $146 mil lion during the 2003-04 budget year. The state Education Depart ment had said schools were $240 million short of necessary fund- - ing based on a version of the budget passed by the House. Teen charged with 12-year-old’s death ROCK HILL (AP) - A teenag er has been charged with the murder in the death of a 12-year old boy who was shot in a bed room where a group of teens were talking, police said. Quancy C. McNeil, 16, also faces three weapons possession charges, authorities said. McNeil had been dry-firing thd revolver and knew there was at least one bullet in the gun, said Rock Hill Police Lt. Les Herring. Dontavius Thompson died Wednesday afternoon after being shot once in the chest at his un cle’s home. Someone fired the gun , at Thompson after he stood up in the bejjroom. Thompson did not exch&Cge words with the gunman before he was shot, Herring said. NATION Jobless claims climb with stagnant market WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of U.S. workers filing claims for jobless benefits climbed to the second-highest level of the year last week as struggling companies handed out more pink slips. The Labor Department re ported Thursday that new ap plications for jobless benefits rose by a seasonally adjusted 30.000 to 442,000 for the work week ending April 12. That increase pushed claims to their highest point since March 29, when claims hit 443,000, the highest level of the year. For nine straight weeks, claims have been above the 400.000 mark, a level associated with a stagnant job market. Thursday’s figures were weak er than economists were ex pecting. WORLD Pope: Only priests may celebrate Mass VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II issued a stern re minder Thursday that only priests can celebrate Mass and divorced Catholics who remar ry cannot take communion, ex pressing alarm over what he called unacceptable practices in his flock. John Paul also warned Catholics against receiving com munion in non-Catholic church es, an admonition that is likely to stir up protests in the United States and other countries where interfaith services are a funda mental part of efforts to bring Christians closer together. Some Protestant officials im-. mediately criticized the warn ings as a step backward in ef forts to achieve Christian unity. The document is aimed at combating abuses related to the Eucharist, called communion, a sacrament central to church life. Art • Architecture • Photography • African American Studies * Cookbooks . | University of South Carolina Press | 1 Wounded Book Sale f e -* .2 • Thursday, April 24, noon- 6 p.m. | 7 Friday, April 25, noon-6 p.m. | Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. i •2 | % Imperfect books at perfect prices * 1 * 1 3 Hardbacks $7.00 • Paperbacks $4.00 ~ • 3 | Cash, check, or charge. All sales final. • a I USC Press Warehouse J 718 Devine Street k ? « Columbia, South Carolina c *5 | (between Park and Huger streets) 4, 2 §• ae 7, 5 . soi)i|°ci. Xjojsih 3uiijubj\ . Xjoisih jc-v\ . Xjoisih ueouauiy • 03 Two Toads CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The other finalists for the award are Fast Forward, a com munity technology center at Hand Middle School, and Benedict College. The Community Service Award recognizes an organizfa tion for establishing or support ing innovative, technology-based projects and programs that im prove the quality of life for a Midlands community. The con tribution may be made in time or in resources. Five other categories of awards will be presented, in cluding the Technology Application Award, the Technology Development Award, the Technology in Education Award, the Small Enterprise Award and the Individual Achievement Award. There are three finalists in each of the six categories. Last year’s Community Service Award winner was the Richland County Geographic Information Systems. Tori Anderson, marketing com mittee chair of the executive board for the Information Technology Council, said the Columbia ITC is a group of technology leaders pro moting Columbia as a desirable lo cation for information-technology companies. “The ITC’s primary purpose is to act as a hub to bring technolo gy, business, government and ed ucation leaders into the same room to work together in devel oping the Midlands area as a lead er in technology,” Anderson said. The ITC’s Resource Planning Committee conducted an in depth survey last year with more than 100 companies in the Midlands area — both in person and via the Internet—to find out what they think are the greatest challenges to their companies and communities in achieving that goal. An independent judging pan el reviewed all nomination mate rials to choose the finalists. They were notified and asked to par ticipate in an on-site filming for a video presentation to be show cased at the awards banquet, where the winners will be an nounced. The Palmetto Pillar Awards Gala will be held May 8 at the Capital City Club in downtown Columbia. Tickets for the event are $60 for ITC members and $75 for nonmembers. For ticket in formation, contact Nancy Bolin at nancy.bolin@telecove.com. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com SG CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “I encourage you to build a greater unity between different branches of Student Government in the year to come. I would like to see everyone’s hopes translate into actions,” he said. Vice President Zachery Scott said he had spent Tuesday night at the State House looking for in spiration for his inauguration speech but finding none. “Unfortunately, partisan pol itics and petty disputes have sucked dry the oasis of national ism,” he said, adding that USC is a starting point for change. “It’s our right and responsi bility to correct these problems. I don’t care if you’re Palmetto Party, Crescent Party, Garnet Party or Let’s-Party Party,” he said. “Mainly, I just ask that you give a damn.” SG President Katie Dreiling, also outgoing vice president, thanked her new fellow officers. “I just want to tell Zach and Ben that I’m very excited about this year. I can’t think of any thing better than working with two attractive males like your selves,” she said. She said that when she was a freshman living off campus, she felt detached from the Carolina community until she joined Freshman Council. Dreiling said she plans to take Sorensen up on his offer to let SG help lobby the Legislature about budget cuts. “It affects every stu dent on campus one way or an other. I know some parents who have two jobs to pay for college,” she said. “There are a lot of things that need to be fixed, and I feel I’m the right person for the job,” she said. The ceremony opened with an invocation, followed by the na tional anthem sung by USC’s male a cappella group Higher Harmony. Jerry Brewer, director of Student Life, gave the closing re marks: “This will bind us to gether forever and ever — we’re all members of the university community. We’ve got a lot to do and very quickly.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com “Unfortunately, partisan politics and petty disputes have sucked dry the oasis of nationalism. It’s our right and responsibility to correct these problems. I don’t care if you’re Palmetto Party, Crescent Party, Garnet Party or Let’s-Party Party. Mainly, I just ask that you give a damn.” ZACHERY SCOTT SG VICE PRESIDENT www. daily gamecock, com I "1 if HOLY WEEK SERVICES HOLY THURSDAY (April 17) Parish Supper 5:00 pun. Mass 7:30 p.m. / GOOD FRIDAY (April 18) ( Service of the Lord’s Passion 3:00 p.m. \ Tenebrae (Evening Prayer) Service 7:30 p.m. HOLY SATURDAY (April 19) The Easter Vigil 8:30 p.m. EASTER SUNDAY (April 20) - 9:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Haven't been to church in a while? Welcome back!