University of South Carolina Libraries
R.I. club, band fined $100,000 after deadly fire BY ELIZABETH ZUCKERMAN TIIK-A880CIATD PRESS PROVIDENCE, R.l. - Six months after a deadly nightclub fire, the club’s owners and a rock band were fined nearly $100,000 on Wednesday by the federal agency that regulates workplace safety. Legal experts say the move could bolster lawsuits filed after the Feb. 20 blaze, which killed 100 people and injured nearly 200 oth ers at a Great White concert. “It’s not absolute proof of neg ligence, but it will be used as evi dence to illustrate negligence,” said David Yas, editor of Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly. He said that the Occupational Safety and Health Admin istration’s decision “certainly car ries some power.” The agency fined Derco LLC, which operated The Station club, $85,200 for one “willful” violation and six serious ones. OSHA said the willful violation was the installation of an exit door that swung the wrong way. The others involved the use of highly flammable foam in the club, inadequate safety planning and an exit door that was con cealed by foam, the agency said. Jeff Pine, who represents club owner Jeffrey Derderian, said he is encouraged that only one will ful violation was found. Pine said he will meet with OSHA repre sentatives to discuss the agency’s conclusions. “We want to sit down with them and discuss the nature of the violations ... and if any of them have merit, we’d like to work out a reasonable resolution of the sit uation,” Pine said. An attorney for club co-owner Michael Derderian did not imme diately return a phone call seek ing comment. Jack Russell Touring Inc., the corporate entity representing rock bank Great White, faces a $7,000 fine for failing to protect employees from fire hazards, OSHA said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate,” band attorney Ed McPherson said of the fine. McPherson said the band will likely appeal. The club and band have 15 days to do so. At least six lawsuits have been filed against defendants includ ing the band and the Derderians, and a grand jury is weighing whether criminal charges are warranted. Meanwhile, Great White had planned to play a benefit show in Massachusetts, but the club’s new owner decided against hosting the Sept. 26 concert. Rick Pasquarosa, new owner of Club Liquid in Leominster, Mass., said he was concerned about protests at the club, which is about 75 miles north of The Station. Great White has been touring since July, raising funds for vic tims and survivors of the fire. The first nine concerts raised about $25,000, said Victoria Potvin, president of The Station Family Fund. Gephardt receives endorsement from labor organization BY LEIGH STROPE TIIK ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -An AFL CIO endorsement of Dick Gephardt “is admittedly a long shot” for the Democrat who has staked his presidential hopes on the support of organized la bor, his campaign manager said Wednesday. “Our strategy is to either win an AFL-CIO endorsement, which is admittedly a long shot,” said Gephardt campaign manager Steve Murphy. “Or, get the process concluded rela tively early so that we can... get our labor support into play in the early states.” In essence, Gephardt’s cam paign appears to be lowering endorsement expectations in advance of a mid-October meet ing where union leaders will decide if the Missouri con gressman has enough labor support. Indeed, the bar is high: two thirds support from the collec tive memberships of union presidents at the general board meeting. The AFL-CIO has 65 affiliate unions with 13 million members. Only two candidates have won preprimary endorsements — A1 Gore in the last election and Walter Mondale in 1984. “Getting to two-thirds, as our detractors point out, is very difficult to do,” Murphy said. Gephardt, a longtime ally of organized labor, nabbed his 12th union endorsement Wednesday with the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers union. The manufacturing union with 300.000 members, has lost about 30.000 members in the last two years in the economic down turn, said union President Boyd Young. “We believe that Con gressman Gephardt is the best hope for America’s fu ture,” Young said, highlight ing his campaign’s emphasis on the loss of U.S. jobs over seas because of free trade agreements. Gephardt is the only one of the nine Democratic hopefuls to receive support from an in ternational union and would seem to be the automatic choice of the AFL-CIO. Assuming all 65 union pres idents vote in an endorsement contest, Gephardt must win support from unions with at least 8.7 million members. So far, his endorsements have a collective membership of 3.5 million. But Gephardt, who ran un successfully in 1988, must con vince some powerful leaders of large service and public sector unions that he is not yester day’s candidate. He’s had mixed results. Gephardt failed to meet his na tional fund-raising goals, and his lead as measured by polls in Iowa, where the first votes will be cast for president in 2004, has eroded. “A lot of folks see it as, will he get the AFL-CIO or won’t he, when we would argue, who’s going to have the bulk of labor support and what kind of dif ference will it make in the early states,” Murphy said. POLICE REPORT These reports are taken directly from the USC Police Department Compiled by Adam Beam. Each number on the map stands for a crime corresponding with numbered descriptions in the list below. DAY CRIMES (6a.m.-6 p.m.) □ Violent O Nonviolent NIGHT CRIMES (6 p.m.-6a.m.) ■ Violent % Nonviolent CRIMES AT ' | UNKNOWN ” HOURS □ Violent © Nonviolent Saturday, Aug. 16 O DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE, PENDLETON AND MARION STREETS Reporting officer J.M. Simmons saw William Andrew Williams speeding and going left of the centerline. Williams then ran a stop sign and made a left turn on Gregg Street. Simmons pulled Williams over at the intersection of Gregg and Senate streets. Simmons detected a strong alcohol smell. Simmons asked Williams to step out of the car. Simmons said that Williams stumbled out of the car and almost fell to the ground. Williams failed three sobriety tests and was arrested. A l-liter bottle of Vodka was found three quarters empty. <D LARCENY OF BICYCLE, 820 HENDERSON ST. The victim said someone took his burgundy Pacific Trail mountain bike from a secured bike rack. Estimated value: $200. Reporting officer: J.B. Coaxum. (3) LOST PROPERTY, 600 MAIN ST. The complainant said a desk was placed in an alleyway beside Snowden Residence Hall. Someone removed the desk from its location. Reporting officer: G. Kerwin. Sunday, Aug. 17 O DISORDERLY CONDUCT, 1309 BLOSSOM ST. Reporting officer J.M. Simmons responded to a complaint of an intoxicated person. Simmons made contact with Christopher Hudson and smelled a strong odor of alcohol about his person. Simmons said Hudson had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet and became loud and ' boisterous. Hudson was arrested for disorderly conduct. Reporting officer: J.M. Simmons. o GRAND LARCENY OF RIMS, 600 BULL ST. The victim said someone blocked up his vehicle and removed the following: Four Armageddon 18-inch chrome rims, two Kumho tires and two Visa tires. Total estimated value: $2,220. Reporting officer: J.B. Coaxum. o LARCENY OF BICYCLE, 1312 PENDLETON ST. The victim said someone removed his Gary Fisher Tarpon mountain bike, which was secured with a chain to the bike rack in front of Maxcy Residence Hall. Total estimated value: $220. Reporting officer: G. Kerwin. ® LARCENY OF BICYCLE, 902 BARNWELL ST. The victim said someone took her yellow Giant ^ bicycle. The seat is also ■ missing from the bike. Estimated value: $300. The bike was not registered with USCPD and was secured with a cable wire to the rack. Reporting officer: D.W. Friels. Monday, Aug. 18 O SIMPLE POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA, 1600 SENATE ST. Reporting officer D. Hare saw a car with four males traveling through multiple parking lots. Once Hare followed the car into Senate Garage, the subjects got out of the car, and Hare noticed in plain view a glass pipe in the rear seat. The driver of the car gave consent to search the vehicle and Philip Locke Hast i . claimed possession of the pipe^ * and bag containing a substance believed to be marijuana. (») LARCENY OF BICYCLE, BLAH P.E. CENTER The victim said she locked her aqua Carrera Mountian Bike in front of the Blatt P.E. Center. The bike was secured with a cable and padlocked. Estimated value: $105. Reporting officer: G. Kerwin. Tuesday, Aug. 19 © PETTY LARCENY AND RECOVERY, MCCLINTOCK, 720 BULL ST. The complainant said ** she watched as someone cut the bike chain off a red and silver Next Mountain Bike. Upon the^^ officer’s arrival, the subject was going south on Bull Street when the subject saw the officer, the subject lost control and struck a police car and fled on foot into a wooded area of Rocky Run Creek. The officer searched the area with no sign of the subject. Reporting officers: R.A. Whitlock and J. Merrill. Searcher indicted for planting false . > evidence in 6 cases Woman could face up to 65 years in prison BY JOHN FLESHER Till? ASSOCIATED PRESS TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. - Sandra M. Anderson and her dog, Eagle, dazzled police for years with their uncanny ability to locate hu man remains. Now she stands ac ' cused of planting bones and other fake evidence in a half-dozen cases. A federal grand jury in Detroit handed down a 10-count indictment Wednesday, charging Anderson I with evidence tampering, obstruc tion of justice and lying to investi gators. If convicted, she could get up to 65 years in prison. Anderson, who previously has denied wrongdoing, did not re spond to a phone message left at I her home. Her attorneys did not return calls. Anderson, 43, had been widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost handlers and 'trainers of cadaver-searching dogs. She and Eagle searched for mass graves in Bosnia and Panama, and helped search for victims of the United Airlines jetliner that crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania after being hijacked as part of the Sept. 11,2001, terror attacks. FBI agents arrested Anderson in April 2002 as she took part in a search in the Huron National Forest in northeastern Michigan. Police had hoped to locate the re mains of Cherita Thomas, an Oscoda resident who disappeared in 1980. The indictment accuses Anderson of planting bone frat ments and carpet fibers in ari W - around a tree stump and in the muck of a drained forest creek. The indictment does not say where Anderson got the bones she allegedly planted. Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said he could not discuss the matter. Anderson also is accused of planting evidence in other cases, including a saw blade stained with her own body fluid, found in the basement of a murder suspect’s home in January 2000. '%ooin gn<j ^oohi' T "5h|-ootn /rujotir p,ooto" Ukjcofne bajcK t/3C ffoUi fte /Vjeloto f*3 O0,r: Delicious Specialty Pizzas Fresh Baked Calzones Spring Water Dough Pretzels Monumental Hoagies Scrumptious Salads 24 high-quality "Shroom Taps" (draught beer) ' for ^firooin jlieMfofe- .. if -f'olts fof U\°<A/ Carolina •J007 <5’cr/W5 «rf 4 Wnt(fe for f 100) f?otn C/.AC. ~ \r~ . , K'r..'mmmmmmmm IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO FIND THE CAMPUS BOOKSTORE you COULD SAVE UP TO 15% ON CAR INSURANCE. Low down-payment fc convenient payment plans. Round-the-clock claim service. CALL OR VISIT US FOR A FREE RATE QUOTE. 7402 B Garners Ferry Road (1 mile past VA to Sumter Behind Rushs) 803-783-1551 OosttimtAt Intufwco Co. * t6Cft Gtotfol liwonto Co. • SCKQ foifio* if Co. • GliCOCavsoSty Co. * Cctornc! Ccvnty Motets lot. Co. SPURGEON FOUNDATION CAMPUS MINISTRY a ministry of Kennerly Road Baptist Church Campus Ministries Bible Study and Christian Fellowship Tuesday 7pm in Russell House Room 348 For Information Call Frank Johnson 803-351-3040 or 732-9797 or email 5ohnsomspurgeon@yahoo.com I ^TION GAMBcq I | ^ _"VP I .mnwmmmm j I i INCLUDES: § DELIVERY & PICK UP % m with coupon good thru Bs ■ 9/30/03 C ifXetmuA ■ I"SSSSSff"1 !■■■■■■ J