The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 21, 2003, Page A8, Image 8
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