Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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STATE Average SAT scores climb eight points COLUMBIA (AP) - Average SAT scores for South Carolina’s high school seniors were eight points higher than the graduat ing class from a year earlier, the state Education Department said Tuesday. Average SAT scores were up to 989 in 2003, up from 981 in 2002. The state’s SAT score has improved 38 points in the past five years, the best improve ment rate in the nation, accord ing to the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit or ganization that oversees the test used by many colleges as part of their admission require ments. South Carolina scores con tinue to lag the national average. National SAT scores rose six points to 1,026 in 2003. The average SAT verbal score of South Carolina stu dents increased five points to 493, compared with a three point improvement in the na tional average score to 507. The state’s average math score in creased three points to 496, matching the national im provement to an average math score of 519. D Sex offender denied treatment program COLUMBIA (AP) - A man serving 35 years in prison on child molestation and other charges cannot force the state to treat him in a sex offender pro gram, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled. Chuck Sullivan, a former coach at Cardinal Newman High School in Forest Acres and St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Columbia, pleaded guilty in 1998 to 32 charges involving at least 17 boys between the ages of 11 and 16. Sullivan had filed a grievance against the Corrections | Department after he was not im * mediately allowed in the second phase of the agency’s sex offend er treatment program. The prison system said it had a waiting list and could not im mediately treat Sullivan, who had completed the first part of the program. The Supreme Court said Monday the constitution does not guarantee Sullivan the right to participate in a particular pro gram. The court upheld the state Administrative Law Judge Division’s refusal to hear Sullivan’s appeal. NATION Hawaii bus system stops after strike HONOLULU (AP) Honolulu’s public bus system came to a halt early Tuesday when the union representing 1,300 bus workers went on strike, stranding thousands of riders on Hawaii’s most popu lous island. Representatives for the work ers and Oahu Transit Services Inc. negotiated behind closed doors for more than nine hours Monday but failed to come to an agreement by the midnight deadline. Transit workers are seeking higher wages and benefits, de mands that the company says it is unable to grant since the bus system faces a budget shortfall of $6.8 million. The transit freeze on the al ready-congested roadways of Honolulu threatened to make morning rush hour a nightmare, particularly during a week when most students returned to school. The Honolulu City Council met in special session Monday, giving preliminary approval to a fare increase. The last bus strike occurred in 1971. Islamic center fire ruled as arson SAVANNAH, GA. (AP) - A weekend blaze that destroyed the Islamic Center of Savannah was arson, fire investigators said. FBI agents are investigating the fire as a civil rights viola tion, said Special Agent Steve Crum. No one was injured in the fire early Sunday but a rare, hand written copy of the Quran was destroyed. Evidence of possible accelerants and other clues point to arson, assistant fire chief Stephen Miller said. The 100 families that had been worshipping at the mosque — housed in a two-bed room house — now say they will worship in a tent erected at the site. Center members said two oth er anti-Muslim incidents hap pened earlier this month. Five bullet holes were found in the center’s garage door Aug. 3. On Aug. 18, the apartment of a student who worships regu larly at the center was burglar ized, and center members said the burglar left behind a note de manding that Muslims leave the city. WORLD 6 nations to discuss N. Korean weapons BEIJING (AP) — North Korean diplomats arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday to join en voys from five other nations for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program — a pivotal meeting aimed at solving East Asia’s most pressing security concern. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong II smiled and waved at a throng of about 100 reporters but made no comments as he arrived at Beijing’s Capital International Airport. Diplomats from the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia arrived Monday and were meeting informally Tuesday. Formal talks were scheduled for Wednesday through Friday. The countries are trying to re solve a dispute over North Korea’s vows to restart its nu clear weapons program and the United States’ insistence that Pyongyang abandon it. North Korea has walked away from a number of international agreements in recent months, in cluding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It is be lieved to possess one or two nu clear weapons, and experts be lieve it could produce five to six more in a few months. Muslim militants blamed for attacks BOMBAY, INDIA (AP)-India blamed Islamic militant groups Tuesday for twin car bombings in Bombay, the worst terrorist attack in a decade in the coun try’s financial heart which killed 50 people and left 154 wounded. The bombs planted in two taxis exploded minutes apart Monday, ripping through a crowded jewelry market, the Zaveri Bazaar, and in front of a colonial-era tourist attraction, the Gateway of India. At least five other explosions in Bombay in the past six months have been blamed on the pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Tayyaba group and its ally, the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a militant Muslim students’ group outlawed in 2001. No one has claimed responsi bility for the attack. Bombay residents said the bombers seemed intent on trig gering strife between India’s two largest religious groups. Pakistan joined other nations in denouncing the bombing, and Advani acknowledged Pakistan’s gesture. Plane CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 crash site showed a small boat in the water near submerged sec tions of the plane, and a Coast Guard helicopter hovered over head. Divers were seen near the wreck, and a section of what ap peared to be the plane’s tail could be seen just below the waters Joel Finley was in a plane scheduled to take off directly af ter the Beechcraft, and said he saw the plane’s tail flutter short ly after takeoff. He said he heard the pilot say in radio transmis sions with the control tower that he had lost “trim.” The trim on the plane’s tail helps it stay lev el, he said. “He banked left and we lost sight of him. We were listening to the whole thing on the radio. We heard the tower say he fell off the radar screen,” Finley said. The FAA said it lost radio con tact at 3:38 p.m. EDT. - * Powerful California AFL-CIO endorses Bustamante option in recall election BY ERICA WERNER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — Hedging its political bets, the powerful California AFL-CIO voted Tuesday to endorse Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante for governor in case Gov. Gray Davis is ousted in the Oct. 7 recall election. Organized labor has long been a part of Davis’ core constituency and the labor federation had al ready come out against the recall itself, but it threw its support be hind Bustamante as a fall-back position. The results of the vote were revealed by delegates leav ing a meeting at a Manhattan Beach hotel. “It’s another piece of the Democratic family coming to gether and recognizing that vot ing no is not enough and that Cruz Bustamante’s campaign is more than no, it’s an opportu nity for people to affirm their strong belief in good jobs, a woman’s right to choose, and protecting our environment,” said Richie Ross, a Bustamante consultant. Davis arrived at the meeting a short time after the an nouncement to praise the union and thank members for contin uing to oppose the recall. “The people on this stage are fighting for everyone who works in this state to enhance the quality of their life,” he said. “I’m proud to stand with them, and with their help we’ll stand together for the next 31/2 years.” Davis’ anti-recall spokesman, Peter Ragone, told The Associated Press that the goverhor did not have a prob lem with the union also en dorsing Bustamante. “Their support is crucial be cause it reflects the conviction of working people in California,” he said. “As for endorsing Cruz oh the second part of the ballot, we understand that people need to have a safety valve The lieutenant governor, the only major Democrat on the re call ballot, has campaigned un der the slogan, “No on recall, yes on Bustamante.” The state’s pow ~ erful teachers’ union was among other labor groups that had pre viously endorsed the Bustamante option. The state AFL-CIO, an associ ation of more than 1,300 local unions representing some 2.1 mil lion workers in manufacturing, construction and other indus tries, has been especially close to Davis, even co-sponsoring his in augural festivities last year. Meanwhile, Republican front runner Arnold Schwarzenegger 'took his campaign to conserva tive talk radio Tuesday for the second straight day, making an appearance on a Sacramento sta tion where he sought to shore up his GOP credentials. “Let’s make this clear: I’m.a Republican, I’m a proud Republican from the first day I came to this country and I was so .excited about getting away from socialism,” he said. Schwarzenegger, a fiscal con servative who is moderate on such social issues as gun control and abortion, led two other Republicans in a recent Los Angeles Times poll, state Sen. Tom McClintock, a conservative, and former baseball commis : Israeli missile strike in Gaza kills bystander, wounds at least 26 BY IBRAHIM BARZAK THE ASSOCIATED PHESS GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - An Israeli helicopter fired three mis siles at the car of a Hamas fugitive Tuesday, killing a bystander and wounding at least 26, doctors and witnesses said. The target of the attack, a mem ber of the Hamas military wing, managed to flee before the mis siles struck the vehicle, witness t es said. At the time of the strike, • the car was stuck in a traffic jam just north of Gaza City, near the Jebaliya refugee camp. It was the third Israeli missile strike in five days. Israel has said every Hamas militant is a poten tial target for liquidation — a re sponse to a Hamas bus bombing that killed 21 bus riders in Jerusalem last week. Shadi Tayan, who owns a book store in the area, said “the people in the car jumped out and ran in two different directions" after one rocket hit near the front of the ve hicle. After the men fled, two more missiles hit. Three men were in the car, in cluding Wael Ekalan of the Hamas military wing, witnesses said. The attack killed bystander Hassan Hamlawi, 65, who was sit ting on the sidewalk outside his water pipe shop when the missiles hit nearby. At least 26 bystanders were wounded, doctors said. Among those hurt were four chil dren, including an 8-year-old boy who was in critical condition, doc tors said. Just minutes earlier, an Israeli gunboat fired two shells toward northern Gaza City, hitting an empty plot of land. Initial reports that several people were wound ed in that attack could not be ver ified. The Israeli military had no im mediate comment on the assault. Also Tuesday, Israeli soldiers disguised as Arabs raided a West Bank hospital before dawn and snatched two wounded Palestinian militants from their beds. Troops staging an arrest sweep in the city of Nablus jumped from the back of a truck and poured into Raffidiyeh Hospital from two sides. They declared a lock-down, confining nurses and doctors to a few rooms, and broke down an electrically operated door to the Intensive Care Unit. Soldiers armed with M-16 rifles asked a nurse to lead them to the wounded fugitives. They grabbed the militants’ medical files and wheeled the men out on their hos pital beds to waiting military am bulances. The wanted men were driven to Israel’s Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv and were being treated for moderate injuries, military sources said. Both are “hardcore” members of A1 Aqsa, said the group’s spokesman, who goes by the name Abu Mujahed. use Z§£rg£tf f)K* W pr°'- Introduction By: »^/\ee* 11 Dr. Ralph White. 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