Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The science of waterfall jumping BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE GAMECOCK It’s one thing to muster enough courage — or stupidity — to jump into Niagara Falls, but it’s an entirely different mentali ty that leads someone to try it again. USC history professor Paul E. Johnson recently wrote a book that tells the tale of the first pro fessional daredevil and the events that led the character to jump from Niagara Falls twice. Johnson’s book, “Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper,” depicts the life of Patch and his daredevil waterfall jumps in the early 1800s. The true story of an American folk hero, Patch be gan his stunts at a waterfall that powered a mill in Pawtucket, R.I., where he"and other boys would compete jumping from different heights. Later in his life, while living in New Jersey, Patch earned the title “Jersey Jumper” after jumping into wa terfalls with a growing audience cheering him on. But Patch wasn’t just a lunatic willing to risk his life. Johnson, who specializes in social history, said Patch had a precise form when taking plunges. Johnson said Patch would prepare for jumps with careful practice on his form and breath control. Patch had a formal style that re quired a lot of forethought, “even as far as pointing his toes upon impact.” As Patch’s notoriety began to develop, he attracted thousands when he jumped from the top of Niagara Falls. As if jumping from 125 feet into rushing water wasn’t enough, Patch attempted a sec ond Niagara j ump. Johnson, who stood in the ex act spot from which Patch jumped from Niagara, said, “It was a sickening height.” Jumping from the height of a 13-or-14-story building for a sec ond time, Patch died from that Niagara leap. Johnson men tioned that Patch had bouts with alcoholism, and other reports in dicate Patch’s second jump was probably done while intoxicat ed. Not having any prior interest in the topic of waterfall jumping, Johnson said much of his re search led to Patch and his stunts. The interest in Patch’s stunts remained merely histori cal and have never compelled Johnson to take a dive. “I don’t like heights,” Johnson said. Since Patch and his waterfall jumps, several other Niagara daredevils have taken the leap. Since 1901,15 jumpers have pit ted their lives against Niagara’s power and plunged the rapids in everything from barrels to kayaks. The most recent jumper in the news, Kirk Jones, survived a headfirst, 180-foot ride down Niagara Falls. The water rushes at approximately 150,000 gallons per second over the falls. Although Johnson’s book de tails the life of Patch and shines light into the mind of one of the earliest daredevils, Johnson said he finds being a daredevil unap pealing. “I like being a 61-year-old his tory professor,” Johnson said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Sex offender CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 them to notify our police depart ment, if they see him anywhere that they may think is university property.” Ellis said he thinks the best way students can identify Kearns is by studying the picture of him at www.les.sc.edu/crimealert. asp. He encouraged students to practice other daily safety habits that can be. found on the divi sion’s Web site. “This is just an advisory; it’s meant to heighten students’ awareness of what is going on around them,” Ellis said. Ellis said he couldn’t esti mate how long the crime alert might be in effect.USC police have issued crime alerts in the past to notify students of armed robbery cases and other poten tially violent crimes that have oc curred. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Clark CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 questions from the media outside the Law School. The new S.C. pri mary poll was a favorite topic among the working press at the event. The poll, conducted by the American Research Group, put Clark in the lead with 17 percent, followed by Sen. John Edwards with 10 percent and Sen. Joe Lieberman with 8 percent. A poll completed by the American Research Group in September had Edwards in the lead at 16 per cent and Clark in second place at 7 percent. The Edwards campaign has said Edwards needs to win South Carolina to capture the nomination. Clark also needs to perform well in South Carolina to prove his military credentials and Southern background will translate into votes in the South. “I feel good about the recep tion I’m getting in South Carolina,” Clark said. “That’s what I feel good about. I’ve had a lot of fun here today, and I’ve met a lot of nice people, and I want to comeback.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com aims toUrobveschSok BY MIKE GLOVER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DES MOINES, IOWA - Democratic presidential candi date John Edwards is suggesting a $3 billion package aimed at bol stering preschool programs. The alternative, he said Sunday, is far greater spending on youngsters who start school unprepared. “The costs are enormous,” Edwards said. “Every dollar we invest in preschool saves $7.” Features of the package Edwards introduced Sunday in clude bringing children younger than 4 years old into the preschool system, bolstering nu trition and parent education pro grams and expanding health care for youngsters in low-income families. When fully implement ed it would bring 1 million more children annually into preschool, said the senator from North Carolina. In addition, Edwards wants tax credits of $2,500 for families with newborns, effectively dou bling the existing child tax credit, that would go even to people whose income is too low to pay income tax. “New families will be able to use this credit to take time off from work, pay for child care or meet other needs,” said Edwards. More than 3 million families a year eventually would benefit from the tax credit, he said. Earlier schooling combined with nutrition and health pro grams for preschoolers is essen tial, Edwards said. “Children who are hungry or sick cannot learn,” he said. Edwards said it’s crucial to bolster preschool programs and important to begin earlier be cause of an increasing body of re search about brain development in younger children. “We know that kids, by the time they enter kindergarten or first grade, a lot of the brain de velopment has taken place,” said Edwards. “We would start much younger than that.” The program would be fi nanced through Edwards’ pro posal to eliminate the portion of President Bush’s tax packages that go to taxpayers making $200,000 a year or more. Most of the programs Edwards has spelled out in his campaign for Iowa’s January caucuses, the first event of the 2004 election sea son, would be financed by elimi nating that portion of the tax cut. Edwards is a multimillionaire with a blind trust worth $5 mil lion to $25 million; from next year, his salary as a senator will be $158,000. Edwards is making a three day swing through Iowa in prepa ration for the caucuses. Also on Sunday, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt issued his boldest pre diction to date that he would win the state. “I’m going to win Iowa. I really believe that,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I’m going to win because I have a bold, real istic set of ideas.” Polls show Gephardt and for mer Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in a virtual tie atop the field of seven Democrat contenders com peting in Iowa. Sniper trial testimony highlights what-ifs, missed opportunities BY SONJA BARISIC THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. - A woman worried that she could be the next victim in the Washington-area sniper shoot ings saw a suspicious blue car but didn’t tell police “because they were looking for a white van.” A police officer spoke to John Allen Muhammad, who was driv ing a blue car near one of the shootings, but let him go. A dispatcher got a call from ^omeone claiming responsibili ty for the attacks, but tried to re fer him to another agency. The caller hung up. Testimony in Muhammad’s capital murder trial has been re plete with such reminders of missed opportunities to end the three-week series of attacks in which 10 people were killed. “These are heartbreaking things,” said former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt. “These are things that police officers and FBI agents are beating them selves in the head with and say ing: ‘My God, if only we would have^should have, could have. We might have gotten them soon er, if only.’” The trial enters its third week of testimony today as Muhammad faces charges in one of the killings, that of Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot at a Manassas-area gas station on Oct. 9,2002. Prosecutors are introducing evidence in 16 shootings in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and the District of Columbia in an effort to show that Muhammad is responsible for multiple deaths and engaged in a form of terrorism — neces sary condi^ons for the tWo death Denaltv charges against him. 50 years and counting PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK People line up outside the WIS television station for their 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday. WIS let visitors catch a glimpse of the TV studio. Napster CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 try, offer 15 songs for $14.85. But many students say they won’t use the new Napster. “I don’t think I would use it because I don’t like paying for my downloaded music. If I was going to pay for something, I would buy the album,” said Josh Bellamy, a second-year po litical science student. Napster 2.0 will have to face stiff competition from file-shar ing programs such as Morpheus and Kazaa. Even with recei^B lawsuits from the music indu^P try, peer-to-peer file sharing is still going strong. “If I only wanted one song ofF a CD, I would use Kazaa, and if I wanted the whole album, I would rather buy it and have a real copy,” said Bridget Dolinar, a first-year exercise science stu Despite the apparent lack of interest in using and paying for Napster’s music files, at least on USC’s campus, industry execu tives are optimistic. Andrew Lack, Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, said in a news release he expects the new Napster to be a success because of the special features it offers^ “Napster is poised to be powerful presence in online mu sic,” he said. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Tuesday classes not canceled A misprint on page 44 in the Mortar Board calendar incor rectly states that classes are can celled on Tuesday because of Election Day. All students should follow their normal class sched ules on Tuesday. For more infor mation visit the registrar’s Wekg| site at http://registrar.sc.edu. ^ ! STATE ! Republicans split about Beasley run COLUMBIA (AP) - Richland County Republicans are split about whether former Gov. David Beasley should run for the U.S. Senate seat being va cated by the retirement of long time Democratic officeholder Ernest “Fritz” Hollings. Beasley, who lost his guber natorial re-election bid to Jim Hodges in 1998, has said he is considering a run. Beasley says friends have been encouraging him to enter the race. Columbia political consultant Richard Quinn says a recent poll that he commissioned shows Beasley would beat any of the four Republicans in the GOP pri mary. City considers sale of Sunday alcohol SPARTANBURG (AP) - City voters will decide Tuesday whether bars and restaurants here can sell beer, wine and oth er alcoholic beverages on Sundays. The referendum is being held after a petition drive this spring by the Spartanburg Area Restaurant Association that col lected more than 2,000 signa tures. The ballot question is worded to exclude sales at gro cery and convenience stores if the measure passes. Restaurant owners like Brad Smith say the ability to sell alcoholic bever ages with meals boosts Sunday business. Facility shut down by white substance GREENVILLE (AP) - More than two weeks after a deadly sub stance was found at a Greenville area post office, a Clemson facil ity was shutdown for about 30 minutes when an unknown white powder was discovered. A worker found the sub stance at 6:30 a.m. and the office on College Avenue was closed, Clemson Police Chief Jimmy Dixon said. Dixon said authorities did not know what the powder was. He said he didn’t think the incident was terrorist-related. The post office opened about 30 minutes later and operated lentil about noon, Dixon said. NATION Mississippi driver could face charges JACKSON, MISS. (AP) - Federal officials said Sunday that a woman who rammed her car into an arena where President Bush had just given a speech had no intention of harming the president and no federal charges are pending against her, but she could face state charges. A friend said the woman, Betina Mixon, may have want ed to hurt herself. Mixon, 29, of Horn Lake had three children in her car when she crashed into a wall of the DeSoto County Civic Center on Saturday. After interviewing Mixon, in vestigators determined she had “no direction of interest toward the president whatsoever,” Ann Roman, a Secret Service spokeswoman, told The Associated Press on Sunday. 6 killed in Raleigh car accident RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Six people who stopped to help vic tims of a traffic accident were killed when a van plowed into the scene of the earlier crash, a State Highway Patrol spokesman said Sunday. The van’s driver, Larry Robert Veeder, 32, of Raleigh, was charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Everett Clendenin said. Californians return to burned homes SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. (AP) — A second wave of resi dents displaced by Southern California’s wildfires were be ing allowed to return home Sunday after a weekend of cool er, calmer weather helped fire fighters begin to bring the blazes under control. Some evacuees got the go ahead Saturday to check on their homes. Among them were JoDee Ewing and her husband, Steve, who found little stand ing of their 1920s-era house ex cept for the stone chimney, the foundation and — for some in explicable reason — tl^eir rose bushes. WORLD Arafat ready for Israeli peace talks JERUSALEM (AP) - Following an Israeli offer, Palestinian lead er Yasser Arafat said Sunday he is ready for peace talks, while about 6,000 Palestinians re turned to jobs in Israel for the first time in a month. In an abrupt turnaround last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said contacts wer^B already underway wit^P Palestinian officials. Sharon had previously conditioned talks on a crackdown on violent Palestinian groups responsible for attacks on Israelis. Asked about Sharon’s re marks, Arafat told reporters he would accept an offer for talks. Russian official criticizes America FALLUJAH, IRAQ (AP) - Russia’s foreign minister criti cized the United States on Sunday for expressing concern about actions against the oil ant Yukos, but PresideiJP Vladimir Putin’s new cljief oi staff said he doubted the wisdom of freezing a large chunk of the ■ company’s shares. Last week. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush adminis tration regarded the arrest and jailing of Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the freezing of 44 percent of the company’s shares, as raising “serious ques tions about the rule of law in Russia.” Countries discuss postwar Iraq DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AP) - Arab, Iranian and Turkish for eign ministers began talfc^ Sunday on the crisis in neigl^P boring Iraq and the impact of the U.S.-led war on the region, but Baghdad’s interim government snubbed the conference after be ing insulted by a last-minute in vite. During preliminary talks Saturday before the main meet ing, the foreign ministers of Syria, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt discussed ways to help Iraq overcome its difficulties and re viewed the war’s regional reper cussions.