University of South Carolina yflMHAV IAMI IARV 9 R 9 HO A VoL97.No.56
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Free throw frenzy
PHOTO BY DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK
The USC faithful at the Carolina Center attempt to distract LSU’s guard Xavier Whipple in Carolina’s 6-point win. The crowd at
Saturday night’s game totaled 17,927 people. ♦ FOR MORE SEE PAGE 10
smoke bomb causes morning evacuation,
lingering odor for South Quad residents
BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL
THE GAMECOCK
A smoke bomb triggered fire
alarms early Sunday morning in
South Quadresidence hall and
filled the entire building with
smoke, leaving residents outdoors
for more than an hour.
The smoke bomb was set off
around 6:45 a.m. in the southwest
•lirwell of South Quad, near the
rner of Sumter and Wheat
streets. Both the USC Police
Department and the Columbia
Fire Department were present at
the scene.
“We were outside until basical
ly 8 a.m.,” said Brooks Willet,
South Quad resident adviser and
third-year mathematics and
Russian student.
While USCPD and housing offi
cials are still investigating the
source of the smoke bomb, South
Quad residence life coordinator,
Todd Cellini, said it was a “two
minute” smoke bomb, which
means it emitted smoke for two
minutes continuously.
“It gave off enough smoke to
simulate a fire,” Cellini said. “It
was not a good situation.”
The second, third and fourth
floor hallways of South Quad were
filled with smoke, according to
USCPD reports.
“Some of the rooms still smell,”
Willet said about 10 hours after the
incident. ,
Officials were unwilling to com
ment on specifics because of the on
going investigation.
The effects of the smoke bomb
were not lasting. Willet said there
was no obvious damage to the
stairwell.
The four-stories tall South
Quad, built in 1996, houses ap
proximately 400 students.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
A smoke bomb In the southwest stairwell of South Quad filled
three floors of the building with smoke.
£ adults, 1 child die in Greenville motel fire
BY JEFFREY COLLINS
THE ASSOCIATED I'llESS
GREENVILLE — Six people, in
cluding a toddler, died early
Sunday in a motel fire that sent
panicked guests jumping from
windows into the parking lot and
produced smoke so thick some of
the victims ran toward the worst
of the blaze as they tried to escape.
The fire at the Comfort Inn
started shortly before 4:30 a.m.,
said Wade Hampton Fire Chief
Gary Downey. It took firefighters
20 minutes to extinguish the blaze,
but guests and authorities said
smoke filled the motel quickly,
sending guests in their pajamas
into a chaotic scramble for the ex
its.
Investigators didn’t know what
sparked the fire, which began on
the third floor of the five-story inn
along 1-385. The building didn’t
have sprinklers.
“If there had been sprinkler sys
tems in the hallways, probably the
fatalities and injuries would not
have been near what they were,”
Downey said.
He said the county fire marshal
told him the building was not re
quired to have sprinklers, and the
motel passed its last inspection
less than a year ago when it
changed from a Days Inn to a
Comfort Inn.
♦ FIRE, SEE PAGE 4
Candidates file
as SG election
season begins
BY JON TURNER
THE GAMECOCK
The Student Government
election season begins today
with filing for SG offices from 9
a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Russell
House. Filing runs through
Tuesday.
The SG presidential election
was hotly contested last year,
a”hd it took a run-off for
President Katie Dreiling to gar
ner 50 percent of the vote.
Dreiling said the difficulty of
winning the election generally
fluctuates with the number of
candidates in the race. Last year
there were six
candidates be
fore the run-off
narrowed the
field.
“It’s generally
pretty hard,”
Dreiling said.
“But the main
thing is to talk to
as many stu
dents and as
many organiza
tions as you can,
and let them
know the platform you re run
ning on and why you’d be a good
president.”
She said that after candidates
file for the election, they’ll re
ceive election packets with a
schedule of opportunities to ad
dress groups and to distribute
flyers around the Russell House.
“I’m interested to see who
does file,” Dreiling said, “I’ve
told all the people interested in
running that they’re more than
welcome to come and talk to me
about the office. I’m not going to
pick any sides.”
Although nothing is certain
until Tuesday, SG Sen. Carol
Copeland said she was fairly cer
tain about at least one of the can
didates.
“I know Zach Scott is plan
ning to run for president,” she
said. “Other than that, I’ve heard
a lot of people talking, but I think
a lot of people are intimidated,
because he really won by a wide
margin when he ran for vice
president.”
SG Sen. Cameron Burnette
said he hoped Scott would run.
“All I’ve heard is rumors, and
you know how rumors are,” he
said. “I’d like to see Zach file; I
think Zach would do a good job.
This is my first year in Student
Government, and he’s been real
ly helpful. He tries to keep us in
formed as well
as possible . ..
and if we need
anything, or if
they need any
thing, we help
each other
out.”
Burnette
said that, al
though he only
came to USC
last spring, he
thought SG had
done a particu
larly good job this year.
“We got stuff accomplished
this year that, at least in the very
recent past, we haven’t been able
to do," he said.
Dreiling said she hoped the
prospective candidates could
maintain positive approaches in
their campaigns for what she
considers a vital role in con
necting students and adminis
tration.
“You know, you are the voice
of the student population,” she
said. “It’s a time-consuming po
sition, but it’s well worth it if you
put the effort into it.".
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
“You know, you are
the voice of the
student population.
It’s a time-consuming
position, but it’s well
worth it if you put the
effort into it”
KATIE DREILING
SG PRESIDENT
Safety board offers
week of activities
BY JULIE LEDBETTER
THE GAMECOCK
The Safety Board will be hav
ing a week of safety events from
Wednesday to Saturday that will
include a Safety Walk, an
evening shuttle promotion, a
bike ride for Critical Mass and a
self-defense class.
The Safety Walk will take
place Wednesday at 8 p.m. and is
open to the public. Everyone will
meet on the second floor of the
Russell House, where they will
be separated into groups. Each
group will walk a different area
of campus looking for anything
that appears unsafe, including
broken lights, broken call boxes
or locations that need call boxes.
The groups will also be walk
ing in areas off campus where
most students walk anyway,
such as university neighbor
hoods. The Greek Village and
the Roost are also on the list, be
- cause they were not covered last
year.
“The goal is to have the entire
campus covered,” said Katie
McClendon, Student
Government safety director.
“Whatever the group sees is a
problem in that area, they’ll just
write it down and if it’s on city
property, we’ll take the concerns
to the city; and if it’s on campus
property, we’ll take it to the peo
ple on campus that can fix it.”
The Sorority Council will be
organizing a group that will cover
♦ SAFETY, SEE PAGE 4
is finally dail] ,
t www.dailygamecockj
♦ TAKING CARE OF
BUSINESS Delta Sigma Pi
business fraternity will hold a
recruiting session. FOR
MORE SEE PAGE 3
♦ GOT WEAPONS? Former
| U.S. weapons inspector says
' there were no weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq
before U.S. attacks.
FOR MORE SEE PAGE 4
♦ MARRIAGE POUCY Bush's
faith:based initiative hurts
marriage. FOR MORE SEE
PAGE 6
♦BY ANY OTHER NAME
Graham Culbertson is
confused by USC’s Christian
organizations. FOR MORE
SEE PAGE 6
♦ CHATTING IT UP Cell
phones have become a
campus accessory. FOR
MORE SEE PAGE 7
♦THE BIG CHILL As the cold
settles in, students bundle
up. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 7
♦TIGERS BURNED Men's
basketball wins its fourth
straight SEC contest. FOR
MORE SEE PAGE 10
♦ CRAZY EIGHTS Women’s
basketball team loses its
eight straight game. FOR
MORE SEE PAGE 10
Index
Comics and Crossword 9
Classifieds_ 12
Horoscopes_ 9
Letters to the Editor6
Online Poll _ 6
Police Report2
Entertainment News_2
USC Calendar 2
Weather
TODAY
High 37
Low 35
Freezing rain,
southeast winds
9 mph
TUESDAY
High 52
Low 30
Mostly sunny,
west winds 16
mph
IHMOT——111
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