Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina yflMHAV IAMI IARV 9 R 9 HO A VoL97.No.56 www.dailygarnecock.com IVIUINUAl, JAINIUAKY ZO, ZUU4 ' Since 1908 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 Visit us online at: www.dailygamecock.com Tile Gamecock Is printed on recycled paper.