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Former S.C. Gov. John C. West dies of cancer at 81 BY JIM DAVENPORT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Gov. John C. West, a Democrat who helped smooth race relations after the Orangeburg Massacre left three black students dead, died Sunday. He was 81. West had been battling cancer and died at his home on Hilton Head Island, Democratic officials said. “I’ve lost my close friend, and South Carolina has lost its leader for racial harmony,” said U.S. Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, D-S.C., who attended The Citadel with West. West served as governor from 1971 to 1975 after a term as lieu tenant governor. While many of the lieutenant governors since 1971 had sought governor’s office, West was the only one to win it. “He was one of the most pro gressive Southern governors of his generation, and all South Carolinians have benefited from the positive change he advanced,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin. West was recognized at USC for the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy, a nonprofit or ganization established in 2002 to enhance the quality of South Carolina’s political environment. West moderated several forums on campus, from education to the state’s budget woes. West helped break new ground in race relations at a critical time in South Carolina. He was one of the first gover nors to hire a black man as a se nior aide, James Clyburn, and then tapped him to run the new State Human Affairs Commission that he set up in 1972. Clyburn went on to become the state’s first black U.S. Representative since Reconstruction. The commission was set up in 1972, four years after highway pa trolmen opened fire on a civil rights protest at the historically black South Carolina State University, killing three students and wounding 27 others in what has come to be known as the Orangeburg Massacre. “John West was both friend and mentor to me and my family mem bers,” said Clybum, D-S.C. In 1997, the commission cele brated its 25th anniversary, and West said it sent a message “that we had put aside racial divisions. ... I’d like to think this was a ma jor turning point in race relations, because it set up communications where (problems) could be ad dressed before it reached a crisis point.” Don Fowler, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said West did what he thought was “the right thing to do.” “He truly loved serving people,” said Fowler, now chairman of the Richland County Democratic Party. The former governor also be friended one of his security detail members, John Brown. He later invested heavily in the startup op erations of Brown’s Am-Pro Protective Agency. The company grew into one of the nation’s largest black-owned security com panies, handling contracts at the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Energy Department, the Executive Office Building and the' Blair House in Washington, D.C. West and his wife, Lois, served as board members and stockhold ers. The company eventually fell on hard times, and Am-Pro went bankrupt in 1997. West also pushed plans through the Legislature to create the state’s second medical school at the University of South Carolina. When falling enrollment threat ened the all-female Winthrop University, West persuaded the Legislature to open the school to men despite opposition from two powerful senators, Marion Gressette and Rembert Dennis, who were married to Winthrop graduates. “He was a governor who em braced the change that occurred in South Carolina and challenged South Carolina to do better,” said former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges. Rome CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Hesse is in her third year as a music performance student at USC. Now playing on a full-size vi olin, she has more control of her instrument than she did 17 years ago. “I’m really looking forward to this summer where it’s not so much focused on academics, and I will be able to focus more on music. There, I’ll be around other musicians who push each other, because we are so competitive,” she said. And while Hesse has gone far in her musical career, it is per haps her commitment to music that has been her greatest achieve ment. Hesse was raised in Aiken, a small city known more for horse racing than music. Her environ ment growing up was atypical to fostering the level of talent that Hesse has achieved. She would of ten cross the state line to Augusta, Ga., for her strings lessons. And she does not come from what she described as a musical family. “When I talk to my parents about music, they can't really re late to what I’m saying, but I know they care,” she said. By the time Hesse had reached her 13th birthday, she began to have priorities other than music. By then she was becoming bored and just “going through the mo tions” in playing the violin. “I had other things I wanted to do,” Hesse said. “But I never quit, and I caught right back onto it.” Hesse returned to music during her junior and senior years of high school at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville to study and perform music. “It was the first time I experi enced an art environment with so many other artists. There, at that school with all of those different people doing the same thing, I was able to grow as a musician,” she said. Hesse hopes to play in a per cussion orchestra when she fin ishes college. “That would be a dream, but that’s like an athlete trying to get onto a pro team ... I’m going to shoot for it and see what hap pens,” she said. “I’m like a lot of college students; it’s hard to know what to do after, but right now I’m trying not to worry about it until I have to.” And while Hesse decides what she will study in graduate school, she said she is more worried about learning Italian in time for this summer’s trip. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Debate CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 year international relations stu dent Zach Smith — was just a win shy of advancing to the elimina tion round. A third USC team — second year economics and political sci ence student Bill Vigen and first year business student Maggi< Brock — won the DSR-TK/ National Honorary Championship at the University of Alabama. Berube said student interest ir the team has escalated in view of its new winning record. “We're getting flooded with people,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. I have 35 ap plications for next year, and there are only four spaces.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there’s no telling what you’ll work on. (Seriously, we can’t tell you.) ► i United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you'll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You'll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what's waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com. 1) U.S. AIR FORCE CROSS INTO THE BLUE | >*r^'. Becauf&mj^rs^^^^u^^^Thursd^oo^f Gonpralulalions to allthe ladies of Jlappa Delia who made a 3.5 or fipfer for lfie Jail semester Courtney JRluarez OBennett CRnt/rews Biz ORnne JRncfrears Carouke ORrceH fjulie JRrrinyton JRshley JRvinyer Jitary JSticlaelJBertalan Bara OB/orA w Jltolfy Dilatt Susie DBo/Her Jlolly QBoaxlre Jlteyan OBurcl/ialter JBrittany Capps ORnna DCate Clanton OBlair Clawson Salle JRutR Coleman* JltererJitR Gone JCeffey Gonnetr Spencer Grisweft JCeitty Graft m Susanna Grosson* DCatie Guppia* OCristen Gupstitf Jfeaitter Dauenpoli* OCatie Deason JCristen Demars * Olnna Derrick Jenny DominicA DCelly Douyan Jtofly Douytas Jltary Qowniny* OBrancfi DraAe /Saura DuAose JlCary C/race Gctwartts JKolfie Olrott Xafnryn [Hazier Dale Ji66on* JSary Th/iley Harper Jamie Harrison JKoffy Jlarrison JCaren Jfetxferson JJTary (Iffen Horn Jessica Jnafineii JKey an Jen fins * .jLaire Jensen * Jay for JGny jGmmie Jtrrf [Katie Sancaster JKey Sanier Soy an SocJtett* Dar6y JKann Stephanie TKat tin Cjfizaheih TKaasser (Xancy JKoore • Cn'ca Price (Anna Penninger TKari Sit ion . CJizahetf Slarupa * (Annie (Japp JKofJy (Jay lor Casey Triplett Sarahann Danzani* Betsy Ijarn toes fie Watson Grin Whitworth* (Jenna Wile Behe Wilson Gait fin Woo<f I* Indicates 4.0 i-1 Gloilt&iliM jq ++1t<tiP'U)4ecl What is the Clothesline? The Clothesline Project provides an opportunity for survivors of sexual violence and their loved ones to paint a t-shirt expressing their inner sorrows and triumphs. These t-shirts will then be displayed on Greene Street on March 31st so that others can bear witness to their experiences. Who can participate? Students, staff and faculty who are survivors of trauma, or those wishing to paint a t-shirt on behalf of a loved-one who has been subjected to sexual violence, are invited to paint a t-shirt at one of the on-campus sessions listed below: — Mond^yM^I, 22 Tuesday, March 23 ThA***^^ ■w.ubl,y ‘ ■tST B„„ „T„t McClintoek S-kS”1"* Social Room t^L y _ 5-/PM Towers q" PM Pinckney/Legare Main Lobby pstone Horseshoe 7.9PM ment Reading Room AXtt House* l>M 6-8pm 6-8pM For more information concerning the Clothesline Project, call USC's Office for Sexual Health and Violence Prevention at 576-5722. Student Health Services * Student Development Sc University Housing * Division of Student Sc Alumni Services