The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 11, 2004, Image 1
www.dailygarnecock.com __MONDAY, OCTOBER 11,2004 _ Since 1908
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ NEWS
Election exit
The Secretary of
Defense says the U.S.
might keep fewer troops
in Iraq after elections.
Page 3
♦ VIEWPOINTS
DeMint snafu
SG President Zachery
Scott says the GOP
Senate candidate
embarrassed S.C. with
his anti-gay comments.
Page4
♦ THE MIX
Gods and
mortals meet
A new exhibit celebrates
African tribal art.
Page 6
♦ SPORTS
Rebels upset
USC 31-28
The Gamecock sports
staff gives an in-depth
recap of Saturday’s
game.
Page 9
WEATHER
n* TUESDAY
High 77 High 70
Low 59 Low 59
FOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics and Crossword.8
Classifieds..•.11
Horoscopes.8
Letters to the Editor.4
Online Poll..4
Police Report.2
I t
USC flu vaccine
order canceled
British suppliers license suspended, health center places back-up order
By JON TURNER
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
USC’s order for flu shots has been
canceled after Chiron Corp., one of two
major U.S. suppliers, had its license
suspended by the British government on
Tuesday.
USC’s health center usually
distributes about 2,000 flu vaccines, but
TT'II
YY lllldlll X »ll*i
director of
Student Health
Services, said
the Health
Center is doing
its best to
adjust to the
shortage.
“We’re just
hanging in there
n CtK T nnur
trying to see
what we can find out,” he said. “We have
ordered 2,000 doses from the other
manufacturer, but we’re on the backlist for
that.”
For the average student, chances of
getting a vaccine in the next month are
pretty slim. Aventis, the other flu vaccine
provider, is working at full capacity to meet
original production and cannot begin
additional vaccine production until late
November, according to a USC news
release. USC health officials said they don’t
expect to get vaccines from Aventis until
mid-December.
A USC news release says the Richland
County Health Department will not have
any flu vaccine before Oct. 18.
Although many organizations
recommend the vaccines to students, Hill
• J . -L 1
not at high
“comparative”
risk.
Healthy
students ought
to be reasonably
safe from the flu,
but there are
exceptions.
“If you’re run
rlmvn if* vnn’rp
* '
sickly, if you
aren’t getting good sleep, if you aren’t
getting good nutrition chances are you’ll be
more susceptible,” Hill said.
Although the Health Center lost it’s
initial order for the injectable vaccine, it has
purchased 100 doses of FluMist, a nasal
vaccine using the live virus. Unfortunately,
the use of the nasal vaccine is more
dangerous than the injectable kind.
“We have ordered
2,000 doses from the
other manufacturer,
but we’re on the
backlist for that.”
WILLIAM HILL
STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR
“If you’re pregnant you can’t take it, if
have a compromised immune system you
can’t take it, if you’re over 49 you can’t take
it,” Hill said, but “for some students, it
would be appropriate and for some
students it would provide protection.”
Hill defined a student at high risk as
“any student who has a compromised
immune system, or has a chronic illness,
especially involving the respiratory system.”
Hill said the best protection for students
was a healthy lifestyle.
“The best protection, of course, is the
vaccine, but the second-best protection is to
avoid people that have the flu.
“Avoid crowds, avoid areas where you
could be exposed to somebody,” he said.
“Maintain good general health.”
Despite the shortage, Hill said this flu
season wasn’t likely to be an unusual one.
“The vaccine is a preventative, and its
relative value as dependent on a flu
outbreak depends on the strain of an
outbreak,” he said.
DHEC and the Centers for Disease
Control have also released information on
flu vaccines and prevention, which is
available on their Web sites at
www.scdhec.net and www.cdc.gov.
Comments on this stoiy? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Deputies patrol the fair on foot after three minors were shot
Saturday on the grounds of the South Carolina State Fair.
Weekend shooting
doesn H stop crowds
By JACOB DAVIS
STAFF WRITER
A shooting at the South Carolina
State Fair late Saturday night left one
teen in critical condition and two
others injured, but the fair was open
on Sunday and continued to admit
massive crowds late into the night,
including USC students.
Columbia police said the shooting
happened just after 11 p.m. when a
large group of teens was leaving the
fair. Police said one 13-year-old was
shot in the lower leg, one 14 year-old
was shot in the right foot and another
14-year-old was shot in the back of
the head. A group of two or three
people approaching the fairground
got into an argument with the teens
when the shooting began.
No one has been charged in the
shooting and no suspects have been
identified, police spokesman Skot
Garrick said Sunday.
The incident caused authorities to
shut down the fair’s North Gate
Saturday night.
The shootings have left some USC
students wondering if the State Fair is
♦ Please see SHOOTING, page 3
HAPPY AT HOMECOMING
JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK
Alpha Delta Pi members hand out candy and balloons at the Homecoming parade to young spectators Friday.
Vacation
schedule
changed
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
After years of fall break falling on a
Monday and Tuesday, this year’s break
will be stan Thursday.
“I think it sucks,” said Lauren Dillard,
a third-year early childhood education
student. “Because some people already
don’t have classes on Friday, so if you
have a Thursday-Friday break then you
are getting off a day you already have off.”
The change in schedule was adopted
in January 2003, because school officials
requested a “common calendar” for all
USC campuses.
According to University Registrar
Barbara Blaney, there were a number of
options put forth by her office to solve the
problem, but officials agreed on the option
for fall break and adopted it months later.
“Implementation was delayed a
year,” Blaney wrote in an e-mail to The
Gamecock, “because the approval was
too close to fall 2003 scheduling to put
♦ Please see BREAK, page 3
Ball stolen from top
of Maxcy monument
during Homecoming
By JUSTIN CHAPURA
THE GAMECOCK
A piece of USC lore was stolen off the
Horseshoe during the weekend as the ball
atop the Maxcy Monument has been
missing since Saturday morning.
USC Architect Charles Jeffcoat
confirmed the ball had not been taken
down for maintenance purposes. Jeffcoat
said the ball was fastened to its stand at the
top of the monument.
“I knew that the ball was fixed, but I
don’t know if it was actually welded there
or held by a brace,” he said.
USC spokesman Russ McKinney said
the monument “is one of the most time
honored symbols of the University.” He
said the USC Police Department “will
certainly look into this and figure out what
happened to it and how to recover it.”
This is not the first time the ball has
been stolen. In the Feb. 19, 1954 edition of
The Gamecock, managing editor Bill
Leggitt wrote an article condemning the
theft of the ball, which he described as a
“prank.” Leggitt also alluded to the myth
that the ball spins whenever a female virgin
walks by, giving the earliest record of the
popular legend.
Chris Mitchell, a second-year geology
student and Horseshoe resident, said he
noticed the ball missing Saturday morning.
“It was about 11 o’clock, and I saw
what looked like a hammer and a chisel
about 10 feet up on the monument,” said
Mitchell. The hammer and chisel were no
longer on the monument Sunday evening.
Mitchell did not inform the police.
“I thought people already knew about
it,” Mitchell said.
Police were not contacted by anyone
during the weekend about the missing ball.
USC police didn’t know the orb was
missing until they were contacted by The
Gamecock, a USCPD spokesman said.
Peter Sederberg, dean of the Honors
College and head of the Horseshoe
Historical Restoration Committee,
expressed his hope that the theft was just a
prank.
“I hope that whoever took it will return
it,” he said.
Sederberg mentioned there has been
some speculation whether or not the ball
contains the ashes of Jonathan Maxcy, first
♦Vlease see THEFT, page 3
y.—.-1
CONCERNS
Public urination
dampens some
freshman hall
experiences
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
USC freshmen residence hall
LaBorde suffered from two separate
instances last month in which the
urination of one student resulted in
dirty clothes of others.
On Sept. 10, first-year business
student Justin Sharp found urine in the
washing machine on the fourth floor of
his dorm.
Sharp said he was “pretty unhappy”
that someone decided to urinate in the
dryer.
“It was pretty awful," he said.
Sharp said that two or three days later
all the fourth floor residents received
notes under their doors stating that
everyone would share the $300 expense
to either repair or replace the unit.
“Obviously public urination, if you
#
WINDSOR COWART/THE GAMECOCK
Caroline DeSanctis, a first-year print journalism student, is a little
skeptical of the LaBorde dryers after reports of public urination.
look at die community statutes, is
against the law," Housing Direfctor
Gene Luna said.
Almost two weeks later and two
Doors higher, resident and first-year
journalism student Caroline DeSanctis
was about to wash clothes when she
discovered a note on her sixth floor
dryer that read: “If you don’t want your
clothes saturated then I suggest you use
another dryer.”
“I was really disgusted and mad,”
DeSanctis said. “Because I couldn’t do
laundry and the machine was in the
bathroom, so there was jusr no reason.”
DeSanctis said that there was some
confusion on the female floor as to who
k
would be cleaning it up, but alter a tew
days, it was sanitized and back in use.
Luna said freshman halls are not
treated any differently than other residence
halls and that all students living in these
hafls abide by the code of conduct set for
all students, which means that the student
responsible would get a judicial referral.
“Students (who get a judicial
referral) have the right be heard by an
administrative council or the judicial
council, which is designed to be set up
by peers,” Luna said.
Luna said the majority of students
have adopted the code of conduct well
♦ Please see CONCERNS, page 3
$