The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 12, 2004, Page 3, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

■ COCKTAILS Continued from page 1 strong finish at Sojam. Other members said the real competition would lie in a cappella groups other than Clemson. “We’re not too nervous about competing with Tigeroar, because it’s doubtless that they’ll probably place higher,” Kim said. “A group called Sweet Signatures is going to be more of a challenge because they are at the same caliber as us.” Sweet Signatures is a female a cappella group from Elon University in North Carolina. Aside from competitions, Cocktails is working on enriching their f contemporary-style repertoire for performances on their home turf. “We do a Madonna medley, we sing some songs by Eve 6, but we’re now trying to incorporate a more choral sound to our style,” IJ SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Nikki Nauss, left, and Teresa Beach enjoy the down time between Cocktail shows at Wal-Mart. Wong said. The group plans to release a CD in the Spring of 2006. Cocktails was formed in the fall of 2002 by now-treasurer Laura Fisher after she saw USC already had an all male a cappella group, Higher Harmony. Cocktails has performed several concerts since and has been asked to sing at several functions on campus. This is the first year the student-run group has competed in a cappella competitions. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu ■ MAXCY Continued from page 1 Sunday streets, the closed shops and the leaves blowing down Assembly Street toward a deserted football stadium littered with trash. The Monday morning headlines in The Gamecock for once did not relate the loss of the game in glaring back and white for the students to see. Something else had happened that weekend, something, it seemed, that was far more important. “I didn’t think it would make the front page so I was stoked when it did,” Springer said. ■ FLU Continued from page 1 over and take advantage of the opportunity.” The health center administers shots from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. I-7 7 After seeing the headlines, the students who had lifted the ball two nights before began to understand its impact. The administration had no clue to how the ball was even attached to the monument. “To me,” Springer said, “the wit of the prank has to outweigh the harm.” He said they were planning on keeping the ball around their apartment for a week or two then returning it to its rightful place atop the monument. “I’d heard students talking about it ? in class, there were even students who claimed to be personally offended by the thing,” he said. “There was one kid who said whoever did it had insulted the Monday through Thursday, and will not be open for Thanksgiving or the Friday after. The vaccine, Hill said, is open to faculty members who are employed by USC and have donated to the USC family fund. “The normal price for staff is $15, and if they donate then they can come over and get a shot free of charge,” Hill said. Lexington officer dies in Iraq ambush THE ASSOCIATED PRESS t A South Carolina Highway Patrolman who was on leave and working in Iraq to help train police forces there has been killed in an ambush, a family friend says. Douglas Thomas, 47, died Wednesday after he was hit by a piece of shrapnel during an explosion near the convoy he was traveling in, said Highway Patrol Cpl. Kelley Hughes, a friend who had worked with Thomas for 12 years. Thomas, of Lexington, was a 17 year veteran of the patrol. He had asked for a leave of absence in June to work for DynCorp International Inc., a State Department contractor helping train the Iraqi National Police Force. Hughes said he remembered Thomas as a generous man. In his leave request, Thomas said he has “enjoyed my 17 years on the patrol but would like to serve in the military police in Iraq for the next year,” Hughes read in the statement. ■ MAIL Continued from page 1 she said. “No student has ever complained to us that that is the case.” Zeigler said the newest mailboxes cost $15 each when USC bought 6,000 to install in the Russell House basement. She said that buying one or two individual boxes would likely cost a “considerable amount.” Washington said she doubted replacing boxes would significandy improve security. “It would help if they didn’t put the combinations on the inside,” she said. The basement has about 8,000 boxes “We understand the importance of mail and the security of mail,” Zeigler said. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu ntegrity of the school. It was a practical oke, we re in college, the kids here really leed to lighten up.” Springer said the reason he and his fiends took the ball to show that USC audents should live up the expectations of :ollege. “Every other school I visited before here tad pranks that had gone down in history, fhey tell you about them on the college ours. It seems like the more elite schools lave the better pranks. It becomes part of heir tradition, you know?” With the newspaper headlines and heir fellow students’ voices fresh in heir minds, the students who took the irass ball down returned it to the nonument the following Wednesday. But they did not turn themselves in. “I actually didn’t take part in returning the ball,” Springer says. “Because I didn’t believe in it. I had no intention of keeping it from the start, it wasn’t a theft it was a prank.” In the end, too many people had known the identities of the pranksters, and after a failed attempt by a few girls from Maxcy to put a pumpkin in the place of the ball, the pressure was on them to give themselves up. They did. In the end he was ordered to do 15 hours of community service, cleaning Williams-Brice Stadium. Springer said he certainly has learned his lesson. “But don’t think I’m finished yet,” he said. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” After relatively mild and short seasons in recent years, Hill said, afficials at the center are hoping for a mild season this year, but they are planning for the worst. “We just got advice that it is coming, I just don’t feel confident betting on speculation of when,” Hill said. “With this year, I will believe it when I see it.” Hill said he doesn’t want the expected shipment to lead students to think that the health center really has 800 shots, because the shots might not come in. Comments on this story ? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edit ■ ACCIDENT Continued from page 1 struck by a 1990 four-door Nissan as she attempted to cross the street at a crosswalk “I couldn’t figure out why everyone was over to one side of the snack bar in the Coliseum looking out the window, until I actually looked out myself and saw the scene,” Whit Ashley, a second year public relations student, said. The victim was transported to Richland Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. Columbia police have not released the victim’s name or the name of the driver. The driver, also a female, was charged with driving too fast for conditions. Traffic stopped along that section of the street for about an hour and a half as police questioned bystanders and an ambulance carried the victim to the hospital. “Students could stay safer while crossing the street just by being a little more cautious,” USC Police Chief Ernie Ellis said. “I notice in my travels around campus that many students use cell phones or are engaged in heavy conversation while crossing the street. People could benefit gready just from paying more attention to theii surroundings. Just because you legally have the right of way doesn’t mean it will always be yielded to you.” Ellis said that drivers, particularly in the downtown area, can decrease their likelihood of hitting a pedestrian by observing speed limits and driving defensively. “You really need to be on the lookout for people who are jaywalking and otherwise crossing the street improperly,” Ellis said. “With all these cars parallel parked along the side of the road, people can appear to just jump out from in between them sometimes, giving the driver little warning.” Ashley said he sees people “flying down that road all the time.” “It’s really unfortunate that somebody was injured as the result of another’s negligence. I think this situation shows us that everyone could benefit from having more patience —more patience in waiting to cross the street as well as more patience in getting to one’s destination so as not to be dangerously exceeding the speed limit,” he said. Comments on this story ? E-mail gamecocknews@gW7n.sc. edit I PRESENTS O NORTH CHARLESTON COLISEUM c/}/V SUNDAY qrETCHEN *^^,1 NOVEMBER 21 NOMINATED FOR | A COMBINED “ |i YZ. HSTORES NOW! ^ <S> CMT I TICKETS ONSALE NOW! j at all Ticketmaster outlets including Publix, charge at (843) 554-6060 or online at Ticketmaster.com. | A A S E Stop on 2004 Miffed Friday, November 12th at 8:00pm Roger Center For The Arts n portion or (M proems mm win awnt will go towards tnt Elitt Malt ScMorstiip AdjrMon: $10 in advance * $13 day of show T tcLsb *w<iitiWc at K H Information Dttlc^ C arotna C disaim 5 oxO ffice for more info cal 0305)5^-1025 orW)777^l