University of South Carolina Libraries
IN THIS ISSUE ♦ NEWS Ukraine elects new president Former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko will become president Sunday, having beaten a Kremlin backed candidate and a poisoned assassination attempt. Page3 ♦VIEWPOINTS IA chance to get involved Adam Beam says students should get involved with | USC’s many organizations, f and that the organization fair is a great place to start. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX -As seen on TV Learn more about the current trend of TV shows being released on DVD. Pages ♦ SPORTS Gamecock men hit SEC road The Gamecock Sports staff previews Saturday’s crucial game at Mississippi State. Page 8 WEATHER ♦ TODAY ♦ SAT. High 5 6 High 5 7 Low 33 Low 44 for extended forecast, see page 2. INDEX Comics and Crossword...7 Classifieds.10 Horoscopes.7 Letters to the Editor..4 Online Poll..4 Police Report..2 Six football players charged with larceny ■ Pinkins, Newton among athletes arrested after Nov. 22 incident By STEPHEN FASTENAU ASST. SPORTS EDITOR USC announced Thursday that six football players will be charged in relation to the Nov. 22 theft of $18,000 worth of laptops, video equipment and framed photographs from Williams Brice Stadium. Senior offensive lineman Woodly Telfort was charged with grand larceny, which alleges that he stole items worth more than $1,000. Sophomore quarterback Syvelle Newton, seniors quarterback Dondrial rinkins and defensive lineman Freddy Saint-Preux, and former student and linebacker Rodriques Wilson were charged with petit larceny. USC officials said all computer and video equipment had been returned. The players were arrested Thursday afternoon and attended an arraignment Thursday evening, The Associated Press reported. Officials could not confirm that all NEWTON the stolen wall display items had been returned. Warrants were obtained and served by the USC Law Enforcement and Safety Division in partnership with the S.C. Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. One additional player, whose name is being withheld, will also be charged. USC Athletic Director Mike McGee said in a statement Thursday that returning players charged would be suspended from the team pending the resolution of the charges. Telfort was suspended prior to the charges for his involvement in the thefts. Both Telfort and Saint Preux were already suspended for the season-opener for their role in a season-ending brawl with Clemson. “USC Law .Enforcement has worked with the athletics department during this review and has determined that charges will be filed against six of our former or current student-athletes,” McGee said. “Regrettably, a few of our student-athletes made a very poor decision during the course of a frustrating situation, and they must now face the consequences.” The thefts took place shortly after McGee told players that they would not be attending a bowl game as a result of the brawl. The athletics department made an announcement soon after the thefts that five of the stolen laptops had been returned. The announcement later proved to be false, a mistake McGee took responsibility for. “I appreciate Dr. McGee’s acceptance of responsibility for the initial report from the athletics department that inaccurately — reported that ail or the stolen equipment had been returned,” USC President j Andrew Sorensen said in a news release. “I feel the actions we are taking are H appropriate, and I look forward to the final disposition of the matter once all student disciplinary proceedings have been concluded. The charges come on the heels of the announcement Tuesday that McGee will retire in June. The investigation, led by Sorensen, spanned nearly two months. Both Lou Holtz’s retirement and new USC football coach Steve Spurrier’s subsequent hiring took place under the cloud of the investigation. ♦ Please see THEFT, page 3 PINKINS CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK Dondrial Pinkins, a former team captain, was arrested Thursday in connection with a November larceny at Williams-Brice Stadium. EMILY WAGGONER/THE GAMECOCK Ordinances state that drivers who park on lawns can be fined. Officials toured Greene Street to remind students of the rules. Officials caution Five Points renters to curb violations By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER Columbia will hold USC students living near Five Points to stricter standards when it comes to loud music and litter in yards, city officials said this week. Columbia Public Safety Inspector Harold Reaves visited USC students on Greene Street on Tuesday, but instead of fining them for violations, he discussed their rights as residents and the actions they can take to protect those rights. Reaves conducted “The Greene Street Sweep,” with Student Life Director Jerry Brewer, Student Government President Zachery Scott and Kathryn Fenner, a private practice lawyer in Columbia. “Basically the importance of the Green Street Sweep is to educate the residents of their responsibility and their landlords’ responsibilities in keeping the property presentable and the area safe,” Scott, a fourth-year political science student, said. The two-hour tour of the Greene Street area served as a time for the group to pass out fliers warning residents of city ordinances that new inhabitants generally have problems with. The flier named offenses such as housing more than three unrelated persons at once, litter in a resident’s yard, and unreasonably loud noises or music coming from a residence. “My philosophy is that if I can keep you from doing it, then it is easier than coming out there and fining you,” Reaves said. “These residents are part of the university, but they are part of the community as well.” Fennejr said local landlords have been known to prey on student-residents and the living conditions of some of the apartments do not match their costs. Fenner, who lived on Greene Street when she attended USC from 1977 to 1981, said the area was “pretty bad” back then, but now, several ordinances that were passed after significant lobbying from her neighborhood association have created a place that “residents can be proud of.” “We are trying to make sure that everyone is safe,” Fenner said. “And you might have gotten away with (violations) in the past, but now they can use this against you.” Reaves said The Sweep is new for the city, but said he hopes future events will increase residents’ and students’ awareness. He emphasized that size will help combat how well the transitory college-age residents are informed of the rules that apply in their new living community. “The people who live there year round know who the safety officer is,” Reaves said. “If we can educate them, crime prevention techniques as well, then everyone is better for it.” The Sweep, Reaves said, was not designed to appeal solely to residents. He said Columbia is also working closely with landlords. “We are ^working with landlords to make sure their properties are being kept up to standards, and if we are finding that the property owner is not keeping the property up to standard, then we will step in and make them,” Reaves said. Fenner said the neighborhood association has gotten reports of ♦ Please.see ORDINANCE, page 3 3 6 Kappa Alpha members reprimanded, official says By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER A national official of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity has confirmed that 36 members of about 70 at the USC chapter were censured for policy violations within the organization. Todd Shelton, media-relations officer for the fraternity, said K.A. decided in December to reprimand more than half of USC’s chapter for violations of fraternity policy. “Thirty-six were implicated, but there were not 36 involved,” Shelton said. “Some people were not forthcoming (about violations), and that is a violation in itself.” Shelton flatly denied that any hazing took place within the fraternity last semester, but said a number of K.A. fraternity members were placed on an involuntary alumni status, which prohibits them from participating in any function of the USC chapter. Shelton said the violations “were related to alcohol and misconduct”, but that there was no underage drinking and no subsequent investigation by USC or Columbia police departments. “The violations were just ICA. policy and would not have been anything handled by someone else,” Shelton said. Although no one was expelled or suspended for the incident, Shelton said he would not go into the specific violations because of “individual privacy issues.” Student Life Director Jerry Brewer said his office, which oversees Greek Life, has said that USC generally allows national organizations like K.A. to handle their own disciplinary policy, “and unless it is a violation with the school, we let them handle it. And like, with this case, that is what we are doing.” Shelton emphasized that USC’s K.A. chapter has incurred no other disciplinary action against it in recent years. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu Readership program lacks funding By SOREN KORNEGAY THE GAMECOCK Unless the USC Board of Trustees raises Student Activity Fees $2 by next semester, the school will no longer be able to provide free New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal newspapers. Student Government’s announcement came Wednesday after it was determined that, without a new source of funding, the school’s newspaper program would be discontinued. The program, known as the Collegiate Readership Program, is responsible for distributing free newspapers to students at various locations around campus. Initially created two years ago using a one-time financial surplus, the newspaper readership program has been in financial trouble for much of the past year. The second year after its inception, members of Student Government, including President Zachery Scon, a fourth-year political science student, had to solicit donations from the deans of various colleges within USC to make the program financially possible. Scon said he believes that without the fee increase, an important part of students’ education might be neglected. “The purpose of the program is to encourage students to become more aware of current world events,” Scon said. “Studies have shown that students who are aware of current events are more likely to vote or be engaged in the political process.” Many students agree that the free newspapers are an important pan of their day. First-year business student Leize Marie Baschon said she likes having the papers around. “It is definitely worth a $2 fee increase to keep the newspaper program running,” she said. “The paper is an important pan of my morning routine, and when it is free I read it far more often.” First-year biology student Cale Bonner said the free newspapers are helpful and imponant but that their distribution method could be improved. ♦ Please see PROGRAM, page 3 Surf club escapes landlocked city By ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK Columbia isn’t renowned for its great surfing, as it’s about 100 miles from the coast. But that didn’t stop about 60 USC students from forming the new Carolina Surf Club this year. Fourth-year English student Adam Schaffer started the club as a way for students to “meet each other and go surfing and snowboarding for cheap and party.” The group on Thursday night held its second meeting this semester to discuss the plans and cost of its snowboarding trip to Sugar Mountain ski resort in North Carolina next weekend. ^ “I don’t have $65. I’ve got to start donating plasma really quick,” Schaffer said, launching the group on a tangent about the going rate for plasma donations in Columbia. The surf club is nearly evenly split between men and women but not in levels of experience. “The majority has no idea how-to surf,” said Schaffer, who has been surfing since he was 11. “Even the officers don’t know how to surf.” Second-year computer science student Eric Robbins has never surfed but joined because his friends are members. “Why not? I can learn how to surf,” he said. And that’s the idea, Schaffer said. Lessons are free, and all members who tried to surf last semester learned. The club made surfing trips to Folly Beach, Cape Hatteras, N.C., and Cocoa Beach/Sebastian’s Inlet, Fla., last semester. Each trip costs members $30, including transportation and lodging in beachfront houses. The club’s sponsorship from Salty’s in Five Points and fund-raisers help the group afford the trips. The group has held Greene Street bake sales and helped with promotional campaigns. When Schaffer announced that the Sugar Mountain cost does not include food, a few members mentioned pancakes. The breakfast food became a Surf ♦ Please see SURF, page 3