Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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O N LIN E P O L L THE GAMECOCK • Wednesday July 20,2005 $ Do you support President Bush’s "T 'T'-l | "1 ”W"~W’"T’-1 \ /^~\ "T” "TV "T" Ml rrrmte? . V r W r () N I S www.dailygamecock.com. f 1 I -A f f B B l B b^y THi%AMECOCK CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknfews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor's Office: 777-39*4 STAFF EDITOR Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Taylor Smith VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine THE MIX EDITOR Shana Till SPORTS EDITOR Alex Riley COPY EDITORS Laura-Joyce Gough Brindy McNair PAGE DESIGNERS Jessica Ann Nielsen Megan Sinclair Mary Pinckney Waters ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Scott Lindenberg FACULTY ADVISER Erik Collins CREATIVE DIRECTOR Susan King BUSINESS MANAGER Carolyn Griffin ADVERTISING MANAGER Sarah Scarborough CLASSIFIED MANAGER Sherry F. Holmes PRODUCTION MANAGER Garen Cansler The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer, with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Office of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Office of Student Media. GAMECOCK CORRECTION If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know about it. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia. S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 I EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Taylor Smith SPORTS EDITOR Alex Riley THE MIX EDITOR Shana Till VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine IN OUR OPINION Partnership with city helps fuel cell program Columbia mayor Bob Coble’s Monday proposal for the city to con tribute up to $1 million a year to USC’s hydrogen fuel cell research efforts promises to usher in a new era of cooperation between USC and the city that has the potential to benefit South Carolina and the environment. The relationship has been strained in recent years over the issue of a shared venue for Gamecock and minor-league baseball, but USC’s research initiatives hold the opportunity of cutting-edge education for USC and new jobs for Columbia. With the S.C. legisla ture slashing USC’s funding on a yearly basis, necessitating tuition hikes, bringing in outside money for research is fundamental to the future of affordable public education here and across the nation. Hydrogen fuel cell technology, which is the subject of one of the pushes for the new research campus being built on Assembly Street, holds the key to American energy independence and reduced reliance on oil-producing nations. As President Bush has advocated, the use of alternative fuels is essential for everything from undermining terrorism to keeping our environment clean without curtailing our freedom. USC’s leadership would be wise to embrace this offer of support from the city, for the sake of more than just a simple partnership. I 1 )_-■ -Tt' J J J V ; At U. Sex offender registry insufficient for masses Do you live next to a sex offender? I used to, until my mother, siblings and I found out when my bus driver and neighbor told us. In South Carolina, it is not mandated that sex offenders tell neighbors about their conviction. The law does, however, LASHONDA mandate that HILL offenders file Graduate their location s?*n,in*'. . College of Social and reason for Work conviction with the National Sex Offenders Registry. These offenders’ pictures and information are posted and available to anyone with Internet access. I value the progress toward awareness, although I am concerned for people who do not have Internet access. What happens to the older population or the disabled that are unaware of how to maneuver a Web site to find local offenders? One solution would be to mail notices to neighbors. Granted, this would place offenders in the public eye and possibly embarrass them, but is that not a fair price to pay? I wonder what could have happened if the recently captured murderer and sexual offender Samuel Loftis’ m. information was not available on the Internet. Should my sisters, or other children, be subjected to possible molestation, rape or assault by former offenders because the information was not well-known? I believe working parents, the elderly and the simply oblivious should be informed. When my bus driver told my mother our neighbor was an offender, it changed our actions in the neighborhood. Though he never had the opportunity to interact with any of us beyond a simple hello, the information was important since he had committed his sexual offense not far from where we lived. Telling everyone about the offender was not the job or desire of the bus driver, but it concerned her that he was meeting us almost every day as we were exiting the bus, and this behavior caught her attention. i nere are many situations that could have been prevented if greater awareness surrounded these issues. There are 2000 children reported missing every day, with a l-in-3 chance for girls and a 1-in-6 chance for boys to be a victim of a sexual assault. There are great Web sites that can be freely accessed to find any sexual offenders living in your area. But people that do not have Internet access will, I suppose, have to wait to learn it from the news or from a bus driver, unless we can think of a better way to spread awareness. For those with Internet access, www.sled.state.sc.us is a good Web site for basic information on sexual offenders in South Carolina. Knowledge is golden, and to survive and avoid victimization, we all must take action and remain aware. X JVST attach WWPOM ^ \JJOvcO ' T*u<&0 u/rrrt Ygs fiftsr £ coolo m y HAv£ 5Av£t? VW f) o< COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS