The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 22, 2005, Page 2, Image 2
New program
tracks down
Iraqi bad boys
Tim Tran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KIRKUK, IRAQ — Shattered
glass, body parts, a blood
splattered blue sedan: the grainy
video pans over the scene as Iraqi
officers comb the site of a drive-by
assassination.
It’s “Cops” Iraqi-style, minus
the “Bad Boys”' soundtrack but
otherwise roughly modeled after
the American TV show.
Created to make government
more transparent, “The . Cops
Show” featuring Kirkuk officers in
action is the first of its kind in the
country and is breaking new
ground in Iraqi television. A live
call-in portion gives the public the
chance to praise the security forces
or gripe about them.
Screened weekly on Kirkuk
Television, which broadcasts in this
northern city of nearly 1 million
people, “The Cops Show” has
opened the floodgates in a
community long suppressed. .
“During Saddam Hussein’s time,
it was very different,” station
manager Nasser Hassan
Mohammed said. “You were unable
to ask questions. You couldn’t say
• anything bad about police.
“Now people can call in directly.
Anyone has the right to do this.
This is the difference now. This is
freedom.”
1 he call-in portion, initially a
novelty, has become a staple of the
show, and panelists field up to 30
calls per segment, Mohammed
said. And because' Kirkuk is
ethnically mixed, the show
switches among the languages
spoken by Kurds, Arabs,
Turkomen or Assyrians.
It took Iraqis a while to master
the art of the phone-in.
“But after more than a year, they
understand very well,”
Mohammed said.
Col. Gordon Petrie, the show’s
American military adviser, said it
marks a new era for community
service television.
“There has been a sea change in
media,” said Petrie, who heads
public affairs for the 116th Brigade
Combat Team. “Before 2003, it
was all-Saddam, all-the-time.
“Kirkuk, which was one of the
largest TV stations, basically was
robotic. They’d get the Baghdad
feed and send it out again. Now
they are in charge here.”
Until January’s landmark
elections, the Americans “ran the
shows, booked the guests, and
tried to show them what
community service programming
was about.
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Carol Schultz, a second-year economics student, pays the Bull Street Garage fee. The garage changed its hours and fees for the fall.
POLICE REPORT
THURSDAY, AUG. 18
Lost property
Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness
Center, 1000 Blossom St.
Amber Guyton said she misplaced a
wallet containing a debit card and six
keys, including a West Quad master key.
Reporting officer: C. Knoche.
Information report
1600 Enoree Ave.
The Columbia Police Department
reported that while Elizabeth Jenkins was
driving a black Nissan Pathfinder, she
collided with a Nissan Altima belonging
to Austin Julian. Jenkins then drove
approximately 100 yards down the street
and was found by a witness, who said
Jenkins was attempting to dispose of
alcohol found in her car. Jenkins was
arrested. Reporting officer: J.M.
Simmons.
Malicious injury to personal property
1200 Catawba St.
Jerry Smalls said someone broke out
the driver’s-side taillight of his vehicle.
Estimated damage: $250.
Reporting officer: J.M. Simmons.
Dostproperty
Russell House, 1400 Greene Street
The victim said he lost his wallet,
which contained a Social Security card,
driver a license and debit card.
These reports are taken directly from the USC .
Police Department.
More gay groups donating to politicians
The Associated Press
Gay and lesbian activists in
South Carolina have begun
contributing more money to
politicians who support them,
signaling a growth among gay
and lesbian groups.
Since January, nine prominent
gay and lesbian activists have
contributed more than $3,000 to
state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter,
D-Orangeburg, and state Sen.
Robert Ford, D-Charleston,
according to lawmakers’
campaign finance records.
Cobb-Hunter was one of three
House members to vote against a
constitutional amendment that
would ban gay marriage and civil
unions in South Carolina. Ford
was the only senator to vote
against the amendment, which
will be on the November 2006
general election ballot.
The lawmakers were “very,
very supportive of us in a very
difficult situation,” said Linda
Ketner, chairwoman of the South
Carolina Equality Coalition.
In addition to Ketners group,
Cobb-Hunter and Ford received
donations from the Alliance for
Full Acceptance and the South
Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride
Movement.
Cobb-Hunter said she is
seeing an evolution among gay
and lesbian groups.
“This is the first time I’ve
gotten contributions in a
significant way from the gay
communities, and I’ve
championed their views for 13
years in the General Assembly,”
Cobb-Hunter said. But, she
added, “It’s not because of the
contributions that I stand up for
them.”
Ford also supports the
organization’s point of view.
“An issue like (gay marriage)
should never have been
discussed,” Ford said. “It
shouldn’t have come up in any
political body in this country.
What someone does with their
lives should be their business. We
can’t regulate morality.”
Contributing to campaigns is
a natural progression for gay and
lesbian activists, said Warren
Redman-Gress, executive
director of the Alliance for Full
Acceptance.
“Gay and lesbian people are
certainly becoming more aware
that the people in the Statehouse
who are supporting us need our
support as well,” Redman-Gress
said.
This is how most interest
groups created around a set of
values or ideals grow, said
University of South Carolina
political scientist Blease
Graham.
State
Sanford critics object
to fundraising tactics
Gov. Mark Sanford says he’s not
running for president, but his
fundraising is bringing up
questions from political insiders.
Sanford has raised more than
$3.5 million toward his 2006 re
election campaign. More than 40
percent of his money this year has
come from out of state.
Sheriffs to look into
pepper spray incident
The Richland County sheriff’s
office will conduct an internal
investigation after two deputies
used pepper spray when a melee
broke out between groups of
teenagers during a football
jamboree at Spring Valley High.
Nation
Interned Japanese
receive diplomas
LOS ANGELES — Amid tears
and their grandchildren’s shouts of
glee, 58 Japanese-Americans sent
to internment camps during World
War II received diplomas Sunday,
finally earning recognition from
the communities they were forced
to leave more than half a century
ago.
Armstrong presses
Bush for cancer funds
CRAWFORD, TEXAS — During
their two-hour ride on Bush’s
ranch Saturday, Lance Armstrong
pushed the president to spend
more federal money on cancer
research.
Armstrong added that the Iraq
war never came up during the ride.
World
Pope celebrates mass,
ends trip to Germany
COLOGNE, GERMANY — Pope
Benedict XVI ended his four-day
trip to Germany on Sunday,
celebrating an open-air Mass for a
million people and warning
Europe against growing secularism
and “do-it-yourself” religion.
A synagogue visit, in which he
won applause for his warning
about rising anti-Semitism, and a
frank talk with Muslims about
terrorism, underlined interfaith
relations as a key theme of his first
foreign travel as pope.
Sunnis appeal to U.S.
to stop hasty draft
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — A day before
the deadline for the new
constitution, Sunni Arabs appealed
Sunday to the United States to
prevent Shiites and Kurds from
pushing a draft through parliament
without their consent, warning it
would only worsen the crisis in Iraq.
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