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The University of South Carolina Wednesday, September 7,2005 " VoL 99, No. 13 • Since 1908 ---* Friends, fellow riders remember fallen student Jason Reynolds FOR THE GAMECOCK Friends and teammates of fourth year art student Dylan Mitchell were mystified Saturday when he never arrived at the Horseshoe for an afternoon bike ride he’d planned. Not until several hours later did they receive news of Mitchell’s death. Mitchell died Friday after doing the thing he lived for the most. Riding home after a group bike ride, a 2003 Pontiac Vibe collided with the real of Mitchell's bicycle around 8:40 p.m. fhe 21-year old Fort Mill native died around 9 p.m. at Richland Hospital. Friends remember Mitchell as a free spirit, an impressive artist and an avid cyclist. Mitchell joined USC’s cycling club and eventually served as the club’s Webmaster and secretary. No matter what the situation, former president of the Carolina Cycling Club and USC alumna Stephanie Lareau said her friend was persistently upbeat and free spirited. “Dylan was the person we could always count on to lighten the mood,” she said. “He lived life to the fullest. Whether spending hours on his bike or hours working on his art, Dylan was happy. He always had the most random away messages that would bring a smile to your face.” Mitchell came to USC as a mountain biker but quickly converted into a road cyclist. Phillip Hare, president of the Carolina Cycling Club, met Mitchell in spring 2004. Mitchell quickly spiked from the designation of a Cat 5 cyclist to the nearly pro level of Cat 2. “To do that in less than a year is pretty amazing,” Hare said. “Not only do you have to do a lot of racing, but you have to have good results in those races to move up that fast.” After reaching Cal 2 last month, friends said Mitchell’s hard work and dedication to his sport quickly lead to a sponsorship, riding for the John Deere Team. “Most of us were taking 15-20 hours of classes, but Dylan spent 15 20 hours training on his bicycle,” Hare said. Using his artistic sensibilities, Mitchell even painted the rims of his sunglasses bright green and yellow to match his John Deere racing uniform, and fashioned his own bike. “Dylan had just constructed the coolest campus bike to ride to ahd from his apartment,” Lareau said. “Using parts from old bikes and his keen sense of design, he created the ultimate campus bike.” “You never new what he was going to do next,” Hare said of Mitchell’s IMTCHELl# 8 Special to THB GAMECOCK Dylan Mitchell, a member of USC's cycling club, died Friday. He was 21. MUSIC DEAN SETTLES INTO ROLE Tayloe Harding holds high hopes, plans for 25th best public music school Sydney Smith FOR THE GAMECOCK On July 1, 2005, Tayloe Harding began his new job as dean of USC’s School of Music with high hopes and detailed plans, leaving his old job at Valdosta University. Harding identified his three major goals. The music school is already around the 25th best music school at a public institution in America, he said. One of his tasks is to make sure that everyone who supports the school is aware of its school’s standings. Harding said he wants to make sure the school is well-connected with the Columbia community. He sees the need to “make programs we already have more sensitive to the needs of the people of Columbia and the Midlands communities.” Harding said he seeks to better communications between the school and everyone else, from the whole university to the whole country. Dcnn«8 INSIDE Viewpoints Tom Benning discusses his eye opening trip to flood-ravaged states and his new take on cam pus ‘problems'; Steven Van Haren says axing freshman park ing would ease the pinch. n il The Mix Curtain call USCs Workshop Theatre begins another season as one of Columbia’s premier, non-prof it community acting troupes. 5 Sports Odom’s return USe men’s basketball coach discusses his time in Kuwait during Operation Hardwood. AshUigh Quick/THE GAMECOCK USC President Andrew Sorensen speaks with volunteers and hurricane evacuees in the Naval Reserve Center on Tuesday. Evacuees find shelter, help Naval Reserve building, area churches house New Orleans natives Gina Uasselli FOR THE GAMECOCK • Some evacuees from Louisiana have a new home in South Carolina: the Naval Reserve building on the corner of Pickens and Blossom streets. “The people who are here today are people who got here by their own means,” said Ginger Crocker, manager of the reception center. “The Brooklyn Baptist Church has been taking care of them and brought them here to register with the Red Cross”. Pamela Smith, from New Orleans, drove here with some of her family once they decided to evacuate, but not realizing the magnitude of the hurricane, did not pack anything. “I’m out there with just the clothes on my back and my purse,” Smith said. She and her family were turned around at the Mississippi Bridge and were forced to endure long hours in traffic and few rest stops. After a day and a half they arrived at her sister Rolanda’s house in Columbia. As far as Smith knows, her and her mother’s house are completely underwater and have been that way for days. She said she is thankful that she was able to get in contact with the other members of her family who went elsewhere to get out of Katrina’s path. “We talked to the last one who was missing from our side of the family this morning,” Smith said. Smith said that despite having her family safe, “I think I’m having a nervous breakdown, I just haven’t identified it yet. “I’m having problems sleeping ... I think it’s the uncertainty,” Smith said. “We have no idea when we’ll be able to go home. I just want to go home. I just want to go home.” William Young, a New Orleans evacuee, said, “I’m still so homesick, but I couldn’t think of a better place to evacuate to.” Young said he endured a 24-hour drive with members of his family — including his wife, who is a week overdue — to get to South Carolina to stay with his brother. He hasn’t had a chance to call anyone there to find out how their house stood up against Katrina but he was concerned because “we had just finished the nursery.” Despite not knowing when he will be able to go home and having brought very little with them, Young said they have almost everything they need. Young said he went into a K-Mart in Columbia and was talking with a woman about everything he and his family had gone through. She proceeded to help him get food and clothes for his expected baby and family. She also contacted him the next day and got his wife an SHELTER • 6 COMING HOME TO RUBBLE, . RUIN Gulf Coast residents struggle to accept hurricane destruction flllyson Bird FOR THE GAMECOCK BILOXI, Miss. — Her friends want her to name the baby Katrina, but as Wendy Bryant stands — arms akimbo, belly swollen — in front of the pile that used to be her parents’ Victorian rental home, she says no way. The pile between the tree with the tin stuck in its blanches and the wooden board against the power line — that’s her own home and office. Bryant lived on Howard Avenue, just off the shore where barnacle bottomed casino barges wound up inplace of now-gone beachfront homes. Blue spray paint marks the side of one tall building: “Thank you Biloxi Fire Police Department. Mom we’re OK.” Just down from Bryants property, city workers wait for a bus to take them to the police station for another round of cleanup. Saturday is the fifth day of this, and they’re jaded. “Don’t listen to the T.V. about the body count,” says a man named Sam, pointing to a funeral home parking lot across the street. “Those three white refrigerator trucks are filled with bodies.” Bryant points to where bodies turned up near her house. She wears her long brown hair in a ponytail and a gold cross around her neck. She’s thankful she fled to her sister’s home in Wool Market, knowing the low barometric pressure from the hurricane would’ve sent her into early labor. Three of her family members sift through her parents’ rubble. They had RUBBLE • 6 Hyman explains ‘4-strike* athletics department policy Stephen Demedis FOR THE OAMECOCK When USC’s Athletics Department unveiled its new drug policy in mid August, some within the university community skeptically received the plan. Critics of the new plan viewed the increase in the number of “strikes” an athlete could receive in drug testing from two to four as an unethical method of keeping star athletes on the playing field. Before the change, after one failed test, student-athletes were given a warning and were then dismissed after the second violation. When Eric Hyman arrived in Columbia as athletics director, plans to revise the policy were already in motion. After review, Hyman found that the two-strike policy left little room for assistance for athletes. “I found the two strike policy to be too restrictive,” Hyman said. “I am here to do what’s best for the student athletes at Carolina. I want to give them the support and the help that they need. I want to make a difference in their lives, so that they can see the value of living a clean life.” The new plan allows for punitive and educational measures to be implemented with each failed drug test. After the first failed test, the athlete receives a warning and is forced www. dailygamecock. com to attend mandatory counseling sessions. A second failed test results in a suspension for 25 percent of the season, and a third failure merits a 365-day suspension. At anytime during the process, a coach can opt to dismiss the athlete. After the first strike, the athlete is tested every seven to 10 days for a year. Hyman said the plan not only allows educating athletes about the harmful effects of drug use, but also provides athletes a way out of illegal drug use. “The policy is just not educational and punitive, but it is also preventative,” Hyman said. “Drug testing gives them a reason to say no. Ultimately, I want to help them by giving them a valid reason to say, ‘I can’t do it,’ because they might be tested.” USC athletics’ new policy is similar to policies set forth by USC through the Office of Student Affairs. “The university’s first obligation in dealing with drug problems is to educate the university community,” the policy says. While the university does not conduct random drug tests on students, the Office of Student Judicial Programs has devised punitive programs that include possible POLICY • 8