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. • Special to Til K GAMECOCK Sergeant Joseph Derrick, 24, left, during the 2004 holiday season with his younger sister Elizabeth and younger brother William. William, a marine science student at USC, learned of his brother’s death in Iraq on Friday. »A Soldier Remembered USC student reflects after Iraq war hits too close to home Dicole Johnson FOR THE GAMECOCK □ In April 2004, I met a man making a difference in the world. His name was Joseph Derrick, a U.S. Army sergeant. I remember when my boyfriend William Shealy, a senior at USC, told me the exciting news that his older brother Joseph, who was active duty in the army, would be coming home to Columbia before leaving for his first tour in Iraq. Joseph was prepared to fight, even die, for his country, his mother Suzy Shealy told me. Around 8 p.m. Friday, William told me he got a call from Fort Jackson. The woman didn’t leave her name, but told William she needed to get in touch with his parents regarding his brother Joseph. William and my plans to go to dinner with friends were put on hold that night as we waited a call back from his parents. I feared the worst, and I was afraid of the pain William, and I, would feel. Later on, we got the call. I drove William to his parents’ house in silence. We didn’t talk much on that ride for fear of breaking down. When we arrived, William’s father, Carey Shealy, confirmed it. Their son, their brother and their hero had been killed in action. He was a military policeman on his second tour, in charge of a 150 man Iraqi police force. That Friday, Joseph’s assignment was to secure an area on the streets of Baghdad. Three grenades were thrown, but only two exploded. As Joseph was making sure the others were safe by sectioning off that area, an enemy sniper shot and killed him from eight stories above. With the pain of losing Joseph comes the bhealys’ pride in Joseph’s life. “He is my hero. He’s accomplished more in 25 years of life than most people ever do. I thank God for that,” his mother Suzy Shealy told me. “He’s in Heaven right now,” his father Carey Shealy said. “He’s cheering on the military, telling them to keep going.” But it’s hard for the family to keep going. Joseph’s 20-year-old sister Elizabeth Shealy can’t believe her oldest brother can’t attend her scRGcnm • 6 Sniper fire kills Columbia soldier on Baghdad street The Associated Press A soldier from Columbia serving in Iraq has died aftef he was hit by a sniper bullet, his family says. Sgt. Joseph Derrick, 25, was patrolling with Iraqi police Friday night when two grenades exploded nearby, his stepfather Carey Shealy said. Shealy said the Army told him Derrick was helping block. off the area so the bomb squad could dispose of a live grenade when a sniper from an eight story building shot him in the neck. Derrick is the 34th member of the armed forces with ties to South Carolina to die in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. He was a member of the 411th Military Police Company headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, and was DCRRICH • 1 Law students ‘adopt’ evacuees following storm Kristen Highley FOR THE GAMECOCK ^ Weeks after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, USC is continuing efforts to help. The university’s law school started an Adopt-a-Law-Student program Sept. 9 and has enrolled 11 students from Tulane and Loyola universities. The Adopt-a-Law-Student program is headed by two law students, third year Mitchell Spearman and second year Erin Bailey, with financial support from law firms and private entities. Each supporting group designates one or two people to adopt and helps provide financial support, clothing, •domestic items and other necessities. The idea came about when the law school was notified of the possibility of about 15 students from hurricane stricken areas enrolling at USC. “These students were coming with almost nothing,” Spearman said. “We knew they would need more than just money.” Among the 25 firms adopting the students are the McNair firm and Nelson Mullins. The S.C. Court of Appeals also adopted students and recently had them over for dinner. ADOPT • 1 }_ * A nstin Murphy/ I he York Daily Record Dover school board member Alan Bonsell answers questions Tuesday in front of the U.S. District Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., after the second day of a civil trial aiming to resolve whether or not “intelligent design” should be addressed in public school biology classrooms. Witness cites bias by Dover school board during day 2 of intelligent design trial (Tlartha Raffaele THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HARRISBURG, Pa. — A rural school board showed a clear bias against teaching evolution before it pushed through a plan to introduce “intelligent design” to students, a former board member testified Tuesday in a trial over whether the concept has a place in public schools. Aralene “Barrie” Callahan, who was once on the Dover school board and is now among the challengers, said she believed the policy to teach intelligent design was religion-based. Eight families are trying to remove the theory from Dover Area School District curriculum, arguing that it violates the constitutional separation of church and state. They say it effectively promotes the Bible’s view of creation. The school district argues it is letting students know there are differences of opinion about evolution, not endorsing any religious view. TRIAL • A www.dailygamecock.com WITH BARK, SAWDUST, USC BEGINS ENERGY PLAN Biogasification plant to power campus heating systems, turbine fllelissa Rhodes FOR THE GAMECOCK USC has committed to taking another step toward creating a more environmentally ‘friendly, cost efficient campus. At the Sept. 13 Environmental Advisory Committee meeting, Facility of Planning and Operations Director Joe Rogers announced USC would proceed with its-plan to construct a biogasification plant on the corner of Sumter and Whaley streets. The plant is one of many projects USC has taken on alongside Johnson Controls, a contracted company that will conduct energy conservation projects on campus. “The particular process that will be used in our biogasifxcation plant has not been done exactly this way, or for this purpose, anywhere that we can find,” Rogers said. “Johnson Controls has used means of . combining technology they learned about and developed in other industries” and applied them to USC’s campus. Biogasification is the process of decomposing biomass, the biodegradable fractions of products, waste and residues from agriculture and forestry industries, which produce biogas. Scrap materials from forestry industries within the state will fuel the plant. About 70 percent of the fuel will consist of wood chips and bark, while the rest will be sawdust. No wood will be harvested for fuel. “The fact that we re moving away from all the issues going on or associated with oil and fuel and reducing our dependence on natural gas is incredible,” said Michael Koman, environmental protection manager for USC Housing. “Instead, we’re using a type of green energy, a waste that would normally go to a landfill or not get used at all. It’s going to save us a ton of money.” Biogasification is conducted through a three-step device. The first step is the gasifier, a large, steel tank that has an opening in the bottom and top. Wood chips are fed into the auto conveyor system. The temperature inside the tank is extremely hot, but not enough gas is present to combust or cause a fire. The gas is released from the wood and then wood become ash that is pushed to the bottom by new wood additions. Next is the combustion chamber, where combustible gas is released BI06RS • 6 Nuk Esarts nm GAMECOCK As in other residence halls, Capstone residents cannot receive visitors of the opposite sex later than 2 a.m. Monday through Friday. Wilkins says visitation hours need overhaul RHA president insists Housing should give students more freedom Gina Uasselli STAFF WRITER The Residence Hall Association is going from dorm door to dorm door asking what problems students have, and the answer students are giving is visitation. “It’s been an issue on the students’ mind as long as I’ve been here,” said RHA President Terrill Wilkins, a third-year history student. “I would be failing the residents if I were to say to them, ‘this can’t get done.’” RHA is collecting as much data from students as possible to help eventually draft new visitation legislation, but “for the time being it’s a ways off in the process,” Wilkins said. Dorms have one of four visitation policies, labeled plans A, B, C and D. . The Carolina Community Web site says that for “Douglas first floor and Wade Hampton basement, visitation for members of the opposite gender will be restricted to the building lobbies.” This policy is in effect to “provide options for those who don’t want anyone in their rooms,” said Andrew Fink, senior associate director of Housing. However, students might be placed on those floors without requesting it, or their parents can choose it for them. “Students should be able to choose for themselves,” Wilkins said. Under Plan B, in effect in many underclassman dorms, opposite gender visitation is allowed between 10 and 2 a.m. “This is due to the classification of students who live there,” Fink said. “One of the most popular responses we’ve gotten is, ‘freshmen are too young or immature to handle open visitation,”’ Wilkins said, “but HOURS • 1 INSIDE Viewpoints Shawn Callihan warns of the dan gers of sports addiction in the fall sports season; Steven Van Haren waxes philosophic about SG’s deci sion to keep its devotion. 8 The Mix Habitat recap Miss Minnie Denard was the recip ient of the latest home for the USC chapter of Habitat for Humanity. 9 i Sports Hues of Heffner Redshirt freshman Antonio Heffner will start against Auburn in place of Blake MitchelL 12