The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 28, 2005, Image 1
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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