The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 17

THE STATE, COLUMBIA, S.C. MIDLANDS STATE FRIDAY, JULY 7, 1995 B3 WIS-TV to have 5 p.m. newscast Weekday program to air in September By DOUG NYE Staff Writer WIS-TV, already the dominant television news operation in the Midlands, is planning to add another newscast to its lineup. "WIS News at Five," a 30- minute program, will air weekday afternoons beginning Sept. 11.

That will give the NBC affiliate a three-hour block of news and information programming from 5 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. "We'll be giving viewers an alternative to the exploitative talk shows at that hour," WIS-TV General Manager Ron Loewen said Thursday. Susan Aude Fisher and Dawn Mercer will be hosts of the show, giving them the distinction of becoming the first female coteam in the Columbia market. Joe Pinner also will be a part of the Fisher newscast.

Randy Covington, WIS-TV news director, said the latest project "will not be a traditional newscast. We have subtitled it 'Focusing on We want to tailor the show for our 5 o'clock audience. "We've found that two out of three viewers during that time are women. The lead story at 5 probably will be a lot different than the lead story at 7." WIS will present three 30- minute local news shows at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

with "Inside Edition" airing at 5:30 p.m., Nightly News" at 6:30 p.m. and "Entertainment Tonight" at 7:30 p.m. Fisher and Pinner will continue to be seen on "The 7:00 Report." Mercer will relinquish her spot on WIS-TV's 6 a.m. "News at Sunrise" to concentrate on the new program. "We're auditioning for Dawn's replacement right now," said.

Mercer will have a special segment each day. The new also will feature call-in segments and focus on a variety of other subjects from health to legal questions. To handle the extra duties, WIS-TV will add five staffers, including Mercer's replacement, Land is also buying $175,000 worth of new technical equipment. The addition of a 5 p.m. newscast will give WIS-TV a total of 30 locally produced newscasts each week, more than any station in the Midlands.

Loewen also said the station will heighten its presence in the Pee Dee with the launching of WIS-Florence sometime in August or early September. WIS-TV long has been Florence's NBC outlet. But now the station will customize its signal for that city. "Thanks to fiber optics, we will be able to send a signal directly to the Time-Warner cable system there. It will feature local promos and messages pertinent to that area." Loewen said the station will have a full-time sales staff in Florence to sell local advertising time.

"An example would be that a local spot on 'ER' might cost say $2,000," Loewen said. "We could sell that spot to a Florence merchant for a much lower rate to air on WIS-Florence." WIS-Florence will be a 50-50 partnership with Time-Warner. POKER FROM PAGE B1 er operator who attended Thursday's hearing, said state prosecutors are unfair when they describe operators as "civic parasites." "We could be sitting in church right next to him," he said. "We support our towns, our rescue squads, our churches." Gann said most operators can't move the machines to a legal county because those counties already have as many machines as the market will support. Also, he said, the counties that passed the ban border Georgia and North Carolina and have many out-of-state players.

Gann, partner in York Amuse- Judicial department faces tough times ANDERSON South Carolina's chief justice is worried about how the courts will handle a $1.4 million budget cut as well as tougher criminal laws. "We're going to barely be able to keep our heads above water," Chief Justice Ernest Finney told the Anderson Independent-Mail for a story Thursday. Gov. David Beasley cut $1.4 million from the judicial department's budget of approximately $30 million as part of his line-item veto last week. The judicial department lost $20,000 that was to pay for circuit and family court judges to rotate among 1 the state's 46 counties as required by the state constitution.

With the upcoming Susan Smith trial expected to cost more than $330,000, the cuts really hurt, Finney said. "I have assigned a judge to that case, but I have to make sure that does not deplete my ability to send a judge to Anderson or Horry or wherever," he said. Beasley also cut about $650,000 from the Prosecution Coordination Commission, an agency that helps pay for administrative assistants for prosecutors and other expenses of The Associated Press prosecuting criminals. George Ducworth, who prosecutes cases in Anderson and Oconee counties, said he didn't understand the cut. "They want to get tough on crime and that's fine, as long as they give us the resources to handle the added workload.

But instead of more resources, we're getting less," he said. A new state law that requires life imprisonment after two violent crimes will put additional strain on the judicial system, Finney said. The law takes effect in January. "It's going to have a tremendous impact," he said, citing a San Diego study that showed a 30 percent backlog on the criminal docket within a year after the passage of tougher sentences for criminals. Finney canceled an upcoming trip to a judicial convention in California because of the budget reductions.

Circuit Court Judge Tom Ervin said civil cases will be the first to face delays. Criminal trials must take priority because defendants have constitutional rights to trials and appeals, he said. "It's going to be a difficult year, but we're just going to have to use limited resources and do the best job we can," Ervin said. Man who seized Yorktown says he's worried about U.S. Fisher CHARLESTON The man who holed up on the USS Yorktown at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum says he was worried about America and "needed to stand up and say something." Jimmy Jordan, 45, gave a sometimes rambling telephone interview to WCSC-TV Wednesday night after being taken into custody on the World War Il-era aircraft carrier that is the showpiece of the museum.

The Vietnam veteran told the television station he was worried about the direction the country was moving and complained about violence on television and in movies. The exposure to violence is causing children and young adults to lose respect for themselves and others, he said. Jordan ran past guards at the museum about 3:15 a.m. Tuesday and boarded the carrier. He left about 9:45 a.m.

Wednesday after talking to a friend by telephone. He was taken to Charleston's Veterans Administration hospital, The Associated Press where he later talked to the TV station reporter. Police divers found a pistol Jordan tossed into the water before he walked off the carrier. Jordan had left Lancaster five years ago to move to Hampton and work as a truck driver, friends told The (Rock Hill) Herald. "Jimmy has a good heart, but he's been through a lot, including a difficult tour in Vietnam," said Billy Allen, a friend of Jordan.

Allen said he didn't know Jordan had a gun. "It would be completely out of character," Allen said. "After Vietnam, he really seemed to have no use for Lancaster Police Capt. Hugh White said Jordan had no criminal record, but officers were called to his home about 10 years ago. "His family called because he was missing, and we later found him lying face down in the woods near his house," White said.

Mount Pleasant Police Chief Thomas Sexton said he will talk with prosecutors before deciding whether to file criminal charges. ERIC IC STATE Stephan Moran, left, and Chris Stanard shoot baskets at Seven Oaks Park in St. Andrews despite the heat. Heat doesn't bring outdoor life to a halt HEAT FROM PAGE B1 Local tennis courts may not be packed between noon and 3 p.m., but they don't stay empty. Runners jog the streets of Shandon.

Shoppers browse at the State Farmer's Market while the sun turns the asphalt into a griddle. "In this kind of weather, people who have been active usually don't have any problems with the heat," said Jim Testor, public information specialist at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. "People who work outdoors, or exercise on a regular basis, usually don't have any problems." Testor runs at least four days a week, no matter how hot and humid. He notices the bewildered looks of passersby as they drive past in air-conditioned cars.

"They think you're crazy," Testor said. "But if you're acclimated to it, it's not a problem. If you've been doing it on a steady basis, you build up a tolerance to the heat," he said. How to beat the heat (or survive it) Jim Testor, public information specialist at the Health and Environmental Control, offers these folks who don't want to let the heat keep them a Drink water. Drink water 20 minutes before you head drinking water while you're outside.

1 Avoid alcoholic beverages. They tend to dehydrate you. Wear light colors (that reflect heat) and clothes that allow dissipate. Testor said older people who live in in homes that aren't be more at risk in the heat. you know someone in that situation, go by and take them air-conditioned for a little while," he said.

"The heat tends to after four or five days of near-100 temperatures." ment Co. and a past president of the S.C. Coin Operators Association, said his business made about $1 million from its 160 machines last year. Another $1 million went to people who operate businesses where the machines are located, he said. Gann estimated that the machines have about a 20 percent profit margin, meaning that players fed about $10 million into his machines.

But Harpootlian said operators like Gann aren't the norm. "The average video poker operator is a mom and pop store with two or three machines," he said. "They provide the difference between making money and not making money." Many folks in the Midlands got a brief respite Thursday, after severe thunderstorms passed through. A lingering breeze cooled some areas for a few minutes. The high of 93 in Columbia was five degrees cooler than had been forecast.

Kathy Murrell drove her family to Finlay Park from Lexington. Her son, Matthew, donned his rollerblades as the storm ended. "The heat doesn't bother me," said Matthew, 11. "And if it does, I solve that by going into my pool." Murrell makes sure her children have plenty of liquids as they play outdoors. "I think they naturally know when it's time to come inside," she said.

"They know when they need to come in for water, or come in and cool off for a while." Frankie's Fun Park in Irmo had patrons Thursday, including Cook and her family. Many moms and dads played video games in the air-conditioned indoors. But several others remained outside, beyond the reach of thunderstorms that offered temporary relief to other parts of Richland and Lexington counties. Ed Field Smith watered flowers at the amusement park as parents watched children play in the heat. As he occasionally wiped sweat from his brow, he said he wondered why those who don't have to stay outside when it's 89 degrees or hotter.

Some like the heat. Others don't mind it. "I have two children," said Renata Plemmons. "I don't want to keep them cooped up in the house just because it's hot." Department of suggestions for indoors: outdoors, and keep perspiration to air-conditioned tend to some place that's creep up on them, REVIEWS Consult the Weekend section for thumbs-up, thumbs-down critiques of what's happening in entertainment. Every Friday in The 2 State BEEPERS $2995 $895 Monthly Air Time MA Some Restrictions MR.

BEEPER We Apply Accept Building 1201 Main Street 256-6363 Inc. Trade-Ins! 02178-56M Sumter: 728 Bultman Dr. 773-3200 Orangeburg: 372 St. Paul Suite 12 535-0505 Good news, bad news The good weather news is that no 100-degree days are in the forecast. The bad news: There will be no 80-degree days any time soon.

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