The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 1

Rodriguez says no to Texas Tech Sports Calling in sick Health State COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA TUESDAY DECEMBER 7 1999 108th Year No 341 South Largest Newspaper CAPITAL FINAL The Switchboard (803) 771-6161 Showdown at 1 1 Ex-legislators joining fight against flag TV weather wars heat up as WLTX hires popular Gandy Ask Gandy Jim Gandy answers your weather questions Page B2 About 30 who were lawmakers when the Confederate flag was raised in 1962 will ask today for its removal By JOSEPHS STROUD Staff Writer By DOUG NYE Staff Writer It the biggest surprise when WLTX-TV announced Monday that Jim Gandy will be the new chief meteorologist It was almost one year ago to the day when the popular Gandy left rival WIS-TV where he had held a similar position for years Gandy 47 was hired as a consultant for Gannett Broadcasting which purchased WLTX in spring 1998 That immediately fueled speculation that he would return to Columbia when his contract forbidding him to work for a local competitor expired And now that back his first forecast is scheduled for Dec 31 the battle for ratings in the Columbia weather wars is on The forecast is for some turbulence going to have the best weather newscast in the trumpeted Larry Audas news director at WLTX Meanwhile director of audience development Jerry Grimes welcomed Gandy back but made it clear his station is tops in forecasting tools that allowed Jim Gandy to make a name for himself are still at WIS significantly upgraded our equipment since also gone to a team concept I think viewers will find that more meteorologists and better equip- news release issued Monday by the former legislators No alternative site for the flag was mentioned The statement is the latest in a series of calls for the removal from the Capitol dome and the calls have come from some surprising sources On Friday the Board of Visitors at The Citadel called for the relocation Students at The Citadel fired the first shots on Fort Sumter in 1861 to start the Civil War Most members of the College of Charleston faculty joined the chorus Monday releasing a petition calling for the to an unspecified place Nearly 300 of professors endorsed the resolution The flag was raised in 1962 as part of the Civil War centennial celebration The petition by the former legislators will attribute the fact that the flag never came down to Roughly half of the surviving legislators who were members of the General Assembly when the Confederate flag was hoisted over the State House in 1962 will gather there this afternoon to call for its removal to another place of honor call it the has-been brigade" former Gov John West who helped organize news conference in the chamber of the SC House said Monday A petition calling for the removal signed by 90 percent of the surviving members will be distributed according to an advance SEE GANDY PAGE A8 SEE FLAG PAGE A8 11 newscast ratings May 1999 I Rating Represents percentage of TV households Share Pit bulls had already spurred 2 COMPETITION IN THE FORECAST Reggie Taylor WOLO-TV (ABC) joined station in December 1994 Background: Degree in broadcasting Western Kentucky University 1987 Member of National Weather Association and American Meteorological Society Rest of the weather team: Michelle Cunningham weekends Equipment: Access to Doppler Weather Radar National Weather Service Limitation: A 5- to 10-minute delay for on-screen weather map Ken Aucoin WIS-TV (NBC) joined station in April of this year Background: Degree in meteorology Florida State University 1983 Member of American Meteorological Association Rest of the weather team: Brady Smith meteorologist Ben Tanner meteorologist Joe Pinner Anne Mueller weather anchor for WACH-TV news (produced by WIS) Equipment: High-Definition Super Doppler Weather Radar owned by WIS Instantaneous onscreen information ability to track storms street by street Jim Gandy WLTX-TV (CBS) joined Monday Background: Degree in meteorology Florida State University 1974 Member of American Meteorological Association Rest of the weather team: Darci Strickland Ros Runner Equipment: Access to Doppler Weather Radar National Weather Service Limitation: A 5- to 10-minute delay for on-screen weather map warnings ed by county law said Maj Keith Lewis of the Sheriffs Department But the owner whom the department identify may still face stiff punishment if he did nothing knowing the dogs were aggressive authorities said State law protects people from unprovoked attacks Toughened in 1992 the law carries a penalty of up to three years or a $5000 fine If the owner is accused of manslaughter which police and prosecutors say they are weighing it might be a first in South Carolina said Henry Brzezinski of the Humane Society of the Midlands The penalty for involuntary manslaughter is up to five years By CL1F LeBLANC Staff Writer The owner of pit bulls that killed a 45-year-old man Saturday near Winnsboro had been warned twice about his dogs and may face an involuntary-manslaughter charge authorities said Monday The two dogs bit John Mickle more than 1000 times and crushed his windpipe when they finally pulled him to the ground Fairfield County Coroner Joe Silvia said Mickle stripped of his clothes and with flesh torn from his left leg bled to death in what Silvia called most gruesome thing ever The pit bulls were loose in their yard which is not prohibit- Represents the percentage of those households actually watching television at a given time WOLO career Personal: 47 new chief meteorologist WLTX-TV Bom: Memphis Tenn Education: Florida State 1974 bachelor of science degree in meteorology postgraduate work in atmospheric science University of South Carolina Career: 1974-75 Center for Storm Research Houston meteorologist WREG-TV Memphis 1975-77 meteorologist KROT-TV Oklahoma City 1977-82 WeatherData Inc consulting firm Wichita 1982-84 chief meteorologist WIS-TV 1984-98 consultant Gannett Telecasting 1998-99 Other: Gandy and wife Ann own Cartoon Connection at Columbia's Richland Mall WLTX TV SEE DOGS PAGE A9 Painless diabetes detector nearing federal approval PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIK CAMPOS AND KATRINA CLARKTHE STATE GlucoWatch would help reduce need to prick finger for blood-sugar testing In tangled Web crooks weave online shopping fraud By LAURAN NEERGAARD The Associated Press By MIKE HUDSON Washington Bureau Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously that the GlucoWatch should be approved for adult diabetics saying it could offer a tremendous benefit by measuring glucose far more often than blood tests can today But the advisers stressed the GlucoWatch is not perfect: It sometimes gives erroneous readings measure when the patient perspires too much and is less effective at detecting life-threatening-ly low blood sugar than at spotting dangerous high glucose levels Indeed patients should never decide to use insulin based on a GlucoWatch measurement without first doing a finger-stick test to double-check FDA advisers and manufacturer Cygnus Inc agreed And tune 500 companies if a site was set up insecurely they know until their information has been compromised And many (of the sites) as secure as like them to Identity theft where hackers steal addresses names and credit-card numbers is the most common crime experts say It can be achieved through file theft fake Web sites or more creatively Web sites which mimic the home pages of legitimate vulnerable to the schemes of Internet hackers As the Internet grew online-fraud complaints increased 39 percent from 1997 to 1998 according to the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators And expected to worsen significantly for 1999 consumer experts say are using Internet dealers because they see friends and co-workers buying things said David Remnitz CEO of Ifsec a New York firm that handles e-commerce security for several For tween Thanksgiving and New Day But too much confidence is probably a mistake experts say While established high-volume Web retailers have good security records many of the thousands of retail sites that have sprung up in recent years are less safe and a good chance that as much as 5 percent of that $4 billion in holiday shopping will be lost to fraud Many smaller Internet retailers have in-house staffs to combat fraud and that leaves shoppers Gaithersburg Md Diabetics may soon get their first painless way to measure blood sugar as government advisers recommended approval Monday of a wristwatch-like device to supplement but not replace finger-prick blood tests The GlucoWatch checks glucose levels every 20 minutes by sending tiny electric currents through the skin It sounds an alarm if blood sugar hits dangerous levels even while they sleep WASHINGTON In the beginning people were afraid to buy things on the Internet because they feared their credit-card numbers might be stolen or they might be victimized by some other electronic fraud But growing numbers of Americans now are turning to the Internet to shop convinced that encryption and other security precautions will make their purchases safe People are expected to spend a record $4 billion on the Internet be SEE DIABETES PAGE A9 SEE FRAUD PAGE A8 Index 4 SECTIONS 40 PAGES The Weather Sunny and cool Today: Some low clouds to start then afternoon sunshine High 58 low 33 Wednesday: Similar and a bit warmer High 62 low 36 See Page A2 Mike Self Schertz Texas Ben Stern Columbia Russell Still Barnwell Alicia Summons Columbia Betty Thomas Nashville Tenn Beatrice Tolson Lamar Eleanor Tullies Bradley Preston Walker Ridgeway William Walter Indian Land Dwight Whitehouse Marietta George Whitten Greenwood Timothy Wideman Greenwood Edgar Williams Indian Land Jasper Williams Kingstree Alma Woodward Aiken John Mattox Columbia Franklin McCall Whitmire Arley McGraw Spartanburg Charlotte McLeod McBee MB Meador Union Ann Miles Kingstree Samuel Miller Decatur Ga Wallace Moore Olanta Arthur Morton Houston Dorothy Columbia Herbert Oestricker Martin Susan Olson Newberry James Parker Dallas Joyce Payne Columbia Mildred Pittman Kershaw Jessie Portee Camden Jean Rickenbaker Laurens Alex Robinson Blair Ladonna Gary Wallace Willitha Grooms Charlotte Jennie Hancock Ruby Willie Harrelson Dillon Perry Haselden Florence Frances Hatcher Lancaster Thomas Hinton Summerville Steve Hooks Fort Mill Allie Hughes Nichols Dennie Jenkins Columbia Eleanor Johnstone Georgetown Catherine Jones Warrenville Bertha Lawton Allendale Yai Lone Columbia Charles Love Blacksburg Timothy Lyman Lake City Dicey Mack Lexington Ruth Marshall Newberry Deaths Betty Barton Rock Hill Ansel Brown Florence George Brown Yemassee Sheila Cherry Columbia Ruth Craven Lexington William Crosby Walterboro BF Davenport Pelzer Regina Denemark Sumter Ralph Doscher Walterboro Linda Dove Winnsboro Zylphia Floyd Lake City Irene Gandy Winnsboro Willie Gantt Saluda Frances Garrett Goose Creek Ella Garris Lancaster Johnny Gary Columbia Copyright 1999 The State 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