The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 11

The A State COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA METRO MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2000 OBITUARIES B4 TELEVISION B6 COMICS B8 www.thestate.com SECTION Lawmakers seek to block library porn Some Republican lawmakers are pressuring public libraries to add equipment that blocks pornographic Internet sites. Two measures pending in the Legislature would require most of the state's 40 libraries to add filters that prevent online visits to Web sites with sexual content. Only eight libraries across South By TIM FLACH Staff Writer Steve Gravitte of Camden braved the Boat Show Saturday attendance set a show record, even with temperatures in the 30s By NEIL WHITE Staff Writer Sunday's cold, wet weather may not exactly have conjured up many images of spending a relaxing day boating on Lake Murray. But it didn't dampen spirits among attendees to the final day of Boat Show 2000 at the State Fairgrounds. "Boat sales are up a lot.

The dealers are selling boats," said Miriam Atria, the show's director. "We've had a good show in spite of the weather." In fact, Atria noted, attendance Saturday when the temperature reached a high of only 37 degrees eclipsed the 6,000 mark, which she said set a record for the show's 37-year history. Mark Long of East Columbia Sport Shop said Sunday's unpleasant weather shouldn't be a deterrent for the serious boat shopper. "You aren't going to go golfing, you SEE BOAT SHOW PAGE B5 Carolina, including those in Lexington County, now block such access. Most others warn against using library equipment for such viewing, particularly around children.

The push for the measures started after a fuss about unrestricted access to such sites at Greenville County libraries. Officials in the Upstate community will look at imposing new limits today. Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, disagrees with those who complain the proposals infringe on free-speech rights. "Some things go beyond the pale and this is one of them" said Courson, one of 20 GOP lawmakers sponsoring the measures.

Many librarians call the demands the newest twist in the age-old battle over material some people consider objectionable. State librarian Jim Johnson characterized it as "a very inflammable VID-CAROLINA out new boats during the Boat Show 2000 at the State high despite 4, gets the feel of a personal watercraft while visiting Boat Show 2000. Pinckney and her father, Frank, are Disabled couple gets help with electric bill Salvation Army workers say elderly are often in special need of assistance during cold snap "Me and my husband get (disabilBy Staff KAREN Writer E. YORK ity) checks, but after buying groceries and paying our bills, we have to buy Claudia Keisler didn't know there medicine, too," Keisler said. was help available for people who can't At the advice of a friend, Keisler afford to pay high winter utility bills, went down to The Salvation Army Keisler, who suffered a stroke in office, where she received the fiDecember 1998, and her husband, nancial assistance she and her husAllen, are on disability, and they band needed to keep their home struggle to make ends meet.

heated. When the Batesburg-Leesville cou- "I thank the people for helping me ple got their utility bill this month, today," Keisler said Thursday. "It was they were stunned to see it was a nice of them." whopping $165. Donations to the Woodyard Fund It was a bill they didn't have the enable The Salvation Army to promoney to pay. vide vouchers to needy people to situation." Filters often go too far and prevent valid research for topics like breast cancer, Richland County deputy library director Helen Ann Rawlinson said.

Lexington County officials recognize filters have drawbacks but call them reasonable protection against not only pornography but hate groups and violence advocates. "While filters are not perfect, our board feels the overall benefits are JASON STATE weather Fairgrounds. JASON STATE the Columbia Powersports from Aiken. Woodyard Fund TO HELP a Mail donations to Woodyard Fund, The State newspaper, P.O. Box 1333, Columbia, SC 29202.

Make checks payable to Woodyard Fund. TO GET HELP Visit the Salvation Army at 1844 Assembly St. or call (803) 765-0260. DONATIONS SO FAR a Total as of $52,558 This week's list of donations and current total was not available Sunday. worth it," executive director Daniel MacNeill said.

Library officials will help those who have a valid need for material that the filters might deny, he said. Johnson prefers libraries be left to police usage in accord with local mores. Richland officials will stop viewing of pornographic sites if such usage is discovered but contend filters "eliminate a lot of good stuff," Rawlinson said. Besides impeding free-speech rights, filters "provide a false sense of security," said LaVerne Neal, executive director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU agrees limits are warranted "to some degree," she said.

But the organization prefers steps like requiring children to be accompanied by a parent when cruising the Internet and attaching privacy screens to computers that prevent others from seeing what's being viewed, she said. EdStravaganza La offers kid-friendly job fair EdVenture's first one-day event will be held at the fairgrounds on Saturday A cover their heating costs. The fund is cosponsored by The State news- paper. Back in 1816, the Ladies' Benevolent Society began providing firewood, and later coal, to needy families in Columbia. The Salvation Army took over management of the charity almost 100 years ago.

Anyone 18 or older is eligible for assistance. Households get vouchers to be redeemed at businesses providing heating services. The Salvation Army then reimburses the businesses for the amount of the voucher. "We're especially interested in the elderly because they seem to be the ones who really don't ask and who really need it so desperately," said Carol Garland, the agency's social services director. "We're really concerned for their health when they don't have adequate heat.

"Since this cold snap, we've really been bombarded with people. The need is just so tremendous. We really hope the donors keep us in mind." EdStravaganza EdVenture, the hands-on children's discovery center scheduled to open in Columbia in 2001, is sponsoring a job-oriented fair for children on Saturday. Where: The Moore Building at the State Fairgrounds. 8 When: Saturday.

Cost: $5. By JOEY HOLLEMAN Staff Writer EdVenture, the hands-on children's discovery center scheduled to open in Columbia in 2001, has been doling out tastes of the future for a couple of years. Starting this week, the helpings will grow. Organizers expect 10,000 to 15,000 people to storm the Moore Building at the S.C. State Fairgrounds Saturday for EdStravaganza, a joboriented event aimed at children.

It's sort of a cross between the state fair and a job fair. "They can put on a hard hat and play with Legos and learn how to build bridges," said Tracy McKelvey, marketing coordinator for EdVenture. "The idea is they don't realize they're learning because it's so much fun." The people planning EdVenture have been doing outreach projects for a couple of years, helping build anticipation during the formative years of their $13 million facility, which will be built in the State Museum's parking lot. Thousands of kids streamed to EdVenture's hands-on arts exhibit set up for three weeks in 1998 in a shopping center parking lot in Forest Acres. Last year, about 5,000 kids learned about physics through golf at Links For Learning, a one-month project in an east Columbia shopping center.

EdVenture employees also have made hundreds of presentations on health and science at local schools. But EdStravaganza is the organization's first attempt at a large, oneday program. "We wanted an event that could really focus on learning and reinforce what EdVenture can be," said Catherine Horne, executive director of the group. The children won't be the only ones learning at the fairgrounds. EdVenture officials will be watching closely, checking out what works and what doesn't.

Some of the EdStravaganza ideas could be incorporated into EdVenture's permanent exhibits. On Saturday, children will use blocks to learn about construction work and use their imaginations to make things out of fabric scraps. They'll learn how to make modeling clay and sidewalk chalk. They'll play in make-believe banks and grocery stores. There'll be police and fire stations, a health center and a TV set complete with Mr.

Knozit's silly sofa. The State newspaper exhibit will let kids share weather to check sails Pinckney Townsend, Center display at the SEE JOB FAIR PAGE B5 Jury selection to begin in death penalty trial Few experiences are more heartwrenching for parents and social workers than when a child is removed from a home. Sometimes, the situations turn deadly. That's what happened three years ago in North Augusta when the state child-protection agency took David Mark Hill's three children from him. What resulted was the worst case of violence in memory at any South Carolina public agency.

Now, Hill, a 39-year-old with a history of mental troubles, is facing a death penalty trial that begins today with jury selection. Hill is accused of murdering three DSS workers James Riddle, 52, Josie Curry, 33, and Michael Gregory, 30 after walking into the North Augusta office about 2 p.m. on Sept. 16, 1996. Hill had become despondent after his children, including his 4-year-old disabled daughter, were placed in foster care.

He also was upset that social workers had urged his estranged wife to get a restraining order against him, authorities and neighbors said. Hill took out his anger on workers at the North Augusta branch of the state Department of Social Services, police say. The jury that will decide Hill's fate will be chosen in York County and then moved to Aiken. Picking a jury is expected to take most of this week. The trial likely will take at least five days to compete.

It was postponed in October because of pre-trial publicity. DSS officials and the attorneys who will try the case said a court gag order bars them from commenting. Lucy Norman, spokeswoman for the National Association of Social Workers in Washington, D.C., said many people don't realize how dan- By RICK BRUNDRETT Staff Writer David Mark Hill will be tried for the 1996 murder of three social workers. The trial has been delayed once because of pre-trial publicity. gerous a social worker's job can be, especially those who investigate child abuse and neglect.

"It is the most delicate work you can do," she said. A recent survey of 900 Massachusetts social workers found 50 percent had been assaulted physically at one time or another while working. Most often, the assaults involve shoving, grabbing, hair pulling and having objects thrown at them. Norman's association doesn't keep nationwide statistics on the number of social workers killed or injured in the line of duty. But, in 1998, the NASW held a memorial service to honor six social workers who had died violently on the job in the past 11 years.

South Carolina's DSS workers investigate about 20,000 reports of child abuse or neglect a year, according to department figures. The cases are emotional and can be volatile. Hill's trial could focus on the strains that often develop between social workers and stressed parents. Hill and Riddle, a child-protection worker, knew each other because of a child-abuse or neglect case involving Hill, according to a lawsuit Riddle's relatives filed. The suit did not provide details.

Curry and Gregory worked in the family economic support section. DSS SEE TRIAL PAGE B5.