Pick up tomorrow’s THE
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Weekender UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014
VOL. 116, NO. 53 • SINCE 1908
USC student named victim Coroner says Copper Beech incident apparently murdersuicide, autopsies complete Hannah Jeffrey
@HANNAHJEFFREY
Second-yea r c r i m i nolog y a nd criminal justice student Diamoney Greene was ident if ied as one of the two people found shot to death in the Copper Beech Townhouse Community. G reene wa s shot to deat h by Brandon Early, who then turned the gun on himself in the Copper Beech Tow n hou se Com mu n it y, where Greene lived. Early, 21, and Greene, 20, were found in unit 2106 Tuesday around 7 p.m. A roommate called police
Tuesday when they couldn’t get into the house because one of the bodies was blocking the front door. Both Early and Greene were found with gunshot wounds to the head and died on the scene, according to Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. According to Watts, the incident appears to have been a mu rdersuicide that happened last Saturday or Sunday at least. The autopsies w e r e c o m p l e t e d We d n e s d a y morning. Greene transferred to USC from South Carolina State Universit y, where she appears to have been a cheerleader, according to her Twitter account. MURDER-SUICIDE • 3
Kamila Melko / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Coroner Gary Watts said the murder-suicide likely took place last Saturday or Sunday.
Same-sex marriage legal Banned, currently challenged in court
Gamecocks land No. 21 recruit Dozier
Ban struck down, appeal pending
Graphic by Brittany Wilt / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
South Carolina same-sex marriage ban struck down Courtesy of The Big Spur
Decision’s stay will last until Nov. 20 to give time for appeal Hannah Jeffrey
@HANNAHJEFFREY34
South Carolina’s ban on gay marriage was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, effectively allowing gay marriages in the state after noon on Nov. 20. Gergel issued a stay on his decision through Nov. 20 to give time for an appeal from State Attorney General Alan Wilson, who announced hours after the ruling that he plans to do so. The ruling came on the case Condon v. Haley, in which same-sex couple Colleen Condon and Ann Bleckley filed suit against South Carolina in October when they were not issued a marriage license after they applied and paid the fi ling fee. Gergel ordered Charleston County
Probate Judge Irvin Condon (distantly related to Colleen Condon) to grant a marriage license to the couple after the Nov. 20 stay expires. Gergel’s ruling said the ban was unconstitutional based on the 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses. Gergel’s ruling prohibits enforcing laws or policies that “seek to prohibit the marriage of same sex couples,” interference with Condon and Bleckley’s receipt of a marriage license or the right to marry and refusal to issue the couple a marriage license. “W hile this is a victor y for the communit y, it’s important to realize that marriage equality is not the most pressing issue facing our community,” USC BGLSA President Devon Sherrell said in an email Wednesday. “So while we will be celebrating this victory, we are looking ahead to the future of the cause with optimism BAN • 5
Danny Garrison
@DANNYLGARRISON
P.J. Dozier is a four-star basketball recruit, he’s ranked 21st in the ESPN 100, he’s the son of former Gamecock hoops player Perry Dozier and the brother of Asia Dozier, a junior on Dawn Staley’s women’s team. A nd now, P.J. is a G amecock himself. Wednesday afternoon at Spring Valley High School, the class of 2015 product announced his decision to play for head coach Frank Martin a nd t he Sout h Ca rol i na men’s basketball team. DOZIER • 5
Students search campus for Bill Nye Yik Yak rumors leave students confused, holding calculators Lois Carlisle
@LOISCARLISLE
On Tuesday afternoon, reports of Bill Nye sightings popped up all over Yik Yak. They ranged from believable to not-quite-right. “Is Bill Nye really on campus?” “Is Bill Nye actually at USC and for what?” “Bill Jones.” Bill Nye is in Jones. “Bill Nye is in Caroliniana signing calculators.”
“Bill Nye just took my girl.” “Bill Nye just broke up a fight at Marble Slab.” “Bill Nye fighting against a snake and a Zeta in Marble Slab.” “Where the f--k is Bill Nye?” “H AS A N YON E ACTUA LLY SEEN BILL NYE.” But when students arrived at the Ca rol i n ia na Libra r y, t hey were disappointed. According to two staff members at the circulation desk, t hey ’d seen more st udent s t ha n Wednesday. normal for a Wedn came in,” “A bunch of students stu staff member said Graham Duncan, Dun
at Caroliniana. “They all started looking around, and finally one of them worked up the nerve to ask if [Bill Nye] was here. We had to tell them, no,” he said, clearly amused. “Bill Nye is not here.” “I had no idea,” said Mike Berry, Curator of Published Materials, who came into t he librar y af ter everything had died down. “I hate that I missed it.” Br i a n Cut h r el l , M a nu s c r ipt s cataloger, confirmed that the Yik Yak posts and t weets were not a marketing ploy to bring students i nt o t h e l i b r a r y, n o r w a s it a
promot ion for Nye’s new book . He hopes students will come back again, but next time to study at the university’s manuscripts library. “This isn’t really the library he would come to,” Duncan said with a laugh. “We’re history, not science.” It was ha rd to bel ieve t hat Nye wou ld be fou nd — sig n i ng calculators, no less — on campus given that he was just on the CBS morning news Tuesday. The chance of h i m p oppi n g up on c a mpu s Tuesday was unlikely, but students SCIENCE SC S CIE IENCE GUY • 5
Improv Smackdown Overreactors VS. Toast O “We’re all friends” — OverReactors president ent
See page 6&7