1993-02-24, The Samford Crimson

The Samford Crimson 77th YEAR, 1 7TH ISSUE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1 993 SAMFORD UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM, AL. Search for prank caller continues By Lynn Hadden and Lisa McNeal Staff Editors Homewood Police have no suspects as to who made two bomb threats that interrupted the Step Sing performance Saturday night. Sergeant Dexter Alexander said Monday. Step Sing, scheduled to run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m in the WrightFine Arts Center, was interrupted for nearly an hour by the bomb threats. Step Sing Committee members, ushers and security officers directed the safe and calm evacuation of the 2600 people in the building. At 7:25 p.m. a Homewood emergency dispatcher received a bomb threat from an unknown, young male, according to the police incident report A second call was received shortly af¬ terwards and by 7:30 p.m. evacuation of the building had begun. Homewood Police notified Samford Se¬ curity, who relayed the information to Wright Center Director Mark Fuller. He decided to stop the Baptist Student Union’s show and begin evacuating pro¬ cedures. Fuller asked the crowd to calmly exit the Wright Center because of a house emergency. ‘Typically there are no suspects in the case of a bomb threat,” Alexander said. “Surely someone could identify the caller, but the success rate is not high. “It is almost impossible to identify the caller unless he calls repeatedly and is identified by the same person,” Alexander said. If any leads are uncovered the case will be referred to a detective, he said. Samford Safety and Security Director Jimmie Bivins said the two bomb threat calls were not traced, but Homewood police re¬ corded both calls and have them on file. If the call had been made on the 91 1 line, then it would have been automatically traced, Bivins said. ‘Technology is available to trace calls. (This technology) has been useful in apprehending people making bomb threats,” Bivins said. Associate Dean of Students Richard Traylor said he was proud of the security officers and the way Fuller’s staff handled Please see THREAT, page 6. J Fraternity says winning ■ More photos, page 8. By Neal Hutchens and Debbie Sheffield News Editors With a performance that would have made Boris Yeltsin proud. Pi Kappa Phi fraternity won the Sweepstakes trophy in the 43rd annual Step Sing show this past weekend. In the mixed division, the freshman class took first place, the Baptist Student Union Choir won second and the Baptist Student Union finished third. Pi Kappa Phi fraternity also won first place in the men’s division. Lambda Chi came in second and Sigma Chi was third. In the women’s division, Alpha Delta Pi placed first, Phi Mu won second and Chi Omega came in third. In their show. Phi Kappa Phi reflected on the fall of Communism with songs such as the national anthem for the former Soviet Union, Winds of Change and Do You Hear the People Sing. The Pi Kappa Phi ’ s, with brightredshirts, yellow sashes and black hats, evoked images of Russian Cossacks. “We are very excited and it’s incredible honor,” sophomore Matt Snow, the direc¬ tor for Phi Kappa Phi’s show, said. “It was probably the most fun we’ve ever had in Step Sing.” Pi Kappa Phi had finished third in the men’s division for the past two years, which was a “definite motivational factor” for this year. Snow said. ‘We thought we had a timely theme that could say something to the audience and entertain as well,” senior Cal Mostella, one of the choreographers for the fraternity, said. "The focus was not on winning sweep¬ stakes, but was on putting a good show together,” he said. The freshman class had a Tennessee theme and featured songs like Rocky Top , Chattanooga Choo-Choo and Walking in Memphis. “At first we kind of had in the back of our minds that we had to live up to last year’s freshman class (winner of the 1992 Sweepstakes), but then we decided we could only do our best,” Sharia Morris, who di¬ rected the freshman show, said. ‘We gave it all we had,l 10 percent. We never expected to win and are just ecstatic over how well we did,” she said. Step Sing included a performance by 28 faculty and staff members. With women in choir robes and men dressed as nuns, the performers boogied through a show that included songs such as Operator, I Will Follow Him and My God. “Last year several of us went to Step Sing and decided we wanted to do a show,” Carol Phillips, who helped organize the show, said. “It took a lot of time. We practiced during our lunch hour and after work,” she said. ‘We had a wonderful time and got to meet other people across campus.” The money raised in Step Sing goes to the student scholarship fund, Step Sing Chair Brooke Dill, a sophomore, said. A portion of the money funds a scholarship for two people in each of the freshman, sophomore and junior classes, she said. The rest of the money funds other scholarships such as the Miss Samford scholarshipandSGAofficers’ scholarships, Dill said. “A positive for this year was we tried to make it less competitive,” she said. ‘We got people from last year ’s step sing to meet Please see WINNERS, page 2. Say Saysombath/ Associate Photo Editor Cal Mostella and Matt Snow claim the Sweepstakes trophy for Pi Kappa Phi fraternity Saturday night. is an 'incredible honor' Parks says SBC controversy diverts prayer, money By Chris. Deerlng Staff Editor R. Keith Parks, who stirred debate when he resigned early as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board, is a man of strong convic¬ tions. He speaks with a gentleness un¬ characteristic of many in the fray of a conflict that has lasted more than a decade in the 15-million-member denomination. Parks, the newly-appointed mis¬ sions coordinator for die Coopera¬ tive Baptist Fellowship, was the keynote speaker during last week’s In an interview with the Crimson, Parks responded to questions about the SBC controversy and his FMB departure, which was three years earlier than planned. Parks’ moved to head the fledg¬ ling missions program of the CBF, a moderate group formed in 1991 to Many Southern Baptist funda¬ mentalists criticized his departure as, in effect, “joining the enemy.” They claim tlie splinter organiza¬ tion is an unwanted competitor that will deplete needed funds from can express our missions commit¬ ments in a way consistent with our own beliefs that we could not do with the current convention lead¬ ership,” Paries said. “I’m very adamant to the point that (President of SBC Executive Committee) Morris Chapman and Missions Emphasis convocation series. •••••■•■• protest the conservative direction of the SBC FMB coffers. “We’re just saying the CBF is an alternate channel through which some of us, as Sontherii Baptists, PH- Ptease see PARKS, page 2.