About The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1981)
Athens lawyers disagree on effect of noise-law change By MARIA HURT Krd and Black Suff W rllcr Local attorneys disagree as to what effect the redefinition of noise from a nuisance to an offense by the Athens City Council will have on the enforcement of the city's noise ordinance The City Council changed the placement of the ordinance in the city code at its meeting Tuesday night. Athens attorney Ernest De Pascale, who recently defended successfully four Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity members charged in two separate cases of violating the ordinance, said he feels the council’s action would still not eliminate the inherent cause of the statute’s problem — “It prohibits activity protected by the First Amendment.” City attorney Denny Galis, who recommended the change to the council, disagreed with De Pascale’s assessment of the ordinance. Galis said his recommendation came about as a result of questions raised by Athens-Clarke County Magistrate's Court about the procedure for dealing with noise violations The court’s questions, raised by Judge Pierre Boulogne, stemmed from arguments made by De Pascale in the recent noise ordinances cases of Lambda Chi Alpha President Clay Land, and three other fraternity members who were charged in an incident separate from Land's. De Pascale argued that the noise ordinance, when defined as a nuisance, provided that noise problems were only to be investigated by police, who were to give the results of their investigation to the magistrate’s court judge. The judge was then to decide whether the noise was, in fact, a nuisance, and could order it to be abated. However, according to the statute, there is to be a five-day period between the time of the investigation and the judge's decision This procedure, which works when dealing with other nuisances such as brushpiles, animal carcasses and stagnant water, works poorly when dealing with a noise problem, which usually lasts only one night The abatement process was an inappropriate way to enforce that particular prohibition,” Galis said Galis said the classification of noise as a nuisance had “created confusion,” and that, “rather than argue the point." the city opted to redefine noise as an offense Under the old abatement procedure, a police of ficer's power to arrest noise violators was questionable "Definitely they did not have it." De Pascale said. “I think the judge already told them (the police/ so in so many words, ” he said, referring to Boulogne’s dismissal of noise violation charges against all four of De Pascale’s clients Staff photo/Larrv ( ulchall Cruisin ’for a bluesin ’ Just look at that face for a minute. It's B.K. King, master of the blues, showing how he won the title. King played two shows last Tuesday at the Fine Arts Theater where he showed a rabid screaming crowd the meaning of life, love and. of course, the blues. For more on King and Lucille, the guitar of the gods, see page 7. Shuttle launch postponed due to fouled lubricant that Presley received 19,000 doses of drugs from Nichopoulos in the last 31 months of his life and had to be hospitalized seven times for treatment of drug abuse. Two deputies stood just in front of Nichopoulos as Judge Bemie Weinman asked jury forewoman Diane Blair for the verdict Other deputies were posted at the entrance of the hushed, tense courtroom as the verdict was read Nichopoulos closed his eyes and smiled at an nouncement of his acquittal. His wife. Edna, sobbed quietly, wiping away the tears with a handkerchief The white-haired physician's two daughters broke down in tears, as did other friends of the Nichopoulos family Nichopoulos and his attorney, James F Neal, embraced after leaving the courtroom “He deserved it. He deserved it,” Neal said of the verdict Neal had steadfastly maintained that Nichopoulos did the best he could with a difficult patient who gulped pills from the moment he awakened until he fell into bed and got them from whatever sources he could. Prosecutors introduced evidence that Nichopoulos prescribed 5,458 amphetamines, 9,567 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (UP1) - The pioneering second flight of the space shuttle Columbia was postponed Wednesday for approximately one week to clean up an oily “gunk" that halted the launch just 31 seconds before blastoff The contamination in $25 worth of lubricant was located in two of theshut- tle’s three auxiliary power units that provide power to the spaceship’s hydraulic system Columbia had been cleared for launch once even though those monitor ing the countdown knew of the con tamination. When another probem halted the countdown, officials re evaluated the situation and the lubrica tion problem was ruled severe enough to postpone blastoff "I think the problem is that at this point we don't know all of the systems perfectly," said Hugh Harris, chief of the public information office. ”We learn as we go along." The two power units had been used on Columbia's first flight in April. The third unaffected unit was new, having replaced one used on the earlier launch After meeting for more than two hours, the space agency’s management team decided to postpone the launch “approximately one week.” L Michael Weeks, acting associate administrator for the shuttle, said it could be several days before a firm decision on the next launch w ould be made. Kennedy Space Center crews were working around the clock to get Colum bia back in working order. Technicians were expected to investigate the power units late Friday. Columbia’s second-launch — the first time a manned spacecraft will return to orbit — had already been postponed twice and is five weeks behind the original schedule. Astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly, both awaiting their first trip into orbit, spent more than five hours in the shuttle's cockpit, lying flat on their backs and looking up at the sky. But they were smiling when they came out of the shuttle. The astronauts planned to remain at the space center until Thursday and then decide whether to stay on through the delay or return to their homes in Houston “We finally decided the prudent thing to do was to try another day,” said flight director Neil Hutchinson in Houston Space officials feared the contamina lion — or "gunk’’ as Hutchinson called it — might clog filters, which could then block the oil flow Weeks said there were two courses the space agency could take to fix it: drain the oil, cleanse the system and reservice it, or replace the power units He said it might take a few days for engineers to decide which route to go. The countdown originally stopped just 31 seconds before liftoff because ground computers detected a low ox ygen pressure reading in Columbia By the time that was resolved, engineers decided that evidence of con tamination in the lubrication oil in the spaceship's auxiliary power system was severe enough to call off the launch. They acknowledged, however, they would have let Columbia go had the countdown not stopped automatical ly At the time, officials said the ship might go up Friday. “We didn't have the data and ex perience to give us confidence to go ahead,” Hutchinson said. "It all added up to saying ‘Hey. we ought to stop and regroup Because the Columbia was fully fuel ed, crews needed at least 8 hours to remove a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, cleanse the tanks and reload That process started immediately after the launch was scrubbed Wednesday Weather at the cape was borderline for launch all week. The decision to try on Wednesday wasn’t made until John Young, commander of the Columbia’s first voyage in April, flew around the area shortly after dawn and said he thought conditions were okay. Within a couple hours after launch director George Page decided at 9:40 a m. EST to postpone the flight, torren tial rains hit the cape An Air Force weather forecast for Friday said there would be a 20 percent chance of rain and winds of at least 10 knots, but there could be a "drastic change" depending on what Katrina did. While Katrina was forming into a tropical storm south of the Cayman Islands Wednesday, officials at the Na tional Hurricane Center in Miami said there was a good chance it would not af fect any future launch. Elvis’ doctor found innocent of criminal intent MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UPI) - A jury found Elvis Presley’s doctor innocent Wednesday of criminally overprescribing addictive drugs to the rock'n'roll king despite prosecutors' claims that Presley carried the drugs to his grave A Criminal Court jury took only 314 hours to find Dr. George Nichopoulos innocent on all counts of prescribing thousands of uppers, downers, and painkillers to Presley, singer Jerry Lee Lewis and seven other patients Jurors said they agreed with the defense, who characterized the silver-haired physician as a “Good Samaritan." despite prusecution testimony sedatives and 3.988 narcotics to Presley in 1975, 1976 and 1977. They maintained even if he did not take all the drugs himself. Presley was taking at least a dozen pills a day in the last year of his life and that all 14 drugs found in Presley's body during an autopsy on the day of his death — Aug 16,1977 — were the type Nichopoulos prescribed But the jury refused to buy prosecutors' arguments that Nichopoulos violated accepted medical standards and broke the law in prescribing drugs for his patients Going gator huntin’ Jacksonville offers Dog fans a host of pre-game events By KEVIN SHARPS Krd and Hlark Suff Writer Thousands of Bulldog fans will head down to Jacksonville to cheer on the Dogs at the annual Georgia-Florida game this weekend, and the City of Jacksonville is rolling out the red carpet. Like last year, Jacksonville will begin the weekend of partying at Wolfson Park next to the Gator Bowl Friday night with the University of Florida pep rally. Festivities start at 4:30 p.m. and the cost is $5 per person The University of Florida cheerleaders and the Gator Band will perform, and a fireworks display will cap the evening. Saturday night, the Interfraternity Council will be doing it up right with a jam featuring the Chapparels at the Jacksonville Civic Auditorium on Westwater Street from 8 to midnight The cost is $4 per person and ID is required. Tickets are now on sale at the IFC office in Memorial Hall, but they will also be sold at the door The Georgia Bulldog Club at Jacksonville will sponsor a Saturday- morning breakfast at the Civic Auditorium Complex at 8 The cost is $5 per person, and all students are invited. The biggest party will take place on Saturday afternoon at the Gator Bowl, when the Bulldogs go head to head with the Gators at 3:50. For all you who put off making reservations for the weekend and feel you got left out, don’t despair Ac cording to the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville hotels and motels still have vacancies for the weekend. A special phone number has been set up for people to call in case they need a room and can't find one The number, 353-9736, will be in operation 24 hours a day Thursday through Saturday. In order to avoid the hassles of traffic jams and crowded freeways, instead of taking Interstate 75 to Interstate 10 into Jacksonville, take Georgia 15 to Interstate 16 to In terstate 95 into Jacksonville. It's a non-stop route and takes only i't hours. But don’t drive too fast. Police patrols will be beefed-up along all the major highways from Georgia to Jacksonville this weekend, according to the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. For all you Bulldog fans who won’t be able to make it to this year's game, don't feel left out The game will be televised on ABC starting at 3:30 p.m. Suff lllminiUuA Jim Matura Gator Bowl tradition may end if not economical By KEVIN SHARPS Rni and Black Bull W riter The longstanding tradition of playing the annual Georgia-Florida football game at Jacksonville's Gator Bowl could end if the University’s athletic department ever decided that the location is not economical. Athletic Director Vince Dooley said this week. "As long as it remains economically sound for us, I can appreciate the long tradition of having the game there," Dooley said. "If it ever becomes economically not to our advantage, that's something different " Sanford Stadium's renovation in creased its capacity to 80.000, com pared to the 68,000 capacity of the Gator Bowl. If new arrangements are made, the game could be held in Athens on alternate years However, the Gator Bowl may undergo a renovation of its own In addition to having already corrected the stadium's sewer problem and expanding the locker rooms, the City of Jacksonville is allocating money to expand the Gator Bowl’s capacity size to 80,000 as well, said Julian Barrs, director of recreation and public affairs for the City of Jacksonville. Jacksonville city officials expect to receive bids for the project Dec 2. If the money is allocated for the project. construction would begin on Jan 4, 1982, and would more than likely be completed by game time next year. In light of the future changes in the Gator Bowl, Jacksonville city officials feel confident that the city will con tinue to host the game "We will hopefully have the game in Jacksonville for many more years to come," Barrs said However, the decisions regarding location and money for the annual game are made from year to year, Dooley said While he said the game will con tinue to be played in Jacksonville for now, Dooley said. "My decision two years from now may be different '
