Newspaper Page Text
By GREG FREEMAN
H*4 msd BUrk tun WrlWr
First o/two parts
"W* therefore conclude that the right of
per tonal privacy includes the abortion decision,
but tbt this right it not unqualified...."
With these words in 1973, the U.S Supreme
Court effectively legalized abortion on demand,
but did not lay to rest the abortion issue Today
marts the 12th anniversary of the Roe vs Wade
decision, and the past 12 years have been
marked with vehement protests by the pro-life
movement, continued concern about abortion
rights by the pro-choice movement and. in
recent years, violent attacks on abortion-
related facilities across the country
Since the 1973 decision, an estimated IS
million to 16 million abortions have been per
formed legally in the United States Those
opposing abortion say these figures represent
the deaths of 15 million to 16 million innocent
children. And a small minority, with whom pro
lifers say they have no connection and don't
support, have apparently considered abortions
an outrage worthy of violence
No one has yet been injured in the more than
30 attacks on abortion and family planning
clinics since 1982. but this fact is little con
solation to those threatened by such violence
The Athens Feminist Women's Health Clinic
Center has received what clinic coordinator
Cindy Short calls a definite threat
The Health Center's billboard on Broad
Street, promoting a woman's right to abortion,
was recently vandalized by someone throwing
red paint
“1 certainly thing that was intended as a
threat," Short said. “Let’s Just say we’re not
unaware of the danger One of our clinics out
side of Seattle was firebombed three times in a
row until they just plain closed it down
‘'You’re providing a service that obviously
people need, but yet you have to face this
passible scenario of coming to work one dsy and
the building is just plain not there.”
Though concerned, Short said the reaction of
the clinic staff is more outrage than fear
"It makes it clear that it is more important
than ever to discuss abortion rights and the
people need to be more vocal now than ever in
support of abortion rights." she said.
Pro-life activists are also vocal in their
condemnation of the violence.
"There are obviously people who feel that that
is a method for stopping abortion or it could be
someone who was possibly hurt by an abortion
and wants to strike back," said Director Buddy
McElhannon of the Christian Action Council's
Athens chapter "But we are opposed to it We
are opposed to violence inside the womb and we
are opposed to violence outside the womb
“We don’t need violence to fight abortion
There are legal ways, nonviolent ways that will
work.”
Abortions are not available in a clinic setting
in Clarke County, and officials say the few
private physicians performing abortions are
fairly secretive.
But the issue of abortion is still present in
Athens Several organizations exist in Athens to
refer women in search of an abortion, to give
support after deciding to abort and to persuade
them to select alternatives And the lack of
facilities for abortions in the county does not
stop residents and University students from
having abortions at a higher rate than that of
the rest of the state
In 1982, the latest year for which figures are
available. 654 abortions were recorded for
women listing their address as Clarke County,
according to the Georgia Department of Human-
Resources' Division of Public Health. The rate
of abortions for the same year In Clarke County
was 28 1 abortions per 1,000 women in the
childbearing years of 15 to 44 (although abor
tions were recorded for a slight number of
women outside this age bracketi.
This rate of 28 1 is higher than the rate of 21.7
per 1.000 for Georgia in 1982, although the dif
ference is not as much as in 1978, when Clarke
County had a rate of 42 6, as compared to
Georgia’s 25.3. Clarke County’s abortion rate
has fallen steadily since 1978.
"Clarke County has a very high abortion
rate,” said Health Educator Gloria Varley of
the DHR "We always speculated it was
because of the University but we don’t really
know."
Most of the abortions performed on Clarke
County residents are done in Atlanta.
Organizations in Athens offering abortion
referral services usually refer patients to
clinics in Atlanta, where abortions are per
formed in a few hours at a cost of $175 to 1800,
according to University Health Educator Nancy
MacNair The Athens telephone book has
listings for six Atlanta abortion clinics and one
clinic in Greenville, S.C.
Officials of the Feminist Women’s Health
Center once considered offering abortion ser
vices at their clinic downtown, but they were
met with "considerable resistance" from the
community. Short said
Please See ABORTION, Pages
THE RED AND BLACK
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
Athens, Ga., Vol. 92, No. 47
Tuesday, January 22, 1985
News 543-1809 Advertising 543-1791
Drink-age bills pass through committees
By SUZANNE WOOD
Rr4 r*4 Black Senior Reporter
Two bills designed to raise Georgia's drinking age to 21
passed through their respective committees Monday and will
be reintroduced into the General Assembly later this week
Sen Julian Bond, D-Atlanta, chairman of the Senate Con
sumer Affairs Committee, said the committee passed a bill
sponsored by Sen. Roy Barnes, D-Mableton. at a meeting
early Monday
The bill proposes to raise the drinking age to 20 effective
July 30.1985, and to 21 effective July 30,1986
A spokesman for the House Regulated Beverages Commit
tee said a similar bill introduced by Rep Betty Aaron, D-
Atlanta, passed through committee Monday.
Aaron's bill would raise the drinking age to 20 effective
Sept. 1,1985. and to 21 effective Sept. 1,1986
Bond said he is confident the bill would pass in the General
Assembly. He said support for the bills is in part due to
federal legislation that will withhold highway funds from
states not complying with a nationwide drinking age of 21
Bond said, however, the federal law was not the only
reason legislators were supporting the bills.
"The Senate in the past has favored a dunking age of 21,”
Bond said. “I think it’s a combination of federal coercion and
legislators' thinking that something should be done.”
He said the bill was hacked strongly by Gov. Joe Frank
Harris, and this helped in securing support for it.
“Sen Paul Coverdell (D-Atlanta I was the originator of the
bill," Bond said. "He and I have been working for a change in
the drinking age for the last year. We're glad the governor
has joined us on this.”
Larry Jones, associate director of University Institutional
Research and Planning, said 6,255 students currentlky enroll
ed, or about 25 percent of the student population , are 19 or
younger These students are the only ones who would be af
fected by the drinking-age change, as students 20 and older
would be 21 before the second stages of the bills would take
effect.
"There was definitely an awareness in the IFC that this
was going to happen,” Barris said. “For the last four or five
months, we have discussed promoting rush in a way that
won' t depend on a Icohol. ’ ’
Barris said the IFC has already set dry rush dates for
future quarters.
If the percentages of students under 21 remain constant,
eventually about 40 percent of the student popoulation would
be under 21,
D. J. Schneider, president of BACCHUS, said the passage of
cither bill will not affect the group's work.
Nick Barris, administrative vice-president of the Inter
fraternity Council, said the organization has anticipated the
change, and has begun to change its policy toward a dry rush
program
"My first thought is that BACCHU remains neutral about
this," Schneider said. “Our organization is designed to pro
mote responsible drinking, and we will have to continue our
education in this area Underage kids will continue to drink,
so we’ll have to work to make sure they drink responsibly.”
IFC snafu slows merger
By BETH OVEKTON
Krd 2nd Black Senior Reporter
It's freezing!
vl ninrt i in rtrvi itnti niat x
This Icy scene from the sidewalk on
Jackson Street was common across
Athens as temperatures plummeted
Sunday night to a record 4 degrees
below zero. According to Athens
Weather Service specialist Jim Butch,
the prev lout record was -3 degrees set
in February of I KM The Monday night
low was predicted at 5 degrees, with a
high Wednesday In the mtd-40s. Hutch
said. On campus. Physical Plant
Director Ken Jordan said no real
major freeze related complications
occurred, but there were leaks in the
heating/cooling units of Biological
Sciences. Journalism and Caldwell
Hall. “Our major problem will be just a
lot of little problems," he said.
Communication problems between
the Interfraternity Council and Omega
Psi Phi fraternity were solved tern
porarily when the IFC discovered it had
been mailing information to a fraterni
ty president who was not enrolled in
school
Robert Bryant, who acted as Presi
dent of Omega Psi Phi last quarter, has
an internship this quarter, Kenneth
McMillan, a member of the fraternity,
said Monday
IFC adviser John Opper said Monday
the IFC president Joe Fleming had
tried to contact Bryant, whom he
thought was the acting president of the
Omega Phi Psi fraternity, regarding
the Greek merger
Fleming sent notices to Bryant at his
fraternity mailing address unaware
that Bryant was on an internship, Op
per said.
“Communication broke down when
the key person wasn't available,” Op
per said
McMillian said fraternity members
knew Bryant would not be here this
quarter Kevin Tolbert, Omega vice
president, will serve as president until
Bryant returns
Tolbert said he did not receive any in
formation about the last IFC meeting
“The only way I found out about the
meeting was through the paper,”
Tolbert said
Omega Phi Psi definitely will be
represented at the next IFC meeting,
Tolbert said.
Opper said a member of Omega Phi
Psi called Friday to tell him Tolbert
would be acting as president and how to
contact him.
Opper said Tolbert will rep—•ent the
Omega Phi Psi fraternity for iFC.
”1 know they’ll be at the next
meeting," Opper said.
Tolbert said he is not sure if the
Omega Phi Psi fraternity will merge
with IFC until he talks to Fleming.
"I need to have a listing of exactly
what the merger entails,” Tolbert said
McMillan said Omega Phi Psi will
have a meeting Monday night to discuss
the merger The Black Greek Council
had not discussed the merger this
quarter, and the Omegas did not know
about the IFC meeting. McMillan said.
“It was just a lack of communica
tion," he said. "I don't think it was done
intentionally.”
The absence of Omega Phi Psi at the
last IFC meeting prevented the propos
ed black-white Greek merger, because
BGC officials said they wanted to pre
sent a unified front to the IFC.
Irving Dawson, president of Alpha
Phi Alpha fraternity, said the BGC
would not merge with IFC until all BGC
fraternities were represented
‘Communication b-
roke down when the
(Omega Psi Phi
president) wasn’t
available. I know
they’ll be at the next
meeting.’
— John Opper, ad
viser to the IFC
UGA must release NCAA papers
but not concerning men’s basketball
By TODD HOLCOMB
Red and Black Slafl Writer
Superior Court Judge James Barrow today will order the
University to release documents of NCAA investigations into
its football and women's basketball teams, but not its men's
basketball team.
Judge Barrow told The Red and Black late Monday that he
will rule that the University must release the papers Wed
nesday at 11 am.
The University is expected to appeal the decision, and
Barrow said he would set an appeal trial date Tuesday af
ternoon.
Barrow said he ruled agaiast the University in the
disclosures because the investigations by the National
Collegiate Athletic Association into the football and women's
basketball teams were over However, he said the disclosure
of records into the investigation of the men's basketball team
would hamper the NCAA investigation and the University's
ability to defend Itself,
The University had argued that its athletic department is a
private and internally funded organization and thus not
subject to the Georgia Open Records Act Barrow disagreed.
"The papers are in the possession of the University, and
it’s the University’s football team," Barrow said. "The
University and not the football team is a member of the
NCAA "
Morris Communications Corp , owner of the Athens Daily
News and the Athens Banner Herald, and Cox Corn-
sued the University to get access to records of all in
vestigations of 1982-84 involving the University.
The NCAA’s investigation in 1981 involved the football
team’s recruiting of George Smith, who signed with Georgia
and later transferred to Texas A&M The investigations
resulted in the loss of six athletic scholarships over two
years.
The recent NCAA investigation into the football team
resulted in the loss of 14 scholarships over the next two years.
The women's basketball team has been cleared of any
wrongdoing, but the investigation into the men’s basketball
team, primarily centered around the recruiting of 6-foot-8
freshman Cedric Henderson of Marietta, is ongoing.
The University has said it would release all records of that
investigation as soon as it has concluded, probably by early
March.
The University may base its appeal on the argument that
releasing the records of the football probe also may hamper
the NCAA Investigation into men's basketball.
Athens attorney Kent Lawrence, the University's special
legal consultant, testified Thursday that eight to 12 sources
who assisted in the football investigation have also or can
also provide information into the men's basketball investiga
tion
Lawrence said some are identified in the documents by
name He said that he and Athens Attorney Kirby Moore, a
member of the Georgia Athletic Board and governing body of
the athletic association, promised confidentiality to all
sources.