Newspaper Page Text
AFTER HOURS
The Producers get stuck
with Aunt Bea's wig, Page 3
HE’S OUT
Georgia baseball team smacks
ACC champs, Page 7
THE RED AND BLACK
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
Athens, Ga., Vol. 92, No. 101
Friday, May 3, 1985
News 543-1809 Advertising 543-1791
D UI offenders must face Boulogne
By GREG FREEMAN
H«l and Klatk Vail W rtlar
Luatof two part.
The college student seems un
comfortable waiting for his DU! case
to be heard, but he probably doesn't
know that most of the people in the
courtroom are in the same position
After all, this is a Monday in
magistrate's court
Mondays are usually the court days
that find the most DU I cases, said
Judge Pierre Boulogne of the Clarke
County Magistrate's Court Anyone
arrested in Clarke County for DUI will
face Boulogne.
And that confrontation will be an
important one, during which the judge
decides the seriousness of the offense
and delivers appropriate punishment
Once a DUI case has reached the
court system, the offender is already
familiar with the arrest procedure
But the court appearance is often new
because many DUI offenders are
people with no criminal history
With the field sobriety tests, the
breathalyzer tests and the booking
procedure behind him, the offender
now must face his day in court His
driver's license has been taken from
him after the arrest and a temporary
permit issued His license is attached
to the court docket detailing his arrest
and this docket is in the hands of
Boulogne during the offender's court
appearance
The arresting officer is present and
testifies about the defendant's con
dition at the time of arrest
About a month after the arrest, the
DU! offender appears before
Boulogne, hears his rights explained
to him and then enters a plea in
response to the DUI charge The
defendant has three options con
cerning his plea He may plead in
nocent. guilty or nolo contendere
Pleading innocent results in a trial
for the defendant, but a guilty plea or
a nolo contendere plea, in which the
defendant neither pleads guilty nor
offers a defense, results in immediate
sentencing The only exceptions are
cases occurring in Clarite County go
Minimum penalties fur DUI convictions in Clarke County:
First offense: $330 fine, alcohol countermeasures school
Second offense: $650 fine, one-year probation, alcohol countermeasures
school, alcohol and drug abuse clinic and choice of one weekend in jail or 80
hours of community service
Third offense: $1,000 fine, one-year probation. 10 days in jail, alcohol
countermeasures school, alcohol and drug abuse clinic.
Athens Police Department's DUI
Task Force arrested the defendant In
these cases, the DUI offender must
attend an alcohol education school
and return for sentencing on a second
court date
The number of DUI cases passing
through the court vanes with the day
of the week and the month, but all DUI
cases in which an officer on the
through Boulogne's court The Athens
Police Department made US DUI
cases during April.
Court appearances have a rather
predictable effect on people's at
titudes, Boulogne said
There's a lot of denial," he said
“About 30 days later people truly have
convinced themselves they were
acting normally, that they were not
acting strangely because of the
alcohol."
To a certain extent, Boulogne said,
these attitudes affect sentencing.
Even if they deny guilt, most people
plead guilty and swear they will never
again be arrested for DUI
Most important in sentencing,
however, is whether the offender has
a past history of drunken driving
About 25 percent to 30 percent of DUI
offenders do. Boulogne said.
"We get people in here who have a
traffic offense printout that is literally
four or five feet long," Boulogne said
But even the sentence for a first
offender isn’t trivial.
A first-offense DUI gamers a
minimum fine of $330. plus a trip to
the alcohol countermeasures school
If the breath alcohol content was high,
the offender also may be sentenced to
an alcohol and drug abuse clinic. The
driver’s license will be sent to the
state and not returned until after
attending the school, unless a nolo
contendere plea was entered and
accepted
A second DUI offense results in
stricter sentencing The minimum
sentence for a second offense is a $650
fine, one year probation, alcohol
countermeasures school, abuse clinic
and a choice of one weekend in jail or
to hours of community service.
A third DUI signals serious trouble,
Boulogne said, and the sentence is
weighted accordingly. The minimum
sentence for a third DUI offense is a
$1,000 fine, one year probation. 10
days in jail, school and a clinic.
Magistrate's clerk Evelyn linn
stressed that these were only the least
stringent sentences required by the
law Boulogne uses the history of the
offender and his own court experience
in determining how to sentence the
offender
“Being sentenced to the county
work camp is possible, and Judge
Boulogne has been known to do that,”
Linn said.
Having been sentenced, the DUI
offender is released to carry out the
stipulations of his sentence, unless the
sentence involves detention or he still
faces criminal charges in connection
with the DUI offense
Bus runs into telephone pole
University police are investigating
the possibility of mechanical failure in
the Russell Hall bus that ran into a
telephone pole at the comer of Baxter
and Lumpkin streets Thursday.
There were no injuries reported in the
accident.
The bus was traveling south on
Lumpkin Street when the driver,
University sophomore Todd Ponder,
tried to make a right turn on Baxter
Street, Physical Plant Director Ken
Jordan said Thursday
The bus then swerved out of control,
knocking down a pole that carried a city
fire alarm cable, Jordan said
University Police Maj Ernest Nix
said witnesses' reports have led police
to believe mechanical failure may have
caused the accident.
“There is some small indication that
there may have been some type of
failure in the steering," Nix said “But
that hasn't been verified."
Nix said full reports won’t be com
plete until today, and a decision on
whether to charge Ponder will be made
then
Ponder was unavailable for comment
Thursday
Jordan said Ponder has been tem
porarily suspended pending an in
vestigation Jordan said the suspension
is a routine procedure following bus
accidents
The right front of the bus was dented
and some glass broken. The bus is at
the University’s bus maintenance yard.
IFC rejects Sigma Tau Gamma bid
No one was injured Thursday morning in Kussell Hall bus accident
where workers are repairing it and
examining it for evidence of
mechanical failure.
Phil Gibbs, district superintendent
for Georgia Power Co., said Georgia
Power workers moved the pole after
the accident
Although both Georgia Power and
Southern Bell use the pole at times,
representatives from Ixilh companies
said their lines weren’t on the pole at
the time of the accident and no in
terruption of service occurred
— Michael Koenig
NCAA decision near,
says state official
By BETH PATE
Hfd and Black Nealar Reporter
A representative from the state
Attorney General’s Office said Thur
sday he expects a NCAA decision on
possible violations in the University's
men's basketball program early next
week.
However, an NCAA official said
earlier this week the decision might
take as long as a month
University officials have said they
won’t release papers detailing the
University’s internal probe in response
to the NCAA's investigation of the
program until the NCAA passes a
verdict
And the two newspapers who filed
requests for the investigation
documents April 20 may have to wait
until next week to get the papers, said
Patrick McKee, assistant to the state
attorney general
McKee said the University plans to
release the papers when the NCAA
Infractions Committee makes a
decision
He said he expects a decision by early
next week at the latest
Keegan Federal, attorney for Cox
Enterprises Co., which filed the request
along with Morris Communications.
said he hopes to get the documents
today He said he would have to confer
with his clients to see what action is
necessary if the documents are
withheld
Federal said earlier this week that
Cox might take the University back to
court if the documents aren’t released
But Law School Dean J Ralph Beaird
said, "We will release the papers when
we hear from the NCAA, not before."
NCAA Enforcement Director David
Berst refused to comment on the in
vestigation. but said earlier this week
that the decision might take up to a
month
University officials and attorneys
met with the infractions committee last
Sunday to discuss the 27 allegations
against the University's basketball
program
The University said the newspaper
groups wrangled previously about the
documents relating to the in
vestigations of the University's football
and women's basketball programs.
After successfully delaying releasing
the documents several tiems. the
University released the papers on
March 1 detailing the NCAA probe that
led to minor NCAA probation in football
and complete exoneration in women's
basketball
By TAMI DENNIS
Krtl und Black Senior Krporln
Sigma Tau Gamma will petition a
third lime for acceptance to the Univer
sity’s Interfraternity Council after fail
ing to get two-thirds majority al the
IFC’s bi-weekly meeting Wednesday
night
"There was enough support against
expansion that we were not able to get a
two-thirds vote," said IFC President
Sam Holmes
Eventually, the IFC definitely wants
to expand the University's fraternity
system, Holmes said However, the IFC
decided two fraternities in colonial
status would be too many Beta Theta
Pi is currently in colonial status
Sigma Tau Gamma President Tom
Martin said his fraternity will petition
again, but he would not specify when
The fraternity's University chapter
originated in fall 1883 when a Milledge
Hall intramural football learn got
together and decided to form the frater
nity, Martin said
The national Sigma Tau Gamma
fraternity is based in the Midwest, but
some of the fraternity's alumni reside
in this area, Martin said
The IFC turned down the fraternity
last time in the middle of winter
quarter because the members didn't
provide enough information about the
fraternity and they didn’t own their
house, Martin said
The fraternity now has its own frater
nity house and also provided informa
tion to the individual fraternities about
Sigma Tau Gamma, he said
In a meeting closed to Sigma Tau
Gamma members, the IFC discussed
the merits of accepting the fraternity
Some IFC members said the fraterni
ty might hinder the IFC's new dry rush
program, which will begin fall quarter
IFC members argued that if the
fraternity didn't get accepted, Sigma
Tau Gamma might have wet rush fall
quarter, opposing other fraternities
that have mandatory dry rushes
If the IFC accepted the fraternity,
other members argued, it would be just
one more fraternity that rushees have
to visit by bus. An additional fraternity
also might hurt some of the smaller
fraternities' memberships, IFC
members said
The IFC also discussed further plans
for the dry rush program
The individual fraternities have
.’They're often referred to as bundles of joy. but K-wrek-old Gayla Pulliam looks
; anything but overjoyed Thursday as she and her mother Jo Ann wait al the
i ' University's bus stop near the Main Library. But little Gayla doesn't know that
mom, a secretary in the classics department, is on her way to lunch. It she knew,
she'd he ecstatic at the opportunities babies find in food. Although adults
■ sometimes think they find themselves in their art, kids such as Gayla can find art
tn their meal. Sculpture in the mashed potatoes, ftngerpaint in the pudding, music
; In a fork clattering to the floor...the possibilities are endless. And maybe that's
' why mom's hoping Gayla slays just like this.
IFC President Sam Holmes
started planning their presentations,
such as slide shows and video tapes for
dry rush, said IFC Executive Vice
President Stephen Smith.
The IFC plans to pass out information
in certain residential areas in Athens
where they will offer their services to
do various odd jobs around the homes.
IFC Administrative Vice President
Stuart Smith said
Smith said the IFC wants to get two
volunteers from each fraternity to offer
their services for the project. The pro
ject should help improve the IFC's stan
ding within the community, he said
