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MIKE MOREU
R&B artist lampoons
latest Washington scandal
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^ HANKS l>
THE RED AND BLACK
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
Athens, Ga. Volume 95, No. 123
Tuesday, June 28, 198
3
News 543-1809 Advertising 543-1791
Damages may look
severe, but rainfall
won’t ease drought
By Sarah Hawk
Rwl and Black Stall Writer
The severe thunderstorm which
swept through Athens Saturday left
a trail of broken limbs and tempo
Man to blame
for fallen trees
Blame for many of the tree cas
ualties on Milledge can be placed
on man, a University official said.
Kim Coder, an extension for
ester and assistant University pro
fessor in Extension Forestry
Resources, said a lot of the
downed trees fell because of me
chanical faults caused when
utility lines or sidewalks were put
in, resulting in structural damage
to the trees.
“This is a prime example of
reaping what you sow," he said.
“There are years of neglect and
abuse. You end up with these
problems ”
Many mechanical faults were
done 20 to 30 years ago, and “it's
coming back to haunt people," he
said.
If a tree is totally pushed down,
it’s a root problem, Coder said
Any time the roots are sheared,
such as when sidewalks are put in,
you have structural problems, he
said.
Damage on Milledge is in the
"tens of thousands of dollars" lost
along the street in property value,
he said That doesn't include the
loss of the cool breezes from the
shade of the trees.
For possible future prevention
of falling trees, Coder gave sev
eral suggestions:
• pruning dead limbs, not live
ones
• sprinkling the roots, not
soaking them.
• watering the trees with a
“soaker hose ”
• not watering the base, but the
"drip-line” area, the space under
the tree’s limbs.
— Sarah Hawk
rary power shortages, but no severe
damages or injuries, city and Uni
versity officials said.
At 7:29 p.m., the majority of
Georgia Power customers in the
area, about 8,500, lost power for two
to three hours, but by Sunday night
all the lines were repaired, said Phil
Gibbs, Georgia Power district su
perintendent.
The most severe electrical
damage occurred in the South Mil
ledge Avenue and Five Points
areas, where crews stayed until 3 or
4 a m. Sunday morning repairing
damages, he said.
"Large trees blew over and high
winds turned over the tree limbs,
hitting line transformers that serve
the area,” Gibbs said.
Wilford Burson, Athens weather
service specialist, said the Athens
thunderstorm was part of a line of
storms that hit Clarke and Oconee
counties and died in Greene County.
Winds blew at a rate of 35 mph at
the Athens Airport, but the main
body of the storm traveled in the
western part of downtown Athens
and may have exceeded 55 mph, he
said.
Rainfall at the airport measured
29 of an inch and there were unoffi
cially reports of two inches in other
areas.
Total rainfall for the month
stands at .75 of an inch as of
Monday morning, Burson said. The
norma! amount for June is 3.56 inch,
resulting in a deficit of 2.81 for the
month, he said. The yearly rainfall
total is 15.31 inches so far, and the
normal average is 27 20 inches, a
deficit of 11.89 inches.
“So the storm didn’t even make a
drop in the bucket," Burson said
Private property damages will
compose the largest amounts of
monetary loss, said Bob Snipes, di
rector of Athens Public Works
Crews were out from Saturday at
10:00 p.m. to Sunday at 9:00 a m.
"Our initial thrust was to clear
the streets. Monday and Tuesday
will be spent clearing the remaining
tree limbs blocking the sidewalks
and right of ways," he said.
On the University campus, how
ever, there was little damage
Police arrest
one for gun
possession
By Daryl Kirby
RhI Mid Black (ontHhNIliw Writer
An Athens woman was arrested
on the University campus Monday
and charged with two misdemeanor
counts after she was seen with a
pistol on a city bus.
University police arrested Nellie
May Thomas, 42, of 122 Parkview
Homes at 10:26 a m. after an Athens
Transit System bus driver reported
to police that she had a gun, said
Sgt Lisa Boone of the University
Police Department.
Na t u ra I fire works
This time-lapse photo, made from the deck of the Col
lege of Journalism, shows the fury of the powerful thun
derstorm that passed through Athens Saturday night.
over Sanford Stadium
resulting in damage throughout the area. The illumina
tion of Memorial Hall in the foreground is a result of
the lightning itself, not a flash from the camera.
“The University was very fortu
nate and suffered a couple of
downed lines, and there was some
disruption of power," said Ken
Jordan, University physical plant
director
Trees hit the street lights’ elec
trical lines on River Road and
power lines at the rear of the School
oi Veterinary Medicine, he said.
Lightning struck power lines at
the Graduate Studies building, but
physical plant workers easily reset
the breakers, the computer system
and the air conditioning
Also, a minor problem at the Vi
sual Arts Annex was caused when a
Coke can plugged an opening in the
parapet wall, which drains water in
a side pipe, causing eight or nine
inches of water to back up and leak
into one room, Jordan said
One University student who lives
on South Millege Avenue felt the ef
fects of the storm.
Karen Dollar, a senior in graphic
design, returned from a date Sat
urday night to find a tree had fallen
on her 1984 Datsun 200 SX.
“A friend told me it happened, but
1 said ‘I don’t believe it’,’’ she said
“I came back and there it was ”
Another South Milledge Avenue
resident, John Thomas, doesn’t
think the large tree uprooted in his
front yard will help him sell his
house.
“I’ve never been so scared in my
life," said Thomas, a retired real
estate agent “I came to the front
door and here came the tree.”
“I thought it was a tornado, but I
never heard the roar," he said. “I
ran back to the hall ”
Photography editor Nat Gurley
contributed to this story.
x Police found a 25-caliber semi-au-
tdmaiic pistol upon arresting
TKomas, Boone said.
Thomas, who has a criminal re
cord, was charged with possession
of a firearm by a convicted felon
and with carrying a concealed
weapon, Boone said.
Tim Lett, director of the Athens
Transit System, said the woman
boarded the bus at the City Hall
Transfer Center, got off at one of
the University stops, and was
walking across campus
University police made the arrest
at the comer of Lumpkin and
Baldwin streets in front of the
School of Music, and witnesses said
about four police cars were in
volved
“No attempts (to fire the gun)
were made, but she may have
pulled the gun out of her purse,’’
Lett said.
Jeanette Ford, program degree
assistant for the undergraduate
music school, said she saw part of
the incident from her office window
in the music school.
“I looked out my window and saw
a lot of people and police cars in the
street,’’ Ford said. “From the
window I saw the girl and police,
but I couldn’t see very well because
she was hidden partially behind a
brick wall.”
Ford said she never saw the
woman with a gun, and that the
whole incident didn’t last very long
Sgt. Boone said anytime someone
has a gun on campus there is a po
tential danger to students, but she
described the incident as minor
from a police perspective because
the officers had the situation under
control.
Parking policy changes
on Lumpkin sidewalks
By Jim Tyrell
Rnl and Black Mall Weller
People walking along S. Lumpkin
Street on their way to the Univer
sity’s graduation ceremony June 11
might have noticed the $30 parking
tickets on the cars parked along the
road.
Alex Williams, campus minister
at the Presbyterian Center, cer
tainly did.
As he walked back to his office
following graduation, Williams took
note of many angry people who had
received tickets
"It was hard not to notice their
anger,” he said
Feeling sorry for the ticket rece-
pients, Williams wrote a letter to
The Red and Black, asking if city
policy had changed since football
season, when fans park on Lumpkin
and other city streets without re
ceiving tickets.
Apparently, it has
Hilda Spratlin, Athens Police
public information officer, said that
starting fall quarter it’s “against
city ordinance to park on city side
walks."
Spratlin said sidewalks will be
roped off during special events, in
cluding football games, so pedes
trians will have a safe place to
walk.
There had been complaints that
pedestrians had to go out into the
streets to walk with all the cars
taking up the walking space on the
sidewalk, she said The new ordi
nance makes it illegal to park on
Lumpkin Street sidewalks from the
stadium south to Pinecrest Street
"People should have been
warned," Williams said "It would
prevent a lot of hostility."
Among those receiving tickets
was Pamela Robinson of
Charleston, S.C., who had come to
Athens to see her niece graduate
and “parked along with everyone
else" on Lumpkin Street
“There were no other apparent
parking spaces," she said by tele
phone from her home last week
After the ceremony, Robinson
said she came out to her car and no
ticed everyone along Lumpkin had
tickets.
She said it was unfair that during
football games people could park on
the sidewalks and not get tickets
"For graduation it seemed dif
ferent,” she said “It was the same
school, different occasions, but still
it was the same situation."
Fred Middleton also received a
ticket. The Decatur resident had
come to see his daughter graduate
and had always parked along
Lumpkin when he came to football
games, he said.
He also couldn't find any parking
spaces so he parked along the side
walk, where he normally parks, he
said
"If I was not familiar (with
Athens), I wouldn't have parked
there," Middleton said
He suggested that ticketing cars
was not consistent with the prac
tices of the Athens Police Depart
ment and called it "a bit devious,"
and possibly an "opportunity to get
money "
“I will pay the ticket," he said
“(But) 1 don't feel what they have
done is right."
Nat (ivki 'Thr Red and Rlark
An illegally parked car gets the ultimate - the boot
4 Flagpole' controversy
will face court review
By Cara May
Red and Black Eatertainment Kdilor
The June 15 issue of Flagpole, a
bi-monthly magazine labeling it
self as the "colorbearer of Athens
Alternative Music,’’ did indeed
bear a colorful article.
Written by Flagpole writer Pat
Keim, the article dealt with a
band called Shackler and con
tained explicit sexual comments
by the band about themselves and
another controversial musician,
Wendy O. Williams, former lead-
singer for the Plasmatics.
It was rumored police were con
fiscating the magazine off local
magazine racks Athens police
said they collected some of the is
sues to investigate the matter fur
ther, but didn't take all of them
Jared Bailey, Flagpole editor,
said he thought *he confiscation
was an infringement on the right
of a free speech and free press
“I think that (confiscation of the
magazine) is illegal," Bailey said.
Katherine Philips, administra
tive assistant to Athens Chief of
Police, said the matter has been
turned over to the courts for re
view
"They 'the courts> have to de
cide if the misdemeanor is a case
on a state level," Philips said.
"They will determine if (the ar
ticle) is pornographic or not It's
in their hands now ”
Contacted last Wednesday,
Bailey said nobody had contacted
It was rumored
police were
confiscating the
magazine off local
magazine racks.
Athens police said
they collected some
of the issues to
investigate the
matter further, but
didn’t take all of
them.
him personally to object to the ar
ticle. Bailey couldn't be reached
for comment this week
Keim was reluctant to talk
about the incident.
“It (the article) doesn't mean
that much to me, and I would
rather just let the matter rest,"
Keim said. "As long as there’s a
police investigation, I don’t want
to be involved with the press."
While some University students
were amused by the article,
others aren’t as ethusiastic.
“I don’t know what the big deal
is," said Christina Feindt, a junior
journalism major “I thought it
was pretty interesting "
But Karen Kissane, a junior
business major, said, "The article
was very tasteless It was poor
judgement on the editor's part
