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THURSDAY JULY 6, 1989 « ATHENS, GEORGIA « VOLUME 96, ISSUE 123
Athens marchers protest abortion ruling
Abortion:
An issue of
choice
By PERVIN LAKDAWALLA
Contributing Writer
The Feminist Women's Health
Center and the Young Democrat*
of Georgia joined the Athens Pro-
Choice Action league in their
Wednesday protest march against
the recent U S Supreme Court
ruling on abortions
Wearing T-shirts displaying a
bloodied coat hanger, symbolizing
an era of illegal abortions, the Pro-
Choice league led a group of sup
porters to City Hall with cnes of
"Not for Church, Not for State,
Women must decide our fate "
Betsy Weitzman, a member of
the coordinating committee for the
Pro Choice league, addressed the
crowd in the Tate Center Plaza be
fore the march. "If we lay down on
this, we’re dead," she said
In a controversial ruling
Monday, the Supreme Court re
versed the decision of a U.S Court
of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
on a Missouri statute regulating
the performance of abortions.
It has returned to the states the
“virtually unfettered authority to
control the decision whether to
carry a fetus to term," Justice
Harry A Blackmun wrote in his
dissenting opinion.
The majority opinion addressed
four Points in the Missouri Act
• The Court ruled the statement
that "the life of each human being
begins at conception, (and that) un
born children have protectable in
terests in life, heailth and well
being,” was not unconstitutional.
• The Court ruled that it is un
lawful for any public employee,
within the scope of his employ
ment, or any public facility to be
used for the purpose of performing
or assisting an abortion not nec
essary to save the mother’s life
The Missouri decision "places no
governmental obstacle in the path
of a woman who chooses to termi
nate her pregnancy."
• The Missouri Act contained
three provisions that stated (a) no
public funds may be used to en
courage or counsel a woman to
have an abortion not necessary to
save her life; (b) no public em
ployee can engage in such speech
in the scope of their employment
and (c) such speech in public facili
ties is forbidden The majority
opinion stated these three provi
sions to be moot, or open to legal
question.
• The Court ruled the Missouri
law requiring doctors to perform
viability tests after the 20th week
of pregnancy, to determine the
fetus’ ability to survive after birth,
as constitutional These tests fur
ther the states’ interest to protect
human life.
Gaile Courie, a member of the
board of directors for the Atlanta
and Athens Feminist Women’s
Health Center, said the Supreme
Court will hurt women in
upholding the Missouri law
Women who are denied nbor
tions seek them illegally, resulting
in a higher mortality rate for
mothers, Courie stud
Terry Lofton, director for the
Georgia Center for Health Statis
tics, said it isn’t possible to statisti
cally track trends on mortality
rates for mothers before and after
the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling
making abortions legal There was
no formal reporting system of
deaths due to abortions prior to
1973
Since abortions have become
medically available, we don't see
women coming into emergency
rooms bleeding from self-compelled
abortion," Lofton said
Adam Thornton, spokesperson
for United Students Against Abor
tion, said “If abortions are re
stricted or banned, legislators will
step in with monies for pregnancy
care "
The ruling is a movement in the
nght direction, he said
'The real issue is the unborn
child The nght to life (position) is
not to hurt women’s nght to sex
uality but more to protect the
nghts and life of the unborn child,”
Thornton said
The biggest victory, Thornton
said, is the ban on use of public em
ployees and public monies to con
duct abortions 'The majonty of
Amencans don’t want their tax dol
lars spent on public abortions," he
said
A poll published in the Athens
Banner Herald/Daily News on July
4 showed strong support for indi
vidual choice on abortion in the
state
The poll was conducted by the
University Survey Research
Center between April 21 and May
3, 1989, with 500 Georgians partic
ipatmg.
• 52 percent agreed or strongly
agreed with the premise that abor
tion is a choice between women
and their doctors
• 27 3 percent disagreed or
strongly disagreed with the
statement.
‘The response we have had is
that people are very angry about
what the Supreme Court has
done," Cindy Short, Athens’ Femi
nisi Women's Health Center man
ager, said
Speaking for the Young Demo
crats, Stephanie Stuckey, a first
year law student, said tne recent
ruling is th# first in turning back
the clock on women’s nghts
Stuckey said abortion is going to
be a central issue in the upcoming
gubematonal race The Young
Democrats are planning a strategy
of heavy rallying and mass mail
ings, she said
Young democrats will urge state
democratic legislators that young
people are overwhelmingly pro-
choice, David Johnston, president
of the College Young Democrats of
Georgia, said
The 150 supporters at the march
formed a mixed group including
local Athenians, University faculty
and students
“I come from a long line of abor
tion supp<irters,” Tncia Lootens,
an assistant professor of English,
said A family member hnd a need
for an abortion due to a medical
condition when abortions were il
legal.
The way to stop abortions is to
make them unnecessaryLootens
said, by having "free, readily avail
able contraceptives, decent child
care, and if young women felt free
to say yes or no to sex rather than
feel pressured "
New dean to head
Graduate School
By CYBELE LANGE
Staff Writer
Attention graduate students —
the Graduate School will have a
new dean July 13
Pending approval by the Board
of Regents, Zoology Department
rill be
it gri
“UC
Head Gordhan Patel will be ap
pointed hend of the Graduate
School
John Dowling retired as dean of
the school Fnday. He will be a re
search professor in the Romance
Languages department His official
title will be Alumni Foundation
Distinguished Professor, a lan
guAge department spokesperson
said
Patel said he has been the hend
of zoology for eight years and has
been at the University for 22years
He said the first thing he in
tends to do as dean is "learn about
the different programs."
There is no need to "fix what
ain’t broke," he said, and he hopes
to improve nil of the pn^frams in
GA has first-rate graduate
programs which produce first-rate
students," Patel said.
His main objective is not to in
crease the already high quality of
students, but to increase the
number of students that the grad
uate school produces, he said.
Patel is a native of Mozambique
He attended Wilson College in
Bombay, India, and graduated
with a bachelor’s and a doctoral de
gree from Washington University
in Missouri
Patel served on search commit
tees for the vice-president and as
sociate vice-president for academic
afTairs, a task force for the study of
academic support services, and the
Self-Study Committee on Univer
sity Purpose, among others.
H. Branch Howe, Jr, associate
dean of the Graduate School, said
that Dowling will be missed
He said he is "sorry to see this
happen He’s served us well."
New Georgia laws
raise fines and taxes
By JULIE GARDNER
Staff Writer
Tougher fines and jail terms for
writing bad checks took effect July
1 because of new laws enacted by
the state legislature
Bad checks written for more
than $100 but less than $300 will
carry a maximum fine of $1,000
and one year imprisonment, Perry
Michael, executive assistant to the
attorney general, said
He said a bad check written for
$300 to $500 is now a high misde
meaner that carries a $10,000 fine
The old maximum fine was $1,000.
Another new law enacted by the
state legislature repealed the cur
rent sales tax exemption on video
cassette rentals The tax increase
may affect the price of rentals.
Harold Gillispie of South Video
Rental in Athens said the price of
new releases at South Video Rental
has increased from $2 00 to $2 50
to make up for the tax increase
Turtle's Records and Tapes,
however, isn’t increasing the price
of its rentals, Lee Austin, a Turtle’s
employee, said
College and university campus
police are now authorized to use
radar on public streets within the
state's campuses thanks to a new
law enacted by the state legis
lature This law, however, won’t af
feet the University
University police have been
using radar with state Public
Safety Deptartment authorization
since 1977, Asa Boynton, director
of the Public Safety Division, said
Other new laws include
Exotic local beauties
No. this isn’t a picture of the Amazon jungle. It comes from our own
back yard — or at least from close by at the State Botanical Garden.
Please see related story on page 3
• Drug Trafficking
Most fines will more than double
for drug possession For example
possession of 50 pounds of man
juana will carry a $100,000 fine
• Good Drivers.
Automobile insurance corn pa
mes ure required to offer discount*
for motorists who take suite ap
proved defensive driving course-
Commission redefines de Soto’s trail
By NEAL CALLAHAN
Staff Writer
If Hernando de Soto had left brand crumbs
along the trail of his exploration of the
Southeastern Unitsd States, the life of three
University professors and thirteen other
members of a state commission would be a
lot easier
The commission was appointed by Gov.
' Joe Frank Hams last Wednesday to nttempt
to redefine the actual trail taken by de Soto
hs a part of the commemoration of the
event's 450th anniversary next year The
journey was the first expedition into the in
tenor of the United States by a European
Charles Hudson, a University anthropolo
gist and a member of the commission, is
chiefly responsible for revising the first trail
desigation completed in 1935
Hudson said the 1935 trail designation,
done by a federal commission, was close to
accurate and well done for the amount of in
formation available at the time
"Basically we used the same historical
documents as they did in 1935," he said, but
we have the benefit of 50 years of archeolog
ical research that has been done since in our
conclusions "
Other members of the commission from
the University are David Hally, anthra
pology professor, and Mark Williams, a re
search assistant in anthropology and a
member of the LAMAR Institute, a non
profit organization responsible for educating
the public about the Indians that used to in
habit the state
Hudson said he anticipates discontent
from some of the towns that have based their
heritage on the de Soto trail and who will
lose thier official ractignition with the new
plan
While no one has complained directly to
me some individuals have certainly made
their feelings known elsewhere," he said
Williams said the commission will meet
July 22 to set its goals He siud it was too
early Ui tell, but he didn’t feel there would be
any problems in agreeing on Hudson’s revi
sion, which follows a more northerly route
through South Georgia and briefly re-enters
the northwestern section of the state on its
way ba< k to the gulf
Food services to stop
its polystyrene use
By A.J. TAHTINEN
Staff Writer
In response to a petition from
students, University Food Serv
ices will discontinue the use of
polystyrene products in its oper
ations when the current sup
plies run out
Food Services Director Mi
chael Floyd said the decision
was made in response to the pe
tition bearing 3,666 signatures
from students pratesting the
use pf polystyrene products in
the Bulldog Room He received
the petition at the end of spring
quarter
’The petition did cause us to
look at the situation more care
fully," Floyd said This is our
way of saying that we're sensi
tive to the societal need to deal
with non-biodegradable prod
ucts "
Neil Dulohery, chairman of
the Styrofoam Reduction Com
mittee and one of the organizers
of the petition, said the decision
was a victory for the environ
ment.
The committee is part of Stu
dents for Environmental
Awareness, a student orgamza
tion
"It's fantastic I'm pleasantly
surprised by the decision," Du
lohery said This is really a
good first step, but I’d like to see
them phase out all materials
that can’t be recycled "
"I really appreciate the re
"I
*' 1
>n >
sponse from the administra
tion," he said
Public Information Director
Tom Jackson said the students’
point was "well taken."
Floyd said "the cost increase
is relatively small, some three to
four thousand dollars per year
It’s all part of the pnee well
have to pay to protect the envi- B
ronment."
Since Food Services is an aux
iliary and isn’t funded by the
University but by the cub
tomers, the increased cost will
be passed on to the patrons of
the Bulldog Room, he said
Richard Delinsky, Food Serv
ices accountant, said the pnee
increase is not going to be sub
stantial
"I can't imagine, for example,
the price of a cup of coffee to go
up a nickel," Delinsky said
Flo>d said the current poly
styrene supplies should be ex
hausted by the end of fall
quarter The products involved
are trays, platters and hot cups
that will be replaced by fiherg-
lass trays and paper plates and
cups
Students won’t be allowed to
take the fiberglass trays outside
the dining area, so those
wishing to eat outside will have
their purchases put into paper
bags, he mod
The Bulldog Room will still be
using plastic utensils because
there really aren’t any practical
substitutes for them, Floyd said
• Bad Drivers.
The fine for driving without a li
cense or with a revoked license is
now doubled to $1,000 and a max
imum jail term of one year
• Grave Robbing.
It is now a felony to knowingly
receive, keep or possess a corpse or
body part tnat was unlawfully re
moved from a grave
Police investigate
Chicopee robbery
A substantial amount of cash
and several keys to campus build
ings were stolen last week from a
safe in Physical Plant offices of the
Chicopee Complex, according to
University Police reports
Public Information Director Tom
Jackson said at least $10,000 was
stolen
The cash was stolen between
5:30 p m Wednesday and 7am
Thursday University Police didn’t
release the method used in
breaking the safe
Connie Sampson, University Pu
lice assistant cnief, said the case is
under investigation and wouldn't
release the exact amount of cash
stolen
"I think that the motive was to
steal the money, not the keys,"
Sampson said "But the locks were
changed by Fnday "
“The investigators are nar
rowing down the suspects but don’t
have a pnmary suspect yet," she
said
University Police Chief Chuck
Horton said this is a “high pnonty
case "
Physical Plant Director Jim Ten-
Ll.
Chuck Horton
Crook didn’t want’to give out any
details about the burglary
He said, though, that the “Phys
ical Plant is working on a way to
make sure this never happens
again "
Sampson said that the Physical
Plant is not keeping the cash on
hand anymore
—A.J. TahUnan
