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THURSDAY JULY 27, 1989 » ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 96, ISSUE 126
All drinkers share risk
of being alcoholics
By JULIE GARDNER
Staff Writer
“Alcoholism can happen to
anyone who drinks," Ejna Mor-
tensen, Community Intervention
Program student intern counselor,
said.
Alcoholism is a disease that be
comes progressively worse, to
which there is no cure, and that
can ultimately be fatal. Diane
Windham, C.I.P. coordinator, said
roblem drinkers can he identified
y the amount they drink, under
what context they drink, and the
result of their drinking.
Alcoholism is a disease suffered
by more than 10 million Americans
of all ages, sexes, races and in
comes, according to Alcoholics
Anonymous. Alcoholism, however,
isn’t easy to spot because not all al
coholics have the same symptoms,
and most deny a drinking problem.
But AA says any one or more of
the following signs may indicate a
problem drinker:
• A false sense of self-confidence
resulting from alcohol.
• Family, financial, or job prob
lems caused by drinking.
• Getting drunk when you didn’t
plan to.
• Loss of consistent ability to
control drinking.
• Hiding bottles and sneaking
drinks.
• Drinking alone.
• Inability to remember what
happened while you were drunk.
• Drinking at work or at school.
• Drinking in the morning.
• Frequent, severe hangovers.
• Guilty and fearful feelings
about drinking.
• A need to drink increasing
amounts of alcohol to get the de
sired effect.
• Withdrawal symptoms from
lack of alcohol.
“It’s not what you drink, when
you drink, or how long you’ve been
drinking. It is how important al
cohol is to you,” Mortensen said.
Ga. program battles DU Is
By JULIE GARDNER
Staff Writer
In Georgia, the statistics are
grim.
According to the DUI Assess
ment Task Force, 59,000 drivere in
Georgia were convicted of driving
under the influence in 1987. DUI-
related deaths represented 35 per
cent of all traffic fatalities, with an
additional 10,000 alcohol-related
injuries.
The Community Intervention
Program is the first program of its
kind in the state to do something
about these statistics.
Diane Windham, C.I.P. coordi
nator, said the program is a two-
purpose preventive step designed
for first-time DUI offenders. First,
the program is designed to de
crease the frequency of alcohol-and
drug-related offenses in the com
munity. Second, it is designed for
the early detection and prevention
of addiction problems.
Windham said Clarke County
was one of six counties to partici
pate in the pilot program. C.I.P.,
started in 1982, was developed by
Terry Daly, R.N., and Sherrie
Weber, M. Ed., in cooperation with
the criminal justice system
They began working with the
judges, Windham said, to create a
program specifically for the large
numbers of people coming through
the court* who were convicted of
alcohol-related offenses.
Upon sentencing, Windham
said, the offender is required by
law to take the Substance Abuse-
/Life Circumstance Evaluation
(SALCE). The evaluation mea
sures social and problem drinking.
This information, along with a
clinical evaluation, is used by the
C.I.P. counselors to decide in which
level the person should be placed
within the program C.I.P. consists
of three levels.
Level I curriculum is basic edu
cation about alcohol nnd alcohol
abuse and misuse. Level I groups
meet one night a week for five
weeks
Level II curriculum is more in
tense and is directed more toward
the individual, Ejna Mortensen,
C.I.P. student intern counselor,
said Level II group meets two
nights a week for four weeks.
Windham said the majority of of
fenders are placed in I>evel II
Level III is the alcoholism treat
ment program. Windham said the
treatment can be on either an in
patient or out-patient basis, de
pending on the person’s needs.
Judge Kent I*awrence of the
State Court of Clarke County is
one of two judges who handles al
cohol-related offenses. He said
when C.I.P. began he wanted “to
ensure the quality of instruction"
within the pn>gram, so he attended
‘I found it to be a high-
quality program.'
—Judge Kent Lawrence
a Level I session.
“I found it to be a high-quality
program. While most people didnt
want to be there, I saw a change in
their attitude from the first session
to the last session,” Lawrence said.
He said most people in the ses
sion he attended felt they had ben
efited from the prcwram. Exposure
to the problems of alcohol abuse,
Lawrence said, is C.I P.’s biggest
asset.
“I don’t know if it is the solution,
but from a judicial standpoint, it is
a step in the right direction," Law
rence suid.
C.I.P. is aimed at first-time DUI
offenders. The DUI Assessment
Task Force reported that 64 per
cent of first-time DUI offenders are
problem drinkers.
Of that 64 percent, the task force
said 45 percent were at high nsk
for developing a serious drinking
problem, 35 percent were early- to
mid-stage problem drinkers, and
20 percent were mid- to late- stage
problem drinkers.
The task force said these statis
tics were consistent with national
findings.
The typical DUI offender is a
white, single male, age 20-30, with
a high school education and is em
ployed with an income over $10,-
000 a year, according to the task
force
The demographics of the of
fenders in C.I.P., Windham said,
can be very skewed
Mortensen said, “We see all va
rieties of people. We have school
teachers, businessmen, nurses,
housewives, elderly people and stu
dents.”
Windham said, however, “We
tend to see white, younger, and
higher-educated people because of
the University.” The task force re
ported that 32 percent of the first
time DUI offenders in Clarke
County were University students.
Windham said that although she
has no means to keep track of
them, a low number of repeat of
fenders would be a mark or C.I.P.’s
success. Lawrence said keeping
statistics of repeat offenders can be
very difficult. He said if a person
got a DUI in South Georgia and
then another in Clarke County,
there isn’t anyone to keep track of
those kinds of numbers.
In addition, Georgia law defines
a first offender as a person who
hasn’t been convicted of a DUI
within the past five vears. An im
portant finding of the task force
Please See DUI. Page 3
The shot not heard ’round the world
The double-barreled cannon outside Athens City has a history related to the city Itself. Please see
Hall was more than a Civil War failure. The relic the related story on page 3.
Oct Nov Dec
w»HI/Tl» Rea enc Bleu
20
Monthly DUI arrests by Clarke County Police
B year 1989
E2i year 1988
E3 year 1987
E2 year 1986
Building Bombs’ hits big in Athens
By JULIE GARDNER
Staff Writer
It took two showings, but everyone present got to
see “Building Bombs,” the film about the Savannah
River Plant.
Kathyrn Kyker of the Athens Peace Coalition,
which sponsored the film in Athens, said, The pro
ducer said the film has had a good turnout every
where, but this ranked up there with the best.”
The movie was only scheduled for one showing but
the unexpected crowd of about 450 people at the Tate
Center theater made another showing necessary.
Kyker said there were about 150 people in the second
showing.
Catherine Addison of Greenpeace said, “I only ex
pected 10-15 people to show up. But this really proves
that the people in Athens are environmentally aware
of what is going on around them."
William lawless, who is featured in the film, was
present at the showing, lawless, a former senior engi
neer for nuclear waste management at SRP for the
U.S. Department of Energy, resigned his position with
the DOE charging that the SRP had been mishan
dling the disposal of nuclear wastes for years.
This mishandling, Lawless said, has contaminated
the Tuscaloosa Aquifer which provides drinking water
for parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
and Alabama.
The timing of the film’s screening is very important
to local groups because the U.S. House of Representa
tives will vote next week on the Spratt Amendment,
which would provide an additional $300 million to the
DOE clean up of all DOE facilities, including the SRP.
Ellen Sptars, coordinator of Sane/Freeze in At
lanta, urged everyone to get involved with educating
people about what is happening at the SRP.
Michael Brugger of Athens said the film needed to say
more about tne enviommental impact of the SRP. "It
was too soft," Brugger said.
Darrell Smith of Atlanta said, “I thought it was
very informative. I hope the film gets the message
out.”
Outside the plant
Cobbler closes his shop after 40 years
tuevy HafUwatw/Tb* R*d and (sack
Robert Herring
By ELIZABETH GRADDY
Staff Writer
Shoes all over the place — on shelves, in boxes, in
the windows, in piles on the floor. Shoes everywhere,
but not for much longer.
After 40 years in tne same place with what may be
some of the same shoes, Herring Mercantile is
packing it in and closing it up.
“I ain’t glad,” said Robert Herring, owner of the
store. “But I reckon 111 make the best of it."
Herring’s building and the land it site on has been
bought by its neighbor, The Athens Daily News-
/Banner-Herald.
Mark Smith, general manager of The Athens Daily
News/Banner-Herald, said the newspapers plan to
build a new 90,000 to 100,000 sq ft. facility on the
block cornered by Broad and Thomas streets.
The new facility will replace the 25,000 sq. ft.
building that stood at One Press Place, at the back,
right-hand corner of the block.
More space is needed by the newspapers because of
growth in the market and a 20 percent increase in cir
culation, Smith said.
“We really had outgrown that building years ago,"
Smith said.
Construction tentatively is set to’begin in Sep
tember and be completed by Fall 1993, Smith said
The spot where Herring Mercantile stands will be
part of tne front, right-hand comer and will serve as a
parking and garden area, Smith said
Herring, who has read The Athens Banner-Herald
all his life, said he is satisfied with the newspapers’
treatment of him.
'They’ve done everything they said they would,"
Herring said. ‘They’ve been pretty nice. A lot of times
you'll get tied up with one of these corporations
They’ll do a little guy."
The newspapers offered more money for his prop
erty with its desirable downtown location than
anyone else had, he said.
“A lot of people think I got too much," he said. "But
a lot of people, they’re holding out for a million dollars
an acre *
For now, Herring is still running Herring Mercan
tile.
"Wall, I got until January 20," he said. “I’m trying
to get rid of my stuff."
And he continues the shoe repair side of his busi
ness.
Tm a shoe cobbler," he said. T been fixing shoes for
years."
Sprinkler installation
could cost $1 million
By A.J. TAHTINEN
Staff Writer
The best wav to improve fire
safety in the University’s high-
rise residence halls would be to
install sprinkler systems, and
the cost would he less than a
million dollars, according to sev
eral sources.
Jim Hansworth, Clarke
County fire chief, said air bags
and fire trucks with longer lad
ders wouldn’t be as effective as
automated sprinklers in
fighting fires in the high rise
residence halls.
“What we would like to see is
a built-in fire protection — in
other words, sprinkler systems,"
Hansworth said.
Frank Edwards, University
fire safety officer, said the coat
I for installing sprinklers would
I be approximately $1.50 per
square foot.
The high rise residence halls
on Baxter Street — Russell,
Brumby and Crtswell — have a
combined area of approximately
600,000 square feet, according
to the Facilities Inventory Of
fice.
I According to the "University
of Georgia Fact Book,” the Uni
versity has a total of 18 resi
dence halls on campus with a
total area of more than 1.3 mil
lion square feet, including Soule
Hall, the only residence hall
with sprinklers Soule is cur
rently unoccupied and closed for
renovations not relating to fire
safety
Based on these figures, put
ting sprinkler systems into the
high-nse residence halls would
cost less than $1 million, and
sprinkler systems for all other
residence halls would cost about
$1 million more.
Public Information Director
Tom Jackson said the money
could hypothetically come from
the legislature if there was some
kind of special appropriation,
but without one, it probably
would have to come from the
University’s regular Major
Maintenance and Repair
Budget.
Hansworth said the sprinkler
system would be more effective
tnan trucks with ladders that
could reach the top floors of the
high-nse residence halls, be
cause there are onlv a few
places around the buildings
where the ladders could be Bet
up.
Fire trucks with longer lad
ders would cost about $500,000
each, Hansworth said. Another
rescue method, the use of air
!>ags that people can jump into,
is not used by the Clarke
County Fire Department either.
“By the time you would get
(the airbags) set up, Tm not sure
how effective they would be," he
■aid
University Accounts Man
ager Jay Tori said commercial
buildings usually get insurance
breaks when sprinkler systems
are installed, but that isn’t the
case with University-owned
buildings.
The University pays a pre
mium of approximately $42,000
annually to a statewide pool to
insure the residence halls. The
figure is based on the residence
halls’ appraised worth of ap
proximately $83 million. Tori
said.