Newspaper Page Text
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■ IN FOCUS
Today's FOCUS Page Is about alcohol-related Issues, it features
a story on people using plastic baggies to conceal alcohol and a
story about Police Chief Horton's support for Sanford Stadium
alcohol Inspections.
Tne Red and Black • Wednesday, October 4, 1989 • S
FOCUS
Alcohol searches
prevent problems
By RAND PEARSON
Staff Writer
Sanford Stadium with alcohol
would be Georgia football without
University Police officers.
University Police Chief Chuck
Horton warns that if the Univer
sity were ever to loosen or abolish
its alcohol inspection policy at sta
dium gates, he wouldn’t allow his
officers to work in the stadium.
Because of inspections, Univer
sity police have more control over
game-day mayhem often caused by
alcohol, Horton said.
“If there isn’t an attempt to limit
the amount of alcohol coming into
the game, there will be some se
rious problems,” he said.
“It ain’t no gravy train working
over there now, but I can assure
you prior to the time, (the Univer
sity adopted an alcohol inspection
policy), it was a nightmare working
(on game days),” he said.
But it’s considerably better than
it was five years ago, he said.
Horton realizes there are a lot of
people who don’t like the inspec
tions and want to carry half-gallon
liquor bottles into the game.
But there are as many people
who appreciate the police con
ducting some type of inspection for
alcohol, he said.
“If you had been vomited on by a
drunk, or you had a drunk drop his
spit-cup on you, or you were hit in
the head with a bottle, you would
be one of those people who are glad
there is some form of inspection,”
Horton said.
The University has been in
specting at the gates for five years
and has received only one formal
complaint, he said.
That complaint was filed by Paul
Horner, a senior economics major,
on Sept. 23 after the Mississippi
State home game.
Horner claimed a University po
lice officer touched him in the gen
ital area during an inspection for
alcohol. The officer later forced him
to strip in a booth next to the gate,
Homer said.
Horton denounced the officers’
action as a violation of proper pro
cedure and has since reprimanded
the officer.
Despite this incident, Horton
said, inspection at the stadium
gates has Deen a success in keeping
alcohol out of the stadium.
Alumni and others have ex
pressed their appreciation for in
spection activity at the gates, he
said.
Alumni have told him that be
cause of the tight enforcement of
the alcohol policy, they can take
their families to the game, Horton
said.
Greg McGarity, assistant ath
letic director for event manage-
Officers wise up
to alcohol sneaks
1
W
Chuck Horton: University
police chief
ment, said alcohol inspections at
the stadium gates started on Sept.
2,1985 at a home game against the
University of Alabama.
The decision to make inspections
was made because a half-gallon
wine bottle was thrown off the
upper deck at a game the previous
season.
The bottle almost struck two
women in the head.
He said this incident shed light
on a serious problem and gave a
justification for this decision.
‘This incident was icing on the
cake for enforcement of the policy,**
he said.
By RAND PEARSON
Staff Writer
Those who think they are pros in
the ultimate con game better think
twice.
University Police are wiser to
the shrewd ways students and
others sneak alcohol into Sanford
Stadium after discovering their va
rious techniques through time.
This has led to more stringent in
spections at the ticket gates, Uni
versity Police Chief Chuck Horton
said.
The use of plastic baggies is the
most recent and popular method
for concealing alcohol, Horton said.
The booze sneaks tape the baggies
filled with alcohol to their legs,
arms and back.
The police’s knowledge of these
methods has led to systematic in
spections such as lifting tucked
snirts and patting waist areas, he
said.
Horton said the advent of the
plastic-baggie method has
prompted police to inspect other
areas on a person’s body much
closer than before, including the
pelvic area.
Public Safety Director Asa
Boynton said the officer who
searched a student in the pelvic
area at the Sept. 23 home game
was motivated by information that
male students were using plastic
baggies in their panU to sneak li
quor into the stadium.
Although the officer violated
proper inspection technique, he
was preesured to make a judgment
call based on the knowledge that
students were breaking the Uni
versity policy prohibiting alcohol in
the stadium, Boynton said.
In the heat of the moment any
thing can happen, but the police
department tries to limit these oc
currences through proper training,
he said.
Horton said using flasks that
look like binoculars is another pop
ular method for sneaking alcohol
into the game.
Although officers are keen to
these tricks, some still make it in
the game with alcohol, he said.
“I’ve seen women with liquor
strapped to their inner thigh,
Horton said. “I know this because
I’ve seen the baggies bust and run
down their leg."
Horton said he doesn’t think
there is a way to inspect under
women’s dresses or other places on
a woman’s body for alcohol.
However, just because some al
cohol gets in the stadium doesn’t
mean gate inspections aren’t effec
tive, he said.
“If we didn’t inspect at the gates,
it would be utter chaos."
SOMETHING SPECIAL
SEARCH
From page 1
the gate stating an inspection
policy, this didn't imply content
by students. Therefore, the uni
versity policies authorizing in
spection procedures was
declared unconstitutional.
The ruling further states that
although the university has an
interest in preserving the well
being of its students by prohib
iting alcohol, this isn’t a factor
in determining the reasonable
ness of a search under the
Fourth Amendment.
The decision stated: “Stu
dents do not shed their constitu
tional rights at the schoolhouse
gate.”
Homer stated in his com
plaint that he was dragged and
forced to strip after he told the
officer he didn’t have any al
cohol on his body.
Wilkes said this incident was
a flagrant abuse of Horner’s
right to privacy.
Through an investigation,
University Police Chief Chuck
Horton said the officer in ques
tion was guilty of some of
Horner’s accusations and he is
facing disciplinary action.
Horton declined to disclose what
the disciplinary action entails.
Wilkes said that without a
specific written policy governing
searches, the question of the
right or power of the University
police to conduct searches must
be raised.
Jeff Gilley, an Athens at
torney who has defended many
students in civil cases, said Uni
versity police may not know the
parameters of the law well
enough to know when they have
the right to conduct searches.
“If it is obvious that they (stu
dents) are committing a crime,
they (University police) could
make an arrest,” he said. “But
they can’t pick people out ran
domly and conduct strip-
searches."
Horton said the only
guidelines officers use are the
ones taught them in training.
They are to look in any con
cealed container such as a
camera bag, rolled blanket, or
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