Newspaper Page Text
■ Disappointing turnout for multiracial UGA — 2
The Red & Black
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia Community
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1990 » ATHENS, GEORGIA » VOLUME 97, ISSUE 88
INSIDE
A review of Robyn
Hitchcock’s new album
Eye, which is anything
but egotistical.
5
Weather: Don't put away those
sweaters yet. Today, mostly
sunny, high upper 50s, tonight,
clear, low in low 30s, Friday,
mostly sunny, high mid 60s.
Students given several choices by SA presidential tickets
By DARA McLEOD and
MARLA EDWARDS
Staff Writers
An analysis
All three presidential tickets in the
Student Association election agree the
SA is desperately in need of change. But
who’s most qualified to make changes be
fore spring 1991, when students will
have the chance to abolish the organiza
tion?
If the campus view of the SA doesn’t
improve by next spring, candidates fear
students will vote to dissolve the Univer
sity’s student government once again.
Under the SA constitution, students may
vote to abolish the SA every four years.
Presidential candidate Ian Henyon, a
junior telecommunications major, and
his running mate, Misty Lathem, a ju
nior political science major, said their
best asset is SA experience.
“We can start off this next term going
straight forward. We have a core
relationship with returning senators,”
Henyon, a senator this term, said. La
them was a general committee member
this term.
Henyon may be the most capable of
promoting change within SA because the
eight returning senators will probably be
more willing to work with him. Also, his
experience makes him more aware of the
internal problems which plagued this
term’s SA.
However, association with this term’s
senate may be a disadvantage since
many students perceived it as ineffective.
Henyon feels the SA accomplished a
lot this year, including the escort van
service, lobbying for changes in state
drug bills, lobbying for student financial
aid and a designated driver program.
The SA’s internal problems, which
harmed its reputation on campus,
stemmed from a general dissatisfaction
with leadership, he said.
SA senators flirted with impeaching
President Mark Schisler this term, al
though formal charges were never filed,
said President Pro Tern Andrea Na
te rman.
She doesn’t know if the charges would
have stuck had they been filed.
“If you step on the little people, you’re
going to have an uprising —which you al
most saw this year,” she said.
Senators decided against impeach
ment because Schisler’s term was almost
over. Contributing to the internal strife
were nine senator resignations during
this term, some of which were brought on
by dissatisfaction with leadership.
Pat Dolan, a junior political science
major, and his running mate Kelly
Corley, a junior public relations major.
Please See ELECTION. Page 3
Bruce Chick is congratulated by J.R. Showalter for his two-run homer in Wednesday’s game against
Georgia Tech. Chick’s second inning hit helped propel the Dogs to a 9-8 victory. See story on page 8.
Crime rate is rising
Athens rise not reflected on UGA campus
LOCAL CRIME STATISTICS
Crimes Reported On UGA Campus
By MICHAEL W. McLEOD
Staff Writer
The rate of off-campus crime,
and that of campus crimes that
most often affect students, are up.
However, the rate of other crimes
reported on the University campus
are down.
Homicide, rape and attempted
rape, robbery, aggravated assault
and battery, burglary, auto theft
and auto entering more than
doubled during 1989 in Athens po
lice jurisdiction.
However, reports of crime on
campus, with the exception of bur
glary, auto entering, auto theft and
obscene phone calls, are down,
according to University police
crime reports from July 1988 to
March 1990.
Crimes that declined during this
period include aggravated asault
and battery, rape, robbery, and lar
ceny. Robbery and larceny differ
from burgary as robbery involves
taking by force or intimidation,
and larceny is theft not involving
force or breaking and entering as
burglary does.
“We’ve been lucky,” said Univer
sity Police Chief Chuck Horton,
knocking three times on the top of
his wooden desk.
Crimes in Athens that most af
fect students are off-campus bur
glaries, auto theft and auto break-
ins, said University police Sgt.
Richard Goodson. Although bur
glary reports doubled on campus,
they primarily affected University
property, not students.
Most of the burglaries occurred
in University academic buildings
as opposed to residence halls, he
said. Half of them involved high-
tech items, such as computer
equipment and videotape players.
Goodson’s comments are punc
tuated by the theft last weekend of
various computer components va
lued at $10,035 from Dawson Hall.
Goodson also said the fact thnt
students often leave their apart
ments or fraternity houses for long
breaks on holidays results in bur
glaries. Break-ins by outsiders are
rare in residence halls, but smaller
thefts often occur when residents
leave doors unlocked.
Athens police Chief Mark Wal
lace, quoted in a Feb. 27 article in
the Athens Daily News, attributed
the increase in burglaries to a
rising use of crack cocaine in
Athens. In 600 of the burglaries
during 1989, burglars broke into
residences but didn’t take any
thing. They were unable to find
anything that could be quickly con
verted to cash or drugs, he said.
Hilda Spratlin, Athens police
public information officer, and
G(x)dson attribute the increase in
auto break-ins on and ofT campus
to rising drug use in Athens.
Horton echoed their sentiment.
“I have figures here that say the
prison population of the United
States reached a new high of 7.3
million in 1987. Something’s hap
pening. Fifty to 60 percent of
people are under the influence at
the time they are caught,” he said.
The increase in reported crime
in Athens follows the nation as sta
tistics show a nationwide crime in
crease of 3 percent.
Deputy Chief Winston Dill of
Athens police said, “When you ask
if Athens is getting more dan
gerous for students, you have to de
fine what dangerous means, and
we don’t keep statistics on how
many crimes affect students.”
Athens police are involved in
making potential targets of crime
inaccessible, he said. During school
breaks, police patrol empty apart
ment complexes more often. Police
also encourage neighborhood
watch programs.
Board of Regents approve 4 percent tuition,
salary increase Wednesday in unanimous vote
From Staff and Wire Reports
The University System Board of Regents
unanimously approved a 4 percent tuition in
crease for University System students and a 4
percent faculty salary increase for system em
ployees.
The regents voted 11-0 on both items at its
meeting in Augusta Wednesday.
University President Charles Knapp, an
swering questions through Public Information
Director Tom Jackson, said the state could
have done more to improve salaries despite the
4 percent increase in tuition.
Knapp said the tuition increase is fair and
it’s just about at the cost of living.
Jackson said Knapp stressed that his
guiding principle is to keep tuition within the
range of students who can’t afford college
without financial assistance.
sv Wi
more to increase the pay of faculty and staff in
the University System. They discussed elimi
nating the employees’ share of group insur
ance, but decided to study the matter further
before taking action.
The 4 percent salary increase is below the
anticipated national average of 7 percent for
next year, according to University System
Chancellor H. Dean Propst. The system is “on
the verge of a critical situation” in attracting
and keeping outstanding faculty members, he
said. *
Georgia, with an average $35,642 annual
salary for faculty members in 1988-89, fell
from first place in 1981-82 to fifth among 15
Southern colleges and universities and is now
only $39 ahead of sixth-place Tennessee,
according to the board.
Georgia ranks behind Virginia, at $41,193;
Maryland, $39,237; Texas, $36,355; and
Florida, $35,932.
The 4 percent increase is especially disap
pointing to clerical workers at the bottom of
the system’s pay scale, he said. A clerical
worker making $15,000 a year would receive
$600 more next year, but most of that would be
eaten up by increased health insurance costs,
Social Security and income tax increases, he
said.
In its budget request to Gov. Joe Frank
Harris, the board had asked for a 9 percent pay
increase for employees — 1.5 percent cost-of-
living and 7.5 percent merit — at a cost of $72
million.
Regents Spokesman Michael Baxter said
the regents also approved the allocation of
$199.2 mil-lion of state appropriation funds to
the University for fiscal year 1991.
In addition, the regents passed a 25 percent
increase in employee health insurance rates,
the College of Agriculture’s agribusiness de
gree and an amended fiscal year 1990 Univer
sity budget of $321,872,121. This is an
increase of $9,060,241 from the original resi
dent instruction budget.
Gorbachev cautions against recarving borders
Water rates are hiked
MOSCOW — President Mikhail
S. Gorbachev warned in remarks
broadcast Wednesday that re-
carving internal Soviet borders
would lead to civil war and “such
bloody carnage that we won’t be
able to crawl out of it."
He told members of the Commu
nist Youth League he had spent
more time thinking about whether
country’s political map than any
other issue, and decided against it.
More than 100 ethnic groups in
habit the Soviet Union. Under Gor
bachev’s democratizing reforms,
many have begun to clamor for
lands that were historically theirs
and for more freedom from
Moscow. Lithuania based its
March 11 declaration of indepen
dence on claims it was illegally an-
Gorbachev said redrawing So
viet boundaries “would pit all peo
ples and all nations against each
other and bring about a situation
in this society the likes of which
has never been witnessed by our
country or by the world."
And if other republics follow
Lithuania’s example and try to se
cede, he said, “If we begin to divide
up, 111 give it to you bluntly. We’ll
More than 100 ethnic
groups inhabit the
Soviet Union.
end up in such a civil war, in such
bloody carnage that we won’t be
able to crawl out of it."
By J.D. SQUILLANTE
Staff Writer
The University plans to oppose a
planned water rate hike that might
cost it an additional $50,000 a year
when the issue comes to a vote at
the Athens City Council meeting
May 1.
In a 3-1 vote Tuesday night, the
city’s Finance Committee recom
mended approval of an 8.65 per
cent increase in water and sewer
rates. The proposed hike is 4.65
percent less than the 13.3 percent
increase proposed last month.
Public Works Director Bobby
Snipes said the increase is needed
to cover the city’s lost water reve
nues. This is the result of above-av
erage rainfall levels in the area.
‘With the wet weather we’ve
been having, people have been
using less water outdoors,” he said.
Physical Plant Director Charles
TenBrook saidrepresentatives
from the University appealed to
the committee to keep water prices
at more reasonable levels.
The increase will affect the Uni
versity, which receives water
service in approximately 300 build
ings, he said.
'The University paid a total of
$577,000 for water last year, so the
original 13 percent increase would
mean a healthy increase," Ten-
Brook said.
He said he thinks 8.65 is a more
reasonable increase, but Univer
sity representatives will speak
against the proposal before it goes
up for a final vote.
Although an 8.65 increase would
cost the University about $50,000 a
year, student fees ond residence
hall costs wouldn’t be affected, he
said.
The average household in
Athens uses 1,000 cubic feet of
water a month. Based on this
figure, the increase will cost an ad
ditional $1.75 to in-city water cus
tomers and $3.25 to customers
living in unincorporated Athens,
Snipes said.
The hike will cause little, if any,
increases in apartment rents
which include water service in
monthly fees, according to several
rental property agents.
Cheryl Jones of Delta Realty
said rental properties handled by
that company, including Raintree
Apartments and Fairfax Apart
ments, are subjected to annual in
creases that cover other costs —not
just utility increases.
Kay ‘Carnes, Mathis Manage
ment rental agent, said water in
creases aren’t considered when
rental adjustments are made in
Mathis communities.
‘We don’t really consider water,
because when compared with big
costs we have like insurance, water
is incidental,” she said.
The dissenting vote on the Fi
nance Committee’s recommenda
tion came from Councilmember
Carolyn Reynolds who said she is
concerned about water customers
on limited incomes.
“I know this increase won’t
mean a really large amount on
each bill, but it will add up over
time,” she said.