Newspaper Page Text
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Toll, a field sport, comes to the University — 8
The Red & Blad
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia Community
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1990 • ATHENS, GEORGIA • VOLUME 97, ISSUE 13u
INSIDE
An interview with folk
singer George Vest, who'll
open for the Vigilantes of
Love at the Downstairs on
Saturday.
6
Weather: Mo’ better blues.
. __ ~"riv, 80s, 40 percent
* ^ ' ight, cloudy, 60s.
j Jy, 80s.
Bio Sciences may be investis*.. jd
Link to several workers’ health problems is in question
Wayne JaSuS^SlBTSS bfeck
Biological Sciences Complex: Complaints could prompt
investigation; chemical leaks may be causing problems
By JEFF RUTHERFORD
Staff Writer
The State Health Department may conduct
an epidemiological study at the Biological Sci
ences Complex because of reported staff health
problems.
A July 31 letter addressed to Dr. David
Lockman, a local doctor, from Rosemary
Woodel, an office manager in zoology, listed 16
people who have worked in the bio-sciences
complex and who have suffered health prob
lems ranging from migraine headaches to chro
mosome damage. Woodel and Lockman refused
to comment about the letter.
The letter also documented four cases of
lupus.
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease af
fecting the connective tissues of the body, said
Shelby Lacy, Director of Educational Services
at Athens Regional Medical Center.
Mary Mellein, manager of Environmental
Safety Services, a division of the University
Public Safety Division, said she is talking with
Lockman and state health department officials
about the possibility of conducting a study.
Such a study would pinpoint whether the
number of lupus cases reported in the bio-sci
ences complex is statistically high for that par
ticular environment, Mellein said. The study
wouldn’t indicate the cause of such cases be
cause scientists still aren’t sure of what causes
lupus.
‘There is not a large amount of information
known about it (lupus) — how it gets stimu
lated,” said Leonard Mortenson, chairman of
the Biological Sciences Division. “One of the
things people worry about, not only with lupus
but with cancer, is chemicals.”
While there is no evidence that these cases
have been caused by improper chemical dis
posal in the building, ESS is taking the problem
seriously, Mellein said.
The bio-sciences complex has had continual
odor problems in the past, caused by improper
disposal of chemicals down drains and im
proper ventilation within the building, said
Mike Price, a laboratory safety officer with the
ESS.
But ESS has a problem enforcing proper
chemical handling, Price said.
‘There are no standards for exposure in Uni
versity research labs,” Price said. “The Univer
sity is a separate entity, so it's not governed by
occupational safety standards.
‘This has been happening for years,” Price
said of the recurrent odor complaints.
A chemical exposure incident occurred re
cently in Room 320A of the bio-sciences com
plex, and the people affected were named in the
letter.
Lamara Martin, research technician, and
Tom Bahl, lab technician, both noticed a pun
gent odor during December 1989. The odor em
anated from Room 320, a biology student
laboratory adjoining room 320A.
‘We couldn’t figure out where it was coming
from,” Martin said ‘We were getting exposed to
we don’t know what.”
Martin contacted ESS, and they checked the
odor but couldn’t determine what type of chem
ical it was. The lab workers continued to smell
the odor about once a week, and they continued
Please See BIO SCIENCE. Page 2
Fourth time is a charm for unification
By DOUGLAS S. WOOD
Staff Writer
They did it.
It took 20 years and four attempts, but in a
historic vote, Clarke County voters approved a
city/county government unification plan.
About 8,000 voters (7,954) said yes to unifica
tion, while 5,486 voters wanted to keep current
government structures. This is the first county-
/city consolidation in Georgia since 1972, when
Columbus and Muscogee County voted to unify.
The voters had to pass both in the city and
the county for unification to take place. The city
voted 3,318 for and 2,450 against. Almost 45
percent of registered voters turned out for the
election.
J.W. Fanning, chairman of Citizens for Uni
fied Government, said it was a tremendous
achievement and quoted Benjamin Franklin by
saying, “We’ve given you a republic.”
Larry Blount, CUG vice president, said the
passing of the charter was a comment on the
process of government.
He said there was an “awful lot of community
input involved.”
Louise McBee, CUG member and retired vice
president of Academic Affairs, said she “hoped
it would be a derisive victory and it was."
An opponent isn’t so optimistic. Carolyn Rey
nolds, city council member, was “sickened” by
the vote. She said she had the same feeling the
day she saw the destruction of the Hull-Snel-
ling House.
Reynolds said the new government will be
total chaos and we can say goodbye to historic
preservation.
‘1 think Aug. 7, 1990 will be remembered as
the beginning of the end,” she said. “The citi
zens of Athens surrendered their sovereignty
and 200-year-old charter to an uncertain fu
ture."
Eugene Sapp, a former county commissioner
who headed the Community Coalition Against
Consolidation, said “one thing, we still all live
in the same county. We are all still neighbors
and we’ve all got to live with what we got.
‘Win, lose or draw, we all still see each other
on the street and shake hands, regardless of
whether we were for or against unification,” he
said.
The approval also gives the student popula
tion a chance to elect their own representative
to the new government since the University
campus and a few surrounding neighborhoods
are located in District 4 under the new govern
ment.
Blount, also University law professor, said
“the opportunity has now been created for the
first time for students and university commu
nity to have involvment in local government.”
Blount said he made sure the campus was
not gerrymandered as it was under city dis
tricting.
Tom Jackson, University public information
officer, said the University has no position on
unification.
‘We are all individual voters in the county,”
he said.
Blount also answered charges made by anti
unification groups that minorities would be
under-represented in the new government.
Two mostly black or “safe” districts that exist
under the old governments also exist under
unification districts. He said there is more lan
guage in new charter that will help minorities
and the elderly that did not exist in other char
ters.
“Everyone is better off," Blount said. “It’s the
right thing.”
Charter writer Paul Hardy said it passed
Justice Department qualifications for minority
representation, unlike the proposed Augusta-
/Richmond County unification charter two
years ago.
Unification obviously affects upcoming elec
tions. A few current elected officials have al
ready announced their candidacies.
Right after unification was confirmed, city
council member Cardee Kilpatrick announced
her candidacy for District 7 in the new govern
ment.
She said her experience in city govemmer':
would be a benefit to her in the new govern
ment.
Gwen O’Looney, also a city council member,
announced her candidacy for District 5. She
said she was not worried and had “confidence in
the people.”
In the county government, Marilyn Farmer
said she would run for the District 6 seat.
Reynolds said she wouldn’t be running.
“HI have nothing to do with them,” she said.
The unification also brings up questions con
cerning the proposed civic center and the de
struction of the Thomas Street Fire Hall.
Farmer said unification will not slow down
the civic center completion schedule.
Schlottman indicted on three felony charges
By DAN POOL
Staff Writer
The student who hit three pedestrians in a
University parking lot while driving drunk
spring quarter was indicted on three felony
charges Wednesday in Clarke County Superior
Court.
Patrick James Schlottman, 21, of Jonesboro,
was indicted on two counts of serious injury
with a vehicle, one count of reckless driving and
one count of driving under the influence of al
cohol, according to court records.
Schlottman, a Kappa Sigma fraternity
member, was driving through the parking area
on East Campus Road in front of the fraternity
house when he hit the pedestrians. He was
driving about 35 mph and was found to a have a
blood-alcohol level higher than the legal limit,
according to police reports.
Schlottman’s attorney, Brian Carney of
Athens, said Wednesday he wasn’t in a position
to comment on his client’s legal plans.
‘She will have to learn to sit up,
walk and use her mind all over
again. We’re happy she is
alive.’
— Laurie Roberts
He did say that if the case goes to a jury trial,
a change of venue may be requested due to
heavy publicity surrounding the case. A change
of venue would allow the case to be heard out
side of Clarke County.
The case is scheduled to be arraigned Aug.
20, when a plea will be entered to Judge Joseph
Gaines.
Two of the three victims — University stu
dent Terry Kennedy and Nicholas Sucan, a stu
dent at Georgia State University — weren’t
seriously injured in the May 27 accident.
The third pedestrian, 20-year-old Dawn Rob
erts of Atlanta, received serious injuries to her
head and legs.
Roberts, a student at Stephens College in Co
lumbia, Mo., remained in a coma for several
weeks after the accident. She has since re
gained consciousness and is able to talk, said
her mother, Laurie Roberts. During the weeks
following the accident she had surgery six
times, three times on the brain.
She is showing improvement, her mother
said Wednesday, and has been moved from the
intensive care unit at Emory Hospital to a reha
bilitation center and is in good spirits.
“She will have to learn to sit up, walk and
use her mind all over again," she said.
Roberts said she is hopeful that her daughter
will be able to return to college in about a year.
“We don’t know if she'll ever be 100 percent,”
Roberts said. “We’re happy she is alive.”
UGA student at NASA:
He’s not lost in space
By GWINN BRUNS
Staff Writer
David Hettesheimer is a space
cadet, and proud of it.
The junior pre-engineering
major from Lilburn recently com
pleted NASA’s Space Life Sci
ences Training Program at the
John F. Kennedy Space Center in
Cape Canaveral, Fla., after com
peting with more than 600 appli
cants for the honor.
Hettesheimer returned Inst
Monday from the intense six-
week program, where he and 35
other college students worked
with life science experiments, at
tended lectures and toured the
space center facilities.
‘We attended two-and-a-half
hour lectures in the morning,
broke for lunch, and the rest of
the day we spent in our labs,”
Hettesheimer said.
The first few days were spent
in four different labs — cardio
vascular muscle, sea urchin ferti
lization, plant space biology and
a life sciences overview, he said.
The students then chose special
emphasis groups to work in.
Hettesheimer chose the cardio
vascular muscle group, where he
concentrated on two basic
studies.
“We studied an exercise cycle
and how it affects pressure recep
tors in the neck region," he said.
“The second study was on resis
tance exercise, where subjects
came in and performed exercises
like bench pressing, and we
would then measure blood
volume and sensitivity of bnro-re-
ceptors.”
These life science experiments
are important because astro
nauts undergo fluid shifts as they
move into space. The resulting
decrease in blood plasma often
causes astronauts to faint upon
their return to earth, Hette
sheimer explained.
“Just being there at the Ken
nedy Space Center was incred
ible,” he said. “We saw two rocket
launches, and (the space shuttle)
Atlantis was out there a majority
of the time.”
The program, which began in
Young scientist: Hette
sheimer went to NASA
1984, was initiated due to con
cern about the numbers of aging
and retiring scientists, said
Ronald Biro, life sciences educa
tion program manager at the
space center.
Biro said he’s pleased with the
success of the program, which is
co-sponsored by NASA, Florida
A&M University and the Bi-
onetics Corporation.
Two former program partic-
pants now work at the center in
shuttle processing and life sci
ences experimenting, Biro said.
“Former students show up ev
erywhere,” he said. “It indicates
that our program is a success."
The 36 students stayed in a re
sort hotel in Cocoa Beach and
rode a NASA shuttle bus to the
Kennedy Space Center. Students
earned five hours of credit, but
Biro said it was no easy job since
days averaged 18-20 hours.
Hettesheimer said he would
like to work with space tech
nology in the future. However,
that may mean working under a
contractor rather than directly
with NASA.
‘There’s a lot of bureaucracy,”
he said. “Lots of it is just to keep
track of all the money, such as in
the labs. But it’s really eye
opening.”
Sweet’ victories leave Ga. Democrats in solid positions for November
By DAVID M. JOHNSTON
Opinions Editor
An analysis.
The enormous task facing Republican
gubernatorial nominee Johnny Isakson
became apparent Tuesday night as state
Democratic officials united behind Lieu
tenant Governor Zell Miller after his
sweeping gubernatorial runoff victory
over former Atlanta Mayor Andrew
Young.
Standing on a platform surrounded by
U.S. Senator Wyche Fowler, U.S. Rep.
Ben Jones, Rep. Lauren McDonald and
most of the state’s constitutional officers,
Miller savored his victory, declaring, “In
the words of that great philosopher,
Jackie Gleason: “How sweet it is.’”
And sweet it was as Miller dominated
every region of the state, including metro
politan Atlanta, to win the election with
62 percent of the vote to Young’s 38 per-
cent.
Young, vying to become the first black
candidate elected to statewide partisan
office in Georgia, apparently failed to pick
up substantial support from backers of
McDonald and Sen. Roy Barnes, defeated
in the July 17th primary.
Voters clearly divided along racial lines
in Tuesday's vote, with Miller getting 83
percent of the white vote outside of At
lanta and 72 percent of white votes in
suburban Atlanta.
Young dominated the black vote just as
he did in the primary, but black turnout
didn’t increase. Among rural and sub
urban whites, Miller gained three votes
for every vote gained by Young over their
July totals.
Miller will now face Isakson, widely
considered to be the Republican’s best gu
bernatorial nominee since 1966, in the
November 6th general election.
In 1966 neither Republican nominee
Bo Callaway nor Democratic nominee
Lester Maddox won a majority of votes in
the general election, ana the Democrat-
controlled General Assembly elected
Maddox with 182 votes to Callaway’s 66.
Georgia’s only elected Republican gov
ernor, Rufus Bullock of Augusta, resigned
in the face of criminal indictment in 1871,
before completing his first term.
Last week the Isakson campaign
pointed out the recent defeats of other
heavily-favored Democratic lieutenant
governors in North Carolina, South Caro
lina, Florida and Alabama to reassure
nervous supporters.
But while almost 600,000 Georgians
voted for Miller Tuesday night, only
around 100,000 chose the Republican
ballot in the July primary.
Isakson said that a competitive two-
party race for the Georgia statehouse pre
sents voters with an opportunity for “re
sults rather that rhetoric," and that
Georgians are ready for a change.
In other Democratic runoff races:
Sen. Pierre Howard of Decatur de
feated Sen. Joe Kennedy of Claxton in the
race for lieutenant governor with 61 per
cent of the vote.
Kennedy had the backing of House
Speaker Tom Murphy of Breman. His loss
— along with that of McDonald, the
speaker’s candidate for governor — is
widely viewed as an indication of Mur
phy’s increasing loss of influence
statewide.
Governors George Busbee and Joe
Frank Harris were both relatively
obscure state legislators who won the
governorship with the speaker’s backing
Howard said that voters gave him a
mandate for a “new day in Georgia.” He
will face Republican nominee Matthew
Towery, who said Tuesday night that he
will show Howard to be a liberal who is
out of touch with Georgia voters.
Towery has raised almost $200,000 for
his race so far, while Howard spent more
than $1 million on his primary campaign.
Former state Director of Consumer Af
fairs Tim Ryles soundly defeated incum
bent Insurance Commissioner Warren
Evans to face Republican nominee Billy
Lovett.
Evans has been severely criticized over
the past two years for skyrocketing insur
ance rates and for accepting contributions
from the insurance companies and small
loan companies which he regulates. The
Georgia General Assembly made such
contributions illegal in the 1988 session.
Republicans were hoping that the more
vulnerable Evans would win renomina
tion, but Lovett, a former Democratic
Public Service Commissioner, enjoys
better name recognition and is better fi
nanced than Ryles. He is the Republican’s
brightest hope for winning their first
Statewide office since Reconstruction.
In the race for Lovett’s PSC seat, Gwin
nett County attorney Robert Durden sur
prised the better organized and financed
Mollie Fleeman Glitsis, winning the
Democratic nomination with 58 percent
of the vote. Durden faces no Republican
opposition in the general election.
Had Glitsis won, she would have been
the first woman elected to statewide par
tisan office in Georgia