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THURSDAY. MAY 20. 1993 • ATHENS. GEORGIA • VOLUME 100, ISSUE 135
At the Uptown
Lounge tor last call
2:25am
light Kldnai
Drinking with
friends at Taco
Stand - 1:30am
□odd
Braid Sira
Looks for her
friends at
Peppino's - 2:30am
Calls University
Police from Russell
Hall - 2:35am
INSIDE
2 How Now
High temperatures make
bovine blood boil. .. not
S Real McCoy
'Posse’ succeeds, in film
Hold your breath. ..
UGA student
given a ride,
then attacked
Aimee Mann releases
her first solo album.
See page 8.
Festivals cause
drinking law
reconsideration
By ROB SHAPARD
Staff Writer
Broken glass and garbage cov
ering downtown streets after the
recent Twilight Criterium bike
race and Jazz Festival have
spurred local government to con
sider ending exemptions to the
open-container ordinance, Athens-
Clarke County officials said
Wednesday.
"There is a ipoqd.that something
is going to change; but I don’t know
what it’s going to be," said District
5 Commissioner Hugh Logan.
“I’ve seen two tornadoes come
through this community, and they
didn’t litter the streets as bad as
(the Criterium and Jazz Fest),”
Logan said. The amount of glass
that was broken down there can be
hazardous not only to property and
tires, but also to people."
Citizens currently are allowed
to drink alcohol outside during spe
cial events such as the Criterium,
the Human Rights Festival and
home football games.
Gwen O’Looney, Chief Elected
Officer of Athens-Clarke, said the
commission had several options in
dealing with open-container prob
lems other than ending the exemp
tions.
There are a lot of fine tunings
that we could make," she said.
This last problem was not with
open containers, but with litter."
However, O’Looney said, “rye
always felt it was hypocritical to
h£Ve some events where it was
okay (to have open containers), and
other events where it wasn’t."
District 4 Commissioner John
Barrow cited several problems
with the current exemptions.
"You just can’t bring 50,000 peo
ple together and have them drink
ing all day and not have problems,"
Barrow said about the Criterium
weekend. "Everyone’s fun is going
to be spoiled by the conduct of a
small percentage of people, and I
don’t want that to happen."
# Barrow said he doubted the
commission would keep in place
the exemptions for some events
while eliminating others.
“I think that (would) be seen as
a putdown that says some events
are better than others," Barrow
said. *Tt will probably be an all or
nothing situation."
However, Barrow said, “I think
it’s far too early to tell whether a
minority of the commission is pre
pared to alter any of the exemp
tions.”
The possibility of ending open-
container exemptions was dis
cussed at Tuesday’s commission
meeting, but has been left off the
commuision’s June 1 agenda. A
vote to change the exemptions
would therefore not be possible
until mid-summer, O'Looney said.
O’Looney denied that the com
mission hoped to change the open-
c on tamer law during the summer
to avoid protests from students.
The timing of these things has
to be based on our responsibility to
get good laws in place," she said.
Tne Bulldogs’ home football
game against South Carolina
September 4 would be the first
event affected by a possible end to
the open-container exemptions.
Attack raises the issue of panhandlers and vagrants
Newspaper staffer mugged returning to car
By JANA STRICKLAND
Staff Writer
University student John Turco said he doesn’t make it a
habit to walk alone at 3 a.m. in downtown Athens, but when
he was forced to Monday night, he was mugged.
Turco, a senior from Boston and a sports writer for The Red
& Black, was heading toward his car parked near the
BankSouth building after working late when he saw a man
hanging around the comer of Clayton and Jackson Streets, he
said.
"When I walked up to him, he asked me how much money
I had," Turco said. "When he asked me the question, I figured
he was going to try to mug me. It didn’t take long to figure out
what was going on.
"I told him I didn’t have anything," he said. Tien he got up
beside me and asked for some money to make a phone call, so
I gave him the change out of my pocket."
Turco gave the man 15 cents but the man threw it back and
shoved him, apparently disgruntled about the amount of
money, he said.
“I guess he wanted a little more - maybe he wanted to make
a long distance call," he said.
“I turned to walk away. I didn’t want any trouble, I just
wanted to get out of there. Then I turned back around, and he
was waving a knife at me.”
Turco said he backed away toward his car, and about 30 sec
onds later, an Athens police car drove up.
Officer Tracy Allen made the arrest, and within minutes
four more police cars were on the scene, Turco said.
Police arrested William Clay Harrison, 28, of Toccoa, and
charged him with disorderly conduct. Harrison was not found
in possession of a knife, said Hilda Sorrow, spokesperson for
Athens police.
The police report said Harrison was extremely intoxicated
when he was arrested, Sorrow said.
Thank God he (Officer Allen) got there as quickly as he did,
or I might’ve really gotten hurt," Turco said.
"I don’t think it’s a really safe town, but I don’t think that
reflects on the police because within minutes there were four
cruisers on the scene - they were doing their job.”
Gwen O’Looney, Chief Elected Officer of Athens-Clarke
County, said she feels the quick response by the police attests
to the police department’s hard work.
O'Looney said the town should be safe enough to walk alone
at 3 a.m.
“The police can’t be on every comer, or we would be living
in a military zone,” O'Looney said.
Turco said he believes students have to be careful to keep
themselves out of a situation like his.
“If you’re going to be out that late, make sure you’re with
somebody else, because he wouldn’t have come after me if I
were with someone else,” he said.
Downtown Officer Jim Schultz said vagrancy and panhan
dling aren’t a problem downtown, but the man was just prob
ably somebody passing through town.
"Usually, vagrants don’t try the stiff-arm tactics because
everyone knows them," Schultz said.
Police say the number of vagrants hanging around College
Square has declined this year. Athens law enforcement offi
cials have used temporary restraining orders and other legal
tools to keep panhandlers out of the downtown area.
Schultz said he feels Athens is a relatively safe town com
pared to other cities.
There are areas of Atlanta you wouldn’t want to walk
through in the daytime," he said.
Harrison was released from Clarke County jail on $500
bond and is not required to stay in Athens. His case will go
before Magistrate Court June 17.
Student government president says he’s done a good job
By CATHLEEN EGAN 1
Staff Writer
J ohn Bradbeiry officially has seven
more days left as the leader of the stu
dent body.
Like moat presidents of the Student
Government Association, he’s had one year
to make good on the promises he made to
students during his campaign, which
emphasised the need for change.
As he enters his final week of office, the
sophomore from Marietta says his adminis
tration has been successful, having worked
on 75 percent of the 21 isaues on his 1992
presidential platform.
“The thing I’m most proud of is that look
ing back, for the most part, we accomplished
our campaign platform,’ he said, sitting in
his Tate Center office amidst dozens of let
ters he had mailed throughout the year to
people like University President Charles
Knapp and Secretary of State Max Cleland.
“We are still not where I’d like (SGA) to be,
but it’s been a huge growth year for us.”
Bradberry and SGA have accomplished
the following this year: revamped SGA’s
Constitution to diversify its members; pro
vided free telephones for escort van and
University police services; supported
Students Against Campus Crime; restruc
tured the escort van service, including its
budget, hours of operation and one extra
van; helped place small recycling bins in the
residence halls; made SGA more approach
able and visible through weekly distribution
of meeting minutes and a newsletter; re-pro
posed exam “dead days" to the University
Council; pushed for a public referendum on
alcohol ordinances; pushed for $50,000 in
funds to improve lighting on campus; took a
stand against the West Campus Parking
Deck; influenced Athletic Director Vince
Dooley to change his vote against the SEC
ruling that moves student seating back 25
rows from the visiting football teams’ bench
es; and established a student liaison with
the Athens-Clarke County Commission.
“Any student could have done what we’ve
done this year,” Bradberry said. “Every stu
dent is entitled and pays to go here. This is
their institution. If they want something to
change or something to work, it can be done.’
Although Bradberry says SGA has taken
stands on tough issues such as the Athens-
Clarke County Commission’s family zoning
ordinance and proposed mixed drink tax and
the Pi Kappa Phi pledge pamphlet incident,
there are still some promises he made in his
1992 campaign that remain undone.
Bradberry never started up a campus
watch program that would have included
volunteer foot patrols; encouraged business
Please see SGA, page 3
Fire creates asbestos worry
By HOLLY S. ROACH
Staff Writer
Tuesday afternoon’s fire at the Hoke Smith
Building disturbed surfaces within the structure
containing asbestos, director of public informa
tion Tom Jackson said Wednesday.
The state’s Agency for the Removal of
Hazardous Materials took asbestos samples
Wednesday from the fire- and water-damaged
areas of the building and will have contamina
tion results in at least two days. Jackson said the
samples were wet when taken and must be dry
before being tested.
No one may enter the building to remove office
equipment until the contamination level has
been measured.
Jackson stud many of the older buildings on
campus still have surfaces such as floor tiles,
plaster and pipe insulation that contain asbestos.
“It was used regularly in buildings in the
19508 and 1960s,” he said. Then they discovered
it causes cancer. If it is not disturbed, generally
that’s not considered a hazardous condition.”
Frank Edwards, University fire safety officer,
determined the fire was caused by a spark from
a torch being used on the roof of the building.
Employees for a roofing contractor used the torch
to heat metal and were not aware of the fire until
they had left the roof and were on the ground.
The attic was damaged structurally by the fire
and the lower floors of the three-story building
suffered water damage. No damage estimate has
yet been determined.
In normal conditions, Jackson said, the
University would be responsible for the asbestos
removal. However, the fire has sparked legal
questions about whether the cleanup is the
responsibility of the University or the insurance
company.
The Hoke Smith Building, built in 1937, is the
headquarters of the Georgia Cooperative
Extension Service. The GCES offers local infor
mation about rural development and agriculture
to rural communities throughout the state.
When equipment can be removed from the
damaged building, the Extension Service’s 38
employees will be relocated to office space in the
Hoke Smith Annex, Barrow Hall and the
Coliseum.
Tuesday’s blaze was the second fire to damage
University property in that area within the past
decade. The Hoke Smith Annex underwent a
$450,000 renovation after parts of the building
burned due to an electrical fire in the summer of
1984.
By NOAH PITTARD
Staff Writer
What began as a festive night out
with friends on Tuesday ended early
yesterday morning with a frightened
University sophomore trapped in a
car with two men she didn't know.
The student, 20, told detectives she
was dragged into the back seat of a
cream-colored car by two men around
2:35 a.m. Wednesday after losing
track of her friends and sitting down
on the curb in front of Peppino’s Pizza
on Broad Street. She was driven to
her residence hall where she kicked
one of the men in the face and ran
after he and the driver tried to sexu
ally assault her.
Georgia law prohibits police from
releasing the names of sexual assault
victims.
Tfie sophomore from Pennsylvania
said she had been drinking earlier
that evening and was “pretty ham
mered." She said she was too drunk at
the time to render a complete descrip
tion of either suspect or their car,
although she did say both men were
black and claimed to be graduates of
Georgia State University.
Hilda Sorrow, spokesperson for
Athens-Clarke County police, said
detectives have no suspects in the
incident, which they are classifying as
a kidnapping and sexual assault.
TTie uniaentified student’s predica
ment began around 1:30 a.m. when
she left her friends at the Taco Stand
for the Uptown Lounge, planning to
meet them at Peppino’s an hour later.
But after finding Peppino’s closed
and her friends nowhere in sight, she
took a seat on the curb to decide
whether to call a cab or attempt a solo
trek to Russell Hall.
“I didn’t know what I was going to
do - I was just hanging out looking at
my options,” she said. “I was really
drunk, and I thought Peppino’s was
still open and my friends would still
be there.”
The next thing she knew, a man
was seated on the curb next to her,
she said. Moments later she found
herself in the back seat of a car with
the man from the curb.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been that
scared in my entire life," she recalled.
"I was sitting in the back seat and I
thought they were going to kill me."
The only words she said she could
manage were Take me to Russell"
and was mildly relieved when the car
pulled up outside the University
Housing offices in back of Russell Hall
five minutes later.
However, instead of opening the
door for her as she expected, the driv
er exited the front seat and joined his
partner in the back seat, sandwiching
her in the middle.
That’s when she said the man from
the curb, who remained silent during
the trip, said "Now you owe us some
thing for driving you here.”
According to the police incident
report, the men “began rubbing their
hands all over her body” until she
kicked the first man in the head,
grabbed the door latch and escaped.
She then ran and called police from
the Russell Hall lobby, she said. She
was not injured.
Firefighters battle a fire that burned the roof and damaged the attic of the Hoke
Smith Building. Officials are concerned the fire may have shaken loose asbestos.
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