Newspaper Page Text
MONDAY
January 10, 2000
Vol. 107, No. 77 | Athens, Georgia
Scattered showers.
High 61 | Low 51 | Tuesday 63
ONLINE: www.redandblack.com
.The
Red&Black
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 189 3, INDEPENDENT 1980
:
WINNING NOTE
>• The Georgia
Bulldogs end
their season in a
big way with a
come-from-
behind-win
against the
Purdue
Boilermakers.
PAGE 12
SANFORD STADIUM
Sewage
solution
remains
unclear
By CHANDLER BROWN
The Red a Black
City officials hoping to get to
the bottom of a mysterious leak
at Sanford Stadium will have to
wait a little longer.
Lawyers working with Denver-
based environmental consulting
firm CH2M HILL haven’t final
ized details of a $20,000 contract
as quickly as expected, meaning
soil specialists won’t be on cam
pus this week to begin looking at
the stadium.
"We haven’t signed the con
tract yet,” said A-C Public
Utilities Director Gary Duck.
“We’d like to get this taken care
of as soon as possible.”
Work was tentatively sched
uled to begin today. Soil special
ists are expected to take samples
from the field and test them at an
independent lab to determine
what seeped onto the south side
lines in August.
School and city officials met
with a CH2M HILL consultant
on Dec. B to discuss their game
plan.
Minor adjustments to the con
tract and scheduling difficulties
were keeping officials from get
ting the contract signed, Duck
said.
It could be this week or next
when an agreement is met, offi
cials said.
"We re still trying to work out
the language (of the contract),”
said Mike McEvoy, an environ
mental engineer with the city.
The Athletic Association,
which is a private organization
operating under a separate bud
get from the University, originally
said it would contribute $10,000.
But in late December, after dis
cussing its plans with the state
attorney general's office, the
Athletic Association withdrew its
offer.
McEvoy said the Athletic
Association told the city it
couldn’t contribute money on the
advice of the state attorney gen
eral’s office.
But Attorney General
spokesman Jeff DiSantis said he
was unaware of any such com
ment and said it was unlikely his
office would advise the Athletic
Association not to give money to
the effort. "I don’t think we
would've said that,” he said.
Athletic Director Vince
Dooley, who handles negotiations
with the city, was out of town and
unavailable for comment.
The problem began in August
when a stadium worker discov
ered a murky brown substance
Just before football season. Since
then, the University has repeat
edly suggested the liquid came
from a leaky sewer line under the
field.
The city, which owns the sewer
line, says it has performed main
tenance on the 18-inch pipe as
recently as last summer and
never discovered a leak. City offi
cials have stated the leak could
have come from a break in the
complicated maze of drainage
pipes under the field, which are
not owned by the city
The goal of the independent
investigation, officials agree, is to
find out where the liquid came
from and who should pay to fix it.
(The Athletic Association report
edly paid $100,000 in August to
clean up the spill and make the
stadium safe enough for football
season.)
Although the stadium is on
campus, the University has dis
tanced Itself from the CH2M
HILL investigation, partly
because it was ordered by the
city without the school’s input.
“This is (the city’s) engage
ment to try to determine what
happened," said Allan Barber, the
University’s senior vice president
for finance and administration.
HEATHER ALLEN I'm Eli, a Biaci
▲ Junior Kristi Lichey finishes her floor exercise routine, scoring a 9.92S at the Super Six
Challenge Saturday night at a so Id-out Stegeman Coliseum.
Growing pains
f i *
Bama — and the balance beam — roll a young Gym
Dogs squad into second at the season-opening Super Six
By JOSH KATZOWITZ
The Red a Black
W hile the Georgia Brass
Ensemble played soothing
background melodies
throughout Saturday
evening's Super Six Challenge at
Stegeman Coliseum, second-
ranked Alabama was the team
making beautiful music.
Due in part to three Georgia falls
on beam, the Crimson Tide (5-0
overall, 2-0 SEC) handed the Gym
Dogs their first regular season
home loss since 1991 and took first
place with a score of 195.750 in front
of a packed house of 9,934.
Top-ranked Georgia (4-1, 1-1)
snatched up second place by total
ing 195.4, while No. 4 Michigan
(194.925), No. 6 Nebraska (193.325),
No. 3 UCLA (193.225) and
ninth-ranked Florida (193.025) fol
lowed.
“Well, we can’t win them all,”
Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan
said. The team’s streak of 67
straight meet victories was
snapped. “I know the team is disap
pointed. but I don’t think anyone
beat us tonight. We beat ourselves.”
Or more specifically, the beam
1) No. 2 Alabama
195.750
2) No. 1 Georgia
195.400
3) No. 4 Michigan
194.925
4) No. 6 Nebraska
193.325
5) No. 3 UCLA
193.225
6) No. 9 Florida
193.025
.
beat Yoculan’s squad. Junior
Kathleen Shrieves, freshmen Cassie
Bair and Breanna Rutherford took
tumbles off the apparatus as the
Gym Dogs scored just 47.775 points
in that event.
“There’s no team in the country
that can have three falls on beam
with this level of competitive level
of teams and expect to win,”
Yoculan said. “Good teams don’t
have three falls on beam."
Georgia, which was beaten by
Alabama for the first time since the
1996 national championships, did
have a chance — albeit a small one
— to win the meet.
Down by a substantial 1.2-point
deficit going into the final rotation,
the Gym Dogs were set to compete
on the vault, possibly their
strongest event, while the Crimson
Tide attempted to tame the uncon
querable beam.
Although Georgia brought down
the house with a team score of
49.225, Alabama survived with two
falls to take the trophy back to
Tuscaloosa.
“We have a very young program,
but we finished third in the NCAAs
last year with six freshmen and five
sophomores, ’ Alabama head coach
Sarah Patterson said. “Last year,
we could not match the maturity of
the four Georgia seniors. We have
matured as a team this year, and
that’s why we were better.”
For the Gym Dogs, though, the
six-way challenge did a service for
the back-to-back national champi
ons. It allowed the team to make
some mistakes in a high-caliber
meet and then, more importantly,
learn how to correct them.
“There’s some disappointment,
but we are a young team," said
junior Kristi Lichey, who won the
all-around competition with a score
of 39.425. “We just need to learn and
get some more experience behind
us."
Wal-Mart
location
undecided
By MARK NIESSE
The Red a Black
Wal-Mart still may build its supercenter store on
Atlanta Highway, despite withdrawing a proposal for the
store upon residents' fears of traffic, urban sprawl and
mass commercialism.
Wal-Mart decided to hold off on the plan to build a
store between Atlanta Highway and the Athens bypass
near Mitchell Bridge Road last week after the Athens-
Clarke Planning Department recommended the proposal
be denied.
The department’s recommendation was based mostly
on concerns that a Wal-Mart Supercenter would create
significant increases in traffic and urbanization in the
area, said Planning Director John Stockbridge.
Wal-Mart may go back to the drawing board, however;
in an effort to accommodate residents and Athens gov
ernment, said Mike Morris, an Athens attorney repre
senting Wal-Mart and the developer, Atlanta-based JDN
Development Co.
“We want to develop it with considerations that are
amenable to everyone concerned,” Morris said. “We will
be talking to members of staff and neighbors, and decide
how to proceed.”
Wal-Mart hopes the proposed supercenter would give
it greater visibility and access than the current location
in Perimeter Square shopping center across from Georgia
Square Mall. That store would close when the new one
opens.
The earliest that Wal-Mart could re-propose a plan for
a change in zoning would be in March, Stockbridge said.
“If it reaches a point where that site can’t be devel
oped ... there are other options," Morris said.
"Unfortunately, those would be in a location other than
Athens ”
Opponents to the store claim it would drive local busi
nesses ^ut because a supercenter would come equipped
with clothing, grocery and tire repair departments.
Goody’s Family Clothing, Publix and tire stores are
already in the area.
“It would put enough of those stores out of business
that, all of a sudden, we would be faced with a commer
cial shopping center going down the tubes," said Burt
Sparer, president of the Federation of Neighborhood
Associations.
Sparer also estimates that traffic would increase by
about 2,000 cars per day on each surrounding road.
“It's Wal-Mart's policy to saturate a community and
that’s what they’re doing here They’re closing in on the
area,” Sparer said. "They’re willing to put something in
place that would generate a lot of commercial slums."
HEATHER ALLEN I T«i Rid • Buci
A Construction of a future Wal-Mart supercenter
on Atlanta Highway has been temporarily halted.
$25 tickets on sale for John Grisham lecture
SKOAL | Tm Rio « Bud
▲ Despite their high, $25
price, more than 400 tick
ets have already been sold
for best-seMng author John
Grisham’s Jan. 25 speech.
Baseball enthusiast, author makes rare appearance at Classic Center
By KRISTEN WYATT
The Red a Black
Novelist John Grisham will
speak at the Classic Center Jan.
25 as a favor to his old friend,
Georgia baseball coach Ron
Polk.
Grisham, who wrote “The
Firm" and other best-sellers, will
talk about his writing career and
his love for baseball at the dinner
event.
Polk first became friends with
Grisham when Polk coached
Mississippi State's baseball
team.
A big fan and MSU alumnus,
Grisham had the entire team
over to his Oxford, Miss., home
every time the team played rival
Ole Miss
"He always dropped me notes
and calls because he was such a
big baseball fan," Polk told The
Red & Black. “We still talk about
once a month. He’s Just a good
friend." .
And he’s such a rabid baseball
fan, Polk said, that Grisham built
a replica of MSU’s Dudy Noble
Field in his backyard. He named
his oldest son Ty, after baseball
legend iy Cobb.
"He has great stories,” Polk
said. “And he makes very, very
few appearances anymore. He
could go wherever he wants."
Despite the steep ticket price
— a table for 10 costs $225 —
more than 400 tickets have been
sold, said baseball administra
tive assistant Steve Smith.
"We were afraid we might be
overpricing, but everyone said,
'Oh, what a bargain,' ” Smith
said. “He’s one of the leading
novelists in the world, and that's
not a bad price for someone of
Ills stature."
Smith wouldn't say how much
Grisham would be paid for the
engagement, but he said organiz
ers didn’t plan to make much
money off the dinner.
“It's not intended so much as
a fund-raiser as exposing our
program," Smith said. “He’s not
really a baseball name. We Just
thought the Athens area would
enjoy him."
If the event does turn a profit,
Smith said, it will be spent on
baseball equipment or facilities.
About 1,100 tickets remain.
Dress is casual.
It should sell out, Polk said,
because Grisham will be the star
of the program.
What: 'An Evening with John
Grisham"
When & Where: 7 p.m., Jan. 25
Classic Center
Tickets: $25
Information: 357-4444
“He’ll talk for at 25 or 30
minutes," Polk said. “At
Mississippi State, we could call
it ‘An evening with the
Mississippi State baseball team
and John Grisham.’ But we’re
not there yet. So we’re calling
it 'An evening with John
Grisham.'
“People don't want to listen to
me talk about my players an
night," Polk said. “They want to
hear from him.”
INSIDE TODAY | News: 2 | Opinions: 4 | Variety: 6 | Sports: 9 | Crossword: 5
