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2 I Tuesday, January 8, 200a | The Red * Black
NEWS
QuickTake
^ A glance at the morning’s news and the day ahead
Best Bet
► Check out the Park Bench Trio, a hard-rocking
band with roots deep in the blues, tonight at 10 at the
Georgia Theatre. Tickets are $5. Information:
549-9918
National & World Headlines
Devaluation raises fear of rising prices
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Eduardo
Duhalde’s new government caUed on Argentine business
and industry Monday to hold down prices after a sharp
devaluation of the peso ended a decade of strength for
Latin America’s most stable currency.
“We are asking business and industry not to raise
prices,” said Duhalde’s cabinet chief, Jorge Capitanich. He
said supermarkets, shopkeepers and leading business
chambers were all asked to keep the lid on any inflationary
spurt after a nearly 30 percent devaluation of the currency.
Argentine authorities announced over the weekend that
the peso, pegged the past 11 years at one to one with the
dollar, would be allowed to weaken. A dollar will now offi
cially buy 1.4 pesos for all import and export transactions,
while a parallel, free-floating rate on foreign exchanges is to
be set by the market for ordinary Argentines.
Although there have been scattered reports of price
increases, many merchants said they couldn’t hike prices
even if they wanted. Years of recession have left Argentines
strapped for cash and in no mood to spend money on any
thing but essentials
Nonetheless, uncertainty gripped many Argentines
Monday as they prepared for the end of 10 years of relative
ly stable prices. A 1989 devaluation of a previous currency,
the austral, led to runaway inflation and price hikes, still
fresh on many minds.
“I’m not sure where this leads,” Adrian Gonzalez, a 42-
year-old shopkeeper, said of the latest devaluation. “I’m
expecting the worst. But they had to do something. We
couldn’t keep suffering like we have the past few years.”
Terrorism price tag
exceeds $60 billion
WASHINGTON —
Congress has provided more
than $60 billion since
September to combat ter
rorism at home and abroad
and to rebuild from the
attacks on New York and
Washington.
Some costs are one-time
expenses or will diminish in
coming years — like helping
communities recover from
the Sept. 11 devastation,
but other anti-terrorism
programs are sure to grow.
When he sends Congress
his $2 trillion budget for fis-
. cal 2003 next month,
President Bush is expected
to propose billions more for
the military’s $345 billion
wartime budget for the rest
of this year, plus a hefty
increase for next year for
government-wide anti-ter
rorism efforts. Fiscal 2003
begins Oct. 1.
Though but a sliver of the
federal budget, $60 billion
exceeds the 2000 revenues
of all but the dozen largest
U.S. corporations, and
would buy 3 million cars at
$20,000 apiece. It is also five
times the $12 billion total
for all federal anti-terrorism
spending in fiscal 2001, an
August White House report
said.
“We have no higher obli
gation than to defend this
country,” said Senate
Budget Committee
Chairman Kent Conrad, (D-
N.D.) “But that doesn’t
mean we give blank checks
to anybody.”
Teen charged with
murdering father
CARTERSVILLE—
Bartow County authorities
have arrested a 15-year-old
girl in the death of her
father, who was shot once in
the back of the head Dec. 8.
Tiffany Dorene Taylor
surrendered at the sheriff’s
office Thursday and was
charged with murder as an
adult, Sgt. Robert Moultrie
said.
“I had been in touch with
her and her mother for the
last several weeks,”
Moultrie said.
He said that after Ted
Taylor’s death, the girl had
gone to California and then
to Tennessee, where her
mother, Dorene Medley,
lives.
Woman raped for
dating black man
RIVERDALE — Police are
searching for two men who a
white woman said abducted
and raped her because she
was dating a black man.
The woman, 36, said she
stopped at a traffic light
about 8:30 a.m. on New
Year’s Day near Southern
Regional Medical Center,
when two white men in a
pickup truck pulled up
behind her.
One jumped into her
vehicle, held a sharp object
to her *' , :roat and ordered
her to drive, Riverdale Police
Detective Brad Guest said
Friday.
“This, in my opinion, is a
pure hate crime. It’s pure
torture,” Guest Said.
The woman, who recently
moved to metro Atlanta
from Florida, said she drove
for hours with the pickup
following before being
ordered to drive onto a dirt
road. Then she was pulled
from her vehicle by her hair
and raped.
She told police her
attackers mentioned the
man she was dating by
name, and shouted racial
slurs as they assaulted her
repeatedly.
Eventually one of the
woman’s attackers drove her
to a dirt road in rural south
east Henry County and
threw her out of her vehicle,
which was found abandoned
nearby. The woman ran
through the woods to a
nearby house and called
police.
State Farm agrees
to settlement
ATLANTA — State Farm
Mutual Automobile
Insurance Co. has agreed to
a $250 million settlement in
which it must pay as many
as 700,000 Georgia motorists
for the lost value of cars
damaged in collisions.
The settlement of a class-
action lawsuit announced
Friday calls for State Farm
to pay $100 million in dimin
ished value reimbursements
for accident claims filed
since Dec. 22, 1993. The
company also agreed to pay
all future claims in Georgia,
which both sides in the law
suit say will reach another
$100 million over the next
six years.
Another $50 million will
be paid for court costs and
attorneys’ fees.
Eligible policyholders will
receive at least $25 and up
to several thousand dollars,
depending on the amount of
the original claims.
The settlement ends a
lawsuit filed in Columbus
two years ago in which poli
cyholders contended their
vehicles were worth less
after a wreck no matter how
well they were repaired.
— Associated Press
UGATbday
Announcements
► Campus Christian
Fellowship, meets Thursday
night at 1080 S. Milledge Ave.
for a speech “Religion vs.
Spirituality” delivered by Tim
Hudson. Free dinner at 6:45,
worship follows at 7:30.
Information: 548-9625.
► WatchDawgs, holds its
bi-monthly meeting Monday,
Jan. 21 in Room 137 of the Tate
Student Center. Updates and
membership interest will be
discussed.
— Items for UGA Today
must be submitted in writ
ing two days before the
date to run.
Items may run only one
day and are published on a
first-come, first-served
basis according to space
available.
A small price to pay for fitness
By ERIN SELLERS
esellers@randb.com
It is time to swear off
those extra pounds from the
holidays, finally fulfill a New
Year’s Resolution and pre
pare for the god-like spring
break body. Many University
students begin this quest at
the Ramsey Center.
A program on campus, the
personal training program,
gives students and faculty
the option of exercising with
one of 11 personal trainers.
The program was first
offered last semester at
Ramsey.
“For it being the first
semester, it went pretty
well,” said Spencer Hopkins,
a senior from Taylorsville
and manager of the program.
In its initial attempt, the
program trained a little more
than 40 people, two-thirds
being faculty members. Most
of the students were
female.
Since then, four additional
trainers have been hired.
“This is meant to be a
teaching room,” Hopkins
said. “Anyone can increase
his or her level of fitness by
coming to our program.
Everyone has room for
improvement.”
“There is no one we are
not trained to work with,” he
said.
Those interested can page
through a book of nationally
certified trainers’ bios to
select a trainer based on
availability, scheduling, gen
der or specific goals.
The program offers four
packages of three, five, eight
or 12 sessions; trainers
charge $25 an hour at the
three-session level.
A trainer will contact new
clients within 48 hours to
schedule a fitness assess
ment and create a regular fit
ness schedule.
During the individual ses
sions, students are given rec
ommendations for cardiovas
cular exercise and learn the
safe and correct way to exer
cise with machines and
free-weights.
Hopkins said with a per
sonal trainer, people can
learn how to exercise by pay
ing attention to form and the
amount of time spent focus
ing on one particular set of
muscles.
While $25 an hour might
seem expensive to a college
student, Hopkins said
people don’t understand
how much personal training
costs.
“This is by far the cheap
est personal training you’re
going to find,” Hopkins said.
As always, Ramsey offers a
variety of classes that stu
dents or faculty members
can take to increase their fit
ness levels.
The $40 drop-in aerobics
pass allows students to
choose from 15 classes
including boot camp, kick
boxing and step aerobics.
“This sounds like an
affordable way for people to
get in shape,” said Katie
McGreevy, a junior from
Roswell.
“Twenty-five dollars isn’t
bad because back in Atlanta,
a personal trainer can easily
cost between $50 and $75.”
International students oriented to UGA
A head start for
UGA’s new students
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
awomack@randb.com
The International Student Life Office
(ISL) braved the 2002 snow storm to
hold an orientation welcoming new
international students to campus.
“Spring orientation for international
students is a two-to three-day program
where we assist new and transfer inter
national students with a variety of
issues related to getting settled
in Athens and at the University,” said
Leigh Poole, interim coordinator
of ISL.
Students were introduced to
University services and procedures,
including computing services, the coun
seling center, registration, ID cards,
health insurance, the University Health
Center and academic life in the United
States, she said.
“We were unsure of how international
enrollment would be affected by the
events of Sept. 11,” Poole said. “But we
are very pleased at how things turned
out.”
ISL originally had planned to give
international students an opportunity
to apply for Social Security cards
on campus during orientation.
“The snow put a few kinks in our
plans,” Poole said.
She said international students will
be given another opportunity to apply
in the future.
“We also assist new students in find
ing permanent housing as well as
help them set up their utilities,”
Poole said.
Orientation for international stu
dents is held each spring, summer and
fall semester by ISL.
The World Ambassadors, Global
Friends and ISL will host the first coffee
hour of the semester Friday from 11:30
a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Memorial Hall
Ballroom, said Jesse Jones, a senior
from Dalton and World Ambassadors
president.
“Each week the coffee hour is hosted
by either a different international
organization or by a University
department,” he said.
Later this semester, ISL will gear up
for the tax season by assisting interna
tional students with filing appropriate
IRS paperwork.
Redistricting lines
By MITCHELL GRAHAM
mgraham@randb.com
The state’s redistricting
plan, drawn up by the
Democratic majority in the
state legislature last year, has
been endorsed in part by the
U.S. Department of Justice
since last week.
But lawyers for the Justice
Department, in a preliminary
finding before the U.S.
District Court for the District
of Columbia, said the state
Senate map violates Section
5 of the Voting Rights Act.
The two other maps before
the court — the congressional
map and the state house map
— were not challenged by
Justice Department lawyers,
although they said they
intend to review the state
house map before making a
final judgment.
Section 5 of the 1965
Voting Rights Act requires
Georgia to seek approval of
changes to its voting laws
from the Justice Department
or a federal court. For its
redistricting plan to be enact
ed, Georgia must show that
the new maps will not dilute
the voting strength of minori
ty groups.
Georgia elected to sue the
Justice Department for
approval in a trial beginning
Feb. 1.
Georgia’s approach to
clearing its redistricting plan
is rarely taken by states and
reflects the plan’s fundamen
tal flaws, said Ralph
Gonzalez, executive director
of the Georgia Republican
Party.
“Georgia sued instead of
going through the
Department of Justice,”
Gonzalez said. “I guess (state
Democratic leaders) were
afraid the Department of
Justice knew how egregious
the maps were.”
Now the Georgia
Republican Party has filed a
motion to intervene in the
trial, hoping to join the state
of Georgia and the. Justice
Department as a party to the
case. This request is their
second; the first was rejected
by the court, Gonzalez
said.
Charles Bullock, professor
of Political Science, said the
Georgia Republican Party’s
interests in the case probably
rest primarily on party lines,
while the Justice Department
looks at issues of race.
Republicans say their prin
cipal objection to the new
maps is that they concen
trate Republican-leaning vot
ers in only a few districts,
which, if true, would aid
Democratic candidates.
Jon Anderson, executive
director of the Democratic
Party of Georgia, said he
couldn’t comment on the
Republicans’ new motion or
the Justice Department’s
findings, since the legal mat
ter is ongoing.
But, he added, the
Democratic party was “glad
to see that the case seems to
be moving towards a timely
resolution.”
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NEWS NOTEBOOK
Duct construction Board to discuss
initiated Monday
University employees on
Monday began construc
tion of a high-voltage
underground electrical
duct on North Campus.
The duct will be built on
South Street between
Jackson and Thomas
streets disrupting parking
and traffic in the surround
ing area.
Parking in the lot on
Jackson Street between
Fulton and South streets
will be limited by the
construction.
In addition, workers will
intermittently close South
Street to traffic or redirect
the road for one-way
traffic.
The duct’s construction
is planned to be finished in
March.
important issues
The Board of Regents will
vote to approve the
University’s service agree
ments with different state
departments, which total
more than $2 million.
The Board of Regents
also must decide to re
authorize the down-scaled
renovations of Myers Hall.
The Board will discuss
numerous issues, said
Arlethia Perry-Johnson,
assistant vice chancellor of
the Board of Regents,
including the possible con
struction of a Regents Office
of Information and
Instructional Technology
building on campus.
The board will convene
today at 1 p.m. at the
Trinity-Washington Building
in Atlanta.
— Greg Bluestein
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