Newspaper Page Text
-v
MONDAY
January 14, 2002
Vol. 109, No. 83 | Athens, Georgia
Partly cloudy.
High 55 \L0u139 | Tuesday 55
ONLINE: www.redandblack.coni
The
Y
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1980
TAKE A PUNCH
>• Classic City Boxing
offers lessons to students.
PAGE 7
Dupont
crowned
Miss UGA
By JENNIFER MOORE
jmoore@randb.com
After playing a mix of classical music
and “Devil went down to Georgia” on the
violin, appearing in a swimsuit and a red
beaded floor-length dress, Tiffany Dupont
was crowned Miss University of Georgia
Saturday night, starting her road toward
the Miss America pageant in September.
Dupont, a junior who grew up in
Virginia, said friends coaxed her into
entering the pageant, and she gradually
became more serious about competing.
“God just opened up so many doors for
me,” she said.
The winner of the Miss UGA pageant
goes on to compete in the Miss Georgia
pageant, the precursor to Miss America.
Erin Smoak, a sophomore from
Savannah, said the Miss UGA pageant is
different than other pageants because of
its size.
“It is one of the largest preliminary
pageants in Georgia,” Smoak said. “There
are a lot more contestants and a lot more
expectations for whoever wins.”
Each contestant has her own platform,
which she will promote as part of her
title.
Dupont’s platform is giving children
opportunity through music and the per
forming arts. She hopes to help link exist
ing mentoring programs to music.
The program, Dupont said, would find
out what activities children want to do
and find a mentor who participates in
that activity.
Besides promoting her platform,
Dupont said she hopes to help children
understand the importance of going to
school and getting a college education.
Dupont also won the talent competi
tion for her violin performance. She said
she has studied the violin since she was 9
years old.
>• See PAGEANT, Page 5
MEGAN LOVETT | The Red a Black
A Newly crowned Miss UGA, Tiffany Dupont, hugs runners-up Melanie
Gossett, left, and Amanda Hudson at the end of Saturday night’s pageant at
the Classic Center. Dupont’s platform was music education.
Detainees linked to future terrorist attacks
U.S. forces currently have
detainees who had “plans to one
day travel to the United States
and kill Americans,” according
to military sources Sunday in
Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The Bagram airbase now
holds approximately 50
detainees, including high-rank
ing officials. Al-Qaeda leader
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi and
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the
former Taliban ambassador to
Pakistan, are being held at the
base, which is north of
Kabul.
Gathered intelligence from
Afghanistan shows a direct line
between al-Qaeda detainees
and planned terrorist attacks in
the United States, according to
military sources.
Also in Afghanistan Sunday,
U.S. airstrikes continued to tar
get the Zawar Kili Camp, which
is a suspected Taliban and al-
Qaeda hideout.
A U.S. Air Force C-17 left the
Kandahar airport Sunday with
30 more detainees headed for
the U.S. Naval Base in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Twenty detainees already are at
the base and will reside in
chain-link cells until a detention
center is completed.
Camp X-Ray currently is able
to hold about 100 prisoners and
will eventually hold 2,000.
Cuban officials said they
would cooperate with the
United States’ decision to hold
detainees at the naval base.
“Although the transfer of
prisoners of war by the U.S. gov
ernment to its military base,
located within a part of our ter
ritory over which we have been
denied the right to exercise
jurisdiction, is not in accor
dance with the purposes for
which it was created, we will not
create obstacles to the unfold
ing of the operation,” a state
ment from the government
said.
The United States notified
the British Foreign Office
Saturday that a British national
is one of the war detainees held
in Camp X-Ray, a British
spokesman said.
Also Sunday, Tom Ridge, U.S.
homeland security director, said
the United States is safer than
it was when terrorists attacked
the World Trade Center.
“Every single day since Sept.
11, we’ve made ourselves safer,
stronger and more secure,”
Ridge told CNN. “We still have a
lot of work left to do. We’re
msiking progress every
day.”
Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, said the Taliban
could attack security forces
unless the international com
munity helps pay for a perma
nent police force.
“What everybody tells me
here is, ‘Don’t think the fight
against the Taliban is over,’”
Biden said on NBC. “They’re
not controlling the cities any
more, but they’re still in the
countryside.”
Six of seven Marines killed in
a Wednesday plane crash have
been recovered, military officials
said. The recovery search con
tinues, and Marines believe they
will recover the remaining body,
officials in Kandahar said
Saturday.
— Compiled by Lona Panter
Contributing: CNN and
MSNBC reports
Legislators
will focus
on budget
By MITCHELL GRAHAM
mgraham@randb.com
Once gathered under the dome of the state
Capitol today, Georgia’s senators and representa
tives will kick off the 2002 legislative session with
an eye toward re-election in November.
“I think the big issue is going to be the budget,”
said Edwin Jackson, senior public service associate
for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. “And
that’s always true, but I think it’s going to be espe
cially true for this year because of the recession
we’re in.”
The recession has decreased state tax revenues
by 5.7 percent from July through November, com
pared with last year’s collections.
Gov. Roy Barnes ordered legislators to cut
spending by 2.5 percent for the current fiscal year,
which ends in June.
He ruled out cuts in education spending, so leg
islators must trim funds from other departments,
Jackson said.
“The first order of business is to amend the cur
rent fiscal year budget,” he said. “When (legisla
tors) pass a budget, they are basing it on projected
income. Income is down because of the recession
and Sept. 11, and they’re going to be cutting a
number of programs.”
The spending bills created by the House and
Senate will be based on Barnes’ budget plan,
which he is releasing Wednesday.
Sen. Doug Haines (D-Ga.) sits on the Senate
appropriations committee, which oversees the
budget, as well as the subcommittee that oversees
spending for the University System of Georgia.
“Without a doubt, the biggest concern in this
legislative session is the budget, and to make sure
we’re doing everything possible to strengthen the
economy and to minimize the negative effects from
the national economy,” he said.
Haines said a priority will be passing the gover
nor’s proposed economic stimulus package that
would pump more than $900 million into the econ
omy. Under the plan, the University would receive
$10 million to find work on the Coverdell Building.
But the fact that this session falls in an election
year will affect the way legislators conduct them
selves, Haines said.
“Everyone is up for re-election, and there will be
some effort to avoid controversy,” he said. “Ijust
don’t think you’ll see as much grand-standing ...
this year. We have bigger obligations, to help direct
the state, its economy and its people through some
really tough times.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Doug Haines
Senate District 46 (part of Barrow, all of Clarke and
Oconee counties)
327-A Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-5095
404-657-7853 (fax)
dhaines@legis.state.ga.us
Louise McBee
House District 88 (part of Clarke County)
508 Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-0213
Keith G. Heard
House District 89 (part of Clarke County)
509 Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, Ga. 30334
404-656-0220
kheard@legis.state.ga.us
Buzzer Win
BROOKE MORRIS | The Red a Black
A Sophomore guard Rashad Wright muscles his way
past a Tennessee defender Saturday night, mustering
a last-minute victory over the Vols. Story, Page 8
Gardner’s businesses an Athens
staple for more than 10 years
By JESSICA REECE
jreece@randb.com
Lines begin to form outside
Insomnia as a petite woman sits
behind the counter designing fliers for
upcoming promotions for the three,
and soon to be four, downtown
hotspots she and her family own.
She is Sandra Gardner, the matri
arch behind the family that owns
Topper’s, Insomnia and Jersey’s
Sportsbar & Grill.
Last week, Ms. Gardner and her
sons, Donny and Dwayne, decided to
serve alcohol at their dance club
Insomnia after a year-long battle in
court with Athens-Clarke County due
to a county ordinance which prohibits
public entertainment past 2 a.m.
Also, the Gardner’s show bar,
Topper’s, has come under fire due to a
county ordinance that prohibits serv
ing alcohol while nude adult entertain
ment is offered.
Ms. Gardner asked not to be pho
tographed for this story, because of
these recent legal entanglements.
She got started in Athens more than
10 years ago when she took early retire
ment from Kodak. Entering the enter
tainment industry was easy. Gardner
had worked as a promoter for groups
such as the Commodores, the
Scorpions and Kool & the Gang.
Her first Athens endeavor was the
dance club “Mardi Gras.” The club
opened in 1992 with an all-star party
featuring 12 bands, including Club
Nouveau.
“We actually started having prob
lems with too many people coming to
the club,” she said. “We were strongly
advised to change the focus of the
club.”
So, Topper’s International Showbar
was bom.
At the time, the Georgia Supreme
Court had ruled it was constitutional
for clubs to serve alcohol and provide
adult entertainment. Gardner saw the
opportunity to fill a niche Athens
didn’t have, and the club opened soon
after.
Topper’s originally was a Vegas-style
showbar complete with choreographed
dances and elaborate costumes.
“It was fabulous,” said Steve Isabell,
a former Topper’s employee and a
friend of Ms. Gardner. “It took forever
to choreograph, but it looked amaz
ing.”
Now there is too much transitioning
among the entertainers to have elabo
rate shows, Ms. Gardner said. Yet, she
said she works hard to maintain the
club’s “clean fun” entertainment image.
“I’m a non-drinker,” she said. “And I
feel strongly about the things that
should and shouldn’t be done by girls
in a showbar.”
Ms. Gardner’s newest concept is a
frozen daiquiri bar — “Bourbon St.”
The bar will be located on Clayton
Street and is set to open next fall.
“It’s one area that hasn’t been cov
ered in this town since the Sugar Bowl
in 1993,” she said.
The idea for a frozen drink bar has
been in the works for five years. Yet
Ms. Gardner said it has been difficult
to find a location.
“I was the last man on the totem
pole contacted to buy the old GAJ?”
she said. “But the location is perfect
for the concept.”
► See BAR, Page 3
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