Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY
January 15, 2002
Vol. 109, No. 84 | Athens, Georgia
Sunny.
High SI | Low 32 | Wednesday 57
ONLINE www.redandblack.coni
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1 9 8 o'
cracks the Top 20 in AP’s
newest rankings. RAGE 8
BROOKE MORRIS | The Red a Black
▲ Margaret Johansen, right, and Mary Rolles, wait to catch a
taxi Monday afternoon, after their flight to Kansas City, Mo.,
from Athens’ Ben Epps Airport was canceled. Johansen said
she feels confident safety is a top concern at Ben Epps.
As of Friday, airlines will be required to screen all checked
baggage. Currently, only a small percentage of baggage on
domestic flights.
S.C. lotteiy no
threat to HOPE
disbursements
By JEREMY CRAIG
jcraig@randb.com
Baggage
screening
required
By MITCHELL GRAHAM
mgraham@randb.com
On Friday, airlines will begin
screening all checked baggage on
domestic flights, but already
University officials are debating
the effectiveness of the new
measure.
“I think anything that increas
es the chance of catching contra
band being smuggled onto a
plane is going to increase the
safety of that plane,” said Asa
Boynton, University director of
Public Safety.
“It’s going to be a bit inconve
nient, but I think it’s something
that’s necessary for the safety of
the general public. And it’s some
thing we’re going to have to get
used to,” he said.
The Aviation Security Act,
passed by Congress in November,
mandates the upcoming changes
in baggage searches. Currently,
airlines only screen a small per
centage of checked bags on
domestic flights.
Boynton also said the
University community should
expect to encounter more flight
delays than other travelers do,
because students and faculty
travel most during the “crunch
times” of the year, such as
holidays, when airports are
busiest.
“When you do things like
(screening all baggage), a certain
amount of time is consumed that
you didn’t have to contend with
before,” he said. “So quite natu
rally, I think we’re going to have
longer waits.”
Boynton said he believes the
security requirements are justi
fied because they will make it
more difficult for passengers to
bring weapons or other imple
ments of terrorism aboard an
airplane.
While Boynton said he agrees
with the increased security mea
sure, John Soloski, dean of the
Grady College of Journalism and
Mass Communication and fre
quent flier, said he believes that
airports aren’t applying security
checks with consistency.
“There’s no pattern, so you
don’t know what’s going to hap
pen at each of the airports,” he
said, noting that when he flew out
of London’s Heathrow airport, his
shoes weren’t checked for explo
sives. At other airports, they were
checked, he said.
The steps airports have taken
to increase security wouldn’t have
stopped Sept. 11 from happening,
he said, and people shouldn’t
expect too much from more bag
gage screening.
“Hartsfield (International
Airport in Atlanta) just doesn’t
have enough equipment to meet
the requirements,” Soloski said.
“So flights will be delayed. What’s
going to happen is, people are
going to stop flying, and that’s
going to hurt the economy and
the airline industry.”
At Ben Epps, Athens’ local air
port, all carry-on bags and some
checked baggage are screened.
A plan to expand screening to
all checked baggage for commer
cial domestic flights is being
developed, said Shelly Lopez,
customer service manager at
Ben Epps for U.S. Airways
Express.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a
problem,” said Tim Beggarly,
manager of Ben Epps airport.
— Contributing: CNN
South Carolina’s new lottery for
education shouldn’t take a bite out of
HOPE scholarship funds for Georgia
students, according to a University
official.
“We expect funding to stay at the
same level,” said Susan Little, direc
tor of the Office of Student Financial
Aid.
Little said in-state lottery partici
pation is the driving force behind the
Georgia Lottery’s success.
“Anecdotally, there are those who
come across state lines to play the
lottery,” she said. “But there’s such a
large proportion of people in-state
who participate, as well as tourists
who pass through and play.”
Little said there are 15,300 HOPE
recipients at the University.
“We expect our students to receive
$63 million in aid,” she said. “It’ll be
helping a lot of entitled, hard working
students and will continue to do so.”
Parquita Nassau, spokeswoman
for the Georgia Lotteiy Corporation,
said sales are strong right now.
Total lottery sales for last year
were $2.19 billion, she said.
An estimated 16 percent of sales
come from out of state. Of that fig
ure, 5.5 percent of sales came from
South Carolina players, Nassau said.
She said those percentages are
only based on players who won prizes
more than $599 and claimed their
prizes. Players winning less than $599
may claim their prizes at any
Georgia Lottery retailer, Nassau
said.
“There’s really no way to track
every single player,” she said.
“Playing the lottery is an anonymous
process.”
The HOPE scholarship has grown
continuously since its inception, said
Alma Bowen, spokeswoman for the
Georgia Student Finance
Commission.
Bowen said there was a 17 percent
increase in recipients between 1999
and 2001.
The phenomenon of South
Carolinians flocking across the
Savannah River to Georgia hasn’t
been followed by some residents of
the Palmetto State, such as Kim
Coward, a bookkeeper from
Columbia, S.C.
“It’s (some) South Carolinians’
choice to come to Georgia,” Coward
said. “I’ve never come to Georgia just
to play.”
As for the new lottery, Coward
said she is skeptical about how the
money will be used.
“We’re trying to hold (the politi
cians) to their word,” she said. “It’s
still left to be seen.”
MONIRA AL-HAROUN | Thb Red a Black
A Petricia Johnson, a native of Athens, buys a Cash 3 lottery
ticket from Ravi Patel on Monday evening at Perry’s
Convenience Store on Lexington Highway.
Video poker ban unconstitutional
MONIRA AL-HAROUN | The Red * Black
A Spirits Pub on Gaines School Road will now be allowed to
keep its video poker machines due to a judge’s recent ruling
against legislation that bans the machines.
By JEREMY CRAIG
jcraig@randb.com
An Atlanta judge Monday over
turned Georgia’s new law that
would have banned video poker
machines.
Rilton County Superior Court
Judge John Goger said the law
“criminalizes a game when it is
being played and operated as a
game.”
“This is the sort of lawmaking
which poses a real threat to liber
ty,” he said.
Gov. Roy Barnes asked the
Georgia Attorney General Monday
to appeal the decision.
Rep. Louise McBee (D-Athens)
said she supported the ban and
believes it will resurface during the
current General Assembly session.
“It’ll come back up. I can guar
antee that,” she said.
The law, which was enacted last
summer, made it illegal to own or
operate video game machines with
games like poker or keno.
Goger issued a temporary
restraining order earlier to keep it
from taking effect Jan. 1.
McBee said her main issue with
video gambling was that it is
unregulated.
“We regulate other things —
when people can drink, when peo
ple can drive — (gambling) is not
the only freedom we regulate for
the common good,” she said.
“I see no reason why we can’t
regulate (gambling) when people
abuse it,” McBee said.
Dale Hester, manager of
Heritage Amusements in Athens,
said he’s glad the law was over
turned.
“I feel pretty good about it,”
Hester said. “The issue was about
the illegal way some operators were
using the machines.”
Hester said his business oper
ates video poker and casino
machines at bars and convenience
stores in Hartwell and Franklin
County.
He said his games are played
only for the redemption of a non
cash prize, instead of a cash pay
out.
“When South Carolina banned
video poker, there were people who
brought machines over and didn’t
update them (to conform with the
law),” Hester said.
McBee also said she supported
the ban b cause gamblers might
divert their money to video gam
bling away from the HOPE scholar
ship program.
“HOPE is a good cause that has
been proven to make a difference,”
she said.
The Georgia Lotteiy is better
regulated, and the funds go back to
the state government, she said.
— Contributing: The
Associated Press
Bombing over terrorist
training ground continues
U.S. forces finished the search of
the Zawar Kili Camp that was used
as a terrorist training area in
Afghanistan Monday, according to
Pentagon officials.
More bombs were dropped on the
camp Monday morning. According
to sources in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, the impact of the
bombs could be felt up to six miles
away in Mir am Shah, Pakistan.
“We have leveled the remaining
structures that were found on the
surface, and we have closed all the
caves that we would intend not to be
occupied,” said Rear Adm. John
Stufflebeem.
According to an Afghan video
released on Australian television, al-
Qaeda fighters practiced assassina
tions and attacks on motorcades.
The network said the fighters
were Arab, African and Pakistani
militants rehearsing hostage and
killing skills.
Also on Monday, a U.S. C-17 car
ried a second group of Taliban and
al-Qaeda detainees to the U.S.
Navy base in Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
Two U.S. military personnel are
assigned to each detainee. Each
detainee also was shackled, as were
the previous group of transfers.
“The situation was exactly the
same as before — the uniforms, the
shackle, the whole bit and the num
ber of escorts,” said a military
spokesman.
Victoria Clarke, a Pentagon
spokeswoman, said the detainees are
being given three meals a day and
opportunities to exercise, bathe and
seek medical assistance.
The Pentagon said there are now
almost 400 prisoners being held by
the United States. All will eventually
be transferred to Cuba. All detainees
are being held in Afghanistan except
Afnerican Taliban fighter John
Walker, who is aboard the USS
Bataan, a Navy warship.
Late Sunday, the bodies of several
U.S. Marines killed in a plane crash
Jan. 9 arrived at Dover Air Force
Base in Delaware.
It is unclear how many of the
seven Marines were taken to the
base, according to a Marine
spokesman. The base is the location
for the Defense Department’s
mortuary.
The Pentagon said Monday they
are considering scaling back the
combat air patrols in the United
States. The patrols have been sched
uled regularly since the Sept. 11 ter
rorist attacks. Sources cited a drain
on U.S. Air Force personnel, but said
no decisions have been made yet.
Also Monday, U.S. Sen. Joe
Lieberman said the next target for
the war on terrorism must be
Saddam Hussein, the president of
Iraq. Lieberman said past attempts
to contain Hussein have failed, and
implied that militaiy action is
needed.
— Compiled by Lona Panter
Contributing: CNN and MSNBC
reports
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