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NEWS
2 | Tuesday, January 15, 2002
QuickTake
^ A glance at the morning’s news and the day ahead
Best Bet
► Check out the East Asian Film Club screening of
“The Ring,” an internationally known Japanese horror
film tonight at 7 on the seventh floor screening room
of the main library.
National & World Headlines
Attorney to expand Bayer lawsuit
BERLIN — An attorney who sued German drug maker
Bayer on behalf of American users of its Lipobay anti
cholesterol drug said Monday he is expanding the lawsuit
to include users in other countries.
More than 50 deaths worldwide have been linked to
Lipobay, described as a cutting-edge cholesterol-fighting
drug until Bayer AG withdrew it Aug. 1.
People from at least six other countries wifi be added to
the U.S. complaint in hopes of securing a settlement for the
estimated 6 million people who used the drug before it was
withdrawn, attorney Kenneth B. Moll said in Berlin.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages against
Bayer, claiming the company knew the difficulties caused
by Lipobay long before the public was informed and the
product pulled.
The suit argues the drug was manufactured, marketed
and distributed worldwide by Bayer Corp., a fully-owned
U.S. subsidiary of Bayer AG, and that therefore all people
who used Lipobay are within their rights to sue in U.S.
courts.
A Bayer spokesman rejected that argument.
“They’re not correct — it was produced in Germany and
distributed in different countries,” Michael Diehl said.
He said Bayer would argue that U.S. courts have no
jurisdiction over German cases.
Officials may add to
anti-terrorism stock
WASHINGTON — In
warehouses hidden across
the nation are tons of pills
for anthrax and radiation
and vaccine for smallpox —
but the nation’s anti-terror
ism stockpile is far from
complete.
Next month, in a closed-
door meeting in Atlanta,
FBI and other intelligence
agents will meet with physi
cian experts on germ and
chemical warfare and radia
tion to figure out what ther
apies should be bought
next.
On the table are experi
mental treatments for hem
orrhagic fevers and small
pox, the proper supply of
antitoxin for botulism and a
new cyanide antidote that
may replace one some
experts call antiquated.
And while the stockpile
has lots of antibiotics that
prevent anthrax infection, it
doesn’t include some drugs
that may be key to treating
an already sick person.
“Everything is up for
grabs,” said Steven Bice,
who runs the National
jPharmaceutical Stockpile.
“We’ll review our entire for
mulary.”
When anthrax struck, the
government swiftly spent
more than half a billion dol
lars pumping up the stock
pile, adding 100 million
more doses of anthrax-fight
ing Cipro and enough small
pox vaccine for every
American. The latest buy:
millions of potassium iodide
tablets, used to prevent thy
roid cancer after release of
radioactive iodine.
State park to be
built near Swamp
FARGO — This tiny town
on the edge of the
lOkefenokee Swamp soon
;will be the home of
Georgia’s first new state
park in more than 10 years.
The park will be located
on a 317-acre tract about 18
miles southwest of Stephen
C. Foster State Park, which
is surrounded by the
Okefenokee National
Wildlife Refuge.
The new facility is slated
to open in summer 2003 and
will feature an “eco-lodge”
consisting of motel-type
rooms and dormitories to
host school groups, said
Burt Weerts, director of
Georgia State Parks and
Historic Sites.
The lodge, to be built on
5-foot-high pilings, was
designed by Garland
Reynolds, the Gainesville
architect who also designed
Len Foote Hike Inn at
Amicalola Falls State Park.
In recent years the state
has sought land along the
Chattahoochee River and
other sites for future parks,
Weerts said.
Superior Pine Products
Co. in December donated
the land to be used for the
Fargo park, tentatively
named Suwanee River State
Park, and the Legislature
allocated $5.6 million last
year for it.
Catholic chapel
destroyed by fire
FORT BENNING — An
electrical failure was the
likely culprit in a fire that
destroyed the Catholic
chapel at Fort Benning.
The 55-year-old Main
Post Catholic Chapel caught
fire at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
Described as a simple
“battalion chapel” with
wood beams and stained
glass windows, the chapel
was the traditional home for
airborne soldiers coming to
Sunday Mass before a
jump.
No one was injured in the
fire. Public Affairs Officer
Monica Manganaro, who
was married in the chapel,
said an electrical problem
probably caused the blaze.
A recent renovation expand
ed it to seat 350.
Woman admits to
faking cancer
GAINESVILLE — A Hall
County judge has ordered a
Gainesville woman who
received more than $6,400
after faking symptoms of
cancer to return the money
within 30 days.
Tina M. English, 34,
pleaded guilty Thursday to
two felony counts of theft by
deception.
English shaved her head
to appear that she was
receiving chemotherapy and
used a wheelchair, prosecu
tors said. The crimes were
committed in November
and December 1998.
Superior Court Judge
Kathlene Gosselin sen
tenced English to four years
of probation and ordered
her to continue undergoing
psychiatric treatment. She
also must write letters of
apology to the victims and
complete 200 hours of com
munity service.
English, who has been
diagnosed with bipolar dis
order, received $6,436, partly
from a yard sale held for her
at a subdivision. A concert
also was held to raise money
for her medical bills.
She told the court the
money was not spent.
— Associated Press
UGA Today
Announcements
>- The Black Educational
Support Team (BEST), is
now accepting applications for
counselors for the 2002-2003
school year. Applications can be
picked up in Room 404 of
Memorial Hall. Information:
546-6452.
► Greece Study Abroad
Program, representatives will
be on campus Wednesday, Jan.
23 for a student information
drop-in session from 11 a.m. to
2 p.m. in Room 143 of the Tate
Student Center. Information:
UGA Office of International
Education at 542-7903 or visit
the Greece Study Abroad
Program Web site at
(www.thalesl .armstrong.edu/grk
/studyabroad).
— 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.
Events planned to honor MLK
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
awomack@randb.com
The Office of Minority Services is leading the University com
munity in its observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday
by holding several events on campus and others in conjunction
with the Athens-Clarke County community.
According to Minority Services, “Courage to Love —
Challenge to Change” will begin Wednesday with the Martin
Luther King Rally at the Tate Student Center Plaza from 11:30
a.m. to 3 p.m.
“The planning committee decided to look at how Dr. King
would think of the post-Sept. 11 world,” said Vanessa Smith,
chair of the planning committee. “Dr. King challenged us to love
our fellow brother no matter how he looks, but yet there’s a long
way to go to end our judging people.
“Now we’re discriminating against anyone who looks Middle
Eastern,” she said. “Instead of closing the University for the hol
iday, we will celebrate in a day of service.”
Students who wish to volunteer for community service are
invited to enjoy a motivational speech and breakfast, she said.
Volunteers will then be transported to different locations in
Athens to participate in community service projects, she said.
Students will visit local schools Jan. 24 and 25.
“We will be going to elementary schools to read books and
play trivia games pertaining to Dr. King,” said Ebony Gayles, a
UNIVERSITY EVENTS
Jan. 16 — Martin Luther King Rally, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tate
Plaza
Jan. 17 — Joseph Norman lecture, 5:30 p.m. in Room 117 Visual Arts
BlJitding
Jan. 21 — A Day of Service, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tate Center
Jan. 22-31 — Challenge to Change, 8 a.m. to noon at the Tate Art
Gallery
Jan. 22-25 — Films at the Library, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Main Library
Jan. 23 — Ecumenical Service - 3 p.m. at the Chapel
Jan. 24 — Film Screening, 7 p.m. at room 117 Visual Arts Building
Jan. 24-25 — Community Service at Area Schools
Jan. 28 — Key Note Speaker, 7 p.m. at the Tate Center
Jan. 30 — Gospelfest, 7 p.m. at Hugh Hodgson Hall
freshman from Stone Mountain.
Volunteers can contact Minority Services at 542-5773 to sign
up.
“Dr. King was fond of gospel music, so we decided to end the
celebration with a gospel program,” Smith said.
The Gospelfest will feature the Albany Civil Rights Museum
Freedom Singers, the Voices of Truth, the Hill Chapel Male
Chorus and the University’s African American Choral Ensemble.
Electronic voting proposed for state
By BRENNAN LEATHERS
bleathers@randb.com
State legislators will
decide soon if Georgia will
install a single electronic
voting system across the
state.
Gov. Roy Barnes asked
for $54 million in voting
machines in his mid-year
budget proposal released last
week.
All 18,000 of the machines
would be identical in design,
according to the proposal.
Barnes’ plan calls for the
installation of the system in
all 159 Georgia counties in
time for this fall’s general
elections.
Secretary of State Cathy
Cox has supported the idea
of standardized, electronic
elections since the 2000
presidential election, accord
ing to a news release.
Cox said she believes
Georgia’s election problems
in 2000 were worse than
Florida’s problems.
“We documented about
94,000 votes for president
that were not counted,” she
said.
Rep. Louise McBee (D-
Athens) said she is excited
about the voting system.
She said she believed
other legislators in the
House appropriations comit-
tee were positively inclined
towards the proposed sys
tem.
McBee said she expected
the plan to be voted on in a
few weeks. If the system
is agreed upon, the state gov
ernment would send out vot
ing coordinators to visit each
county, she said.
The voting coordinators
would train local election
workers for the electronic
system and distribute
instructions to registered
voters.
The 7,544 registered
voters in Athens-Clarke
County between the ages of
18 and 24 would be
among those to enjoy the
advantages of the new
system, said Dot Barrett, A-C
supervisor of elections.
Cox said the new system
would prevent voters from
voting for too many people
in a race, which is a problem
for existing systems.
Additionally, the machines
can be equipped with
earphones to enable voters
with vision problems to
vote unassisted, she said.
Besides the physical
improvements, local election
officials would also benefit,
Barrett said.
“If there was a problem
with the system, all the
counties would be able
to relate,” she said.
Cox said a standardized sys
tem will be a “monumental”
change for Georgia.
— Contributing: The
Associated Press
Secrets of Earth found on Mars
By GREG BLUESTEIN
gbluestei@randb.com
Harvard Professor Andrew Knoll told
University students Monday he hopes to
forge deeper into our planet’s past by
analyzing the composition of Mars.
Knoll, who was named one of Time
magazine’s “Best in Science and
Medicine,” kicked off the University’s
“Deep Time” lecture series with an hour-
long talk at the packed Life Sciences
auditorium.
According to Knoll, the next step in
evolutionary biology is to search deep
into the Earth’s past, to its very
beginnings more than four billion years
ago.
As no examples of fossils this old
exist on our planet, Knoll said Mars
exhibits many of the same features as
Earth.
“You want to see a planet like Mars
where early rock formations matched
the Earth,” he said. “Early in Mars’ his
tory, the two planets had many
similarities — evidence of vulcanism,
standing bodies of water and tectonic
movement.”
Knoll said there are two ways to
collect specimens from our sister
planet: wait for Martian meteors to hit
Earth or send an exploratory vehicle to
the planet.
Being more on the proactive side,
Knoll said he is in a team that will send a
land rover to Mars around the year 2003
to measure and identify specimens, and
possibly make a huge breakthrough in
extraterrestrial life.
“It’s hard to think about life different
from ours,” he said. “(This life) might
not be immediately recognizable.”
Throughout the lecture, Knoll also
talked about how the geologic
structures of rocks relate to the biologic
formation of early organisms.
“I used to work in the Arctic (region)
to see spectacular preserved records of
sedimentary rocks,” he said.
Knoll linked these ancient geologic
fossils to present-day organisms.
“We’ve known about the existence of
these (fossils) for a while,” he said. “But
only recently we have come to
appreciate what they are.”
Knoll researched specimens at a rock
formation called the Great Wall
in Siberia. After investigation, he found
that fossil evidence of biologic
mass existed in samples dating back
1.6 billion years.
Brendan Jackson, a junior from
Dunwoody, said he enjoyed Knoll’s
lecture.
“I thought it was splendid,” he said.
“I was really interested in the origin of
life.”
The most interesting part of the
lecture was Knoll’s distinguishing
geologic structures from non-biologic
or biologic elements, Jackson said.
The lecture series continues at 11:10
a.m. on Monday, Jan. 27 with Jeremy
Jackson.
Jeremy Jackson, an expert on
Caribbean reef communities, will
deliver his lecture “Unnatural Oceans.”
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