Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY
August 20, 2002
Vol. 110, No. 2 | Athens, Georgia
Partly cloudy.
High 95 | Low 71 | Wednesday 94
ONLINE: www.redandblack.com
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1980
LINE ’EM UP
>• Preseason polls rank
Georgia’s offensive line
as high as fifth. PAGE 14
Bus gives
students
free lift
By KIMBERLY BOWERS
kbowers@randb.com
Commuters who are without a parking
permit and are looking for an alternative
form of transportation are in luck.
The Athens Transit System (ATS),
which operates The Bus, is offering sever
al services to help transport people
around campus and downtown.
Four shopping centers in Athens are
participating in a “joint promotion pro
ject,” which will allow ATS to create park
and ride locations at their stores, said
Judy Dudley, assistant director for ATS.
Under the new program, commuters
can drive to one of the four park and ride
locations and catch The Bus to campus.
“I think it is a wonderful idea,” said
Molly Freeman, a junior from
McDonough. “It makes campus more
accessible to everyone.”
A bus will visit each location at least
every 30 minutes, said Quin Daniels, an
ATS bus operator.
Daniels said she thinks the park and
ride services will increase attendance on
The Bus.
“Hopefully, students will park their
cars and jump on the bus,” she said.
For several years, ATS has allowed
University students to ride The Bus for
free.
Now faculty and staff members can
simply show their University IDs. Campus
Transit will reimburse ATS for the rides.
The late bus, another service offered
by ATS, will return this fall. Beginning
Aug. 23 the bus will run every Friday and
Saturday night from 1:15 to 3:30 a.m.
“The idea behind the late bus is to pro
vide safe transportation to students and
anyone who is out late at night without a
ride,” Dudley said.
The late bus travels to several areas
near campus and downtown and costs $1
to ride.
John Gilbert, a senior from Lilbum,
said he would ride the late bus, and he
encourages others to do the same.
“It’s the best idea I’ve ever heard,” he
said.
Dudley said one of the main reasons
they encourage people to take The Bus is
to prevent air pollution and traffic.
To promote ridership, ATS has created
Bus Buddies, a program aimed at stu
dents and senior citizens who are inter
ested in air quality, public transit and
decreasing traffic congestion, Dudley
said.
“Volunteers will be on campus to help
students find the right bus. They will
assist people at the park and rides and
they will give out information at transit
exhibits,” she said.
ATS will have a table at the Tate
Student Center this week with informa
tion on route changes and all of its ser
vices. For more information visit its Web
site (www.athenstransit.com).
ATHENS TRANSIT
SYSTEM
The Bus park and ride locations:
Bi-Lo Shopping Center on North Avenue:
served by Routes #1 and #24
Super Wal-mart on Lexington Road:
served by Routes #25, #26 and #27
Shops of South Athens at Macon
Highway and South Millege: served by
Routes #9 and #14
Kroger on West Broad: served by Routes
#6, #6A, and #20
FILE | The Red & Black
▲ ATS is now offering new bus
stops and routes to compensate
for the lack of campus parking.
HOT DIGGITY DOG!
KERI WIGINTON | The Red & Black
▲ Philip Gundaker, 19, son of the co-owner of
The Hot Dog Man, Virginia Gundaker, awaits his
customers Monday morning. The Hot Dog Man
still is located on Baldwin Street, but has moved
approximately 15 feet due to construction.
Story, Page 7
Jury selected for
student rape trial
By SAMIRA I AFAR I
sjafari@randb.com
and MATT BARNWELL
mbarnwell@randb.com
Jury selection began Monday and
continues today in the trial of Georgia
football player Brandon Williams, who
is charged with the rape of a
University student.
Athens-Clarke County Superior
Court Judge Steve Jones is requiring
at least 45 people to be interviewed by
the state and defense to fill a
12-person jury.
Kim Stephens, attorney for
Williams, said 20 to 21 people qualified
as potential jurors Monday out of the
24 or 25 people who were questioned
by both prosecution and defense
attorneys.
District Attorney Ken Mauldin said
he is not expecting any
difficulties in picking an objective jury.
Stephens said nothing of signifi
cance occurred during Monday’s
selection, and he expected to go
through the same process today.
“We were just picking the jury,” he
said.
Stephens said jury selection should
end today and opening statements
would “probably” begin tomorrow, but
he added “the court controls all of
that.”
Williams, who also faces aggravated
assault and aggravated sexual battery
charges from the Jan. 12 incident, is
the first of the three
student-athletes to be tried in the
case.
Stephens said he felt there were no
real advantages or disadvantages to
going to trial first.
“We’re just glad
to be in court,”
he said.
Stephens said
she expected the
trial would last
between a week and
a week and a half.
Basketball player
Steve Thomas, also
accused of rape
and aggravated
assault, is expected
to be tried
in October or November.
Tony Cole, a Georgia basketball
guard charged with aggravated
assault with intent to rape, will be
tried in the winter.
In June, the attorneys motioned to
try the athletes individually to keep
the evidence simple for the jury, said
Mark Wiggins, Thomas’ attorney at
the time.
Cole’s attorney Steve Sadow said
he was displeased with his client being
tried last.
“I’d like to challenge the state’s
case myself than it first be challenged
by others,” he said.
Sadow said if Williams is convicted,
it will “embolden” the state’s case
against Cole.
Cole is coping and trying to be a
good student, Sadow said.
“He would like this to be over
with,” he said. “He’s innocent of
the crime, and he’s already been pun
ished in that he’s not playing
basketball.”
The victim said that she was raped
by someone she knew and then by a
stranger after having consensual sex
with Cole in his McWhorter Hall dorm
room.
WILLIAMS
Lack of voting sets tone for political atmosphere
By GREG BLUESTEIN
gbluestei@randb.com
While today’s primary elections could deter
mine the direction of Georgia’s politics for the
next decade, voter turnout is projected to be
abysmally low.
Starting this morning, voters will nominate
their party’s candidate for local, regional and
state-wide positions.
Despite measures to make voting easier,
like the use of new-touch screen voting
machines that will be unleashed during the
Nov. 5 general elections, turnout estimates
remain sour.
Georgia Secretary of State projections show
that the state’s political fate rests in the hands
of only about 22 percent of voters — or about
800,000 of more than 3.6 million registered
voters.
While Cara Hodgson, the Secretary of
State’s public relations official, said she
doesn’t “think, in comparison to other years
that this number is that low,” it would repre
sent the lowest primary voter turnout in more
than a decade.
And the low turnout is coming at a crucial
time, when voters will decide their party’s
nominee — and in some uncontested
races, make the final decision — for numerous
races.
The results also could determine who holds
office, not only for the upcoming term, but for
future terms as well, said University political
science professor Charles Bullock.
“For some, the primary is the whole game,”
he said. “We have a a declining number of truly
competitive general election districts. I could
argue that the 2002 election would be more
important than the (future) elections.”
Among other elections, voters will decide on
Athens mayor and County Commission seats,
senatorial and gubernatorial positions and the
12th Congressional District, which spans from
Savannah to Augusta to Athens.
And, after Georgia’s congressional lines
were redrawn following the 2000 census,
newly created congressional districts — like
the 12th District — have heightened impor
tance, as the winner will have an instant
political base.
>- See PRIMARY. Page 3
ATHENS-CLARK COUNTY
ELECTIONS
District 1:
Democrat: Charles Carter, incumbent
Republican James Garland
District 3:
Democrats: Alvin Sheats, incumbent; George C.
Maxwell; E. Dean Clark Jr.
District 5:
Democrat: David Lynn
Independent: Hugh Logan, incumbent
District 7:
Democrat: Kathy Hoard
Republicans: David Redman, Bill Bushnell
District 9:
Democrats: Tom Chasteen, incumbent; James
Ponsoldt; Tracy L. Smith
Mayor:
Doc Eldridge, incumbent; Heidi Davison; Eric Krasle;
Richard De Rose
Counseling and testing makes a move
Merger aids
grieving students
By CINDY SPROUSE
csprouse@randb.com
The University’s Counseling
and Psychological Services
(CAPS) staff responded to stu
dent concerns Saturday after the
death of a student at Creswell
Hall.
A psychologist and psychia
trist immediately assisted those
students affected by the death of
Robel Solomon, said Thomas
Burke, associate vice president
for Student Affairs.
The counseling provided by
CAPS personnel is the culmina
tion of the merger — completed
July 1 — between the University’s
former Counseling and Testing
Center and the Mental Health
Clinic.
CAPS, in its new office on
the third floor of the
University Health Center,
offers individual and group coun
seling, crisis intervention, medi
cation evaluation and monitoring
and outreach programs, accord
ing to its Web site
ii
“ Fees have been kept low
so people have a choice to
involve insurance of not.”
DUDLEY WEEMS
Caps Director
(www.uhs.uga.edu/CAPS).
The center’s mission is to
help students with their person
al, social, academic and psycho
logical growth, according to the
site.
When the merger was first
announced last spring, students
expressed concern that fees
would be increased, privacy
would be compromised and there
would be a stigma attached to
utilizing CAPS in the University
Health Center, according to staff
reports.
But Dudley Weems, CAPS
director, said “students are
getting more service for less
money.”
Students who have paid their
health fees are allowed six
pre-paid individual psychological
visits for fall and spring
semesters and four pre-paid
^ Dental Clinic
Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS)
^^^enceRooms A, B
KERI WIGINTON I The Red & Black
◄ With
the merg
er, the
counseling
center
(CAPS) is
now avail
able in the
third floor
of the
University
Health
Center.
visits during the summer,
Weems said, adding that there
is a $22 fee if students exceed
their pre-paid visits per
semester.
“Fees have been kept low
so people have a choice to
involve insurance or not,”
he said.
Group therapy visits also
are pre-paid in student health
fees.
Weems said privacy is not
being compromised with the
merger of the two centers.
“Separate CAPS records are
kept in CAPS, but we have an
obligation to coordinate with
health services to protect
students from drug interactions,”
he said. “CAPS records require a
specific release for anyone out
side the Health Center to get
them.”
Weems also told The Red &
Black there has been no decline
in the number of students seen
during the summer.
“We are all concerned about
them and want to help,” he said.
“There has been a positive
reaction to people coming in.”
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