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THURSDAY
April 28, 2005
Vol. 112, No. 151 | Athens, Georgia
Mostly sunny.
High 73 | Low 50 | Friday 80
ONLINE: www.redandblack.com
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 189 3, INDEPENDENT 1980
>• Twilight Criterium
comes to Athens this
weekend. PAGE 2B
Board closes
meeting, no
vote taken
By SARA PAUFF
spauff@randb.com
ATLANTA — After closing
its meeting for two hours,
the Foundation Board of
Trustees adjourned Wednes
day without taking a vote on
what to do regarding its rela
tionship with the University.
The meeting was closed to
non-board members after
Trustee Harriet Warren said
the trustees needed to dis
cuss potential litigation after
receiving an e-mail from a
University alumnus and
donor, Robert Miller, threat
ening to sue the Foundation.
Russ Willard, a spokesman
for state Attorney General
Thurbert Baker, could not
be reached for comment to
discuss the closing of the
meeting.
A reporter from The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
objected to the closing of the
meeting because the commit
tee said it was only discussing
potential litigation. Keith
Graham, education editor for
the AJC, said the newspa
per’s lawyers are in discus
sion with the Foundation’s
lawyers.
When contacted by The
Red & Black Wednesday,
Miller said he never heard
back from the attorney gener
al’s office about his e-mail to
the trustees.
He said he did not want to
release the letter until he had
a chance to speak with the
person the letter was
addressed to. He declined to
give the name of the person
and did not want to comment
on the letter’s contents.
Although he declined to
discuss what happened at the
meeting, Trustee Otis
Brumby said he didn’t think
the closure was justified.
“I don’t think the threat of
a lawsuit was imminent,” he
said.
Brumby said the supposed
discussion about the lawsuit
“got way off subject” and
ended in a “pretty divisive sit
uation.”
But Joe Frierson, a
member of the Foundation’s
executive committee, said
the meeting needed to be
closed.
“It was questions and con
cerns about legal matters and
liabilities,” he said.
> See FOUNDATION, Page 3
CLOWNIN' AROUND
TREVOR CLARK | The Red & Black
a Local elementary school children give University Block and Bridle Vice President-elect Ben Anderson
the thumbs up at the Special Events Rodeo at Heritage Park Wednesday. The annual event, organized to
give local children the rodeo experience, attracted an audience of more than 400. “We’re just trying to
help the kids,” Anderson said.
Jury still deliberating in Univ. library fire trial
By JASON LANGBEHN
jlangbehn@randb.com
LAUREN CARROLL | The Red & Black
▲ Jason Nelms, left, sits with one of his defense
lawyers during trial proceedings earlier this week.
A Clarke County jury has
yet to deliver a verdict in the
case of Jason Allen Nelms
after more than four hours of
deliberation Wednesday
afternoon.
Nelms is on trial facing
charges of first degree arson
in connection with the July
23, 2003, fire on the second
floor of the University’s Main
Library.
District Attorney Ken
Mauldin and Nelms’ attor
ney, Gerry Brown, wrapped
up their cases Wednesday
morning with closing state
ments, which lasted about
two-and-a-half hours.
During the afternoon
deliberation, the jury
requested to review a three-
hour interview and a taped
walk-through of the crime
scene Nelms had with police
six days after the fire —
which has cost the
University more than $12
million in damage —
occurred.
The circumstances sur
rounding the taped inter
view, in which Nelms admits
to accidentally starting the
fire, has been a contentious
point between Brown and
the
prosecution since the trial
began more than a week ago.
The defense has repeated
ly accused police of lying to
Nelms about what they knew
and encouraging him to
admit to the crime during
the questioning. Brown ham
mered away at that point
again Wednesday.
“You can’t get somebody
to give a truthful explanation
of something that didn’t hap
pen,” Brown said. “Yet that’s
what this interview was all
about.”
Brown reiterated that it is
the state’s burden to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt
that the fire was arson and
that Nelms is responsible for
starting it. He said Mauldin
did not do that.
“(He) hasn’t even come
close,” Brown told the jury.
In his closing statement,
Mauldin encouraged jurors
to look at the entire body of
evidence he has presented.
“You can’t look at every
aspect of the case individual
ly with blinders on,” he said.
“You have to look at all of the
facts and circumstances ...
and use some common
sense.”
Mauldin refuted Brown’s
claims that Nelms’ admis
sion was coerced and that
University Police are using
arson as a convenient expla
nation for the fire’s origin to
collect insurance payments.
“The evidence is there
that the damage was com
mitted by a criminal act,”
Mauldin said, referring to
several points of origin inves
tigators said they found. “It
was not an accident, and
(Nelms) did the criminal act.
We’ve painstakingly done our
jobs. The evidence is there.”
But Brown noted in his
nearly 20-minute rebuttal
that investigators still do not
know how the fire started,
and he said police had no
evidence connecting Nelms
to the fire at the time of their
interview with Nelms.
Jurors broke for a lunch at
12:15 p.m. Wednesday and
reconvened about 90 min
utes later to deliberate
before recessing for the day
around 6 p.m.
The jury will continue
deliberation beginning at 9
this morning.
— Contributing:
John Caldwell
Dogs slide past
Jackets 11-8
ERIK S. LESSER | The Associated Press
▲ Georgia’s Josh Morris, right, scores past Georgia
Tech catcher Andy Hawranick (12) in the fourth
inning in Atlanta Wednesday. Morris scored on a
double by Jason Jacobs.
By DAVID PITTMAN
dpittman@randb.com
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech
entered its game against
Georgia Wednesday night as
one of the top offensive teams
in the country, averaging
more than 10 runs a game.
So the Diamond Dogs
used 14 hits to tag 11 runs on
the No. 7 ranked Yellow
Jackets in Georgia’s 11-8 win
in the Spring Baseball Classic
for Kids at Turner Field in
Atlanta.
The game was an anomaly
for a Georgia baseball team
that entered the game last in
the SEC in batting (.264) and
runs scored (202), averaging
only 5.17 runs a game.
Every Georgia (22-18) hit
ter in the starting lineup had
a hit before the fifth inning
was over. Seven of nine
Georgia starters also scored.
Georgia had base runners
on in every inning except the
sixth and ninth.
Georgia head coach David
Perno said the team simply
repeated the performance it
had against Ole Miss last
weekend, but with a little
more offensive help.
With the event benefiting
Children’s Health Care of
Atlanta, the attendance was
less then expected with
14,398, despite selling more
than 24,000 tickets. Last
year’s game was the second
highest attended college
baseball game ever with more
than 28,000.
The Bulldogs got off to a
fast start, scoring four runs in
the top of the first inning
thanks, in part, to two
Georgia Tech (30-11) errors.
Georgia Tech’s Wes
Hodges brought his team
back with a grand slam home
run in the bottom of the
second inning to give Tech a
7-4 lead, after Georgia starter
Mickey Westphal hit the pre
vious batter to load the bases.
Westphal left the game after
the gland slam, having given
up seven runs in 1.1 innings.
In last week’s 12-2 loss at
Georgia Tech, Westphal, who
started that game as well,
gave up one earned run in
four innings pitched.
First baseman Josh Morris
hit a two-run home run in the
top of the third inning to
make the score 6-7. The ball
landed about 15 rows deep
into the empty left field seats.
“That was probably the
biggest runs we got all night,”
Perno said.
Morris then scored from
first base on a Jason Jacobs
double in the next inning. It
was the first of back-to-back
doubles for Georgia, as it
scored three runs in the fourth
inning to take the lead 9-7.
After both teams
combined to score 19 runs,
neither touched home after
the fifth inning.
Morris saved multiple runs
in the fifth inning when he
made a diving grab at a ball
hit sharply down the first
base line to keep two runners
from scoring.
“What made it best was I
got to help my old roommate,
Brooks Brown, out,” Morris
said. “He pitched a great
game tonight, and I’m proud
of him.”
Bo Lanier, who got the win,
Brown and Rip Warren com
bined to pitch 7.2 innings and
give up seven hits and one
run.
Service to remember
those who have died
By CRISTEN CONGER
cconger@randb.com
Jared Carter and Jonathan
Desso met in middle school.
They played basketball,
hung out and attended high
school together.
After graduating, Carter
and Desso, both from
Watkinsville, met between
classes at the University to
mull over the newspaper’s
crossword puzzle, setting a
daily goal to complete it,
Carter said.
Now a senior, Carter still
attempts the crossword
almost every day, but he does
so without his partner.
Jonathan Desso, who
Carter described as “easygo
ing, encouraging and a com
fort to be around,” died last
November when his car over
turned on College Station
Road.
Desso, along with 25
others, will be honored and
remembered today at Georgia
Remembers, a memorial ser
vice for University students,
faculty and staff who have
passed away in the last year.
Georgia Remembers was
started in the spring of
2000 because the number
of deaths in the University
community that year prompt
ed the need for a healing cere
mony, said Alan Campbell,
Associate Dean for Student
Support.
“(Georgia Remembers)
helps brings comfort and
healing and helps folks in the
grieving process,” Campbell
said.
Another student, Timothy
Baldwin, died last September
when he drowned in Lake
Jackson.
“Tim was one of those peo
ple who was the life of the
party,” said Kate Dunaway, a
University graduate who met
Baldwin his freshman year.
“He could look at you and
make you think you were the
only one in the room,”
Dunaway said.
His passing was especially
difficult for his brothers in the
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity
who lost another brother,
Travis Starr III, two years
ago, Dunaway said.
> See MEMORIAL, Page 3
INSIDE TODAY
News: 2A | Opinions: 4A | Variety: IB | Sports: 5A | Crossword: 5A