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NEWS
The Red & Black | Thursday, June 15, 2006 | 3
PARKING SERVICES
University Parking Services
Deadline to register for fall
parking: July 11
More Information:
www.parking.uga.edu
City Parking Services
Prestige Parking, Inc.:
athensparking.com
Downtown Athens Parking
System:
www.athensdda.org/parking.htm
Parking
options
available
By MICHELLE FLOYD
mfloyd@randb.com
Even with more students
on campus and fewer avail
able spaces, University
Parking Services does not
anticipate a parking short
age.
Out of the 23,000 to 24,000
students who typically regis
ter for parking in the fall, a
couple of thousand of them
usually don’t receive on-cam-
pus parking. But that might
be their own faults.
“About 500 to 1,000 won’t
do what they’re supposed to
do,” said Diane Hale, manag
er of Parking Services.
This includes students —
particularly returning ones —
letting their awarded assign
ments expire because they
forget to check their
accounts.
“New students get that
bombardment of informa
tion,” she said. “But older
students don’t get as many
reminders.”
Freshmen may be so wor
ried about all of the parking
information given to them
that they select 30 to 40 lots
in the first round of parking,
which may be a smart deci
sion, Hale said.
The rise of alterna
tive transportation,
such as walking,
hiking, and riding
buses, may help park
ing congestion as well.
“You’re never going to get
a parking space when you put
down two lots,” she said.
Other students who don’t
get parking may not take the
open spaces in remote lots.
“After all of the assignments
are sent out, I still have a cou
ple of hundred spaces in the
remote lots,” Hale said. “Part
of the reason people don’t get
lots is that they never put
down remote lots.”
The use of off-campus
parking and the increasing-
use of alternative transporta
tions are also lending relief to
on-campus lots.
“I would guess that as a
percentage, about one half of
my monthly parking usually
is rented by students,” said
Jonathan Pierce, president of
Prestige Parking, Inc.
He said his company’s lots,
which include the Classic
Center’s parking deck, typi
cally sell out by September 1
of each year.
This may help with some
of the parking overflow on
campus, especially with the
removal of the School of
Music lot and the possible
spring elimination of the Tate
Center lot, Hale said.
“We’re hoping to keep the
(Tate) pay lot until August
2007, when the construction
(for Tate II) will start,” Hale
said.
The rise of alternative
transportation, such as walk
ing, biking, and riding buses,
may help parking congestion
as well.
In fact, Hale said Parking
Services sent out a survey
last week regarding bike lock
ers being placed on campus.
“There’s an interest, but
there’s no interest to pay for
it,” she said of the 664 sur
veyed, which included some
housing staff and those in the
Alternative Transportation
Program.
About 58 percent said they
would use a bike locker on
campus, but only about 22
percent said they would pay a
fee to use it.
“So we have to come up
with a plan for it to work,”
Hale said.
A pilot program may be
launched, but Parking
Services still needs to meet
with the grounds and archi
tecture departments to dis
cuss plans. It’s also not yet
clear whose responsibility it
would be to pay for the
lockers, which is a pedestrian
service.
Until that decision is
made, students and staff who
use the Alternative Trans
portation Program will have
to wait to see if their bikes
will soon be spared from
thieves and bad weather.
ROADBLOCK
ANDY MCFEE | The Red & Black
A. Baldwin Street has been closed since Monday, June
12 and will remain closed until at least Friday, June 16.
Redcoat shows sell out
DOT PAUL | The Red & Black
A The Redcoat Marching Band prepares for a demon
stration on Thursday, May 18 in the city of Kunming.
By CRISTEN CONGER
cconger@randb.com
Although the football sea
son is two and a half months
away, thousands of people
last month were “calling the
dogs.”
The Redcoat Marching
Band spread University spir
it to the other side of the
world in late May as part of
the U.S.-China Cultural and
Educational Foundation
Exchange, in which the
group toured 5,000 miles in
six Chinese cities, playing to
sold-out stadiums.
“We were pretty much
rock stars over there,” said
Andy Welker, a Redcoat
member.
The band was swarmed
by Chinese fans asking for
autographs and pictures
after their two-hour per
formances that included tra
ditional pre-game and half
time shows, Chinese folk
songs and an auxiliary rou
tine to Michael Jackson
tunes.
“The marching band
thing is almost uniquely
American,” said Tom Keck,
University assistant director
of bands. Consequently, the
unfamiliar style of music
combined with the flash and
size of the band formations
made the performances
especially exciting for the
Chinese, he added.
The Chinese even learned
the Krypton wave and the
“Spell Georgia Cheer.”
Touring a foreign country,
however, did present unique
challenges.
“We know how to go to
Jacksonville,” he said. “You
go to China, and every
thing’s an issue,” particular
ly language barriers.
Nevertheless, all the per
formances went fairly
smoothly with a finale to a
crowd of 30,000 in Shanghai.
The Redcoats’ taste buds
crossed unfamiliar territory
as well.
“Their Chinese food is
nothing like our Chinese
food,” Welker said, adding
that he tried worms and
caterpillars but drew the line
at soup containing a chicken
head and foot.
“Rice was our saving
grace,” he said.
Marriage ban may be on ballot
By AUBREY SMITH
basmith@randb.com
Hearings will begin June
27 that could determine
whether Georgia voters will
see gay marriage on the bal
lot again in November.
With Judge Constance
Russell’s May 16 overturning
of a constitutional amend
ment passed by 76 percent
of the electorate in 2004,
Gov. Sonny Perdue is
appealing the decision with
the possibility of putting it
back on the ballot in
November if it’s overturned
a second time.
“It’s not the fight for gay
marriage, it’s the fight
against (a) constitutional
amendment,” Judi O’Kelley,
an attorney and president of
anti-discrimination organi
zation Just Equal, said.
Judi and her husband
Chuck O’Kelley, a University
law professor and advisor for
the University’s Gay and
Lesbian Legal Network,
were plaintiffs in a suit
against the state concerning
the constitutional gay mar
riage ban passed in 2004.
The O’Kelleys assert that
the amendment is flawed in
multiple aspects including
content and misleading lan
guage.
“The voters need to
understand on what they are
voting when they take a step
as fundamental as amending
the constitution,” Chuck
said.
Judge Russell overturned
the ban citing that the
amendment violated the
state constitution’s single-
subject rule, which states an
amendment may contain
only one issue. Opponents of
the amendment claim it
addressed gay marriage, civil
unions and domestic part
nerships as well as whether
Georgia courts would recog
nize marriage decisions from
other states.
“[Voters] were not told by
the language of the ballot
what issues were being
addressed,” Chuck said of
the proposed amendment’s
excerpt on the ballot in 2004.
Outside of the courtroom,
the issue is affecting political
races as well.
University political sci
ence professor Charles
Bullock suggested election
concerns may potentially
affect legislators’ positions
on the ban, which democrat
ic gubernatorial candidates,
Cathy Cox and Mark Taylor,
have vocally opposed.
“There will be less demo
cratic opposition in 2006
than in 2004,” Bullock said.
Bullock pointed to the
overwhelmingly positive vote
the proposed ban received
from the electorate in 2004
as sufficient reason for 2006
democratic candidates to
withdraw their opposition to
the ban.
“Opposing the ban on gay
marriage would make them
irrelevant as candidates,”
Bullock said.
Bullock said one theory
surrounding the issue is that
Republican legislators inten
tionally worded the amend
ment in such a way as to
ensure that it would be over
turned and brought up in
time for the 2006 elections.
Likewise, Superior Court
Judge F. Larry Salmon of
Floyd County will hear the
state’s appeal of Russell’s
prior ruling on June 27. If
Salmon upholds Russell’s
decision or doesn’t rule by
Aug. 7, Perdue has threat
ened to call a special legisla
tive session that will likely
adopt legislation to put the
ban back on the ballots in
November.
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A
KoRn Concert (R) Mon. 6/19!
Advance Tickets Now On Sale!
Summer Kid Show Series
FREE ADMISSION!
Box Office opens @ 10:00am
Movies start @ 10:30am
Tue 6/20 & Thur 6/22
Racing Stripes (PG)
Hoodwinked (PG)
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Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (PG)
12:45 2:15 3:00 4:30 5:15 6:45 7:30 9:00 9:45
Silent Hill (R)
1:00 4:00 7:00 9:40
www.GeorgiaTheatreCompany.com
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