Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
September i, 2006
Vol. 114, No. 13 | Athens, Georgia
Mostly cloudy.
High 80 | Low 65 | Saturday 85
ONLINE: www.redandblack.com
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1980
IT’S COMING!
>- Read about the plays
and players for Saturday.
FIRST & GOAL, IB
DANIELLE HUTLAS | The Red & Black
▲ Sgt. Lance Tipton demonstrates the University Police Department’s new ATV in preparation for gameday weekends.
Officials plan for safe games
By KELLY PROCTOR
kproctor@randb.com
and
JUANITA COUSINS
jcousins@randb.com
The alcohol-soaked, rau
cous atmosphere around
Georgia football may quiet
down if officials’ plans go
smoothly this weekend.
University officials are
debuting tailgating rules
approved in April that should
make gamedays more “fami
ly-friendly.”
So how does the adminis
tration plan to make direct
ing thousands of fans even a
little more efficient than
herding cats?
For starters, Jimmy
Williamson, University chief
of police, said the squad of 75
policemen he sends out every
football game will be on duty
this weekend.
Two will be on motorcy
cles. Most will work 14 to 16
hour shifts, he said.
It’s “just to get the mes
sage across to folks,”
Williamson said.
“We’ll be very visible” to
“convey the changes” in the
tailgating policy, he said.
Starting this weekend,
fans won’t be able to set up
tailgating spots until 7 a.m.
Saturday, according to the
new rules. In most places,
they can’t park on sidewalks
or grass.
Two alcohol-free, family-
friendly areas were created,
one on the North Campus
quad and the other on South
Campus.
The University also nixed
tailgaters taking over parking
spaces with grills and lawn
chairs —
>- See GAMEDAY, Page 3A
DANIELLE HUTLAS | The Red 4 Black
A The new fleet of six AT Vs were purchased with the
intention of letting University police enforce gameday rules
by covering more area with fewer officers.
Blogs add new dimension to local politics
By AUBREY SMITH
basmith@randb.com
University students looking
to venture beyond the evening
news and the local papers can
enter the world of online blogs
for information about Athens-
Clarke County’s upcoming
elections.
Three blogs regularly deal
with ACC politics —
AthensPolitics, Safeashouses
and Antidisingenuousness.
Johnathan McGinty runs
Safeashouses, a general-inter
est blog devoting roughly half
of its space to local politics.
McGinty, now a public rela
tions specialist for the
University’s Georgia Museum
of Art, said he started blogging
after he switched from sports
writing at the Athens Banner-
Herald to editing.
“I moved from reporting to
(Associate News Editor) and
missed writing,” McGinty said.
McGinty, a 2000 University
graduate, said he named his
blog after an old-English
proverb that means,
“Everything is fine.”
He said the optimistic men
tality extends into his political
views.
McGinty said he has no way
of knowing the size of his read
ership but estimates a group
of 15 to 30 people comment
regularly.
Hillary Brown, moderator
of Antidisingenuousness, said
she gets about 120 hits a day,
including local politicians who
“love to hear themselves
mocked by a left-wing nutjob
who doesn’t want people to
take away her beer.”
When Brown isn’t posting
her thoughts on the blogos-
phere, she’s working on her
doctorate in English at the
University.
Though Athenspolitics is
the only blog dealing exclu
sively with local politics, its
administrator, Publius, wished
to remain anonymous.
Mayor Heidi Davison, who
is seeking re-election this
November, said she pays
attention to local blogs.
“I do read blogs. Usually I’ll
go in and read them, but I
don’t go on and blog with
them. I’ll just e-mail the per
son.”
Davison said she once e-
mailed a blogger to clarify
some misinformation during
an online debate about the
county’s initiative against
poverty.
Keeping track of local
blogs can be time consuming,
and most candidates delegate
the duty to their campaign
managers.
Ryan Hicks, campaign
manager for E.H. Culpepper,
said he
>- See BLOGS, Page 3A
Female roller derby team is hell on wheels
CAROLINE KILGORE | The Red & Black
A The Athens Roller Derby is made up of students and
non-students who practice at Skate-Around USA.
By MICHELLE FLOYD
mfloyd@randb.com
Sometimes people call
Pam Enlow “Dirty Hippie.”
But those people aren’t
being mean — it’s her roller
derby name.
The sophomore from
Canton and a group of other
women get together every
week to skate around as the
Athens Roller Derby.
“It’s a great social environ
ment,” Enlow said. “You get
exercise, but it’s really just a
lot of fun.”
The group is new, having
started only about three
months ago, but it has
already caught the interest of
women in the area with a
small amount of promotion
through MySpace and flyers
around town.
“There are about 20
(women) who show up on a
regular basis,” said Amanda
Hart, a University graduate
from Suwanee. “And we are
still open to new people com
ing in.”
The group is open to all
women — students or non
students — of any age.
“It’s about half and half,
students and nonstudents,”
Hart said. “The oldest is in
her 40s, but it’s mostly
younger girls.”
And women who are inter
ested don’t have to know
how to skate yet.
“Pretty much 95 percent
of the people skated when
they were younger,” Hart
said. “But there are people
there who skated their whole
lives, and you can tell who
they are.”
Angela Matheney of
Athens isn’t really in either of
those groups.
“I can count the amount
of times I’ve been skating on
my hands,” she said. “But
I’ve always wanted to skate.”
Even so, she’s been in the
> See DERBY, Page 7A
Students give
input for new
amnesty policy
Univ. questions idea’s validity
By SARA PAUFF
spauff@randb.com
University officials and
students could get some
help from a newly-formed
student organization in
drafting a medical amnesty
policy for alcohol-related ill
nesses.
Michael Stramiello, a
graduate student from
Macon, is forming a local
chapter of Students for
Sensible Drug Policy in
response to the Student
Government Association’s
call for a medical amnesty
policy for students seeking
help after drinking too
much.
The chapter will be part
of an international grass
roots organization based in
Washington, D.C., that
advocates measures and
policies to help those who
develop drug and alcohol
problems.
“The amnesty issue was
a huge catalyst for the for
mation of the group,”
Stramiello said. “There is a
need for an amnesty policy
right now to save lives.”
Though Stramiello said
he has not contacted SGA
yet, he said his organization
wants to gather student
support for SGA’s efforts. It
will be hosting its first
meeting later in the month.
SGA President Jamie
Peper said she had been
contacted by a national
representative of Students
for Sensible Drug Policy
and was waiting on an e-
mailed request for more
information.
“It’s just really cool that
they are willing to allocate
resources to us,” she said.
Whatever the final policy
looks like, underage stu
dents given amnesty would
not be subject to University
punishment for drinking.
If enacted, a medical
amnesty policy does not
prevent action by state and
local authorities.
Though the committee
looking at amnesty policies
has been meeting all sum
mer, Assistant to the Vice
President of Student Affairs
Eric Atkinson said they are
still in the formative stage
of creating a policy He said
they are discussing if the
University even needs an
amnesty policy.
“We’re still at 30,000 feet
on this,” said Atkinson, who
looked at policies at Cornell
University, Vanderbilt
University, Emory
>• See AMNESTY, Page 5A
DANIELLE HUTLAS | The Red 4 Black
A University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson poses next
to a University police vehicle. Williamson’s job takes him
all over campus, interacting with students and staff.
Williamson lives
dream as officer
Job as police chief allows
interaction with campus, city
By JUANITA COUSINS
jcousins@randb.com
University Police Chief
Jimmy Williamson said
since his childhood, one
moment from the television
game show “Family Feud”
has stuck with him.
The question was, ‘“If
aliens landed on earth and
said ‘take us to your leader,’
who would you take them
to?”
The No. 1 answer was
the police.
As a handful of pink
message slips passed
Thursday from the hands of
his secretary, Melissa Bryd,
to Williamson’s, he said
people turn to police in
almost any situation —
including once when an owl
was stuck under the hood
of a car.
But Thursday was a
“lighter day.” His calls
included a student seeking
advice about a speeding
ticket and dozens of other
people with questions
about Saturday’s football
game.
But the police chief job is
not confined to the pea
green and mustard-colored
walls of the Public Safety
building on Oconee Street,
but branches out all over
campus.
His work day begins at
7:15 a.m. with the morning
papers — the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, the
Athens Banner-Herald and
The Red & Black.
Less than an hour later,
Williamson is speaking to 13
field training officers whose
job it is to mold new batch
es of campus police officers.
He stresses the importance
of instilling customer
>- See POLICE, Page 3A
INSIDE TODAY | News: 2A | Opinions: 4A | Variety: 6A | Sports: IB | Crossword: 5A | Sudoku: 7A