The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current, January 14, 2008, Page 3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextMAC? Ritz resolve incident Facebook apology quells discontent BY STEPHANIE PERRETT The Kkh & Black The University’s chapter of the NAACP resolved an incident involv ing The Ritz after the nightclub’s owner issued an apology, according to a Facebook message sent Saturday afternoon to NAACP members. In August 2007, several black University students were denied admission to the nightclub on Broad Street. A doorman told the students their clothing was inappropriate and not in accordance with The Ritz’s dress code. On Aug. 28, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People formed a subcom mittee to investigate discrimination at downtown establishments. “It definitely wasn’t a boycott,” said Celebrity comedian to visit Classic City BY JENNIFER PAXTON The Red & Buck The Loft is possibly having the best week ever. Tonight, the downtown bar features comedian Doug Benson, who was a finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing" and a pop culture connois seur on VHI ’ s “Best Week Ever." Benson said he looks for ward to visiting and performing in Athens BENSON both for the first time. “I’ll have just spent four nights in Alpharetta, so I’ll be ready to take it up a notch," he said While the comedian may be well-known for his social commentary on "Best Week Ever,” he warns that his stand-up is not an extension of it. “Some people come to my shows and expect I'm just going to talk about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, but the majority of people don't really care about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.” Benson said. “My stand-up's dif ferent, but it's all coming from the same voice and the same personality.” Benson got his start as a comedian on a whim, attempting stand-up at a GYM: Squad to face Florida, LSU ► From Page 1 time that the Gym Dogs have lost their season opening meet in four years, when they finished third in the season-open ing Super Six Challenge in 2004. Two-time All-Around Champion Courtney Kupets led all competitors with a 9.950 on the uneven bars, while she and senior Katie Heenan each chart ed a meet-leading 9.875 on the vault. Sophomore Courtney BAND: ‘Distinctive’ tour to grace Athens ► From Page 1 is distinctive from any of the band’s other tours. “There’ll be a lot of give-and-take with the audience,” he said. The set lists will not be drawn up prior to each performance instead, they will be created throughout the band's sets, as dictated by audi ence requests, Kaplan said. Yo La Tengo, which got its start in 1984, currently features guitarist Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley, respective hus band and wife, and bassist James McNew. Numerous articles and Interviews with the band refer to Yo La Tengo as a group almost exclusively for rock nerds and music geeks. Kaplan doesn't get that. “I don’t really under- Mamie Harper, NAACP President. Farther efforts to obtain details about the incident from NAACP executive board members, includ ing Harper, Sunday were unsuc cessful. In a statement to the NAACP the owner of The Ritz, Sam Williamson, said he was out of town during the weekend of the incident and was informed of the matter when he returned. “The doorman on duty this par ticular night did not fully compre hend our dress code and may have misinterpreted its application," he wrote. “I certainly never intended for (The Ritz’s) dress code to be applied and/or viewed in a discrimi natory manner. “I can assure you this was an iso lated incident! I accept full respon sibility for my employees and apolo gize to all parties who viewed this incident as discriminatory." Williamson had discussed the possibility of implementing a dress code with his employees to make the environment of The Ritz classi er, he said during a telephone inter- LOFT COMEDY Who: Doug Benson, Andi Smith, T.J. Young, Marshall Chiles When: 10 pm Where: The Loft. 164 E. Clayton St. Price: $lO Los Angeles club on a dare from friends. “The end of that story is now I’m a famous come dian,” he said. “I lucked out in that I was kind of pushed into it. Also, I actually got some laughs. That was very encourag ing." Benson earned his degree at a junior college in San Diego studying journalism and drama, but ultimately felt he was better suited for a career in “showbiz.” “I started to figure out on my own that a degree is nice, and it's certainly something to brag about for the rest of your life, but when it comes to show business, jumping in and actually doing it seems to be the most important thing,” he said. Benson said he looks forward to performing for a college crowd, who he said is most likely to appreciate the subject matter of his stand-up. “Loft Comedy," created in January 2007 by Athens-based comedian T.J. Young, offers stand- McCool led on the floor with a score of 9.9. With no time for a breather in between. Sunday’s meet against a Stanford team that Yoculan called historically slow-starting ended posi tively for Gym Dogs, as they claimed a 196.875- 196.150 victory over the Cardinal. Despite being on the short end of small deficits on the vault and beam, Georgia was more than able to make up for the deficit with demanding stand why that I don’t think that’s true,” he said. "Unfortunately, people just kind of repeat things, you see that in the politi cal writing In the political race. “People just kind of get these reputations and I don’t think they’re neces sarily accurate. I don’t see why anybody can’t epjoy what we do.” While Kaplan insists that Yo La Tengo Is a "reg ular old band,” many pub lications, including The Washington Post and Pltchforkmedia.com refer to the band as veterans and legends of indie-rock history. The last time the band played in Athens was In 2003, with local group The Glands at the 40 Watt, Kaplan said. “It was magical. I'm a big fan,” Ross Shapiro, gui tarist of The Glands and NEWS, VARIETY & SPORTS view Sunday. “A couple staff members believed they could post a dress code,” he said. “The intent of a dress code is to provide a safe environment. We do not have a dress code now.” Williamson declined to speak fur ther on the record. "I work hard to provide a safe environment for my patrons and ask that all patrons contact me when ever they have questions or con cerns regarding their experience at The Ritz,” Williamson wrote in his statement to the NAACP The University’s chapter of the NAACP was established in 1998 and works to guarantee equality and to abolish racial hatred and discrimi nation in the University and Athens community, according the group’s Web site. “The UOA NAACP encourages all persons of the Athens communi ty to report any acts of discrimina tion whether it be racial, ethnic, religious, gender or physical and mental ability to the UGA NAACP Chapter,” according to the NAACP’s Facebook message. aV- w *■* * 'T ***** > ,vt . . . / L*. ■I- ■ -- - - - I - lv<; ▲ Doug Benson’s bucket list, a spoof on a film now out in theaters, is featured on his MySpace page. Benson will perform at The Loft tonight at 10. up performances on the last Monday of each month. Young said he was inspired to start “Loft Comedy" when he noticed scarce outlets for comedi ans in Athens. “There wasn’t anything really happening around Athens (comedy-wise), so I decided to start my own thing to help build a com edy scene around here. This town is so music heavy, so I wanted to see something different hap pening," he said. victories on the bars (49.225-48.700) and floor exercise (49.300-49.025) to earn its first victory of the season in Palo Alto. The road to a fourth consecutive national title doesn't look to get any easier for the defending champion Gym Dogs, as they hit the road again for a meet with powerhouse Florida in Gainesville on Friday. The Gym Dogs’ first home meet comes the fol lowing Saturday against SEC foe LSU. manager of Schoolkids Records, said at the down town record store on Saturday. “They did one of the great albums of the ’9os,” he said, as he left the front counter in search of some thing. When he returned, he held a copy of Yo La Tengo’s 1997 album “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.” Shapiro said he met the band when The Glands played in Nashville and Yo La Tengo was in the city recording music. Kaplan said he lament ed that The Glands aren’t active as a band anymore. Although Kaplan said Yo La Tengo does not have plans to release another album, it has been working on scoring films. It already has contrib uted to "Shortbus,” “I’m Not There,” and Junebug.” On designated Monday nights, the dance floor transforms into a relaxed comedy club with com fortable couches, high top tables and the elevat ed section of the dance floor used as a stage. “I think it’s really hard for some people to imag ine the transformation,” Young said. “It’s definite ly a lot more low key.” “Loft Comedy” will return to its regular “last Monday” schedule on Jan. 28, hosting Brian McKim and Traci Skene. Reams Before Swine* H£Y. LOOK A DON'T TOUCH IT. ? 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EAT YOU v Vc\ o _________ I Vi 'Hf.ri 2**t*‘* Sr V www.9aorgiottiMtra.com 706-349-9911 ACROSS 1 Lug about 5 Principle o) good con duct 10 Wood source 14 Truant G! 15 Canine teth er 16 In good health 17 Mr. Arnaz 18 Areas of interest 20 Perfect memory 22 Roofing stone 24 Fielder's need 27 *_ Galahad -28 Themes 34 Sister of Osiris 36 Indeed 36 Earth or Mars 37 Tide type 38 Charmingly deceptive 40 Purplish brown 43 Mocamedes Desert's land 44 Hoodwinked 47 Highly excit -1 ed 48 Pelted with rocks 49 Pindar prod uct 50 Drum with fingers 52 _ Park, CO 54 Bodily dis tresses 60 Kidnapped to be a sailor 62 Abominable snowman 65 Memoran dum 66 To come 67 Mown expanse 68 Dregs 69 Football kicks 70 English school DOWN 6> Accessories... As /n^ |j The Red a Black | Monday, January 14, 2008 Univ. approves new curriculum Core courses face changes BY SAM STEINBERG The Keu & Black Anew core curriculum for the University was approved at Friday’s meeting of the University Council’s Curriculum Committee. The new curriculum, previously approved by the Board of Regents, will start on a trial basis in the Fall 2008 semester and change the number and type of core courses that all new students will take. One alteration in the new plan changes the classification of science requirements to physical science and life science courses. Degree Audit Advisement Reports will have anew layout, with changes in category names and required hours. Committee member Jan Hathcote, an associ ate dean at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, led the BYWATER; Investigation, mourning continues ► From Page 1 and law enforcement for their efforts during the search and addressed rumors concerning the mental health of her daughter prior to her dis appearance. “We know that there has been a lot of press about the possible men tal status here, and we talked to her doctor today and he said that she was not bipolar,” she said. “We don’t want peo ple to think it was a part of this.” Despite their pain, the family spoke of Cayle’s heart Friday night during a news conference held at Bywater’s home. Tiffiny Cohen, Bywater’s sister, men tioned that her sister handmade everyone’s cards and wrapping paper for Christmas this year. “She does not buy generic gifts. She does everything from the heart," said Cohen. The Bywater family is making arrangements for TUESDAY 1/15 MUGWAMPS doors " 8 The Daily Puzzle Frtdw'i PuzrM SoTvad fTTRjs ■in fol u|o Ir ■ hT'a [TIT] a s ■ n u t |M|lo|j sap sJBoJr wIC 11 IKB|| a £ _i_ rlspßo njfld>|t|Al3l€| A R V.F U EJBM r IwK 111 R| ■f* iTdjt of a M 1 A l TjBR I [MI I TWXTbTTI mJ i I I Ml) fill {(■ u I ■vji ]'•’ slklvieß 1 101 l loiolsßsle|t| warn I*l ■< 1 Small . amount 2 Be In debt to 3 Tex-Mex choice 4 “Murder In the Cathedral* dramatist 5 Napoleon's isle of exile 6 Blue shade 7 Whisker 8 Man or Dogs 9 Classy 10 Weaving diagonal ribs It Shut back up 12 Wapiti 13 Goiter Ernie 19 Rascal 21 Home ol the Sun Devils 22 Cloud cover 23 Falsehood 25 By way of 26 Psychic's power 29 Namesakes of a Russian saint 30 Mocking reproach 31 Architect Jones subcommittee that revamped the core curric ulum. “We have thought about it very systemati cally and thought about learning objectives for each area," Hathcote said in an interview Friday. “There was rationale behind each area of the core.” She said there is time to add classes to each cat egory for the upcoming school year upon request. The committee approved 13 proposals Friday, including the new curriculum. The other approved measures will be presented to the University Council Executive Committee in its meeting Jan. 24. The committee reject ed a proposal to cut the number of students accepted in the Social Science Education a high-demand m£(jor. The cut was rejected after Student Government Association representa tive Amrita Veliyath spoke against the proposal, which would have reduced the number of students accepted to the major from 50 to 25. a memorial service in Athens for Saturday and services in Atlanta for Sunday, according to findcayle.blogspot.com, a Web site operated by the family. Those wishing to make donations can give money to the Cayle Bywater Memorial Fund at any Suntrust Bank or using paypal on findcayle.blog spot.com. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information on Bywater is encouraged to contact Detective Dustin Smith at (706) 613-3888, ext. 795, or GBI Special Agent Rebecca Shaw at 1-800- 597-8477. The incident comes as a shock after April 2007, when graduate student Yongsheng Li was located in a pond behind the Soccer Complex on Milledge Avenue nearly two weeks after he was reported missing during Spring Break. Contributing: The Associated Press *r Stephan Fastis THURSDAY 1/17 BUNG THE CHILDREN BACK HOME lord T and Eloise doors #9 WEDNESDAY 1/16 WRONGWAY (Sublime Tribute Bandl doors #8 -W “H■■ * B B ' * v • -z. ffl 1 Bffltrtti 1/14X9 32 Big-time cnminal 33 Steps over a fence 38 Certain ball room dances 39 2000 candi date Ralph 40 Butter serv ing 41 Grunt 42 Having a head-shaped outline 44 Position under scruti ny 45 Fruity bever age 46 Plaines, IL 51 NYC arena 53 Fashion 55 Guy 3 156 Hawaiian island 57 Demeanor 56 Exploit 59 Likelihood 60 NBC clastic 61 Weeder's tool 63 Tango team 64 Traveler's stop

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current, January 14, 2008, Page 3, Image 3