Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
January 14, 2009
Vol. 116, No. 81 | Athens, Georgia
a Partly Cloudy.
High 49 | Low 31
ONLINE: www.redandblack.coin
Allen foregoes senior season
Junior comer
enters NFL draft
By TYLER ESTEP
The Red & Black
Asher Allen became the third
Bulldog to jump ship Tuesday,
announcing his intentions to leave
Athens and enter the NFL draft.
Allen, a junior corner from
Tucker, joins now-departed quar
terback Matthew Stafford and tail
back Knowshon Moreno among the
NFL hopefuls looking toward the
end of April to decide their futures.
“I’m most definitely doing this
for my family and for myself,” Allen
said in his teleconference Tuesday.
“I’ve been thinking about it for
The ebb and flow of
Georgia’s drought
By MARIANNE ENGLISH
The Red & Black
As recent rains revital
ize much of Georgia, it’s
difficult to accept that the
state is still experiencing a
drought.
Only a small section of
Northeast Georgia is con
sidered to be in an extreme
drought, according to the
U.S. Drought Monitor, but
conditions could spread in
coming months.
“It is not unusual for
drought conditions to get
somewhat better over the
winter because tempera
tures are low and most
plants are dormant,” said
Pam Knox, Georgia’s assip
tant state climatologist, in
an e-mail interview Monday.
“We will need to wait until
around the end of March,
the end of the winter
recharge period, to see what
our drought situation is
going into the next growing
season.”
Knox said although the
rain provided relief, data
supports that 2008’s pre
cipitation average was still
11.51 inches below
Georgia’s average for the
past 30 years.
Under the tightening
drought conditions, the
University conserved 150
million gallons of water
more than 200 Olympic
sized swimming pools
from November 2007 to
October 2008.
The motto “Every Drop
Counts” may not seem as
urgent as it did a year ago,
yet members of the
University’s Physical Plant
and researchers are work
ing to further conserve
water without compromis
ing academic or sanitary
standards.
Ken Crowe, director for
utilities at the University
Physical Plant division,
said he was impressed with
the University’s progress
during the drought, but
said it will take a long time
to replenish lakes and riv
ers that were depleted dur
ing the past two years.
“We encourage the
University to keep it up,”
Crowe said in response to
the University exceeding
Gov. Sonny Purdue’s exec
utive order to cut 10 per
cent of water consumption.
The University decreased
water consumption by an
astonishing 25 percent,
Crowe said in a telephone
interview Monday.
Crowe said the Physical
Plant will work on sustain
able methods to bring the
University’s dormant out
fee WATER, Page 3
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weeks. I’m trying to do the best for
my family and going to the NFL will
more than likely do that.”
Allen was arguably the best sec
ondary player for a much-maligned
Bulldog defense in 2008, totaling 53
tackles. He had no interceptions,
but a large part of that can be con
tributed to opposing offenses throw
ing to the side of the field opposite
him.
“With me coming back, playing
your senior year to prepare to be
one of the top cornerbacks in the
draft was something I was ponder
ing,” he said. “But really I need to
try and make sure to get there.”
One of 13 Jim Thorpe Award
semifinalists in 2008, Allen was
reluctant to talk about the NFL
Advisory Committee’s prediction of
where he might be selected, but
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PHOTOS BY JASON BROOM I The Red * Black
▲ Top: Water levels were so low on the Middle Oconee River in Ben Burton Park on Sept. 24,
2008 that the bottom of the river was exposed. Bottom: On Tuesday, the river featured much
healthier water levels than during the drought’s height.
GEORGIA DROUGHT STATISTICS
Lake levels tor 10 a.m. on Jan. 13
full level (feet), summer level (feet), current level (feet)
Lake Hartwell 665,660,644.84 Lake Lanier 1085,1071,1056.15 Lake Oconee 435,434, 435
Tttr National Weather Service
MEN’S BASKETBALL
What: Georgia vs. Vanderbilt
Where: Nashville, Tenn.
Radio: 960 AM
Time: 8 p.m.
Also: The nation's top basketball recruit, center Derrick Favors ot South Atlanta
High School, will announce if he will attend Georgia, Georgia Tech or N.C.
State at 6:30 tonight. Check redandblack.com for sportewriter Fletcher Page's
live blog, which will discuss Favors and the game from start to finish. Page will
begin the blog at 6 p.m., starting with Favors’ decision.
experts typically have him some
where in the middle rounds of the
draft.
“The risk to get hurt and injured
and watch it all go away is so, so
hard to overcome,” he said. “Or get
ting hurt and watching your stock
go down. You have to put all that
stuff into the equation.”
The move leaves Georgia’s sec
ondary depleted and very inexperi
enced.
With Bryan Evans moving to
safety and Ramarcus Brown gradu
ating, it leaves the Bulldogs with
senior Prince Miller and several
players who saw only limited action
this season.
Safety Reshad Jones, who will be
a redshirt junior next season,
announced his intentions to stay for
another season Tuesday.
JIM DIFFLY | The Red a Black
A Junior corner Asher Allen announced Tuesday
that he would not return to the University for his
senior season. He will enter the 2009 NFL draft.
Despite progress ,
state continues
unusual dry spell
Athens-Clarke M
County rain
Jan. to May 2008-14.87”
Jan. to May 2007 -13.49”
Freshman Fire
page 6
Check out coach Yoculan’s
assessment of the state of the
gymnastics team.
ON THE WEB
E
Latin isn’t the only dead
language. Check out this
preview for a language
documentary tonight at Tate.
www.redandUack.com
CRIME NOTEBOOK
DUI
dropped
for math
head
By JOANN ANDERSON &
CAITLIN BYRNES
The Red & Black
Athens-Clarke County
State Court dropped a
driving under the influence
of alcohol charge against
the head of the University
math department in a
court agreement last week.
On Friday, the court
changed the
charge to
reckless
driving, and
Joseph Fu
pled no con
test. He was
found guilty
of driving
the wrong
way down a
one-way
street, but a
FU
charge of failure to obey a
traffic control device was
dropped, according to
court documents.
Fu was put on 12 months
probation, 20 hours of com
munity service and ordered
to pay $750 for various
court costs. He also must
serve on a victim impact
panel within six months.
Fu was arrested in
August after driving the
wrong way on a one-way
exit ramp on Loop 10,
according to the police
report. Fu’s breath sample
was .057 grams, less than
the .08 legal limit for people
over 21. Police said Fu’s
arrest fell under the “DUI
Less Safe” policy, in which
a person can be arrested
for a DUI, even if a breath
sample is under the .08
legal limit.
Student arrested
after Xanax fraud
University student Blake
Farrell Buchanan was
arrested Monday night and
charged with felony
attempt to obtain danger
ous drugs.
Buchanan is accused of
presenting another per
son’s Xanax prescription
for himself at an Athens
Rite Aid Pharmacy in
December to obtain the
anxiety pills. After police
received a tip, warrants
were filed for his arrest.
Buchanan was parked in
his car on Prince Avenue
when he was arrested,
according to a police
report.
Buchanan declined to
comment Tuesday.
Index
UGA Today 2
Wire 2
Opinions 4
Variety 5
Crossword 2
Sports 6
Sudoku 5