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2 Thursday, November 18, aoio | The Red a Black Local case may have significance for nonprofits By DREW HOOKS Tot Rkd & Buck- It continues. For now, at least. On Nov. 8, the Georgia Supreme Court settled a dispute between the Nugi Phillips Memorial Foundation, Inc. and the Athens-Clarke County Board of Tax Assessors in a 4-3 decision in favor of Nugi’s Space. The case centering on whether the nonprofit qualifies for property tax exempt status is not settled yet, however. The county’s attorney has until today to request a reconsideration of the verdict from the Georgia Supreme Court. Even though this is a rare occurrence, Bob Sleppy, executive director of Null’s Space, is still uneasy about it. “I’m holding my breath because it was a close decision,” he said. If the county does gain a reconsidera tion and it wins, Sleppy said Nugi’s Space may have to pay back taxes since 2007 when it was granted exemption. There are even further implications if the county goes on and wins a victory in a higher court. The Georgia Center for Nonprofits, a statewide organization that has allied with Null’s Space, released a statement claiming a loss could redefine what is considered charitable in the state and pave the way for the negation of property tax exemption for other non profits throughout the state. “Literally millions of charitable dollars that would have otherwise gone to cause related activity would be redirected to local government as tax payments," the statement read. The dispute began in 2006 when Nugi’s CRIME NOTEBOOK BEEB! BEEB! BEEB! Eyes open. You lift your head off your mattress. Fire alarm not again. Your RA is knocking on the door. It’s time to go stand outside. Pulling sweatpants from your closet, you wonder who forgot their Pop-Tart in the toaster this time. Excessive fire alarm activations is a trend in dorms. Wednesday morning, hundreds of stu dents stood on the curb outside Brumby residence hall at 2:13 a.m. the most recent fire alarm activation on campus. The dorm was evacuated after smoke was detected on the seventh floor, according to the Athens-Clarke County police report. This is the 10th reported fire alarm activation on campus since Nov. 1. “Because fire spreads so quickly, we’re not going to leave people in the build- I Pearls Before Swme® v Stephan Pasra WUT \ I'M CMAMHN6 THC mmftiT THATJ \b€CAUJC 1,1 ( M7UK IflilK NYUK ) US SHOUHp WRIT ARE FMCM’ftOMkUARMiND -, RIDICULOUS ITS FUN. H v -r- HIS INTCEMCT 10U jTO SAY THAT JOMFINS SFF • UHYWOWP I AMD iHHHHMi TIMS. poind, your roof mu hmtatimg I you writs / imidss, • r~r < RAT 5 / QNS OF THC THR££ STOO6CS * THAT 1 /UMO PARC 1 ; IL r\ 1 IS A COOP WAY TO CURB ,<__>( in MOT UXS i \ introducing Htam noon rsBBSi- WWW TheCapitalßoom -a Bar Tabs & Prizes ACROSS 1 Diplomacy 5 Ankle 10 Charity 14 SmeH 15 Happening 16 Money offered by a bondsman 17 Stare open mduthed 18 Portion 19 Trigono metric func tion 20 Corrected 22 Toiled 24 Foot digit 25 Grief; sorrow 26 Make obscure 29 Lower limb 30 Minds 34 Harness strap 36 Drink like Fkto 36 Attack vio lently 37 Sphere 38 Ignore 40 Metro or Prizm 41 Brother's daughters 43 Calif't neighbor Previous puzzle’s solution ZMoPBEETEETOpiomr a a * - t°a - an i c i e w e ■ i--1 s > J S l r lVt&l R W Ts N T ■■JsJTtT ejHHnTaTTjHHH IsluUbßpi i 11 ' MB 111 !' i IV.W* 44 Lend a hand 45 Copy machine maker 46 Hockey s Bobby _ 47 __ Off, deflects 48 Money, profit 50 Unruly crowd 51 to; against 54 This evening 58 Insult 59 Burr or Spelling 61 Rip 62 Knowledge of traditions 63 Lay _ to; come at from all sides 64 Prefix for trust or sep &fWnos GREEK FORMAL WEAR SPECIAL Complete Tuxedo Rental 39 It’s not too late for this weekend. SAME DAY SERVICE! ■’ ’ I * 7Q( 154-8072 • so *' FILE I Tnk Rep * Black ▲ Null’s Space, a local organization for Athens musicians, is facing a legal battle that could force it to pay back taxes from 2007 to present. Space applied for property tax exempt status its directors believed should be granted to them given the passing of a referendum that year granting exemption to nonprofits that owned property. The Athens-Clarke County Board of Tax Assessors denied them the exemp tion and the case was taken to the Athens- ONLINE Police Documents ing,” said University Fire Safety Manager Russell Dukes. “Most alarms are from an early warning system of some type. The whole purpose of smoke detectors is to protect students before it gets to a dan gerous point.” Unattended cooking is the most com mon culprit; however, Dukes said there could be several causes of activation. His advice to avoiding incidents don’t leave cooking unattended, watch out for damaged equipment and report alarms activated as a prank. “Prank fire alarms are just a horrible thing,” he said. “They desensitize people to the alarm.” —Compiled by Jacob Demmitt The Daily Puzzle 33 iTJT" 7 a S - 11 13 13 ~ H ■H 33 33 ~" K 31 33 33 ME* 3® MBm ■irj-i:: Has Tiff” M 56 5B 57 ~~ —— “"“■■w no "“TBK7” Si H <*• ■■ “■ nnsno tic 65 Was in the red 66 Ambassador 67 Be plentiful DOWN 1 Old Roman's outer gar ment 2 Actor Sandler 3 Put up with difficulties 4 Capital of New Jersey ' 5 Cone-shaped dwelling 6 Enthusiastic 7 Actress Remick 8 Fix a drain 9 Take illegally 10 Soaks up 11 Lion's den 12 Work in caves 13 Toboggan 21 Spaniel or pug 23 Raise; push up 25 Consider awful 26 New York City borough 27 Spine-chilling 38 Connection 39 Make a blun der 42 Used cray ons 44 Natural envi ronment 46 Consecrate to be a priest 47 Was victori ous 49 Stop 50 Cash 28 _ optics; big part of mod em technolo- OY 29 Fail to keep up 31 Raring to go 32 Highway sign 33 Feeds the pigs 35 Miserables' 36 Hole in one i I NEWS Clarke County Board of Equalization, which granted Nugi’s Space property tax exempt status. This decision was appealed by the Board of Tax Assessors to the superior court, which upheld the ruling. However, the Board of Tax Assessors decided to take the decision to the state and in November 2009, the Court of 1 MEACAN KELLEY Th. R*r. 4 Bun A Wells Ellenberg, a student representative, voiced his opinion at Wednesday’s meeting. hrd f lnnudl Cardt GuJaiJcc Event jßgttmi, / t Sovember IS. 4-6pmJ Pure hint your cupcake for $-1 and inside you will have a "'"y chance to find a gemstone. Two lucky winners will have the • 1 chance to find a quarter carat diamond in their cupcake. All 1 proceeds are to benefit the domett Ridge Boys and Girls Club. [XfL N A'Sll I Call and reserve Vi"”"*"* ‘ your cupcake today. \ Tena \ Fine Diamonds and Jewelry is family owned and operated and located at 283 East Clayton Street in the old Foster's buikhnf. / GOT BARK? CampusExchange.org wants to know! 51 City In Norway 52 Turn the SOU 53 Unspotted 54 African nation 55 Trait trans mitter 56 Detest 57 Quick haircut 60 Gun the engine JOIN Rf E CHALLENGE!! faster now at CMpgtfohail4t.org! Pawgs have wort regittatlons thaw the Jackets by Friday, November 26th and win the bark or bn Challenge! The winning school will receive front page cover on Facebook and Canipgstxehange.org, 1000 Campos credits per registrant and a CE sponsored Happy door at yoor local watering hole! Register with ZACH and MIKE on mm and THURSDAY aroond NOON at the TATE CENTER for all the PETAIISandtIVEAm CAMPUS At f lA NX it V/ THE Air CAMPUS. SPECIF# GNiiNFi MARKETPLACE Appeals sided with the Board. This deci sion was later overruled by the Georgia Supreme Court on Nov. 8. The Board of Tax Assessors felt Nugi’s Space used its property In a manner that did not align with its mission, Sleppy said. The activities in question are the occa sional times throughout the year when the organization rents out its building for birthdays and retirement parties. The income from these transactions is used for the maintenance of the property and for providing counseling, Sleppy said. The victory in the legal battle was accomplished with the help of attorney Jim Wames, who Sleppy said had been representing the organization pro bono throughout the case. “We can’t give enough credit to Jim for sticking with us and believing in our mis sion,” Sleppy said. “If we were forced to pay for this, we would be put in a position where we’d have to cave.” If nothing happens today, Sleppy said Nugi’s Space can finally use the money it has been budgeting for property taxes toward expanding the amount of people it can help. Sleppy said he would like to see more cooperation between nonprofits and faith-based organizations specifically those that provide psychological and emo tional assistance to residents —and coun ty governments. “I would hope the county would look at nonprofits and faith-based organizations as allies in helping the community by relieving the burden from the county,” he said. “We contribute a significant amount of aid to folks in Athens who need help and would otherwise go to a county facility." MEETING: New policy affects few students ► From Page 1 small number,” Ellenberg said. Thompson said though only a minority of the stu dent body would be affect ed by the amended policy, it’s still an important issue to address. “I don’t think it will be that far-reaching in terms of the amount of students it affects, but it does affect some students who really need that extra time,” Thompson said. “It will really benefit those stu dents who need the extra time to perform well.” The committee also dis cussed amending the University’s withdrawal policy. After the University suspended a student for a second alcohol-related vio lation, he was withdrawn from all of his classes. He had one “Withdraw Passing” and received four additional WPs from his instructors, but the last WP was converted to a “Withdraw Failing” because the University's policy mandates the fifth with drawal is an automatic WF. “When you look at viola tions of alcohol and other drug policies, not only are these students facing sus pension and other punish ments from the University, many times they are also facing punishments from federal and local authori ties,” Ellenberg said. “From a student perspective, it’s double punishment. Not only are you getting pun ished by authorities out side of the University, but you’re also being harmed academically.” The committee decided to table this proposal, and the action item will be revisited in its next meet ing. CORRECTIONS In Tuesday's story ■ “Libraries debut Apple iPad program today " it was incor rectly stated that University libraries purchased iPads using student technol ogy fee money. The iPads were not pur chased by University libraries with student technology fee money, but with private money. The Red & Black regrets this error. Editor-In-Chief: Daniel Bumett (706) 433-3027 randb.com Managing Editor Carey O'Nell (706) 433-3026 mesi randb.com