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CAMPUS, DOWNTOWN
WATCH FOR RAPIST
The UGA chapter of Safe Campuses Now has
distributed fliers all over the University and the
downtown area, hoping not only to catch the
man or men responsible for four recent down
town area assaults on young women, but to raise
awareness among the student body.
"I think a lot of people have that invincibility
idea in their minds," says Natalie Keene. UGA's
Safe Campuses Now student director. "I think our
age group tends itself to that a lot more."
Physical evidence and victim accounts have
led Athens-Clarke Police to believe they are
looking for one perpetrator, says Lieutenant WJ.
Smith.
"We certainly would hate to think that there
was two out there," Smith says.
According to police reports, the first attack
happened on July 30 at approximately 2 a.m.
The 24-year-old victim had just returned home
from downtown and was entering her Satula
Avenue apartment when the suspect pushed his
way in the front door. Described as a black male,
5'6" to 5'9" tall, 155-170 lbs., in his mid-20s to
early 30s, with a shaved head, muscular build,
and possibly driving a black two-door sports car,
the suspect forced the victim onto a mattress on
the floor and raped her. The victim ran from her
apartment as the suspect was looking for his
clothes after the assault.
The second rape occurred on August 27 at
about 3 a.m., near the intersection of College
Avenue and Willow Street. A woman was walking
alone when a black male, 6'1" to 6'2" and
weighing approximately 160 lbs., dragged her off
the street into nearby woods. When the victim
began to scream during the attack, the suspect
held her by the throat. After the suspect let the
victim go, her screams caused a passer-by to call
the police.
At approximately 1:45 a.m. on October 5, a
woman was approached by a black male who
offered to walk her home. The man, described as
5'8" to 5’H" tall, clean shaven with a muscular
build, tried to grab the woman near Gilbert Hall
on north campus.
Police have not released the exact location of
the most recent rape, which occurred in the
IN OTHER NEWf...
On Monday, November 13, the Athens
Grow Green Coalition will host the first in
a series of educational workshops on
Athens-Clarke's comprehensive land use
plan. The first workshop will "focus on
explaining the zoning ordinances being
considered by the ACC Commission and com
paring them with current zoning and with
the Guiding Principles," according to the
Coalition. Future sessions will explore how
successful growth management techniques
in other cities can be applied in Athens.
Other dates and times will be announced
soon. See athensgrowgreen.com for more
information.
Upcoming ACC Meetings:
• Nov. 8. 4:00 p.m., SPIOST 2000 Site
Selection Committee, Lyndon House
• Nov. 9, 7:00 p.m.. Mayor and Commission
FY02 budget goals, 120 Dougherty St.
• Nov. 9, 7:15 p.m.. Board of Education,
500 College Avenue
• Nov. 14. 8:30 a.m., Athens Downtown
Development Authority, 224 College Ave.
• Nov. 14, 7:00 p.m., Mayor and
Commission Work Session (land use devel
opment ordinance), 120 Dougherty St.
downtown/UGA area close to 3 a.m. on October
22. The victim, a 21 -year-old UGA student,
described her attacker as a muscular black male,
5'4" to 5'6", 140 lbs., clean-shaven with short
hair and a round, chubby face. As the victim was
entering her building, the suspect forced his way
in, brandishing a pistol, and assaulted her in her
upstairs apartment. The suspect left the apart
ment after the attack.
Though not all students, the victims are all of
college age, says Smith.
Safe Campuses Now is asking the University
and the city to work together to provide more
late night transportation options.
"There's just not enough cabs for the amount
of students downtown," Keene says. "We're
trying to get them to work with us on that.
We're trying to get them to use the bus system,
and help out the students in that way."
For now, Keene adds, "our main focus is to
tell people to stay in groups."
Lieutenant Smith says the department con
tinues to get tips, and is in the process of ruling
out possible suspects.
"We're just taking them one at a time," he
says. "Like any investigation where you don't
know who you're looking for, but you know what
he looks like, you've got to eliminate the folks as
the names come up."
Composite sketches are on-line at ps.uga.edu/
detectives/suspects.
PUBLIC INVITED TO
JOIN IN DECISIONS
Athens-Clarke County is looking for citizens
to help with planning and zoning decisions fol
lowing adoption of the new development ordi
nance
After numerous delays by Mayor Doc Eldndge
and the ACC Commission, a vote on the ordi
nance—the enabling legislation for the county's
comprehensive land use plan—is now expected
for December 5. Once the ordinance is imple
mented, two hearings boards will replace the
Board of Adjustment in reviewing subdivision
plans and zoning variances.
The boards are to consist of one member of
the "development community," one "design pro
fessional," and two "citizen representatives."
The fifth spot on the board will be filled by
alternating members of the Planning
Commission.
Previously, each board was to have a "neigh
borhood representative" and a "member-at-
large." After some ACC Commissioners decided
the term "neighborhood representative" was too
vague, both slots were changed to "citizen repre
sentative."
Specifically, the boards will examine all van
ances not subject to staff review; have final plat
approval for master planned developments; have
preliminary plat approval for subdivisions of five
or more lots; and decide appeals of Planning
Staff decisions.
ACC Senior Planner Bruce Lonnee was out of
his office and unavailable for comment on the
boards at press time. Acting Planning Director
Brad Griffin did not return repeated calls horn
Flagpole.
"It's going to be critical to have people who
believe in the guiding principles on this board,"
says Beth Gavrilles of the Athens Grow Green
Coalition. Gavnllcs says her group—which
hosted the highly successful Land Aid event on
October 22—is concerned about the amount of
citizen input into issues such as rural develop
ment.
Hearings board members wtll be selected by
the Mayor and Commission. Initial appointments
will be for three, four and five years in order to
achieve slaggeied terms. Subsequent terms will
be five years "or until successors are appoint ),"
according to an ACC press release.
Appointees must be registered voters of
Athens-Clarke County, and may not be county
employees or elected officials. Applications are
available at Clerk of Commission Jean Spratlin's
office in room 204 of City Hall. The deadline for
applying is November 13. For more information,
call Spratlin at 613-3031.
RAILS TO TRAILS
OR A PHOTO OP?
Athens-Clarke County has purchased the par
tially destroyed Dudley Park rail trestle and now
must to decide what to do with it.
Known worldwide as the trestle featured on
the back cover of R.E.M.'s Murmur, it was one of
four rail bridges slated for July demolition by
CSX Transportation. Built in the late 19th
Century along the rail line to Winterville and
beyond, the downtown trestles were part of a 1.9
mile section of track officially abandoned by CSX
in 1998.
Public outcry prompted the county to pay
CSX demolition contractor Bill Stalder, of Athens,
Ohio, $5,000 to leave the Dudley Park trestle
standing for three months so that it could be
assessed for future use. The other trestles had
already been destroyed by that time. (See City
Pages, July 26, on-line at fogpole.com.)
On October 24, Stalder received S20,000 in
Oconee River Greenway funds to cover his
remaining financial interest in the structure. He
would have been paid $25,000 by CSX to tear it
down.
Efforts to reimburse the county from the pri
vate sector began months ago. Murmurs.com, a
popular R.E.M. fan web page, has launched a
campaign to help pay for the bridge. The site is
selling t-shirts and mouse pads reading "Save
The Athens Trestle" and has so far raised about
S 1,400, according to site owner/operator Ethan
Kaplan.
"Fans are still really supportive of it. They're
still trying to do whatever they can," Kaplan
says. "And I know a bunch of organizations,
including R.E.M., have kind of joined together in
a coalition for it. That's nice to see as well, to
see other organizations qet involved."
At an October 24 afternoon conference, rep
resentatives horn the ACC government, the
Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, the Oconee
Rivers Greenway Commission, BikeAthens and
R.E.M. gathered to announce a new ACC web
page where news on the trestle will be posted
and tax-deductible donation: will be accepted to
cover its purchase (go to athensclarke
county.com).
R.E.M. spokesperson David Bell said the value
of the trestle "has nothing to do with album
covers or album sales," and that the band mem
bers support using it as a bike and pedestrian
bridge.
Alternative transportation advocates have
long promoted the CSX line as a ready-made,
level corridor from downtown to the Eastside.
During the conference, BikeAthens chair Jason
Henderson outlined several possible state and
federal funding sources for reconstructing the
trestle and securing the CSX right-of-way.
Henderson said adding the CSX line to the
Athens-Clarke Regional Transportation Study
(ACORTS) plan would open up SI billion in avail
able funds.
"All that's required is local political will," he
said.
BikeAthens has added a page to its web site
(bikeathens.com) featuring a written history of
the Athens trestles, photos from other rail trails
and photo illustrations of a virtual trail in
Athens.
Bill Stalder estimates the cost of restoring
the Dudley Park bridge at S150,000 to S200.000.
In July, Ralph Pressley of CSX told Flagpole his
company would have given all four trestles to
the ACC government free of charge, had anyone
asked.
The current asking price for the CSX right-of-
way is over S7 million. Mayor Doc Eldridge has
said the county could acquire the property for a
fraction of that amount.
Though many believe using the trestle as a
- Gieenway "inteipretive site" would be a waste, it
remains a possibility—despite the Mayor and
Commission's stated interest in the bridge as a
transportation amenity.
'There are a lot of options of what can
happen to the trestle," said Athens-Clarke
Hentage Foundation Executive Director Laura
Straehla.
"The Mayor and Commission have voted to
preserve our options on this," added ACC Public
Information Officer Sandi Turner. That s all
we've done at this point."
Neither Mayor Eldndge nor any
Commissioners attended the meeting ?
The Dudley Park rail trestle, pictured here hours before it was partially dismantled, could help provide j level
bike-pedestrian corridor from the Eastside to downtown. Restoration is estimated at $150,000 to $200,000.
NOVEMBER 8, 2000
PHOTO BY BRAO AARON