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Greenpeace
retaliates
against

environmental
bad guys
page C l -

Dt Weekend Weather Partly

D2 cloudy; lows 40's, highs 60's

JSoise war
rages on

Play ball!
Baseball team prepares for '94

Ordinance may be
required to calm storm
of complaints A5

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New Orleans fiesta

Students celebrate Mardi Gras

Bl

QTlie^iuburn Plainsman
Thursday, February 17,1994

A Century of Excellence'

Volume 100, Number 15, 36 pages

New ward creates minority voice

Dowdell said he was
pleased with the plan. "We
"We are in support of the resolution that gives are in support of the
Plainsman Staff Writer
resolution that gives the
The Auburn City Council voted citizens in one part of the the black community what we asked jor, the
black community what we
unanimously to adopt a plan to ward would vote for Place afaluy to elect the candidate of our choice."
asked
for, the ability to elect
_
_.. _i
.
incorporate a majority-black voting ward 1, and the other part would
A L
the candidate of our choice."
vote
for
Place
2
**"
'
'
D
o
w
d
e
l
l
into the current system Tuesday night.
But Dowdell said he
Ward 1 Place 1 would
president of Concerned Citizens for Equal Justice
Several months ago, members of
would
support the current
Auburn's black community called for a have a black population of
plan
only
until
the
next census in six
The proposal met positive feedback
change in the city's voting wards, saying 64.3 percent.
years,
when
state
law
requires that the
"This
proposal
is
a
very
viable
one,"
from both the Rev. A. L. Dowdell,
the current system was unfair, and they
voting
lines
be
redrawn.
Mayor
Jan
Dempsey
said.
It
gives
president
of
Concerned
Citizens
for
Equal
could not be properly represented.
Dowdell said at that time, the city
The city currently has four voting wards members of the black community what Justice, and Lindburgh Jackson, a former
should
change to single-member wards to
they
asked
for

"the
ability
to
elect
the
city
councilman,
two
of
the
main
people
with two council members elected from
better
represent all aspects of the
candidate
of
their
choice,"
she
said.
pushing
for
change.
each ward.

by Ryan Yawn

Under the new plan, the

two places in Ward 1 would
be divided geographically so

community.
Not everyone was pleased with the
decision to change the voting wards,
however. James Warfleld of 1212 Jenkins
Drive said, "I don't see the point. It looks
like resegregation to me."
Councilman Sam Harris said even
though the plan "answers the question by
the black community, it is not a good
move, although it can be seen as a move
that is not entirely negative to the city."
The success of the plan lies in who the
community elects, Harris said. "A sector of
the community could get isolated," he
said.

SGA committee hears

project funding requests
Majority of projects ask budget and finance
for increase to better salaries, expand services
by Jennifer Acevedo
TOM
1NTKE
AFF101rAL
News Editor

Salary increases for campus

leadership positions seemed to be
the order of the day as the Student
Government Association Budget
and Finance committee received
requests from student activity fee
projects this week.
The SGA Senate sent 13 activity
fee projects on to the budget and
TODD VAN KMST/ Photo Editor
finance
committee
for
consideration of $1,117,719 in
approved requests. This year, the
SGA has $960,290 to allocate after
Basketball entertainer Dave Davlin amazes the crowd at halftime of Saturday's 113placing $15,000 in the reserve fund
Tuesday night.
83 Tiger win against LSU. Davlin is a world-famous artist of basketball tricks and
The SGA's request of $147,177
travels to various cities, where he showcases his spinning talents.
represented the largest increase
from last year. The organization
hopes to pick up an additional
$62,533 in funding.
Treasurer Mike Fucci said the
increase was because of bigger
requests in the spirit committees,
which provide shakers for football
games, and officer salaries.
"It does seem like quite an
They were saying that I had an increase, but the big increase is
by Jennifer Acevedo
unfair advantage because I was a due to the fact that the athletic
News Editor
by Nancy Btstritz
host of the show, and I got to department to date has no plans to
Assistant News Editor
Running
for
Student speak for two hours about my donate the usual $12,500 as they
Government Association president personal opinion about campus have in the past," Fucci said.
A traffic accident last week near
SGA Senator Brandon Wright
can be a full-time job, but for issues, and the other candidates
the intersection of Shug Jordan
voiced his concern that the
candidate Ashley Wright, it also didn't," Wright said.
Parkway and Donahue Drive
"I can kind of agree with that, increase was too large.
meant giving up a job.
claimed the life of a 21-year-old
but I was not campaigning over
"To me, it just seems unrealistic.
University student.
SGA Elections Board told
the air, so there was no violation
I'll
save my complaints until we
Wright, former host of WEGL's talk
According to an Auburn police
turned in."
start
cutting, but I think there's a
show "On the Air," Wednesday his
report, the driver of the car lost
The regulation cited by the
lot
of
waste in this budget," he
job
at
the
station
was
in
conflict
control and hit an embankment at
board was Section 707.5 of the said.
with campaign regulations.
about 1 a.m. Feb. 10.
The second largest increase in
Wright resigned from the post SGA's Code of Laws, which
John H. Johnson, who was in
requests,
up $27,926 from last
after the Feb. 10 show.
the passenger seat, was ejected
year,
came
from the University
"I can kind of see their point.
from the car

Sit and spin...

Car accident
claims life
of student

SGA advises candidate

to resign from talk show

see WRIGHT, page A3

and and died |

on impact.
He had been
wearing
a
shoulder
restraint but
w
a
s
pronounced
dead on the
scene by the , ' , . , _ . .
Lee
County J O H N S O N
Coroner.
The two other passengers in the
car, James Edward Day, 22, and
Kelly B. Land, an Auburn
graduate, suffered bruises and
abrasions, a police spokeswoman
said.
An avid sports fan, Johnson had
a love for hockey and a way with
people, Johnson's friends and

see STUDENT, page A3

WRIGHT
Program Council.
UPC coordinator
Andrea
Galzerano said the organization
hopes to add another summer
orientation session and one more
national media speaker to its
lineup next fall. The group also is
requesting salary increases for its
officers.
"They put in an incredible
amount of time. We ask them to
come to all of the events,"
Galzerano explained.
The UPC also hopes to add
another director position to
provide student input to the "Eagle
Eye" television program.
In a move contrary to recent
trends, The Glomerate* requested
almost $800 less than last year.
Editor Ashley Wright said this
year's budget was a realistic
representation of what the
organization hoped to spend.

"We're not trying to put a lot of

pork in our budget to give you all
room to cut. There really is no
room to cut," he said.
Instead of asking that money be
set aside in the reserve fund for
The Glom in case problems occur
at the printer, the organization
asked that the SGA provide it with
a one-time allocation. That money
would then be rolled over in-

see BUDGETS, page A3

Civil rights group criticizes hate crimes legislation

Detractors say bill omission of sexual orientation sends public dangerous message
by Vanessa Ray
Assistant News Editor
Representatives from the Southern Poverty
Law Center believe the state Legislature is
omitting two important words in the
proposed hate crimes bill, "sexual
orientation."
The bill, passed by the House and facing
Senate scrutiny presently "would impose
additional penalties on a person who
committed a crime and was motivated by
the victim's actual or perceived race, color,
religion, national origin, ethnicity or

disability."
The center submitted a request to the
Senate Judiciary Committee for a public
hearing to discuss hate crimes.
"That request was denied. The senators'
office said it was an oversight, that they did
not get the letter in time, but the letter was
hand-delivered," lobbyist for the center Crae
Pridgen said.
Pridgen became a victim of a hate crime
when he was attacked by a group of
Marines in Wilmington, N.C., last year. He
said he filed lobbying papers with the state
Legislature on the center's behalf, a?id the

"We've been avoided and ignored. This is not a moral issue;

it's not a gay-rights issue; it's an issue about crime and
violence."
Crae Pridgen
lobbyist for Southern Poverty Law Center
next day the House passed the present hate general is.
"We've been avoided and ignored. This is
crimes bill. "The last three weeks have been
very hectic because I'm trying to get our not a moral issue; it's not a gay-rights issue;
senators to realize how serious a problem it it's an issue about crime and violence,"
is with the gay and lesbian community and
how serious a problem late crime in

see HATE, page A*3