On the Concourse Editorials Letters to the Editor Student Life Classifieds Tempo Music Comics Sports Stats Greenpeace retaliates against environmental bad guys —page C l Dt eekend W eather Part ly D2 cloudy; lo ws 40 s, highs 60 s oise w r r ges on Ordinance may be required to calm storm of complaints A5 Play ball Baseball team prepares for '94 Dl New Orleans fiesta Students celebrate Mardi Gras Bl QTlie^iuburn lainsman Thursday, February 17,1994 A Century of Excellence Volume 100, Num ber 15, 36 pages New ward creates minority voice by Ryan Yawn Plainsman Staff Writer W e are in support of the resolution that gives The Auburn City Council voted unanimously to adopt a plan to incorporate a majority-black voting ward into the current system Tuesday night. Several months ago, members of Auburn's black community called for a change in the city's voting w ards, say ing the current system was unfair, and they could not be properly represented. The city currently has four voting wards with two council members elected from each ward. Under the new plan, the two places in Ward 1 wo uld be divided geographically so citizens in one part the the black community what we askedjor, the ward would vote for Place a faluy to elect the cand idate of our choice. 1, and the other part would _ „ _. . _ i . „ vote for Place 2 —** • A ' L ' Dowdell Ward 1 Place 1 would presiden t of Concer ned Citizens for Equal Justice have a black population o f 64.3 percent. This proposal is a very viable on e, Mayor Jan Dempsey said. It gives members of the black comm unity what they asked for — the ability to elect the candidate of their choice, she said. The proposal met positive feedback from both the Rev. A . L . Dowdell, president of Concerned Citizens for Equal Justice, and Lindburgh Jackson , a former city councilman, two o f the main p eople pushing for change. Dowdell said he was pleased with the plan. We ar e in support of the resolution that gives the black community what we asked for, the ability to elect the candidate of our choice. But Dowdell said he would support the current plan only until the next census in six years, when state law requires that the voting lines be redrawn. Dowdell said at that tim e, the city should change to single-member wards t o better represent all aspects of the community. Not everyone was pleased with the decision to change the votin g w ards, however. James Warfleld of 1212 Jenkins Drive said, I don't see the point. It looks like resegregation to me. Councilman Sa m Harris said even though the plan answers the question b y the black community, it is not a good move, although ca n seen move that is not entirely negative to the city. The success of the plan lies in wh o the community elects, Harris said. A sector of the community could get isolated, he said. TODD VAN KMST/ Phot o Editor Sit and spin... Basketball entertai ner Dave Davlin amazes the crowd at halfti me of Saturday s 113- 83 Tiger win ag ainst LSU . Davli n is a world-famous artist of basketball tricks and travels to various cities, where he showcases his spinning talents. SG A committee hears project funding requests Majorit y of project s ask budget a nd finance for increase to be tt er salari es, expand se rvices Car accident claims life of student by ssistant News Editor A traffic accident last week near the intersection of Shug Jordan Parkway and Don ahue Drive claimed the life of a 21-year-old University student. According to an Auburn police report, the driver of t he car lost control and hit an embankment a t about 1 a. m. Feb. 10. John H. Johnson, who was in the passenger seat, was ejected from the car a n d and died | on impact. He had been wearing a sho ulder restraint but w a s pronounced dead on the S G A advises candidate to re sign from talk show Jennifer Acevedo News Editor Running for Student Government Association president ca n be a full-time job, but for candidate Ashley Wright, it also meant giving up a job. SGA Electio ns Boar d told Wright, former host of WEGL's talk show On the Air, Wednesday his jo b at the station was in conflict with campaign regulations. Wright resigned from the post after the Feb. 10 show. I can kind of see their point. They were saying that I had an unfair advantage because I wa s a host of the show, and I got to speak for two hours about my personal opinion about campus issues, and the other candidates I can kind of agree with that, bu t I wa s not campaigning over the air, so there was no violation turned in. The regulation cited by the board was Section 707.5 of the SGA's Code of Laws, wh ich see WRIGHT, page A3 b y Jennifer Acevedo 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 finance committee for consideration of $1,117,719 in approved requests. This year, the SGA has $960,290 to allocate after placing $15,000 in the reserve fund Tuesday night. The SGA's request of $147,177 represented the largest increase from last year. Th e 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 co mmittees, which provide shakers for football games, and officer salaries. It does seem like quite an increase, but the big increase is du e fact t hat athletic department to date has no plans to donate the usual $12,500 as they have in the past, Fucci s aid. SGA Senator Brandon Wright voiced his conc ern that the increase was too large. To me, it just seems unrealistic. I'll save my complaints until we start cutting, but I think there's a lo t of waste in this budget, he said. The second largest increase in requests, up $27,926 from last year, came from the University TOM AFF101 1NTKE r AL§ WRIGHT Program Council. UPC coo rdinato r 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 incredible amount o f 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 pu t 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 mo ney b e set aside in the reserve fund for The Glom in case problem s occu r 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 gro up criticizes ha te crimes legislation etractors say bill omissi on of sexual orientat ion sends publi c dangerous message