Georgia Gazette

Thank you. I'm Bruce Dorton, and this is Georgia Gazette. Coming up on today's program, it stinks. It stinks because it is a deliberate attack against all of the current congressmen, representative of the black people in the state of Georgia. Christopher's flair in the Georgia Senate over a congressional redistricting map that makes it out of that chamber, will have an update on the goings-on under the gold dome.

Football season is in the air again. Coaches all over Georgia face the same pressures, win or leave. The college football season begins this weekend, and one long time fan shares his idea of a winning game plan for the Georgia Bulldogs. Plus a new ad campaign for the Paralympics challenges the notion of what it means to be disabled. Those stories and more coming up on Georgia Gazette, but for us the news from National Public Radio. Good afternoon and welcome to Georgia Gazette, I'm Bruce Dorton. On today's edition, a look at the heated battles going on at the state capital over congressional redistricting. The Georgia dome is the site of this weekend's game between the Falcons and the Panthers. The feels ready for the players, but is the dome safe for fans?

We'll find out. And a new book is out that tells the story of four boys sent to reform school in upstate New York where they were beaten and sexually abused. Its author says sleepers is about friendship and revenge. The stories, plus a commentary, a commentary or two on today's program, Georgia Gazette, it's a radio magazine, enjoy it, and pass it on. The Georgia General Assembly has adjourned for the long Labor Day weekend. All of the legislators have been at the Capitol for three weeks, trying to redraw the state's legislative and congressional districts. Most of the work has been completed, but an agreement hasn't been reached yet on what the state's congressional district should look like. While nearly all of the lawmakers are spending the holiday at home, six members of a legislative conference committee are still at work in Atlanta trying to hammer out a congressional plan that will satisfy the demands of most members of the General Assembly and pass muster

with the U.S. Department of Justice. James R. Groves reports. The conference met twice yesterday, but were unable to reach any common ground. As is the case in most redistricting sessions, race is playing a major role in this one, and it is the main stumbling block to reaching a compromise. However, there are other issues to resolve as well, such as how many counties should be split, and in what districts, Macon and Columbus should be located. But the most heated disagreements center around whether Georgia should have one, two, or possibly three, majority-black districts. A plan passed by the House last week protects two of the state's three black members of Congress and gives the third a fair chance of winning. But a map approved Thursday by the Senate contains just one majority-black district. That proposal was introduced by Albany Democrat Mark Taylor, and it produced some of the most emotional and angry debate of the three-week-old special session. But two of Georgia's ten black state senators went to the well to condemn the plan.

Columbus Senator Ed Harbison was among those who spoke out against the map. Put it plainly, it stinks. It stinks because it is a deliberate attack against all of the current congressmen, representative of the black people in the state of Georgia. And I think it's unfortunate that the senator who drew it up from the 12th called it fair. Fair as long as it's holding a spell in the hole around the necks and the political future of blacks in the state of Georgia. While Harbison objected to the plan itself, other black lawmakers directed their anger at white colleagues for even putting the proposal together. Villageville Senator Floyd Griffin said the debate reminded him of other speeches, once made many years ago. I have sat here for the last hour or so, and I've listened to some of you great Americans and great Georgians say some things that I just can't believe I'm hearing in 1995.

You know, I cannot believe what I am hearing and what I am seeing, that you are willing to take my people back to where I was when I was growing up in Villageville, Georgia. Things have changed, but they haven't gotten better. Despite the objections of Harbison Griffin and others, white legislators in both parties joined together to send the plan to a conference committee. It was a shocking vote for black lawmakers who sat silently in the chamber while the plan was being ratified. Savannah State Senator Diane Harvey Johnson said the vote proved the Senate lacked the leadership necessary to do the right thing for all of Georgia's citizens, and she singled out white Democrats as deserving most of the blame.

The lieutenant governor and the white Democrats pretty much had settled into what they were going to do anyway, and they don't give a ham sign what you got black people in the state of Georgia. Johnson's comments were rejected as untrue by Lieutenant Governor Pierre Howard, who said the map was the only one that could get enough votes to pass. He admitted, however, that he preferred another plan that had been introduced by Democratic leaders, but that proposal was voted down by the full Senate. It's kind of like having a clutch give out just before the crest of the hill. We almost got the votes to pass a consensus map. We were about two votes short, and then when people saw that we could not get the votes to go all the way over the top of the hill, then it just collapsed. Some people say imploded, but after that, then other maps started looking attractive to individual senators for different reasons, and that's why the second map passed, I think

the Republicans liked it, a lot of white Democrats liked it, and it got the votes. One thing the Senate vote accomplished was that it shifted attention away from that body and directed it at the conference committee, which will try to reach some kind of an agreement before the rest of the legislature returns on Wednesday. The committee is made up of three members of the Senate, which are appointed by Lieutenant Governor Howard, and three House members chosen by Speaker Tom Murphy. Murphy says the referees have their work cut out for them. There's a far difference in the map we pass in what the Senate pass, so I guess it will take some effort to get us back together. Some makers on the committee are feeling the pressure from all sides. Black lawmakers want three majority black districts. Income a congressman want districts drawn that they can win, Republicans want the new districts to look as much like the president wants as possible, and still others threaten to sue the state of Georgia if race appears to be the predominant reason why a district was drawn the way it was.

House Conferrey Tommy Smith of Alma says it's too early to speculate on what the congressional districts will eventually look like, but he believes the final plan will include ideas taken from both the House and Senate versions of the map. I think you're going to see ultimately a plan that has features of a lot of what we see. I don't think the House plan that it's currently written will prevail, and I don't think the Senate plan will prevail, but that's the whole purpose of having the conference committee to reach agreements and compromise and try to come out with something that everybody can live with. When the conference committee finally agrees on a new map, it will be sent to the House and Senate for ratification. Once Governor Miller signs that the new congressional district plan will be sent to the Justice Department, which has until October 15th to decide whether the map is acceptable or not.

If the conference committee can't agree on a map or if the Justice Department fails to meet its deadline, the district lines will be drawn by a three-judge federal panel. But none of that matters to Senator Diane Harvey Johnson, who says this process is far from over. I would imagine with all of whatever we do up here you're going to have a whole lot of suits filed anyway, and this is going to go on for quite some time. I'm James R. Groves. As part of this story on redistricting, Bruce Dorton talked with University of Georgia political science professor Dr. Charles Bullock about the process and its ramifications. Well, when we look at what the Democrats are warning and what the Republicans are warning, and of course the representation that the blacks want in the state of Georgia, who do you think has the strongest edge to get the most, if not all, of what they want? As often happens in politics, I doubt that anyone is going to get everything that here she wants. White Democrats arguably have the most gain.

Currently there is not a single white Democrat in the Georgia Congressional delegation. It's certainly possible that after a district plan is approved and put into effect and we hold elections under that 1996, there may still not be any white Democrat. But at least the white Democrats I think are looking to use this process to give them a possibility of winning a seat. Black Democrats potentially have the most at stake. There are currently three African Americans representing Georgia and Congress. Undoubtedly one of these, John Lewis, will survive. Both plans give him districts which are around 55, 57 percent black. Cynthia McKinney's district is reduced in its black concentration in the House planned down to about 53 percent and in the Senate planned it falls clear down to 44 percent. This doesn't necessarily mean she couldn't get reelected, but it means that she's going to have to campaign probably in a different fashion. That is she's going to have to try to attract a larger share of the white electorate under either of these plans probably than she has in 1992 and 1994 into the current plan.

The person who gets hurt most by this is Sanford Bishop who represents the second district which takes in the southwestern corner of the state. Currently he has a 57 percent black district. The state House plan gives him a district which is just under 50 percent black, but the Senate plan drops that percentage down to about 40 percent black. The Bishop would have potential problems both in the primary, where he's the greatest problem would be. Both the second and the 11th districts under either of these plans is highly probable that it would elect a Democrat. Currently if we look across the South there's not a single Republican who represents a district that is more than 30 percent black and so these two districts which would be somewhere in the 40 to 50 percent range depending upon which plan or some combination of these plans might go into effect would be very likely to elect a Democrat although it may not be a Black Democrat. Do you have any idea what kind of map would actually be acceptable to the final authorities?

By final authorities do you mean the court biggest? This is drawn, if we get a compromise plan and the governor signs off on it it's going to go both to the first justice department for its approval and then it would only end up before the three judge panel in Augusta. Three judge panel in Augusta has given the state until October 15 to get a plan pre-claired. If there is no plan before the court at that point the court itself may draw a plan and so it may be that we would operate under a plan not even drawn by the legislature. The court in a hearing held last week indicated that it did not see any necessity of coming up with a plan that would have say three majority black districts. Indeed one of the judges and I guess actually two of the judges suggested that one of the conditions would simply be that you not reduce the number of black districts below what

existed under the 1982 plan and at that point there was one black district and the fifth district in Atlanta. So it's certainly possible that a plan which has one majority black district or one with two black districts may satisfy the court. Well looks like we'll find out next Wednesday when our lawmaker is returned to the Capitol to find out if members of the conference committees have reached an agreement. Right? All right Dr. Charles Bullock, political science professor at the University of Georgia. Thank you very much for your time and appreciate you being with us on Georgia Gazette. You're quite welcome. The Atlanta Falcons and the Charlotte Panthers will open the regular NFL season Sunday when

they go head to head in the Georgia dome. Just two weeks ago the side of that game was in serious doubt when several roof panels and rows of seats in the upper deck of the dome collapsed. Sid Hoskinson reports now on what's being done to fix the dome and protect the fans sitting inside. The Georgia dome in Atlanta boasts the largest suspension roof in the world. It made for great PR until several of its fabric panels collapsed after a big storm. Dome spokesperson Kelly Cannon explains. Recently during heavy thunderstorms and high winds we had four panels that were torn on the building and water came into the building and created some damage to the upper seating areas and a little bit of water damage in the building. It was a few helper cables that broke and allowed the panels to tear. At the actual structure of the cable roof it's very sound. In addition to the damaged roof panels the storm destroyed several hundred seats in the upper level.

That was two weeks ago since then dome officials, architects and engineers have been hard at work assessing the damage and figuring out how to fix it. They acknowledged that pooling of water on the roof has been a persistent problem since the stadium opened in 1992 and they still are not exactly sure why the roof picked this time to collapse. But while the visuals continue to look for answers Kelly Cannon says fans can rest assured they will be safe in the dome this Sunday. Basically what we've done is put four new panels for the panels were torn in the upper section on those four and those temporary panels are sitting on a network of steel cables that will quickly transfer any load to the primary structural system. We've also gone in and inspected the entire cable and fabric structure system in the roof. And we've also put in an extra safety measure of putting dome engineering and bird air roof representatives on the roof throughout any events that we're going to have while we work

toward a permanent fix. And we think that the permanent fix is a matter of weeks not months away. One day's game between the Falcons and the Panthers begins at 1 o'clock. There are still approximately 10,000 tickets available and no rain is in the forecast. But Cannon says that wouldn't be a problem anyway. I think it was an unusual set of surface dances including very, very high downward winds and the torrential rain. And that was the sort of condition that doesn't come along all the time. But we're certainly monitoring it. We've gone in and put extra safety precautions in and we're ready to play football in there. I'm Sid Hoskinson. Long time Georgia football fan Pete McCommons has come up with what he thinks is a winning game plan for the Georgia Bulldogs and he shares it with us. Football season is in the air again. Coaches all over Georgia face the same pressures, when or leave. Here in Athens at the University of Georgia, coach Gough must show significant improvement or be gone.

An improvement means a winning season, not just South Carolina and New Mexico state, but Florida and Alabama and them too. Bulldog fans will settle for nothing less. It's a testosterone thing. But we may be barking up the wrong goalpost. Vince Lombardi said winning is everything, but he was a pro coach where everybody plays for money. There may be a better role model for college athletics. Whatever happened to coach, the guy in the old movies on TV. You know he's out there on the field at twilight where the football tucked under the arm of his sweatshirt, always ready to talk to a kid with a problem. The kind of guy who makes you want to win games so he'll be proud of you. The kind of coach that players drop by to see long after they've gone out into life to apply the lessons coach instilled on the gridiron. Why not go back to that model? Take Coach Gough, for instance. Today, before Coach Gough is won or lost another game, why not simply tell him he's got the

job win or lose, that he's Georgia's football coach come hell or high water. Right away that removes the crushing pressure to win at all cost, freeing the guy to relax and concentrate on his job. In return for such an offer, Coach Gough can agree to forego the shoe endorsements in the TV contracts and the radio commitments that demand he speak with the listening audience even before he gets back to his players in the locker room after a game. He can give up the lecture circuit that pulls him away from his job in his family night after night. He can cut back on all those lucrative commitments that interfere with his coaching. Sure, his pay will plummet down around the level of a neurosurgeon but his attention will be focused on his team and he'll have job security. He put the coach back on the field where he's accessible to his players, where his doors always open to the kid with a problem, where coaches in there scheming up new plays to outfox Florida instead of running out the door to catch the flight to his next sportswear endorsement.

Good old coach, providing the continuity as players come and go, providing the stability that keeps the program going through thick and thin, who rejoices when we win and takes it worse than the most rabid fan when we don't. Coach Gough is perfect as this role model. He's a native Georgian, he started quarterback for his Bulldogs, he was a popular and effective assistant coach and now he's head coach. He's not just another off the shelf coach, he's Georgia's coach. Sure he talks in cliches, sometimes makes dumb calls and may not have the administrative skills to run a big SEC football corporation, but that doesn't matter. We've got 18 assistant coaches and recruiters, a deep pocketed football machine, well-heeled alumni support, big butt television contracts, a savvy athletic director and a support staff off the depth charts. There are plenty of other people to handle the paperwork and let the coach hang out with

the team where he belongs. We can win without having to hire the kind of superstar who comes in and turns the program around and then the NCAA comes in and tells us how he did it. Meanwhile, give the coach a break, give all coaches a break. Let's get back to fundamentals, the players. If the program is committed to the coach and the coaches committed to the school then the players can show some loyalty to the school too. They can win one for the Gough for the team for the school instead of playing with one eye on a contract like their coach. We might miss some good players who prefer to matriculate at a football factory, but the ones we get will have the kind of moral fiber we want football to build. Sure, that's an idealistic notion, but shoot, that's what college football is all about, isn't it? A bunch of kids giving their all for their coach and their school where fans support their team win or lose and there's no bigger fan than the coach himself.

The winning is everything or it matters not you want to lose, but how you play the game. The choice is clear. Even if it really isn't open for discussion, go dog. This is Pete McCombs. Pete McCombs is editor of Flagpole Magazine and Athens Weekly covering music, art and politics. I'm Bruce Dorton, still to come on today's program and interview with the author of a best selling new book about a group of best friends whose prank sends them to a juvenile detention center where they are beaten and raped by guards. It's called Sleepers. They look like commercials, but these advertisements are actually part of a new public service campaign put together by an Atlanta ad man for next year's Paralympics. The content will surprise you. Those stories and more, stay with us.

Valentine Books has just published a new novel that you may already be hearing a lot about. Author Lorenzo Carcatera wrote it about himself and three friends and a prank that changed their lives. Carcatera was in Georgia recently and he talked with Sid Hoskinson about his largely autobiographical book, Sleepers. The word is slang. It's street talk and it was street talk in the 60s when I was a kid and it has two meanings. An out of town hitman who came in to town to kill somebody and then spent the night that was called a sleeper and kids who were sentenced to a juvenile facility for an extended period of time were also called Sleepers. So it fit the story in both instances and I also like the title. I like one more title.

Carcatera says his book Sleepers is about himself, friends, Tommy, John and Michael and growing up in Hell's Kitchen. In the 1960s Carcatera says Hell's Kitchen was one of the safest neighborhoods in New York, at least for the people who live there, and his friends were typical boys who built models, read comic books and loved to play pranks on people. But in 1967 one of their pranks went horribly awry and ended with a runaway hot dog cart that almost killed one man and put the vendor out of business. The four best friends who were between 13 and 16 years old at the time were sent to a youth detention facility in upstate New York. In the second part of his book Carcatera writes about their time there and about the abuse, the humiliation, the rapes and the beatings the friends suffered at the hands of the guards. Two of the boys grew up to be hired killers, another became a lawyer and prosecutor, and Carcatera went into journalism and writing. The book's third section tells the story of revenge and justice. Carcatera says he wrote his book for two main reasons to remember and relive his adolescence

and to find a release from his memories of the torture and abuse. But he says it didn't work like that. And it turned out to be quite the opposite. And in fact on three occasions I decided not to finish the book and got to try to get out of the contract. Luckily I have a very patient editor. The book was supposed to take about a year and a half and took three years. But I just stopped. I couldn't deal with that second part which dealt with the rape and the abuse. And I just went out on one occasion I took a job on a TV show and another occasion. I just wrote a script. Three occasions I really didn't do anything. But then I said down whether I said look I'm going to give this one shot, one time only if it works fine, if it doesn't, we're out of it and he said fine. And it took about three, three and a half weeks that mental section to write. It was the most difficult section to write. But the ramifications, both the mental and physical ramifications of it, both in the writing and in talking about it are much worse than I thought they would ever be.

And it's been more difficult now, especially since you're constantly talking about the book and it has this sort of catch 22 to it. The book is so successful that people are really responding to it and at the same time because it is so successful which is what you want. You have to talk about it more and it just becomes mentally really a difficult process each night. You just go home and it's difficult to shut it down. So in hindsight, looking back, I don't know if I made the right decision in writing it. Carcaterus says sleepers is also a book with a message. And that is children must be protected from predatory adults. I hope if anything, it just makes people more aware that kids, even in these tougher kids there, I mean the kids today in juvenile homes are much tougher than the kids who were in juvenile homes when I was a kid. There's a reason why they're tougher. So let's look at those reasons.

Don't just say, well, this kid is really a mean kid, so let's write them off and turn them into a mean adult who will kill and kill and kill. There's got to be some point where you care about the kid enough to, and you save one kid. I mean, there's a priest in the book who really try to save all the kids in his neighborhood. Well, you couldn't do that. You couldn't save John, you couldn't save Tommy. To a certain extent, he couldn't save Mike, but he saved me. So if you can save one, but it took a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of energy and a lot of dedication. But there are a lot of guys like him out there and women who are, who devote an enormous amount of time to kids. What they lack are resources, what they lack are funds, what they lack are a sounding board to tell people what their problems are and to get those problems across to a wider audience. So if this book does anything, I mean, if it does do something like that, I mean, it's not filled with a lot of sociological messages, but it is filled, I think, with the importance of friendship, and it is filled with the fact that, you know, kids are targets.

I mean, their targets, either in a juvenile home or their targets on the street or their targets, even in their own homes, but they are targets, and we just simply have to be more aware of that. You mentioned a movie. How do you feel about that? What's going on with the movie? It's filming now throughout New York. It's directed, written and directed by Barry Levinson, who's done Rainman and Avalon and Diner, Disclosureal, sorts of great films, and it's got a great cast, Robert DeNiro, Jason Patrick, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon, many drivers. It's really sort of a dream come true. You know, on the other hand, as happy as I am about that, I'm very happy. You know, it's being made into a movie, and all these talented people are associated with it, and that the book is doing very well. You know, this is a part of me that says, you know, it would be better if my friends were here. You know, and if that part were gone, I mean, you could always make money. You know, and you can do whatever I was making good money in television, and it would

be nice to have the guys back, you know, but in a way, I will get them back on screen and in the book. So they're back in the book, and they'll be back on screen. That'll be a nice little thing to have. If it was tough for you to write the book, how difficult do you anticipate it's going to be to watch? I don't know. I mean, my involvement with, you know, I've been very involved with the filming, but I told Barry Levinson, I doubted very much, I could go up to the juvenile facility to see those scenes being done. So what I did do is I helped them hire technical advisors who could help them work that those scenes out. What I will do when the film is finished and ready for release, I'll ask them if I could see it by myself. And then if that sort of works, I'll ask them if I can see what my kids and my wife follow.

And then we'll, you know, we'll take it a step at a time, you know, and if I can't watch it, then I just won't go see it. You know, I mean, it's, you have the option, just like you have the option with television and radio, just turn the channel, turn it off, or would a book not to buy it. And so I don't know, that's a question that I'll face next year. The movie based on Carcatera's book, Sleepers, is doing theaters next fall. The book is published by Valentine. I'm Sid Haskinzen. The International Olympic Committee has awarded the 1996 Olympic Games to the City of Atlanta. You're listening to Georgia Gazette.

I'm Bruce Dorton. My guest now, Joel Stone, the director of transportation for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Joel, thanks for taking time and being with us. I know you're very busy. You're welcome. Thank you very much for having me. So let's talk about transportation during the Olympics. Many, many people are really worried that they just will not be able to get around in Atlanta or even at some of the other Olympic venues. How do you respond to that? Bruce, we have a dual job here in the Atlanta area. And one is to make sure that persons who want to go to the Olympics can do that in a reasonable way. You have to balance that with the idea that people need to work, they need to shop, they need to continue to go to the doctor and to the lawyer and whoever else. It's been a tough task to balance both of those and to ensure that people can operate as they usually do, and that is today. Frankly, the answer is they're not going to be able to operate as they do today.

There are going to be restrictions, there's going to be congestion, there's going to be activities going on in this region in the Atlanta region that we have never seen here before, the level of those activities. And thus it is not going to be business as usual. In Savannah, for example, we have a yachting venue and of course Athens is another venue. What about the problems that may be encountered there? How have you dealt with them? Well there are plans for moving athletes and members of the press and the broadcast media and others and the spectators in both of those cities. They are going to be affected as well, the events going on, especially in Athens, the number of events going on in Athens, the soccer and the other events, are going to be high-demand events, and the persons going to those are going to fill up the streets and roads, fill up the restaurants, fill up the service areas, so the people in Athens are going to feel

like it's Saturday, Georgia football for about 14 days. In Savannah, the number of spectators are smaller because remember the events themselves are out in the Atlantic Ocean and the number of spectators that can see that are limited by those that can find their way on to some sort of a boat to go out and view that. So the number of spectators in Savannah is considerably less than in other places, but the number of athletes, media and support personnel is going to be pretty great. Is it safe to say you're telling people the best thing to do is leave your automobiles at home and ride the motor? You're back to Atlanta now. It depends on what you're going to do, Bruce. If you're going to an event, you have a ticket and you're going to an event. We're going to have parking ride lots for you.

You should bring your automobile to that parking ride lot, which may in some cases be near a motor train station. In other cases, it may be around our perimeter, where we would service you with a bus. Yes, leave your car at one of those type of lots and ride either the rail system or ride the bus system. If you're coming to work in the downtown, there are anywhere else in Atlanta that passes through the downtown area. We need you to do that earlier than 730 in the morning. The peak period begins here at 730 in the morning and there is not enough room for those people who now travel to work and then the Olympic buses and cars that will be on the road at the same time. We do not need you on the freeway, traveling to work by yourself in a car during those hours. There's not enough room for that. Well the situation we're going back to Athens and back to Savannah now. Well the situation on a smaller scale be as congested in those two cities. In Athens, yes, in Savannah, probably not because of the limit on the number of spectators

that can actually see the event. What type of information is being passed on to those who are hoping to come to Georgia for the Olympics? I know we're sending out packages of material to people, but what type of transportation information are you passing out? Through broadcasts like this, we're telling the people certain things they should do, but we have a program that will include basically three large pieces of information, large emailings. One would be when people get back their confirmation of their tickets in September or October of this year, there will be information in there related to what they should do for transportation. Next spring, when they get their actual tickets themselves, there will be much more detailed information about how to access each and every venue, one by one, will be in that ticket package.

It could be as many as 10 or 12 pages worth of transportation information as I said, venue by venue. The third thing is that we're going to publish a map that will also include directions to venues, how to access those venues. We're going to do millions of copies of those maps so that anybody that wants a map will have those maps available to them at local stores, at Marta stations, at Park and Ride Lots, or even just calling ACOG and saying, I need a map. That distribution hasn't been worked out yet, but we are going to have a total map that includes the freeway system, the Park and Ride Lots, the Marta system, the entire transportation system, along with the venues themselves. That will be the third piece of the distribution and communication process. I thought just occurred to me, we are doing construction on our freeways in and around Atlanta.

What about emergency vehicles who need to get around? Will they be able to function to their best ability during the Olympic Games? Bruce, we have worked very closely with police and fire and medical to ensure that no matter what we've done in terms of blocking a street for Olympic use or whatever else, that those barricades come down in an emergency. There is no place where an emergency vehicle can't get to in our region under our plan. Everything will step aside for an emergency vehicle. Okay, one more final thing, Joel, is there any advice you'd like to give to those who are coming to Atlanta and hoping to drive their car and get around? Anything you'd like to say to someone? Yes, I want to be emphatic about this. Driving your car to Atlanta is fine, provided you use our system, and our system is not to drive to the venues. There is no parking at the venues. We are going to provide parking ride lots, either at the Marta train stations or around

our perimeter. Persons driving to Atlanta should get the maps, know where those are and drive directly one of those, leave their car and take the rest of the bus ride within our system. Remember that the ticket itself, for that day, gives them free access on our trains and on our buses for that entire day. Okay, Joel Stone, Director of Transportation for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Thank you very much for taking time and being with us, Joel. Thank you, Bruce. Today, Georgia Gazette Commentator, Audrey Balloon, AKA Ms. Lawyeroid, takes the case of

the Cabbage Pratch Kids, those lovable little dolls that are the official mascots of the U.S. Olympic team. Balloon says they feel quite taken advantage of these days. Dear Ms. Lawyeroid, we need your advice quickly, quickly. The Olympics are coming, the Olympics are coming. We used to be toys with an easy life, adopted by the nicest people. Now, woe is us. Because we've been chosen to represent the U.S. Olympic team. You see, our problem is that we're very short plump and not at all athletic. In fact, we don't ever move a bystep unless we're made to do so. Also, we can't fit into our spelled athletic clothes like the Olympiads wear. Although all of our Olympic outfits are made strictly to best present our figures, we can't keep our dimples from showing through. Now the secret of our being so very well nourished is out for all the world to see. Can you suggest how we can look as if we belong here?

If not, can you tell us of any kind of case that might carry us to victory? Sincerely, the green leafy vegetable dolls. Dear Chubby's, please be prepared for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because as nuts are on the loose, Ms. Loyeroid will not be able to sugarcoat her answer. The only kind of case Ms. Loyeroid might be able to suggest for you to shield yourselves from public display would be a piano case. Thus and so, without more to do dimple darlings, your chances of winning a lawsuit on this matter are as slim as the group of you put together. Ms. Loyeroid, therefore suggests that you keep on smiling so that you will appear to have no clue that you're too fat for fitness. Lastly, but not briefly, surround yourselves for all photo shoots and interviews with either the Sumo wrestling team or the Russian weightlifters, illegally yours Ms. Loyeroid.

In real life, Audrey Balloon is a practicing attorney in Macon. The Paralympic Games for Disabled athletes this week added five new sponsors, organizers say Eastman Kodak, Delta Airlines, Xerox, Randstatt, Staffing Services, and Miramar Communications are contributing a total of ten and a half million dollars to the games. But even with the new sponsorships, there's still only a little more than a half way to their goal of raising $100 million for the nine-day international sporting event. What the games need organizers say is recognition, and they're turning to the media to help raise the world's level of consciousness by running a new and innovative public service campaign created just for the Paralympics by a highly creative and successful commercial ad executive in Atlanta. Susanna Capeluto has the story. The Paralympics ad campaign is trying to break down stereotypes many people have about the disabled. The campaign includes billboard and print ads and a television commercial. Fast-cut video clips show images of Atlanta long jumper Elle Meade, including close-ups

of his artificial leg. The ad also shows swimmers and wheelchair sprinters. It all has the look and feel of sports shoe commercials. At the end, paraplegic Scott Holland broke stairs into the camera. That's the name of the ad campaign. What's your excuse?

It is the brainchild of Joey Reiman, president of Brighthouse and Atlanta ad agency. I think society is always positioned people with disabilities as people who can't do things. So thereby, take a look at them. Wow, they can't do what we do. So therefore, this is really exciting. What we try to do is say, let's not celebrate the Paralympians for what they can't do, but what they can do. I mean, it's a very different headset. And they can actually do more than we can, because they have gone down into their souls and pulled up their spirits and said, gee, recognize me for something that I love doing. Which is what we all want to do. Out of that came very in your face, what they call in your face advertising, because it doesn't tell people cry. It doesn't ask people to cry. It tells people to sing. It tells them to dance. It tells them to celebrate. It tells them to stare. Brighthouse developed the ad campaign free of charge. And Reiman says it's different from other public service campaigns.

Advertising is based on creating needs for people and then filling the gap. That's the sort of that it, it's almost sounds like a scam. You know, we go around creating a problem and then we solve it. Here, what we've done is instead of creating the problem, we've created a solution for everyone else's problems. And very rarely can advertising get ahead of the pact. In this case, I think it did, because it said, look, whatever you're feeling, whatever you feel today that you can't do, it is possible to do. And if you don't believe me, take a look at these people who are living their passions, not their professions, who are living their dreams, not someone else's, who are living life, who are having a real life experience, which is what we all want. That's solving, that's making people's dreams come true, that's not creating problems. Most public service campaigns say, oh my goodness, look at this problem, oh, we have such a problem.

Please fill our pockets, because if you fill our pockets, we will take care of the problem. This campaign says, all you need to do is fill your hearts and you can have anything you want. It's a very different paradigm, a very different equation for getting for success. One Paralympic athlete featured in a print ad is visually impaired runner and Georgian native Tim Willis. He will run the 1500, 5,000 and 10,000 meter races during next year's Paralympics. The ad pictures him running, the caption reads, I had a seeing eye dog once. He just couldn't keep up. This likes the ad and its message and he wants people to better understand the Paralympics. The Paralympics is an Olympic style event for athletes with disabilities and if people keep it in that context and see it as the best, the premier, the apex event for athletes with disabilities from all over the world and look at it from that angle and go from there I think they're right along the line of what the perception should be and part of that

is getting people just familiar with the word itself, Paralympics. Name recognition is important when someone hears the word Paralympics they know what that means and they know that they're going to be here in less than a year. Paralympic organizers hope the ad campaign will make the games a mainstream sporting event. Mark Hamburger is the vice president for consumer marketing at the Atlanta Paralympics organizing committee. He says with increased public support, corporations will see the event as a great marketing tool. In the Paralympics, we should consider to be a new product in the United States. It's a wonderful product. It has a great many product benefits that are very attractive to people once they understand what the Paralympics is. Once the Paralympics are known and understood as a property, I think sponsors will gravitate toward the Paralympics in that it represents so much of what is good in life and it represents

really a almost civil rights revolution for people with disabilities. But Paralympics officials can't just go after any sponsor. They have a marketing agreement with Olympic organizers which restricts what they can do. For example, if Visa, an Olympic sponsor doesn't want to sponsor the Paralympics, the Paralympic committee is forbidden to ask American Express instead. But they can pursue sponsorship from wheelchair manufacturers or others whose products don't compete with Olympic sponsors. Americans also hope to raise money from merchandising and ticket sales, a seed in the new Olympic stadium for the track events, for example, costs between 10 and 25 dollars. And with those prices Paralympics organizers say there is no excuse not to come to at least one event next year.

I'm Susanna Capeluta. I lost my leg when I was 9 years old. Author and gardener Lee May likes to watch the rain fall from inside his cozy Atlanta home. But roof gutters, he says, diminish the pleasure he gets from seeing the water cascade off his house and onto his hungry yard so he tells us today he's fixed that problem. gutters what are they good for absolutely nothing and that's why I recently relieved our house of them okay okay saying gutters are good for nothing maybe overstating the case a little bit gutters and downspouts do allow you to stand on your steps without

getting drowned by water running off the porch roof and these pipes may prevent a basement from taking in water but I have no basement and I don't spend a whole lot of time standing on the steps in the rain so I took the gutters off and now utterly gutterless I have seen no catastrophes so far just the opposite in fact the change has helped my garden. Now without gutters rains runs off the roof and right onto my hydrangeas next to the house. I decided to take off the gutters after living in the house for six years all that time I had been looking for a reason to keep them. The experts these are builders and gutter repairmen, roofers they all warned me that I should leave them on but nobody had a truly convincing argument for keeping the things. Totally roared your foundation when man said the house will look strange without them another one said and these are not good reasons for having gutters and downspouts.

On the other hand I had a whole lot of reasons for taking them off as many reasons as there are leaves and acorns that clogged up the things. Believes could back up damning the water which rotted the wood behind the gutters clearly something had to be done. But before I did it I checked out some very old homes without gutters. One in the North Georgia Mountains had little plants along the drip line all around the house seemed to be doing fine. Then on St. Simon's Island a slave cabin without gutters had oyster shells all around it still standing all these years so I came home and had my own gutters taken off one evening. Occasion was momentous but it was unceremonious. Two workers tossed the last chunk of metal onto a truck and they were gone. Off into the night leaving me happy and gutterless.

A funny thing happened since I had the gutters taken off. It seems to rain a whole lot less. Harley any this summer. A weird coincidence of course but if it ever does rain again I'll be ready to watch the water run free, untamed, unguttered. Lee may write a gardening column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and his author of the book in my father's garden. And that's Georgia Gazette for this week our program produced by Susanna Kappa Little and Zitt Hoskinson with help from James R. Groves and membersation W.U.G.A. in Athens. Next week a wrap up of the Georgia General Assembly's special session on redistricting. And a talk with the author of a new book The Challenging Child about how to help difficult types of children grow and succeed while keeping your sanity and your temper. I'm Bruce Thornton have yourself a nice day and a nice week. Broadcast of Georgia Gazette is made possible in part by a grant from West Point Stevens.

If you have questions or comments about this program please write to Georgia Gazette Peach State Public Radio, 1540, Stuart Avenue, Southwest, Atlanta, Georgia, 30310 or call us at 1-800-654-3038. Contractors! Usually you can just drive your boat up and park your car and take it off of the trailer and you can carry it to the launching facility and having to tractor and trailer like that is a little inconvenient.

So but you've heard about these little kings that still have to be worked out. Is there anything you would tell or you can see that could be better or could be I mean I know there's some things that can't be changed like you know we hear the racists out there and Georgia does have barrier islands but is there anything that would make you alive as sailors easier that that well I let's see the I've been involved with this is the third regatta that I've been involved with here in Savannah since they announced the Olympics were going to be here and it seems that the Olympic organizers are improving every single time we come back and that um they are definitely with all the volunteers and the wonderful support people from Savannah um they're working on a lot of the suggestions that were made earlier on um the fact that this venue is 11 miles or the sailing side is 11 miles away from the venue is terrible no matter what and that but that we can't change so I think that they're getting more organized they're streamlining some of the logistics they're working hard they work you can tell that they're really working yeah there is

just a sea of volunteers you know and in organizing the volunteers you know they're doing better and better job and the volunteers are getting a little more experience as well and that's certainly helping but um I I wish I had more suggestions except that the the most important thing for us for the sailors is to not think about it and to just go sailing and so that's why we probably hesitate more than we should it's just that we're trying not to do other people's jobs and do our own job and that is qualified for the Olympics you know so great okay good well thank you so much yeah there's volunteers but they're really into it here I mean I guess at every Olympics they are it's true at in Barcelona the the Olympics there are volunteers everywhere and um and it's contagious it's part of the Olympics that's what they say hello how are you doing how are you so did you marry a sailor too yeah I'm married a sailor he um he he works a little more than he

sails which is a good thing I guess I wish sail more than we work so we need that balance so it's just the measurement yep this is the sailing measure that what oh this is what you all have to come to measure no I don't I'll measure it okay all right well thank you so much girl and what is it that you all have to do here well the boats and for the Olympics are one design and this station is to measure them

to ensure that each boat is identical that they meet the class measurements and what kind of training did the measuring volunteers had to go through to find out how to do this pretty much on the fly I think for the specific get the boat measured being trained as uh it goes on and what's your name Mark Mer and what is it you do here uh I'm just checking the boats in letting them register and I think the problem that we're having with uh training is that many of us are from out of town and so we have just come this week and uh we're catching out very fast though it's going well it's uh volunteered so I check the man and make sure they have all their credentials and then I pass the papers on to the people who are doing the measuring you're already measuring right now yes sir ma'am so this is being measured here okay

how unvale thank you how Is he volunteer too? Oh, he's he staff, right? Perhaps I'm down on this.

Okay, funny. Do you know a lady I spoke to on the phone? Really, this woman name was Joni. Joni, is she here somewhere? She's down. There's a 10th down. Joni? Yes, hi. I'm Susanna Capelito. We spoke on the phone. I finally tracked you down. I'm sitting here waiting to take a no-dose, I think. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. How are you? Good. I had a nice look around yesterday and I talked to some people and they're all the women we're pretty happy. It feels like we're not glad to hear that. Actually, we thought we were going to die in this tent, but it really isn't that bad. So, what is it you do here today? We measure. And for the actual Olympics, every bit of the boat has to be measured.

And from stem to stern. And we have officials for each class and they come in from around the world and they kind of run their own Bailey Whip. People of officials haven't come yet because their classes aren't going to be measured until the weekend. But in the meantime, we're struggling with their setups and trying to make sure they have enough room and so forth. But the purpose, of course, is so that everyone is equal. And started out equal. But if there are disputes later on, then we go back to their folders. We've been doing folders all morning and go through and to see what was written down in the folders. Is this the first time that you're doing measurements for an event like this? So have you volunteered or never? Our first time as beginners was last summer for the July regatta. And then we had in October regatta, but there was no measurement. And then we had sessions in February where people came and some of our officials came to teach.

And then in April we had a regatta, but we just did one class. But we did everything with the one class where she took us forever. I just talked to one athlete who had been to three regattas here since in a Savannah, since the Olympics were announced. And she said that every time she could see that they would just get better and better. I mean, have you seen change like they've learned that they just have a sea of volunteers here now? And she just, I mean, she was crazy, but she just says they seem to have learned. My group pretty much just started last year. Because we're getting that much closer to the Olympics. And I don't know what happened before. I've only lived here a little over two years. Oh yeah, she was referring to last year. But last year we just, we did sales only for two classes, but we got pretty good at it. But we didn't have people.

And the tables make it a lot easier because you aren't down in your hands and knees. And as one might expect, a lot of the volunteers are retired people, because they can work some of the hours that working people can't work. So you have these tables, you're going to put the boats on them. No, or these are for the sales. And then we have templates. And if you come down here or just look down here, you'll see a template on this table. And they've been working all morning to get that lined up. So it would just be perfect. Do you want to go down there and take a look? I don't even know what classes is. They've been working all morning. My guess is it's a fin. But there are two or, between two and about six different areas that have to be measured. And the sale does not lay out flat at all. So you measure one area. And with all these markings, whoever's doing it knows what they all mean. And then you just have a sheet that you fill out.

And it can't be over a certain length or it has to be shortened. The tolerances, it's all done in the metric system. But the tolerances for many of the measurements are as little as a quarter of an inch. And you have an enormous sale. And you can't have it go over a quarter of an inch. But I don't know how it converts to metric. The volunteers, what do they get involved? I'm sure you have like some big official major, whatever guy who knows everything. Or he was like the official measure person. And then you have a lot of them. What are the volunteers coming? What is their job? The volunteers measure. They actually do it. And our head poncho is around here somehow. So you have some one guy here with the head? Yes. And then the officials, I won't say are under him because that's not really true. But they coordinate with him. And then for each class, we now have team leaders, which is very helpful. We weren't able to do that before because people didn't have enough experience.

And then from there, we have our regular volunteer, some of whom have not done this before. But they will learn very quickly. And there'll be enough who've had some experience to guide the newcomers. And so we have to have between six and 12 people for each class depending on the size of the class. And we have one class that we're going toward the end where there are 100 boats. And that's a lot of boats. And I don't know how we're going to get through it in three days. Enough volunteers. Well, except you can only take so many volunteers too. I mean, you can't just throw anybody in. And as someone said, all coming volunteer. But I don't want to park cars. But our people do have to have some training. And on the job is fine. But they really have to bone up and be alert. And why do you do this? Why do you go through this?

You have to go to training. You have to sit here. It's hot. It's muggy. The timing of the Olympics. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. And they have it here. And they have the yachting event in Savannah. And moreover, it's the 100th anniversary of the summer events, which I think people forget about. And oh, I think people are really excited about it. Those who are involved, I think those who earn involved are kind of terrified of the whole thing. And I'm sure some would wish they might go away. But I think, you know, that's what I mean. It's sort of the spirit. Once you're in it, this girl was also saying it's like they have like a sea of volunteers here. They're just eager to, you know, bring this Olympics to Savannah. And I mean, do you see that, you know, this has to be... You have to be really good this time so that you will finally do it. Yeah, we do. And I have, I'm lucky. I have a wonderful group. And they are really dedicated. And they're all ages. And we have two younger people who are doing a superb job. Actually, one hasn't come yet, but I've seen him in action before.

And I literally got into this because I thought I was going to hold the dumb end of a tape measure. But I just wanted to be a volunteer for the Olympics. And my actual job is volunteer to get volunteers to come and volunteer. So, here I am. And as a result, I'm not assigning myself to a particular class because I find I have to troubleshoot. And I do little jobs when somebody needs something little done. How many volunteers do you have in your group? Our measurement group is about 35. It may, we may get a few more, but we will have lost one or two in the meantime. And, but we have six classes that we are, I think, and they're actually doing measurement. And we need five or six people per class. And that's plus the official. And I have one more.

As the Olympics, this is sort of the big test event. Yes. Are you also testing volunteers? I mean, in terms of... No, are you like taking a look on who's good at this? I mean, so that next... No, I mean, is that really not... That isn't necessary. What we are really doing is making sure that those who have signed up are willing to keep doing it. A measurement is not for everybody. And I've had three or four people who've tried it a couple of times and say, hey, I'm sorry, it just isn't for me, and they're volunteering in other fields, so they're still here. And, you know, it's in place for everybody. So for you, it's a way to actually see, like, who's dedicated and who is? Well, yes. I think that's the purpose of this whole event, to see who is dedicated and who isn't. Because in anything like this, you're going to get several people who think, oh, well, just for the lack of it, I'll come and volunteer for a day or so, and then I can say I did it, and that it just isn't the case.

You have to be dedicated. And some of these groups, Kate, were here at 8 this morning, and Mayberry will be here at 10 tonight, without really a break, other than to get something to eat. And it's hot, but it isn't terrible. The fans do help circulate the air. And is the enjoyment you get just from meeting all these people from all over the world enough? Yeah, and actually, we don't have that much brush with them, because they come in, we measure, and they go out. And they all speak smattering of English, some a lot more than others. And I think it's just seeing everything go together. And it's just really exciting affair. And don't know what else to say. Great. Well, thank you so much. If you give me just for tape your phone name and the title, like volunteer coordinator or something? My actual name is Joan Kepler. I go by Joan. And I am the volunteer coordinator of getting volunteers for measurement. That's great. I like that.

That's a great job title. Volunteer coordinator to get volunteers. Well, I have a volunteer of us. Our head hot show is he has everything except the first volunteer. So I had put a second volunteer word in there just to make sure. Who can tell me you think how many Savannah volunteers are on the side? Do you think the media department will? Yeah, kind of. You would have to go to them. Yeah. And the building up there. I don't know who it is. Some cafe that we're talking about. Yeah. Well, so there we go. Yeah, we have some that said it started on the 29th and 7th and 7th and 3rd and 8th.

Yeah. That's great. Great. Thank you. You still tell me. I have a guest. Get two more at Hover Place. Thank you. Thank you. When you come from one night, don't get me going out, I'll see you next time, I'll see you next time, I'll see you next time, I'll see you next time.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The new technology comes out of a 10-year-old effort to create high-definition television or HDTV.

The goal has been to use a digital broadcast system to bring viewers a better picture, twice the current resolution and on a wider screen. But now that digital TV is about to be launched, broadcasters are rethinking the way they want to use it. Voice track number two, in three, two, one. Skip Peasy, technical editor of Broadcast Engineering Magazine and an industry consultant says the new digital signal will be more flexible because it's made up of distinct electronic bits of information. Three, two, one. Once this new digital signal is being broadcast, to receive it, you'll have to buy a new digital TV, for about $4,000 if you want a screen capable of generating the complex HDTV image. But for $400 or $500, you might be able to buy a digital television with today's picture quality that would receive the expanded number of channels. Broadcasting extra channels would lower the picture quality anyway, and Peasy says history suggests most people are likely to choose the cheaper option,

all of which might mean consumers will seldom see the brilliant pictures HDTV is capable of delivering. Still, being able to quadruple the programming potential of their current airspace is happy news to some broadcasters battling cable and all its channels. Preston Patton is president of network distribution for Fox Broadcasting Company. He says Fox could put out four or five channels on a single frequency and all would have somewhat better sound and pictures than what's available today. Not a lot of that would be free services. Patton says keeping the programming advertising supported and free to consumers would make broadcasting more competitive. Three, two, one. Competitors want Congress to put any extra channel space up for auction and cable interests are concerned that they might be required to carry any additional broadcast programming on their own cable lines. Some are lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to block additional broadcast channels or to charge broadcasters for their expanded programming.

But FCC Chairman Reid Hunt says he would not restrict multi-channel digital broadcasting. Three, two, one. But even if broadcasters end up getting all these new channels, not all of them see this as a panacea and the ambience of the editing room comes up here. Is it better not to know? He has a fast car. He has lots of money and then it goes to fast forward, fade down with some of that background ambience following that first ambience and then fade that out as we get towards this guy gym topping. Voice track in three, two, one. At KGO Television, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, the current estimate is that it will cost about $7 million to convert to digital broadcasting. KGO President Jim Topping estimates this cost could hurt stations in smaller markets, especially since there's no guarantee it will increase their audience in advertising income. Cable will be offering HDTV as well. And Topping says there are just too many variables with emerging technologies in cable, telephone, satellite, online computer services.

All of whom are jockeying for position in the television and home entertainment arena. And no matter who makes the most money through HDTV, consumers might want to know if this new digital medium is going to bring any changes in the content of what's available on television. That CC Chairman Hunt says if technology is expanding TV's broadcast space, this could be an opportunity for Congress and the public to stake out new territory. Check. Hunt says consumers should be able to purchase digital televisions by early 1997, but that doesn't mean your TV set will become obsolete overnight. HDTV stations most likely will be required to broadcast both their current analog signals and the new digital signals for a 10 to 15 year transition period. The FCC opens public comment on the new technology beginning July 28th. I'm Chris Arnold reporting in San Francisco. I'm Chris Arnold reporting for National Public Radio. I'm Chris Arnold reporting.

And next here are the actualities. If you finally came up with the idea, you could also split this up into a number of separate video programs as well, so that the broadcaster would become a multi-caster. Instead of broadcasting one big, nice high quality picture, if you had a channel that could carry that many bits, you could also allocate those bits so that it could carry several medium fidelity or normal fidelity compared to today. Pictures as well. And in fact, maybe you switch back and forth between those two modes. And in fact, that's just what we're looking at now. What we are talking about here is competition. It's what everybody's been looking for. Our company would love to start a free over the air all news channel to compete with CNN. Similarly, we'd like to start in addition to the basic Fox channel. You'd have this all news channel, an all children's channel all day long quality children's programming and other new services as well. Perhaps a sports channel, perhaps a movie channel that some of these could be subscription services, but a lot of them would be free services.

If you take the four or five or six stations that there are in each market, and if each of them can begin transmitting four or five streams of programming, you can see that pretty quickly consumers would have the option of simply picking up off the air. That's the option of services comparable to what they have to pay cable operators for today. The digital spectrum should be used for its full opportunity, and I don't believe government should restrict it. And if broadcasters find ways to broadcast digitally products and services that compete with other kinds of communications companies, I don't think we should stop or restrain that kind of competition. We ought to promote it and applaud it. I'm not too sure just exactly who the players are going to be on the field and what the shape of the field is going to be. Supposing we all increase our capacity and you come home one night and there's 400, 500, 600 channels to choose from. It starts to reach a point where you say, how thinly can you slice that pie? That's a huge amount of new information channels available with no significant increase in the total audience we have to serve.

I'm very much a market oriented guy except that I believe that where there are specific public interest claims, we ought to assert them concretely in a hard and those way. And so I would say to broadcasters, you know, you really should do what you think is best except I want some children's educational TV. I want some free time for political broadcasting. I want the public interest served as well as all of your private interests. I just met somebody else and I fell in love with them. Is it better not to know? He has a fast car and he has lots of money. He has a fast car and he has lots of money.

Okay, and just a last note, whoever puts this together. One of these got screwed up on when it was sent but it doesn't matter. Those are to be taken off a dat tape that Sarah has with morning edition. So I've got phone tape that phone tape should actually take those cuts off of the dat tape that Lesco gave to Sarah at morning edition.