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 downtown 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 lends 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 W.J. Smith.

"We certainly would hate to think that there was two out there."

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 5'11" 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 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 apartment 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 continues 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.

Rails To Trails
Or A Photo Op?

Athens-Clarke County has purchased the partially 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. (See City Pages, July 26, on-line at flagpole.com.)
On October 24, Stalder received $20,000 in North 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 private 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 $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 get involved."
At an October 24 afternoon conference, representatives from the ACC government, the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, the 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 donations will be accepted to cover its purchase (go to athensclarkecounty.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 members 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 East Side. 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 $1 billion in available 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 $150,000 to $200,000. 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 $7 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 Greenway "interpretive 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 Heritage 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 Eldridge nor any Commissioners attended the meeting.

Public Invited To
Join In Decisions

Athens-Clarke County is looking for citizens to help with planning and zoning decisions following adoption of the new development ordinance.
After numerous delays by Mayor Doc Eldridge and the ACC Commission, a vote on the ordinance - the enabling legislation for the county's comprehensive land use plan - is now expected for December 5. Once the ordinance is implemented, 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 professional," 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 "neighborhood representative" and a "member-at-large." After some ACC Commissioners decided the term "neighborhood representative" was too vague, both slots were changed to "citizen representative."
Specifically, the boards will examine all variances 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 from 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. Gavrilles 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 development.
Hearings board members will be selected by the Mayor and Commission. Initial appointments will be for three, four and five years in order to achieve staggered terms. Subsequent terms will be five years "or until successors are appointed," 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. For more information, call Spratlin at 613-3031.