The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News

Media Credit: JOSH D. WEISS The ACC police and ACC leisure services set up blockades to prevent people from entering Dudley Park while they removed the body and investigated the death Tuesday. [Click to enlarge]

Univ. student charged with animal cruelty absent at court hearing

Ashley Rose Council was scheduled for her first day in court Tuesday, but she did not attend.

Council, a junior from Ellenwood, faces seven felony counts of animal cruelty. She is accused of beating seven puppies to death and leaving their bodies near a dumpster, according to police records.

If convicted, Council could face up to five years in prison and a $15,000 fine per felony count.

As of press time, it could not be confirmed whether Council has legal representation or if she was told not to attend the hearing at the Athens-Clarke County Magistrate Court.

The hearing is the first step in the legal process for defendants to acknowledge they understand the charges brought against them.

Tracy Giese, public relations director for the College of Veterinary Medicine, said Council has been suspended from her job at the Animal Hospital, which was strictly clerical.

Giese said the University will wait to make a decision regarding Council's job status until the investigation is complete.

Body found in river identified by police

By Carolyn Crist
The Red & Black

Police believe they know the identity of a body found in the North Oconee River around 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"He is a light-skinned black male between the ages of 25 and 30," said Athens-Clarke County Capt. Clarence Holeman.

A deputy from the Clarke County Sheriff's Office recognized the man and thinks he was at the county jail previously but must contact family to confirm the identity, he said.

Holeman said the body may have been in the water between two and five days. An autopsy conducted Tuesday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's State Crime Lab could tell the cause of death.

An east Athens man and University woman saw the body while crossing the Oconee Street bridge at 11 a.m. Firefighters pulled the body from the river, and police set up a perimeter.

"There has been no missing person report, but someone could have been gone for a few days and people not even think about it," Holeman said.

The body showed no outward signs of trauma. Police will conduct a timeline to discover when the man first went missing.

Security director retires from Univ.

Director of University Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, Opal Haley is retiring Nov. 1. Haley has been at the University for 24 years. She became the director in 2005. Haley coordinated the University's Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and introduced the UGAAlert system.

Steven D. Harris, emergency operations manager in the office, will serve as interim director.

Univ. grad student wins scholarship

A University graduate student in physics and astronomy received the Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Scholarship from the American Vacuum Society. Jianguo Fan received the award at the AVS 54th International Symposium and Exhibition. Fan researches liquid-nanostructure interaction in Yiping Zhao's group.

A postdoctoral associate in physics received the 2007 Outstanding Young Researcher Award from Thin Film Division AVS. Yuping He received the award at the same symposium.

Drought updates given Thursday

Georgia's State Climatologist, David Stooksbury, will hold a news conference Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in the Driftmier auditorium. Stooksbury will give updated information about the drought conditions and expectations for the winter and spring 2007-08.

Creativity 'father' honored for test

E. Paul Torrance will be honored at the National Association for Gifted Children's annual convention. Torrance is known as the "Father of Creativity," and he developed the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking - a benchmark method for quantifying creativity - and created a platform for research on the subject since.

Assistant director moves up in rank

The University Division of Academic Enhancement has a new director. Earl Ginter, who served as assistant director and interim director, will begin as director Nov. 1. The director reports to the vice president of instruction, Jere Morehead.

Ginter has worked at the division for more than 20 years.

Roosevelt to speak about her family

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt will answer questions about public policy and the Roosevelts on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in M. Smith Griffith Auditorium at the Georgia Museum of Art.

Roosevelt is the granddaughter of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The event is the keynote event of the fifth annual Policy Day held by the School of Social Work. Roosevelt is the vice president of Global Corporate Citizenship for The Boeing Company.

Univ. researches couple behavior

A College of Family and Consumer Sciences research project examines whether couples facing both financial and marital stress can benefit from simultaneously receiving counseling in both areas.

Funded by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the study focuses on couples sharing a home for at least six months. One person must have a job. The combined family income is at poverty or below.


- University News Service

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