Alabama license plates get face lift
| ED LAMMON Staff Writer Alabama motorists will notice something a little different when they hit the road next year. Beginning Jan. 1, 1997, the Alabama Department of Revenue will begin issuing newly designed license plates to tag applicants. "The old Alabama plates are ugly, " Christina Gay, 02LA, said. "They're too plain." The new plates will be more colorful than the plain-jane plate that's probably gracing your bumper right now. They feature horizontal color screens of blue on top and red on bottom, both of which gradually fade into a thicker white screen across the middle of the tag. The word 'Alabama,' written with fancy new red lettering, is centered at the bottom of the tag. "Heart of Dixie," written in blue with a red heart, both of which are required by Alabama law to appear on the plates, are centered at the top of the tag and accented by silver stars. "I think that the new design is a step in the right direction," Brooks Henderson, 04GL, said. Alabama's plates have been redesigned every five years since the 1975 Alabama legislature authorized the issuance of the first five-year series, Department of Revenue spokeswoman Carla Snellgrove said. |  Previous to this authorization, new plates were issued by the Alabama Department of Revenue every year, Snellgrove said. This change allowed for new decals rather than issuing entire plates upon renewal every year. According to a Department of Revenue press release, the new plate design marks the fifth series of these five-year plates to be issued. The redesigning of the plates was headed by Alabama's Assistant Commissioner of Revenue, George Mingledorff, Snellgrove said. Mingledorff got ideas for the new design from tag designs from other states, suggestions from his colleagues in the Department of Revenue and suggestions from Alabama citizens, Snellgrove said. Production of the plates is handled by the Alabama Department of Corrections. They are manufactured by inmates at Holman Prison in Atmore, Ala., Snellgrove said. A Lee County Courthouse clerk said the new design will not create an increase in fees for the tags. |
Efforts to overcome segregation continue
| JENNIFER LOWDEN Staff Writer Desegregation of schools has long been a controversial issue not only in Alabama, but throughout the South. From the Martin Luther King Jr. rallies in Birmingham and Montgomery to the marches in Selma, desegregation has been an issue that has impassioned parties on both sides. The controversy over a judge's ruling concerning the desegregation of Alabama's public colleges and universities, in particular Alabama A&M and Alabama State universities, does not come as a surprise. In 1981, the federal government ordered 19 states, including Alabama, to come up with a plan to abolish remnants of segregation in their colleges and universities a report by Sam Hodges from the Washington Bureau of the Mobile Press Register, stated. Alabama talked with government officials, but no plans were ever put into action, according to the article. Finally, in 1983, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a desegregation suit against the state. According to the article, historically black colleges in Alabama joined the lawsuit The case has gone through three trials, with the final trial resulting in Judge Harold Murphy ordering quicker action, the article said. According to an article by Mary Orndorff of The Birmingham News, it includes orders to improve the curriculum and finances of Alabama's two historically black universities because of past wrongdoings, to initiate a complete restructuring of Alabama's cooperative extension service and add more blacks to the faculty, administration and student bodies of the state's predominately white colleges and universities. Proponents of the decision see this action as necessary to further the advancement of education in Alabama. James C. Brown, Auburn's executive director of minority advancement, said, "What we must do is recognize that everyone deserves a good education in this land." |  JAMES H. BANKER/Photo Staff "To put the state of Alabama in the forefront, education is paramount," Brown said. While most are hopeful these orders will be met with change, some are still skeptical. George Munchus, professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a long time follower of the desegregation case, is one of those. Munchus said, "No real change will be made as long as the 'landed elite' are in power." Munchus used the term 'landed elite' to describe those who want to keep education unattainable for poor whites and blacks. These feelings, Munchus said, "are based on a model of white supremacy because education is a very liberating activity." Munchus also said he feels Murphy did not use "the full power of the law." "All university presidents that fail to comply with the judge's orders should be held in criminal contempt and placed in jail," he said. If not willing to go to those measures, Munchus said the university presidents should at least be held personally liable instead of using taxpayer dollars for legal fees that could be better spent on scholarships for needy students. According to The Mobile Press Register, a report by the Legislative Fiscal Office this year showed that from 1989 to 1993 Alabama's four-year colleges spent $18.8 million for legal representation in the case. The article said, of the colleges and universities involved in the case, Auburn spent the most, coming in at just under $6 million.
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Auburn offers jobs to students
| TAMARA MOSER Assistant State/Local Editor Between paying for rent, food and books and trying to maintain a social life, money gets tight, and soon you may start bouncing checks and developing bad credit. The best way to avoid this is to find a good paying job that is easy to balance with your class schedule. This may sound like a difficult task, but students can find part-time work that is not mundane, will work well with school and pays well. Paul Beezley, a recent graduate from Auburn and the photo manager at Village Photographers, said he found that being a zapman was the ideal part-time job. "The time you put in versus what you earn is a huge difference," Beezley said. "Plus you get to meet a lot of people, go to band parties and you make your own schedule." The photographers at Village Photographers shoot other events besides socials and band parties. They cover graduation, special events in Atlanta and at the beach, and some have traveled as far as Pennsylvania. No experience is needed because the staff likes to train new employees on how to be a candid photographer, but you do have to provide a single-lens reflex camera, he said. Scheduling is done on a volunteer basis. If you want to work at a special event, then you raise your hand at our weekly meetings, Beezley said. "There have been people who haven't worked for a month because of school projects," he said. Salary is also a benefit to being a photographer. "We guarantee at least $5 per hour," he said. "But we pay on commission, so you would usually make between $8 and $10 per hour." Jason Jacobs, 04FI and a bartender at Ivy's Lounge in the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center, also has a job that enables him to meet new people, have flexible hours and make a decent salary. |  DJ BONDS/Photo Editor "Bartending is probably the best money you'll make in Auburn as a student," Jacobs said. "It's a lot better than $5 per hour." Jacobs said his hours are pretty flexible. He usually only works three nights a week, one weekday plus weekends, he said. "I'm lucky because our bar closes at 11 p.m., only sometimes it is later if we are busy," he said. "It's a fun environment to work in, and I have met many interesting people." Another job that accommodates students well is working at a coffee shop. Tim Dean, an employee at the Coffee Banque, loves working at a coffee shop because of the laid-back environment and the social scene. "It's like combining your work life with your social life," Dean said. "And you never get tired of it. There's a little pun in there." A coffee shop has the same social scene as working in a bar, only the customers are not drunk, Dean said. "I constantly meet new and interesting people," he said. "The only bad thing is when people get demanding and impatient." The salary at the Coffee Banque starts above minimum wage because the manager wants students to be able to make more money, Dean said. For information on job availability in Auburn you can contact the Employment Service at 749-5065 or go to Mary Martin Hall. |
