Local couple opens store for die-hard NASCAR fans
Local couple opens store for die-hard NASCAR fans
JOHN BEEHNER
Staff Writer
NASCAR auto racing is one of the most popular spectator sports on the Plains.
While driving around Auburn, you are likely to see many NASCAR bumper stickers on cars and trucks like Dale Earnhardt's number 3, Jeff Gordon's number 24 or sometimes Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, urinating on a driver's number.
NASCAR memorabilia is growing in popularity everyday. But where can you find that Rusty Wallace T-shirt you've been looking for?
Storey's Racing Connection is a new store in Auburn that sells Nascar collectibles and apparel. The store is owned by Barb and Don Storey.
"We've always been big NASCAR fans, and we enjoy collecting memorabilia from the races. But when we would come home to Auburn, there was no where to buy any NASCAR merchandise, so we decided to open up a store," Barb Storey, a 1986 Auburn graduate, said.
Storey's Racing Connection has a wide variety of items and caters to all race fans.
Don Storey said, "We have everything from afghans to doormats and everything in between. We're still growing and getting new stuff in everyday."
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He said, "We're trying to get merchandise that is unusual or hard to find. The other day, we got in a life-size Jeff Gordon cardboard cut-out and sold it as soon as we put it up. We trying to get unusual items like that."
"There are mainly two kinds of customers that we serve. One is the collector, who wants valuable items such as die-cast cars, and the other is the race fan, who wants hats and stickers and such," he said.
Die-cast model cars are the best- selling items for the Storeys because they rarely depreciate in value, they said.
Many Auburn students have visited the store since its Aug. 10 opening.
"I enjoyed the store's large selection of items. I bought a Dale Jarrett doormat for my house and a Dale Earnhardt hair scrunchie for my girlfriend," Nathan Porter, a graduate student in civil engineering, said.
"The Racing Connection has the coolest selection of stickers I've ever seen. I just bought a sticker for my truck that has Terry Labonte's number 5 with a line slashing through it, crossing it out," Mike Booker, a senior in forestry management, said.
Brent Jones, a junior in pre-dentistry, said, "When I walked into the store, I thought I had died and gone to Earnhardt heaven."
Storey's Racing Connection is located at 555 Opelika Road, next to Sun Self Storage.
Art exhibit offers variety of masterpieces
Tamara Moser
Assistant State/Local Editor
For all the art lovers in Auburn, and even those who are not fans, there is a fantastic exhibit visiting the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
Henri Matisse: Masterworks From the Museum of Modern Art will be at the museum from now until Jan. 19, 1997.
Matisse was a French artist who lived from the 1860s until 1952. His work represents his participation in the art movements of fauvism, which had distortion of form and the use of strong color, and cubism, which was characterized by separation of the subject into geometric shapes.
This exhibit consists of about 140 of Matisse's works, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, cutouts, prints and illustrated books, a stained glass window and liturgical vestments or priest's robes.
The exhibit is organized chronologically throughout Matisse's life, starting with his first painting done at age 20.
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An audio tour takes you through each gallery while telling stories and explaining the meanings and techniques used in certain pieces.
This exhibit is a celebration of Matisse's use of color and his love of the human body.
It includes renowned paintings such as "Landscape at Colliore" (1905), an incredible arrangement of colors used to form the life of the landscape.
"The Red Studio" (1911) is a good example of the use of red, which many people associate with him. This painting of his studio illustrates an interesting depth perception that has to be seen to be understood.
"The Piano Lesson" (1916), one of my favorites, is a painting of his son practicing the piano. Matisse uses lines and color to represent the discipline of producing art along with the pleasures of it.
In addition to the paintings, there are also some of his sculptures on display. All five versions of "Jeanette" are being shown. These are life-size busts made from 1910-1916.
These busts show Matisse's transformation of a woman's face into an almost primeval configuration.
The most impressive of his sculptures is the complete series of four monumental "Backs" (1909-1931). This series consists of life-size figures from a back view.
During Matisse's later years, he used a technique of cutting out vibrantly colored paper to create his formations.
Through this technique, he designed a set of liturgical vestments and a stained glass window for the Chapel of the Rosary of the Dominican Nuns at Vence, France from 1948-1952.
This was the last of Matisse's works and demonstrates his amazing ability to capture beauty and meaning through art.
This exhibit is an incredible arrangement of some of Matisse's best work.
As a fan of Matisse's art, this exhibit brought me even more appreciation for his talent. The High Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, have done a phenomenal job of presenting his life as a gifted artist.
The High Museum is located at 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Tickets for the exhibit are $9 for students with ID, Tuesday through Friday and $11 on Saturday and Sunday.
Regular prices for adults are $11 during the week and $13 on the weekends.
For more information call (404) 733-4438.
Expert says serial killings on rise
TIM DEVINE
Staff Writer
A heart-broken mother spoke on the phone to the man who had killed her 14-year-old daughter. The FBI wanted her to keep him on the phone long enough to catch him.
The killer had attempted to strangle the girl from behind. Eventually he killed her by dropping a boulder on her face several times. He had thrown her coat over her head so he wouldn't have to look at her.
He didn't sound remorseful, only worried, when he asked the mother to pray for his soul.
"Oh, my God! How could you?" the mother asked him.
This was one of the cases that came to life for John Douglas, former FBI agent and author of the book Mindhunter, in last Wednesday's UPC-sponsored show about mass-murderers and criminal investigation.
Douglas did initial work on the profile of the Unabomber and is known for his belief in a John Doe No. 2 suspect in the Oklahoma bombing.
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A man who killed elderly women and made a mask out of their facial skin and another man who electrocuted older women, froze their bodies and fed them to his other victims were some of the unbelievable cases Douglas discussed.
"We are products of our past. I have seen so many cases with a history of abuse," Douglas said. He tells the audience this as he shows a picture of a baby, scolded by his or her grandfather, with burns covering its legs and back because the child wouldn't be quiet.
"You could be the next victim," he said. "Violent crime is the number one health problem."
President Clinton said once that "the murder rate is down to 21,500 (victims)."
"Well whooptee dee," Douglas said.
Douglas noted that most violent offenders were between the ages of 14 and 25, and the number of people from this group in prison has increased. But, "there is a new, up-and-coming generation. Many criminologists believe there will be a bloodbath," he said.
Douglas, former head of the FBI's investigative support team, would hold interrogations averaging six hours in an office located 60 feet underground at the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., he said. "I was 10 times deeper than dead people, doing some of the worst cases," he said.
Douglas said he often gets upset at how the problem of violent crime is perceived in this nation. "People make judgments about these criminals Ñ parole, treatment, sentencing Ñ without ever looking at the crime. It's a reflection of the offender."
Prison psychiatrists and other officials always talk about how well these prisoners are doing in prison.
"People will come to me and ask if I think (capital punishment) is the right thing," Douglas said. "I tell them to try and imagine how the victim felt and what they heard from the criminal, and tell me if you think it's right. You know what? They never come back."
