The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • 9

SPORTS D) i LWFC adopts 60 day season for ducks, 86 days for geese Other than reducing the canvasback season from 60 days to 20 days, the commission made no major changes to the waterfowl seasons for 2001-2 as recommended by LDWF staff. Seasons adopted by the commission are officially designated as tentative and subject to change if necessary, but changes are unlikely before ratification without a federal directive or unexpected disaster of some kind. According to a recorded video presentation to the commission, various problems in the northern breeding grounds combined to reduce the anticipated production of birds for the coming season. Despite projections of reduced production, Robert Helm, staff expert on waterfowl, said the number of ducks expected to make their way to Louisiana will be larger than the long-term average. The commission also adopted bag limits for the upcoming season identical to the limits for the previous season.

Seasons approved Wednesday included: DUCK SEASON 60 day season lor ducks WEST ZONE: first split, Nov. 10-; Dec second split, Dec. 15-Jan. youth hunt, Nov. 3-4.

EAST ZONE (INCLUDING CATAHOULA LAKE): first split, 17-Dec. second split. Dec. 20; youth hunt, Nov. 10-11.

1 CANVASBACK SEASON STATEWIDE. Jan. 1-20, except also. permitted in youth hunts. GOOSE SEASON 86 days lor geese, including blue, Ross' and white-lronted geese.

West Zone: first split, Nov. 3-Dec; second split, Dec, 15-Feb. 8. East Zone; first split, Oct. 27-Dec: second split, Dec.

8-Jan. 26. 60 days for ducks and coots with a two-day youth hunt in advance of the regular season. West Zone: first split, Nov. 10-Dec.

second split, Dec. 15-Jan. 20; youth hunt, Nov. 3-4. East Zone (including Catahoula Lake): first split, Nov.

17-Dec. second split, Dec. 8-Jan. 20; youth hunt, Nov. 10-11.

Canvasback season statewide: Jan. 1-20, except also permitted in youth hunts. PLEASE SEE state duck hunters can look forward to another 60-day duck season as the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission adopted dates Wednesday at its monthly meeting. Associated Press By Robert Morgan Gannett Capital Bureau BATON ROUGE -Waterfowl hunters can expect a higher than average number of ducks in the Mississippi Flyway again this year, but fewer than in the 2000-1 season, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists said Wednesday. But the numbers of can-vasback ducks remains low and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission adopted a shortened season aimed at conserving the species' numbers.

1 Ik smrjTQ NICHOLLS STA7I UNIVERSITY THIBODAUX, LOUISIANA Saints believe Ojo is not just an average Joe I 1 1 I I I' 1 i n. Ml- 1- I 1 I r' amp 1 1 9 i Members of the New Orleans Saints head to the locker room as the morning practice is rained out at the club's training facility in Thibodaux Wednesday. It was the second straight day that weather has forced the team inside. Associated Press mmw Weather forces Saints practice indoors for second day in a row Qatlin's appeal denied at ULM By Paul J. Letlow Gannett News Services MONROE Talented redshirt freshman Adam Gatlin was expected to be the backup quarterback at UL-Monroe behind junior Andy Chance this season.

Instead, it looks like another year of waiting for the former Alexandria Senior High School player, who is academically ineligible to compete this fall. Gatlin went through the school's academic appeal process, but his request for an incomplete and the chance to make up the work was denied. "We're very disappointed that Adam will not be eligible this year," ULM coach Bobby Keasler said. "I know he would help us a great deal this year. It's really tough in I-A to go into the season without enough quarterbacks.

"He's one of those guys that has to work through this and help us in another way. Everybody has a role to play." Gatlin's case isn't without controversy. According to his mother, Denise Gatlin, Adam Gatlin claims that the instructor in the one-hour freshman experience seminar offered to help him out in the course in exchange for a football signed by offensive coordinator Stan Humphries. Gatlin said the instructor later said the offer was made in jest when Gatlin actually provided the ball. Unsatisfied with the way his son's appeal process was handled, Adam Gatlin's father, Chester Gatlin, met with ULM athletics director Bruce Hanks and President Lawson L.

Swearingen Jr. on Wednesday morning to discuss the matter further. "It was informative," Chester Gatlin said. "I came away hopeful, but not full of hope." Hanks and Chester Gatlin declined to offer specific information about their discussion. "I primarily listened to Mr.

Gatlin," Hanks said. "We'll go from there. "We certainly are glad Adam's part of our institution. He's certainly an outstanding student-ath- PLEASE SEE i By Bob Tompkins The Town Talk THIBODAUX -He's not just an average Joe, he's Onome Ojo. And, oh, not so average.

A fifth-round draft choice of the New Orleans Saints, Ojo is looking good in preseason camp, even though he is a late-blooming work in progress. Onome (pronounced AW-na-me) is 24 years old, and he can run a 4.45 in the 40, but he didn't start playing football until three years ago as a sophomore at Cal-Davis. Until then, he basically shunned football, just as his father had taught "I remember watching the Super Bowl when I was in, I think, the third grade," he said, "and at the time I also lived across the street from a high school with a huge football program, and I really wanted to play. I expressed that desire to my mother, and she said, 'Sorry, son, your father hates the sport and he doesn't understand it and he won't think it's worth your "He had worked in hospitals when he was getting his bachelor's degree," Ojo said of his father, a native of Nigeria who ran track for Nigeria and at Ohio University. "He had seen a lot of injuries as a result of football.

Some had even been paralyzed. 'No son of mine will ever play he used to say." Nonetheless, Ojo's mother, who doubles as an apartment manager and a phlebotomist, once "snuck" Onome, the oldest of five children, out of the house to practice with a kids' team, and he found himself playing in the defensive backfield as a safety. He said his father "bitterly" drove him to the games, complaining all the way. Making the experience worse, Ojo's team lost every contest. After the season, he went back to playing soccer or tennis or basketball.

He also honed his academic and social skills, leading to his election as student body president at San Francisco Urban School and, later, a major in psychology with a minor in English at Cal-Davis. "My father stressed 1 1 L0r' I I. I 1 1 A Bob Tompkins education before anything else, and my mother's degree initially was in journalism," said Ojor who speaks with an oh- so sonorous voice. "My parents are highly vocal, and my father (a doctor of philosophy) I often has speaking engagements," he said, "When I was young, I often found myself being thrown on stage to say something at a church or a banquet. "I attribute my work ethic to my father's side, and the fun and excite- ment to my mother's side," he said.

Combine his work ethic with his pleasant personality and the excitement he adds to a pass route, and you have the makings of a fan favorite. Saints coach Jim Haslett said the 6-foot-4, 205-pound receiver needs more time to refine his skills. Undoubtedly, though, his potential isn't all raw. At Cal-Davis, he made 51 catches in three seasons for 1,231 yards and 13 touchdowns, twice scoring on 86-yard pass plays. One who enjoys tap dancing, Ojo's ambition beyond his NFL career to be an actor or a movitf director.

He made playing a role; in the NFL a personal goal two years ago, "and; to see it come to fruition is exhilarating," he said.i "At the same time, it's i not enough. "There's so much more: that I have to learn and i do, and I will do, to be a really good receiver for jj the Saints," he said. "I'm hoping it doesn't take that much time." Bob Tompkins: btompkinstfietown talk conV 4 cost $3-to-5 million, and he said he was not aware of any serious discussions about such a project, which would enhance the training possibilities in bad weather here. Speaking to the press at Stopher Gymnasium, Mueller said the Houma Civic Center, which figured to be a possible indoor refuge last year, if needed, was not any more spacious than "where we are right now." Despite the gloom that matched the clouds outside, Mueller said he had been told Wednesday was "supposed to be the worst day of the week" regarding rain possibilities, and he said he looked forward to the team's being able to practice Wednesday night. "We surely don't want to hit the panic button," he said.

Before last year, when Louisiana suffered through a summer-long drought, the Saints had not held their preseason camp here since 1975. The team's camp didn't go well then because of a mosquito invasion and numerous rainy days that forced the team to bus back to the Superdome in New Orleans to practice indoors. CLEmCNS TOUCH Middle linebacker Charlie Clemons, who incurred a season-ending injury to his Achilles tendon last year during pre-game warm-ups for the Saints' second exhibition game, is back with the promise he held after joining the Saints from St. Louis as a free agent. "Charlie has been outstanding," said linebackers coach Winston THIBODAUX The New Orleans Saints' worst fear when they changed their preseason campsite last year from Lacrosse, to Nicholls State University in Lafourche Parish is spawning more by the day.

Although the Saints made it through last year's camp here without having to go indoors to practice because of rain, they had to do so for the second straight day Wednesday morning. They practiced in NSU's Stopher Gymnasium, just as they did Tuesday afternoon, when a torrential downpour washed out their planned outdoor practice after about 20 minutes of work in the wet stuff. "It's hard, especially on the young guys trying to make the squad," said Saints general manager Randy Mueller. "This was our major concern when we came here. We wouldn't want to have to go through every year like this.

"It's rained almost every day we've been here," he added. Asked about other available sites nearby, he said the team had looked into possibilities ranging from "abandoned Wal-Mart stores" to empty sugar mills like the one that fell through in the plans this year because of a construction flaw. But the team has yet to find anything suitable. Asked about the possibility of putting a dome over the current practice field, Mueller said that might Saints running back Ricky Williams walks toward the club's locker room as the morning practice session was delayed due to the heavy rains that nit the area. Associated Press Moss.

"He has settled into the defense really well. He has taken a leadership role. He's playing very aggressively, very fast. He's getting to be very effective in our pass-rush schemes, and he has really picked up our pass-defense concepts and coverages really well." Bob Tompkins; 487-6349; Back To School 1 A 1 i Slim Wo'ro mo Regular Husky Sizes Uniicrm Flcso En Ccnfa, I 222D Memorial Dr. Alexandria Fhcns 445-6243 Cpcn 9 to 7 Uon.

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