The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 38

LOCAL NEWS The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution- mast Clarence Thomas Check out Atlanta's architecture. The American Institute of Architects' monthly tours of Atlanta buildings continues today at the Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church Family Center, 2715 Peachtree Road. Free tours of the center will be given from 2 to p.m. 873-3207. Don't try this at home.

The Chinese National Acrobatic Circus's first tour of the United States comes to Atlanta for four days of performances at the Atlanta Civic Center, 39S Piedmont Ave. N.E. Showtimes are 3 and 7:30 p.m. today, and 7:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.

Tickets are $10 to $25. A moving display. The Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall will be on display in the West Georgia town of Tallapoosa through Tuesday. Free. 834-8300.

God bless you, Fido. The Atlanta Humane Society kicks off Be Kind to Animals Week with a blessing of the shelter's 300 animals by the Rev. Brendon Doyle of Holy Spirit Catholic Church at 1 p.m. at the shelter, 981 Howell Mill Road. 873-5564.

intolerance Q0 Tsf D2 Sunday, May 1 1993 1 i A I I r- II hits A I 1 i-rr? Jit iur- I. I MONDAY Singing the tag line blues. Today is the deadline for buying your 1993 Georgia automobile tag. TUESDAY Cos at the Fox. Comedian Bill Cosby performs at 8:15 p.m.

at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Tickets are $28.50 to $125. 249-6400. I WEDNESDAY Pierre on kids.

Lt. Gov. Pierre Howard will address the Metro Atlanta Crime Commission forum on "The Status of Children in Georgia" at 8 a.m. at 191 Peachtree St.N.E., fourth floor. 527-7650.

Immunization celebration. The Atlanta Project hosts the "All-Star Kids Celebration" at the Omni, featuring an appearance by Michael Jackson, for preschoolers who got their shots during the recent immunization effort, their parents and Atlanta Project volunteers. Not open to the public. Funding for the arts. John Frohnmeyer, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, speaks on "Culture Wars," public funding of the arts, at noon in the Georgia Pacific Auditorium, 133 Peachtree St.

N.E. Free. 814-4150. Calling all Norma Jean fans. Author Donald Spoto lectures and signs his book, "Marilyn Monroe: A Biography," at 7 p.m.

at Oxford Book Store, 360 Pharr Road N.E. 262-3333. Dr. Sullivan on health care costs. Dr.

Louis W. Sullivan, former Health and Human Services secretary and current president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, speaks on health-care cost and reform at 7:30 p.m. at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center, 1745 Peachtree Road N.E. Advance tickets are $5 for members of the community center; at the door, add $2.50 per person. 875-7881.

THURSDAY Indian fest The four-day Cherokee County Indian Festival, with participants representing the Lakota, Blackfoot, Creek, Cherokee, Ute, Omaha and Comanche tribes, begins at Boling Park in Canton. 735-6275. i FRIDAY Talking about the environment Former President Jimmy Carter is the featured speaker at a two-day symposium on "Forest and the Environment: A U.S. Response to the Rio Earth Summit" beginning today at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, 767 Clifton Road N.E. Admission is $50; students free with I.D.

378-01 27. SATURDAY Fund-raiser for the furry ones. The Atlanta Humane Society wraps up its Be Kind to Animals Week with a "Crafts for Critters" bazaar from 10 to 5 p.m. today and from 1 to 5 p.m. May 9 at 981 Howell Mill Road.

873-5564. Pig out The Ocmulgee Wild Hog Festival, featuring arts and crafts, a pig chase, hog calling and entertainment, will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Lions Memorial Park in Abbeville. (912) 467-2666.

By Bill Rankin STAFF WRITER fyj aeon U.S. Supreme Ly Court Justice Clarence I Thomas was warmly received by a Mercer University audience Saturday, then he lashed out at a "new intolerance" that stifles independent thought through negative stereotypes. Those who dare to disagree with the latest ideological fad or the accepted social norms pay a price through a "systematic character assassination" that is as cruel as the public floggings of blacks a few decades ago, Justice Thomas said. Women should not be afraid to criticize feminism, he said, and blacks should be able to criticize our nation's welfare policies and "not be lashed at by the cultural elite for doing so." During the turbulent 1960s, intolerance and bigotry defined the relationships between the races, Justice Thomas recalled in his first public speech since he joined the high court Oct. 23, 1991.

"But racial stereotypes still linger in 1993, and have a chilling, devastating affect," he said. "We need to get back to the basics in this country," he said during a 40-minute speech laced with self-deprecating humor and fond remembrances of his early years with strict grandparents who taught him to respect others and never use stereotypes. "Being the victim is no fun," Justice Thomas said. "It is no more fun now than it was 20 to 30 years ago." He addressed a packed ballroom of more than 700 Mercer alumni and law students at the Radisson Hotel during the school's annual Law Day. Before and after his speech, he received thunderous standing ovations.

He hobbled into the ballroom on the crutches he's been using since he tore his Achilles' tendon during a recent basketball game with his law clerks. There was no protest of his speech, although several Mercer students had criticized the university's invitation of Justice Thomas, who endured a sensational and bitter confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the hearings, Oklahoma University law professor Anita Hill alleged that Judge Thomas sexually harassed her while the two worked together at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Judge Thomas vehemently denied the allegations.

A native of Pin Point, just south of Savannah, Justice Thomas paused to thank his native Georgians for their "letters, cards, flowers and prayers during those bleak days during the summer and fall of 1991 As I stand here today, I know it was all worth it." Justice Thomas, who quickly established himself as one of the high court's more productive members, said he has settled into court life. He said his year and a half on the court has been fulfilling and rewarding, and his fellow justices have been courteous and kind. Although the justices sometimes disagree intensely on opinions, their disputes do not spill over into the courthouse dining room or hallways, he said. "In spite of what you may have heard," he said, "I'm very happy." It's all Greek tofestivalgoers in Marietta Baklava lovers line up at the pastry booth Saturday at the fourth annual Marietta Greek Festival, while Andreas Karras plays and sings. The festival continues today from 1 1 am to 7 p.m.

at the Cobb Civic Center. W.A. BRIDGES JR. Staff a. Nude statues now a photo op Hunstein 'shocked' by take-home pay Judge Carol Hunstein got a few surprises in November, and not all of them WJ.

III SI, 'I were pleasant. The biggest, and best, was when Gov. Zell Miller picked her over four other finalists to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Then came a shocker that hit her where it hurts. "I take home each By Paul Kaplan STAFF WRITER Thousands of Atlantans who travel up Peachtree Street in Downtown each day got an unexpected eyeful in December when they reached John Portman's new office tower, One Peachtree Center: a huge bronze sculpture of two nude women.

Mr. Portman crafted "Ballet Olympia" as a tribute to Paul Manship, who created the famous "Prometheus" sculpture outside Rockefeller Center in New York. The two frolicking bronze figures stand 32 feet tall, and they elicited numerous double takes and a few complaints, especially from feminists. But that's died down, said a Portman official, and now the playful nudes have settled in as part of Atlanta's artistic patchwork. "People are always out front of the building having their pictures taken with it," said Wendy Giddes, director of marketing for Peachtree Center.

"They're intrigued by it." Now the Portman people hear mostly praise for the sculpture, Ms. Giddes said. But either way, folks will have to get used to the artwork. "It's a permanent sculpture for the building," Ms. Giddes said.

"It's a part of One Peachtree Center. It's staying." Fund-raisers help boy with tumor GWINNETT: Friends of Andrew McLeroy, 14, held two fundraisers Saturday to help pay for a possible bone marrow transplant for the Lilburn boy, who is undergoing chemotherapy for a malignant brain tumor. A fun run Saturday morning raised more than $1 ,700. A Saturday night auction raised $5,985. Both events were at Brookwood High School in Gwinnett County.

Shann Griffith, a friend of Andrew's family, said she would do anything she could to help the boy because of her own experience with her daughter, who has lymphoma that is in remission. "We were fortunate our insurance made it manageable," she said. "I feel Andrew deserves the same chance." Andrew's insurance company refuses to pay for the $200,000 procedure. Ms. Griffith is also working with the Gwinnett County Police Department to plan a 5-K run tentatively scheduled for June 26, and she and other friends of Andrew are holding a sports memorabilia auction at 7 p.m.

May 14 at Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville. For information on how to make donations, call Amy Johnson at (404) 972-7637. MILITARY FORT DIX, N.J.: Soldier sentenced in payroll scheme. A Macon man, one of three soldiers accused in a $202,000 payroll scheme at Fort Dix, N.J., in 1991, admitted Saturday he accepted four unauthorized $2,000 pay advances, officials said. Staff Sgt.

Kerry A. Woodard pleaded guilty in a Fort Dix courtroom to one count of conspiracy and four counts of wrongful appropriation of government funds. The military judge, Lt. Col. Robert D.

Newberry, sentenced him to confinement for 210 days, forfeiture of all pay and allowances during the confinement period and reduction in pay grade to E-l, the lowest enlisted rate, said Fort Dix spokeswoman Dianne Felder. Judge Newberry said he did not sentence Woodard to a punitive discharge partially because the government stipulated that he always expected to pay the money back, and he was solicited to commit at least the first offense. Woodard acknowledged he accepted four payments of $2,000 between October1 and December 1991. He said he gave $600 of each advance to two finance clerks who arranged the illegal payments. POLICE NORCROSS: Tractor-trailer knocks out power.

Several hundred Norcross residents lost power for more than 12 hours Friday and Saturday after a tractor-trailer ran off a road and knocked down some power poles, police said. The truck driver ran off Mitchell Road in Norcross at about 6:15 p.m. Friday and damaged five utility poles in the Gwinnett County town. Power was restored at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Charges are pending against the driver, whom police would not identify. ATLANTA: Teenage boy dies of gunshot wound. A 15-year-old boy died of a gunshot wound in the leg Friday night, Atlanta police said. The boy was shot at 6:30 p.m. at 2157 Clarissa Drive and rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died at 1 1 :37 p.m.

Police do not know whether the boy shot himself or was assaulted. The bullet traveled up the victim's leg and "tore up something in his stomach," said Investigator Richard Eskew of the Fulton County medical examiner's office. He added that the doctor who examined the victim said he "did not believe this to be an accidental death." The youth's name was not released. EAST POINT: Woman killed in domestic dispute. An East Point woman was stabbed to death Saturday during a a dispute with her husband, police said.

The woman, Tracy Jackson, 33, of 2664 Dorsey was stabbed at 5:30 a.m. and died six hours later at Northside Hospital. Her husband, Thomas Jackson, 32, was charged with murder. He would not say what the dispute was about, police said. From staff reports and news services NICK ARROYO Staff Here to stay: The sculpted dancers outside One Peachtree Center won't waltz away anytime soon.

Beating victim whose fiancee was slain still scared month $400 less net Carol than I did on the Hunstein DeKalb County Superior Court," said Justice Hunstein, a single parent who survived polio and cancer. In DeKalb, her $92,000 salary was supplemented by the county and taxed at a different rate. The result is less take-home pay from her $93,000 job on the state's highest court. "I'm pretty shocked," she said. She also was blindsided by the amount of paperwork she had to take home in her new job.

On average, the stack is a foot and a half high. "The hardest part has been the amount of reading I've had to catch up on," she said. What the 48-year-old jurist was not surprised by was the reception she got from her peers on the bench including Leah Sears-Collins, who nine months earlier became the first woman on the state high court. "She was the first Supreme Court justice to call to congratulate me," Justice Hunstein said. "She did say she was glad to have another woman on the bench." Few are likely to remember the name of the second woman on the state Supreme Court, but that's fine with Justice Hunstein.

"I hope the day will come when there won't be any more Each person will be judged based on their experience, their education and accomplishments." Additional reporting by Doug Payne and Beverly Shepard. News Update appears on Sundays. If you have an idea for an item, call 526-5342 or write News Update, Box 4689, The Atlantajournal-Lontitupon, At- lanta, Ca. 30302. Middle Tennessee State seniors Jeremy Rolfs and Heather Uffelman came to Cobb County in October to sell a computer to a man who answered their ad in a trade publication.

Instead, Ms. Uffelman was bludgeoned to death and Mr. and pounded their heads with a hammer. Mr. Rolfs still suffers vertigo and permanent hearing loss, and was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Investigators questioned more than 30 people up and down the East Coast. The "prime suspect" is a man identified as Tommy Johnson, who drove a brown Dodge Dynasty with Tennessee tags, said Marietta police Capt. Walter Parker. Mr. Rolfs met with Mr.

Johnson in Tennessee once before the attack. "He struck me as a quiet, thoughtful, intellectual-type person," said Mr. Rolfs, who left the South and is considering moving to another country. He can't even apply for a driver's license in his own name out of fear that the attacker, a computer expert, would track him down. "There's not a single aspect of my life that has wst been changed," he said.

"I'll nifver really feel safe until he's caught." Rolfs now is running for his Murder life. suspect "We would've been married a month ago," Mr. Rolfs said. "We were both planning on graduate school. All of that is gone, and I can't even go back and visit her family because someone may be trying to kill me." Mr.

Rolfs, 21, won't reveal his whereabouts because police haven't caught the assailant. He and Ms. Uffelman, 22, met the man at the Knights fyin on Delk Road, where he drew a gun, rolled the couple into a bedsheet 1 'nr.