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Show Thursday, May 9, 1996 THE DAILY HERALD,Prove, Utah — Page €Y Birmingham homeless feei heat By JAY REEVES ted Press Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala, — Word on the street is that the homeless aren't welcome in Birmingham during the Olympic soccer games. Street people spoke Wednesday of increased harassment by police and offers offree rides out of town for anyone willingtoleave the city as the matches draw nearer. “The Olympics are coming The good people of Birmingham don’t wantall these visiting digni- taries seeing people like us,” said Michael Cleveland, pointing toward other homeless people Jounging in a shady park City leaders deny knowledge of any plan to remove the homeless in advance of the Olympic soccer Cue: which open July 20 at gion Field. + “We believe in respecting the fights ofall ofourcitizens, whet! they are homeless or have homes,” said Felyicia Jerald, a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard Amngton. Police said there had been no orders — direct or implied — to keep the homeless outofsight. “We've got 90,000other things going on with the Olympics, but nothing dealing with the home Jess,” said Lt. Jerry McIntosh. “We haven't noticed a decrease in homeless people.” AnthonyBibb said he has lived on Birmingham's streets for the better part of a decade with only a few problems. Until now, thatis. Bibb and a friend, Eddie Moss, said police have been more hostile recently and there are stones going round of a man whohas offered bustickets and cash to anyone who will leave town, “They'll tell you quickly to move on now,” Bibb said. “It’s all because of the Olympics.” “This is my home. I ain't going nowhere,” said Moss. The director of a clearinghouse for the homeless in Huntsville, located about 90 milestothe north, said as many as 50 homeless people have checked in at shelters since January telling of free trips out of Birmingham. Kelly Harness of Project Happen said such arrivals were fre quent in January and February but sporadic since then. “We had one come in (Tuesday). Someone had given him money and drove him down to the bus station and gave him money for a bus ticket.” In Georgia, a programto provide the homeless with one-way bus tickets out of Atlanta was canceled in Marchafter being operated since 1994 by Travelers Aid of Metropolitan Atlanta. Mollie Hester, director of the Travelers Aid§ y in Birmingham, said she first heard about the mysterious free rides out of Birmingham a couple of months ago from Harness. “We had people calling then asking if we knew aboutit, and we don't,” she said. “We take a pretty strong stance against dumping peopie on other communities.” The head ofa large downtown shelter doubts the stories of free Secondhand smoke may be behind tumor trips out of town, and he said it may not be badif police paid clos. er attention to keeping homeless people off the streets at night By WILLIAM E. SCHULZ Associated Press Writer “The fact that people may be frying to tightenup little and not be so lax isn’t necessarily a criticism,” said Tony Cooper, director of the Jimmie Hale Downtown Mission But the homeless who agreed to interviews said police were bother ing them for no apparent reason Cleveland said he and other men were sleeping under a viaduct about | 1/2 months ago when a groupofofficers awakened them. “They told us that we couldn't be sleeping out there like commion animals. That’s what they said — animals,” said Cleveland, 40. Cleveland, Moss and Bibb all said they knew people who had been offered rides out of town, but none of them had been approached. Harness, the homeless advocate in Huntsville, said a number of people had shown up at shelters with bus tickets from Birmingham that lacked the passenger's name They were marked only with the words “adult rider.” Robert Echols. customer service manager for GreyhoundLines Inc. in Birmingham, said a computer check of ticket sales showed no such purchases inthefirst three months of 1996. But an unusually large number of tickets were purchased from February through April without the passenger’s namebeing given. he said Javy Lopez. “Greg’s a competitor. burger after the game, he shrugged off questions about his “ slump.” “IT don’t feellike I'min a slump really,” he said, “If | was out there making badpitches on a consistent basis, yeah, | would say I was in a slump. if | was weak mentally. not confident in what | was doing out there, . | would say I was in a slump.” Maddux insistedthat his pitches are “not toofar different than they were last year and the year before.” In a way, he has becomea victim of his own brilliance. since everyone expects him to duplicate what he did the past two seasons: 16-6 with a 1.56 ERAin 1994 and -2 with a 1.63 ERAlast year He'll bounce back quickly There's nocausefor concern. Maddux certainly doesn’t look concerned. Munching on a ham- said. “I was making good pitches. but it was kind of ridiculous what AP Sports Writer BIVIC WEST (a Sa TDM heer Cogan oe Fat hd te eran happenedlast year.” Actually, Maddux’s ERA would be in familiar territory if he could make-twopitches over again Last Friday, he gave upthefirst regular-season grand slam of his career to Benito Santiago in the ninth inning of a 6-3 loss to the Phillies. Against the Rockies. the right-hander was cruising along with a 2-0 lead in the seventh when Vinny Castilla hit a three-run homeroff the foul pole inleft “L tried to throw hima fastball in. thinking he can’t keepit in fair territory,” Maddux said. “I knew he would get a good swingatit. but 1 just needed it in a litle more.” Maddux was in line to lose two straight starts for the first time since June 1994, but he wound up with a no-decision after the Braves scored three runsin the ninth totie the game 5-5 and one in the 10th to winit 6-5 « Expert Advice * Delivery Available ¢ Free Estimates Your Resipence Experts news conference Butler, 38. was placed on the disabled list May 2 to have a tonsillectomy at Eastside Medical Center in Snellville. near his home in Duluth. His tonsils were removed Friday, and lab tests Tuesday confirmed cancer intheright tosil Gadl Williara Grist, di e Head and Neck ¢€ Department a University in Atlanta. believes there sull is some cancer in Butler's neck be removed pn May 21 and two AP Photo six weeks later, Butler will Los Angeies’ Brett Butler rounds second base in a running exerweeks of radiation treatments , Fla. Butlage said Grist “didn’t cise earlier this season at springtraining in Vero ler has throat cancer and will miss the rest of the season. say anythin’ about (Butler's) career being over. Hedid say it Hesaidthe national recovery add at least a few percentage wouldn't be wise for him to try rate for this typeof cancer is close * for Butler because he’s in to go back this year. to 70 percent. “but you've got to such good physical condition. and Hardware * Sizing, Milling, Boring, Special Builds * Large Assortmentof 16’ Mouldings . 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Hesaid both of Butler's parents smoked, so But ler was exposed to secondhand smokeconsistently as a child “We can see someone who smokes two packs a day, three packs a day for 50 years who never gets this. Then there's somebody with minimal exposure like Brett,” Gadlage told a Ao abnormal lymph node will Maddux merely humansofar ATLANTA — For most pitchers, an ERA slightly over 3.00 in this hit-crazy season would be a cause for celebration Greg Maddux isn’t most pitchers, though After giving up four runs in eight innings Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies, the winner of four straight Cy Young awards saw his ERA climbto 3.05 That's almost twice as high as the numbers he posted the pust two years,-when he was the most domitcher in baseball v's struggling a little. but he’s human,” said Braves catcher DULUTH, Ga The tumor ed Los Angeles that has sic der Brett Butler Dodgers « NA eed elt SANDY JORDAN, 9032S. STA 0 REM. 1325S. STATE. ..... SANDY/HOLIDAY 6180 $. 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