December 1999: Vol. 79, No. 1December 1999: Vol. 79, No. 1 | |
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 COURT TV EXCLUSIVE: SECESSIONISTS STILL EXIST  Court TV has its share of lunacy and melodrama, and history professor Jim Cobb got a glimpse of that this fall when he was called into a UGA TV studio to do remote commentary on a group of latter day secessionists who are still bent on dissolving ties with the U.S. 134 years after the Civil War. The Southern Party, which was organized in South Carolina and is headed by former Pat Buchanan campaigner George Paul Kalas, wants 16 southern states to secede from the Union. Cobb, an expert on both constitutional law and Southern culture, was asked by the host of the "Snap Judgement" show to define the boundaries of the South. "Going North, it's when they stop serving grits." said Cobb, not missing a beat. "Going West, it's when the bar fights start happening inside." Asked about the Southern Party's chances for success, Cobb made a serious point, saying that the party "isn't looking at the complexity of the issue . . . . There's quick applause initially for this sort of thing, but when reality set in and the feds started pulling out, we'd be asking them to come back pretty quick."  Jennifer Rainey
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 Cohen, one of three women in the U.S. to earn elite status in the 97-pound weight class, can dead lift 300 pounds. |
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In her job as a reference librarian at UGA's Main Library, Nadine Cohen helps students and staff with some heavy research. She carries a pretty heavy load in her spare time, too, as a world-class power lifter.
In 1998, Cohen became one of three women in the country to gain elite status, the highest level of competition, in the 97-pound division. She has won two national American Power Lifting Federation championships for 97-pound masters (40 and older), and as GM was going to press she was training for the world championships in Calgary.
Cohen had been lifting weights for 10 years as a way to stay fit, never knowing there was a sport called power lifting until she moved to Athens and met her husband, LB Baker, who is also a powerlifter. After her first contest in December 1994, she was hooked.
"With time and consistent training," she says, "you can achieve things you'd never dream you could do."
Like hoisting nearly 300 pounds—three times what Cohen weighs—in the dead lift. To build that kind of strength, she and her husband train one to four hours every other day, both at UGA and in their home gym. Cohen is currently training to improve on her personal bests—150 pounds in the bench press, 225 pounds in the squat, and 292 pounds in the dead lift.
While steroid use for enhancing performance is a major concern in some sports, Cohen said it has not been raised as an issue at her competitions. Still, companies sell a host of supplements that claim to boost performance which, as Cohen says, "sometimes makes me wonder where the line is—what's steroids and what's natural."
When it's time to compete, mental readiness is as important, if not more important, than the hours spent in the gym. Training has built the muscle strength; now it's time to use the body's most powerful muscle, the brain. Some competitors storm about, huffing, puffing, and screaming to energize themselves. Some, like Cohen, use more internal methods.
"It's a matter of absolute concentration—that's the ingredient that will make you lift more than you ever did," she says. "You almost hypnotize yourself into that zone of pure concentration and confidence. Every now and then it happens, and you pull that weight and it flies up in the air like a broom handle."
Radiation officer monitoring Chernobyl
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 Widner expected Ukrainian scientists to be disorganized and lax in nuclear safety monitoring methods. But he came away impressed with their radiation measuring system. |
Radiation safety officer Dennis Widner recently spent 10 days in Chernobyl making sure that safety levels for newly built radioecology labs both there and in Slavutich (an hour away from the site of the 1986 nuclear accident) remain high, allowing researchers to work without fear of health hazards.
"We want to make sure that codes are in place," says Widner, "and it is nice to be able to watch this happen from the ground up. This site is very important because it gives us levels of radiation that have rarely been seen. It gives us a lot of material for research."
In April 1986, Chernobyl's nuclear Reactor 4 exploded, spewing fission by-product across Europe with 200 times more radioactivity than the atom bomb explosions of Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. Traces of the explosion reached as far as the U.S. Since 1991, UGA scientists Cham Dallas and Ron Chesser have been the area's sole proprietors of radioecology studies, providing glimpses into the adapting plant and animal life near Chernobyl.
UGA's role was formalized in July 1998, when the University entered into a partnership with the Ukraine and the U.S. Department of Energy to establish a permanent international radioecology laboratory in Chernobyl. UGA is charged with guaranteeing laboratory compliance with radiation protection fundamentals.
One major concern Widner had when he left for Chernobyl was the Ukraine's reputation for using sloppy methods to secure lab areas. He knew codes were in place, but was unsure about rule enforcement.
"I was led to believe that Ukrainian scientists were disorganized," says Widner. "But I found them to be very organized. They actually have a more intricate system for measuring radiation than in the States. I saw topographical maps of buildings with grids showing minute boxes of measured radiation. Very impressive."
Ex-Soviet official sounds nuclear alarm
In a recent op-ed piece he co-authored in the Los Angeles Times, Igor Khripunov voiced his growing concerns about the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons remaining in the former Soviet Union.
These unsecured weapons, says Khripunov, are open to theft by terrorists. But rather than merely voicing his concerns, Khripunov is attacking the problem.
Khripunov, a former official in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, now serves as an adjunct professor of political science and associate director of UGA's Center for International Trade and Security. He is part of a team working to convince Russian officials of the importance of safeguarding and destroying weapons of mass destruction. CITS has partnered with the Moscow Institute for Professional Training to provide training for Russian nuclear managers under the age of 35.
"There are many young leaders being recruited in the Russian nuclear industry," says Khripunov, who has been with the University since 1992. "We are trying to become involved in their training and share the experiences of U.S. weapons destruction."
On Sept. 18, Khripunov returned home to Moscow to teach a workshop on "Defense Conversion at Nuclear Enterprises," a topic which he feels underscores the importance of the non-proliferation of former Soviet weapons.
 Khripunov (at right, in glasses) joined former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and his wife during a 1984 visit to the British Museum in London. |
In addition to workshops on arms control, the international partnership also shares information on the basics of a free-market economy and business plans. These talks are aimed at helping Russia emerge from its current economic depression, which Khripunov says is contributing to lax weapons security.
"Money is scarce in Russia," he says. "It's hard for them to look beyond their day-to-day problems and create plans for the protection of these weapons. But right now these weapons may easily be stolen by terrorists or other countries."