If the Fayette County Board of Education agrees to name the Starr's Mill High

School auditorium after Willie Duke, audiences

will soon be able to take their seats.

The board will make that decision at its Aug. 17 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the board

offices on Stonewall Avenue.

At the urging of the Endowment Committee for Cultural Arts for Fayette County

and other organizations, the school board agreed to increase the size of the auditorium to

accommodate 1,200 seats, 400 more than originally planned, but the agreement saddled

the committee with responsibility for providing the seats.

ECCA has raised about $63,000, said chairman Sandra Jungers. She told the

County Board of Commissioners last week that Georgia Pacific Corp. has agreed to match any

other large contribution if the auditorium is

named for Duke, a former Georgia Pacific vice

president and Fayette resident who died of cancer.

Commissioners agreed to pay $45,000 if Georgia Pacific matches the donation so

the project can be completed.

Jungers said getting the seats in place is becoming urgent. A large religious

women's conference scheduled Oct. 16-17 has sold

out the auditorium, said Mary Frances Bowley, spokesman for the Women Seeking

God's Best conference.

Once the seats are in place, said Jungers, Fayette County will have its only facility

large enough to accommodate numerous events, including graduations.

In other action:

The commission agreed to go forward with studies aimed at building a new jail

and judicial complex.

A preliminary report from consultants Mallett and Associates suggests that

building onto the existing jail to accommodate

future growth would cost more than $22 million.

But Maj. Robert Glaze, the Sheriff's Department's director of technical

services and manager of the jail, said adding on

probably won't be feasible because it would leave no room for parking. A completely new

facility is likely to cost even more, he said.

Commissioners voted to continue the study by Mallett and Associates and by

Summerour and Associates, Architects.

Commissioners voted to allow students of the Flint River Technical Institute to

ride with Fayette paramedics to gain firsthand experience in emergency medical service.

The students will have their own malpractice insurance, said Fayette public safety

director Jack Krakeel.

Approval is based on the county attorney's approval of the contract involved.

The group unanimously voted to switch its random drug testing service to

Georgia Baptist Urgent Care Center. The county

could have saved up to $2,800 by using Georgia Baptist last year, said county manager

Billy Beckett, and the county also will save

worker time because the facility is closer and is

open longer hours, he added.

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