Fayette

County High School's marching band may still play

in the 2000 Olympics opening ceremony in

Australia next fall, if members decide to accept

the Olympic Committee's latest offer.

According

to Fayette County band director Kenny Beard, all

the American, Japanese and Australian musicians

originally invited to play at the opening

ceremonies and later dumped, have been reinvited.

The offer came this week after the Olympic

committee settled a law suit with World Projects

Corp., the California-based group that organized

the trip for bands at Fayette County High, Cobb

County's Walton High School, and several

California and Japanese schools.

"The

new plan is the best of all the plans,"

Beard said. It includes a seven-minute

performance during the opening ceremonies, a

visit to Canberra with a possible meeting with

the Australian prime minister, and an engagement

to play at the Sydney Opera House.

decision to accept or reject the offer will come

in a couple of weeks, Beard said. "We plan

to set a date and poll all the parents; a

postcard with a yes and a no." Beard has

remained optimistic about the band's plans to

participate in the Olympics and is still hoping

the trip will pan out. He personally met with the

Australian Olympic Committee and organizers from

World Projects Corp. in July to hammer out an

equitable arrangement for his 210-member marching

unit.

Monday

night, the Fayette County Board of Education

approved an updated field trip request from

Beard, citing the alternative trip, should the

band and their parents decide to go.

"I

think we have enough who will want to go, but we

will have to have more than 50 percent,"

Beard estimated.

The

flap over the Olympic trip began in late June

when organizers withdrew an invitation to the

American and Japanese musicians, claiming the

opening ceremony collaborative band contained too

many "foreign nationals" and too few

Australians. Lesser options were offered, such as

playing at out-of-the-way venues and the Walton

High School band and California students decided

to pull out.

Beard

said he wanted to "wait and see" what

the final offer would be before making a

decision. In less than two weeks, the issue may

finally come to close.

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