ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
Bowing to activists still incensed over a 3-year-old anti-gay resolution, Olympic organizers said the torch relay will bypass suburban Cobb County on its way to the Summer Games in Atlanta.
The decision was made because the Cobb County Commission has declined to change the resolution, said Dick Yarbrough, a spokesman for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
``We're concerned about anything that takes away from what should be very positive, joyous, uniting time,'' Yarbrough said. ``We just got no expression of interest in change in Cobb County, and that didn't show inclusiveness, which is what we're trying to do.''
Gordon Wysong, the county commissioner who sponsored the controversial resolution, shrugged off the news.
``You can't lose what you didn't have. I don't really see it as a major issue,'' he said. ``ACOG should do what they feel is best for their event. We wish them every success.''
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in a statement Friday that ACOG's decision ``serves to punish all residents of Cobb County, on both sides of the issue'' and that ACOG ``has decided to perpetuate a protest that divides us.''
``I am deeply disappointed that the Atlanta Olympic Committee has been blackmailed into taking this action,'' said Gingrich, whose district includes Cobb County.
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