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Augusta Chronicle

Sun, stars come out

Friday,  April 11

By Amy Allyn Swann

Friday night Deke Wiggins greeted guests arriving at his annual Masters party at the Julian Smith Barbecue Pit. Then he had to work.

 

Two reporters from New York's Newsday wanted to interview him about People Against Ridiculous Protest - a group he formed in reaction to Martha Burk's crusade against the Augusta National Golf Club'S all-male membership.

PARP will be the one group that won't show up today at the 5.1-acre protest site on Washington Road.

"We'll have a banner out there," he said.

The point of PARP is to mock the silliness generated by Burk and the other protest group and it's gotten Wiggins more attention than he ever imagined.

The Lakeside High School graduate and University of Georgia alumni has had so many requests for interviews, he took the week off from his job as a grain broker.

"It's been crazy," he said.

 

For his friends, the PARP party was about cold beer, hot barbecue and bluegrass music.

Anne Margaret Thurmond, Wiggins' neighbor, has some strong views about Burk.

"She's always talking about how she wants to do things for women, but there are bigger issues than this," she said, as she took a sip of her Amstel Light.

"I can poke fun at her and have a good time."