Torch Bypasses Cobb County

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.

“I think frankly they got frightened. The extremists won,” said House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose district includes Cobb County.

“If the Olympics can have Cuban dictatorships, if it can have Syrians and Iranians and North Koreans, then Cobb County is good enough to be part of the Olympics,” said Gingrich, whose half-sister is a lesbian.

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.