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NO CRUNCH
VGA might not break summer
school records after all
It was assumed that this year's summer
quarter would be crammed The theory was
that students who needed only a few quar
ters' worth of classes to graduate would
jump at the last chance to take classes on
the quarter system so they wouldn't have to
sit through semester-long yawners.
According to Bruce Schutt. UGA associate
vice president for student affairs and regis
trar, it's not shaping up that way. “We
thought that when we started, but right now
it's sort of on par with the last summer quar
ter. That surprises us. We were expecting a
bumper crop."
Schutt notes that students may still regis
ter — the latest possible date being June 19,
during drop/add He could offer no hard
numbers to illustrate the no-bumper-crop
phenomenon, but said that in the last seven
or eight years, summer school has become
increasingly popular “There've been more
students staying in the summer and not
going home,” he said. “They might take one
or two classes and work.
When asked why ht thought this was the
case, Schutt said. “I don’t know — unless
there’s more work here than where they go
home to. Or maybe Athens is more exciting
in the summer than where they live.” (RE)
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PLANKS AND SPLINTERS
The Republican Election Blueprint for Athens
Victoria Pate recently got bad press
about Pate’s Ace Hardware tax liens and her
claiming a homestead exemption in Cobh
County for a house that is not her home Her
troubles, since she is running as a
Republican, inevitably embarrass her party,
too.
You might say the Republicans asked for
it. You might also say they had no choice.
Having no candidate of their own. the
Republicans gladly accepted when the
FOCUS candidate decided to run as a
Republican, though some of the old guard
have been mighty quiet since the Pates
arrived in their midst The local GOP got a
ready-made candidate and platform They
also got the tax liens and the house that is
not a home.
Victoria Pate gave FOCUS a face and a
voice, while her husband. Lidden. supplied
the figures, and a gaggle of land and apart
ment-complex owners financed the effort,
packing the commission meetings with a
crowd that used rudeness as rhetoric.
By merging with FOCUS, local
Renublicans have made themselves a splin
ter party tied to one issue rather than a
broadly representative group advocating a
wide spectrum of ideas.
In truth, the Republicans may have been
right last year when they pushed so hard
for non-partisan elections in local races,
even though that effort seemed weird, com
ing from a party trying to build its local
presence.
Commissioner Doc Eldridge led that
fight fer non-partisan elections and would
have got it through the commission had not
some of the GOP/FGCUS fringe pushed it
into a racial issue, scaring off several com
missioners.
The Republicans, forced to operate as a
political party on the local level, tried to get
Doc Eldridge to become a Republican, and of
course he wouid have been their first choice
for Mayor. Now they have to support their
second choice against their first, while deal
ing with the surprises that come with the
Pates.
Such surprises are always more probable
with newcomer candidates like Victoria Pate
who pop up out of single-issue concerns and
parlay that recognition into electoral poli
tics, but who haven’t been In the community
all that long and haven’t been tested in prior
elections.
But p >p up she did. and the Republicans
certainly were not going to say no thanks to
an attract ve. energetic woman who was will
ing and able to run for mayor
The party might look weak because it
managed to field candidates for only one of
the five Commission seats up for election
this year. Closer examination shows that get
ting one Republican commissioner elected
this year would do very well Moreover they
came up with two good candidates for ttie
District 7 seat left open by Doc Eldridge s
mayoral candidacy — Linda Ford and Carol
Williams — and now they'll have a genuine
Republican Primary in August
As for those commissioners unopposed
by Republicans (or Democrats). Tom
Chasteen in District 9 and Hugh Logan in
District 5 are perfectly acceptable to the
Republicans, who wouldn’t think of running
anyone against them District 3 is conceded
to he an African-American district, as the
Republicans no doubt learned the last time
that premise was tested by a write-in candi
dacy that lost in a landslide. Charles Carter
in District l was about the only sitting com
missioner worth running somebody against,
but. shoot. Charles is a dirt farmer who can
look and sound just like a Republican when
he wants to. and they couldn't find anybody
who cared to chase him across those fields
out there on the fringes of the county.
Say the Republicans m- .age to elect Ford
or Williams in District 7 against Democrat
Jeb Bradberry in November. That gives them
a new commissioner to join Tom Chasteen
and Hugh Logan and up-front/card-carrying
Republican Marilyn Farmer (who is support
ing her friend and fellow commissioner
Democrat Doc Eldridge for mayor) Those
four could form a core that could probably
pick up another vote or two. depending on
the issue. Get Victoria Pate in as mayor, and
just one more vote creates a tie that she gets
to break.
There’s the blueprint for how the
Republican Party, though splintered inter
nally and outwardly, can take over the
Athens-Clarke County Commission and
make the world safe for less tax and more
development, or whatever It is that
Republicans want. All they have to do is
concentrate on only two races and hope for
no more surprises.
Pete McCommons
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GR0CER1E
CO-OP
Tuesday, May 26 8:30-10:30
at SKATE AROUND USA
with FUZZy SPROUTS
Playing your Favorite 70's & 80's Tunes
$5 Including Skate Rental
OPEN SEVER Days A WEEK
523 Prince Avenue • 548-1732
MAY 20, 1998
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In Normaltown
Proudly Presents:
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Open from 2-2. Mon-Sat
(706) 546-8209
1294 1 2 Prince Ave.
SUNDAY NIGHT
Italian
Night!
With Mama Celeste's
Daughter (really!)
Chef Maggie.
Come in for One of Her
Delicious Dinners!
— 5pm to 10pm Sunday —
Downtown on Broad 208-0962
FLAGPOLE D