Newspaper Page Text
LIFE DURING WARTIME
IF YOU'RE LIKE CITY DOPE, you enjoy breathing.
Let's take a deep breath now, shall we? In
through the nose, out through the mouth. Feels
good, huh? But unless you're wearing a respirator
or similar device, you may have just damaged
your lungs, because the air in Athens is often
unfit for human consumption. It will only be
made worse if ACC officials and the Enron corpo
ration have their way.
As some of you know,
the Commission will
soon decide whether to
allow the company to
build a 560 megawatt
power plant here, and
the odds are very much
in Enron's favor, you
and your lungs be
damned. See p. 7 for
the gory details.
HEADS UP (AGAIN).
There are rumblings
that Athens-Clarke
County may raise fees
for sidewalk cafe
seating. Sources indi
cate that several down
town business owners
are already in on the
discussions in hopes to
avoid the stealth
nature of this spring's
alcohol license fee hikes. Even so, expect to see
those anti-Commission fliers start popping up on
storefronts again any day now.
protect the board from itself, and to protect the
money from the board. With roofs still leaking and
kids and teachers still crammed into 80 trailers
system-wide, no one doubts the schools need the
money. And since the loot will go to the con
struction industry, even fiscal conservatives can
get behind the program. Think of it as a bleeding
heart economic stimulus package.
ALTHOUGH IT WILL BE
CONSIDERED by the
Commission, getting a
skate park added to
the Southeast Clarke
Community Park is far
from a done deal.
Commissioners who
voted against the mea
sure earlier this month
said it was too late to
add the feature, and
any change in park
design will have to
receive Commission
support. But City Dope
has learned that during
the site selection
process for SE Clarke
park, all potential
locales were evaluated
for skate park suit
ability, and a skate park
appeared on each one
of the park's preliminary sketches. How and when
was the park axed? You'll find out when we do.
COMMISSIONERS ARE SERIOUS about relieving
the county's affordable housing crunch. So
serious, in fact, that they devoted nearly half an
hour to the issue at their October 9 work ses
sion. Unfortunately, those 1,800 seconds yielded
far more questions than answers—and little
wonder, with John Barrow spouting nonsense
about mixed-use, mixed-income neighbor
hoods. Where does he think he is, a socio-eco-
nomically diverse urban center or something?
Beam us up, Scotty!
DO YOU KNOW WHO'S VISITING your child's
school? Does the Clarke County Board of Education
know? When the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers
Circus came through town last month, clowns
were allowed to visit several schools to promote
the big show. City Dope wonders if anyone within
the district was aware that "Smiley," former star
clown for Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros., was just con
victed of child sodomy, sexual abuse and endan
gering the welfare of a child. Smiley, AKA
Christopher Bayer, no longer works for the circus,
and none of its current clowns should be deemed
guilty by association. But still.
LOCAL DEMOCRATS FLOODED the Classic Center
last week to honor former state Sen. Paul Broun.
Rumors flew that pro
ceeds from the S100
tickets would go toward
challenging Sen. Doug
Haines < in next year's
primary. (Contributions
less than $101 are not
required to be itemized
on campaign contribu
tion forms, making
donors anonymous.)
Haines, already
despised in some circles for unseating 38-year
incumbent Broun, is now taking heat for (gasp!)
supporting a Democrat-centered
Congressional district for Athens in this
summer's redistricting battle, rather
than an Athens-centered Republican
district. Turns out the money will
apparently go to a UGA scholarship,
but will the good 'ol boy Dems be so
petty as to turn against one of their
own next year? Well, their mascot is
the jackass.
ATHENIANS WILL GO TO THE POLLS
November 6 to vote on a new $87 mil
lion school SPLOST. This is a tough
one. On one hand, the Clarke County
Board of Education tore through the last
SPLOST like MC Hammer (see VH-l's "Behind The
Music"), paying for brand new gyms with no air
conditioning without knowing exactly how or why.
But now the Board has appointed overseers to
THE ATLANTA HIGHWAY AREA Transportation
Master Plan (TMP) reared its hideous head again
at an October 8 public forum. Business interests
were on hand to gripe (shock!) about center
medians and the TMP's paltry number of parallel
access roads—which are about the only provisions
in the plan for achieving its supposed goal of
improving safety and traffic flow. (For more on
this topic, see the recently approved Barnett
Shoals Road plan and its $3 million turn lane.)
Seeing as how private industry seems to dictate
road design in Athens, why not do away with the
Transportation half of ACC Transportation and
Public Works and turn the whole she-bang over to
the Chamber of Commerce? Because then
the big
babies
would have
to pay for all that road con
struction, and that would
never work—they're only
interested in putting your
money where their mouths are.
Brad Aaron
Send your city dope to bradaaron@flagpole.com.
STOREWIDE
SALE!
Boots • Shorts
Jackets • Packs
& lots of other outdoor gear
The Outfitters, Ltd.
w Supplier! of Equipment and Clothing for the Outdoors
1490 Baxter St., Athens, (JA U.S.A. • (706) 546-7575
www.theoutfittersltd.com
athimj siorcu :
Vyf \ ^ ^ i ^ j / ♦
' t- ' n >;~V r m <
MMS
NOBODY
DOES
FRESH***
LIKE
BARBERITOS
DOES FRESH!
All orders are
customized in
front of you with:
★Grilled Lemon Pepper^
Chicken Breast
★Grilled Cracked Peppers
Cilantro Steak
100% Fat Free &
Vegan Rice, Black &
Pinto Beans
Fresh Grated Cheese
Fresh Pico de Gallo
100% Fresh & Vegan
Guacamole -
(The World's Best)
Fresh Chopped Lettuce
Fresh Jalapenos,
Cilantro, & Onions
Totally Awesome
Tomatillo & Chipotle
Sauce
All food is prepared
fresh daily using only
the freshest &
healthiest ingredients
Free Fresh Chips
Great Service and a Smile!
What we don't use:
Microwaves, Canned Beans, Lard,
Ground Beef, Pulled Chicken,
Canned Salsa, Gross Mystery
Meat, Bad Service, Bagged Chips,
No Hot Plates (microwaved)...
N0YUCKY FOOD!!!
JUST FRESH/ FAST
& ABSOLUTELY
DELICIOUS FOOD*
90 N
DAMS!
KICK THE $*!%<
OUT OF THE
KITTENS!!! r
BARBERITOS
259 E. Clayton St.
Downtown Athens
549-9008
OCTOBER 17, 2001 • FLAGPOLE.COM 5