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SPECIAL ATHFEST EDITION!!
WE RE NUMBER ONE! Last Thursday, June 13,
Athens posted the highest air pollution readings
in the state —approaching its first "Code Red"
day of the year—and the students weren't even
here to pm it on. Good thing we live in a vacuum,
where there s no connection between air pollu
tion, rural subdivisions and road widening pro
jects, and where TDRs and rail-trails are weird,
but it's perfectly normal to get cancer from
breathing.
THERE ARE MOVEMENTS AFOOT against what is
perhaps the ultimate symbol of life in the vac:
the urban SUV As reported in Seattle alt-weekly
The Stranger, the burgeoning sport of "Big Game
SUV Hunting" has eco-conscious Left Coast guer
rillas tagging their marks with bumper stickers
proclaiming "I'M CHANGING THE CLIMATE! ASK ME
HOW!" Meanwhile, syndicated "Advice Goddess"
Amy Alkon announced in a recent column her
practice of placing pre-printed cards on SUV wind-
JIM HI6HT0VER
Women <$fan$ XHq to It)ike
When it comes to the way workers are
treated in the global economy, you can
count on Nike to do the light thing. As
long as it's forced to, that is.
Take the example of Mexmode, a
Mexican garment factory that churns out
thousands of Nike sweatshirts each day.
The factory employs mostly young, single
mothers with little education. Until
recently, the pay at Mexmode was
abysmally poor, child labor was used, and
managers verbally abused and harassed the
women. The women finally got fed up—lit
erally—when they began to find worms in
the food that was served at the company
cafetena, where they had to eat. They
decided to boycott the cafetena—a small
act of defiance that got them fired.
Nike, which makes millions of dollars
annually from sales of the sweatshirts made
by the women, did nothing about the fir
ings or the conditions. But two U S. advo
cacy groups did. The Workers Rights
Consortium and United Students Against
Sweatshops sent investigators to Mexmode,
then joined the women in an international
protest campaign that included publicly
embarrassing the corporation with demon
strations m front of Nike stores and offices.
This was putting such a stain on the
corporate swoosh that Nike was forced to
clean up its act at Mexmode. The child
labor was stopped, and the women won
their jobs back, got a pay raise, were
allowed to form an independent union, and
got nd of that lousy cafeteria food
Nike now cites Mexmode as an example
of its commitment to tieat workers fairty:
"We remain vigilant about these issues,"
declared a corporate PR flack But Nike only
acted because these women forced it to.
And before we applaud too ioudty for Nike,
note that the women at Mexmode still are
paid the miserable wage of under $5 a
day - way too little to support them and
their children
This is Jim Hightower saying.. Press
releases aside, corporations give exactly as
much fairness and justice as they are forced
to give.
Jim Hightower t$ a political columnist,
'OCho commentator and former Tenas oqrcui
tore commnnooet
shields, reading: "Road-Hogging, Air-Fouling, Gas-
Guzzling Vulgarian! Clearly you have an extremely
small penis, or you wouldn’t drive such a mon
strosity." For the record, the last car City Dope
owned was a Miata.
UNLESS YOU'RE A MEMBER of the Economic
Development Foundation, you're no doubt awa"*
that AthFest weekend is upon us. As is custom, the
big event gets underway with the Flagpole Athens
Music Awards, Thursday night at the Morton
Theatre. We re told this year's lineup of Music
Awards performers is the strongest yet. That's all
well and good, but City Dope is still disappointed
that ou r suggestion to spice things up with a brief
public comment period was rejected 8-2.
THE MAYOR AND COMMISSION met with Athens'
state legislative delegation last week, and were
taken to task by Representative Keith Heard for
being a bunch of slackers. Heard said Athens
misses out on a lot of money from the state
simply because we don't ask for it. Other
Georgia cities "market" themselves to state
leaders, he said, and maintain a presence in
Atlanta. Several even employ full-time grant
writers to bring in big bucks, according to Heard,
who chastised the Mayor and Commission for not
having a "plan" to help Athens get its share.
Mayor Etdndge didn't take kindly to Heard's
remarks, telling him We don't go to Atlanta"—
which seemed to be Heard's point.
TO READ THE ATHENS BANNER-HERALD editorial
criticizing Heard for criticizing the Mayor and
Commission, you'd think its author(s) attended
the meeting. They didn't If they had. they
might've seen the little trinket packages Heard
brought with him as examples of what other cities
are doing to help "bnng home the bacon." These
cities also have state legislators, but are
nonetheless taking the extra steps that Athens
apparently doesn't. And the ABH couldn't resist
taking a cheap shot at Doug Haines in its write
up: "The [state funding] situation grew even
worse when Paul Broun, the dean of the Georgia
Senate and a powerful and influential legislator,
lost his reelection bid a few years ago." The edito
rial provided no supporting evidence for that
position, however. Maybe Les Simpson e-mailed
this one in from Augusta.
IF THE ABH EDITORIAL BOARD plans to back
Haines' opponent Brian Kemp this fall, may we be
the first to point out that this editorial would
undercut that endorsement. Quoth the ABH: "A
first-term delegate in the state Senate doesn't
carry the influence Broun possessed." But as a
freshman Democrat Haines was embraced by the
state leadership and named to choice committees
including Appropriations and Higher Education
(can you spell "U-G-A"?). Anyone who says well
do bettei with a first term Republican under the
Gold Dome is either delusional, is harboring a
grudge of Shakespearean proportions, or both
TWO WEEKS AGO. A GOOD BIT OF THIS COLUMN
was devoted to gnping about the intersection of
E. Broad and Thomas Streets, where SPIOST crews
had "blocked not one. not two, but three comers
of that interchange simultaneously ’ Virtually
nothing had changed as of Friday. June 14, when
City Dope contacted SPIOST project manager
Kevin Hamby Hamby explained that SPIOST hired
contractors had made an effort to keep people
from falling into the gaping holes they'd created,
but acknowledged that the area is terribly
unsafe and finally said he'd clear some pathways
as soon as possible By lunch time Saturday it was
done but why did it take a call from flagpole to
make it so’ for almost three weeks, thousands of
residents and visitors were left to fend for them
selves at one of the busiest intersections in
Athens, literally RISKING THEIR LIVES JUST TO
CROSS THE STREET The on site contractors knew
Marking simultaneous policy shifts, both the ACC Commission and Wal Mart embrace new urbanism
1974 by Chuck Searcy and some guy named Pete
McCommons, the Observer over the years featured
such noted Athens journos as Ed Tant. Phil
Sandertin, Don Nelson and Lee Shearer. Its
latest incarnation being a community newspaper
with a conservative editorial bent, the Observer
has changed hands several times recently, with
none of its owners able to make a go of it. Current
owners Doyl and Teresa Dotson stopped printing
the paper eartier this month, and are negotiating
with potential buyers.
QUALIFYING FOR THIS YEAR'S ELECTIONS will go
from Wednesday through Friday, June 19-21. After
that we ll know for sure who's running for what
and under which party banner. Depending on the
number of local Dem defectors, several important
races could be decided in the August 20 primary,
so don't be shy if you haven't yet registered to
vote. The registration deadline is July 22, and it's
less trouble than getting a greenbelt subdivision
approved by the Commission. All right, so nothing
is quite that easy.
Brad Aaron
Send your city dope to bradaoron@flogpole.com.
what was going on, Hamby knew, the Manager
knew, the Mayor knew, the Commission knew, and
they alt just let it happen. Why? Because they flat
don't give a damn.
AND YES, WE REALIZE THIS SCENARIO is
common alt over Athens, and that's the problem
exactly—that injustice is the norm, and is there
fore rarely questioned. Like when breathing gives
you cancer.
FORTUNATELY, AS FAR AS WE KNOW no one has
been seriously injured (yet) due to downtown con
struction, but a lawsuit alleging negligence in the
north campus area may cost the county. The night
of Dec. 23, 20G1, one Andre Jamal Mathis was
driving a tractor-trailer through the intersection of
Thomas and Baldwin when a metal plate covering a
hole in the road slipped The ng fell into the
hole, flipping the truck onto its side. Mathis may
seek at least $50,000 in damages for injuries
caused by, in the words of his attorney, "failure
to... warn and/or implement available safety mea
sures" that could have prevented the accident.
THE ATHENS & OCONEE OBSERVER has ceased
publication, at least for now. A weekly founded in
THIS MMfcKM W*BL»
S-*, AS AM AMERICAN cmifcM,
ISN'T JO SC. PADTLLA ENTITLED TO
DUE PROCESS UNDER THE CON-
STmmOM--MO MATTE* NOW
HEINOUS MS ALLEGED CRIMES
MAY it?
WELL, WE BELIEVE THAT THE
SUPREME COURTS INH1 MAZI
SABOTEUR DECISION SETS THE
PRECEDEMT FOR OUR ACTIONS IN
THIS CASE.
by TOM TOMORROW
AH£M! ME ALSO RELIEVE THAT
THE SEDITION LAWS Of THE FIRST
WORLD WAR *JVE US A PRECEDENT
For the indefinite detention of
UNPATRIOTIC JOURNALISTS WHO
AID AND ABET THE ENEMY BY
UNDERMINING OUR AUTHORtTf!
JUNE 19. 2002 • riAGPOLE COM 5