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LETTERS POLICY
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INCOMPLETE. MISLEADING
A few weeks ago there was a letter to
Flagpole s editor requesting that your writers give
further information regarding votes cast by the
Commission—not just parts out of context. It was
suggested that the reader could then form his/her
own opinion regarding those votes when all major
positions were given.
Because of that request, your December 11
edition has an article [City Dope] that may need
some clanfication for your readers. The case in
point is the information given on the Foundry
Street Warehouse historic preservation project
which is incomplete and misleading. You state
that the funds received from the sale of the Wray-
Nicholson house was "granted to the Classic
Center" as if the Classic Center is not ownea by
the Citizens of Athens-Clarke County. The historic
warehouses are also owned by our Citizens just
like the Lyndon House, the Taylor-Grady House,
the Heritage Foundation Building, all Recreational
Centers, and numerous other buildings and facili
ties throughout Athens-Clarke County.
The other misstatement on this issue is that
several Commissioners had hoped that the Wray-
Nicholson house funds would be used to establish
a revolving loan fund. The Attorney General (after
being asked to make a legal determination; ruled
that to grant, outnght give, or loan public funds
to individuals, was clearly illegal.
As you may recall, the Commission did agree
to use the funds from the sale of the Wray-
Nicholson house for historic preservation pur
poses. You may not be aware that Athens-Clarke
County has several historic buildings that the
community wishes to preserve. In addition to the
Foundry Street warehouses, some examples are the
Welcome Center, the Memorial Park TB Clinic, and
City Hall, just to name a few. We had a bill in
hand for $650,000 to replace the severely decayed
roofs on the Foundry Street Warehouses. It was
feared that they would collapse, and the ware
houses could be lost forever if the roofs were not
replaced. We all agreed that this work had to be
done right away. Our options for the payment of
roof replacements were to use our historic preser
vation funds or General Fund money.
My proposal to utilize the $2,500,000 from the
sale of the Wray-Nicholson house was to fund part
of three historic preservation projects: the Foundry
Street warehouses at $2,000,000, the Welcome
Center at $250,000, and the Memorial Park
Historic Building at $250,000.1 personally felt
that this was the best utilization of these funds,
and a majority of the Commissioners agreed.
You alluded again this week to this issue, indi
cating that several Commissioners had hoped to
use these funds to establish a revolving loan fund
for individual historic preservation projects. Since
the proposal that I made passed, you can not
assume that those who did not vote for the pro
posal were supportive of establishing a revolving
loan fund. One Commissioner supported using all
the $2,500,000 for the preservation of the
Foundry Street warehouses, another Commissioner
supported using this entire amount to start the
City Hall preservation project which is estimated
to cost over $5 million, and the other
Commissioner supported using the funds for a
revolving loan fund, even though that option has
been declared illegal.
CONTACT US AT P.0. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, MAIL@FLAGPOLE.COM
OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US” LINK AT FLAGPOLE.COM
Thank you for allowing me to give further facts
to better inform your readers on this issue.
Tom Chasteen
ACC Commissioner,
Superdistrict 9
LOUD & PROUD
This letter is in response to a letter by F.B.
[Letters, Dec. 18] which was responding to my
previous letter [Letters, Dec. 4] about the poor
voter turnout in the recent mid-term elections.
F.B. wants me to stop complaining and blaming
voters for the disappointing outcome.
It is certainly true that one of the reasons
Democrats lost as many elections as they did last
time was that they played it too safe. In an effort
to reach out to those near-mythical swing voters,
they abandoned their traditional base (working
people, unions, minorities, etc.). They refused to
challenge Republicans on a number of key issues,
like war and taxes, and failed to put forth a com
pelling alternative to Bush's failed economic plan.
It was a poor strategy which badly backfired.
At the same time, a Democratic majority in the
House and Senate would have given Democrats
the opportunity and encouragement necessary to
put forth their own agenda, independent of the
Republicans'.
I'm afraid that I have given F.B. the impres
sion that I think everything would be great right
now if Al Gore had been elected in 2000. In point
of fact, I did not vote for Al Gore; I voted for
Ralph Nader, and precisely because the Democratic
p arty was once again turning its back on its lib
eral constituency.
Even though I voted Green, however, that does
not mean that I agree with Nader's opinion, and
F.B.'s, that there is essentially no difference
between the two major parties. There are substan
tial differences on a number of key issues.
Would Al Gore have pushed through gigantic
tax cuts for nch people and then asked for even
more? No. Would Al Gore have attempted to wage
an unnecessary and potentially catastrophic war in
Iraq? No. Would Al Gore have attempted to pack
the Supreme Court with anti-choice judges? No.
Al Gore is and has been wrong on a number of
issues, like censorship in music. I agree, but
Republicans are wrong on every issue, so the dif
ference, and the choice, is pretty clear-cut. And
speaking of controlling what we do and say, I
would ask F.B. to more carefully examine the USA
Patriot and Homeland Security Acts, not to men
tion Total Information Awareness, all serious
threats to freedom and privacy.
I'm sure, F.B., that many people on the Right
would like us all to forget that Florida 2000 ever
happened, but count on it, there are a lot of
people out there who will never forget that George
Bush is not the legitimately, democratically-
elected leader of this country.
So, no. I'm just going to keep on complaining,
loudly and proudly, because I voted, and that
gives me the right.
Jason Mosser
Athens
STAR PEOPLE
Hi. I was recently sitting outside the Starbucks
on College Ave. with a couple of my friends. A girl
walked by and referred to us as 'stupid Starbucks
people' to the guy with whom she was walking, in
a voice loud enough for us to hear.
Now there is a lot of complaining that goes on
about the obnoxious frat boys and sorority girls
and Republicans and such in this town. I am none
of these things, and I know that a lot of the time
the complaining about them is justified. However,
I have never had any of the people from these
groups call me stupid to my face, and judge me
for the damn cafe I am sitting outside. I have
lived in Athens a long time, and mostly I have
gone to Blue Sky, but I'll go to Starbucks too, if
Blue Sky is crowded. I am not stupid, and I am
not a 'Starbucks person' and the fact that some
wannabe townie (who has probably not worked
any harder at life than those hated sorority girls)
thinks she can make assumptions and judgments
about me burns me up.
So here is my response... I am not stupid,
ma'am; but you are certainly rude (and stupid too,
come to think of it... since you don't know that I
am not an armed psychopath).
Ross Tice
Athens
SIGNS SICKEN
It hurts my heart to see all of the signs posted
in the windows of downtown businesses that
attempt to discourage people from sharing. They
read, "Please don’t encourage panhandlers by
giving them money." Panhandlers? Is this word
supposed to make people who are lucky enough to
have what they need less sympathetic to people
who need money to buy food? Perhaps we're sup
posed to think of "Panhandlers" as perfectly able
people who don't really need anybody's help, but
just ask for money because they're being "encour
aged." Perhaps when the day is done, they go
back to their secret Panhandler headquarters
where they pour large sacks of money onto a crys
talline table and release an evil cackle, "HAHA-
HAHA... look at all tnis money that we asked for
but didn't really need!! Fools... ahahah... nice
people... they're all FOOLS!!! AHAHAHA!"
It's ridiculous to think that people subject
themselves to constant humiliation just for kicks.
People don't sleep on wooden benches at night
because they enjoy the brisk of winter or desire
the sensation of frigid rain against their bodies.
One sign even goes so far as to say "instead, give
to people who are REALLY in need by giving to
these charities," and goes on to list The Salvation
Army, Potters House, etc. If people who can't
afford food and shelter aren't "really in need,"
who is?
What's the underlying truth that is supposed
to make these signs reasonable? Is it that people
without homes can't be trusted? Is it that people
are only homeless because they can be, and if
everyone decides to stop helping them, they'll
suddenly wise up and buy homes? NO! The reason
that businesses put these signs in the windows is
that they see homeless people as imps that scare
off potential customers. In actuality, the signs
have the effect of disgusting potential cus
tomers... or at least the ones who have hearts.
People with hemes are luckier, not better, than
people without homes.
Thank you.
Trevor
Athens
MINOR DETAIL
Not to nitpick, but I noticed in reading the
"Best Overlooked CDs of 2002" [Dec. 25] that
write Alan Sculley identified the Vines as a British
band in his suggestion of the Doves' excellent
release The Last Broadcast. Correct me if I'm
wrong, but I thought the much-hyped Vines (Spin,
Mojo, Rolling Stone, MTV, insert other media out
lets ad nauseam) were from Sydney, Australia, not
Great Britain, as the Doves and Coldplay are.
Just thought I would point out a minor,
insignificant detail in an article full of great
albums that didn't receive half the press they
should have in 2002.
Kimberly E. Mock
Athens
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM • JANUARY 8, 2003
DIST BY Tl IE UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDIC ATE, 0 2003 RUBEN BOLLING -*3l- www.tomthedanangbug.com tomdbug@aol.com