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Saturday, March 31 • 7-lopm
3rd Annual
Spirit oS the Land
State Botanical Garden’s Terrace Room
GRSEN
F^ST
GeY Your
GREEN
HOUR
4 Community
Wide estimation
providing citizens with the
opportunity to increase
their awareness of and
interest in improving the
environment of their home,
yard, business, and
community.
For more info> visit us at
www.athensgreenfest.org
Saturday, Marc!* 31 * 7-9pm
Environmental Art
Opening Reception
ATHICA Gallery
April 1 • April 30
Adopt-A'Highway
Challenge /
Great American Cleanup
April 1 • April 30
Bin It and Win It
April 1 - April 30
Monthly Bass Fishing
Tournament
Lake Chapman, Sandy Creek Park
Wednesday, April 4,11 & 18 • li:i5*ltt4Spm
Green Bag Lunch Series
State Botanical Garden
Visitors Center, Classroom A
Thursday, April 5 • 7*9pm
Oconee Rivers
Audubon Society
Monthly Meeting
Sandy Creek Nature Center
such a success!
* r/ Tlxc CO**'
Mark your calendars for the
15th Annual A Taste Of Athens
February 24, 2008
MaefaUclMan,
WGAU
(comcast
^ SPOTLIGHT.
BARRON’S
RENTAL CENTER
ATHENS
Communitij Connection thanks
oup sponsors, vencors, volunteers ana quests
for maf inq A laste C f Athens 2007
HEM jsam/
CITY PAGES
continued from page 5
headed hopefully for a temperature standard
on campus" that will save energy, Crowe said.
He expects that the Board of Regents will soon
require 68-degree winter and 78-degree summer
thermostat settings for all buildings in the state
university system. There are no immediate plans
to expand UGA's boilers, but UGA is expanding at
three to four percent each year on average, he
said, and is looking at the possibility of a second
heating plant on campus. The University is also
studying the possibility of burning wood waste
left over from timber harvesting.
"In a real pinch, they can burn chicken
fat," UGA engineering consultant Bob Synk told
Flagpole. As a grant-funded experiment, UGA did
just that for six weeks in 2002, he said. The fat
was bought from rendering plants in Griffin and
Cumming, and it worked just fine, Synk said. But
its price has since "skyrocketed" because chicken
fat is now in demand to supplement diesel fuel
("biodiesel") for burning in vehicles.
There appeared to be no definite objections
to UGA's permit application. The public hearing
was requested by local public-health activist Jill
McElheney. (Because the
permit was routine, a
hearing was held only by
request of a member of
the public). McElheney
told Flagpole she simply
thought the application
deserved a public airing.
UGA will add a S2.5 mil
lion "scrubber"—a pow
dered limestone filter to
remove much of the acid
gases (including SO2 and
HCl) produced by burning
coal.
James "Jac" Capp of
the state Environmental
Protection Division (EPD)
said that "major source"
polluters like UGA's
physical plant (that emit
at least 250 tons a year
of at least one pollut
ant) get on-site surprise
inspections every year
or two as well as having
to run their own tests
and submitting detailed
records "to provide a reasonable assurance of
compliance." And while air pollution laws are
typically enforced through government agencies,
the law also allows citizens to take violators to
federal court, Capp said.
Other significant Athens-area air polluters
include the Louisiana-Pacific and J.M. Huber
pressboard plants, the CertainTeed fiberglass
plant, the Power Partners transformer plant, and
Nakanishi, which makes ball-bearing retainers.
Among the worst polluters ar$ drivers, both those
in Athens and those in Atlanta, whose air drifts
here. EPD figures suggest that—of four catego
ries of pollutants tested—UGA's boilers produce
more sulfur dioxide and fine-particle pollution
than all the cars in Clarke County, but the cars
produce far more nitrogen oxides and volatile
organic compounds.
Jo.in Huie jphuie@alhens.net
A Tri-Faith Effort
The Abraham Alliance
"It feels good to be back!" commented Lynn
Gatchell of Milledge Avenue Baptist Church to
fellow members of the Abraham Alliance. They
were seated around a table at the At-Huda
Islamic Center on Monday evening. Mar. 19, mak
ing plans for their next community action proj
ect: the rehabilitation of three boarded-up hous
es in the Stonehenge neighborhood-for Habitat
For Humanity. Others echoed Lynn's sentiment.
They hadn't met since January and soon after
that, one of their key members, Clyde Anglin,
had passed away. They had mourned together,
but now it was time to get back to work.
The Abraham Alliance was born in the after-
math of 9/11, when three local congregations de
cided to work together for the good of their com
munity. The Al-Huda Islamic Center, Congregation
Children of Israel and Milledge Avenue Baptist
Church started with a simple plan: a spaghetti
dinner to raise funds for the Red Cross.
After that, Habitat for Humanity approached
the group with a proposal: a matching grant to
build a house. The three congregations agreed
to do it. They worked together on fundraising,
including a "Tri-Faith Trot" 5K run. According
to Pastor Ed Bolen of Milledge Avenue Baptist,
they didn't divide the cost and labor in thirds.
"We decided to do it cooperatively, and that's
why we worked on Tuesdays," he explains. They
built the house on weekdays in order to leave
free each congregation's day of worship (Friday
for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, and Sunday for
Christians.) In 2004, the Abraham House was
completed.
Since then, the alliance has continued to put
its efforts into fundraising and promoting cross-
cultural understanding. In 2005, they hosted an
event called "Three Weddings and a Party" to
As UGA continues to build out its East Campus area —including this new home for the
Lamar Dodd School of Art under construction—Athens-Clarke County is going forward with
around $200 million in sewer plant upgrades that include an overhaul across the river from
East Campus where, officials say. ‘obiectionable odors" will stop at the property line
raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The
"weddings" were performances by teenagers in
each of the three congregations to demonstrate
the different types of marriage ceremonies. In
March of 2006, the group organized a discussion
of the three holy books, the Qur'an, the Torah,
and the New Testament, to help each other un
derstand what the texts of their religions say.
Larry Galzer, of the Congregation Children of
Israel, emphasizes that the group is really not
focused on religion. "Your religion, your culture,
your traditions—those things don't matter. They
don't segregate us from each other. The impor
tant thing is working together."
However, no one takes the interfaith aspect
of the group for granted. Abid Ali of Al-Huda,
a Pakistani with family in Saudi Arabia, com
ments, "I've told my family about the Abraham
Alliance, and the next time I go home, I have to
bring proof because nobody believes it. Nobody
believes that in the U.S., after 9/11, this group
can exist."
The new project for Habitat will cost about
$8,000 per renovation. So besides recruiting
hammers and hands, they'll need to start raising
money again. Milledge Avenue Baptist Church
•will be hosting a fundraising dinner on May 20
at 6:30 p.m. You can bring a donation and eat
your fill of spaghetti—vegetarian or with kosher/
halal meatballs—salad, and dessert. Another
Tri-Faith Trot 5K is tentatively planned for Labor
Day, Sept. 3. The Abraham Alliance welcomes
all participants, regardless of faith. For more
information about upcoming events or to get
involved, a website should be up soon at www.
abrahamalliance.org.
Nancy Heiges nheiges@gmail.com
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • MARCH 28,2007
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