Newspaper Page Text
Mono Me.
ACC ANIMAL CONTROL
45 Beaverdam Rd. • 7 06 - 613 - 3 5 40
FnenJy, young Lab
ma has an equally
aoonne, umosi
identical bnkv twin
hoping to find a home
together or apart
fs there such a thing as
mmarure German
Shepherd? Beautiful
abutted s full grown at
about JO poinds or less.
Quiet sweet well-
mannered young adult
just a bit shy.
Owners are not comng
back for this handsome
(but stormy) brown and
white Cotter
Curiy coat and
lush ears. He’s
low and alone,
he’s a loving sod.
Looks a bit crowded, doesn't id it IS
Antral Control took r 48 dogs last week.
A sampling would ndude purebreds:
German Shepherd, Caam Terrier,
Chihuahua, Locker Spaniel. Golden
Retnever - not to mention many
wondHul mixed breeds. If you come by,
you WLi. meet a wonderful dog (or four).
Prettier n real Sfc, golden nri has a sky,
soft coat r
mned wkh Cab, a shortish body and I
a
Very gentle girl, would
beyeatlamiydog.
Calm, petite
Dachshund
.'Beagle mod Mss
Manners on a leash.
WIpISs, j|p
§;|B
Iff 1
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • APRIL 25,2007
NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
A WWt food news for people who breath* UGA Campus Trans* announced last mm that aN 47 buses m its fleet are now nm-
mnf on B20 bwdwsel (that s a Wend at 20 percent botnet hem Georgia sourced leftover chcten fat «th» case- and BO
percent petroleum dwsH} According to a UGA pens iWease ‘The switch mates UGA one ot the largest users at (MdwsH m the
state and one at a handful at transtf system operators nationwide to mate such a switch ‘ But can vegans she nde The bus”
loosening the distance requirements that limit
how close to schools or churches alcohol can be
sold. Local law is more restrictive than the state
on that point he said.
Public hearings wiU be set up with various
interested * stakeholders*—like bar and conve
nience store owners, and downtown groups—
"within weeks." Chief Lumpkin told Flagpole. The
proposed ordinance—and stakeholder feedback —
will then go to commissioners for a decision.
John Hute jphu*©spee<tf3cfory net
Industry Notes
L-P and Its Neighbors
In a town like Athens, where inclusion of
concerned citizens in decision-making processes
in an increasingly common practice, not alt such
efforts are bound to succeed easily. That seems
to be part of the lesson of the current dilemma
facing neighbors and managers of the Louisiana-
Pacific plant on Highway 441 just over the
Athens-Clarke line in Jackson County. Louisiana-
Pacific, commonly known as LP, has manufac
tured OSB sheeting (oriented strandboard, a type
of plywood made from laminated wood chips)
at the plant since it opened in 1989. A little
less than three years ago, LP officials formed a
Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) with neighboring
residents in both Clarke and Jackson counties
to address concerns about human health and
toxic emissions as well as noise pollution from
the plant. Earlier this year, however, officials
dissolved the CAC. At a poorty-attended public
meeting held Apr. 16 at the ACC Library, plant
manager Walt Ward admitted that a new council
has not yet been created.
Frustrated with the group's progress, or lack
thereof, CAC members apparently had asked plant
officials to make their meetings open to the pub
lic, presumably to add an extra layer of account
ability to a process some say has been dominated
by the company. In response, LP officials decided
to hold two general public meetings per year:
not CAC meetings, but general meetings for any
citizen to learn about LP or express concerns.
They also dissolved the CAC. The Apr. 16 meeting
was the first of the planned twice-a-year general
public meetings, and the LP staffers there were
clearly disappointed at the low turnout (they'd
placed an ad in the Athens Banner-Herald to ad
vertise it): only about a dozen people in all at
tended the meeting, half of them LP employees.
One citizen attendee was Dick Jurgensen, a
frustrated 18-year neighbor of the plant (he lives
about two miles away, across the wide, low river
valley of the North Oconee River) and ex-CAC
member. Jurgensen is at odds with plant man
agement over noise abatement, and at the Apr.
16 meeting it seemed the two sides could argue
alt night without reaching any sort of resolution.
The fed-up Jurgensen. however, also ex
pressed concerns about the discussion process
itself. There is a difference he argued to the LP
staffers, between general public meetings and
CAC meetings with a history—however ineffec
tive—of mutual commitment to working on is
sues. "That's a seat at the table,* Jurgensen told
them. This is a seat in the audience.* Ward said,
though. "We're trying to move the CAC in a dif
ferent direction." More to the point, he said. "We
don't want to focus just on noise on the CAC."
Even if the process of dialogue seems bro
ken at the moment. LP officials point to around
$250,000 spent on silencing equipment for
thermal oxidizers that burn harmful gases to
prevent toxic air emissions from the plant. That's
money the company was not legally required to
spend. Ward said at the meeting. (There are no
legal regulations on industrial noise here.) And
while Jurgensen would like to see follow-up
monitoring to assess that equipment's degree
of success. Ward said the company would rather
spend its money on identifiable ways of reducing
noise (which, he pointed out. will never be non
existent). While agreement on noise abatement
issues might be hard to envision, the process of
dialogue seems to have room for improvement,
too. ACC Environmental Coordinator Dick Field,
for instance, had only one thing to tell LP staff
ers at the meeting, and that was that Athens-
Clarke would like to see the CAC succeed.
Meanwhile, the plant is mostly in compliance
on air emissions. Plant Environmental Manager
Mike Anderson said at the meeting that LP re
cently found the emissions from its wood-drying
process (the dry line) to be just over permitted
levels of formaldehyde, which he said occurs
naturally in the wood. The plant's overall formal
dehyde releases, he said, are only about half of
permitted levels; LP hopes to revise its permit to
account for the dry line's formaldehyde levels.
Elsewhere in Athens, clean air advocates
recently praised Nakanisbi Manufacturing Corp.'s
intention to eliminate the degreaser trichloroeth
ylene, or TCE, in its ball-bearing retainer plant in
Winterville. The group Clean Air Athens recently
posted on-line a Mar. 30 letter from Nakanishi
President Kunio Kanaeda saying the company's
efforts to phase out TCE have been successful so
far. The company hopes to be rid of TCE by the
end of this year. In response, local environmental
health advocate Jill McElheney told Flagpole via
email, "I commend Nakanishi for being a corpo
rate example of what it is to put forth effort to
become a good neighbor."
Ben Emanuel oen@tlagpole com
New Drinkin’ Rules
Still Evolving
A committee of Athens-Clarke County (ACC)
Commissioners—along with interested bar own
ers who attended—got a heads-up Apr. 17 on
a stiU-developing new alcohol ordinance. The
changes are interred to streamline the exist
ing ordinance and make it more "user-friendly"
for police and bars. But commissioners had
complained that they were blind-sided by the
proposed new ordinance, which was developed
by county staffers without input from the public
or elected commissioners. T don't think this is
cooked yet" Commissioner David Lynn said at
a work session last month. After more cooking,
ACC Manager Alan Reddish last week brought a
revised version of the ordinance to the five com
missioners on the Legislative Review Committee
Some of the provisions don't appear contro
versial like tweaking permit requirements for
bars. (What it means to have a "criminal history"
will be more clearty defined, for example, and
bars or restaurants might have to pay any back
taxes and fees before a license would be grant
ed.) It's the changes in enforcement procedures
that "seemed to create the most concern, or at
least the most conversation" among commission
ers at the earlier meeting, Reddish said.
The still-evolving ordinance will try to (in
priority order set by county staff):
1. prevent bars from evading enforcement ac
tions by changing owners.
2. require door-people to hold permits, and re
quire alcohol servers in bars to be at least 21.
3. require training for employees (perhaps using
a computer instruction program).
4. regulate alcohol pricing promotions after
11:00 p.m.
5. regulate "brown-bagging" in restaurants.
The newly revised version still addresses
pricing of alcoholic beverages (no drinks could
be sold for under one dollar, for example), but
wouldn't impact "happy hour" drink discounts
from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. After 11 p.m., drinks could
not be discounted. Drinking contests would be
illegal, as would any contests with drinks as
prizes. And while some commissioners were skep
tical of a provision barring anyone from ordering
more than two drinks at once, it remains in the
suggested ordinance. "It's a fairly common meth
odology for trying to reduce drunk driving," ACC
Attorney Bill Berryman said. Effective alcohol
enforcement requires "social control* or customer
interaction from bar employees, said ACC Police
Chief Jack Lumpkin, who also attended.
"Brown bagging"—bringing your own bottle
into establishments that allow it—is currently
legal, since no law addresses it. "Any restaurant
in Athens could decide to become a brown-bag
site," said Lumpkin. They would essentially
become all-night clubs," where alcohol could be
consumed past bar-closing hours, and they aren't
subject to legal distance requirements from
churches or schools. In Atlanta and Dekalb coun
ty, many crimes occur at such "bottle shops." he
said. And "brown-bagging" at dances occasion
ally causes problems for local police, he added.
They allow people to bnng alcohol in. and
inevitably we have fights." often with injuries.
"From an enforcement standpoint, it's almost like
a brick wall" for police even to get mto a brown-
bag site to see if alcohol is illegally being sold,
or if underage people are drinking, said Officer
Laura Lusk at the meeting.
So the practice needs to be either outlawed
or strictly regulated. Reddish said. Commissioner
Andy Herod thought the problems could be
sorted out, and wanted to allow brown-bagging
in restaurants. "I think you need to treat people
like adults." he said. But even with adults, said
Chief Lumpkin, "we have tremendous prob
lems as a police department" after midnight.
Commissioner Kathy Hoard said there are already
plenty of places where people can drink. T would
actually address it by eliminating it" she said.
And "wine tastings"—defined as educational
but not sales events—might be allowed under a
special permit. "It's something that we feel like
needs to be added," said Finance Director John
Culpepper, whose office issues alcohol licenses.
Commissioner David Lynn wanted to consider