Newspaper Page Text
S.P.O. LUKE LEWIS
BUSTED
Hmm, what's this letter from the Athens-Clarke County gov
ernment? Let's see: why, it's a picture of my 1986 Volvo station
wagon—several, in fact. And, well, my station wagon is running
a red light. There it is approaching the intersection at Broad and
Hawthorne, and look: the light has been red for 0.84 seconds,
after being amber for 3.75 seconds. In the next picture my station
wagon is in the middle of the intersection, and the light has been
red for 1.55 seconds. My station wagon is traveling at the speed
of 39 mph. There's a close-up of its license plate and its "HOWL If
You V City Lights Books" bumpersticker. It's my station wagon, all
right, and its involvement in this photo shoot will cost me $70.
What can I say? I could complain that I got this message along
about the same time that a local businessman was stomped sense
less downtown while all the security cameras were removed for
pole maintenance, but what's that got to do with it?
Image #1, Light Has Been Red For: 0.84 seconds
Image #3, Light Has Been Red For: 1.55 seconds
Years ago, Sergeant Hollis Kimsey, working as a motorcycle
patrolman, wrote me a ticket for running the red light at Prince
Avenue and Talmadge Drive, and I went to court to protest it. I
was convinced that I went through the intersection on a yellow
light. I waited my turn and then made my appearance before Judge
Preston Almand and explained my case. "Yellow light's same as a
red light," Judge Almand intoned, banging his gavel. "Next case."
That did me for about 20 years. In that split second when
you've got to decide to stop or keep going, I always stopped.
"Yellow light's same as a red light."
In the last decade, I have begun to crowd yellow lights, be
cause we've got so damned many of them now, and this time I got
caught. I hope it will be a lesson to me for the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, I caution my wife and daughter and anybody else
who will listen: don't ever assume, just because you've got the
green light, that some fool won't come flying at you from the side.
Be sure to look both ways before you start forward after the light
changes to green. Anybody who drives in Athens knows how often
somebody will come barreling through after the light changes.
My general theory of intersections was explained to me by my
father when I was still a young driver: if the light up ahead is red,
slow down and maybe it will change to green before you get to
it. If the light up ahead is green, maintain your speed in hopes of
getting through the light while it is still green.
This time, though, I just ran the damn thing. But only by 0.84
seconds.
Pete McCommons editor@llagpole.com
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
Comment 7
Pork Chop “Progress”
Small towns throwing money at big corporations to bring in jobs: is it worth it?
Athens Rising 8
What’s Up in New Development
The first installment of Flagpole's new column on planning and development news.
Art Notes 14
Birds, Grids and Words
A flock of birds at Lamar Dodd, words turned into pictures at Broad St. Gallery
and a glimpse into the joys of epistolary art at GMOA.
Grub Notes 15
Get Your Asian Buffet Fix
Belly up to the buffet, then head down to the basement cafe:
China Star Super Buffet and Cafe Kirk’s Underground.
King Of The Road 29
Guit-Steel Champ Junior Brown
The Texas songman hasn’t released an album in a couple years,
but that hasn’t slowed down his mix of various country styles.
Down The Devil’s Throat 31
Repent Hosts The Devilneck Metalfest
Forty metal bands converge on one Southern town—ours.
LETTERS
4
LOST PICTURE SHOW
19
CITY PAGES
5
ABC
21
CAPITOL IMPACT
6
ABC@ATL
28
COMMENT
7
JUNIOR BROWN
29
ATHENS RISING
8
DEVILNECK METALFEST
31
OXFORD AMERICAN
9
RECORD REVIEWS
32
OUT THERE!
10‘
THREATS & PROMISES
33
ART NOTES
14
COMICS
34
GRUB NOTES
15
REALITY CHECK
35
MOVIE DOPE
16
CLASSIFIEDS
36
MOVIE PICK
18
HIP MAMMA
39
EDITOR l PUBLISHER Pete McCommons
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CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Jimmy Courson, Robin Mathews, Annie Page
WEB DESIGNER Ian Rickert
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MUSIC INTERN Scott Reid
COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto
featuring art by Maggie Smith
at Transmetropolitan
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VOLUME 21
ISSUE NUMBER 33
Flagpole, Inc. publishes Flagpole Magazine weekly and distributes 17,000 copies
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NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
AUGUST 22, 2007 • FLAGPOLE.COM
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