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OCONEE COMFORT?
Open Letter to Oconee County Board of
Commissioners:
Dear Mr. Horton and Ms. Hale, thank you for
your votes against the Old Barnett Shoals de
struction and the Walton County Reservoir.
I was the accountant at Hard Labor Creek
State Park from 2004 to 2007, and wrote letters
to the local papers after reading the comments
in the margins of the surveyor maps stating that
if the dam should breech, three of the four roads
serving the park would be under nine feet of wa
ter in as many minutes.
However, my letters addressed the issue of
"comfort level," not doomsday mishaps. What
the 21st-century Oconee County citizen does
not grasp is that the comfort level of existence
we currently enjoy is not sustainable. For every
comfort we assume as a "given," there is an
overburdening of resources, and our resources are
being depleted at a rate faster than they renew.
Atlanta doesn't get it; Gwinnett doesn't get it;
Athens-Clarke and Oconee don't get it. Thanks to
a vote of 3-2(1), Oconee has missed its chance to
get it right—by planning for less.
Diane Cronin
Oconee County
EVERY NIGHT LIGHTS
I have been a UGA student for two years, and
have by now resigned myself to the fact that the
school's sports are a headache and a hindrance to
anyone not drunkenly following every moment of
action, but one thing in particular truly confuses
CONTACT US AT P.0. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, LETTERS@FLAGP0LE.C0M
OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US” LINK AT FLAGP0LE.COM
and angers me. Anyone who chances to walk
by the stadium at night during the first half of
the school year knows that they keep the whole
thing lit up, every light and every flashing elec
tronic advertisement. Is there any point to this?
Can anyone actually justify such a flagrant waste
of electricity? Is it meant to be a glowing symbol
of UGA football prowess, lit up in all its glory so
jerks can walk by and say, "That's our stadium
right there?" I thought
we were supposed to
be in an energy crisis!
I felt like someone
else had to notice this;
it seems ridiculous
enough that it should
prompt an Athens
wide double-take. At
any rate, UGA needs
to step up and power
down. Biodiesel is
nothing to boast of when you're burning coal for
a neon "GO DAWGS" that nobody sees.
Marshall Yarbrough
Email
GROCERIES + CREDIT
At the Kroger near Beechwood today, a young
man scanned my groceries, my Kroger Plus card,
my debit card and my credit rating. We needed
some eggs and milk around the house, nothing
major.
But when the young fella gave me my re
ceipt, he said, "Oh! You qualify for the 1-2-3
MasterCard. Would like to fill out this applica
tion?" He proffered the application which had
been printed with my receipt.
So MBNA meets Dr. Suess with the 1-2-3
MasterCard!
I told the kid I didn't want anything to do
with it, but thanks all the same. It felt like I had
just bought groceries from my mailbox and I felt
the need to say no at a higher level.
The manager, Matt, is a super nice guy. He
listened, even though I may have been a little
breathy in my indignation. He responded in a
friendly way. He said
he'd get the message
up the chain. Nice guy.
If they offer you
a MasterCard for buy
ing eggs and milk at
Kroger by Beechwood,
I encourage you to
meet Matt. For those
of you who, like me,
feel that no one's at
the switch on our na
tion's credit system, here's a way to register your
upset.
B.D. Temple
Athens
OIL & POWER
Mr. Fleming makes an interesting and seem
ingly apt analogy in this article [Comment, "On
Transportation and Technology," Aug. 29]. He
stridently glosses over a key point about the
future—some might argue "present"- viability of
private automobile dependence. He states: "pro
cessing power is now so cheap, it might as well
be free." While this is true in the realm of micro
processors, if we follow his analogy logically, the
corollary in the bus/train versus car scenario is
obvious: affordable petroleum. Petroleum is not
subject to the "courtesy of Moore's Law." Indeed,
its availability is inexorably drying up, accord
ing to all reputable geochemists and oil industry
analysts. We are on, or very near, the plateau
of the planet's capacity for gurgling out crude.
The other side of the plateau is an incontestable
downslope. As a civilization, and like all those
that preceded us, we will be forced to make dif
ferent arrangements for powering our society.
Furthermore, I highly doubt any given tech
nological advancement, be it hydrogen cells or
ethanol, can come close to replacing our full-
spectrum dependence on oil. Seems to me we
will have to reconsider our ravenous appetite for
energy and re-arrange our living and transporta
tion patterns to accommodate a near-term future
of oil scarcity. From this perspective, public tran
sit is eminently sensible as a forward-thinking
solution to human mobility.
Mr. Fleming believes his "analogy is obvi
ous." I acknowledge the novelty and creativity
of his analogy, but I think he misses its point.
The antagonist in his petulant challenge is not
mass transit. It's the obscene defensiveness of
car-dependence and the desperate assumption of
cheap oil forever enmeshed in "an itinerary like
that in American suburbia."
Brent Bjice
Jfom Flagpole.com
BAD REVIEW
What the freak do u mean by the Reveiw
[Record Reviews, Aug. 22] Angwish Is Way Better
than you said that not how they were and if u
took the time to actullay go to a ALL age show u
would know that but i guess u just thought you
BUMPERSTICKER OF THE WEEK:
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a blonde for President?
Thanks, Sheridan. Send 'em to benQ
fiagpole.com or 706-549-9523.
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 12,2007
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