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Mickey Lee Hudson
Friday, Jaa 4, was a great day for Mickey Lee Hudson. He had several
visits from friends, who all reported him to be in great spirits. Mckey Lee
passed away Saturday, Jaa 5,2008. Those of you who knew Mfckey Lee
may remember his time as a manager of the Gravity Creeps, or know him
as the person who roflerttaded everywhere, Including ail the way from
Athens to his home in Greenville, S.C.
Until he suffered a spinal cord injury at wwk, Mfckey Lee was a very visfcie
figure In Athens. With his head fun of curis, his large frame and perpetual
smile with a silver lightning bolt on his tooth, Mickey sometimes seemed
a cross between a love child and a sumo wrestler.
Mckey Lee wfl be missed. Friends who want to say goodtye and celebrate
Mickey's life are congregating at his former homestead on Standard Oil
Street (next to the railroad tracks off Cleveland Avenue) on Wednesday
Jan. 9 at 4 pjn. In true Mickey style, guests are encouraged to bring
whatever you can to support the celebration (food, candes, libations, etcj.
HAPPY HOUP • Mon-Sun 3-6
1/2 Price Appetizers • $2 House Margarita • $1.50 Domestic Draft
DAILY SPECIALS
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
LADIES NIGHT TEQUILA WINE THIRSTY .
S9.99 Pitcher TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
of House Discounts on 1/2 Off Wine $3.99 Pitcher
Margaritas . 2 or more drinks Domestic Beer
3523 Atlanta Hwy. (Next to Academy Sports) • 706-353-7771
ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
The Education of Kelly Girtz: The first Mayor
and Commission meeting of the new year
turned out to be a big night for District 9
Commissioner Kelly Girtz—and not just
because, at the start of the evening, he was
handed the torch to sen/e as Mayor Pro Tern
this year. Being Mayor Pro Tern will mainly just
suck up more of his time (hard to believe he
has any left), but it will also put him just a
tad closer to Mayor Davison's agenda-setting
and decision-making processes. That's a posi
tion I'd assume he'll enjoy, given the outspo
ken and unafraid positions he's been taxing
lately, just as he hits the one-year mark for
his time on the Commission.
As an example—and perhaps the best one
yet in his term—just look at last week's vote
on entering into an intergovernmental agree
ment with Oglethorpe County for the purpose
of expanding the local landfill (see City Pages
for the full story). Girtz went out on a limb
that most commissioners refused to touch,
proposing that the vote should be postponed
until a suite of new recycling and waste-reduc
tion strategies—scheduled to come
before commissioners next month—
could be dealt with. He admitted
the move was a political gesture,
but said it could be political "in
the best sense of the word"—i.e.,
he wanted the decision-making pro
cess, especially vis-a-vis the public,
done right. He said he was "truly
disappointed" to know that hadn't
happened in the year and a half
since the Mayor and Commission
had a work session on the landfill
expansion.
The landfill issue was a politi
cal test for Girtz, who is still a
newbie. Most other commissioners,
David Lynn included, said they
considered it disingenuous to act
as though the landfill might not be
expanded within the next decade.
(They're all quite sure it will be,
though a few progressive-minded
citizens argue that it doesn't have to be.)
Commissioner Alice Kinman called the Girtz
proposal an "empty" political gesture. If you
watched the meeting, it was like the older
siblings were telling their younger brother to
get real. Surely uncle Carl Jordan would have
voted with him, but Jordan was out West at
his second home, so he missed the meeting.
The only fence-sitter was Commissioner Elton
Dodson, who declared he had a dilemma: he
was honestly struggling between the Girtz and
Kinman perspectives.
If the landfill issue wa^ * oolitical test
for Girtz, he sure didn't ace it—the words
of Kinman and Lynn are enough to tell you
that—but he didn't fail it, either. When it
came time ».o vote, Dodson stood with him
and voted "No." Earning just one vote besides
his own was enough to keep Girtz from look
ing like the newbie who doesn't know any
thing. Instead, he's the newbie brave enough
to test out just how much power he has; even
if he doesn't have enough power to win, that
gives him a way to say that this government
has to continue changing the way it does
business, especially the more guys like him
there are within it.
I'll Be Darned: Believe it or not, you can
learn a lot by reading the Letters page in the
Flagpole (despite those weeks when there isn't
one). For instance, in the year-end "News &
Etc." wrap-up of 2007 in our last issue, I had
the great pleasure to recall a March '07 letter
pushing algae farms as the best way to manu
facture biofuels. "It's unclear where the algae
movement went in '07," I foolishly wrote.
That was foolish because on Dec. 12 the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution had run an article
detailing Royal Dutch Shell's announcement
that it is a partner in an experimental algae
farm and laboratory in Hawaii designed to pro
duce vegetable oil that can be converted to
biofuel. Go figure!
Going Up?: Dearing Street residents are watch
ing the skies and waiting to learn more about
a pair of new mixed-use highrises planned
for the nearby block of West Broad Street
between Finley and Pope streets. Sketches
submitted to the ACC Planning Department
show handsome buildings ("Cobblestone" and
"The Dearing") that ought to fit in with the
historic nature of downtown and the adjacent
neighborhood, but the applicants are request
ing zoning variances on building height, lot
coverage and street setbacks, in all cases
going for a true downtown look that doesn't
presently exist on that part of Broad Street
(a section that, admittedly, could use some
work). Keep an eye out for next week's Athens
Rising column for a more thorough look at
this project.
Cause for Concern: At press time, volunteers
and police were still searching for 29-year-old
Athens resident Cayle Bywater, who has been
missing and was last seen outside her South
Milledge Avenue home on Dec. 29. More infor
mation is online at www.FindCayle.org. Anyone
with knowledge of her whereabouts has been
asked to notify ACC police at 706-613-3330.
Hopes for Recovery: ACC police art also carry
ing in their thoughts Sgt. Courtney Gale, who
has been hospitalized since receiving multiple
stab wounds in an attack by a mentally ill man
that occurred while she was working off-duty
at the Kroger store on Alps Road on Dec. 11.
The latest news on Sgt. Gale at press time is
that she has been making slow improvements
since first Waking from a coma on Christmas
Day. More information on Sgt. Gale is available
at www.getwellcourtney.com.
Ben Emanuel
Send your city dope to ben@flagpole.com.
1
With all the road signs doubled-up in the course of their being re
placed along Whitehall Road, a driver might be forgiven for think
ing the speed limit there is 400 miles per hour. The again, some
folks seem to have always thought so around here.
4 FLAGPOLE.COM-JANUARY 9,2008
NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES I A&E I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
BEN EMANUEL