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Lane Changes for Cedar
Shoals and Hawthorne?
Despite complaints about the three-lane
configuration of busy Hawthorne Avenue,
county staffers recommend leaving it at three
lanes—except for the first block-and-a-half
north of West Broad Street, where traffic is
backing up into the intersection. That por
tion will return to four lanes when the road
is repaved this summer between West Broad
Street and Oglethorpe Avenue. The three-lane
configuration is "not necessarily a complete
failure, as some people like to characterize it,"
ACC Transportation and Public Works Director
David Clark told ACC Commissioners at their
work session Apr. 8. Many business owners like
it, he said, and crashes have been more fre
quent but less serious.
The busy street has never been wide
enough to satisfactorily handle the traffic it
draws, and while it includes bicycle "areas"
of minimal width, sidewalks are blocked by
hedges and telephone poles. But the street
can't be widened without purchasing addi
tional width from numerous property owners,
and there are currently no plans to do that.
Hawthorne originally "was paved literally on
top of raw dirt in places," and needs to be
properly rebuilt, Clark said. The work will take
up to four weeks, he said, and can mostly be
done at night.
Cedar Shoals Drive also needs to be
repaved, and Clark recommends three-laning
its entire length. (County policies require his
department to consider three-laning any four-
lane street that comes up for resurfacing.)
With four lanes, "we have excess capacity
along that corridor" at present, he said, and
a center turn lane could reduce accidents.
Five-foot bicycle lanes will be included. There
is no money available for streetscape improve
ments, but it's possible a center median could
be added later, and a roundabout traffic circle
could be considered at Whit Davis Road, he
told commissioners. North Avenue will also be
repaved, but without substantial changes.
John Huie iphuie@athens net
Crime in Athens: Solutions
Getting Anywhere?
With one in every 99 citizens now in jail or
prison, America has been locking up more and
more of its citizens—a larger proportion than
in any other nation. But local alternatives to
jail may be bucking that trend for some non
violent offenders, Superior Court Judge Steve
Jones told a Federation of Neighborhoods
forum Apr. 7. "Part of the problem is drugs,"
said Jones. One-third of Georgia's prisoners
are drug offenders, he said. Local courts now
deal with some nonviolent offenders through
"DUI court" or (since 2004) through felony
"drug court."
Back when he was an assistant DA, Jones
said, "I had the attitude of: you catch them,
you prosecute them, you give the max. But
maturity showed me... that putting somebody
in jail with a substance
abuse problem, all you're
going to get out is a person
with a substance abuse
problem." Instead of going
to jail, offenders work full
time and attend a 12-step
counseling program, and
they are tested for drugs
almost daily. Judge Jones
said. The drug court has saved the county
over $300,000 in jail costs, he said. There are
also "mental health court" programs, and GPS
ankle monitors are keeping some nonviolent
offenders out of jail, Jones said.
The average jail inmate in Athens has been
arrested a dozen times before, said Clarke
County Sheriff Ira Edwards, who also attended
the forum. "It's not that we have a lot of new
criminals. We have a revolving door of old
criminals—seasoned criminals."
The jail is still overcrowded, Edwards said,
but the alternative programs are making an
impact. And there are also programs for peo
ple who do go to jail: inmates can study for
their GED or attend alcohol- or drug-addiction
programs. Other programs teach employment
skills and offer referrals to jail inmates. "We
realize we can't save them all... [but] it's
important that we try to save some," he said.
But for an ex-felon, getting a job isn't
easy, said Jenni Austin of the nonprofit
Athens Justice Project. "We find that so many
people that we try to work with are just
instantly booted out. They don't get a call
back, they don't get an interview." The group
helps ex-inmates re-enter the workforce, which
sometimes it isn't easy, she said. "Sometimes
your family isn't waiting there with open arms.
Your friends are the problem. Your support sys
tem is extremely limited."
Associate juvenile Judge Robin Shearer also
participated in the forum. Various demands
on the juvenile courts "are almost working
at cross purposes right now," she said. Harsh
penalties popular with legislators a decade
ago have had something of an opposite effect,
she said. Those offend
ers have "used up all our
resources," leaving little
prison space available for
other juvenile offenders,
she said. Evaluation meth
ods used by state probation
officers make it near impos
sible to be detained for
committing a misdemeanor.
Judge Shearer said. "Sometimes it's frustrat
ing for us, because there are kids that I know
are repeat offenders, and I'd like to see them
detained and held until we can get them in
court—and maybe have an impact." Typical
offenders are school drop-outs who were "not
being reached" in school, she said.
And even though crime's been going down,
Shearer said, "our climate is very fearful,"
and school systems sometimes push students
into the justice system for minor offenses
like fighting or cursing. Shearer thinks it's
important to ask "who are you afraid of, and
who are you mad at? And if you're just mad at
somebody... [to] try to help those that we're
mad at, and we really need to try to get those
we're afraid of—and we fear could commit
more harm—out of the community."
John Huie jphuie@athens.net
“It’s not that we have
a lot of new criminals.
We have a revolving
door of old criminals—
seasoned criminals.”
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