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LARRY TENNER
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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
Candidate Conflagration Aiiead: City Dope has
told you once, and will tell you again, that
you'd better mark your calendars for the June
30 candidate forum at the Melting Point (put
it down for 7 p.m.), hosted by your friends at
the Athens Press Club. The night will feature
debates between Congressman Paul Broun,
Jr. and his Republican primary challenger,
state Rep. Barry Fleming, and between state
Senator Bill Cowsert and his Republican pri
mary challenger Tommy Malcolm. As always,
questions on the issues will be posed by
members of the Athens Press Club, and as
always, the Club is glad to know what kinds of
questions the voters want to see asked. Email
yours to timbryant@southernbroadcasting.
com or to ben@flagpole.com. What better
do you have to do in the middle of a quiet
summer?
Politically Speaking: And quiet it is, at least
so far. One can hope that things will get more
interesting by the time the month is out. For
instance, the qualifying period for seats on
the Athens-Clarke County Commission—half
of them, anyway, the even-numbered ones—is
coming right up: June 23-27. But what will
we learn that week? Opposition for Harry Sims
in District 2? There's been nary a peep. In
District 4, Alice Kinman was given a run for
her money the first time around by a rather
conservative member of the UGA student body,
but there's no word on whether that guy even
still lives in Athens; he hasn't been heard from
since then, really. Will someone else come out
of the woodwork over there?
There is some potential for excitement
in District 6; John Huie reported in Flagpole
some weeks back that local business consul
tant (and OneAthens co-chair) Red Petrovs is
eyeing that seat, but there's no word yet on
whether he's committed to qualifying. And
then there's the incumbent in that district,
Carl Jordan. Odds right now say he's in (espe
cially if the publisher of this particular paper
has anything to do with it; see p. 3 for his
take).
On the Eastside, meanwhile, one can only
assume that relative newbie Andy Herod is sit
ting pretty in District 8—he was just elected
in a special election last year, after all. Last
but not least is the superdistrict, number 10,
currently represented by Elton Dodson. He
didn't exactly have a good spring, what with
his failed attempt at engineering a meaningful
reversal of the Commission's decision on those
now-infamous Community Development Block
Grants, but Dodson has had an interesting and
effective-enough first term as a commissioner.
Will anyone challenge him for dominion over
half the county?
These questions and more will
all be answered before too long,
of course, but one can't help but
thinking this year will go down as
one of the less-exciting election
years on record. Based on the talk
so far (or lack of it), it would
be nice in a general sense to see
more interest in ACC Commission
seats—and one wonders what it
says about the state of things if
there isn't much. But City Dope
shan't get too pessimistic yet—
there's still time for some folks to
come in and shake things up.
Across the River: As noted last
week in this space, things just
might get shaken and stirred over
in Oconee County this year, but
all that remains to be seen. If
you're reading this on Wednesday,
June 4, you've still got a chance
to head to the Oconee County
Library in Watkinsville for a forum
featuring candidates for school
board.
Water Biz: Confused about just
what's allowed in the way of
outdoor watering? Wondering
what will happen next? You're
not the only one. Who knew that
something so simple as conserv
ing our resources in a time of
drought would get caught up in so
much governmental red tape? The
Banner-Herald reported last week
that the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority
voted to ask the state for permission to equal
ize outdoor watering restrictions across all
four counties in the authority, and move to
a one-day-a-week system with a longer time
period allowed for watering. Granted, that
does sound simpler, but it's getting tough
to keep up with all the changes. (Apparently,
each county in the authority will have to indi
vidually approved the new scheme; whenever
that happens, updated information for Athens
ought to be at www.thinkatthesink.com.)
The BH 1 s editorial made a good point last
week too: Don't expect any water-relnted
decision made this spring to be permanent.
The weather's just starting to heat up, and
we've got a whole summer to get through
before we can even hope we're in the clear.
Ben Emanuel
Send your city dope to ben@flagpole.com.
Renovation work at the former Barnett’s News Stand last week made
this rad painting of a Coke bottle near the front door stand out to
the passerby a lot more than it used to. Here’s hoping the contrac
tors keep it there, so that at least a little piece of old downtown
Athens can live on in the storefront’s new incarnation.
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