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BUSTING BETHEL
Rev. Archibald Killian, whose radio show is temporarily on
WXAG until WBKZ gets back on the air following a fire, dropped j
by to sound the alarm about Bethel Homes, which now goes by
the upscaled name of Bethel Midtown Village. Rev. Killian says
Police Chief Jack Lumpkin is trying to get Bethel condemned,
so that the low-income black tenants can be moved out and
the property can be developed for students.
Chief Lumkin says he is only trying, as usual, to address
the problem of crime at Bethel. Lumpkin and County Attorney
Bill Berryman met with Bethel board members, including Rev.
Killian, recently to warn them that the Chief will pursue admin
istrative remedies to get them to clean up Bethel Midtown.
"The goal is to try to get them to manage the property,"
Lumpkin says. "I will proceed with as much administrative
pressure as I can put."
Bethel Midtown Village is a privately owned housing com
plex across College Avenue from the Hotel Indigo, now under
construction. Drugs are a problem in the Village and sometimes
lead to gunfire—recently involving an AK-47 assault rifle and a
.44 magnum pistol, "two of the most powerful weapons in the
arsenal," according to the Chief.
Attorney Berryman, like Chief Lumpkin, denies that the
meeting at Bethel Village had anything to do with the new
hotel. "It was just a gen
eral meeting between Chief
Lumpkin and some board
members," Berryman says, "to
exchange ideas and discuss
a police department letter
to management in regard to
repeated drugs, rape, theft and burglaries and try to get man
agement to shape it up."
Police Department records show 178 calls concerning loca
tions in Bethel Midtown Village since the first of the year, with
51 of those cans resulting in case numbers being assigned.
Bethel Midtown Village is managed by H.J. Russell &
Company, an Atlanta construction and property management
company which owns and operates housing properties in sev
eral states and is one of the largest black-owned businesses in
the country. When I called the H.J. Russell manager at Bethel,
she referred me to the Atlanta office, where I was referred to
legal counsel, who had not responded by press time.
Actual ownership of Bethel Midtown Village appears murky.
The complex is jointly owned by Bethel A.M.E. Church and HJ.
Russell & Company, with the church owning 51 percent and the
company 49 percent, according to local attorney Ken Dious,
who serves on the Bethel Homes board of directors but is not
its attorney. Dious says that because of additional investments
made in the Village by Russell, the company may now own the
controlling interest. Ownership is further complicated by the
fact that bond investors legally hold ownership at this time,
having bought bonds floated by the Athens Housing Authority
for renovating the Village in 2002. Dious even suggests that
the housing authority has the power to force crime cleanup
in the Village, as it has done in its own properties, because it
issued the bonds. Housing Authority Director Rick Parker says
the Authority has no such power in Bethel Village.
Dious, for one, would like to see Bethel Midtown Village
sold and dispersed in smaller units to other locations where
there could be room for playgrounds, athletic fields, classrooms
and other amenities. "You can't manage that many people
crammed in together like that," he says.
Whether Bethel Midtown Village stays or goes, Chief
Lumpkin is determined to force a cleanup of crime there, and
Rev. Killian remains adamant that forces are at work to dispos
sess yet another intown African-American enclave. His fears
are not without precedent, as ACC Commissioner Ed Robinson
pointed out recently. The University of Georgia demolished an
entire African-American community on Baxter Hill in the early
1960s to build high-rise dormitories, and in the 1950s Urban
Renewal displaced a stable community of black homeowners on
the northeast side of downtown.
, H.J. Russell & Company seems to function as an absentee
landlord. Maybe it's time to figure out how to put Bethel under
the control of the Athens Housing Authority, which has a good
record of managing intown, low-income housing. Management,
rather than location, may be the key to the solution.
Pete McCommons editor@fiagpole.com
“The goal is to try to
get them to manage
the property.”
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
City Dope 4
Athens News and Views
City Halt sundries, a reckoning for Moms Communications, the Moon’s ford documentary and more
ARTS & EVENTS
The Reader 7
Back Off, Man—I’m a Scientist
Notes on a new book about the former Duke Parapsychology Laboratory. For real!
Film Notebook 10
News of Athens’ Cinema Scene
Cm* wilt celebrate its second anniversary with a four-day senes of special screenings
Art Notes 11
From Coffee-Shop Pop to the MFA Exhibition
Rebecca Brantley gives a quick tour of art around town this month, from cafds to museums
MUSIC
Analogue Records 13
Record and Release Locally
A life-long love of music inspired Daniel Peiken and Hunter Hoskins to launch a record label
Butch Walker 15
Quality Over Quantity
It took losing everything for thts former “punk-ass bitch” to straighten up.
CITY DOPE :
4
ANALOGUE RECORDS
: 13
CITY PAGES
5
RECORD REVIEWS
14
CAPITOL IMPACT
6
BUTCH WALKER
15
THE READER
7
SXSWREPORT
17
THEATRE NOTES
7
THE CALENDAR!
18
MOVIE DOPE
8
BULLETIN BOARD
24
MOVIE PICK
10
ART AROUND TOWN
24
FILM NOTEBOOK
10
COMICS
26
ART NOTES
11
REALITY CHECK
27
THREATS & PROMISES
12
CLASSIFIEDS
28
ED not l PUBLISHER Pete McCommons
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR I PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner
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CLASSIFIEDS. DISTRIBUTION & OFFICE MANAGER Paul Kao»an
AD DESIGRERS Ian Rickert. Kelly Roberto
CARTOONISTS James Allen, Cameron Bogue, Jacob Hunt. Missy Kultk, Jeremy Long, Clint McElroy. Matthew Ziemer
ADOPT Ml Special Agent Cindy Jerreil
CONTRIBUTORS Michael Andrews. Rebecca Brantley. Jennifer Bryant, Jason Bngg. Tom Crawford. David Eduardo,
Tony Floyd, Chris Hasswtis, John Hum. Gordon Lamb, Dave Mart, Jim McHugh, John G. Netties, Mark Sanders.
Jeff Tobies. Drew Wheeler
CIRCULATION Charles Green leaf. Jimmy Coarson. Mike Dempsey, Eric Mullins, Ain White
WEB DESIGNER Ian Rickert
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EDITORIAL INTERN Chnstina towns.
MUSIC INTERN Bryan Aiheo
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\ • i • .
COVER DESIGN by Kelly Roberto
featuring artwork by Tatia Rromstad on
display at Red Eye Coffee (see Art Notes)
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VOLUME 23
ISSUE NUMBER 12*
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