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Overcoming Infertility
An interactive discussion with one of the experts from RBA
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
10:30am-12:00pm
Hilton Garden Inn
390 East Washington Street
Athens, Georgia 30601
A free patient education symposium presented by
Reproductive Biology Associates
Please RSVP if interested:
Donna.maynard@rba-online.com
404-459-3477 or 1 -888-722-4483 X 3477
www.rba-online.com
Reproductive Biology Associates
nnrw)K.m un.
JEastWest
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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
What Times These Are: As a practicing journal
ist here in Athens, 6A, City Dope extends his
real sympathies to the folks at the Athens
Banner-Herald who are taking pay cuts,
as announced by parent company Morris
Communications in that paper last week.
It may be, of course, that not unlike the
HR strategies at UGA lately, this will allow
Morris to at least avoid more layoffs in the
near term. But meanwhile, those journalists
who watch Morris more closely than does
this one—at the Augusta Metro Spirit and
the website of Editor & Publisher magazine,
mainly—-are basically expecting to see the
company file for bankruptcy soon. As of press
time, it has a debt payment of several million
dollars due Apr. 6. There's still no telling what
bankruptcy might mean for Athens and the
Banner-Herald, but at the least it's now clear
that the nationwide newspaper crisis is very
real here in town. It's part of the story of life
in America, circa 2009, that's for sure.
Not Yet Parked: Not to brag or anything,
but City Dope guessed this would happen.
The downtown vine was just too quiet prior
to the Mayor and
Commission's approval
of new parking fees,
fines, meter lengths
and more. Turns out,
downtown business
and property owners
now say they were
not consulted on
the matter, and they
disagree with the
ordinance passed this
month that would
keep one-hour park
ing meters on Clayton
and Broad streets.
Commissioner Mike
Hamby, who sits on
the Athens Downtown
Development
Authority board, says
he'll move to have the
item reconsidered and
tweaked at the Apr.
7 Commission meet
ing, making two-hour
meters the blanket
standard. Some downtowners also want the
David Lynn-proposed SlO and $15 fees reex
amined, but that appears unlikely. Just FYI.
Light Ordinance Lite: It's true, nothing's ever
simple in the ACC government—see downtown
parking, above—and that suits City Dope
fine, really. But if the vote on parking meter
times is going to be reconsidered at the April
Commission meeting, then there's no reason
why the scheduled vote on an outdoor light
ing ordinance shouldn't be tabled. That's the
suggestion from Commissioner Kelly Girtz,
who's joined by Ed Robinson, successor in
District 6 to Carl Jordan, who was the force
behind the new ordinance and brought it back
to the table before leaving the Commission
at the end of last year. Considering that com
missioners are reportedly planning to revisit
the mass grading ordinance only this year,
wouldn't it make sense to be more thorough
at the outset with a similarly progressive ordi
nance like lighting? A dope can hope.
Trail Notes: Ah, but isn't thoroughness the
question du jour? The selfsame Girtz sought
assurances at the Mar. 19 agenda-setting
meeting that the park-and-ride project
planned for Oconee Street at the Loop—or the
QuikTrip gas station now planned adjacent—
won't interfere with the idea for the future
rail-trail from downtown to continue on past
the site toward, eventually, Winterville. The
good news is that Girtz received those assur
ances, though earlier in the week he and
colleagues on the Commission's Government
Operations Committee took a look at the
potential tough spots at the other end of the
future trail, nearer downtown. That's where
the trail will need to cross both Trail Creek and
the North Oconee River at, one would hope,
a level grade. The old Murmur trestle still
crosses the creek, but engineers and county
staff seem wary of its structural soundness.
The river bridge was demolished in 2000, and
staffers told commissioners last week that the
trail project is so expensive as to swallow up
any spare alternative-transportation money
tossed toward it. (Most of a half-miUion-dollar
pot under discussion will probably be put
towards a multi-use trail off South Milledge
Avenue, which is not a bad idea.) But what is
the plan for the rail-
trail? It's scheduled to
come to commission
ers at a work session
this spring—perhaps
as soon as next
month—so keep an
eye out.
In a Name: Okay, one
last City Hall item
from last week can't
be neglected. Just as
Kelly Girtz deserves
credit for the items
above, so too do
Commissioners Mike
Hamby and Andy
Herod for their prin
cipled vote against
naming a new county
building on Barber
Street for ACC Deputy
Manager Bob Snipes.
City Dope agrees that
the accolades which
Snipes received at
last week's agenda-setting meeting are well-
deserved—and it's worth watching the video,
actually, for Commissioner Kathy Hoard's “back
in the day" stories about him—but as Hamby
said, it's just plain bad policy to name stuff
for sitting officials. This is leaving aside the
question of naming things for people still
living—a case in which tradition was broken
long ago, apparently. But seriously, what's
next: the Bob Smith Special Collections
Library on Hull Street? The Paul Broun, J..
Parking Deck, over by the Georgia Theatre?
The Mike Adams Frat House Park on River
Road? Shudder.
Coming Up: Readers are encouraged to check
this week's Calendar for information on the
events planned for this Saturday, Mar. 28, by
the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee. The
day's agenda in Monroe includes the premier
of a documentary film about the infamous
1946 lynching on the banks of the Apalachee
River along the Oconee/ Walton county line.
Visit www.mooresford.org to learn more.
Ben Emanuel ben@flagpole com
Eight years after the demolition of the railroad
bridge between Dudley Park and downtown (above),
how will the rail-trail cross the river? This spring
may bring answers.
4 FLAGPOLE.COM • MARCH 25,2009