Newspaper Page Text
HEARD BUT NOT SEEN
Back when The Varsity was where Five Guys is down
town, our st3te representative was a lawyer named Chappelle
Matthews. We used to kid him that his office was in The Varsity,
because it seemed that every time you went in there, Chappelle
was there, too. His law office was actually in the Southern
Mutual Building up the street (now d.b.a. The Fred), but that
gave him ready access to his hangout. You could always find
Rep. Hugh Logan behind the counter at Normal Hardware,
and Sen. Paul Broun (Sr.!) was usually somewhere to be found
around his Firestone store where Redeemer Presbyterian is now
on Pulaski. Former legislator Michael Thurmond had his law
practice, which required his presence in Athens.
All those guys kept in close touch with their constituents
in the course of every day. In the case of Hugh and Chappelle,
sometimes it was almost too close. They loved to talk govern
ment and politics, sometimes more than you did. But you
always knew where to find them, and they always had time to
talk.
Chappelle, with his white shirt and bow tie, his coffee and
cigar, knew more about what was going on than any of us
n°wspaper people could imagine: he truly had his finger on
the pulse of the public—in Athens and Atlanta. Unfortunately,
many of the stories he
I personally would rather
have a representative
who is invested in this
community...
told were too scandal
ous for us to print.
The Georgia General
Assembly was designed
for citizen-legislators
who went to Atlanta
for a 40-day session,
and the rest of the time were back in their owFMtommunities;
running for election every two years kept them close to the
people.
The modern legislature is different in that there are com
mittee meetings all year long and recesses during the session
that drag it out for months. Because of the intensity of the
work at the Capitol and the excitement of being in Atlanta
with the prestige of being a legislator, it is easy to get pulled
into the vortex of the capital city. Working on problems with
fellow legislators, courted by lobbyists, entertained by the
offerings of Atlanta, who's going to want to hang around in
Athens, much less walk its hot-streets asking for votes?
That's basically what happened to Keith Heard. Keith used
to havd an insurance agency here, where he worked when
he wasn't in Atlanta at the legislature, bu£ then he married
an Atlanta woman, and he just sold his agency and moved
to Atlanta. Sure, he owns a home here, and that meets the
requirements drafted by the legislators for making themselves
street legal, but Keith lives and works in Atlanta, where his
children go to school.
Keith is a great guy, a Democrat who votes the way
Democrats ought to vote most of the time. He is a friend of
education and got the endorsement of the Georgia Association
of Educators, which is also more in touch with Atlanta than
with Athens. Keith has figured out how to have his cake and
eat it too: re-elected repeatedly in a safe Democratic district
where he has enjoyed only token opposition. If this is cool
with his constituents, more power to him.
Come to think of it, I am one of his constituents, and I per
sonally would rather have a representative who is invested in
this community, like Holly Ward. Holly is a teacher and an edu
cational consultant, and her husband is a high school football
coach here. Their children attend our public schools. They all
live in Athens. Holly is smart, hard-working and accomplished.
She has to travel with her job, but her home is here in Athens.
Her family is here in Athens. Her heart is here in Athens. That
makes a lot of difference to me. You can get Keith on the
phone if you need to, but as far as knowing what's going on in
Athens, he's just phoning that in, too. That is just not the way
for a representative to represent.
We need representatives who can effectively speak for us in
Atlanta, but they've got to be in touch with Athens to do that
Chappelle Matthews didn't develop his understanding of Athens
by hanging around the Atlanta Varsity.
Just like Chappelle and Hugh and Paul and them, Holly Ward
would make a great representative in Atiar.tc, because she is a
great citizen of Athens—because she lives here.
Pets McCommons editor@flagpoie.com
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
City Dope
Athens News and Views
Chasing down the UGA budget cuts is harder than it sounds
Athens Rising 4
What’s Up in New Development
Is the proposed redirection ot Hull Street the latest serious disruption of the downtown street gnd?
ARTS <§s EVENTS
Tree of Life and Learning
A Pair of New Mosaics Enlivens Chase St. Elementary
A student legacy project resulted in an inspired public art installation.
Movie Pick
Grow Some Fangs Already
The Twilight Saga. Eclipse is not worth the erao-mushy price ot admission
i^USI©
The Caribbean
The Internet's Coastal Collaborators
This experimental pop collective has members strewn across the country
Mates of State
Family Circus
New covers album reveals the darker side of a musical couple m love
CITY DOPE
ATHENS RISING
CITY PAGES
CAPITOL IMPACT
TREE OF LIFE AND LEARNING
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