Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current, February 23, 2011, Image 5

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Newspaper Page TextSUSAN EPPS-WARO SPRIM6 A Rot/wo toujiJ Avo K'V FAVOEfTE SoUHDoF $PRiu6 THE BlAgiM6 OF CAR SP€AIDERS IS THAT MJ £ARTHQUflU£?^ f di/a/poo, 8ot xt yv>AUes U)AVJUA DAtslCE > THE V^oB»W$ARE AL^ OUT LOOIY)aJ& foR wewty TH/UoED U>ORyv(5 people A«e ujau/iM6 Aroj*Jd OUTSIDE UJ|TH OWCV T-SHIRT'S ON y00 ookit WAvyeroSce vbuR shaoou ro U Woio THAT S PRiK)6 «S At/vtfSTHERE S He look /**> at it? r AzO, 1 TH/iOu HE IS ( iCoou/a;6 at- that V <3vER THERE -x M<xcU Wu/vJ.woUUgy fT I jj G £ ** S • WET Ben Epps Statue to Grace City Hall Block More than 20 people have applied to serve on Athens' new Cultural Affairs Commission, a group of artists and citizens who'll be charged with planning and maintaining pubic art in Athens (mostly in public Spaces and government buildings). ACC commissioners will choose the board's nine members on Mar. The sculpture by Bob Quinn will soon be cast in bronze. 1. Their first assignment could be picking a spot for a new statue of pioneer aviator Ben Epps, an Athens electrician and auto mechanic who at age 19 built and flew Georgia's first airplane from a field that is now Athens-Ben Epps Airport. As aviation developed in the early 1900s Epps continued to fly, and to teach others to fly—including his 13-year-old son, who as America's youngest aviator was invited by President Herbert Hoover to visit the White House. Epps Flying Field became Georgia's first civilian airport. Billy Galt is Ben Epps' grandson, and lives in Athens today. His plans for a statue to commemorate his granddad (who died in a 1937 plane crash) grew out of a 2007 centen nial celebration of Georgia aviation in the 100 years since Ben Epps took to the air. It was sculpted by Mableton artist Bob Quinn and will soon be cast into bronze at a Georgia foundry. The life-sized likeness shows Epps with a propeller in one hand and plane plans in the other—symbolic of Epps' efforts to "push aviation forward," says Galt. "In the early days of aviation, I think he promoted aviation more than anyone else." . In the future, the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission will make recom mendations on choosing, accepting and displaying public art, but ACC commissioners had already agreed- after hemming and hawing for sev eral years—to accept the aviator's statue. "Commissioners don't really need to be in the business of decid ing about public art. We need people that know about it to advise us," said Commissioner Alice Kinman at a work session earlier this month. They have discussed placing it along the Washington Street sidewalk near City Hall, but they want members of the new Cultural Affairs Commission to specify the site. The Washin_ jn Street location would put it directly across the street from where Ben Epps' business was located (a plaque in the sidewalk marks that spot). Other art pieces could also be dis played in."niches" or small pedestals along the sidewalks surrounding the City Hall block, once a sales tax- funded streetscape project is complete. The county government now owns the entire City Hall block, having bought the former Athens First bank building—now being renovated for Public Utilities Department offices, including moving the Water Business Office from Prince Avenue. (That work has been delayed by rain, but could be done in April.) All the sidewalks edging the City Hall block will be widened under the streetscape improvement plan, with the addition of brick paving, trees and benches similar to the ones on College Square. "You have plenty of places to sit, plenty of places for events," SPLOST project administrator Derek Doster told com missioners at the work session. Such gather ing places could host small art festivals, "in lieu of trying to shut down the whole stieet," Doster said. Curving steps will be added in front of the "Spirit of Athens" sculpture and the double-barreled cannon; but the plans do not cover any interior areas of the block beyond the sidewalks. Angled parking will remain along Hancock, but about a dozen parking spaces will be lost in other areas. "We're heavily invested in the parxing deck approach," county manager Alan Reddish noted at the work session, referring to the Downtown Parking Deck currently under con struction at Lumpkin and Washington streets. The Washington Street sidewalk will be com pleted first. John Huie Citizens Can Report Litter Violations A "litter hotline" allows citizens to report litterbugs—by phone message, email or an online form—if they have a tag number for the offender. "We send it to the police," says Stacy Smith of Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, a nonprofit housed in ACC's recy cling division. "They send out the letter." The police letter details the incident and recounts the fines ($50-5500) and possible jail time (up to 60 days) for littering. But penalties can't be enforced based on citizen reports, Smith points out; an officer must see a violation to make an arrest. "Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful does this as an educational program," she says. The hotline (706-613-35C5) has gotten about a dozen calls this year. It has been in place since 2005, but hasn't been very active. "I think a lot of people don't know about it," says Smith. John Huie FEBRUARY 23, 2011- FLAGPOLE.COM 5

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Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current, February 23, 2011, Image 5