Newspaper Page Text
'AT TIMOTHY RD.
Ion the patio
THURSDAY,
JUN£ 2
OPEN AAIC
NI6HT
CONTACT PtN TO SI6N JP
HMOTHY(a)DEPALMASITAUA«CAFE COM
OP 706-‘J?2-l237
BODY
PIERCING
Provided by Virtue
&Vice, Inc.
Athens’ Own
Randy Smyre
& Bethra Szumski
Association
Professional
Piercers Board
Member
WBiB»rflpainan:aMonger«omi
Restaurant
The Food is Our Reputation”
LUNCH
BUFFET
Available 6 Days a Week
at Peking Eastside Location Only
DINE IN • TAKE OUT • DEUVERY
706-549-0274
Major Credit Cards & Checks Accepted
Green Acres Shopping Center • 1935 Barnett Shoals Rd.
LAST
CHANCE
f
V
Flagpole
Athens
Music
Awards
DEADLINE
SUNDAY
JUNE 51
See
WWW.
flagpole.
com
“ or
Ballot on
pg. 13
ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
A Kink in the Plans: At last Thursday's special
mayor and commission work session (minus,
once again, Mayor Nancy Denson, who had
surgery on her injured leg that day and to
whom we wish a very speedy recovery),
the M&C were supposed to review architects'
"final” schematic design for the Classic Center
expansion in order to approve the plans at
their June 7 voting meeting. That scenario,
alas, won't come to pass, ACC Manager Alan
Reddish informed the assembled, because
preliminary cost estimates indicate that the
expansion as currently designed cannot be
built within the project's ever-dwindling $20
million budget.
So, the design team will make some
adjustments and come back in a month or
so—maybe before the M&C's June 23 agenda
setting session, maybe not—with a reduced-
cost plan for them to vote on July 5. The
most intriguing possibility for corner-cutting
mentioned by architect
Chuck Hall was that
a large atrium, origi
nally planned to wrap
around three sides of
the Fire Hall, could be
reduced in size and
disconnected from the
structure. Commissioner
Kelly Girtz took the sug
gestion a step farther,
proposing that a "24/7
keyhole" be left open
between the atrium and
the theater, preserving
unfettered pedestrian
access through the
middle of the Classic
Center campus between
Thomas and Foundry
streets. The passage
would be a roofed but
open-air walkway fol
lowing the current stair
way along the north
wall of the theater,
which would require some rethinking of the
atrium's design, but doesn't seem too outra
geous a proposition—especially considering,
once again, that the commission specifically
mandated that the expansion's design facili
tate just such a passage when they approved
the conceptual plan less than two months
ago. We'll keep you posted.
Florida State of Mind: The news last week
that Garnett Stokes, Dean of UGA's Franklin
College for the past seven years, would leave
to accept the job of provost at Florida State
University immediately brought to mind the
question of whether one of her first duties
in her new position will be to wade into the
controversy over academic freedom at that
institution. FSU P r esident Eric Barron recently
said he will invite faculty leaders to review
the university's 2008 contract with the Charles
G. Koch Charitable Foundation, which estab
lished a $1.5 million endowment to the FSU
economics department. Under the terms of the
agreement, the gazillionaire right-wing activ
ist's "philanthropic" arm was given the highly
unusual power to approve faculty hires funded
by the donation—a flagrant violation of prin
ciples normally held dear by academic insti
tutions regarding outside (and, especially,
paid) influence over faculty derisions.
Koch has made donations, with similar con
ditions attached, to several other institutions,
including Clemson University, West Virginia
University and George Mason University, where
a huge Koch endowment created the Mercatus
Center, a free market-oriented think tank
that wielded huge influence over the Bush
administration's environmental deregulation
policymaking. Stokes hadn't responded to a
request for comment at Flagpole's press time,
which, in fairness, was early this week because
of the Memorial Day holiday, but we wish her
luck in her coming endeavors—if this is an
indication of what she can expect at FSU, she
may need it.
Bearin' "Dem" Blues: The June 21 special elec
tion to replace Hank Huckaby, the freshman
Representative who's leaving his not-yet-warm
113th District post to become chancellor
of the University System of Georgia, will be
fought out among three Republicans—Alan
Alexander, Sarah Bell and Chuck Williams—and
one underdog Democrat familiar to a lot of
folks in these parts: longtime Athens writer
Dan Matthews, who moved to Oconee County
a while back and now serves as the chair of
the Democratic Committee there. It's a heavily
Republican district, and Matthews says he's
under no illusions about that, but he points
out a couple of things that could work in his
favor. First, he's got the full support of his
party's state apparatus behind him—at least
until a runoff, which most observers expect to
take place. And second, if he can motivate the
admittedly small Democratic contingent in 113
to get out to the polls, he might be able to
take advantage of what will probably be rela
tively low voter turnout.
He'll get his chances to stir up the base
at a pair of candidate forums in the weeks
before the election. The first, organized by
Lee Becker, the UGA journalism professor who
writes the highly in-depth Oconee County
Observations news blog, and fellow Oconee
citizen Russ Page, will be at 7 p.m. June 8 at
the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville. The
second, hosted by the Oconee County Chamber
of Commerce and moderated by radio newsman
Tim Bryant, will be at 7 p.m. June 16 at North
Oconee High School. If you want to know how
you can help, contact Matthews at danjmatt@
beilsouth.net.
Dave Marr news@flagpole.com
May Doldrums: The North Campus quad was deserted this recent weekday af
ternoon. except for a UGA grounds crew spreading a lot of mulch in front of the
library.
4 FLAGP0LE.C0M-JUNE 1,2011
