About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2011)
Artist Reception Tuesday, June 14th 7-9:30 pm —Local Artist— Emmanuel Taati Small Scale Works on Paper BREAKFAST• LUNCH • DINNER 393 M. Finley St. off Prince Ave. 706-353-0029 • Catering Available www.bigcitybreadcafe.com Athens’ Respected Cremation Leader Today, more and more people are choosing cremation as a way to honor the memories of those they love. Numerous differences can exist among cremation providers, making it difficult to choose the right provider for you and your family. At Bernstein Funeral Home, we are committed to helping all families with compassionate, understanding service. Our years of experience have made us Athens’ respected cremation leader and have given us a unique perspective on what it means to choose cremation. Our caring staff understands the delicate subject, as well as the importance for surviving loved ones to have a permanent place to visit, reflect and heal. To accommodate all families, Bernstein offers a range of affordable cremation services that are tailored to each individual family’s needs. We are available anytime to answer any questions you may have. Call or visit us at uwtv.BemsUinFuneralHome.com to receive more information and a free Dignity Memorial* Personal Planning Guide. Dignity} Away From Home Protection* 124'Hour Compassion Helpline* National Transferability I Bereavement Travel I Personal Planning Services Grief Support I Veterans Benefits I Child & Grandchild Protection Proud members of the Dignity Memorial* Network;. BERNSTEIN FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION SERVICES 3195 Atlanta Highway I Athens, GA 30606 ! 706-543-7373 www.BemstemFimeraIHome.com ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS Decision on Parking: When the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission vote on their June 7 agenda (conveniently, at the moment this paper hits the street), they are likely to approve an option for downtown parking rates that raises metered spaces to 75 cents per hour and extends collection times to 10 p.m., while leaving hourly deck prices where they are now. That's the plan worked out by staff with input from Commissioner Mike Hamby, who says it has the support it needs to pass. The option also provides for the two-hour time limit for metered spaces to be lifted at 6 p.m., allowing downtown restaurant patrons to park for an entire evening with out having to move their cars. While it's certain few will be delighted with any kind of hike in downtown park ing rates, this is a far cry from the ACC staff-recommended increase to $2 per hour across the board—and eventually to $2.50—that was said to be necessary to pay the debt on the new multi-use deck currently being built around the Georgia Theatre. Hamby says that the newly proposed rate structure will be sufficient to pay the debt, and that once the debt for the existing College Avenue deck is paid in two years, it might make sense to raise on-street rates to $1 per hour while lowering deck prices to the same amount. That would presumably encourage long-term downtown visitors to fill the 540 spaces in the neW deck, which wouldn't be subject to a time limit, while freeing up metered spaces for short-term parking. Hamby also says the Athens Downtown Downtown metered parking cents per hour—for now extended until 10 p.m. Development Authority, which is contracted by ACC to handle parking services, will look into replacing more of the old single-space meters with the programmable multi-space meters that are already in use on Broad and Clayton streets, which would help facilitate non-time- limited evening parking. And lest it be imag ined that we may be finished talking about this stuff anytime soon, Hamby's looking into a system in use in Decatur, among other cities, that allows parking patrons to refresh their meters with their phones. Let's start holding our breath! A Belated Acknowledgment: Brent Buice, execu tive director of Georgia Bikes! and longtime local cycling advocate, recently offered the Dope a gentle reminder that he'd forgotten to congratulate Athens on receiving, just over one month ago, recognition from the League of American Bicyclists as a bronze- level Bicycle Friendly Community—one of only three in the state. The award is a mean ingful one, the result of a rigorous application process in cooperation with BikeAthens, and positions Athens to work with the League as it strives to improve its certification to sil ver, gold or platinum status. Let's hope this will serve as motivation for ACC to continue moving forward not only with its in-progress alternative transportation initiatives, but with new ones as well. You can find out more on BikeAthens' spanking-new website at www. bikeathens.com. Dave Marr news@llagpole.com rates will go up to 75 and collections will be Krazy Korner While some Americans might find it unsettling for a member of Congress to align himself with a foreign leader in opposition to our own, Congressman Broun assures you. it's all part of the plan. , God’s plan. In Congressman Broun's May 24 anti-Obama, pro-lsraei opinion piece for the Daily Caller, he eventually admits that ft is not international law that concerns him, but scripture, quoting the Bible (in bold type, no less): 'the Lord promised blessings to those who bless Israel." This is something Broun has said repeatedly.- that the govem- ' ment of Israel (a nation roughly the size of New Jersey) should be supported because of 2,500-year-old religious texts. You see, Muslims aren't the only folks who use religion to dictate politics in the Middle East. Ultra-conservative Israeli Jews ere engaged in a project to annex the Palestinian territories (in contravention of international law), restoring Israel to some thing like its Old Testament-defined territorial dimensions. Meanwhile, many ultra- Christian Americans see this as needing to happen to have their own scripture fulfilled: in order for the glorious end times to commence, the Jews have to be collected in old Israel, at which point two thirds of them will be killed by God simply for being Jews. The other third convert to Christianity, thereby finally eliminating Judaism from the Earth. An amalgam of scripture from the books of Revelations and Zechariah (13:8-9) out lines the unthinkable violence that occurs once Israel is restored to its Old Testament makeup. It is horrifyingly anti-Semitic. Israel is, to these Christians, a sort of final ghetto for the Jews. These Christians place Jews in a position where they've been many times throughout history: as subservient to Christians, and expendable. While Broun tends to throw Hitler comparisons around at his opponents with aba noon, nothing could be more powerfully anti-Semitic than this sort of “love” for Israel. [Matthew Pulver] i FLAGPOLE.COM-JUNE 8,2011
