675 Pulaski St.* Suite 120 • Trackslde of Leathers Building
706.850.7550 • bellwethersalon.com
1
mation Leader
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DfLlWETtllk SALOH
A New Solon In the Leathers Building
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BERNSTEIN FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION SERVICES
3195 Atlanta Highway I Athens, GA 30606 I 706-543-7373
u^vw. BemsteinFuneralHome .com
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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
President Obama made a speech Thursday night to announce
some bipartisan ideas to steer the country toward higher employ
ment and more solid economic ground. It was so bipartisan, in
fact, that Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner imme
diately said the ideas “merited attention.” It looked like Washington
was finally getting serious on our economic troubles. Maybe not all
of Washington: Congressman Paul Broun, Jr. refused to attend the
speech, saying he would be live-tweeting the speech from his office. Here
are some highlights:
The EPA offers “negligible effectls! but destroyls] hundreds of thousands to millions
of jobs.” I guess labored breathing could be considered a job.
“Federal infrastructure projects are inefficient and never shovel-ready." Never
shovel-ready? How did we build the U.S. Interstate system? BrourVs biggest Twitter fan
©Brounfan wondered if maybe the terrorists have taken all the shovels.
Apparently, there was some sort of "Stimulus $ [spent on a] study on food adver
tising" that Broun recalled from 2009. At this point in the evening Broun was sort of
scraping the bottom of the barrel. But he imagined the study somehow destroying
“$28.3 billion in sales and 378,000 jobs—just to keep Chester the Cheetah off the air.”
I really want Chester the Cheetah to become a symbol of right-wing resistance to the
president, right alongside the Gadsden flags and tricorne hats.
Broun steered followers toward his JOBS Act, which seeks to eliminate capital gains
taxes. Those are the taxes that the ultra-rich pay instead of income taxes. The ultra
rich don’t get paychecks from a company; they are the company. In addition to punch
ing a massive hole in federal revenue, the JOBS Act would create a sort of aristocratic
tax code in which literally nothing is asked of the upper 1 percent. [Matt Pulver]
Tovl.iy, more anJ more people are choosing cremation as a way to honor the memories of those
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We are available anytime to answer any questions you may have. Call or visit us at
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Personal Planning Guide.
A representative from the Georgia Trust for
Historic Preservation was there, and joined
the other, unanimous speakers in calling for
Rutherford Hall to be saved. A historic pres
ervation graduate student read a letter from .
the National Trust for Historic Preservation on
behalf of saving Rutherford Hall.
All who spoke drove home the many argu
ments for saving the historic dormitory; the
sense of place and community within the
dormitory, environmental and fiscal costs to
tear it down, its contributions to the integ
rity of the historic Myers Hall quadrangle and
the importance of the building to the entire
University's legacy. (Kevan Williams]
Too Much Too Late; Ken Dious and Rep. Doug
McKillip finally delivered their 10-member,
no-superdistricts commission plan to the
mayor's local reapportionment committee at
its last meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 7, but
the committee wasn't interested. The commit
tee also voted down a plan devised by mem
ber Regina Quick that would have put all of
Five Points into one district and upped black
voting strength in several districts. The com
mittee then voted to recommend to the com
mission the map drawn by consultant Linda
Meggers, which simply equalizes district popu
lations. The committee also recommended that
the commission consider a slight realignment
of superdistricts to improve African-American
voting percentages and that the commission
look at changing to 10-member districts.
Rep. McKillip said last week that he has
"no intention" of taking his plan to the
Legislature over the heads of local govern
ment, but some of those heads are adopting a
wait-and-see attitude in regard to that.
Some black citizens left the committee
meeting feeling disenfranchised. They and
other citizens can address the commission at
its agenda-setting meeting in City Hall at 7
p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22 and again at the
commission meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4,
when the commission will vote on a plan.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
Bridge to Nowhere?; Money keeps rolling in
from gasoline taxes, and so—needed or not—
more roads keep being built. (Under state law,
gas-tax money can go to nothing else.)
The new bridge and exit being constructed
over the Loop 10 bypass near Ga. 316 (and the
new road that will connect it to the pavement
stub beside Lowe's) seem to have little justi
fication aside from promoting additional retail
development in that area; GDOT has funded
the project to the tune of S25 million.
Other expensive new bridges are also
planned for the bypass; to alleviate Atlanta
Highway traffic tie-ups near Publix, a second
exit will be built that will access Mitchell
Bridge Road. And in order to spare drivers the
horrors of a single stoplight along the Loop,
S17 million will be spent to build an overpass
at the Peter Street/ Olympic Drive crossing.
ACC commissioners are even throwing local
money at a questionable new ro^d: Jennings
Mill Parkway, which will parallel Atlanta
Highway for several blocks on its southern
side.
Meanwhile, every April, commissioners ago
nize over how to split up $250,000 in grant
money among numerous vital nonprofit groups
that help (for example) homeless families,
assault victims, women dealing with addiction
and the elderly needing transportation, while
government support shrinks every year. The
cost of one overpass could match the current
funding of public-service grants for decades to
come. [John Huie]
Wrecking History: Despite the public hear
ing being held in the basement of an obscure
research lab far from main campus, with
short notice and booked the day after a long
Labor Day weekend, several dozen students,
alumni and staff came to speak in defense of
Rutherford Hall and hear what UGA had to
say about its proposed demolition. They left
disappointed, though, as UGA administrators
hosting the meeting announced that they
were there only to listen, not to explain or
defend the demolition plan, invoking frustra
tion from several speakers.
4 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
