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KEVAN WILLIAMS
WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Charrettapalooza: If architecture, design and
planning are your passion, October's gonna
be a big month to move from spectator to
participant and get your hands dirty. There
are ample opportunities coming up to get
involved, from charrettes and workshops to
tours and lectures. The weekend of Oct. 13-16
is the big one, with dueling charrettes provid
ing fresh ideas for a couple of local organiza
tions to get particularly excited about.
Partnering,^ Pauldoe: The University of
Georgia's Center for Community Design and
Preservation (CCDP) will be tackling the pro
posed revitalization of the Jack R. Wells public
housing community, also known as Pauldoe.
The Athens Housing Authority has partnered
with Atlanta developer Columbia Residential
to explore the transformation of that site into
a mixed-income neighborhood. The redevel
opment project will likely treat the site, to
homeowners of historic properties of varying
ages can take to reduce their environmen
tal footprint. The event will also include a
hands-on window workshop, with a chance
to try out methods to improve the efficiency
of older windows. Check out www.achfonline.
org for more info. "The greenest building
is the one that's already been built," says
Lisa Dore, part of the team organizing the
Preservation Matters series, which is why they
chose "Inherently Green'' as the motto guid
ing this year's series. Although details are still
loose, look for the ACHF to hold a symposium
in the spring as a follow-up to the event they
sponsored at Cine in Spring 2010, and also a
"green" bike tour.
Y More Heritage Afoot: The ACHF will also be
continuing its Athens Heritage Walks series
throughout the fall, with another 11 tours
of various historic areas around town led by
This little island in the North Oconee River was once the tooting for the Broad Street covered bridge. Learn about
these and other historic facts through an ACHF Heritage Walk led by Ben Emanuel!
some degree, as a blank canvas, taking out
existing buildings and streets, and creating a
new walkable neighborhood. The details aren't
worked out yet, but the weekend will likely
kick off on Thursday, Oct. 13 with a public
input session to gather ideas about what the
community could become.
Nug's Space Is the Place: In from out of town,
the Georgia chapter of the American Institute
of Architects will be holding its annual design
conference at the Classic Center. While it is
one of those things you will have to register
for, they do incorporate an outreach aspect to
the weekend, with teams of students tackling
a local design problem as part of a charrette-
style process. This year, they'll be taking a
look at Null's Space and how that organiza
tion might grow its facilities to better fulfill
its mission. That exercise will culminate with
presentations on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 15.
While geared toward design students, that
work might be a good way to see what's Hap
pening on the cutting academic edge. You can
find out more about the conference at www.
aiaga.org.
Heritage Matters: The same day, the Athens-
Clarke Heritage Foundation will be holding
the latest installment of its Preservation
Matters series from 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. at the
Athens Community Council on Aging. That
event, titled "Energy Efficient Strategies for
the Historic Home" will look at strategies that
local history buffs. The tour guides are often
"hilarious," according to Dore, so sign up for
one for on the ACHF website to check it out.
Water Walks, Even: If you're not totally char-
retted out, the CCDP will be facilitating
another charrette the weekend of the Oct. 22,
to explore ideas for a Blueway trail along the
North Oconee River. Blueways are paddling
"trails" along waterways, complete with eas
ily accessible boat launches for canoes and
kayaks. The ACHF will line up one of its walks
with that weekend, with a tour of the river
led by local river expert Ben Emanuel and the
Athens Welcome Center's Janet Clark. Spots
are limited, so sign up quickly. If you haven't
seen Athens from the river, I thoroughly rec
ommend it, having paddled that stretch a few
times myself. It is a great angle—especially
recently—from which to understand Athens'
natural and cultural history. With drought
reducing the river level considerably this sum
mer, there may be a bit more foot travel than
you'd think, making the "Heritage Walk" moni
ker a bit too literal.
Get on Board: With so many chances to learn
about or participate, there's no excuse not to
take part—so, sign up for what interests you
around town. There are plenty of chances to
talk about Athens: what it's been, and what it
could be.
Kevan Williams alhensrising@flagpole.com
only takes once, and it happens
in a nanosecond," says Athens
Senior Police Officer Geoff Walsh.
"I'm talking about in a millisecond you're
alive, and the next you're dead from some
thing that you can't foresee."
Walsh has seen it kill time and again. He's
seen it tear the hearts out of wives, husbands,
children and parents, and it never gets any
easier.
Of course, with over 95 restaurants and bars
serving alcohol in the downtown Athens area
alone—and many more countywide—it's no
surprise that the temptation to drink and drive
is a powerful one; one that has claimed many
people's lives and put many more behind bars.
The fact remains, however, that drinking
and driving is legal (provided the drinker is
over the age of 21) until a person's blood
alcohol concentration is above .08 percent.
This raises the question: What is an appropri
ate and responsible way to handle having a
few drinks and driving?
"There's a time factor to take into account;
don't go slamming drinks," Walsh says. "My
advice to anyone that's going out for any
occasion is to be very cautious, drink over a
long span of time and drink very little."
There are other factors to take into con
sideration as well, as weight, gender and the
type of drink all play their part in raising (or
lowering) a person's blood alcohol content.
These factors make determining at what point
someone should stop drinking a muddled and
complicated business.
"My take on doing this for 30-something-
years is that people don't believe they're over
the limit," says local attorney John McArthur.
"They think they're OK to drive. I mean face it,
alcohol removes inhibitions."
McArthur, who specializes in DUI cases,
adds that one should have no more than two
beers over a two-hour-or-so period; otherwise
you may find yourself in the back seat of a
police cruiser.
"The typical scenario is this: an officer will
stop someone, usually because they say they
have observed some unsafe driving of some
kind or an equipment violation," McArthur
explains. "Then, the police officer will say
they detected an odor of alcohol, and they
will inquire if the driver has been consuming
alcohol."
The officer will then conduct a field sobri
ety test on the driver. Assuming the driver
agrees and passes the test, he or she is in
most cases allowed to go. If he fails, he's
going to jail. A refusal to even take the tests
leads to an entirely different consequence.
"The law is this," says McArthur: "that if
a police officer arrests you and has reason
to believe you may be under the influence of
alcohol, he can have you submit to a state-
administered test that's either blood, breath
or urine. The police officer has to read you the
implied consent rights. They say that Georgia
law is allowed to administer these tests, and
if you don't agree to take this test, then your
driver's license will be suspended."
McArthur believes that one way to avoid
this issue altogether would be by coming up
with an accessible, cheap way for people to
get home, as he feels that Athens' taxi system
just doesn't cut it.
"They're not going to stop people from
going downtown and drinking and wanting to
get home, and the taxi system in this city is
awful," McArthur says. "I'm not sure what they
could do to make them better, but it's not a
good system. In this era of budget cuts and
reduced money, I don't think the government
or the university would be up for providing
vans to pick people up."
In contrast with McArthur's view of taxis
as overcrowded and inconvenient, Walsh sees
them as helpful.
"When we do roadblocks, it is amazing to
watch the number [of] cabs that are slap full
of people come through those road checks,"
Walsh says. "From my perspective, I think it's
nothing but good if you can get people on
board."
For one 20-year-old Athens resident, all
it took to hop on board with the taxi system
was being arrested for DUI last July. Since
his arrest, his rules for getting home have
changed drastically.
"I'd just call a taxi. It's not worth getting
in the car after a couple drinks, [whether]
you're over 21 or not. When you're sitting in
the cell, you have plenty of time to bash your
self for even thinking of getting in the driver's
seat," the student says. "It doesn't matter if
you have gotten away with it before; it's not
worth the risk."
While both McArthur and Walsh both agree
with that judgment, they do allow that, for
a responsible drinker, it is OK to drink some
alcohol and drive, provided one follows a few
basic rules.
"Know before you start drinking how many
drinks you're going to have, that-it is a safe
number, and stick to it," McArthur advises.
Walsh also believes commitment is the key
to drinking and driving under the limit.
"If you're committed to drive, be ultra-
cautious," he says. "Leave the drinks to the
absolute bare minimum. I'm talking about
one, two. It totally depends on the person;
some people shouldn't drive after having any."
And as for when enough is enough?
"You just have to be honest with yourself."
Foster Tyler Elrod
8 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
