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BLAKE AJED
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
IS BROUN THE SENATE FRONTRUNNER?
Students often walk back and forth
between the H.T. Edwards campus off West
Hancock Avenue, nearby Clarke Central High
School and the West Broad Street School,
where Classic City High School students work
at an Athens Land Trust community garden,
but most of the side streets in the neighbor
hood lack sidewalks.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission, at
press time, was scheduled to vote Tuesday,
Jan. 7 on a $300,000 plan to build almost a
mile of sidewalks along Hills Chapel Street,
Waddell Street and West Hancock Avenue.
Funding will come from SPL0ST 2011, voter-
approved local sales taxes earmarked for
pedestrian safety.
Sidewalks are coming to the H.T. Edwards campus.
The project "will make travel to and from
our campus safer and more convenient for the
many programs and groups that are housed
here," according to Commissioner Kelly Girtz,
who's also principal of Classic City High at H.T.
Edwards.
Barrow Elementary, where 150 students
and parents walk every day, according to
the school's PTA, is also getting pedestrian
upgrades. Plans call for stamped and colored
crosswalks at the Five Points intersection and
across Pinecrest Drive, radar speed signs on
South Lumpkin Street, a flashing school-zone
beacon on West Rutherford Street, new LED
streetlights and stop-for-pedestrian signs
at the Ruthford-Lumpkin Street intersection
and flashing crosswalk beacons on Lumpkin
Street at Pinecrest Drive. They'll cost a mere
$25,000.
IN YOUR BUSINESS: Alas, Flashback Games
ran out of health points and closed its doors
at 162 W. Clayton St Dec. 29. But it has
more lives and moved on to another level in
Loganville, of all places. But do not despair,
ye gamers. You can still drink beer while beat
ing M. Bison in "Street Fighter II"! Another
arcade for semi-grownups, Wonder Bar,
opened last month at 240 E. Washington St.
As mentioned in Grub Notes (p. 9), fran
chise BBQ joint Saucehouse is taking over the
old Peaches location at 840 W. Broad St. The
building is being demolished and, because it's
more than 50 years old, Commissioner George
Maxwell, had the option of delaying the demo
lition permit. But he approved it quickly last
week, according to ACC senior planner Rick
Cowick, paving the way for the restaurant to
file plans for a new building soon.
COMMUNITY GARDENS: Cowick also said the
ACC Planning Commission signed off Thursday,
Jan. 2 on a proposed law allowing commu
nity gardens in residential neighborhoods.
(Considered farms under the law, they're
mainly allowed in agricultural zones now.)
Assuming the county commission approves
it next month???and it's already passed out
of committee, so that's a safe assumption???
neighborhood residents will be allowed to
come together to plant community gardens on
up to one acre of vacant land and sell produce
three times a year, as long as they pull a per
mit and keep the property tidy. Unfortunately
for the pro-chicken crowd, only plants, not
livestock, will be allowed.
GET INVOLVED: The Federation of Planets
Neighborhoods is boldly going where no
neighborhood has gone before???to Cine.
Starting Jan. 13, the citywide neighborhood
association's 7:30 p.m. meetings on the sec
ond Monday of the month will be moving from
the old Prince Avenue firehall to the indie
moviehouse. Park for free at the Athens Area
Chamber of Commerce next door.
Federation meetings have always been a
great way to keep up on the workings of local
government, but they're not as well attended
as they once were. President Frances Berry
says the organization will be announcing new
plans for the new year at the next gather
ing. The goal, says Rick Kopp, who is han
dling the group's communications, is to keep
neighborhoods in all part of Athens abreast
of local politics, not just the few (coughBou-
levardcough) where people perpetually pay
attention.
"The more people we get involved, the bet
ter it will be for everybody," Kopp says.
MOST INFLUENTIAL: Georgia Trend magazine
released its rather predictable list of the
100 most influential Georgians earlier this
month, and Athens was well represented.
University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby,
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, UGA President
Jere Morehead, Community Newspapers Inc.
President and University System Regent
Dink NeSmith, DeKalb County School
Superintendent Michael Thurmond, author
Terry Kay and UGA Vice President for Public
Service and Outreach Jennifer Frum are all
influencing you as we speak.
Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
It is too early to predict who will replace
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, but it's going to be
the most entertaining race voters have seen in
a long time.
The Democratic nominee will most likely
be Michelle Nunn. As the daughter of retired
senator Sam Nunn, she should be able to raise
more than enough money to win that primary.
The Republican side is the one to watch,
because you have five credible candidates who
will be gouging and biting each other all the
way to the May 20 primary. The candidate who
stands out is Rep. Paul Broun, the ultraconser
vative congressman who insists that the earth
is only 9,000 years old and that the classes he
took in medical school were all "lies straight
from the pits of hell."
The prospect of Broun actually win
ning the nomination is causing some
sleepless nights for establishment
Republicans. They are convinced
nominating such an extremist
will enable Democrats to win
the seat. Broun doesn't appear
to be disturbed by those criti
cisms, however, and he is setting
the standard that nearly everyone
else is trying to achieve. Broun's
opponents have been trying to posi
tion themselves as being even more
conservative than he is???a feat that just isn't
possible under the current laws of physics.
This has resulted in such developments
as Rep. Jack Kingston, a somewhat moder
ate politician, demanding that poor children
be forced to sweep out the cafeteria before
they are allowed to eat a federally subsidized
school lunch. "Why don't you have the kids
pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them
that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free
lunch?" Kingston asked. "Or maybe sweep the
floor of the cafeteria... think what we would
gain as a society in getting people, getting
the myth out of their head that there is such a
thing as a free lunch."
Kingston's controversial remark was too
much for one of the other Republicans in this
primary: David Perdue, the retired business
executive who is a cousin of former gover
nor Sonny Perdue. "With all the nonsense
worth criticizing in Washington right now,
Congressman Kingston chose to ridicule chil
dren who, through no fault of their own, rely
on free school lunches," Perdue said. Perdue
set himself up as a moderate candidate with
that comment, but Georgia Republicans are a
very conservative group???it could ultimately
hurt him.
Rep. Phil Gingrey has also been working
hard to show voters how conservative he is.
Gingrey may have gone a little too far, how
ever, because he's been scaring off his own
people with some of his rhetoric. Four of
Gingrey's top staffers abruptly resigned from
his campaign shortly after he complained
that, as a member of Congress, "I'm
stuck here making $172,000 a year."
The other major Republican
candidate is former secretary of
state Karen Handel. Handel's
weakness has always been her
inability to solicit contributions
from her supporters. She lags
behind the other candidates in
raising money, although her aides
contend she can overcome that with
the help of grassroots organizations she
put together in earlier statewide campaigns.
Broun doesn't raise that much money
either, but he has already proved he doesn't
need a lot of money to win an election. His
supporters are so committed to Broun's cause
that they would seemingly crawl naked over
two miles of broken glass to cast their ballots
for him on election day.
At this point, the Republican primary looks
like a battle among the four other candidates
to see which one can make it into a runoff
with Broun. It will take a little more sorting
out before we know who that other candidate
will be, but it's going to be fun to watch the
process unfold.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport.com
THIS M????fcKU WOKLI
by TOM TOMORROW
Ask
Mister
Republican
Man!
Dear Mister Republican Man: My
f.i?? :e isian 13 1; a a. mg atd Il
ea n I stai ithout
getting fired? ???Hassled in Hartford
Dear Mister Republican Man: My
friend won???t stop talking about her
new boyfriend, and it???s driving me
nuts! ??? Exasperated in Englewood
X???D SUGGEST YOU PUT YOUR PETTY
WORKPLACE GRIEVANCES ASIDE AND
FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS???
THE BENGHAZI SCANPAL!
IS YOUR FRIEND A DEMOCRAT?
SHE COULD BE TRYING TO DIS
TRACT You???FROM BENGHAZI!
Dear Mister Republican Man: my
husband is acting distant and stay
ing late at the office most evenings.
Do you think he???s having an affair?
???Distraught in Des Moines
Dear Mister Republican Man: my
teenager spends all his free time on
the internet! Should 1 be worried?
???Apprehensive in Allentown
Dear Mister Republican Mari: I???m
OBSESSED with Benghazi! My wife
left me, 1 lost my job, and I???m about
to be evicted! What should I DO??
???Fixated in Fargo
JANUARY 8, 2014 ??? FLAGP0LE.COM 5
T??M T??MoRR??W??iom.. . www.thismodernworld.com...twitter.com/tomtomorrow