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1»M 1»M»RR»W@ 202.0 The county government, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Classic Center and Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau partnered on the DOT grant application. Athens was one of 18 communities selected out of 57. With hundreds of new homes planned for the Westside of Athens and several elementary schools already overcrowded, Clarke County School District officials said they need to prepare for an influx of stu dents. A developer is also looking at prop erty near School C, a planned elementary school in north Athens that’s currently on hold, according to school board member Greg Davis. “It’d be nice to have a plan that looks at everything,” SPLOST director John Gilbreath said at a work session Feb. 27. CCSD needs to be ready to respond to growth because it takes 12-18 months to build a school, he said. Gilbreath also gave a presentation about athletic facilities at Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central high schools. CCSD recently improved the softball and baseball fields at Clarke Central, and improvements are planned for locker rooms, the track, foot ball field and tennis courts as well. Instead of an artificial turf football field like the one Clarke Central is getting, Cedar Shoals requested a new fieldhouse instead. Cedar Shoals is also getting a new track, gym bleachers and baseball parking. About $2 million is earmarked for athletic improve ments at each school. Another presentation dealt with alterna tive education. CCSD formerly contracted with private companies to educate stu dents who had been expelled or suspended long-term from middle or high school, but brought the program in-house last year. Since then, attendance continues to be an issue but is improving, Chief of Policy and School Support Services Dawn Myers said. “It’s not where we want to be, but I’m proud of our progress when we look at the data.” The board also discussed a proposed policy that would ban members of the public from speaking at meetings if they make personal attacks or go over the three-minute limit. The ban would last for three months for the first violation and six months for the second. Board President LaKeisha Gantt said she is hopeful the rules will lead to “a better climate and culture” at board meetings. Another proposed policy scheduled for a vote at the Mar. 5 meeting would dis courage board members from abstaining from voting unless they have a conflict of interest. Antwon Stephens, who was appointed to represent District 2 in January, participated in the work session by phone. Stephens said last month that he was having himself committed for mental health issues after news reports revealed that the former may- oral and congressional candidate is under investigation for state and federal campaign finance violations, and that he misled the school board about graduating from Cedar Shoals. Later, the board went into executive ses sion to discuss personnel matters. A settle ment with former superintendent Demond Means, perhaps? Stay tuned. Athens signmakers almost made a killing last week, as numerous local package stores and yoga studios narrowly avoided having to change their names. State Reps. Marcus Wiedower (R-Watkinsville) and Houston Gaines (R-Athens) introduced a bill to rename Five Points the Dan Magill Memorial Intersection, after the late UGA tennis coach. The proposal was met with much derision on the neighborhood listserv, with residents pointing out that the change would be confusing, another sign would make the intersection more dangerous, and Magill has already been honored else where. (Most notably, the university tennis complex is named after him.) “A shameless effort by these two buffoons to curry favor with Dawg fans,” one person wrote. Gaines and Wiedower quickly with drew the bill. No word on whether plans are in the works to rename Normaltown Dooleytown or Cobbham Frommham. © THIS HtUIH W«ILB TRUMP MEETS WITH A HIGHLY re garded specialist: inyisible-hand- oF-THE -FREE-MARKET MAN! I'M NOT LITERALLY INVISIBLE, OF COURSE—IT’S REALLY MORE OF A METAPHOR— I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE i TALKING ABOUT, AND I DON'T CARE. YES, sir; ALSO—IF A VACCINE BECOMES AVAILABLE, BIG PHARMA MUST BE ALLOWED TO TURN A HUGE profit; under ho circumstances SHOULD YOU PROMISE THAT IT WILL BE AFFORDABLE! •••>::-d Iy MY GUY AZAR IS AL- THE PER- READY ON IT.' HE'S A fECT man FORMER PHARMA EXEC- FOR THE UTIYEj YOU know; job, then; SIR, THE CORONAVIRUS IS A PUBLIC EMERGENCY! You must TAKE IMMEDIATE STEPS TO PREVENT THE CONTAGIOUS SPREAD—OF PANIC to the MARKETS'. XX ii IF THE ECONOMY CRASHES!: BECAUSE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE DYING—THAT| could REALLY Hurt myB re-election; by TOM TOMORROW WELL, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE THE CRISIS UNDER COHTROLl EXCEPT FOR THE PART WHERE MILLIONS MAY DIE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE FROM THE FLU? A LOT! SOME DOCTOR GUY TOLD ME. 1 I'D SUGGEST YOU HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE AND REASSURE THE PUBLIC, BY WHICH I MEAN IN VESTORS'- TELL THEM EVERYTHING IS FINE! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! I'LL BLAME THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA— AND THE DEMOCRATS! AND I'LL PUT PENCE IN charge; THAT WAY I CAN BLAME HIM IF THINGS GO SOUTH.' [ ANYWAY WE JUST HAVE TO WAIT FOR WARM WEATHER AND THIS WILL ALL GO AWAY—RIGHT? WELL, I‘M NO SCIENTIST—BUT ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE! I GUESS. STUPID VIRUS.' NO PANDEMIC HAS EVER TREATED A PRESIDENT MORE UNFAIRLY.' 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