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Democracy on Life Support
PLUS, THE SLOW VACCINE ROLLOUT AND MORE LOCAL NEWS
By Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
“Our democracy is in a 911 emergency,”
Sen. Raphael Warnock declared after
Republican legislators pushed through
and Gov. Brian Kemp quickly signed a
law throwing up roadblocks for absentee
voting—a response to Warnock, Sen. Jon
Ossoff and President Biden tipping Georgia
blue for the first time in 18 years.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioner
Tim Denson, the chairman of the ACC
Democratic Committee, was equally direct:
“Let’s be clear, this bill is just trying to
repackage voter suppression tactics as
‘solutions’ to problems that never existed.
Those who supported and voted for this
law are carrying on the Jim Crow tradi
tions of voter suppression passed on by
George Wallace, Herman Talmadge, Strom
Thurmond and Richard Russell.”
Talmadge and Russell were segregation
ist senators from Georgia who routinely
blocked civil rights legislation until the
mid-1960s. Today, Republican senators are
threatening to use the filibuster once again
to block legislation like the John Lewis
Voting Rights Act.
“I am not about to be stopped or stymied
by debates about Senate rules,” Warnock
said. “It is a contradiction to say we must
protect minority rights in the senate while
right now here in Georgia they are trying to
crush minority rights in society.”
Not only does Senate Bill 202 take
Georgia backward, but it is also unneces
sary. The ACC Board of Elections passed a
resolution opposing the bill on Mar. 22—
three days before the legislature passed
and Kemp signed it. The resolution noted
that Athens’ 51,333 November ballots
were counted three times, and no errors
were found. Nor did registrars receive any
complaints about fraud, malfeasance or
impropriety in either November or January.
In a sign of the times, that resolution
was approved by all four Democratic and
nonpartisan members of the board, with
Republican appointee Ann Till abstaining.
Now that SB 202 is law, the locally
appointed Board of Elections may no longer
have a role to play in overseeing local elec
tions. One provision in the law allows the
state to take over local boards of elections.
“This creates a number of conflicts of inter
est and opens the door for corruption and
retaliation from elected officials who are
unsuccessful in their re-elections,” Denson
said. The goal here, of course, is to make
sure that elected officials—at least the
Republican ones—are successful in their
re-elections.
Read more about SB 202 in a Georgia
Recorder feature on p. 5 and Pub Notes on
P .7.
Commissioner Criticizes Vaccine Rollout
Why is it so hard to get an appointment
for a COVID-19 vaccination in Athens?
Like many residents, Athens-Clarke County
Commissioner Melissa Link wants to know.
Link criticized health officials at a local
Board of Health meeting last week for what
she perceived as a slow rollout of COVID-19
vaccines in Athens. Vaccine appointments
are hard to come by in Athens, she said,
forcing residents to drive to a mass vacci
nation site in Habersham County an hour
away, or to Oglethorpe County, where the
health department has organized mass vac
cination events. “I really only know three
or four people who’ve gotten the vaccine in
town, and when people go to Habersham or
Oglethorpe, they talk about how many folks
they saw from Athens,” she said.
This makes it especially difficult for
people who don’t have cars or people like
the elderly who can’t drive, Link said. “No
one should have to leave the county to get a
vaccine within a reasonable period of time,
and everyone should have the means to get
a vaccine without an automobile,” she said.
Stephen Goggans, director of the
10-county Northeast Health District,
defended its vaccine distribution. Athens
has received half the shots allocated to the
district, which is “more than a proportional
share,” he said, and the Clarke County
Health Department is vaccinating 2,000-
2,500 people a day. “There maybe people
going to Oglethorpe County, but the issue
isn’t that we’re not doing enough in Clarke,”
Goggans said. “We are fully deploying
everybody [who works for] the district with
a ton of volunteers.”
When Link asked why Athens doesn’t
have a mass vaccination site like the one
in Clarkesville, Goggans said that those
sites were set up by the Georgia Emergency
Management Agency, not the Department
of Public Health. He said he was told that
GEMA chose places that are undervacci
nated to try to fill in gaps.
Other GEMA-run sites are in Hapeville
and Cartersville outside of Atlanta,
Columbus, Macon, Savannah, Sandersville,
Waycross and Albany. Earlier this month,
Gov. Brian Kemp urged Atlanta residents
clamoring for the vaccine to drive to Albany,
where demand is low, but he’s since directed
more shots to North Georgia.
One problem is that the district has seen
a lot of no-shows because people are “shop
ping around,” making multiple appoint
ments and then skipping all but one, said
District Administrator Emily Eisenman. She
said the district also sees surges whenever
Kemp eases restrictions on who can get the
vaccine, as he did Mar. 25, when he opened
it up to everyone over age 16.
Link also pressed public health officials
to talk to the University of Georgia about
vaccinating students, especially now that
Kemp is allowing bars to open at full capac
ity, rather than 35% or 50 people. “Those
students are the ones engaging in risky
behavior,” she said. “If they don’t get vacci
nated, and they start spreading around new
variants, we’re screwed.” She is concerned
about service industry workers, too, she
added.
Scientists say that current vaccines are
effective against coronavirus variants that
have emerged so far, but they might not be
against future variants.
UGA reported just 25 positive tests
among students for the week of Mar.
21. The total of 32, including seven staff
members and no faculty members, was the
lowest number since UGA began testing
in August. However, surveillance testing
is down recently, contributing to lower
totals, and many people have questioned
how much students are actually using the
DawgCheck self-reporting app.
Commissioner Allison Wright asked
when Athens will be getting the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine in addition to the Pfizer
and Moderna versions that are more widely
available. The district has received one
shipment of 1,500 shots and another is
expected in April, Goggans said. Because
the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only one
shot, it’s being reserved for mobile clinics to
avoid having to schedule a follow-up visit,
he said.
In contrast to Link, Wright compli
mented health officials’ work on vaccina
tions. “The speed with which you’ve gotten
it into arms compared to when it came to
the state, I’m impressed,” Wright said.
Budget Proposal Includes Tax Bike
ACC commissioners balked last week at
Manager Blaine Williams’ suggestion that
they raise property taxes slightly to help
close a projected budget deficit.
Williams’ proposed $150 million 2022
operating budget—presented during the
“big rocks” budget work session Mar. 24—is
about $10 million higher than fiscal 2021’s.
It includes raises for county employees,
especially in public safety; more mental
health co-responders; rising health-care
and pension costs; and contributions to a
neglected fund for replacing government
vehicles. Nevertheless, he called the budget
a conservative one, noting that he received
requests for $43 million in capital projects
alone, along with 36 new positions. He is
recommending creating 12.
The biggest single request was $16 mil
lion from the Fire Department to rebuild
Fire Station 1 off College Avenue. That
project didn’t make it through the SPLOST
2020 selection process, and Williams rec
ommended waiting until the next round of
SPLOST.
Some of the approximately $30 million
ACC is supposed to receive by mid-May
from the federal government through the
American Rescue Plan could help backfill
the budget, but until the money is in hand,
Williams said he’s not including it in his
budget proposal. For now, he’s recommend
ing that the commission increase property
taxes by 0.6 mills, or about $40 for the
owner of a $177,000 home, the median
value in Athens. That would raise about $3
million, making up for anticipated declines
in revenue from fees for services and fines
and forfeitures. Higher property values—
even if the tax rate stays the same—are
expected to drive up revenue by at least $4
million, and sales tax revenue is projected
to rise by $1 million. Williams said he would
dip into the county’s healthy reserve fund
to cover the remaining deficit.
Commissioner Ovita Thornton expressed
concern about raising property taxes, and
Link agreed. “I don’t think there’s going to
be any appetite out there in the wake of a
pandemic for a property tax increase,” Link
said.
ACC officials start the budget process
in the fall, when department heads and
government-funded outside agencies sub
mit requests, and commissioners set goals
and objectives for the coming year. This
year, the commission’s priorities include
homelessness and affordable housing,
community engagement, criminal justice
reform and workforce development. To
that end, Williams has proposed adding a
community engagement specialist to the
Public Information Office and a homeless
specialist to the Housing and Community
Development Department, continuing the
Community Corps implemented last year
that hires and trains local residents for
beautification projects, the four new mental
health co-responder teams in the police
department, and raises for public safety
employees to attract and retain them.
The “big rocks” meeting allows commis
sioners to give Williams feedback before
Mayor Kelly Girtz formally proposes a bud
get in April. That will be followed by further
work sessions in May before it’s approved
in June. ©
* THOUGHTS AND PRATERS
i 8UT I CERTAINLY HOPE
| YOU'RE NOT GOING TO
I POUT Kite THE INCIDENT. 1
fcUORLO
LOOK AT THIS! ANOTHER LUNATIC
IN A GIANT, MILITARY-GRADE MECHA
SUIT HAS GONE on ANOTHER RAM
PAGE, KILLING THOUSANDS!
YOU CAN'T DEMONIZE EVERY LAW-
ABIDING MECHA SUIT OWNER BASED
ON THE ACTIONS of THE FEW DOZEN
DERANGED INDIVIDUALS WHO Go ON
MASS MURDER SPREES EACH WEEK.'
by tom tomorrow
BUT WHY DOES ANY CIVILIAN NEED
A GIANT ROBOT SUIT EQUIPPED
WITH LASER 8LASTERS AND AUTONO
MOUS ANTI-PERSONNEL DRONES?
THE FOUNDING FATHERS COULDN'T
HAVE IMAGINED THAT THE RIGHT
to bear arms would someday
ENCOMPASS GIANT CYBERNETIC
KILLING MACHINES!
WHY MUST YOU LIBERALS
TRY TO EXPLOIT EVERT
TRAGEDY IN pursuit
of Your ANTI MECHA
SUIT AGENDA?
IF You WANT A TRULY SAFE SOCIETY
THEN EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A
GIANT ROBOTIC KILLING MACHINE!
THE DEADLIER THE BETTER!
'you'll pry me out of the cock
pit of MY MECHA SUIT WITH MY
COLD DEAD FINGERS STILL GRIPPING
THE LASER BLASTER JOYSTICKS!
■
OH No! Someone Else has gone
ON A DEADLY MECHA SUIT RAMPAGE!
NOTHING TO BE DONE!
IT'S JUST THE PRICE WE
PAY FOR LIVING IN A
FREE SOCIETY!
4
FLAGPOLE.COM | MARCH 31, 2021
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