Illegal tire dumping: a problem without a solution
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Government, Uncategorized | Tags: Athens, Clarke County, dumping, illegal, tire Leave a commentBy David Schick
Paul Martin didn’t see the hidden closing costs when he purchased the property where the old Omni Club sits. A quick survey of the ends of his property would reveal an illegal tire dump close to Briarcliff creek. What he soon realized is that the cost of disposing tires properly is exorbitant and often falls on the property owner.
Scrap tire disposal isn’t just an Athens-Clarke County problem.
In the early 1990s, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources created a Scrap Tire Program designed to clean up and recycle about 12 million tires that were housed in illegal stockpiles around Georgia. The landfilling of whole-sized tires has been banned since Dec. 31, 1994.
Downtown Police Substation Brings Reassurance Four Years Later
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Government, Safety, Uncategorized | Tags: Clarke County police, College Avenue, downtown Athens safety, substation Leave a comment
When an incompliant man began pounding on the glass windows outside the Smoker’s Den on College Avenue last week, employees didn’t bother calling the authorities.
Instead, manager Tonya Thorne walked next door and the situation was handled in less than two minutes.
The Smoker’s Den shares walls with the downtown police substation, a building whose presence alone has brought security back to downtown.
Athens Area Chamber of Commerce makes global connection
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Business, Government, Uncategorized | Tags: Athens, Athens Chamber of Commerce, Business, economic development, Geelong, UGA Leave a commentBy Emily Curl
While located in opposite sides of the globe, Athens-Clarke County and the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria, Australia have much more in common than one would suspect.
In hopes to improve downtown development and bring additional business to Athens, officials are researching and discussing new ways to help Athens’ businesses develop and succeed.
On February 8th, officials from the two cities met to discuss mutual interests in opportunities for economic development and signed a “Memorandum of Understanding to acknowledge the strategic relationship between the two cities,” as stated on the Athens-Clarke County website. Read the rest of this entry »
The Road to Legalization of Medicinal Marijuana is not over
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Education, Government, Uncategorized | Tags: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Georgia CARE Project, House Bill 885, James Bell, legalization, Medicinal marijuana, Nathan Deal, reform, Senator Allen Peake, Senator Curt Thompson, Senator Renee Unterman, State bill 397 Leave a commentThe road to legalization of medicinal marijuana is a bumpy road. At one point, it seemed like the possibility of legalization was going to happen. Senator Allen Peake was pushing hard for House bill 885 which would have legalized the use of cannabis for the treatment of cancer and glaucoma. House Bill 885 did not pass because the General Assembly did not have the chance to deliberate the bill. Another bill, Senate bill 397, which would have reformed medical treatment for autistic children in Georgia was a last minute addition to HB-885 and this attachment did not fair well for both bills.
Georgia HB 885, titled Haleigh’s Hope Act was passed in the Senate 54-0 only to later have it shot down on the floor of the General Assembly. A few people though, were skeptical of this bill without some changes.
The director of Georgia C.A.R.E Project saw this coming.
“We supported HB-885 with the hope that the committee (House Health & Human Services) would identify the issues and modify the bill’, said Bell. “Without this reform the bill is dead!”
According to James Bell, a component of House Bill 885 would have given smugglers immunity from prosecution to anyone who smuggles cannabis extracts into Georgia. He claims the proposal encourages swindlers and patients to violate federal laws that could land someone in federal prison for minimum of ten years to life.
“HB-885 sets up yet another black market and jeopardizes the freedom of those seeking legal medicine’, Bell said. “We need to legalize cultivation of cannabis in Georgia. We need legislation that removes cannabis from the criminal elements.”
James Bell, a lobbyist for marijuana law reform, resentfully supported HB-885 but now will turn his attention to the 2015 legislative session and will begin to work on a new bill that allows for “legal cultivation, dispensing and doctors recommendations for cannabis use.”
Medicinal marijuana reform has gained some muscle in the past few years. Some of that muscle has came from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an important advocate for medicinal marijuana and an influential individual being a CNN correspondent who has taken numerous trips to hospitals and laboratories hoping to understand the science behind marijuana.
“It is about emerging science that not only shows and proves what marijuana can do for the body but provides better insights into the mechanisms of marijuana in the brain, “ said Gupta. “This scientific journey is about a growing number of patients who want the cannabis plant as a genuine medicine, not to get high.”
Dr. Gupta went onto release a sequel to “Weed” entitled “Weed 2: Cannabis Madness.” In the sequel, Dr. Gupta looks at United States federal laws that contemplate marijuana as a drug with no medicinal value and provides voices from scientists who say the federal laws are wrong.
In other words it is the “politics of pot – the politicians vs. the patients.”
So who are these politicians that some are pro medicinal marijuana and others who are against medicinal marijuana.
Nathan Deal, Governor of Georgia expressed his interest in legalizing medicinal marijuana after HB-885 did not follow through.
“I will be talking with all of our state agencies who have any kind of involvement in dealing with that issue to see if there is something we can do to make this treatment possible, “ Said Deal.
Marijuana has been called the “gateway drug” and one of the many reasons why it is still illegal is because of the THC level in the plant. The THC in marijuana is what gives you the “high” but in marijuana there is cannabidiol.
Cannabidiol “is a non-psychoactive component of marijuana that possesses a wide range of therapeutic benefits.”
Some of the few benefits of CBD (cannabidiol) are that CBD can offset the carcinogens found in metastasis of cancer. CBD is also an anti-psychotic medicine that can treat schizophrenia as well as other brain related concerns.
So why is medicinal marijuana still ILLEGAL?
One of the reasons why it remains illegal in Georgia can be unfortunately thanked to Senator Renee Unterman who attatched Senate Bill 397 to House Bill 885 which would have “reformed medical treatment for autistic children in Georgia.”
“She had an agenda important to her, but it needed to stand alone. She didn’t need to hijack another bill to push her piece of legislation”, said Rep. Allen Peake, the main sponsor of HB 885.
Therefore adding SB 397 to HB 885 it predicted failure.
This failure puts a speed bump on the road of legalization to medicinal marijuana and it affects everyone from patients to politicians because of how important a reform like this is in present American society.
“These parents don’t understand how the General Assembly works but this building is nothing but politics”, Unterman said in an interview with WSBTV.
Now it seems like the year 2013-2014 the legislative session failed to pass two important bills for autism and medical marijuana reform.
Nonetheless, if each bill stood alone then we might now be in an era where medical marijuana is legalized.
The road to legalization of medical marijuana started on a high note, and then ran into some problems; but the road continues and might just end in a high note.
State Senator Curt Thompson has filed State Bill-432 (Controlled Substance Therapeutic Relief Act), which will address many of the issues such as the quality of how medicinal marijuana will be served, the safe and legal access to cannabis oil.
(Regarding the State Senators busy schedule, he did not have the time to sit down with me to talk about his act)
His controlled substance therapeutic relief act will do the speaking for him.
The C.S.T.R act will ensure patients a safe way of receiving cannabidiol – this substance will help patients. People who comply with this act will not put the State of Georgia or their patients in violation of federal law.
For patients, SB-432 will allow two ounces of marijuana for use. If the qualifying patients registry identification card states that the qualifying patient is authorized to cultivate marijuana, then eight marijuana plants contained in an enclosed and locked facility will be provided. However, if the patient is moving living locations then the marijuana plants will not have to be in an enclosed and locked facility for travel.
Locally, the people of Athens and its GOP heard some good news about legalization of medicinal marijuana from Governor Nathan Deal.
Governor Deal has been in constant communication with the state pharmaceutical board, composite medical board, and the state medical school as well as the Georgia Regents University in Augusta all about testing on volunteers with cannabinoid oil.
Governor Deal will be looking over this reform very carefully in legalization of medicinal marijuana.
“This is not something we want to open the floodgates on,” Deal said. “It has to be done in a very controlled manner.”
If the trails were successful, the General Assembly could take up medical marijuana again.
State Bill 432 will do what House Bill 885 couldn’t do – pass. So lets hope for the best for the patients who are suffering from cancer, glaucoma, and other diseases that can be cured by medicinal marijuana.
Automated Garbage Trucks might be Coming to Athens-Clarke County
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Athens, automatic, Corley, garbage, Jim, truck Leave a commentAthens-Clarke County might be replacing its current fleet of garbage trucks with new fully automatic trucks for $1.9 million.
The Solid Waste Department estimates that the overall savings for purchasing the new trucks, primarily in personnel costs and workers compensation claims, will add up to $500,000 per year. That amount suggests the city could recoup its losses in four years.
One of the key differences between these trucks and the ones currently used by Solid Waste will be that the new vehicles will be identical as opposed to the current ones, which have a range of ages.
The reason that is cost effective is that it is far easier to only need one brand of car to be fixed. Since the parts can be purchased in bulk, which can, but not always, reduce costs, and maintenance is much easier when there is only model that needs to be repaired.
In addition, since these will be new trucks they will not need to be repaired as frequently as the older models.
The primary reason for the savings is that the fully automated trucks will require fewer people to man them. Jim Corley, the director of solid waste for the Athens-Clarke government, said personnel cuts would likely be achieved through attrition.
“We currently have six vacancies and typically have a turnover of 8-12 per year,” Corley said. “We will use temp labor to fill in until the conversion is made. Also I think we can shuffle around the employees to other posts in the government so layoffs will not be needed.”
Although Corley thinks the commission will approve of the new trucks, he acknowledged that one of the biggest obstacles would still be the cost.
“The trucks will cost double that of the standard versions,” Corley said, “and in addition the commission will have to decide if it is worth it to wait for the economic benefits.”
However, there are other benefits to getting the new trucks. Two of the bigger ones are that they will be faster and more efficient so they will save some money that way.
Currently, the garbage trucks patrolling Athens are semi-automatic, which means the collector on the truck has to move the can to the back so the garbage can be dumped in. The newer trucks will use a claw to tip the can directly into the back.
However, in order for the claw apparatus to work, the garbage cans have to be placed at the correct spot in the curb or the claw will not be able to collect the trash, the New Haven (Conn.) Register reported when that city made a similar conversion. The Register also noted that due to the automation, uniform trash bins would have to be provided for the garbage trucks.
Since this is different it will be necessary to educate the people of Athens that the system has changed. If the plan is approved, Corley said, citizens will be informed ahead of time through such means as mailers, water bill inserts, door hanger tags and a notice on the government web site.
Although the policy for garbage pickup would change, residents such as the disabled or the elderly would not need to worry about having to adapt, as the current policy allowing them to place their garbage at a more convenient location, such as their backyard, would remain the same.
Another obstacle that has been in Solid Waste’s way for a long time has been getting funds. Corley has noted that his staff has shrunk over the years and previous proposals, such as around-the-clock garbage pickup and garbage corrals, have been shot down, although part of the later was because they might offend the eyes.
Despite that, Corley said he is optimistic that the cost savings offered by the new plan will make it attractive to commissioners, who he said have offered positive feedback.
The proposal is going to come to a vote in June, said Corley, and will be implemented late this year or early next year.
Patrolling the streets of Athens
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentBy: William McFadden
Each week downtown Athens plays host to crowds of people trying to blow off stress, celebrate an occasion, or enjoy a night on the town. In order for those men and women to fully enjoy their night, they must feel safe and secure. The Athens-Clarke County Police Department are focused on providing that security for the downtown crowds.
To the ACCPD, a night downtown is just another night on the job; according to assistant chief of police Fred Stephens, the main focus of an on-duty policeman is the protection of the citizens enjoying the nightlife.
“The mission is to eliminate the fear of crime, policing is a shared responsibility so every individual can assist,” Stephens said. “When visitors and citizens are obeying the law and minimizing risk, we believe that is the most successful night.”
In a college town, many of the bars are occupied by underage students who are drinking illegally.
A WSB-TV article stated that, on average, 1,000 underage drinkers are arrested each year in Athens-Clarke County.
“The police officers downtown are very high-visibility,” Stephens said. “We understand that in a college town underage drinking is likely to happen. We try and intervene when it may lead to criminal activity or endangerment of an individual.”
One such student, junior Jackson Ruck, has had conversations with the ACCPD before and described them as reasonable.
“I was walking home with a friend and we were approached on a street corner by two bike cops,” Ruck said. “They asked us if we had been drinking and we told them yes. Then they asked if we were 21 and we told them that we were 20; the cops told us to be safe on the way home and didn’t cause any problems.”
During nights involving higher quantities of people, such as football or concert weekends, the assigned police receive additional support.
“There is a special downtown unit that is assigned only to downtown Athens,” Stephens said. “During busier weekends, additional officers from the West Precinct are brought in to help with crowd control.”
“I have definitely noticed more police officers during the weekends,” Ruck stated. “They usually have six or seven bike-cops on Clayton Street that keep the long lines and crowds at bay.”
Not all people view the increase of police as a deterrent; “I don’t think that having more cops outside of the bars is a good thing,” one UGA student exclaimed. “They are just looking to make more arrests and they know we are easy targets.”
According to the WSB-TV article, police have the discretion to hand out a citation and avoid an arrest unless the subject is clearly intoxicated.
Police Sgt. Derick Scott had a different sentiment, “If the person in question is underage, we will always issue an arrest instead of a citation.”
This is troubling news for undergrads at UGA.
“A person who is issued a citation must attend a court hearing where they will have a punishment determined, but they are free to go after the citation is issued,” Scott said. “A person who is arrested is taken to the sheriff’s office for processing and must pay a bond.”
Many students that have gone through this process describe it as a tiring and complicated process.
“I was taken into custody and had to get a bond company to pay my bond,” one UGA student said. “After I was released I had to report to court, pay a $200 fine and attend probation classes.”
For those who wonder if money is the driving force behind the arrests, Sgt. Scott says that is not the case.
“The police department makes no surplus money on arrests, the money goes to the courthouse and the state,” Scott said. “Our only reason for arresting somebody is to get them off of the street and out of danger.”
While the police will not make money on arrests, there is no cost incurred on the department to arrest someone.
“When a person is arrested and sentenced to stay in jail for an extended period of time that is the only time it will cost money, but the state is responsible for that payment,” Scott said. “The police do not spend any money on arrests, but do not make any either.”
According to the WSB-TV article, there are an average of 20 arrests per week in Athens. Sgt. Scott believed that to be an accurate number.
“I would say that 20 is a good average,” Scott said. “Obviously on the weekends there are more people and more officers watching, but every Monday and Tuesday we make arrests.”
“The weekends are definitely a busier time, and that is when I go out the most,” Ruck said. “I’ve gone out early in the week before too and the police arrested someone on a Wednesday when there were very little people out.”
The ACCPD are assigned to protect those who decide to enjoy a night in downtown Athens, a job not many respect, but the police take pride in.
“We try to be good ambassadors and hosts for the city of Athens,” Stephens said. “If an individual is able to enjoy their night without criminal activity, and I don’t mean drinking a beer, we are more than happy to leave them in peace.”
Video: A New Garden is Going to be Planted at the Ware-Lydon House
Posted: March 20, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Video, Ware-Lyndon Leave a comment
A New Garden is Going to be Planted at the Ware-Lydon House
Posted: March 20, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cistern, Garden, Photos, SPLOST, Ware-Lydon House Leave a commentBy: Evan Caras
In August, money from a special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST) will go to the Ware-Lydon House, located at 293 Hoyt St, to construct a historic garden and to landscape some aspects of the garden.
According to the official proposal, submitted by the Board of Directors of the Ware-Lyndon House, the garden is going to be modeled after the former Stevens Thomas Garden, which is from the same era.
The overall intention for the new addition to the house is to add a garden to show what the house would have looked like originally as well as to enhance the experience of the visitors.
The garden will also be educational since it will have displays up explaining what the garden is and give a brief history lesson to those that visit.
In addition, the garden will also feature a way to showcase water conservation.
A new system will be built that will allow the house to run on its own water the majority of the time and only very rarely will it have to rely on the government to supply the water.
In total, the system is expected to produce a total of 250 to 500 gallons of water per day.
On the other hand, as desirable as a new water system would be, having one installed will not be easy.
“A must have feature of the garden is a working cistern that will be both an educational and interpretive feature, but will also serve as the sole source for garden irrigation once the garden is established. Designing and constructing an affordable cistern that will capture enough water to service the garden during the summer will be a challenge,” Barbara Andrews, the Arts and Nature Division Administrator of the Leisure Services Department stated.
The new garden will have a set of brick steps that will lead from the street, directly to the porch.
The centerpiece of the garden is going to be a cast iron fountain.
The actual shape of the garden will be rectangular, and hedges will shape the outline of the garden.
The garden will also have four apostrophe looking flowerbeds that will be symmetrical to each other.
They bottom of the apostrophes will all face each other and the fountain will be in the very center of the formation.
The intention of the design is that those who have come to relax can enjoy the garden at the front of the house easier than the people who have come on a more serious business.
As of right now the garden is unappealing to look at.
It has a few trees, a few plants, a few flowers, and one abstract sculpture.
The grass is horribly uneven, there is discoloration is some spots of the garden, and some of the plants show clear signs of damage.
This is a stark contrast from the house itself, both inside and outside, since the house is a very fine building and lots of detail clearly went into its construction.
The inside is filled with artwork and is nicely put together.
Everywhere one looks there is something that can draw one’s eye; whether it is the artwork, old books in the library, or even the studios themselves.
It is no wonder why the building’s management wants a new garden.
However, although the garden would look nice, brighten up the area, and serve and educational function; it has stirred up controversy about whether the garden should have been implemented in the first place.
The biggest concern about adding the new garden is that it will be turned into more of a general community center for paid purposes as opposed to how it is now where a person can come in and enjoy the art library or perhaps relax in warm weather.
If the house went too far in the paid direction people would worry whether if all the services the house offers for free, namely the library and the art studios, will remain free or if they will even still be in the house.
Pam Reidy, the Leisure Services director, admitted that she heard a lot of people that worried that the garden could change to a community center, but she also stated that their fears were likely unfounded.
Pam Reidy noted that they were not going to be taking anything away from the house despite the direction it was going in.
Originally, Edward R. Ware built the house in the mid 1800, the government acquired the house in 1939, and the house was later restored in 1960.
The new addition will not be cheap, as it will cost a total of 225,000 dollars to implement and a further 5,000 dollars per year to maintain.
The most expensive change is estimated to be the construction of the cistern, a device used to catch and store rainwater, at 30,000 dollars, while the cheapest is expected to be the seventy shrubs which cost twenty-five dollars each totaling 1,750 dollars.
The garden itself will have a total area of 4675 feet (or eighty-five feet by fifty five feet).
A side benefit of the new garden is that it would make the overall area look much nicer than it currently does.
“The process is currently underway to hire professional services to design the garden. Once the final design is approved, the construction phase will be bid out to contractors who specialize in this type of project and will build to specifications…and to have the construction completed by November,” according to Barbara Andrews.
UGA Professor concludes term as national president, no plans to slow down
Posted: March 20, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American Meteorological Society, atmospheric sciences, climate change, controversy, Limbaugh, Marshall Shepherd, meteorology, UGA Leave a commentBy Ashton Adams
The gathered crowd at the annual American Meteorological Society meeting in Atlanta rose to their feet for a standing ovation as Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd stepped down from the stage, and his presidency.
A standing ovation is something AMS staffers say they have never seen given to a former president.
“That moment was so surreal for me because as I came off this huge stage surrounded by thousands of my colleagues, a standing ovation is not what I was expecting,” said Shepherd. “In that moment, it became clear to me that in the time I was president I must have made an impact in some way.”
Dr. Shepherd, who is also director of UGA’s Atmospheric Sciences program, completed his year-long term as president of the American Meteorology Society in February. The society serves as the nation’s mouthpiece on atmospheric sciences.
As president, Shepherd was frequently sought as an expert on weather and climate change, appearing on the Today Show, CNN, Larry King Live, Face the Nation, the Weather Channel and a number of other broadcast outlets.
In his most controversial role as President, Shepherd found himself putting out fires between two well-known power houses.
When Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called last month’s snow and ice storm a “leftist, global warming conspiracy” and made claims that the popularized term “polar vortex” was created by liberals that week, White House advisers fired back in a YouTube video claiming that the extreme weather was indeed a sign of global warming.
That’s when Shepherd intervened.
In his blog, Shepherd corrected Limbaugh stating that the term “polar vortex” had been used in meteorological reports since 1940 but called the White House “heavy handed” on the issue in an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
One audience Shepherd won’t soon satisfy are the far-right critics who deny climate change and who Shepherd calls “zombies.”
Shepherd explained in his Tedx Atlanta talk last year that “zombies” were critics of his whose Conservative ideas on global warming could not be killed no matter how viable the scientific evidence.
“I quickly learned as President that to be an effective leader, you can’t waste valuable time trying to appease the extremists. As they say, ‘it is what it is,’” said Shepherd.
Shepherd’s AMS presidency was just one of many salient roles he held. Considered a catalyst in the African-American community, Shepherd says breaking barriers in his field is long over-due.
The first, and only, African-American to graduate with a PhD in meteorology from Florida State University and only the second Black president of the American Meteorological Society, Shepherd was even spotlighted on The Weather Channel for a piece on noteworthy meteorologists in honor of Black History Month.
“It’s an incredible honor to be labeled as a ‘first’ at something but it is also disturbing at the same time,” said Shepherd. “Here it is 2014 and it is somewhat sad that I am the first to accomplish some of the things I have done.”
Holding professional titles at NASA, the University of Georgia, the American Meteorological Society and a number of other esteemed panels and organizations is what Shepherd calls “normal,” and he has made no plans to slow down.
“Ultimately my success can’t be measured by my presidency, my job at NASA, or anything else I’ve done thus far. Success should be measured by how well you balance all qualities of life,” said Shepherd. “I am active professionally and I am active with my family and that will never overwhelm me.”
The former president will join the advisory board at Climate Central this month, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching climate change and its impact on the American public.
As far as his role at UGA goes, Shepherd plans on using his expertise and notoriety to further build the university’s relatively new atmospheric sciences program.
To hear more from Dr. Shepherd, visit his blog “The Mind of J. Marsh”: https://www.blogger.com/profile/06173530773221005727
Civic Life in Downtown Athens 