In the Loop
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ACC Police Are Hosting Two Town Hall Meetings
Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman is hosting two town halls this week to seek feedback from citizens.
The first is today is Gaines Elementary School. The second is Thursday at Chase Street Elementary. Both are from 6:30–8 p.m.
For more information, contact Capt. Mark Sizemore at 706-613-3888 ext. 248 or [email protected].
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New CCSD Superintendent Demond Means Will Make $209,000 a Year
Photo Credit: Austin Steele/file
The Clarke County Board of Education has agreed to a three-year contract with new superintendent Demond Means that will pay him at least $209,000 annually, plus other benefits.
In addition to his base salary and the typical retirement and insurance benefits, Means will receive a $700 car allowance in lieu of mileage, and the district will pay $3,000 per year into a tax-deferred retirement plan.
The school board can fire Means for cause or buy out the remainder of his contract. If Means resigns before the contract ends, he will owe the district $5,000.
CCSD will also cover Means' relocation expenses up to $10,000, as well as reimburse him up to $5,000 for his travel to and from Milwaukee between now and July 10, when the contract kicks in, and for "professional growth" such as college classes and conferences.
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Athens Celebrates the Day of Jubilee, When Local Slaves Were Freed
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file
There’s a new holiday in Athens, but it’s one that’s been around for 152 years.
For Athens, that day is May 4, the day in 1865 when the Union army arrived and freed the slaves in town and the surrounding countryside, who then gathered with their loved ones at the town hall, hoisting a flag up what they then deemed the “flagpole of liberty.”
While many marches that take place downtown are in protest, Thursday’s vigil and rally marking the “day of jubilee” was one of celebration and honoring ancestors.
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Deal Signs Campus Carry; Hice Helps Pass Trumpcare
In spite of ongoing opposition in Athens, Gov. Nathan Deal has signed HB 280, this year's version of the "campus carry" legislation he vetoed last year.
Deal's veto statement last year included a full-throated defense of gun-free campuses, citing founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, who banned guns at the University of Virginia, and the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who ruled in District of Columbia vs. Heller that banning guns in schools and on government property is not unconstitutional.
Deal also cited several specific objections in 2016, and addressing those apparently was enough to convince him to sign HB 280 in spite of his general objections to HB 859.
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Podcast: Trump's Rally and the May Day Protests
On this week’s episode, cohost Baynard Woods and Baltimore City Paper editor Brandon Soderberg talk about the strange political landscape after attending both the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and the May Day marches in Washington, DC.
Democracy in Crisis is a weekly podcast hosted by Baynard Woods and Marc Steiner, produced and engineered by Mark Gunnery for The Center for Emerging Media. Theme music by Ruby Fulton and the Rhymes with Orchestra.
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The Varsity Files for Demolition Permits for Surrounding Properties
The owners of The Varsity have applied for permits to demolish a half-dozen structures on the same block, potentially allowing them to raze several historic houses to make way for a mega-development.
The permits are for 1076, 1086 and 1092 West Broad (the Dairy Queen that closed last year, a mechanic's shop and a house) and 835, 853 and 863 Reese Street.
The applications were filed Tuesday. Commissioner Melissa Link, who represents the area, said she has already exercised her power under county law to put a hold on those permits for 90 days.
"I have activated the 90-day delay, and I have every intention of seeking a long-term moratorium," she said.
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May Day March to End Deportation Draws 150
Photo Credit: Austin Steele
At least 150 people gathered in downtown on Monday—May Day, or International Workers' Day—to protest the deportation of undocumented immigrants in Athens.
"In our community there have been many cases of deportation," said Beto Mendoza, coordinator of the Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition, which organized the rally. In many cases Immigration and Customs Enforcement has split up local families by arrested and deporting parents, while the children, who are U.S. citizens, stay behind, he said.
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Epps Bridge Centre Phase II Is Coming Along
In the foreground are the new $3.3 million road Parkway Boulevard and the site of Epps Bridge Centre's second phase across the Oconee Connector from Phase 1.
Oconee County expects to open Parkway Boulevard from the Oconee Connector to Kohl’s by the end of May, county Public Works Director Emil Beshara told a meeting of the regional metropolitan transportation planning organization on Wednesday.
Construction on the roadway is “winding down,” Beshara told the group, with work remaining only on such things as pedestrian islands, guardrails, and striping.
The roadway will allow traffic to flow from Epps Bridge Parkway just inside Oconee County at the bridge over McNutt Creek to one of the entrances to Epps Bridge Centre or onto the Loop and Highway 316, or the reverse.
The county decided to spend $3.35 million to build the roadway not as a means of relieving traffic but to open up the area for further commercial development.
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