In the Loop
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Secret Mars Hill Road Deal Approved
Oconee County commissioners Tuesday night agreed to spend $10,000 for design work—double the amount originally planned—as part of a previously unknown deal to create a full median cut on Mars Hill Road to provide access to 103 acres owned by Dickens Farms Inc.
The investment could be good money thrown after bad, as Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara told the commissioners that the Georgia Department of Transportation already has rejected the proposed plans for the change in the roadway design.
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New UGA Apparel Store Opening Downtown
A rapidly expanding chain of college-themed apparel stores called Tailgate is moving into the Broad Street space formerly occupied by the Cajun restaurants NONA and Harry Bissett's.
American Eagle bought Tailgate last year from Todd Snyder, a noted designer of both high-end menswear and "vintage-inspired" collegiate clothing. The company sells clothing emblazoned with dozens of schools’ logos online and has a brick-and-mortar store in Iowa City.
The Athens store will open in October, said Maggie Long, the company's communications director.
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Tasers Are Now Legal at UGA
Photo Credit: Jason Esbain/Wikimedia Commons
Guns are still illegal at the University of Georgia, but Tasers are A-OK!
House Bill 792—sometimes referred to as “campus carry lite”—is among a number of new laws that took effect July 1. The law allows people 18 and older to carry electroshock weapons such as Tasers and stun guns on college campuses and use them—but only for self-defense.
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R.I.P. Allen's Owner Billy Slaughter
Photo Credit: Jeff Montgomery
William "Billy" Slaughter, former owner of the famed local watering hole Allen's Hamburgers, died Thursday at the age of 79.
Slaughter was a halfback on the state champion Athens High and SEC champion Georgia football teams in the 1950s, going on to earn a law degree from UGA.
Later, he bought Allen's from Allen Saine. The bar and restaurant in Normaltown was one of the centers of the Athens music scene in the 1970s and '80s, as well a popular hangout for students, townies and sailors at the Navy Supply Corps School (now the UGA Health Sciences Campus). Future governor and senator Zell Miller worked there, and members of the B-52's, R.E.M. and Widespread Panic were patrons.
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UGA Expands Medical Amnesty Policy
The University of Georgia Student Government Association has championed a crucial change in the university’s amnesty policy.
The original policy, designed to encourage students to call for help in the event of any injuries resulting from drug or alcohol use, was that students who requested medical assistance for an overdose would be protected from punishment by the university, but the person who overdosed would not.
“There have been students who have gotten in trouble but also been too scared to call because they know that someone may get in trouble. It’ll be their friend passed out on the floor and they need to be sure they make that call,” SGA President Houston Gaines says. “We’re lucky we haven’t lost someone’s life.”
The new policy will extend amnesty to the person who overdosed. It takes effect today. Officials hope that this expansion will encourage students to seek medical assistance without fear of the consequences.
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Athens' Republican Congressmen Hate the Supreme Court's Abortion Ruling
Pro-abortion rights protesters outside the Supreme Court.
Athens is represented in Congress by two Republicans who also happen to be Baptist ministers, so it’s no surprise that they’re extremely unhappy with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, striking down Texas restrictions on abortion clinics that would have closed most of the clinics in the state.
Here’s Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville) on the 5-3 decision:
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Athens Power Rankings for the Week of June 27
Welcome to Athens Power Rankings. In the spirit of sports rating systems, through painstaking analysis, we rank the top movers and shakers in the Classic City each week. Who's hot? Who's not? Find out below.
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones
Mothers accepts an award at last week's Flagpole Athens Music Awards show.
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Oconee Commission Approves Move for Mercedes-Benz of Athens
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone property for an Athens Mercedes-Benz dealership that wants to move, based in part on an economic development document that wasn’t made available to the public.
Three weeks after the Oconee County Planning Commission voted against a proposed rezone on Highway 316 for auto dealerships, county Economic Development Director J.R. Charles sent members of the Board of Commissioners an “Economic Impact Analysis” that said the project would benefit the county.
Charles also sent the report to Jon Williams, president of Williams and Associates, who was representing those asking for the rezone, saying “Thought you would like to have it in your back pocket if you have to speak at the Commission meeting.”
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