Blog Topic: Breaking News

In the Loop: Clarke County School Superintendent Nominee Demond Means Is 'All In' on Social Justice

By Blake Aued | April 4, 2017 11:31am

Photo Credit: Austin Steele

Means speaks at a public forum Monday night at Whitehead Road Elementary School.

Speaking to an audience of Athens parents, teachers and concerned citizens for the first time, Demond Means, the sole finalist for Clarke County school superintendent, described himself as someone who's committed to social justice, marginalized students and raising his family in Clarke County.

The board is expected to formally appoint Means today after a public forum Monday night.

Although Means has been superintendent of a smaller, largely white and affluent district in suburban Milwaukee for nine years, he was raised in inner-city Milwaukee and graduated from public schools there.

One of the reasons he felt drawn to Clarke County, he said, is the opportunity to help minority and low-income students. (CCSD is 79 percent minority, and more than 80 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches before a USDA grant made them free for everyone.)

"I firmly believe our most marginalized children deserve the most attention," he said. "Those children who don't have an advocate in the superintendent's office or other places are the ones who need us the most."

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In the Loop: CCSD Names Sole Finalist for Superintendent

By Blake Aued | April 3, 2017 11:45am

Photo Credit: screencap via YouTube

The Clarke County School District will introduce Demond Means as its sole finalist for CCSD superintendent at a public forum tonight, the district announced this morning.

Means, a Milwaukee native, has been the superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville school district in suburban Milwaukee since 2008. He also has experience as a high-school social studies teacher, assistant principal and associate principle, middle-school principal and human resources director, all in Wisconsin.

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In the Loop: CCSD Will Name Sole Superintendent Finalist Monday

By Blake Aued | March 31, 2017 8:46pm

The Clarke County Board of Education will introduce its sole finalist for superintendent at a public forum Monday night, the district announced late Friday.

Naming a sole finalist is a reversal for the school board, which had previously said it would name three finalists and allow the public to question them before making a final decision.

Here's the news release from CCSD:

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In the Loop: CCSD Announces Location for Superintendent Candidate Forum

By Blake Aued | March 29, 2017 3:39pm

A forum Monday with the finalist(s) for Clarke County School District superintendent will be held at Whitehead Road Elementary, the district announced today.

Whitehead is in the northwest corner of the county, at least a 20-minute drive from the Eastside and not on a bus line. Why such an inconvenient location?

"Much of our community has not had the opportunity to visit Whitehead Road Elementary School, which is truly an incredible learning environment," CCSD spokeswoman Anisa Sullivan Jimenez said. "We hope individuals will come and see their tax dollars at work at this important community event."

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In the Loop: Georgia Senate Passes Campus Carry Bill

By Blake Aued | March 28, 2017 4:24pm

The Georgia Senate passed a slightly tweaked version of HB 280, the "campus carry" bill, this afternoon, setting up negotiations with the state House and Gov. Nathan Deal over the final version of the bill before the legislative session ends at midnight Thursday.

As with the past four efforts to push through campus-carry legislation, the bill would allow concealed-carry permit holders to bring their guns onto college campuses, with the exception of fraternity and sorority houses, dorms and athletic events.

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In the Loop: Video: Campus Carry Protest in Athens

By Joshua L. Jones | March 22, 2017 11:30am

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

UGA student Sage Hooten (left) and other protesters rally at the University of Georgia Arch in opposition to HB 280 on Mar. 21.

It's that time of year again: Pollen is filling our noses, spring is in the air, and the Georgia legislature is trying to pass another campus carry bill.

A group of over 200 students and other protesters gathered in front of the UGA Arch Tuesday afternoon, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, campus carry has got to go,” and holding signs.

Speakers included professors, students and survivors of the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

“The majority of UGA feels that this bill will make our campus less safe,” said student Mallory Harris, who organized the protest.

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In the Loop: UGA Holds Memorial for Baldwin Hall Remains

By Blake Aued | March 20, 2017 5:05pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Federal Judge Steve Jones, an Athens native and UGA graduate, speaks at the memorial service for dozens of people whose remains were moved from the Baldwin Hall construction site to Oconee Hill Cemetery.

The University of Georgia held a memorial service today for 105 people whose gravesites were found during construction on a Baldwin Hall expansion project and moved to nearby Oconee Hill Cemetery.

"From the moment the first remains were discovered in November of 2015, the university's guiding principle has been to treat these individuals with dignity and respect, and it is in that spirit that today's ceremony was developed," UGA President Jere Morehead said.

Most of the 30 remains that could be tested were of African ancestry—presumably slaves, given that the Jackson Street or Old Athens Cemetery where they were found closed in 1956—and some members of Athens' African-American community have been critical of the way UGA has handled the situation.

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In the Loop: Luxury Student Apartment Developer Opts Out of Downtown Tax

By Blake Aued | March 8, 2017 2:10pm

Photo Credit: Austin Steele/file

The Mark.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners criticized the developers of The Mark—the massive luxury student apartment complex under construction on Oconee Street—for being the only major development downtown to opt out of enlarged downtown boundaries the commission approved Tuesday.

The area covered by the Athens Downtown Development Authority was set in 1977, but since the downtown area has greatly expanded. The ADDA is seeking to expand its boundaries north of Dougherty Street and along Prince Avenue, North Avenue and Oconee Street.

The authority gave property owners the option of opting out of the district. Despite paying an additional one mill in property taxes ($1 per $2,500 of property value), only a handful elected not to be a part of the ADDA.

"Unfortunately, there were a couple of folks who elected not to be part of the boundaries, a couple of them I think rationally so—very small scale residential properties, one very small scale commercial property… but there’s one large property that’s not include, The Mark,” Commissioner Kelly Girtz said. “That’s a disappointment to me, and I certainly hope folks will recognize there are benefits of being in the ADDA district down the road.”

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In the Loop: Rep. Jody Hice Speaks to Rotarians, but No Plans for a Town Hall

By Rebecca McCarthy | March 6, 2017 4:43pm

Photo Credit: Rebecca McCarthy

Rep. Jody Hice (R-Monroe) at the downtown Holiday Inn for a private luncheon Monday.

Republican U.S. Representative Jody Hice was in Athens on Monday. Unless you were eating fried chicken, vegetables and salad in the Holiday Inn with the genial Classic City Rotary Club, you probably didn’t see him. And you’re not going to—at least not in a town hall meeting.

Open to the public, a town hall meeting is what many congressmen traditionally hold in their districts during a recess in Washington to find out the concerns of their many constituents. Hice may have a “coffee with the congressman” in other parts of the district with a small number of invited guests, or he may meet with Athens Republicans, but that’s about it in Athens-Clarke County.

Rotary club meetings are open only to members and guests of members. Outside the Holiday Inn and at the Arch on Monday, a few people gathered to protest Hice’s reluctance to hold a town meeting in Athens. The signs read, “Am I scary?” and “Be brave host Athens town hall” and “Where is Jody Hice.” With Donald Trump receiving 28 percent of the vote in our community, a public reception for a Republican representative would likely yield more questions that what Hice fielded from the Rotary Club.

There were a few questions at the Monday meeting—one member asked about Do Not Call and another asked about Fair Tax. Hice said he’s working on tax reform, which includes cutting corporate taxes, reducing tax forms to the size of a postage stamp and making the IRS a service-oriented agency. He said there’s no constitutional authority for the Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Department of Education to exist, and he wants the country to return to a “constitutional form of government.” He also said “some of these agencies have budgets the size of small countries’.”

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In the Loop: Four Drive-Bys and a Shooting Death Happened Over the Weekend

By Blake Aued | March 6, 2017 1:41pm

A woman's ex-husband shot and killed her boyfriend during a drunken argument on Linda Avenue Sunday night.

Tommy Lee Morris, 53, had been drinking at a nightclub and started to argue about the woman with Tony Curtis Foster Jr., 43, according to police. Morris went to his car, got what police described as an "assault-style rifle" and shot Foster several times. He then moved closer to the victim and shot him again while standing over him, police said.

Foster was dead when police arrived at about 10:30 p.m.

Shortly after, police found Morris hiding in the woods near the scene. He is being held at the Clarke County Jail on a charge of aggravated assault.

In addition, Athens-Clarke County police reported four drive-by shootings over the weekend:

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