Blog Topic: Great Job

Culture Briefs: Avid Is Opening a Second Bookshop in Five Points

By Blake Aued | September 12, 2016 12:25pm

Photo Credit: Blake Aued/file

Avid Bookshop owner Janet Geddis

Independent bookstore Avid Bookshop—which celebrates its fifth anniversary next month—is opening a second location in Five Points, in addition to its Prince Avenue store.

The new store, at 1662 S. Lumpkin St., will open this fall. Owner Janet Geddis reports:

Read More...
Culture Briefs: Bulldogs Cleaned Up at the 2016 Summer Olympics

By Kat Khoury | August 22, 2016 12:08pm

Photo Credit: screencap via NBC

Shaunae Miller dives over the finish line.

Between swimmer Gunnar Bentz’s involvement in LochteGate, sprinter Shaunae Miller’sfamous dive and UGA athletes winning more medals than most countries, it was a memorable Olympics for the Bulldawg Nation.

Current and former University of Georgia athletes brought home 10 medals: five gold, two silver and two bronze, contributing six to the U.S.’s world-leading overall medal count of 121, two for Canada and one for the Bahamas.

Read More...
In the Loop: Land Trust Wins Grant for Young Urban Farmers

By Blake Aued | July 29, 2016 12:42pm

Photo Credit: Athens Land Trust

Young Urban Farmer Dontae Meadows.

The Athens Land Trust will continue its Young Urban Farmers program for at least another year after winning a $48,000 grant , in partnership with the Oconee River Soil and Water Conservation Board, from the National Association of Conservation Districts.

Read More...
Culture Briefs: The A.V. Club Praises Flagpole Artist Lee Gatlin's Superhero Comics

By Gabe Vodicka | July 28, 2016 11:58am

The A.V. Club recently published an article titled "The Best Comics of 2016 So Far," and it's a handy guide to some of the year's finest work, from graphic novels to web comics. Included on the list is former Athenian Lee Gatlin, a frequent Flagpole illustrator whose excellent Gang Agley series appears in our weekly print edition and online.

Read More...
Culture Briefs: CCRG Upset the Tallahassee RollerGirls Saturday

By David Eduardo | July 19, 2016 10:50am

Photo Credit: David Eduardo

What transpired Saturday night at Akins Arena inside the Classic Center was, without hyperbole, the most thrilling display of grit and athleticism in the decade-long history of women’s flat track roller derby in Athens. The largest regular-season crowd in recent memory held its collective breath for two 30-minute halves as the visiting team from Tallahassee and our hometown Classic City Rollergirls battled with every ounce of their being in a slugfest for the ages.

Read More...
In the Loop: ACCPD Chief: No Tolerance for Violent, Racist Officers

By Blake Aued | July 13, 2016 4:19pm

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman.

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman will fire and arrest any officer who violates a citizen’s civil rights, he said at a community forum on racial issues Tuesday night at the ACC Library.

“If you do your job, I will back you up to the hilt, even if it costs me my career,” Freeman said he tells his officers. “If you violate somebody’s constitutional rights, I will fight the GBI to be the first one to put handcuffs on you.”

Freeman defended an officer who shot an armed suspect earlier this year. He also fired and pressed charges against another officer, Jonathan Fraser, who beat up a drunken UGA studentlast August.

Freeman said he wants the right to more easily fire officers like Fraser. “He should have been fired years prior to that taking place,” he said.

Read More...
In the Loop: Athens for Everyone Celebrates Second Anniversary

By Blake Aued | July 11, 2016 1:40pm

Photo Credit: Blake Aued

Athens for Everyone rallies for a living wage for ACC employees in May.

Tim Denson admits that at times he wasn’t sure Athens for Everyone would last two months when he and supporters formed the organization following his 2014 run for mayor.

But two years later, A4E is still going strong. The group celebrated its second anniversary Friday with an open house at its new office in the Chase Park warehouses.

“It’s two years later,” he said. “We’re growing and growing and growing. We’re getting bigger and better.”

Read More...
In the Loop: Hundreds Gather for Athens Black Lives Matter Rally

By Blake Aued | July 11, 2016 11:14am

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Several hundred people gathered outside Athens City Hall on a sweltering Sunday afternoon for a Black Lives Matter rally in the wake of two more African Americans dying at the hands of police and the revenge shootings of a dozen police officers in Dallas.

Speakers urged respect, both for African Americans and for police.

“All the people who want the violence and killing to stop, we need to come together, because we don’t want this to happen in our community,” said Mokah Jasmine Johnson, a teacher and hip hop promoter who organized the rally, as well as one against discrimination at downtown businesses in January.

Read More...
In the Loop: UGA, Athens Transit Win Grants for Electric Buses

By Blake Aued | June 22, 2016 1:28pm

Photo Credit: courtesy of UGA

An electric bus demonstration on the UGA campus.

Athens Transit and UGA Transit will receive funding for 29 new electric buses, replacing one-third of the diesel buses in those fleets, Gov. Nathan Deal announced today.

Deal announced the 11 winners of a combined $75 million in grants under the GO! Transit Capital Program.

Read More...
In the Loop: Creature Comforts Raised $65,000 for Local Nonprofits

By Blake Aued | June 13, 2016 3:48pm

Creature Comforts’ “Get Comfortable” campaign raised more than $65,000 for local nonprofits, the brewery announced last week.

Read More...