Blog Topic: R.I.P.

In the Loop: ACC Police Ask for Help Solving Hit-and-Run

By Blake Aued | September 26, 2016 4:54pm

Athens-Clarke County police are asking the public for information on the driver who hit and killed a pedestrian on the Loop Saturday.

Charles Sokol, a 22-year-old former University of Georgia student, was killed around 1:41 a.m. Saturday while walking along the inner Loop near the Commerce Road interchange. Sokol, 22, lived in the Bridgewater subdivision off nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Police said the vehicle that hit Sokol was last seen headed east on the Perimeter and may have exited at Danielsville Road. The vehicle's windshield and hood may have been damaged, and a side window was broken out.

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Homedrone: Updated With Memorial Plans: R.I.P. Athens Musician Curtis Vorda

By Gabe Vodicka | September 28, 2016 1:20pm

The sad news rolled in on social media yesterday that Curtis Vorda, an Athens musician known for his free spirit, virtuosic singing talent and work with bands like psych supergroup Dark Meatand prog-tinged rockers American Mannequins, passed away after suffering a brain aneurysm.

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In the Loop: Weekend Events: Black Lives Matter and Local Food Rallies, Terrapin's Hop Harvest

By Blake Aued | September 23, 2016 2:04pm

Photo Credit: Randy Schafer/file

A vigil for Eric Garner and Michael Brown, black men killed by police, December 2014 at the Arch.

The Athens NAACP and Athens for Everyone will have a vigil for the two latest black men shot and killed by police, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, tonight starting at 7 p.m. at the Arch.

An Oklahoma officer shot and killed Crutcher, who was unarmed and had his hands raised, after his car broke down in the middle of the road. Scott’s death sparked three days of protests and clashes with police in Charlotte.

Organizers will also be collected signatures on a petition in favor of a local civil rights committee.

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In the Loop: Cyclist Killed in Collision With Bus in East Athens

By Blake Aued | September 21, 2016 1:48pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

53-year-old Anthony Zackery was killed Tuesday night while riding his bike on Nelly B Avenue in East Athens when he collided with an Athens Transit bus.

According to Athens-Clarke County officials, Zackery was riding on the sidewalk at 8:05 p.m. when the bus activated its turn signal on and turned left onto Martin Circle. Zackery braked but fell off his bike into the street and was hit by one of the bus' tires. The driver stopped the bus, and the dispatcher called 911. Zackery was pronounced dead at the scene.

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In the Loop: Photo Gallery: Ashley Block Memorial Bike Ride

By Blake Aued and Matt Hardy | September 20, 2016 4:27pm

Photo Credit: Matt Hardy

Hundreds of Ashley Block's friends and other members of the local cycling community gathered Monday for a group ride one week after Block, a 25-year-old UGA graduate research assistant and triathlete from Minneapolis, was killed by an allegedly impaired and distracted driver on Athena Drive.

"It was an amazing turnout and symbol of love and support for Ashley and her family," says photographer Matt Hardy, who documented the group ride from Five Points through campus to the spot where Block was hit. See more of Hardy's photos below.

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In the Loop: One Cyclist Killed, Another Injured by Alleged DUI Driver

By Blake Aued | September 13, 2016 10:40am

A possibly impaired driver killed one cyclist and severely injured another on Athena Drive in northeastern Clarke County Monday evening, Tim Bryant of WGAU 1340 AM reported this morning.

Ashley Block, a 25-year-old University of Georgia PhD student from Minneapolis, has been indentified as the cyclist who was killed. The name of the injured cyclist has not been released. Bryant described him as "critically injured," and he was taken to Athens Regional Medical Center for treatment.

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In the Loop: Police: Few Leads in Downtown Athens Shooting

By Blake Aued | August 15, 2016 4:59pm

Athens-Clarke County police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the shooting death of an Athens resident downtown early Saturday morning, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.

Daniel Joseph Macias, 28, a Riverbend Parkway resident and Agua Linda server, was shot and killed behind the ACC Courthouse parking deck.

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Culture Briefs: Dawg Drawer and 'Mad' Founder Jack Davis Has Died

By Blake Aued | July 27, 2016 2:15pm

Renowned illustrator Jack Davis, a UGA graduate best known as a founder of the satirical Madmagazine, has died at age 91.

Born in 1924 in Atlanta, Davis attended UGA on the G.I. Bill and loved to draw Bulldog-related images throughout his career.

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In the Loop: R.I.P. Allen's Owner Billy Slaughter

By Blake Aued | July 2, 2016 6:08pm

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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In the Loop: ACC Tax Commissioner Mitch Schrader Has Died

By Blake Aued | May 31, 2016 10:48am

Clarke County Tax Commissioner Mitch Schrader died Sunday after a long illness, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. He was 54.

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