Legion Pool: A notice from the University of Georgia concerning an environmental impact report on Legion Pool was buried in the Athens Banner-Herald's legal ads Aug. 17 and unearthed by intrepid activists Grady Thrasher and Sara Baker. UGA is required to hold a public hearing on demolishing the pool if 100 people request one. Comments should be directed to James Dorsey at [email protected] and are due by Sept. 16.

As the Newsroom Turns: The Fulton County Daily Report published a lengthy and sympathetic piece Friday on Ed Stamper and Charles Russell, the two Red & Black board members who resigned in the wake of the student walkout two weeks ago. (Click on the link; it's worth reading in its entirety.) In it, the former Red & Black staffers talk about their love of journalism, defend their actions and lament that the press unfairly painted them as villains. They may have a point, considering that journalists love to chatter about our industry, but we're notoriously bad at covering it.

Stamper is the author of the now-infamous memo that, in part, instructed students to publish more photos of Bid Day and stop making fun of Greeks. Perhaps he doesn't know that the Banner-Herald has the market cornered on pictures of sorority girls. Seriously, though, while it's true that a newspaper ought not alienate a quarter of its potential readership, that's not necessarily a reason to wrest control away from students. Given that one recent editor was fired for being drunk in the Sanford Stadium president's box, and the current one left her post on deadline, perhaps what the board needs, rather than a professional director to assert editorial control, is simply to hire better student editors. Russell alludes to that point in the Daily Report article, telling writer Katheryn Hayes Tucker (a Red & Black alum and former board member) that he quit the board because he disagreed with the decision to bring back top editors Polina Marinova and Julia Carpenter.

The article paints a far more bleak picture of The Red & Black's finances than tax returns available online. It is struggling with the same issues many publications are dealing with: Readership fell to 7 percent of the freshman class last year, advertising revenue plummeted due to the ill-advised decision to scale back the print edition to one day a week, and an expected spike in web traffic never materialized. The paper expects to lose money this year for the first time, and publisher Harry Montevideo's salary, the cause of many a raised eyebrow, was cut to $90,000 (see his online comment on last week's Pub Notes).

"The issues aren't going away," Montevideo told Flagpole, although he declined to address how the organization might deal with them going forward.

In the end, no one came out of this episode smelling like roses. The student staff did an admirable thing by standing up for their journalistic principles, albeit by making a move that would never fly in the real world. But given a chance to prove they deserve editorial control by putting out a compelling issue last Thursday, they devoted almost the entire A section to self-aggrandizing accounts of standing up to The Man. They'll all need Tommy John surgery from patting themselves on the back so much.

The front page featured a column signed by Marinova and Carpenter, who led the walkout. "We're done making the news," they wrote, without a hint of irony. "Now, we're back to reporting it." Inside was a one-sided news article and two more columns, one filled with overwrought war metaphors. (For the record: No, quitting your job is not comparable to invading Normandy. You may have wanted to run that one past your editorial advisor.) Only two short news stories covered other topics—a months-old UGA study on cats and downtown parking meters that collect money for the homeless that have been there for eight years. Way to be timely, guys. Oh, yeah, but as columnist Lindsey Cook insists, it's the older generations who don't get it. Congratulations, you can tweet. What do you want, a medal?

Unfortunately, this story ends in a cliffhanger. Who will take the fall? (My guess is advisor Ed Morales, a solid journalist whose sin was to kick off these festivities by showing Marinova the memo.) Will the board revisit the Stamper Plan once this all blows over? And will the Grady School of Journalism make a play for the paper should it falter? Stay tuned.

A Public Service Announcement: Faster than a speeding late-night bus. More powerful than Gwen O'Looney. Able to leap tall Walmarts in a single bound. It's Supermayor!

Nancy Denson donned a cape last week when Action Ministries, the nonprofit that runs the Oconee Street soup kitchen, named her an honorary "action hero" at a ceremony to promote its Action Dash, a 5K run/walk to raise money to feed, house and educate the needy. The race starts at 8 a.m. at the Tate Student Center on Monday, Labor Day. For more information, visit www.actiondash.org.