Harold Update

Everybody’s favorite saxophone-playing CPA Harold Williams has returned to Shepherd Center in Atlanta to get himself built back up after losing 40 pounds as a result of a kidney infection. While he was sick with the infection, Harold missed a lot of physical therapy, so the conclusion was that he should go back to Shepherd and get a fresh start. Just in case you don’t know by now, last fall Harold had a freak accident in his office that broke his neck and paralyzed him. After several months at Shepherd, during which he made friends with all the staff and all the other patients, Harold came home just before Christmas. Through all this trauma, he has remained his caring, wisecracking, upbeat self, just as he was on the telephone the day before he went back to Shepherd. It is perhaps appropriate that you are reading this right at the income-tax deadline, for that’s the time (except for us procrastinators) when everybody turned to Harold for help. Of course, as we have all learned over the years, his firm, Williams and Guined, has a super staff of highly capable folks who have taken up the slack caused by Harold’s injury. Here’s hoping it won’t be long before Harold can at least put in some time enjoying visiting with clients at W&G, while other people do the work.

Meanwhile, friends of Harold Williams are holding a golf tournament May 5 at the UGA course to raise money to help buy Harold a van, so he can get around. You can sign up by calling Charlie Maddox at 706-340-4321 before Apr. 25.

You know how much Harold enjoys hearing from you. So, send him a card: Harold Williams, Room #418, Shepherd Center, 2020 Peachtree Rd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30309-1465.

That’s OK!

Do yourself a favor, and go see Town & Gown Players’ Oklahoma! during its final run Thursday through Sunday this week. You’ve heard the music all your life, and it’s just pure pleasure to sit back and watch it sung and played and danced right in front of you by real, live singing and dancing actors, accompanied by a tight, peppy band right there on the stage. The plot is ridiculous, but who cares? It’s just a loose framework for the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, which are practically non-stop, and almost every one of them imbedded in your musical DNA.

A lot of people still don’t realize that going to the theater here is just like going to the clubs, except that you can sit down. You can wear whatever you want, and you can go to the theater and still be out before the bands start playing: double your pleasure, double your fun. Just call 706-208 TOWN for a good time, or go to townandgownplayers.org.

That’s Art!

Do yourself another favor, while you’re at it. Be sure to drop by Ciné and enjoy the magnificent joint exhibition (first-ever!) by Claire and Bob Clements. Don’t be late for a movie, because Bob’s paintings of fields and Claire’s cut-paper paintings of flowers will stop you in your tracks. This small but exquisite exhibit by the talented and prolific couple (see Bob’s new sculpture at the ACC Library and his paintings in the Lyndon House show) is up through May 6.

A Victory for Ethics 

You have no doubt heard by now that a Fulton County jury found that the former director of the state ethics commission was forced out of her job because she tried to subpoena Gov. Nathan Deal’s campaign finance records. In a stunning verdict, the jury awarded Stacey Kalberman $700,000 plus attorney’s fees and court costs, while finding that the governor’s office was directly involved in having her fired to stop the ethics investigation. This kind of piercing the veil of backroom politics almost never happens in Georgia, and this case has a direct tie to Athens. The law firm that took on this whistleblower case is headed by Grady Thrasher IV, son of retired Atlanta lawyer Grady Thrasher III, who grew up in Athens and came back here after retirement to become—along with his wife, Kathy Prescott—a canny activist for good causes. Like father, like son.