From You
Go Comix
originally published September 19, 2007
The comic strip “Life with Greedo” [Sept. 5] got me thinking: despite the skirmishes which occasionally flare up in the Letters section, one can only be encouraged by the Flagpole comix page and its commitment to local and emerging comic artists. Though the quality and craftsmanship of the individual strips fluctuate often (and drastically), please continue to threaten and delight your readers with these local upstarts. They monitor the weird radiation of Athens with the stalwart click of a Geiger counter.
Tofu Godzilla
originally published September 19, 2007
I am tired of the stereotyping we anthropomorphic soy products face. We are not all meek, mild and helpless. I myself can bench press 25,000 pounds and can destroy Tokyo.
Rails Not Roads
originally published September 19, 2007
The author uses a thoughtful analogy, but his solution to Atlanta’s traffic issue is short-sighted. ["Comment: Solutions for a Transit-Challenged Region," Sept. 5] In the short term, the lower class would be smacked by taxes and tolls, while the upper class will be unmoved. Traffic density would lighten, but would return to its original state within a couple of years. (In the short term, railways seem like an unreasonable expense, but we need to stop considering short-term solutions. Roads are not free. They cost money to build, patrol and maintain. The more you build, the more development occurs, and the more roads we need. The sooner we develop an effective rail system, the sooner development will start to happen around it. It may take 10 years before we have a proper return on the investment, but think of how much worse off we’ll be in 10 years if we don’t build it now!
Short-term solutions for traffic that would have long-term benefits, in my opinion, would be: First, reduce the number of exits on 285. It’s a bypass; there is no reason to have exits anywhere but at major highways (85, 400, 75 and 20). There should be no reason to encourage development along the bypass.
Second, on 75/85 through the city, redo the lane divisions. Two “express” lanes in the center in each direction, three regular lanes in each direction. The center lanes would have limited access to exits, and no return access to regular traffic lanes.
RE: Oil & Power
originally published September 19, 2007
Oil has supposedly been “running out” for decades. [“Oil & Power,” Letters, Sept. 12] This scare tactic is hogwash. The only thing we need is capitalism to ensure it is properly conserved and used according to its true value. Prices go up, people scale back. Simple. Things get too expensive, bam: alternative energy suddenly seems like a more viable alternative. You rely on government and politicians to make that happen and you’re really pissin’ in the wind…
Football Notes.1
originally published September 19, 2007
Great editorial, and it struck a resounding chord with me [Pub Notes, Sept. 5]. I have often wondered the same thing. As a UGA alumnus and a die-hard Dawg, I’ve seen us grow from a good, regional power to a top-10, nationally-recognized brand. And brand is the key word - sometimes I miss the days when there were more die-hards and less glory-hunters. Of course, being born in 1978, I can never remember a time when the Dawgs were poor for more than a season or two. I only have vague memories of Herschel, but since attending my first game in 1985 (my dad scalped the tickets, and we sat near some drunks that would shame most of today’s student population), Georgia has always at least been “in the mix” - with the exception of a few of the Goff years and one in the Donnan era.
My father (also a UGA alum), however, experienced much the same agony as you did - growing up in the ’50s and having to endure years of Tech torment from Yellow Jacket hangers-on. I think that’s what made the late ’60s and then the early ’80s so special to him and fans like him. He had suffered the humility of the ’50s (with the exception of ’59), and could finally gloat, much like 2002 was my time to finally brag.
Yet with that winning, as you point out, comes the added pressure. And if the Dawgs had taken a step back after 2002, it would be interesting to see where the program would be today. In a weird way, it might almost be fun for us true fans to see all the metro-area, come-lately Georgia fans hop off the bandwagon. That said, I don’t think I’d trade the pain of losing for even that. As long as we continue to win with class - which seems the standard under Mark Richt - I’ll take the obnoxious new fans as a tribute to our success.
Keep up the good work.
Football Notes.2
originally published September 19, 2007
Pete, I went to the game on Saturday for the first time in four or five years. During one of the TV timeouts, I looked around thinking about how different the stadium is since the days you and I were little boys who would do just about anything to see “our Bulldogs” play. How many of the fans would be here if we fell on a few years of hard times? I know times change and money makes the world go around, but it hurts to see all the ads in the stadium and to listen to the same over the PA system. I guess one day soon, I will let my tickets go and someone will be glad to get them. I wonder if they will ever think about how much the person who sat there for the previous 45 years loved “The Georgia Bulldogs.”
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