Another November Cometh: The here-before-you-know-it 2010 elections feel a little more real after last week’s campaign contribution disclosure deadline. For example, state Senator Ralph Hudgens has actually raised $80,000 toward his run for Insurance Commissioner, meaning he must be reasonably serious about statewide office, though City Dope has wondered if Hudgens wouldn’t do better to just sit comfy in the Senate.

And Athens’ own Brian Kemp, a former state senator, has raised more than a quarter-million for his Secretary of State candidacy, putting him at the head of the pack if not by much. Perhaps more important, Capitol Impact’s Tom Crawford reports that Kemp released a list of endorsements that includes the support of 31 of the 34 sitting Senate Republicans and a majority of House Republicans. So Brian must mean business too.

The fun stuff last week, though, was on the Democratic side, where Crawford was led to call former Gov. Roy Barnes a “mystery man.” After keeping everybody wondering for so long about whether he’d run again for guv in ’10, Barnes has now turned in a financial report listing no contributions raised prior to June 30. Since he doesn’t have to file another report until January, Barnes can now raise money through the end of the year before he has to report any of it, so we’ll have to wait a while to see how just much a Georgia Democrat can raise in a bad economy.

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Mark Your Calendars: Here comes word that the group Organizing for America-Athens has scheduled a town hall meeting on health care reform for the evening of Wednesday, July 29 from 6–9 p.m. at Ciné. Organizing for America is an extension of the Obama campaign’s grassroots organizing network, and it looks like a great way to keep citizens involved in things like the push for health care reform. That said, City Dope (along with the organizers) sincerely hopes this event will attract folks with a range of views—we all agree that the system needs fixing, right?—in order for it to be a true “town hall” event that helps build the demand for some kind of reform. And, the public will be invited to participate “by telling personal stories about their struggles with our current health care system,” according to organizers. The event is free, but visit http://ofarsvp.us to reserve a seat.

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Just So We’re Clear: Plans for a new downtown parking deck that will surround the Georgia Theatre won’t be affected by the theater fire, county manager Alan Reddish told commissioners at last week’s voting meeting. “We intended to work around that property to begin with, and we’ll continue to do so,” he said. Whether the Theatre is rebuilt on the same site or replaced by something else, “we don’t see that impacting our design at all.” And Commissioner Kelly Girtz emphasized that—despite concerns expressed by “numerous” citizens—there are no plans for the county to buy the Theatre to expand the deck. “I’ve no intention of seeing that kind of momentum get going with this parking deck project,” Girtz said. [John Huie]

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A Safer Crossing: Here’s hoping the new light-up crosswalk signs on Prince Avenue will contribute towards improving safety there. In an encouraging (if anecdotal) report, ACC Planning staffer Lara Mathes reports seeing a man in a motorized wheelchair cross safely at the Grit under cover of the flashing lights in the first week they were installed—a good sign!

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Seen Around Town: In other “seen around town” reports filed in early July, City Dope couldn’t help but chuckle upon seeing a few folks standing beside downtown parking meters and digging in purses and pockets for that extra quarter now required, as of July 1, for an hour’s parking. A scene similar, in a way, was on Baxter Street, where a woman stood just outside the grounds of St. Mary’s hospital smoking a cigarette only days after St. Mary’s banned the use of tobacco products on its property. (And didn’t everyone think a hospital would have done that a long time ago? Either way, it’s good they did.)

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Note for August: August is right around the corner, and with it the usual mounds of perfectly useful household items sitting outside Dumpsters all over town. And while UGA has fortunately allowed Goodwill to park semi trailers outside of its dorms at move-in and move-out time for a few years now—saving literally tons of stuff from the landfill—the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Barber Street is taking things a step further by providing a pick-up service called “Don’t Dump It, Donate It.”

“As long as the location is within Clarke, Oconee, or Oglethorpe county, the ReStore will pick up items for free,” says Habitat’s Catherine Johnson. Sure, this helps the thrift store (though can they fit any more stuff in there?), but it helps save us all from our own growing landfills, too. The info is 706-208-1001 and www.athenshabitat.com.

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Dry, Dry Counties: Drought’s over, eh? Has the Governor seen this dope’s tomato plants lately? How about the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map? Okay, so it doesn’t say we’re in drought here, but it does list almost half the state as “abnormally dry,” with Athens-area counties in the heart of that zone. Sure looks like it here, too. And the North and Middle Oconee rivers are still running pretty dang low—lower than last year on the North Oconee in Athens as of this writing, just to take one example. The truth is, this summer will be the test of the state law preventing local authorities from enacting any watering restrictions that are more stringent than the state’s. One member of the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority told this writer recently that the group certainly would have at least considered somewhat stronger regs by now. And it’s only July. How will the Bear Creek Reservoir do this year?

Ben Emanuel

ben@flagpole.com