Candid Camera
Light Up, Loiterers!

Last week's 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. smoking ban in restaurants and bars divided the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission, which only narrowly defeated a more stringent 24-hour ban. Half the commissioners and the mayor supported the compromise, which allows smoking at outdoor tables and does not ban smoking near doorways, as earlier options had proposed. While not welcoming the ordinance, some club owners say they can live with it.

Dozens of citizens lined up for over two hours to offer views on smoking and other subjects, including downtown surveillance cameras (which got the go-ahead) and area transportation plans. Local doctors and health advocates countered downtown bar owners with now-familiar arguments of protecting the public health versus freedom of choice.

Most commissioners favored a ban, but several argued against. "This is something the market can easily decide," said Commissioner David Lynn. "People can make decisions for themselves," agreed Commissioner Harry Sims. And Commissioner George Maxwell said he would "have to agree" with those who say commissioners are "anti-business."

But Commissioner States McCarter said he's heard from more people about a smoking ban than he did even about rental registration, and that most citizens "want a ban."

Commissioner Kathy Hoard said her calls from citizens were running "50-50" and that many "do not want government to protect them from themselves." Hoard supported a limited ban, and said she believes a total ban will someday pass not only locally, but nationally.

Commissioner Carl Jordan said bar owners' concerns about losing business are "unsubstantiated by experience" in places where bans have been passed.

Arguing for an all-hours ban that would include sidewalk tables, Commissioner John Barrow predicted that the partial ban - the one that passed - would drive smokers to the sidewalk cafes, and hurt businesses that don't have them. He said "a number of restaurateurs" were asking for a ban "across the board." On the vote, five commissioners supported a total ban (Barrow, Jordan, McCarter, Carter, Chasteen), and five opposed (Lynn, Kilpatrick, Hoard, Sims, Maxwell). Mayor Heidi Davison, who chairs commission meetings but can vote only to decide a tie, voted "no." On the next motion - for a limited ban - the "yes" and "no" votes all switched. Again the mayor broke the tie, "yes" this time. The ordinance, as soon as it is signed by the mayor, requires bar and restaurant owners to post signs and remove ashtrays at appropriate times, but does not require them to enforce the law on their customers.

Commissioner Kilpatrick says she expects the law to be enforced by the pressure from other customers - but if that fails, "I guess someone would have to call the police." The ordinance calls for a $50 fine for first violations, and ACC Assistant Police Chief Mark Wallace says that if an officer is called, he or she will probably issue a citation to appear in court.

Mary Long, who co-owns Five Star Day Café and Speakeasy restaurants says she is "pleased that there was at least some compromise reached."

Five Star Day is already smoke-free, she says, except at outdoor tables, while Speakeasy has a smoking section that "keeps getting smaller and smaller." An all-out smoking ban, she thinks, would have hurt her restaurants, but the before-11 p.m. ban could help business at Speakeasy by bringing out more families in early evening.

Chris Springfield, co-owner of the Winery and Firehouse bars, expects to "see an impact during happy hour" on his business. He thinks places with large patio areas will benefit from the ordinance, but he is pleased that the ordinance is "not nearly as severe" as it might have been. As for enforcement, he says, "I would not be surprised if the ordinance is often ignored" by customers.

Commissioners also passed a revised loitering ordinance, despite complaints from two public defenders that the ordinance is vague and will allow police too much discretion. It permits police to arrest anyone they consider to be blocking a sidewalk, after first warning the person to move along. And commissioners agreed to let police to set up video cameras at 15 downtown locations to allow monitoring of downtown streets from a central location, and to provide videotaped evidence in case of incidents. Some commissioners feared (and the county attorney confirmed) that any videotapes made by the police could be viewed or copied by citizens or media organizations under Georgia's open records act, but commissioners placed no specific limitations on how long such recordings will be kept.

Police Maj. Alan Brown says the cameras will be able to aim and zoom by remote control. Most late-night crowds "are not causing problems," he says, but trouble is started by a few instigators. Often these are people who are being sought by police already, Brown says, and in the past when Athens police have trained cameras on crowds, a few people quickly left. He believes that surveillance cameras could discourage such people.

And despite appeals from BikeAthens to withhold approval from the long-term transportation plan because it "does little" for alternative transportation, commissioners approved it 7-3 (with Commissioners Barrow, Jordan, and Lynn opposing). BikeAthens chair Paul Quick told commissioners the transportation plan, heavy with proposed road projects, will "thwart Athens' comprehensive land-use plan" and "guarantee increased reliance on cars, and increase pollution." Commissioner Carl Jordan criticized the plan for supporting a "dispersed" rather than a "compact" vision of future growth, and agreed it doesn't square with the county's future land-use plan. Planning Director Brad Griffin acknowledged the "real interest that we've heard" from the public in "pure bike and pedestrian projects," but he told commissioners that widening some roads slightly while adding bike lanes is "the only way that we have" to get funds for such projects. He also said the transportation plan is designed to extend to 2030, 15 years longer than the county's land-use plan.

Commissioners Lynn and Barrow criticized the plan's proposal for a new 2.6-mile connecting road between Commerce Road (near Sandy Creek Park) and Danielsville Road (near Athens Tech), saying it would promote sprawl and looks like a first step toward resurrecting the "East-West Connector" (a longer road that was removed from consideration several years ago).

Commissioner McCarter urged rejecting both "no-growth" and "free-growth" attitudes in favor of "planned growth."

"Not all of us could live in downtown Athens," he said, adding that commissioners shouldn't reject the idea that "maybe we need some roads somewhere." Commissioner Jordan approved the proposed road, saying it is "a direction in which we should grow."

Commissioners approved new water-conservation rules to be applied during droughts. The rules formalize six possible levels of increasing water restrictions, depending on the seriousness of the drought. Measures run from a ban on outdoor watering on alternate days to a total ban, and the rules formalize priorities so that when water is scarce, fire and medical users come first, commercial and industrial users last, and home users in between. Watering exceptions are made for newly planted lawns, food gardens and some other uses.

John Huie
John Huie covered the commission meeting until approximately 1:45 a.m.

Summer Spree
Giving Something Back

"What goes 'round comes 'round." This well-known saying includes not only the bad and ugly, but the good which comes back around again, as well.

On June 30, youth from the Nellie B. neighborhood and other areas in Athens worked hard to give good service back to their community.

After a month of attending Camp Summer Spree at the home of David and Becky Lockman, these 33 children and teens cleaned up the entire grounds around Clarke Central High School campus as part of a community service day. Over a dozen large sacks of garbage and recyclables were collected in one afternoon, in spite of the intense humidity and threatening rain clouds.

Milton Carter, group leader and camp volunteer, praised his group saying, "Cleaning up didn't seem too fun at first, but these campers sure worked hard once they got started!" The kids, having participated in fun camp activities with the help of volunteers, were now learning how to be community volunteers themselves.

Laura Nehf, camp and CCHS volunteer, was impressed as she loaded up all the work gloves and unused bags to return to the Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful office. She described the importance of having the workers stay in smaller groups with a group leader to talk to the campers as they work together. Nehf noted, "It takes positive energy to work with these kids. Some of them have experienced a great deal of hurt in their lives. It's important to connect with them."

JoAnn Kolbus, another volunteer at Camp Summer Spree, echoed this view as she explained how University of Georgia students were so important to this camp, working in small groups with children who needed to connect with a caring adult.

"We've had UGA students and professors from the School of Social Work, history, psychology, recreation and leisure studies, elementary and early childhood education, the college of education and others who have been a big help at Camp Summer Spree."

When asked how these volunteers were recruited, Kolbus responded, "Some of it is word of mouth, but an important tool is a UGA website for recruiting interns. It allows you to post internships/ experiential learning opportunities at no cost to your organization. More adults helping at Camp Summer Spree would make a big difference in having more one-on-one connections with these children, so it's great to have UGA students learn about us."

(The database, which is free of charge, is called "Experience Georgia" and is provided through the UGA Career Center at http://career.cpp.uga.edu/ccweb/employers/recruitinginterns.html )

Becky Lockman emphasized that the only way Camp Summer Spree succeeded was due to the widespread support of volunteers, businesses and organizations in the Athens and Watkinsville areas. "Many of the snacks and meals for our campers were directly donated from restaurants, stores and pizza places in both Clarke and Oconee counties. Sewing machines for the sewing classes were loaned or donated. Art teachers and artists who teach the art classes often bring their own supplies. Some of the canoes for the lake were donated. And, since many of the campers don't own swimsuits, we provide swimsuits and towels here. These must be laundered, dried and folded daily by our "laundry volunteers" after camp each day. Also, younger students from nearby schools such as Clarke Middle School as well as CCHS work here as volunteers."

Lockman went on to say how she and her husband were able to provide the 10 acres of land with a lake and a swimming pool for a summer day camp, but they could not have handled all the expenses without the generous funds donated by such places as St. Gregory The Great Episcopal Church, Episcopal Charities, a private family and many others.

"We are now a nonprofit organization, so these donations are tax deductible, but this was not the case when we started the camp last year," she explained.

Kolbus pointed out how many people in the Athens and Watkinsville area clearly want to help organizations such as Camp Summer Spree, but just need to see someone take the initiative and provide the structure.

When asked if they would all put up their feet and relax after July 2, the last day of camp, Lockman, Kolbus and Carter laughed. "Maybe for a little while," Lockman responded, "Then we've got to start planning for Camp Summer Spree 2005. We would like to actually be able to pay our interns and counselors-in-training next year. Writing for bigger grants for next summer is going to take a lot of time. We need to get going on that shortly after camp closes for this summer of 2004." (For more information about Camp Summer Spree, call 769-9614 or email RLL30677@yahoo.com)

Liz Conroy
Liz Conroy is a local environmentalist and freelance writer.

Animal Control
This Week's Scorecard

Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 52 calls.

1 complaint of animal cruelty
1 reported bite case
3 citations for ordinance violations

43 animals impounded
33 dogs
5 cats
1 horse
4 quail

16 dogs placed
6 adopted
7 reclaimed
3 turned over to other agencies

ACC Animal Control press release for the week of July 1 to July 7.