Houses & Trees?
A Novel Development

Athens developer Denny Hill has become the darling of some environmentalists with his Oak Grove development just outside Athens on Jefferson Road by building with the existing land contours and retaining many trees. Each home is different in size and style, and they are built in clusters and around common areas rather than square to the street on identical lots.
Twenty acres of open pasture has been permanently preserved between the homes and the highway. The homes sell from $200,000 to $500,000. National Public Radio did a recent "Morning Edition" story on the development, and Hill told Flagpole it has generated a lot of interest outside Athens.
Oak Grove has been a longtime dream of Hill and his son Ashley, who have been planning it since 1998. Ashley Hill said historic homes are "fabulous places to visit and to live," but expensive to heat and maintain. "Why not build old houses new?" he asked, with high ceilings, porches and the better features of many older homes. He said the homes are selling well. Denny Hill said it costs an average of $10,000 extra per home to build with the land contours (and preserve trees) because grading must be done separately for each house, and they must be built on raised foundations instead of flat concrete slabs, to keep rainwater out. Hill has built 1100 single-family homes in the Athens area since 1970, he said.
He also thinks the community could have more affordable houses "if we would all just work together and the government would get out of the way." Zoning, he believes, "is about keeping the poor people out."
Despite its positive features, Hill's Jefferson Road proposal was criticized back in 2000 as being "the right thing in the wrong place," as Commissioner John Barrow put it. ACC Commissioners granted the rezone despite opposition from some citizens including Athens Grow Green Coalition. The Planning Commission recommended denial, as did a Planning Department report saying the property should remain rural. It was originally zoned Agricultural/ Residential and lies within the county's mostly undeveloped "greenbelt."

John Huie

John Huie lives near the greenbelt.

Build Smart
ACC Can Take The Lead

At a recent commission work session, ACC Environmental Coordinator Dick Field suggested the county should subscribe to a national rating system for designing energy-efficient county buildings. He recommended that Athens follow Atlanta's lead in requiring all new county-owned buildings to meet minimum LEEDs (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) standards.
Actually, Field told commissioners, the county is already designing energy-efficient buildings - this would just formalize the process. The ENSAT building at Sandy Creek Nature Center was the county's first design; and the planned East Athens Dance Studio and two police substations are being designed to LEEDs standards. Also, Field said, all the sales-tax projects currently being proposed include energy-efficient features in their cost estimates.
Commissioner Kathy Hoard said she thought ACC buildings "should be state of the art," but Commissioner Tom Chasteen worried it would cost "a lot of money." The US Green Building Council, which sponsors LEEDs, estimates the added costs of a building to run anywhere from zero to 10 percent. However, operating costs are reduced.
Wayne Andrews, who designs heating and air conditioning systems locally for Stanfield Air Systems, says higher natural gas prices are driving many customers to be interested in more efficient heating and cooling systems. For most residences, he tells Flagpole, a "dual fuel" system - an outdoor heat pump with gas heat - as a backup for colder weather is a money-saver. But he cautions against dealers who install machines without doing a "heat load analysis" that involves measuring door and window areas to properly size the units. He also says keeping thermostats set to a moderate temperature saves a lot of energy. Even at 80 degrees a home can be comfortable, he says, "if you can get the humidity down. "That can be done, he says, by sizing a heat pump so that the inside fan runs slower, allowing the unit to "supercool." He adds that better home contractors are now building six-inch thick walls which permit thicker insulation. Even high-value foam insulation can be used, he says, permitting smaller units to heat and cool a building.
Andrews says he has not seen evidence in Athens of "sick building" syndrome, which has been a problem in some office buildings - mostly due to inadequate circulation or moisture. He says most older buildings are "leaky" enough to allow enough fresh air to come in, and ACC building codes now require fresh air to be circulated from outside.
The ENSAT building at Sandy Creek Nature Center was designed with various energy-saving features, and costs almost a third less to operate than a standard design would, according to facilities manager Randy Smith. In addition to using recycled materials in wall insulation and in flooring, the building is designed and located to make good use of the sun's light and heat. "Light shelves" that extend almost unnoticed from windows, reflect light into the building and also limit the sun's heat in the summer. The building is cooled partly by a "ground source heat pump" which pumps fluid through pipes deep underground to cool the fluid, which then cools the building. It's "real inexpensive" compared to standard air conditioning, Smith says.
The building staff also tries to keep thermostat settings moderate - around 70 degrees in winter, 77 in summer - but most people "are not used to running buildings in any way that's efficient," Smith said, and groups that hold meetings in the building sometimes complain that it's too hot. He thinks installing ceiling fans would help. "They're real inexpensive compared to running an air conditioner."
Automatic switches turn on the lights in each room at ENSAT when someone enters it, and off again after they leave. Smith estimates savings of about $500 per month on utility bills.
There's "nothing exotic" in the building, he says, just standard construction materials, using designs that any business or home could use "to see results." It was designed with expertise from the Rocky Mountain Institute and Atlanta's Southface Institute, and local builders Smith Wilson and Steve Johnson. People have come from all over Georgia to see the building, he says. He would like to install a solar water heater next.

John Huie

John Huie writes under a ceiling fan.

Athens On Atkins
Has The Craze Hurt?

The Atkins Diet and other low-carb, high-protein diets of the same vein are devious little buggers, dietary asteroids still too close to call. Their emergence into the media and public spotlight in the form of steak-plate smiles and water cooler success stories has generated as much criticism as praise, and caused a bitter nutritional furor largely unseen since the low-fat craze of the 1990s.
Nutritionists have debated the effects, businessmen have gambled on their longevity and fed-up dieters (32 million according to Harris Interactive) have embraced their immediate results and do-little, eat-anything mentality. Every upside, however, has its downside. The food industries that produce the untouchables for Atkinsers – pasta, breads, fruits and vegetables, juices – have been hit hard by the craze, citing it as the cause for lower sales and even bankruptcy.
The Atkins brand, though, has done well, with 150 products on the market, ranging from bread to pudding. (Atkins Nutritional Inc. is privately held, and sales figures are not made public.)
Local businesses, such as bakeries, brewers, juice makers, and caterers, interestingly, have remained largely unaffected. Whereas large corporations like Sara Lee and Subway have introduced new products or revised old items – new breads, low-carb tortillas – Athens businesses have noticed little relative change in business and sales. The popularity of the diets is visible, but a strain equal to that on the national level has not been felt.
Several local restaurants – including Big City Bread, DePalma's Italian Café, Copper Creek Brewing Company and Porterhouse Grill, among others – have yet to be dealt the dieting diner's hand, good or bad. Instead of revamping their menus, they simply fulfill requests, and have found the trend diets more accommodating than intimidating.
Sandwiches are served on whole grain bread or without it. Tomatoes are excluded from salads. Ice cream has its low-carb cousins. Mashed potatoes can be replaced with vegetables.
The businesses surveyed for this article owe much of this to what they consider a loyal and faithful clientele. Most of their customers, in the businesses' opinion, practice a moderate diet, which they consider more beneficial and safer than drastically reducing or eliminating a long-thought-necessary food group. When they dine at a restaurant, they are treating themselves to something special, says Bryan Cook, manager of DePalma's. Besides, he adds, very few people are "100 percent on the diet."
Chris Reed, owner of Black Forest Bakery, and Jim Payne, owner of Big City Bread, both read about the coming diet doom in bakery industry trade publications. Whatever worries they had soon subsided.
"We've had customers that came in and who have cut back," says Reed. "They get two of this, two of that. Now they get one." Bread sales have been doing so well ("better than ever actually"), Reed plans on serving lunch soon.
Payne says that Big City Bread's sales have been unaffected, and that his wholesale business sales to 24 outlets throughout Athens have not changed.
Local brewers do not plan on formulating low-carb beers like Michelob Ultra or Rock Green Light, because they do not feel that is their market.
"Most of our clientele looks for high-quality, premium beer," says Brian Connerat, manager of Copper Creek Brewing Company. Besides Samuel Adams Light, they do not even carry light beers, as it is not in the style of a brewpub, nor is it the demand of their patrons.
John Cochran, co-owner of Terrapin Beer Co., agrees and says has no interest in a light beer.
Scott Hodnett, owner of Righteous Juice Company, says 2004 has been the busiest year in his 10 in the business. He has plans to expand and has picked up new accounts, and has fielded only one question regarding the Atkins-friendliness of his juices. People complain when they cannot find his product, he says. Hodnett saw the national impact of carb-controlled diets, yet felt confident in his customers and his product's nutritional value and quality.
"A pint of our orange juice has the nutrients of eight whole oranges. I don't see any way in the world how that is bad for you," he says.
Hodnett's perspective is shared by many of his fellow small business owners. Diets like Atkins and South Beach are not their market, and if customers are practicing them, they make allowances or have adjusted to fit it into their lives.
Ron Schwartz, owner of Trump's Catering, (and himself on the Atkins Diet – he's lost 36 pounds since June) feels that it is only a matter of time before caterers (his business included) make low-carb options available. He reminds, however, that when people plan an event feeding 100, they rarely think low-carb.
Sham Gad, marketing director of Earth Fare, feels that "no business can afford to ignore [low-carb diets]," and Earth Fare carries low-carb products along with a variety of others. He has seen definite indications that the craze is catching on: meat sales have spiked tremendously company-wide (Earth Fare is based out of Asheville, NC); people inquire about the number of carbohydrates in daily-prepared foods; a high demand for a complimentary low-carb eating guide published by the company; and increased sales in low-carb products. Organic fruit and vegetable sales, however, have also spiked: a fact that compels Gad to believe that regardless of media hype, people are not turning their backs on traditional sources of nutrients and diets that include produce.
While the diets may be popular, they are not rampant. Many products were launched by large corporations that have the technology and incentive to cater to trends early on. Schwartz makes the point that even if 20 percent of a menu is dedicated to low-carb items, 80 percent is not. Chalk up most of the uproar to media speculation (guilty as charged).
Low-carb diets have perks. Diabetics, for example, have said they are accessible and useful. For many, the immediate results and variety of food choices are feasible and inspiring. There is, however, a data-slinging war among nutritionists and in the food industry over what works and what hurts. Fad, trend or reality has yet to be determined, as the jury is still out. Local businesses, however, know where they stand: on solid, well-informed ground.

Thomas Wheatley

Thomas Wheatley is a prize-winning local journalist who recently graduated from UGA.

Animal Control
This Week's Scorecard

Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 77 calls.
11 complaints of animal cruelty
3 bite cases
6 complaints of barking dogs
7 citations for ordinance violations
52 animals impounded
45 dogs
1 cat
1 barred owl
1 black rat snake
1 chicken
1 rabbit
2 raccoons
19 dogs placed
7 adopted
5 reclaimed
7 turned over to other agencies

ACC Animal Control press release for the week of May 13 to May 19.

The War Pimps
Pundits See The Light

A year and a half late and 30,000 lives short, supporters of the war in Iraq finally admit that they were wrong.
When I appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show recently, his bellicose bravado was MIA. We argued about Bush and war, but he studiously avoided talking about Iraq. The Fox News demagogue limited his attacks to my opposition to the war against Afghanistan. To his credit, O'Reilly, formerly a ferocious advocate of the Iraqi invasion, was one of the first media war promoters to concede that Iraq had never been a threat to the United States. "I was wrong," he told ABC in February. "I think every American should be very concerned" that weapons of mass destruction have not been found.
Over at The New York Times, two pro-war columnists who repeatedly parroted the Bush party line - arguing that Gulf War II was a noble experiment in Middle Eastern democracy, accusing opponents of appeasing Saddam and repeatedly ridiculing skeptics as knee-jerk pacifists who didn't care about the long-suffering Iraqis - have ordered up a heaping plate of crow. "We went into Iraq with what, in retrospect, seems like a childish fantasy," allows Republican war pimp David Brooks. "We were going to topple Saddam, establish democracy and hand the country back to grateful Iraqis. We expected to be universally admired when it was all over. For us to succeed in Iraq," he concludes now, "we have to lose [to the insurgency]."
"I supported the war and now I feel foolish," says CNN's Tucker Carlson.
Thomas Friedman, a 1949-style Cold War liberal who spilled tens of thousands of words pushing a war sold using lies, confesses that he projected good intent on a White House where idealism was in short supply: "I thought the Administration would have to do the right things in Iraq - from prewar planning and putting in enough troops to dismissing the Secretary of Defense for incompetence - because surely this was the most important thing for the president and the country. But I was wrong."
Back in August 2002, Newsweek hawk Fareed Zakaria argued: "Done right, an invasion would be the single best path to reform the Arab world. Were Saddam's totalitarian regime to be replaced by a state that respected human rights, enforced the rule of law and created a market economy, it could begin to transform that world." And if done right, tax cuts could have stimulated the economy.
But Bush hadn't done anything right when Zakaria wrote that. The Administration's brazenly dishonest and inept post-9/11 record - not the right's fictional knee-jerk "Bush-bashing" - is why half the country never trusted his blandishments about WMDs, the fictional Saddam-Osama link, or nation-building.
Ah, but the new and improved Zakaria finally gets it: "On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq, [Bush's] assumptions and policies have been wrong. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw."
We're supposed to be grateful that Zakaria and his fellow war pimps are - finally! - recognizing reality. At least they're better than Bush, who still thinks torture can convert the Iraqis to democracy: "I won't yield," he said May 13.
But these prominent pundits too have blood on their hands. Had they stood firmly against the war and Bush, on the right side of history, they might have helped slow or even reverse the rush to war during the winter of 2002–3. Their failure to accurately assess the case for war, coupled with their willful blindness to this Administration's neofascist tendencies, contributed to needless carnage, attacks on individual rights and the creation of dozens of covert CIA gulags around the world. Every time someone was raped at Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Base or Gitmo, Tom Friedman and Christopher Hitchens and Bill O'Reilly and David Brooks were de facto accomplices.
The WordPerfect Warriors' journalistic failings are even more pronounced than their moral ones. On an issue with enormous political and historical ramifications for our country, they got the story wrong. They believed in WMDs at a time when the vintage of the government's evidence (none of it was more recent than 1998) ought to have tripped BS detectors. They trusted the White House's promises to rebuild Iraq despite its dismal record in Afghanistan. They never considered that removing a dictator who had killed all of his major opponents might open up a power vacuum. And they never questioned Bush's original sin, his partisan politicization of 9/11.
They should have known better - lots of us did. Or they did know better and lied about it. Whether their integrity or their intelligence was compromised, they should never again be taken seriously.
The pro-war pundits got the biggest story of their careers dead wrong. Now a lot of people are wrongly dead. The fact that this sorry lot still draw paychecks is a tribute to America's infinite capacity for forgiveness.

Ted Rall

Ted Rall is the author of "Wake Up, You're Liberal!: How We Can Take America
Back From the Right.