RICK REPORTS

Greetings everyone. It's about a year and one half since Pete McCommons did the interview with me titled, "Living in the Streets." Much good and bad have happened in my life since then, but I am here to share the main gist of it with you. Not long after the article was published I was able to get up enough money to get an apartment and get off the streets. This was a good time and a emotional joy for me. I did encounter problems with finding enough work to keep and maintain this and then was evicted from the apartment last October. Life took another turn again for the worse for me.

December last year I went to seek medical consultation pertaining to my left shoulder and found out that I have a torn rotator cuff. The tear is located in the top radius of my cuff and I must have surgery; if not I'll lose the total use of my left arm. If you do not know me, I'm left handed. I have neither the insurance or funds needed to repair the damage. The cost is high - closer to $10,000. There has been no financial factoring for the time needed to do the physical rehab. This injury has prevented me from taking any job which has physical demands that tax the use of my arms. The tear affects my ability to hyper-extend my left arm. I have been looking into medical paths through the gateway of friendship.

Early this year I got involved with a woman and in early March moved in with her in her home located in Snellville, Ga. But the relationship was going to fail no matter what and eventually it did. I'll not bother you with any of the details. Suffice it to say that I have been back in Athens now just over six weeks and yes I'm currently homeless. Still, there have been some very good things going on with my life, too!. Last month, July 20 marked the fifth anniversary of my beloved wife's passing: Nancy Ann. I consider my life moving forward a milestone and wish to express my thanks and gratitude to all. Through a journey in the love of friendship shared, it has helped me to overcome my grief and live with a strong belief.

Back in the spring of this year I finally got my weight to under 200 pounds and this is a sign my diabetes is in a good state of control within my body. My drinking issues have been behind me for over for and one half years. There is much in my life to be thankful for right now and hope lives strong within me. This is the first time in my life that I can say I'm doing things for the right reasons and doing them at the right times feel confident and with some good hard writing work I'll gather up money to purchase a used lap top and a wireless ethernet card and work on-on-line for a living. I currently have three different types of work which will pay me; I cannot complain and with time I'll work my way off of the streets.

As with every part of life, some of my current needs are vital or critical: a place where I can shower and bathe two or three times a week. I'm not a University of Georgia student or employee so anyone making suggestions as to going this way, can only lead to needless trouble for me which I do not want. Sometimes when the weather is bad I may need a couch to sleep on or some place on a floor with a pillow and blanket, and I'll be just fine. Friends have helped me with food and money for coffee when I have been in need. I do smoke and yes I do buy cigarettes. Once in a while I need to wash my clothes, so if you give me access to a washer or dryer, this would also greatly help me with my needs. If you want to give me money, I'm open to this but will use this to try and secure the purchase of the lap top. I want to honestly work my way off the streets and get my own roof over my head.

There are so many people that I know here in Athens and so many that I do not get to see. I wrote this to let all of you know how I'm doing and that despite all I'm fine. I have a plan for my life, and if it does not work I can always reformulate this plan till I do indeed make it work right for me. Thanks for the time and the considerations. (e-mail) eb217@yahoo.com (mail) P.O. Box 1986 Athens, Ga. 30603-1986

E. G. (Rick) Baker
Athens

WHOA!

Whoa, whoa, WHOA! While I appreciate the publicity, to be sure, the piece about the dance night I am doing at Club 346 (Flagpole v. 18, #34, p. 34) seems to imply that I have some kind of grudge match going against a particular downtown establishment, which could not be further from the truth. Not to mention that the quotes attributed to me in the piece were from a private email that I did not clear for publication and were taken out of context to further (I think) someone else's agenda.

The only agenda I have is to spin good music for people to dance to, and to promote the idea that you can still party and finish your degree with decent grades.

Clubs don't make people adopt self-destructive lifestyles. People do just fine adopting them on their own. You can get into heaps of trouble in your own living room without ever going anywhere.

Also, just for clarification's sake, we have moved our night to Tuesdays.

Thanks for your time.

David Ferguson
Athens

THE REAL EFFIE

I find the Flagpole to be a fine local publication filled with useful and entertaining material. However, a serious editorial error has come to my attention. My name is Effie Greathouse, and while I "am" a bit thin-skinned and apologetic, I have never heard the band 63 Crayons, have no idea what "psych-pop" is, have never read Bunny Mcintosh's column, can assure you that in my opinion the only local bands deserving praise play swing, blues or jazz, and I most definitely did not write the letter in the August 18 issue of the Flagpole printed as being written by Effie Greathouse.

A few weeks ago, I did make a submission to the "Talk Back To Us" section of flagpole.com: I inquired about the possibility to listing information about a local tutoring program for at-risk kids in the OutThere community calendar. I doubt that there is another Effie Greathouse on this planet, let alone in Athens, so I suspect that my name was accidentally added to the August 18 letter criticizing Ms. Mcintosh. If the tutoring program information had been published in Out There, I would have accepted, as part of the greater good, the mistaken identity, the angry letters about me in the August 25 issue, and being described on Ms. Mcintosh's blog as lacking charm, sucky and being a candidate for an explicit nickname (Ms. Effie *%&#). But alas, I have been checking Out There regularly and have yet to see our tutoring program listed. Maybe the editors will make up for the mistake by publishing this letter AND adding the tutoring program information to the Out There listing. For anyone interested in tutoring at-risk kids in one of our Athens-area elementary schools, we are recruiting volunteers for our Saturday morning program, which starts September 11. For more information, contact effieg@uga.edu. I have to admit that the mix-up could have been worse - at least my name wasn't accidentally put on someone else's letter to Jyl Inov!

Effie Greathouse
Athens

EDITOR REPLIES

Okay, here's what happened. Nathan DeYonker posted a letter on the Flagpole web site taking issue with Flagpole writer Bunny Mcintosh's review of the band 63 Crayons. The next post to the web site on that same day was from Effie Greathouse, asking that we publicize Fowler Drive Elementary School's volunteer recruitment. Yes, you've got it. Ms. Greathouse's name was affixed to Mr. DeYonker's letter, and she became the target of counterattacks supporting Ms. Mcintosh. Meanwhile, the Fowler Drive recruitment announcement got lost. Fortunately, Ms. Greathouse is a sport about it. Mr. DeYonker is, too. Here's hoping that a lot of people respond to Ms. Greathouse's call for volunteers. Remember, that's effieg@uga.edu. Sounds like a good way to help.

HAPPY ENDING

I noticed that my letter was printed in the latest issue ["Another Country," August 25]. To be fair, I should give you the update on my situation. I was hired back later that day (last Wednesday). I wrote the letter during the time of the meeting about my Xiu shirt, and about an hour later I had my job back. Tonight was my first night. I came in a plain green t-shirt.

The situation has been resolved and it seems that everything is running smoothly. Maybe Milledgeville isn't as far away from Athens as I thought it was.

Sandy Green
Milledgeville

LOCK-IN HELP

This letter is written in response to Donald Harris who complained in a letter to Flagpole about being locked-in at the State Botanical Garden one night recently. The Garden sincerely regrets that Mr. Harris was locked in and that it took an inordinate amount of time for help to arrive. While lock-ins do occasionally occur, response time is generally less than 15 minutes. Instructions posted at the exit provide the telephone numbers for the security agency and the UGA police; 911 should be called only in the event of an actual emergency.

For a number of years, the Garden has operated under these hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. October - March and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. April - September excepting UGA holidays. These hours are posted at the entrance to the Garden, at the gatehouse by which all vehicles pass, at information locations in the main parking lots, in printed information available to visitors and on our web site.

It is standard practice for the security officer to drive through the Garden sounding the horn if vehicles remain in the parking lots, allowing a reasonable length of time for anyone remaining to return to their vehicles and exit. It is, however, impossible for the security officer to walk five miles of nature trails to hunt for possible visitors who may still be on the trails. Vehicles occasionally remain parked overnight, and so the presence of a vehicle does not indicate someone is still on the trails.

The Garden acknowledges the fact that the recent removal of pay phones at the Botanical Garden (and on the UGA campus) make it problematic for non cell phone carriers to call for assistance should it become necessary. The Garden will work with the University to install emergency call boxes at strategic locations such as those found on campus.

Lisa Kennedy
State Botanical Garden

ETERNAL PYLON!

Thanks for the great Pylon article! For folks like me who no longer live in Athens but love to keep in touch, it was wonderful. I lived in Athens from 1979 until 1986 and Pylon was the zen still point of that period. My Athens experience began with seeing Pylon at Tyrone's (on Halloween, I believe). Back last year I heard "Crazy" played on WNCW and I immediately thought "YES!" Some may think it's only nostalgia, but I say "It's eternal." If you ever get a chance GO SEE PYLON and BE! Thank you for all those wonderful songs, Pylon!

J.B.
Boone, NC