From You
Nov 20, 2002
Letters
KEMP WATCHERS
As much as a chance to choose a representative for the 46th District, the Nov. 5 Election was a referendum on the truthfulness of the cliché that the electorate gets the government it deserves. So the results are in: a majority of Barrow, Jackson, and Oconee voters have chosen Brian Kemp - a minor-league Gordon Gekko and cheerleader for sprawl whose record on the steering committee that helped formulate the Athens-Clarke zoning code shows that time and again he turned his ear away from the shouted demands of ACC taxpayers to better hear the whispered pleas of his developer cronies - over Doug Haines, a principled man who slugged it out with greedy corporate insiders and vested political interests for the benefit of the district for more than ten years even before running for office.
For the last few years, Kemp and his khaki-clad clones have found it increasingly cost-ineffective to circumvent the express wishes of the residents of ACC as expressed in county law. So now, rather than spend their time trying to slither through loopholes, Kemp and the good ole boys will simply trash those pesky laws and make whatever public regulations best serve their personal needs. The TV commercial sound-bites and slick brochures did their intended trick - the voters of the 46th bought the bill of goods for which soft money paid.
But when the campaign rhetoric-drunk residents of Barrow, Jackson, and Oconee sober up to find their public schools defunded and their counties' ancient hardwood greenspaces divvied up like personal fiefdoms for Kemp's cabal of homegrown carpetbaggers and pretenders to the landed gentry, I'll refer them to my bumper sticker: "Don't Blame Me, I Voted Haines." And to State Senator-elect Kemp himself, the 17,010 voters of District 46 who were galvanized against your fifteen-year record of backroom dealings say "We'll be watching you."
Pat Allen
Athens
I am writing this letter to address a comment made by Brad Aaron in his "City Dope" article of November 6, 2002. In his article Brad attempts to bash Sarah Nell Robinson by saying she was bankrolled by people bent on helping themselves and that she works for me, as if this is akin to having the plague. He goes on to describe me as the Oconee County Republican who is still bitter about losing to Doug Haines two years ago in the State Senate race.
First, I'd like to say to Brad and to your readers that Sarah is one of the most genuine, caring individuals I have ever had the opportunity to know. She demonstrates her love and caring for people with action and effort each and every day. She has spearheaded efforts to raise money and provide services to individuals and groups who needed help throughout our community. She does more than just talk and complain. She's one of those rare individuals that can be counted on to roll up her sleeves and really make a difference in people's lives. Unlike some, she practices what she preaches... compassion and understanding of those less fortunate. Maybe your problem with Sarah has more to do with the fact she is a Republican, and with your narrow vision of Republicans you can't seem to see past your partisanship and stereotyping. Too bad. It's your loss, not Sarah's.
Second, you say I am bitter about my loss to Haines a couple of years ago. Since you have never asked me how I feel, I'm a bit perplexed as to how you came to this conclusion. If you had bothered to call me or come by to see me I would have been happy to tell you how I feel about losing. But since you and I have never spoken about this I'll attempt to set the record straight by telling you now.
In 2000 we ran what I considered a very good campaign. We talked about issues and I tried to give the people of this Senate District my vision for the future. I lost the race and accepted this defeat. I never took it personally and it never made me bitter. Maybe it's hard for you to understand this, but sometimes in life you lose. I have not given up on my hopes and aspirations for a better community, a better state, and a better nation, and will continue working to help accomplish this. As far as being mad or bitter - that's just not the case. If you knew me you would know this, but alas the narrow vision of liberal minded elitists makes it a bit hard to open up and accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, Republicans aren't all that bad. After looking at some of the election results of this past Tuesday it seems many Georgians have come to this conclusion.
That rascally old Oconee County Republican,
Jim Ivey
Athens
ISSUES & LEADERS
Where have the Democrats gone? Wednesday morning was like waking up to find your teeth kicked in and yourself flattened in a post-pachyderm position.
Shit, what were the Democrats doing? Can anyone name a platform, an idea? Saying that you sided with Bush on some issues but opposed him on the minutiae of others isn't a tactic - it's a weak-willed attempt to ride the coattails of your opponent.
The Democrats can't lead because they are leaderless themselves. They aren't going to regain control of the country by backing in, arguing the fine points of issues. They need to grab an idea and stand for it.
Look at Georgia. Fifty-two percent of registered voters voted. Of those 51.4 percent voted for Sonny Perdue. Half of half equals a quarter. So somewhere in this state are 75 percent of the voters who either didn't vote or voted against Perdue.
Surely the Democrats, the party of inclusiveness, have something to say to all those people. Sure as hell it's better than that rebel flag, no tax for rich folks, homophobic, racist, anti-abortion, right wing horse shit the GOP is flogging.
A galvanizing idea isn't going to come from the weasels running the party now; it is disorganized and staggering. Did anyone get a phone call from a human Democrat? Anyone have a neighbor organizing the vote? Look at the DNC's joke of a web site - then the Georgia GOP's. Type in zellmiller.org and see where it gets you. The elephants are more organized - and I don't want to hear any whining about GOP money - there are more of us than them. We don't need any more excuses.
Change has to start at the ground level with the Democrats. Call the party, write letters, withhold money and get rid of the current failing leadership. They are the first set of bums we have to sweep out, then in two years another.
Lee Smith
Athens
The Piccolo Spoleto Festival of Charleston announces the fourth annual Piccolo Fiction Open, a literary competition to encourage performance quality writing.
For the 2003 festival, the theme is Heat. The theme can figure as little or as much in your story as you like, and can be construed in any way: body heat... air conditioning... the heat index... if you can't stand it... get out of the...
Up to 10 stories will be awarded a cash prize, and the writers will be invited to present their stories to the audiences of Piccolo Spoleto 2003 in Charleston, SC.
Please submit four copies of your unpublished short story by March 20, 2003.
Stories must be typed, no reading fee is required. Please include your name, address, phone number, email and title of the story on one cover sheet.
Each copy of your story should be stapled, and have only your phone number and the title of the story at the top of the first page. Word count should be limited to a comfortable reading-out-loud time. Stories will not be returned. If you want a reply, please include a self-addressed, stamped post card or an email address. No erotica, children's stories, or poetry, please.
Send all submissions to Piccolo Fiction Open, City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, 133 Church Street, Charleston, SC 29401. For more info, contact Lisa@eatgoodbread.com.
Lisa Rentz
Charleston
Some of you who devour Panicana will recall Dave Schools talking about Panic being vilified in the local rock press while they were playing every Monday night at the Uptown back in the late 1980s. That was Flagpole Magazine spilling their guts over how much Widespread sucked and why would anyone bother to see them?
I read tons of back issues left in my rental house in Athens by previous tenants during that period and was always amazed by the vitriol directed at the band.
Here is a quote lifted directly from "The Ghost Of Flagpole Past" that also appears on their web site currently.
Here's Mike Guthrie voicing the complaints of today and yesterday in September, 1989 to Jared Bailey, Flagpole Magazine:
"This is in response to your quote in the Flagpole that the upcoming Earth Love Music Festival features 'a truly lame and unimaginative lineup.' This only serves to hurt and anger musicians - which is something the Flagpole is great at - talking up certain groups (i.e. groups that play the 40 Watt) and pretending everyone else just doesn't exist, or is somehow 'unhip.'"
Bailey responded that he felt the lineup contained too many bands "that play retro/dead/hippie music." The line dividing Athens' two music scenes, meanwhile, continues to be as rigid as ever.
Note Flagpole Magazine calling retro/dead/hippie bands "lame and unimaginative" in 1989. This attitude continued to permeate the magazine long into the 1990s. I couldn't have said it better. Thanks Mike Guthrie and Jared Bailey (then with Flagpole, later the co-owner of the 40 Watt Club). Gee, does this smell of nepotism or what?
Web, thanks for putting this up. I was there at the same time you were (1991-1994). Anyone from the listserv who went and looked at this for info on 'early Panic days' from that era and didn't see much ought to be aware that Flagpole Magazine (while calling themselves the chronicle of the Athens scene) absolutely HATED Widespread Panic and WSP were barely ever mentioned in its pages other than in a sneering, condescending tone in the same sentences as frat boys and dirty hippies.
This is while Panic was selling out the Georgia Theatre and headlining the big Athens Super Jams. What was Flagpole covering? Some lame art student band playing at the 40 Watt, undoubtedly. Again and again and again.
Scott W4PA
w4pa@yahoo.com
As much as a chance to choose a representative for the 46th District, the Nov. 5 Election was a referendum on the truthfulness of the cliché that the electorate gets the government it deserves. So the results are in: a majority of Barrow, Jackson, and Oconee voters have chosen Brian Kemp - a minor-league Gordon Gekko and cheerleader for sprawl whose record on the steering committee that helped formulate the Athens-Clarke zoning code shows that time and again he turned his ear away from the shouted demands of ACC taxpayers to better hear the whispered pleas of his developer cronies - over Doug Haines, a principled man who slugged it out with greedy corporate insiders and vested political interests for the benefit of the district for more than ten years even before running for office.
For the last few years, Kemp and his khaki-clad clones have found it increasingly cost-ineffective to circumvent the express wishes of the residents of ACC as expressed in county law. So now, rather than spend their time trying to slither through loopholes, Kemp and the good ole boys will simply trash those pesky laws and make whatever public regulations best serve their personal needs. The TV commercial sound-bites and slick brochures did their intended trick - the voters of the 46th bought the bill of goods for which soft money paid.
But when the campaign rhetoric-drunk residents of Barrow, Jackson, and Oconee sober up to find their public schools defunded and their counties' ancient hardwood greenspaces divvied up like personal fiefdoms for Kemp's cabal of homegrown carpetbaggers and pretenders to the landed gentry, I'll refer them to my bumper sticker: "Don't Blame Me, I Voted Haines." And to State Senator-elect Kemp himself, the 17,010 voters of District 46 who were galvanized against your fifteen-year record of backroom dealings say "We'll be watching you."
Pat Allen
Athens
I am writing this letter to address a comment made by Brad Aaron in his "City Dope" article of November 6, 2002. In his article Brad attempts to bash Sarah Nell Robinson by saying she was bankrolled by people bent on helping themselves and that she works for me, as if this is akin to having the plague. He goes on to describe me as the Oconee County Republican who is still bitter about losing to Doug Haines two years ago in the State Senate race.
First, I'd like to say to Brad and to your readers that Sarah is one of the most genuine, caring individuals I have ever had the opportunity to know. She demonstrates her love and caring for people with action and effort each and every day. She has spearheaded efforts to raise money and provide services to individuals and groups who needed help throughout our community. She does more than just talk and complain. She's one of those rare individuals that can be counted on to roll up her sleeves and really make a difference in people's lives. Unlike some, she practices what she preaches... compassion and understanding of those less fortunate. Maybe your problem with Sarah has more to do with the fact she is a Republican, and with your narrow vision of Republicans you can't seem to see past your partisanship and stereotyping. Too bad. It's your loss, not Sarah's.
Second, you say I am bitter about my loss to Haines a couple of years ago. Since you have never asked me how I feel, I'm a bit perplexed as to how you came to this conclusion. If you had bothered to call me or come by to see me I would have been happy to tell you how I feel about losing. But since you and I have never spoken about this I'll attempt to set the record straight by telling you now.
In 2000 we ran what I considered a very good campaign. We talked about issues and I tried to give the people of this Senate District my vision for the future. I lost the race and accepted this defeat. I never took it personally and it never made me bitter. Maybe it's hard for you to understand this, but sometimes in life you lose. I have not given up on my hopes and aspirations for a better community, a better state, and a better nation, and will continue working to help accomplish this. As far as being mad or bitter - that's just not the case. If you knew me you would know this, but alas the narrow vision of liberal minded elitists makes it a bit hard to open up and accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, Republicans aren't all that bad. After looking at some of the election results of this past Tuesday it seems many Georgians have come to this conclusion.
That rascally old Oconee County Republican,
Jim Ivey
Athens
ISSUES & LEADERS
Where have the Democrats gone? Wednesday morning was like waking up to find your teeth kicked in and yourself flattened in a post-pachyderm position.
Shit, what were the Democrats doing? Can anyone name a platform, an idea? Saying that you sided with Bush on some issues but opposed him on the minutiae of others isn't a tactic - it's a weak-willed attempt to ride the coattails of your opponent.
The Democrats can't lead because they are leaderless themselves. They aren't going to regain control of the country by backing in, arguing the fine points of issues. They need to grab an idea and stand for it.
Look at Georgia. Fifty-two percent of registered voters voted. Of those 51.4 percent voted for Sonny Perdue. Half of half equals a quarter. So somewhere in this state are 75 percent of the voters who either didn't vote or voted against Perdue.
Surely the Democrats, the party of inclusiveness, have something to say to all those people. Sure as hell it's better than that rebel flag, no tax for rich folks, homophobic, racist, anti-abortion, right wing horse shit the GOP is flogging.
A galvanizing idea isn't going to come from the weasels running the party now; it is disorganized and staggering. Did anyone get a phone call from a human Democrat? Anyone have a neighbor organizing the vote? Look at the DNC's joke of a web site - then the Georgia GOP's. Type in zellmiller.org and see where it gets you. The elephants are more organized - and I don't want to hear any whining about GOP money - there are more of us than them. We don't need any more excuses.
Change has to start at the ground level with the Democrats. Call the party, write letters, withhold money and get rid of the current failing leadership. They are the first set of bums we have to sweep out, then in two years another.
Lee Smith
Athens
The Piccolo Spoleto Festival of Charleston announces the fourth annual Piccolo Fiction Open, a literary competition to encourage performance quality writing.
For the 2003 festival, the theme is Heat. The theme can figure as little or as much in your story as you like, and can be construed in any way: body heat... air conditioning... the heat index... if you can't stand it... get out of the...
Up to 10 stories will be awarded a cash prize, and the writers will be invited to present their stories to the audiences of Piccolo Spoleto 2003 in Charleston, SC.
Please submit four copies of your unpublished short story by March 20, 2003.
Stories must be typed, no reading fee is required. Please include your name, address, phone number, email and title of the story on one cover sheet.
Each copy of your story should be stapled, and have only your phone number and the title of the story at the top of the first page. Word count should be limited to a comfortable reading-out-loud time. Stories will not be returned. If you want a reply, please include a self-addressed, stamped post card or an email address. No erotica, children's stories, or poetry, please.
Send all submissions to Piccolo Fiction Open, City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, 133 Church Street, Charleston, SC 29401. For more info, contact Lisa@eatgoodbread.com.
Lisa Rentz
Charleston
Some of you who devour Panicana will recall Dave Schools talking about Panic being vilified in the local rock press while they were playing every Monday night at the Uptown back in the late 1980s. That was Flagpole Magazine spilling their guts over how much Widespread sucked and why would anyone bother to see them?
I read tons of back issues left in my rental house in Athens by previous tenants during that period and was always amazed by the vitriol directed at the band.
Here is a quote lifted directly from "The Ghost Of Flagpole Past" that also appears on their web site currently.
Here's Mike Guthrie voicing the complaints of today and yesterday in September, 1989 to Jared Bailey, Flagpole Magazine:
"This is in response to your quote in the Flagpole that the upcoming Earth Love Music Festival features 'a truly lame and unimaginative lineup.' This only serves to hurt and anger musicians - which is something the Flagpole is great at - talking up certain groups (i.e. groups that play the 40 Watt) and pretending everyone else just doesn't exist, or is somehow 'unhip.'"
Bailey responded that he felt the lineup contained too many bands "that play retro/dead/hippie music." The line dividing Athens' two music scenes, meanwhile, continues to be as rigid as ever.
Note Flagpole Magazine calling retro/dead/hippie bands "lame and unimaginative" in 1989. This attitude continued to permeate the magazine long into the 1990s. I couldn't have said it better. Thanks Mike Guthrie and Jared Bailey (then with Flagpole, later the co-owner of the 40 Watt Club). Gee, does this smell of nepotism or what?
Web, thanks for putting this up. I was there at the same time you were (1991-1994). Anyone from the listserv who went and looked at this for info on 'early Panic days' from that era and didn't see much ought to be aware that Flagpole Magazine (while calling themselves the chronicle of the Athens scene) absolutely HATED Widespread Panic and WSP were barely ever mentioned in its pages other than in a sneering, condescending tone in the same sentences as frat boys and dirty hippies.
This is while Panic was selling out the Georgia Theatre and headlining the big Athens Super Jams. What was Flagpole covering? Some lame art student band playing at the 40 Watt, undoubtedly. Again and again and again.
Scott W4PA
w4pa@yahoo.com
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