Fresh Loaf

According to MARTA, the passionate young lady who displayed a variety of talents in a video we posted yesterday has a warrant issued for her arrest.

“MARTA police were notified about this video last Friday and launched an immediate and aggressive investigation into the incident. After canvassing the East Lake Station where the suspect reportedly exited the train, we received an anonymous tip that this incident possibly occurred on March 31, 2008 between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. The tipster also indicated the suspect has been known to ride Bus Route 22. MARTA police were able to positively identify the individual allegedly involved in this incident and have secured a warrant for her arrest.”

“We want to assure the public that this is an extremely isolated incident and that customer safety and security are our highest priorities,” stated MARTA Chief of Police Wanda Dunham. “We regret that any customer had to endure such harassment while using our system. I also wish the many citizens who witnessed this incident would have contacted the MARTA police so that we could have responded to this situation immediately. We are asking that anyone who witnessed this incident please come forward to provide additional first hand information, which may lead to additional charges against the suspect. If you have any information about this incident, please contact MARTA Police Detectives at (404) 848-4911.”

“MARTA police officers regularly patrol the trains and are available at rail stations to provide assistance. Emergency call buttons are also located in all rail cars, which go directly to the rail operator in case customers need to request immediate assistance. Customers can also reach MARTA Police communications directly by dialing (404) 848-4911 or by pressing #MPD on any AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint/Nextel cellular phone. Blackberry users press #673.”

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(Photos by Joeff Davis, Perry Julien and Alex Gibbs)

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Ted Turner was walking kind of gingerly and holding his midsection after he finished lunch today at Ted’s Montana Grill on Luckie Street, but I don’t think it was the burger.

He was wearing a jacket over hospital scrubs and was with his daughter Laura Turner Seydel, and her husband. Folks at various tables applauded as he left (presumably to head back up to his apartment, which is upstairs). He waved.

I didn’t get a chance to ask him, but did I miss something? Did my favorite Atlanta billionaire just have surgery? (Didn’t see anything in a web search, but I have asked his people.)

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The Rome News-Tribune is reporting that 30 years after Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen started belching out pollutants, one of the nation’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters has installed its first of four scrubbers at the facility.

The device — known as a flue gas desulphurization system — is estimated to remove 95 percent of sulfur dioxide from emissions. Its lone waste product — gypsum — will be sold to an Alabama rock wall company.

The article says that Georgia Power plans on installing 21 scrubbers on six of its coal-fired power plants. Each one will take three years to construct.

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Add one Jesse Spikes to the long list of folks planning to run for Atlanta mayor next year.

No, we weren’t familiar with Mr. Spikes, either, so we gave him a call. Spikes, 57, is a former Rhodes Scholar and a senior partner with McKenna Long & Aldridge, one of the city’s largest law firms. Although he served for a time as Evander Holyfield’s business attorney, he is not a well-known figure in Atlanta – but he does have an interesting back story.

Born on a farm in Henry County, the youngest of 13 children, to parents who never went to high school, Spikes’ future seemed understandably limited. But he was sent to school in New England by A Better Chance, a private educational foundation. Spikes went on to attend Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School and, courtesy of a Rhodes Scholarship, Oxford University.

Spikes, who specializes in business law, says he’d always expected to go to work in the public sector to give back to society, but hadn’t found the right opportunity. He now believes he’s found that chance.

“I think I’m the manager the city needs,” he says. “I’m someone who intends to focus on the nuts and bolts, day-in-day-out job of running the city.”

As someone who’s never run for public office, Spikes has his work cut out for him. So far, the field of mayoral candidates looks to include a number of seasoned political veterans: Council President Lisa Borders; State Sen. Kasim Reed; Council members Caesar Mitchell and Mary Norwood; and Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts.

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MYANMAR: More than 100,000 people may be dead, and the junta still won’t let in foreign aid.

THERE’S A BAN KI-MOON RISING: U.N. secretary-general visits Atlanta today.

EXIT STRATEGY: TIME magazine on why it’s hard to imagine Clinton bowing out of this race after more than 20 years of Clintonian dominance.

WILDFIRES: Could spread like themselves again this summer in South Georgia. Sprouting trees are sucking up what little water there is, and even sparks from passing trains have already started small fires.

BRAND SPANKING NEWS: Atlanta-based Spanx sues British company S.P.A.N.K., alleging trademark infringement that could lead to consumer confusion.

CASEY AT THE BAT: Cagle now says he’d allow a Senate vote on Sunday alcohol sales.

CLAYTON BOE: Denies “knowingly and willingly” breaking the law.

RADIOHEAD: Thunderstorms are expected tonight, and you can’t bring umbrellas into Lakewood.

POWERS THAT WILL BE: If new nuclear reactors are added to Vogtle, Georgia Power expects rates to go up $12 a month in 2018.

DIGGING UP DIRT ON MAYOR: Archaeologists are excavating Brunswick mayor’s back yard after ancient pottery shards were discovered, some more than 1,000 years old.

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A pointless, brutal war and serial violations of the Geneva Conventions are apparently not the only things staining the honor of U.S. military personnel.

According to Rep. Paul Broun, R-Georgia, government-assisted masturbation (in the form of pornographic magazine sales at military facilities) is “denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad.”

To protect America’s servicemen and women from rubbing one out on Uncle Sam, Broun has proposed something called the Military Honor and Decency Act.

Broun ’splains:

“As a Marine, I am deeply concerned for the welfare of our troops and their mission,” said Broun. “Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad. Our troops should not see their honor sullied so that the moguls behind magazines like Playboy and Penthouse can profit. The ‘Military Honor and Decency Act’ will right a bureaucratic–and moral–wrong.”

Idiotic, yes, but it’s also kind of sweet. The poor Congressman thinks our troops still get their porn from magazines.

(Tip of the jimmy hat to Erick at Peach Pundit for bringing it to my attention and brownsox at Daily Kos for reminding me today that it was brought to my attention.)

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This week’s “Time and Place” photograph comes from a series I’ve been doing called “Atlanta Light.” Every photograph one takes essentially has light as its main subject because the light more than anything defines the emotion of the image. And every place has its own lighting characteristics.  Here in Atlanta,  I have been especially enchanted by the light which comes through the overpasses. I drive through the underpass by Creative Loafing’s office usually 5-6 times a day and every time it looks different and mesmerizes me in a different way.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Radiohead plays Thursday at Lakewood Amphitheater and, being the eco-conscious angst-ridden gents they are, have suggested fans use public transit if possible.

MARTA will be operating a shuttle service between the Lakewood/Fort McPherson station (s4) and the venue tomorrow night. Gates to the venue will open to MARTA customers at 5:30 p.m.The shuttle stops running one hour after the amphitheater closes. Fare’s $1.75 and covers both the shuttle and rail services. Parking at MARTA stations is free as long as you’re not there for more than 24 hours.

So jump on the North-South line and make Thom Yorke smile, maybe even cry. If you’d like to see how you can get from home to the MARTA station without having to drive at all, click here and tell the navigation droids what they want to know.

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s own Chanté Lagon and Scott Freeman discussing this week’s cover story about Forrest Hill Academy.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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We’ve given them a lot of hell, but at least this year’s legislative session only saw Georgia take a couple of steps backward.

Down in the Sunshine State, the Legislature could outlaw neither a pair of dangling bumper “ornaments” nor the age-old practice of bestiality. Plus, their commuter-rail program died in the Senate. On second thought, maybe they are like us. Speak it, Associated Press, in succinct end-of-the-session rundown form! (Emphasis added, of course.)

Bestiality: Still legal in Florida

State Song: “Old Folks at Home,” also known as “Swanee River,” will be changed to leave out racially offensive lyrics. A second song, “Florida - Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky,” submitted by a music teacher for a statewide contest, will become the state anthem.

Vehicle, um, decorations: Carry on with the popular pickup accoutrement: so-called Truck Nutz. The anatomically correct accessories, modeled after bull testicles, were outlawed by the Senate but had immunity in the House, so no $60 fine after all.

License plates: Added to the roster of 109 specialty plates now available are new ones touting Florida tennis, lighthouses and horses. Lawmakers declined to approve an “I Believe” plate promoting faith-based education, but endorsed a plate bearing the state motto “In God We Trust.”

(Thanks to Christa at PecanneLog and Wonkette)

(Photo courtesy of Draggin’ Nutz, Illustration by Thomas Wheatley)

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