Fresh Loaf

Convicted cop-killer Troy Anthony Davis, who narrowly avoided his 2007 execution date and has since lost a state Supreme Court appeal for a new trial, is running out of time.

On Saturday, May 17, Amnesty International and the NAACP will attempt to draw more attention to the case with a rally on the steps of the state Capitol. Davis’ pending execution (a new date is expected to be set later this year) already has prompted a huge response from the international media and Pope Benedict XVI.

Evidence gathered after Davis’s 1991 trial in Savannah — and presented to the courts largely after his federal appeals was exhausted — shows that seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Davis later recanted their statements. What’s more, three other people have signed affidavits stating that another man later confessed to the killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail.

The rally will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on the side of the Capitol facing Washington Street. Speakers include two state legislators and three death row exonerees.

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OUT OF HAND THEATER‘S RENE DELLEFONT: Apparently this is how you stand when your schreib is stück. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

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We wanted to alert our readers about this week’s Summer Guide, which features 111 things to do this season. We incorrectly listed the dates of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival; the correct dates are June 12-15. Thanks to the alert reader for correcting us on this.

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The city’s Department of Watershed Management has released its annual Water Quality Report. A cursory glance shows that what’s flowing from your tap is suitable to drink.

From Commissioner Rob Hunter:

“The Water Quality Report continues to show the City’s commitment to clean water,” said Commissioner Rob Hunter. “We are proud of our system and of the employees who work diligently to make sure that we offer drinking water of the exceptional quality that our customers have come to expect.”

The report will be inserted into city water customers’ next bills. To view it before then, click here.

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CHINA EARTHQUAKE RELIEF: Fourteen Atlanta Chinese organizations have banded together and will hold various on-site donation drives this weekend and next. Another 5.5-magnitude aftershock hit the China quake zone today, causing landslides.

MOTHER’S DAY TORNADOES: Damage in Georgia has already reached $100 million, may exceed $125 million. The tornadoes also caused environmental damage, such as an industrial park in McIntosh County that was leveled, leaking fuel, oil and acid into the soil.

SOUTH RISING: Record black voter turnout for Obama could loosen the GOP’s decades-long stranglehold on the South.

TRIGGER MORTIS: Now that guns are the new iPod in Georgia, police are gearing up for a trigger-happier public, especially now that we don’t have to hide our guns in our glove compartments while driving anymore.

BODIFORD: Can stay on the Brian Nichols case, despite comments he made to the Marietta Daily Journal shortly after the deadly shootings.

ATLANTA TRAVEL PROFILE: Aw shucks, St. Pete Times.

LIZARD MAN: After a mystery animal chews up the bumper of someone’s car in Sumter, S.C., residents assume what anyone would — Lizard Man. They’re also willing to consider Bigfoot as a suspect, though, as a “renowned Bigfoot hunter” tells the local paper that there are more than 3,500 “Bigfoot creatures” nationwide.

SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE: Closes Indian Creek MARTA station.

BRAIN TRUST: Scientists are studying the only three known hyperthymestics, or people with superhuman memories, to learn more about how memory works, hoping to help those with failing memories.

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This has absolutely nothing to do with Georgia, Georgia politics or anything related to Georgia. But you rarely see talk radio hosts called out for puttering out talking points of which they have no real knowledge.

Kevin James — no, not that Kevin James — appeared on Hardball to debate Mark Green of Air America. The Un-King of Queens parroted Pres. Bush’s supposed jab at Barack Obama comparing the presidential candidate’s expressed desire to meet with America’s adversaries to Former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler prior to World War II. Problem: James doesn’t seem to have any idea what Chamberlain did.

And Matthews rips into him for it. “When you are going to make a direct historic reference, get it straight,” he says. Cringeworthy and refreshing.

(Keep in mind that Matthews also makes a gaffe when he incorrectly says the U.S.S. Cole bombing occurred under Pres. Bush’s watch.)

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Ralph “Baby Jesus” Reed has written a novel.

Dark Horse is a “political thriller” that follows a fictional presidential campaign through a brutal primary, a muddled general election, an assassination and war with them dang Eye-ray-knee-unz.

Dark Horse comes out on June 3 in hardcover, eBook, and stone tablet, in English and Aramaic. Reserve your copy now, though I’m sure it won’t be as good The Book of Ralph, available for free right here.

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Is Ted Turner the real Captain Planet? That’s what he says in Lizz Widdicombe’s hilarious “Talk of the Town” segment of this week’s New Yorker (“Born Green”), in which she catches up with the man who claims to be the one who beat Al Gore to telling the world an inconvenient truth with his now-defunct TBS cartoon, “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” (Sounds like a bad ’70s funk ensemble.) The story comes from an Atlanta fundraiser for Turner’s Captain Planet Foundation. In the article, he boasts that he was his own inspiration for the Captain Planet character, who does battle with all the earth-unfriendly nasties out there.

Here’s a sample from the article:

With the show, Ted Turner is fond of saying, he invented a television genre that he called “edu-tainment” — a noble endeavor but one that has taken a lot of grief over the years. Critics of “Captain Planet” have pointed to the broadness of its allegory (characters include “Kwame from Africa” and “Gi from Asia”), and the heavy-handedness of its plots (battles against a villain named Hoggish Greedly and a Pollution Syndicate), to suggest that it’s less entertainment than a vehicle for “left-wing propaganda,” as one watchdog group put it. But Turner remains unfazed. “In terms of programming, it’s the best thing I ever did,” he said the other day.

Really, Ted? As opposed to, um, non-programming? Whatev, it definitely struggles to stand the test of time, as this clip demonstrates. But there is a kitschy charm about the whole thing. See for yourself, Planeteers!

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The Atlanta City Council may consider overriding Mayor Shirley Franklin’s recent veto of last week’s unanimous resolution that requests the city auditor conduct a review of the Department of Watershed Management, the municipal agency in charge of Atlanta’s multi-billion dollar court-ordered sewer project.

Councilmember Mary Norwood, who introduced the resolution, says the council must understand how money is being spent on the multi-billion sewer and water project before it votes on the first of five rate increases to help pay for the project. Officials have suggested a 27.5 percent rate increase, followed by other increases that would raise the rates 81 percent over the next four years.

“Before we impose on our citizens a fee increase we ought to know whether the controls are adequate,” Norwood says . “I believe we need oversight for a fund that’s almost ten times as large as the general budget.”

The mayor said she vetoed the resolution because she says the council did not confer with appropriate departments. Franklin categorized the resolution as “hastily drafted and adopted legislation,” adding it was “technically flawed” and “unacceptable.”

“There are some technical errors in the document, so we want to give the author the opportunity to work with law and others to correct those issues first,” Franklin said in a statement.

“The mayor has put into place this very large and very important water and sewer project for our city,” Norwood says. “She’s been the first mayor to tackle that. But I believe we need outside consultation before we raise fees. At the end of the day, whether it’s a fee or a tax, it’s money that’s coming out of our constituents’ pockets.”

Monday’s council meeting takes places at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall. Norwood expects a close vote. The City Utilities Commission will hold a public hearing on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers to discuss the proposed rate increases.

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This just in: The Flicks on 5th film-screening series will be back this summer, according to a press release. The series, held at 5th Street at Technology Square in Midtown, is all about the (usually) blockbuster fare. This year’s offerings: I Am Legend, Horton Hears a Who, The Bourne Ultimatum, Hairspray, Superbad and 21.

The Wednesday screenings, which are free to the public, starts around dusk, kicking off on June 11 and running through July 23 with July 4 weekend off. With 5th Street closed between Spring Street and Techwood Drive, guests are encouraged to bring their own seating and food, although no coolers, umbrellas, grills or pets are allowed. There will be parking available in the surface lot at 5th and Spring Streets across from Barnes & Noble, and the parking deck next to the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center on Spring.

For more info, call 404-894-2805.

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The Army Corps of Engineers’ regional headquarters in Mobile, Ala., has seen fit to issue a news release explaining that Georgia’s new, Sonny-signed law allowing guns in taverns, parks and subway trains does not apply to the lakes and parkland it manages. Here’s an excerpt from the release:

“This clarification was prompted by several inquiries received by the Corps concerning the law and media reports about the law’s application to parks,” said E. Patrick Robbins, Public Affairs Officer, Mobile District.

Robbins, however, does not indicate whether the inquiries came from people worried about recreating amid heavily armed crowds or from folks eager to bring their shootin’ irons to a federal reservoir. This being Georgia, you never know.

We haven’t heard from the Department of the Interior yet, but we’ll go ahead and note that the new state law doesn’t apply to any federal property, such as Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area or the MLK Historic Site.

If you’re confused about what rules apply where, you might just want to leave the Smith and Wesson in the glove box, like God intended.

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