Fresh Loaf

The Clayton County commission voted 4-1 yesterday to kill C-TRAN, the county’s mass transit bus service.

Tomorrow’s Transportation Today Yesterday.

Bookmark It

From the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations Dept:

The motto for Clayton County’s CTran bus service is “Tomorrow’s Transportation Today.”

It’s a damn bus service!

Bookmark It

Clayton County officials are looking into a county staffer’s claims that Chairman Eldrin Bell made “inappropriate comments” and “inappropriately touched” her.

From the AJC:

County chief of staff Alex Cohilas said the employee filed a complaint last week that Bell “had engaged in inappropriate behavior toward her” during an employee appreciation picnic.

Bell, who’s currently serving his second term as CEO of the beleaguered county, said in a statement released this morning that he was “deeply saddened and disheartened” by the allegations. The matter’s now in the hands of the county attorney.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

OK, let’s say you’re the editor of a big-city daily newspaper and you’re trying to bridge the difficult gap between the serious, hard-nosed reportage of traditional print journalism and the more free-wheeling, quirky infotainment that appeals to the Internet generation. Seems reasonable that you might take note of what type of articles people are reading online.

So, what’s the most popular story on ajc.com right now? That would be “Jonesboro man accused of having sex with dog.” Lovely.

According to the story:

Edwin Robles, 53, faces a felony bestiality charge, according to police. He was booked into the Clayton County jail in the early morning hours Friday, and was released around 9:30 p.m., according to jail records.

The story is quite short and, frankly, raises more questions than it answers. Among them:

• Was it a female dog? The dog was named “Chain,” which, besides being a name not typically given to animate objects, is fairly non-gender-specific.
• The dog apparently wasn’t around when Clayton police raided Robles’ home. So, how did they determine he’d been schtupping his dog? Was there video? Did the dog keep a diary?
• Does Clayton really need any more bad press? What’s next — revelations that officials spent the county’s federal stimulus money on weed, wings and YooHoo? Don’t laugh; it could happen.

Bookmark It

Jonesburra po-leese chief Rosco P. Coltrane Brad Johnson done wore his dungarees to work.

Boss Hogg Mayor Luther Maddox got all angry like and done fired him fer it.

Now they’re feudin’!

Johnson reckons Maddox dudn’t have the ‘thority to fire him and has already hired Matlock a lawyer to help him get his job back.

Much of the dispute was captured on video.

Meanwhile, them Duke boys are getting away!

I’m wundrin if Brother Wheatley gots time to write him up a Clayton County sequel

Bookmark It

The AJC writes a thorough report:

Clayton County schools have been recommended for provisional accreditation, and a national commission will vote later this month on whether to accept the recommendation.

The announcement Friday by officials with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools comes nine months after the association yanked its affiliation with the suburban Atlanta system — making Clayton the nation’s first school system to lose accreditation in nearly 40 years.

The recommendation means SACS would back the system but require it to keep working on issues including leadership and governance — major problems cited by the association when it took action last year.

SACS would continue to monitor the school system for improvement and, later on, could nominate Clayton for full accreditation or cite further problems.

Bookmark It

From the AJC:

About 100 Clayton County teachers who were laid off earlier this month got their jobs back Monday.

School officials delivered contracts to 100 of the 400 teachers who were told two weeks ago that they would not have a job next school year. The board will vote later this year on the teacher’s employment contracts.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Sid Chapman, president of the Clayton County Education Association. “It restores some sense of credibility to the school system. Many of these teachers were tenured special ed teachers.” Chapman said the teachers had been laid off without any consideration of their performance evaluations or input from their principals.

Bookmark It

Bell

Tonight in Clayton County, things might get a little testy.

In early December, the Clayton County Commission voted to create a “chief of staff” position and appointed Fire Chief Alex Cohilas — who is also the county’s interim community development director — to the spot, which came with a $15,000 salary increase. This, in addition to his other duties.

Chairman Eldrin Bell opposed the commission’s move, calling it an attempted usurpation of his elected powers. In January, he filed a lawsuit on the grounds that it was unlawful. If the commission wanted to add a chief of staff to the county payroll, he argued, it needed to follow the proper legal channels. That very well could mean legislation filed not in downtown Jonesboro, but the Gold Dome.

Sounds like some humdrum small-county soap opera that’s not worth your time, huh? Keep your eyes open. Things could get heated in that beleaguered little county just south of Atlanta.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Clayton County, whose turmoil CL covered last summer, is hiring. The county’s school system on Saturday fired John Thompson, the superintendent who was supposed to help the system regain its accreditation. Last year, the county’s system was the first in the last 40 years to lose its accreditation. Thompson was the county’s third superintendent in four years.

Megan Matteucci of the AJC reports:

John Thompson was dismissed Saturday, about a month before the 47,000-student district has one more chance to prove it deserves to be reaccredited. If it fails, the district would need to start over, a process that could take about three years.

Valya Lee, assistant superintendent of student support services, was named interim superintendent. Lee, who started in Clayton in 1993 as a teacher, said she is not interested in the permanent position.

…

The leader of SACS [the accrediting body] said the board is heading in the right direction.

“It is clear this board is committed to a fresh start,” SACS President and Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Elgart said Saturday. “They are changing the way business is done in the school system.”

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

Bookmark It

Amount of money seized from illegal drug operations in Gwinnett and other metro counties in 2008, in dollars: 70 million

Metro Atlanta’s ranking among 195 major cities in the U.S. as a drug-cartel activity center: 1

Georgia’s 6th District’s ranking among 435 congressional districts for having the happiest residents: 2

Peachtree City’s ranking among Georgia’s best affordable suburbs: 1

Median household income in Peachtree City, in dollars: 93,046

Number of homes for every one foreclosure in Cobb County in February: 406

Number of homes for every one foreclosure in Fulton County in February: 316

Number of homes for every one foreclosure in Gwinnett County in February: 264

Number of homes for every one foreclosure in Clayton County in February: 163

Sources: USA Today, AJC.com, Business Week, RealtyTrac.com

Bookmark It

Clayton Henry County is ringing in 2009 with a deep-fried, artery-clogging bizz-ang.

From the AJC:

Truett’s Grill in McDonough will kick off 2009 tonight by dropping an 800-pound chicken nugget into a tub of honey mustard.

Chick-fil-A officials insist no chickens were harmed – the 6-foot-tall nugget is made from plaster. And the honey mustard is really just karo syrup with food coloring, but it looks like honey mustard, said Becky Ragsdale, a hostess at Truett’s Grill.

“It took six guys to lift it. It’s now hanging from a huge crane,” Ragsdale said. “Some of the other [Chick-fil-A] restaurants have New Year’s Eve celebrations, but we’re the only nugget drop.”

Bookmark It

Clayton County Chairman Eldrin Bell

Clayton County commissioners approved a developer’s request to relocate 311 graves from a historic African-American cemetery next to Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport. On Dec. 16, opponents held a press conference to criticize the decision.

“I’ve seen my daddy dig many graves back there. He hand-dug those graves, so I know where they are.”

— Betty Bowden, who says she has ancestors in the cemetery, in the Dec. 18 Clayton Daily News.

“Some of these developers will put cement over their mama.”

— John Evans of Operation LEAD, an anti-discrimination group, in the Dec. 16 AJC.

“The person who wants to move these graves has met the standards of the state, as well as the board…I have invited the families to monitor [the transfer of the grave sites] as it takes place.”

— Clayton Chairman Eldrin Bell in the Dec. 18 Clayton Daily News.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

Got plenty of links to go with that freshly roasted Honduran coffee … mine that is…

Nafiza “Soulja Girl” Ziyad is asking a judge to drop her charges related to her now infamous freestyle battle with an elderly, gray-haired lady riding MARTA. The defense motion cited in the AJC says the video, which went viral and has been watched over 600,000 times, “exposed her to extreme distress and embarrassment.”

Wait till she sees the REEEMIX:

–

• Jury deliberations begin in the Brian Nichols case.
• Not all are opposed to Gwinnett County’s mandatory recycling program.
• Braves GM Frank Wren busy talking deals on day one of Baseball’s winter meetings.
• More Clayton county students could find themselves in single-sex classrooms next year.
• Illinois Guv arrested on corruption charges.
• Five suspected 9/11 planners recant their offer to confess.
• President-elect Obama’s plan to bring broadband to the masses is hailed all over, and his web 2.0 press machine is all over it (the praise, that is).
• If media were complicit in hyping the housing bubble that drove the economy in the last five years; are they being complicit in making things seem gloomier than they really are now?
• More Media Briefs: Jay Leno to stay at NBC … Arianna Huffington is IWM’s person of the year … Time’s top 10 magazine covers of the year.
• Just because: Remember in Back to the Future when Marty McFly goes into Doc Brown’s house and the automated robotic arm drops another can of dog food onto Einstein’s bowl, which was already overflowing? … Feed your dog with an iPhone.

Bookmark It

It’s not the same accreditation recently stripped from the 58,000-student school system by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, but Clayton officials say the seal of approval from the Georgia Accrediting Commission may help students get accepted to public and private colleges and universities in the state.

Full release after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark It

STAYING ALIVE: Troy Davis is alive this morning, thanks to a last-minute stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices will reconvene Monday, and if they don’t decide to hear his case, he’s back in Georgia’s clutches.

CHECK IS IN THE BAIL: Congress is listening to growing outcries to limit Wall Street executives’ lavish salaries and perks as part of the bailout. Counters one trade lobbyist: “It is not appropriate for government to be setting the salaries of executives.” Not appropriate like, say, using taxpayer money to save a corporation from its own bad investments.

WARREN PEACE: Warren Buffet soothes the weary minds of investors by throwing in on Goldman Sachs.

FUELISH HUMANS: The 2008 Atlanta Gas Crisis! is still going strong, despite the EPA’s move to allow local stations to sell heavier-polluting fuel. The AJC interviews an Emory behavioral psychologist, who reminds us that we’re panicky nitwits.

GAS FIGHT! Society is always three meals, or one tank of gas, away from anarchy.

FLORIDA: Decides it will accept Clayton students to its colleges after all.

DEKALB PLANE CRASH: One person is killed when a plane headed from Jacksonville, Fla., to Michigan crashes in a residential neighborhood near PDK.

TYLER PERRY: The Atlanta movie mogul/maven, who was once homeless himself, donates enough food to feed 1,000 Atlanta families for two weeks, helping address the recent food-donation shortage in the city.

ZOONOTIC SUGGESTION: Advocates of relocating the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to Athens contend it would foster increased scientific collaboration on treating diseases that start in animals and spread to humans, like avian flus.

BLACK MARKET: The announcement that UGA’s high-stakes showdown with No. 8 Alabama Saturday will be the blackout game has sparked the Athens economy with a black-clothes-buying frenzy.

Bookmark It

HAULING ASSET: U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held a press conference this morning about the federal government’s plan to take all those pain-in-the-ass assets off the hands of struggling financial companies. It’s expected to be the biggest federal meddling in the free market since the 1930s, and markets around the world are digging it.

HADRON COLLIDER: A 30-ton transformer breaks in the world’s largest particle collider, halting the experiment. I can only assume it’s because of black holes.

FLORIDA: Thinks it’s too good for Clayton students.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: NFL commish Roger Goodell issues a warning about helmet-to-helmet collisions following Tampa Bay cornerback Elbert Mack’s skull-rattling hit on Matt Ryan.

DICK CHENEY: Can’t get enough war.

GA. MUSIC HALL OF FAME: Accepting seven new inductees Saturday, including Ludacris and Widespread Panic.

IT’S NOT THE HUMIDITY: UGA prepares to play in the Arizona desert for the first time in its 115-year history.

COKE: Named the No. 1 brand in the world for the eighth year in a row.

LANIER: Five feet away from last December’s all-time low.

Bookmark It

THE VISIBLE HAND: Smugness is growing abroad over the global free-market champion — especially under such an anti-regulation Republican administration — essentially nationalizing private corporations to combat its sputtering economy.

PAIN IN THE BANK: Top central banks of the world unite to infuse $247 billion into money markets in an attempt to stave off a global financial meltdown.

GOUGING: The state has subpoenaed at least nine gas stations for price-gouging after Hurricane Ike shut down oil production on the Texas coast.

EUGLENA: A big swath of slimy plant/animal goo is floating down the Oostanaula River toward Rome.

ZONE DEFENSE: Metro Atlanta communities are more often having to deal with abandoned clear-cut lots and subdivisions that developers couldn’t afford to finish, often doing so by revisiting zoning conditions.

CLAYTON: Corrective Superintendent John Thompson meets with SACS president, says he’ll soon unveil the school system’s plan to regain accreditation in the next 12 months.

THE HOOKY CRUMBLES: Nine DeKalb parents have been arrested for educational neglect based on their children’s truancy; police have arrest warrants for 59 people in all, some of whose kids have missed 40-50 days of school.

DOT: Auditors discover the department’s financial situation is even worse than previously thought.

DENNIS QUAID: Visits Falcons practice to promote a movie.

Bookmark It

SARAH PALIN: The NY Times examines her governing style, which includes hiring several high school friends to high-paying state jobs for which they had no relevant experience.

BEAR MARKET TO FLEA MARKET: The Lehman Brothers investment bank announces it will file for bankruptcy, and despite the possibly market-soothing buyout of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, the Dow drops 300 points.

FALCONS: Can’t overcome early deficit to the Bucs despite a near-comeback in the fourth quarter.

LAWYER MILLOY: The Falcons’ star safety was arrested on charges of DUI and speeding early this morning. No word yet on whether he will represent himself.

GALVESTON: Rendered a wasteland by Ike, with packs of stray dogs and loose steer wandering the sewage-strewn streets. Hurricane hold-outs now want off the island after lack of power and water has made it almost uninhabitable.

CUTBACKS: State lawmakers, judiciary and the governor’s office say they’ll cut back on their budgets in addition to upcoming state budget cuts made necessary by the colossal statewide shortfall.

QUORUM: The revamped Clayton school board can now move forward with official business after reaching a quorum by recruiting two former candidates for board seats.

DOG CALLS 911: To report owner’s seizure.

LANIER: Not filling back up anytime soon.

LINGERING: Linger Longer Communities says it’s making progress on plans for its Jekyll Island redevelopment, but navigating the environmental laws and public input may be bogging down the process.

UGA: Drops to No. 3 despite staying undefeated, but still has four top-10 teams on its schedule, all SEC foes.

Bookmark It

BUSH: Secretly ordered the recent covert military strike in Pakistan, according to the NY Times, a major detachment from the usual U.S. tactic of using unmanned Predator spy planes to fire at suspected al-Qaeda targets in the country.

MCCAIN: Leads Obama by 18 points in Georgia.

HURRICANE IKE: Barreling toward Houston and Galveston, expected to be a Category 3 when it hits Friday night. Thousands of coastal Texans are evacuating.

CAGLE: Will run for governor in 2010.

THE POACH STATE: Georgia is among the fast-growing states poaching teachers from more economically strapped states, such as Michigan.

EXCELLENCE DEFICIENCY: The Commission for School Board Excellence, formed at the request of the Georgia Board of Education, is recommending that Georgia should have more power to intervene in dysfunctional local school boards such as Clayton’s.

BOBBY COX: Will return next season.

TOUCH AND GO: A Fulton Superior Court judge dismisses a lawsuit by VOTER GA challenging the fraud-proofness of the state’s touch-screen voting machines. VOTER GA’s Garland Favorito says the group may appeal.

CUMBERLAND ISLAND: Will begin tours of its north end, which had previously only been accessible to visitors via a 17-mile hike.

UGA: Will face its first real test of the season as it enters SEC play against Spurrier’s Gamecocks in Columbia Saturday.

Bookmark It

DAVID FRANKLIN: The ex-husband of Mayor Shirley Franklin and a chief architect of the Maynard Jackson political machine died Sunday at 65.

TRAVELATROCITY: Atlanta and several other U.S. cities are suing 17 online travel sites including Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, alleging the companies have cheated the cities out of millions in taxes.

REVACUEES: Gulf Coast residents who fled Hurricane Gustav may be repeating the ordeal less than two weeks later as Ike heads west-northwest.

OH, THE HEWED MANATEE: Four manatees are killed in the Savannah River, presumably by a large commercial or military prop boat.

HOSCHTON: The northeast Georgia city has broken Cincinnati’s world record for scarecrows in a single ZIP code, with nearly 5,000 at last count.

CLAYTON NOT APPEALING: The school system has decided not to appeal SACS’ accreditation-removal decision, instead focusing on getting its accreditation reinstated by September 2009.

ZONE COVERAGE: Former UGA and Cincinnati Bengals dynamo linebacker David Pollack, whose football career was ended in September 2006 with a broken neck, has signed on to host a sports talk show on 790 the Zone.

CONNECTING THE DOT: DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham and former DOT chairman Mike Evans were married Saturday night in Alabama.

Bookmark It

PALIN: Excites the crowd at the RNC with an aggressive speech aimed at Obama’s experience and celebrity. McCain makes a surprise appearance to support Palin, and reminds those in attendance of her national security experience.

OBAMA: Will give a prebuttal to McCain’s acceptance speech tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Maybe this will come up.

KWAME KILPATRICK: The embattled mayor of Detroit has accepted a plea deal and will resign.

HANNAH: Takes a northward turn, and is now expected to bypass the Georgia coast and hit land on the Carolina coast. Savannah’s unlikely to be evacuated, but the Hostess City is still preparing for the uninvited guest.

HAITI: “The situation is as bad as it can be,” according to a U.N. official in Gonaives. The country has been hit by three tropical storms in two weeks, and more than 100 people have died amid flooding and mudslides.

PAKISTAN: Mad at the U.S. for an alleged cross-border raid that it says killed 15 villagers in the northwestern part of the country.

CLAYTON BOE: Gets one step closer to a quorum by appointing Jessie Goree to fill the vacant District 3 seat, but takes two steps back by holding another controversial closed meeting, which two members refuse to attend in protest. Meanwhile, Gov. Perdue is looking into how he could gain more power to intervene in troubled school systems, even if by constitutional amendment, but the earliest that could happen is November 2010, likely too late for Clayton.

WAREHOUSE FIRE: Shuts down North Avenue this morning near City Hall East.

SHOCKLEY AND AWE: Terence Moore fantasizes for UGA/Falcons fans how the beloved former Bulldogs QB could ascend now that he’s the No. 3 behind an unproven No. 1 and a mediocre No. 2.

BAD SPORTS? Spencer Hall at the Sporting Blog defends “the Atlanta sporting landscape” in response to mockery of the Falcons reducing ticket prices in hopes of avoiding a TV blackout for the season opener.

Bookmark It

RNC: Fred Thompson, Joseph Lieberman and a not-too-close President Bush regaled John McCain during the first full day of convention festivities in St. Paul Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ron Paul held his own convention outside Minneapolis Tuesday, rallying his troops behind his libertarian conservatism.

SAVANNAH: May need to evacuate for Hannah, which is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it makes landfall Friday. Some scrambling for flood insurance find out it’s too late.

ROTARY CUB: The newborn panda at Zoo Atlanta is back out of the incubator and with its mother, Lun Lun.

TYING UP JUICE ENDS: Coca-Cola is hoping to capitalize on its recent Beijing marketing blitz by making a bid for China’s largest juice company, which would be its second-largest acquisition ever.

DECORUM, BUT NO QUORUM: The new, relatively uncontroversial Clayton school board has just three members, two short of a quorum, but has 45 days to appoint additional members.

UGA: Falls to No. 2 in both major polls despite winning Saturday, as USC’s rout of Virginia leapfrogs the Trojans to the top spot.

CHIPPER JONES: Atlanta third baseman’s quest for the NL batting title is the only silver lining left on the Braves’ dismal season.

CHENEY: The vice president will speak Sept. 19 in North Georgia at the opening-day ceremony for the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga.

Bookmark It

MCCAIN: Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. He’ll introduce her in Dayton, Ohio today.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president in Denver with a speech CNN analyst David Gergen calls a “political masterpiece.”

CLAYTON: School system loses accreditation, but can get it back at any point during the next school year if it can meet the SACS mandates. Superintendent John Thompson plans to appeal the SACS decision.

GUSTAV: Bearing down on Cuba as it becomes a hurricane, with a Tuesday landfall in Louisiana expected.

LANIER: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has slowed flows from the lake because tributaries and reservoirs south of Buford Dam were replenished by Fay.

UGA VII: The new mascot will be announced today and debuted tomorrow when Georgia hosts Georgia Southern in Athens.

RAMBLIN’ WRACK: Fay pushed excessive wrack, or decomposing seaweed that’s naturally washed ashore, beyond normal high tide in coastal Georgia, and it’s filled with trash.

RAMBLIN’ WRECK: Tech beats Jacksonville State 41-14 to open the season.

MEDAL OF SCIENCE: The nation’s highest science award will be given to Georgia Tech chemistry professor Mostafa El-Sayed, who’s working to treat cancer with cylindrical gold nanorods and lasers.

Bookmark It

Adios!

Per the suggestion of an administrative law judge who said four members of the Clayton County school board violated their duties under law, Gov. Sonny Perdue today removed Michelle Strong, Louise Baines-Hunter, Yolonda Everett and Sandra Scott from their posts. All nine school board members who were on the board when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools began their investigation — and whose actions were considered the primary cause of the accreditation fiasco — have since been removed.

“The fate of the Clayton County School System is now in the hands of the voters,” Perdue said in a statement. “Through the elections to replace these four board members, they can send a clear signal that the kind of behavior that has led to this ruling and the system’s loss of accreditation will not be tolerated. We can hope that this marks a new day for Clayton County, a time in which rebuilding can begin.”

More to come. Until then, view Perdue’s full release after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark It

If Clayton County Schools wants to regain its accreditation status, it’ll have to jump through a lot of hoops. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accrediting agency that stripped the system of its status this morning, released several documents related to the decision. I’m posting them below. The first is a 20-page report outlining the events leading up to the unfortunate news. The second file is from a press conference held today by the agency.

Click here to download the 20-page report from SACS.

Click here to download the press conference fact sheet.

Bookmark It