Fresh Loaf

Somewhat lost amid the shuffle of the presidential race and a handful of legislators losing seats were the various referenda (or referendums, for non-English majors) that appeared on local ballots. Here’s a wrap-up:

• Yes to TADS; no to private cities. By a close margin, Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow school boards to join with local governments in issuing bonds for tax allocation districts. But voters narrowly spiked a crazy proposal to allow private developers to levy taxes on homeowners. Less controversial was an initiative to provide tax incentives to encourage preservation of forest land; it passed handily.

• Fulton County libraries will be getting a facelift. Voters overwhelmingly approved a $275 million bond issue to add eight new branches, spruce up 24 existing branches and spend $85 million toward replacing the downtown central library. Expect a grassroots campaign to emerge against tearing down the old building. (more…)
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If you’ve been put off by articles about the long lines at early-voting locations, but you don’t want to wait until Election Day to cast your ballot, you may get a break next week. That’s when Georgia counties begin advanced voting.

What’s the difference, you ask? Oh, there’s a world of difference; early voting began Sept. 22, while advance voting runs next Monday through Friday.

Still not clear? (more…)

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I tread lightly when it comes to South Carolina voodoo priestesses. As a matter of fact, I’d be fearful if I were the AJC’s Kay Powell and Kent Miles for even reporting this story. I wish them the very best juju.

But here goes: A lame duck Cobb County commissioner — who’s already had her fair share of controversy — has been accused of hiring George Ann Mills, a South Carolina voodoo priestess, to hex the man who ousted her from office and writing $3,000 in bad checks for the service. Kesting denies the accusations, even though Mills claims to have receipts of the alleged deal.

Kesting’s thinks she’s the victim of identity theft. Plus, she’s got an alibi:

“I have no idea who [the voodoo priestess] is,” Kesting said today. “My car won’t let me get to South Carolina. I know nobody in South Carolina.”

Maybe the voodoo priestess can do something about that ride. She’s possibly seen it, after all. According to the Marietta Daily Journal, Mills accurately described Kesting’s car as a 1992 Mercedes Benz.

There are a million jokes in here that I’m not going to touch. The last person I need to piss off is a voodoo priestess or the greater voodoo community. So on that note, have a great night, everybody!

UPDATE I came up with a safe joke — and plausible alibi — for Kesting. Hey, she was just on a fact-finding mission to research biofuels! $3,000, please.

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— Georgia has its own Montauk Monster, and it’s called, simply, Bigfoot. Details will be unveiled Friday, so says Peach Pundit.

— Despite evidence to the contrary, Georgia Politics Unfiltered claims, “There is no sex in the courtrooms of Cobb County Superior Court (or the judge’s chambers for that matter).” Does lesbian sex count?

— Georgia Politics Unfiltered also updates a post from yesterday that hyped today’s political forecast from CQ Politics. CQ’s shocking revelation: In the presidential election, Georgia is “Republican Favored”!

— According to Lucid Idiocy, the food crisis is over. Gov. Sonny Perdue supports biofuels. And the Montauk Monster was spotted drinking margaritas at the Jekyll Island Club. (OK, I made that last one up.)

— Georgia On My Mind has posted photos of the ancient Etowah Indian Mounds. No apparent news there, seeing as how they were built nearly 1,100 years ago. They’re real purty, though.

— Media Matters‘ SpaceyG says she isn’t all that bummed about waking up with John McCain. Political Insider’s Jim Galloway says McCain isn’t all all thrilled about waking up with Ralph Reed. No word on who John Edwards is waking up with.

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Last week’s editorial buyout offer at the AJC was structured as something of a gamble for reporters: if enough of them took the deal, there’d be no need for layoffs. Otherwise…

As with any game of chance, you sometimes get unexpected outcomes. In this case, it turns out to be the wholesale departure of the Cobb bureau staff, a result that appears to have taken even the paper’s top brass by surprise.

In one fell swoop, the AJC’s Cobb outpost will lose Bureau Chief Sheila Garland; government reporter Tom Opdyke; business reporter David Pendered; cops reporter Yolanda Rodriguez; general assignment reporter Karen Rosen; enterprise reporter Bill Sanders; photographer Andy Sharp; and education reporter Diane Stepp.

As far as we can tell, the only full-timer left in Cobb is enterprise reporter Jeremy Redmon, who wasn’t eligible to take the buyout because he’s been with the paper only three years.

We’re told editor Julia Wallace has sent out a staff memo asking for volunteers for reassignment to the Cobb office.

The exodus may have something to do with the paper’s decision to discontinue the Extras, the Thursday zoned sections containing news and sports geared to their specific communities. But folks in the DeKalb bureau decided to stay, despite the impending demise of the DeKalb Extra, while the Cobbers bailed.

There was once a time when Cobb was the paper’s Tiffany bureau; many of the paper’s top editors and executives lived in Cobb and they made sure the local staff was top-notch. The newsroom was as big as that of the Marietta Daily Journal, but with more resources at its disposal.

The times are definitely a-changin’ …

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WELL-TO-DO: Former Loafer Alyssa Abkowitz writes in the WSJ how affluent Atlantans such as Tyler Perry and Tom Glavine are getting around watering restrictions by installing wells.

MATTER OF PRINCIPAL: Cobb County school board members say they hadn’t heard a middle school principal was under investigation for sexual harassment when they promoted him to principal of North Cobb High School last month.

TRIAL BY FIRE: Cherokee County firefighters are the latest in metro Atlanta to invest in thermal-imaging cameras that allow them to find hidden hot spots and victims through smoke.

CLAYTON: The school system hires 400 new teachers despite the looming accreditation crisis.

CHASE CLOSED: A North Carolina man leads police on a chase through several Atlanta and DeKalb County neighborhoods Wednesday morning, eventually being caught after trying to flee his car.

FIGHTING DOGFIGHTING: The Humane Society has been blitzing Georgia the last few months with ads promoting a $5,000 reward for information leading to dogfighting arrests and convictions.

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A bar-owner in Marietta is selling t-shirts depicting Sen. Barack Obama as a banana-chomping chimp.

From AJC.com:

Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he’s peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with “Obama in ‘08″ scrolled underneath, are “cute.” But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

But don’t call Mike Norman a racist!

Norman said those offended are “hunting for a reason to be mad” and insisted he is “not a racist.”

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