Fresh Loaf

GOLD RUSH: American swimmer Michael Phelps wins his third gold medal of the 2008 Olympics, his ninth overall, which ties the world record for most career gold medals in Olympic history. He has a chance for two more golds Wednesday morning.

RUSSIA VS. GEORGIA: Russia announced today that it will stop attacking Georgia, but Georgian leaders say they’re still being attacked. An Atlantan and native of the country Georgia is hosting governmental websites from here during the siege, and says those sites are still being cyber-attacked by botnets on the U.S.-based servers. The Times of London lays out the historical context of the war.

WATER USE: In metro Atlanta and North Georgia drops 20 percent, which Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch says is a sign that conservation efforts and watering restrictions are working.

GUNS AT AIRPORT: Won’t fly, says a federal judge.

ESCALATING TENSION: In response to frequent “shoe entrapment,” Hartsfield-Jackson begins announcing, at five-minute intervals, the dangers of wearing soft shoes such as flip-flops or Crocs on escalators.

NBAF: Federal officials seem to be favoring a Mississippi site over Athens for the National Agro- and Bio-defense Facility, which will study foot-and-mouth disease and other highly infectious diseases, even though the Mississippi site scored the lowest numerical evaluation among all contenders.

Bookmark It

DAMMED IF HE DOESN’T: Jimmy Carter revives an old gubernatorial quest of his to prevent three dams from being built on the Flint River.

CARRYING CAPACITY: The Chicago Tribune examines recent revolutions against gun control, from Disney World to Hartsfield-Jackson to the Windy City.

WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU: Medical College of Georgia researchers identify brown rice’s health benefits.

FALCONS: New running backs Michael Turner and Thomas Brown prepare for the first day of training camp.

SMOG: Bad enough weekday afternoons that experts say exercising then does more harm than good.

ADVANCE VOTING: For runoff elections begins today.

Bookmark It

WITHDRAWAL METHOD: Third of three candidates for president of Georgia State withdraws his name from consideration, leaving no active candidates.

STORK LIFT: South Georgia’s endangered wood stork is making a comeback, having doubled the number of nests found last year, according to the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.

DOT: Settles sexual harassment charges against two former board members for nearly $150,000.

PACK LIGHT, PACK HEAT: State Rep. Tim Bearden thinks better of bringing a gun to pick up his family, but Georgia Carry continues his crusade, suing the city, Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson GM Ben DeCosta for the right to bear arms at the airport. Also, giddy gun carriers congregated Tuesday at a Cobb County restaurant to mark the first day they could do so.

STUDY: Finds Georgia needs to raise college graduation rates.

T.I.: Andrew Young is working to mold the rapper into a different kind of King.

VOTER REGISTRATION: Continues to grow in Georgia. But don’t take my word for it — this AccessNorthGa news graphic answers all your questions.

Bookmark It

The pro-gun group GeorgiaCarry.org filed suit in federal court yesterday claiming the city of Atlanta cannot ban state firearms license holders from carrying weapons in the Hartsfield-Jackson terminal.

Last night I spoke to the group’s president, attorney Edward Stone, who revealed one of the group’s possible legal strategies against the city.

As you might (not) have read, yesterday Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Ben DeCosta said Atlanta is entitled to ban guns from the airport terminal, despite a new state law allowing firearms license holders to carry weapons while on public transportation.

Franklin and DeCosta say the new law does not apply to the airport because the airport is covered by state code 16-11-127 which restricts possession of weapons in public buildings and at public gatherings. (more…)

Bookmark It

ARTHUR TESLER: Sentenced to five years this morning for lying to investigators about the fatal 2006 shooting of Kathryn Johnston.

BRAVES FAN DIES: Falls from the upper deck during the eighth inning of Wednesday night’s game.

GUN TRIAL: Smyrna gun shop owner Jay Wallace is in New York this week, preparing for his legal showdown with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is expected to take the stand in his federal trial over gun control.

TICKLED PINK: Federal judge orders the Clayton County sheriff to stop setting up road blocks on the dead-end street leading to Pink Pony South in Forest Park. The strip club sued the sheriff in February, alleging he was unfairly targeting its customers.

CRCT BREAKER: State Superintendent Kathy Cox throws out the social studies portion of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests that Georgia middle school students recently bombed, saying the performance was “implausibly low.”

NORREESE HAYNES: Will find out in early June if he can get his Clayton school board seat back. During a hearing Wednesday, his attorneys apparently seriously threatened to ask for federal troops to march into Clayton:

While the judge did not give a resolution to either side, the hearing was filled with moments of confusion, theatrics and even threats from plaintiff attorneys to take the case to a federal court and ask for federal troops to march into the county, if Benefield did not decide in Haynes’ favor.

BEACON GREASE: The Roswell Beacon, a startup weekly, gets national attention for a controversial cover depicting Obama in a rifle’s crosshairs.

STATE OF EMERGENCY: Declared for Cherokee County following Tuesday’s tornado and hailstorm. According to this news graphic, the storms have dislodged the entire state of Georgia from the earth, where it’s now floating away.

Bookmark It

JOHN EDWARDS: Endorses Obama.

TB LAND: Georgia’s reputation for rogue tuberculosis patients is bolstered by a Covington man arrested and quarantined for not obeying doctor’s orders to stay at home after TB diagnosis.

TAKE A MULLIGAN: Marietta racist Mike Norman has ordered 100 more of his blatantly race-baiting “Obama in ‘08″ T-shirts to sell at his bar, Mulligan’s, despite widespread protests, mockery and death threats. The worst part may be his rationalization.

REMINGTON STEAL: A northeast Georgia man’s Remington 16-gauge shotgun, stolen in 1986, is returned 22 years later after being discovered Monday in Maynard, Tenn. Good timing, too, because now he can take it into restaurants and on public transit.

TRUST NO ONE: Antitrust review is the last hurdle for the Delta-NWA merger, and experts doubt the Dept. of Justice will block the deal on antitrust grounds.

TAKING A SCRAP: Bad economy and rising global copper prices are increasingly driving thieves in Cartersville, and around the country, to steal copper wiring and cables.

C1AL1S BUST: Feds and local police raid a Roswell home where they say a couple was making up to $30,000 a day selling drugs such as copycat Cialis via mail order.

Bookmark It

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Georgia Restaurant Association Executive Director Ron Wolf are among those urging Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto legislation that will allow Georgians with concealed weapons permits to carry guns in restaurants serving alcohol.

“How do you enforce that? We’re not going to frisk them for a gun.”

-Wolf, speaking to the Gainesville Times on April 8, on the law’s stipulation forbidding customers with concealed weapons from consuming alcohol.

“This is not about the right to bear arms. This is about public safety.”

-Franklin, speaking at a April 24 press conference, as quoted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

“All this stuff we hear about people are going to start dropping their chicken wings and shooting is enough to make your head explode. We’re talking about law-abiding citizens who have gone through background checks.”

-The legislation’s author Rep. Tim Bearden, R - Villa Rica, as quoted by 11 Alive on April 24, dismissing claims the law will lead to restaurant gunplay.

Bookmark It

According to the fine print on the back of Georgia gun permits, it’s currently illegal to carry an “explosive compound, firearm, or knife” to “athletic or sporting events, churches or church functions, political rallies or functions, publicly owned or operated buildings, or establishments at which alcoholic beverages are sold [sic] for consumption on the premises.”

On Friday, state lawmakers modified this no-gun-zone list.

If Gov. Perdue signs the legislation, Georgians with permits-to-pack will soon be able to carry concealed guns (but not samurai swords) on MARTA, into some restaurants and bars, and to state parks.

The law is obnoxious and Gov. Perdue should veto it — but not for the reason you might think.

I do not believe the new law will increase the number of restaurant and/or MARTA shoot-outs.

And as a gun permit holder myself, (more…)

Bookmark It

PEABODYS: Winners of the 67th annual media awards are announced at UGA, including “60 Minutes,” “The Colbert Report,” “Planet Earth,” and CNN, ABC News, CBS News and NPR. Not among the winners, as Spacey Gracey notes at Peach Pundit, is FOX News.

TED TURNER: Tells PBS’s Charlie Rose that global warming could kill “most of the people” in 30 or 40 years, and “the rest of us will be cannibals.”

DOG WILD: Screaming Chinese schoolchildren swarm visiting Georgia poultry official when he pulls out a photo of his dogs.

YELLOW JOURNALISM: WSB-TV Action News covers the pollen onslaught, including this insightful “explanation” from meteorologist Karen Minton: “The skies are filled with pollen as we move into spring.”

GUNS: Bill to allow guns in public transit and restaurants passes the state Senate.

SANCTUARY CITIES: House passes bill outlawing “sanctuary cities” for illegal immigrants in Georgia, even though none exist.

CLAYTON COUNTY: “Bleeding,” according to school board Chairwoman Ericka Davis, who, along with board Vice Chairman Eddie White, announced Wednesday that they’re stepping down in June.

Bookmark It

It should come to no one’s surprise that Georgia picked up an abysmal report card from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. In fact, out of a possible 100 score, Georgia came in at nine points.

The organization was founded by Jim Brady after he and President Reagan were shot by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981. Brady was Reagan’s press secretary.

According to a press release, the Brady group scored states in five categories of laws: curbing firearm trafficking; strengthening Brady background checks; child safety; banning military-style assault weapons; and making it harder to carry guns in public places. California had the best score, at 79. Georgia tied with Texas and Vermont in 29th place.

“Georgia is doing virtually nothing to protect its citizens against gun violence, does not have a plan to encourage greater gun owner responsibility, and is allowing dangerous people to have easy access to guns,” Alice Johnson of Georgians for Gun Safety said. The state has yet to pass some key gun trafficking laws, such as mandatory background checks on all gun purchases and limits on bulk purchases of handguns.

That group’s next battleground is legislation pending in Georgia that would force employers to allow employees to have loaded guns on their private property.

We feel safer already.

Bookmark It

A crew of at least six people broke into Autrey’s Armory in Fayette County at 4 a.m. Wednesday and took 80 weapons. According to the AJC, they used a stolen pickup truck to tear off the burglar bars, and were in and out before police arrived three minutes after the alarm sounded. Of special interest to the thieves were handguns manufactured by Glock and Sig Sauer.

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department has put the surveillance video on YouTube in hope of catching the thieves.

Bookmark It

In the South, it’s easier to buy a gun than it is to buy a vibrator.

Bookmark It

So, should Georgia gun dealers be the targets of sting operations and lawsuits by New York City? Lawyers working for the Big Apple’s mayor (and possible independent presidential wannabe), Michael Bloomberg, have sued 27 gun shops in other states — primarily Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. For the full background, see the article I wrote last month.

The gun dealers are fighting back on two fronts:

• Challenging whether New York has “jurisdiction” to pursue civil lawsuits against legitimate businesses in other states.
• And filing their own countersuits charging, among other things, that Bloomberg and his aides have committed libel and slander. One Smyrna store, Adventure Outdoors, is seeking $400 million in damages from New York.

Bloomberg won one round this week. A federal judge in Brooklyn, Jack Weinstein, ruled that “there are a significant number of traces linked to criminal investigations in New York that are attributable to the defendants’ conduct; and that defendants’ distribution practices have a substantial effect on crime in New York.” In English, what the judge was saying was that the original sale of guns used in crimes could be traced to gun dealers. The judge stated that it could be inferred that the original sales were illegal.

(more…)

Bookmark It