Here’s what’s going on today:
Barrow and Vets agree:
Being a veteran kind of sucks, if you’re sick.
SOS Candidate in town tomorrow:
Talking to the Clarke County Democrats, who are apparently hosting a fundraiser for Cathy Cox. We wonder if there’s one in the works for Mark Taylor as well… Nonetheless, go see Scott Holcomb. If you were running for Secretary of State, he’d come listen to you. (6 pm tomorrow, Clarke County Courthouse)
Just give it up already:
No matter which side you’re on, La Puerta del Sol is a done deal. Opponents and proponents, please, I implore you – no need to keep this stuff stirred up in the papers when we have fraternities to persecute and traffic to calm.
Bars on crack (down):
As we were discussing recently, folks want to blame the “Athens Underage Drankin’ Epidemic” ™ on everyone and everything except – gosh, we don’t know – the underage kids who go out and get boozy. We’re pragmatic, but cracking down on bars and liquor stores is not going to even make a dent in the “problem,” such as it is. Hell, these students were smart enough to get into UGA, we’re guessing they’re smart enough to find someone to buy booze for them too. Today in the ABH, letter writers want to blame the bars (see our recent post on drankin’ for why that’s less than correct), and the ABH itself for decrying underage drinking on the opinions page while showing a grown man, of legal age, drinking champagne on the sports page. How dare they? It’s all your fault, ABH! You’re what’s wrong with our community. Next step, Winders is indicted for Lewis Fish’s death while Jim Thompson turns state’s evidence.
Open Thread:
Do with it as you will.
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3 comments:
I remember seeing in the police blotter a month or so ago that 2 people were found dead in the OC* of an OC** OD***, yet no letters were written to the editor and no opinion pieces by the editorial stuff were published about the deaths.
I wanted to look through the police blotter to see what other drug/alcohol related deaths had been reported over the last year or so, but the ABH online edition doesn't actually make that so easy.
At this point in time I am beginning to believe that too much emphasis is placed on the deaths of UGA students while drug related deaths by older people who aren't students are virtually ignored - even though they all died for pretty much the same reasons.
Are UGA students really different from regular folks or are they no different when it comes to doing stupid things that get themselves killed. I could see this being some sort of issue if lots of people at UGA were dying because of drugs, but the only other drug death I could find that was of a student under the legal drinking age was that guy who died from taking ecstasy in 2001 and I think he went to another school around here, not UGA.
I guess what I am trying to say is that this is probably an isolated incident as far as UGA is concerned, but it parallels what seems to happen on a regular basis in the community.
* Oconee County
** OxyContin (Rush's favorite pills for popping)
*** Overdose
http://onlineathens.com/stories/012406/news_20060124044.shtml
UGA students have one thing that regular folks don't usually have: a lot of Mommas and Papas who's baby-darlins are away from home for the first time.
An OCOCODX2 may affect some local folks in rural Oconee in a tragic way, but an underage student on a bender perks up the ears of UGA parents & UGA parents-to-be across the whole of the State of Georgia.
That could be one reason the late Mr. Fish gets waay more attention than 2 deaths in Oconee.
Anyone notice in the ABH story yesterday regarding the increase in UGA Police's alcohol-related arrests how buried the key point that police now arrest for minor alcohol offenses in which they used to merely issue citations?
And Williamson says there's no connection and everyone nods their head and goes 'gosh, it really is bad with the kids and their drinking.' But when he says there's no connection to external affairs, he really means there is quite a big one.
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