About North Georgia

Colleges must earn a parent's trust

2011-12-22T06:31:00.000-08:00

Recent events at Penn State have brought back memories of earlier scandal at our own UGA now nearly ten years ago. Three Georgia athletes (Steve Thomas (center, basketball), Tony Cole (guard, basketball) and Brandon Williams (cornerback)) raped a young student in a dorm room in McWhorter Hall. The college then compounded the events by delaying the athletes indictment for rape and sexual assault until after the basketball team had been eliminated from the NCAA tournament (NCAA rules require any player under indictment for a felony to be suspended).

Although Brandon Williams was found "not guilty" in Clarke County because the victim's attorney relied on her testimony alone, the victim had done what many counselors recommend. She told a close friend and her mother. She went to the hospital. She reported the rape.

The student withdrew from school while her assailants had free roam of the campus, perhaps looking for other victims. When Williams went to trial he hired attorney Kim Stephens, himself a football player. One look at this guy and you can imagine how much a football player attorney might further intimidate this victim. She would eventually win a 6-figure settlement from the school.

The school acted poorly in not allowing the athletes to be indicted until the team was no longer in the running for the NCAA tournament. They should have known that Tony Cole had a history of sexual assault and not allowed him to be recruited. As for the victim's rapists, Steve Thomas and Brandon Williams, they should have been immediately suspended.

It floored me when I found out the Penn State coach reported Jerry Sandusky to head coach Joe Paterno and the college president and the head of the security department in 2002 and the college looked the other way as this guy continued to sexually abuse young boys for nine more years. But how can I cast stones when our own colleges have had similar problems in recent years.

I hope that the Penn State disaster is the wake up call for all colleges that the UGA case wasn't.

Did we leave the poop?

2011-11-23T14:58:00.001-08:00

While walking the other day in a local park my wife and I were accosted by an older woman who was very upset because we did not "scoop the poop," a requirement in the park. She literally accosted us over the poop. When I asked her to calm down, she got even madder. Then I told her if she could not address me in a civil tone I would not listen to her. For some reason this worked and she calmed down to the point where I was willing to listen to her.

She said that our dog had pooped a few feet back and that we should clean it up. I said, "No, neither one pooped." I also explained that both our dogs were girls. so they might give the wrong impression. She wouldn't listen and backtracked to an old pile that she claimed our dogs had left, so to avoid any more conflict I decided to bag the pile and continue with our walk.

I have found that as I have gotten older I try to avoid conflict more than step into it (sorry for the bad pun). The woman who accosted us could have gotten much further if she had simply talked to us about what she thought she saw instead of getting mad at us. She was generating conflict.

Most dogwalkers do not leave piles on the trails, otherwise the heavily traveled trails would be packed with excrement. I think some dog lovers do need to be reminded from time to time that cleaning up is their responsibility. I noticed an owner leaving his dog's pile one time and he said the bags were gone from the stand at the start of the trail. "No problem, I've got one!" and the owner cleaned up the mess.

There is a cost for the local/state/federal governments to provide bags and to clean up poop left by other, less considerate dogwalkers. On the other hand, roughly 40% of American families own at least one dog and we do pay taxes. As our North Georgia becomes more crowded and the local/state/federal governments are cutting costs, we all must work together to keep our common areas clean.

Occupy or protest

2011-11-14T04:01:00.001-08:00

I am a strong proponent of the American right to protest, in my mind guaranteed under the First Amendment. From a historic prospective, the Occupy protests are similar to the Hoovervilles that formed in the early 1930's. The largest was in New York's Central Park, but Hoovervilles were common throughout the United States. There was one near Cabbagetown in Atlanta, and probably others.

With high unemployment and no welfare, Hoovervilles were a cheap place to live in a home crafted from wood taken from crates and palettes. Normally, these "homes" remained as a family moved on, ready for the next occupant who came into the town.

The occupy protesters are very disorganized. Only recently have they begun to focus their frustration on the banks (apparently the original "Wall Street" target was falling on deaf ears). As Georgians know, many banks, especially the local banks, are barely getting by. Each Friday it seems another small local bank in the state fails, only to be taken over, mostly by a stronger regional bank.

Recently, the protesters have begun to center on foreclosures in an attempt to attract support. Well just about everybody, myself included, hates to see a bank foreclose on a property. Maybe if the bank had done more due diligence upfront, checking credit ratings, verifying employment and requiring a down payment we might have avoided this foreclosure mess. But they were forced to accept the so-called sub-prime loans thanks to one man, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank.

In 2003 when the Bush Administration asked Congress for oversight on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae congressman Barney Frank stated that the entities "...are not facing any kind of financial crisis" Frank, as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee starting in 2007 tried to offset a statistical drop in home ownership with no down, no credit check home loans. This kicked off the famous mortgage bailout skit on Saturday Night Live, which NBC banned for many years:

Now, I don't blame the financial mess we got into in 2008 on Barney Frank. I do blame it on some Wall Street firms who knew they were taking advantage of antiquated laws with Mortgage Backed Securities and Credit Default Swaps. The banking mess, however, was because of the banks being forced to shore up the housing market courtesy of Mr. Frank. So, for the protestors to try and blame Wall Street or the banking industry without including the Pelosi Congress is sadly mistaken. Their movement is failing to catch widespread support because the basic tenant is wrong.

When we protested the killing of the Kent State students in 1969 many people who joined were righteously indignant over the killings and joined the protests across the United States. 100,000 people protested in Washington D. C. alone. The occupy movement pales in comparison.

Chloe's a unique personality

2010-10-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

Our recent adoptee Chloe has a unique personality, and so many people are interested when I tell a Chloe story I thought I would tell a few here.

On the day we brought her home Chloe astounded us...she leaped over our 5-foot high fence from a sitting position. Pam saw it the first time, but we both saw it the second time. Simply amazing. Luckily for us, Chloe's fence leaping was limited to the first day and she was easy to get back.

While her fence-leaping ability was curtailed she proved her agility again when she leaped through the window of a screen door from a sitting position on our new covered, screened-in porch and deck combination. Luckily, the screen guy had not yet gotten there.

The funny thing about this wonderful dog that in spite of her agility, she refuses to leap into my truck...she wants to be lifted. She has leaped into the truck in the past, so we know she can do it, but I think she just enjoys the contact with us. When she gets fed, she insists on a couple of minutes of good, solid petting before she begins to eat.

What raises most people's eyebrows, however, is that this Tennessee Treeing Brindle will go to our bedroom and get her "bed" (a large brown pillow beside our bed) and pull it to the living room, where the family congregates after dinner. Once on the bed she quickly falls asleep and only hell and high water will get her up. Now I just have to train her to bring it back to the bedroom at the end of the evening.

Where's the beef?

2010-09-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

I stopped by a favorite fast food chain to try their Salad 2.0 the other day. As I waited behind another car, I heard a loud voice from the customer at the drive-up window. Interested in what was happening, I turned down my Itunes just in time to hear the guy in front of me turn down his radio, and I had a pretty clear sound. I was stunned when the guy let loose with a ten-letter curse word.

An elementary school graduate I thought to myself! The conversation (probably very one-sided continued), but then the car with the angry guy pulled away and the car that turned down its radio to hear pulled forward. As he received his food I pondered what could make the first guy that angry. The only conclusion I could come to was they must be out of his favorite salad dressing!

As radio man pulled out from the drive-up window in record time I noticed angry car had circled in an attempt to further express his dissatisfaction with the level of service gotten from a minimum wage employee. Letting loose with an uncharacteristic 12-letter curse (eighth grade) the car sped off as I received my order, again in an uncharacteristically short time.

What could make the guy that mad at a hamburger place? No ketchup? Maybe he had ordered a burger with no pickles, but there were pickles on it. I just can't imagine what could happen that would make somebody that mad.

Southern Rock

2010-07-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years ago I wrote an article on Southern Rock for a regional magazine. In it I made the claim that "all rock is Southern Rock" because the roots of rock and roll were truly southern, and its something of which the South should be proud. Little did I know that this would be one of the most controversial statements I ever made.

Well, I am not a musician or involved in music in any way other than being an avid listener and consumer, as my Apple Itunes account will testify. After our CD player broke in our car at the time, my wife realized that the one thing worse than listening to me sing-along with a song was listening to me sing a capella.

Anyway, back to the origin of rock and roll in the South. Later known simply as rock or rock music, rock and roll evolved from a combination of country (mostly honky-tonk), blues (boogie-woogie) and jazz (be-bop and rhythm and blues) music. John Lennon once said "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry." Berry, although closely associated with Chess Records in Chicago, spent time in New Orleans (jazz), Memphis (blues), and St. Louis (where he awed crowds playing an occasional country song). If you prefer Bill Haley and the Comets as the originator of the genre, they were a western swing (a form of country music) band that occasionally added blues to the line-up. Think it was Elvis? He was born in Tupelo (MS) and moved to Memphis. Elvis combined his country upbringing with Beale Street Blues to get his early sound, but also added an element of gospel which the other performers didn't. Fats Domino? New Orleans with a heavy jazz and boogie-woogie influence.

The name Rock and Roll as it applies to music predates the formation of the genre and dates back to the 1920's, but the music it referred to was significantly different than rock and roll of the 1950's. At the time it was normally known as "race music," graciously renamed by Billboard in 1948 to rhythm and blues. Earlier references appear, but they tend to be a euphemism for sex.

Another element of rock and roll that is rarely mentioned is the invention of the solid-body electric guitar in California in 1946 (commercially available in 1950, the date frequently given). Before this, electric guitars were acoustic guitars amplified to the point where they could be heard when combined with drums and a piano in jazz.

Don't let the term rockabilly fool you. A Memphis sound that combined elements of rock and roll with country music it is distinct from early rock and roll.

Extend the Blue Ridge Parkway!

2010-05-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

As you enter the Smoky Mountains on U.S. Highway 441 just past Cherokee, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway comes off to the right. From here it travels 469 miles to Front Royal, Virginia, through some of the prettiest land on the eastern seaboard. About every 10 years my wife and I decide to revisit the Blue Ridge, for a good hike and to take some scenic pictures. The names stay with you...a memorable night in the Peaks of Otter Lodge (milepost 86) after camping for a week, a stop a Brineger Cabin (milepost 239), a preserved piece of Blue Ridge history.

The biggest problem with the Blue Ridge is that it takes 4 hours to get there from our house in Cherokee County, Georgia. I think that extending the Blue Ridge Parkway further south, through the remote area west of Murphy, crossing into Tennessee above Farner, then picking up the "Cohutta Loop" west of Ducktown. Now in Georgia, the loop represents old Georgia Highway 2 as it travels through remote sections of wilderness, packed with scenic views and unusual names (Hell, Potatopatch Mountain), like the current Blue Ridge Parkway.

I would think that this road would end in Eton, coming down from the Cohuttas on the old CCC Road to Eton (just north of Chatsworth if your looking for it on a map).

What a great North Georgia spring

2010-03-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

Because of the unusually cold North Georgia winter, our springtime is shaping up to be one of the most beautiful in years. Jonquils (okay, daisies anywhere outside the state), which during warm winters bloom in mid-February, have been delayed until mid-March. Forsythia, which recently have been blooming in the third or fourth week of February started to bloom during the ides of March (ides is the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of other months).

Delayed only a couple of days, the Bradford pears are already covered in white and the ornamental cherries that are so popular in Macon and Conyers have those distinctive pink flowers. Now on the first day of spring Pam and I are anxiously awaiting the azaleas of many colors, white and pink dogwood, and the yellow pine pollen that endears itself to no one.

Spring is a time of renewal. Pam and I renew our love of the north Georgia mountains which we don't get to visit as much as we like during the winter. We renew our love of hiking, not only in the mountains, but on distant battlefields like Chickamauga or closer ones like Allatoona Pass. We check on new exhibits at attractions like the Georgia Aquarium and Rome Area History Museum. We also reach out to old friends simply to say "How ya doing."

Where in the world is Waynesboro, Georgia

2010-02-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, I don't expect the average American to know where the town of Waynesboro, Georgia is, but I would think that the New York Times and Time magazine should, or at least be able to find it on Google maps. On Tuesday, President Obama made news by announcing a multi-billion dollar loan to the Southern Company to help build two new reactors a the Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, 25 miles south of Augusta. The Georgia location made sense for many reasons, mostly because Georgians are willing to accept the plants and need the jobs.

The New York Times simply referred to Plant Vogtle as being in the Augusta vicinity. Okay, I'll buy that, but they could have been a little more clear in my mind. Time Magazine, however, identified Plant Vogtle as being outside Atlanta. Well, Waynesboro is about 175 miles from Atlanta, so I don't think of it as "outside Atlanta." I have to give them a little cred, however, since they did correctly identify the plant as The Alvin W. Vogtle nuclear power plant.

Vogtle, an Auburn alumni, joined the Army Air Force during World War II and served with the Mighty Eighth. He was shot down over North Africa and spent most of his time trying to escape from various German POW camps. After the war he continued his education, joining Alabama Power after it had formed the Southern Company with 3 other Southeastern power companies. He worked his way through the ranks to become President and eventually, CEO of the Atlanta-based company. Vogtle's claim to fame may elude most people. He was the inspiration for Capt. Hilts "The Cooler King," Steve McQueen's in the movie The Great Escape.

When Forsyth County, Georgia became nationally known for two marches led by Hosea Williams, some people flew to their maps, then erroneously identified the central Georgia city of Forsyth as the location of the marches, not aware that the state had both a city and a county of the same name. All I would say to the people that can't get the geography right is that we are the State of Georgia, not the foreign country, and you really should know better.

A simple "by the way" to Time and the New York Times. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has absolutely nothing to do with chickens, except as part of his vet practice.

Global warming? - not in north Georgia

2010-01-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

When global warming was a hot topic, the announcement of average annual temperatures was a heralded event. So when the National Climatic Data Center announced the 2009 average temp. for the United States on Friday, January 8, 2010, one might think that the interest would at least be piqued. Key "annual average temperature" into Mr. Google news and the first article that actually deals with this subject is from London and is focused on the high cost of "warmists." When global warming proponents (I do like the term warmists) beat us over the head with 14 years of warming (1995-2008) they should also be glad to tell us that the last two years have been so close to normal that the difference is a statistical one (in other words, you probably don't feel it).

North Georgia folks probably don't have a problem telling you its colder because we didn't see normal temps - we were 4 degrees Fahrenheit below normal in December, 2009, and that's a little more than statistically significant. A large portion of the center of the country was 8 degrees Fahrenheit below normal last month. In Atlanta, this has been the coldest start to January since 1869, when records were first kept.

I do believe that global warming is occurring. I just have never been sure why, I don't know if its a short-term or long term change, and nobody has proven to my satisfaction that the CO2 theories of the warmists are scientifically sound. Remeber the "ozone hole" whose growth could destroy mankind? Guess what - it reached its peak in September, 2006 and has been shrinking since. Right now its about the size it was in 1992.

The warmists have arguments that sound logical, but are they really reasonable? One example Al uses is the melting of the icebergs in Alaska. Thunder Bay (now Glacier Bay National Park), has receded some 20 miles since the start of the 20th century (a fact Mr. Gore presented in his book. Well, the ice levels in Glacier Bay have been receding since it was explored in 1790, a half-century before the advent of fossil fuel and a 100 years before its use could be considered common.

In November, 2009 160mb of emails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia that showed the CRUs efforts to disseminate information that only supported the CO2 theory of global warming. The emails were then uploaded to Realclimate.org, where the file stayed for about 2 hours until it was removed. Researcher and author Kim Cobb wrote "CRU e-mails are an embarrassment to climate science in general." In America, only FoxNews seized on reporting the event and ran multiple stories on "Climategate." Furthermore, the results reported by the CRU can not be duplicated from the raw data available and the CRU has refused to release the "climategate code." (code is programming).

My wife and I have lived in Cherokee County for 17 years and have always been able to get out after a snow storm until we got 2 inches of the white stuff on Thursday, January 7, 2010. Because of the extended cold, when the rain from the start of the storm froze, it made our road impassible until the county salted it on Saturday. Now one storm doesn't mean global warming is history, but 24 months is a significant statistical anomaly that may force the warmists to rethink their claims.

Your speed is...

2009-12-01T04:13:00.000-08:00

Driving around north Georgia, there has been a noticeable change on the landscape. Some communities have created speed signs with radar guns in them to tell you what a policeman would see if he were pointing his radar gun at you. One city, Roswell, actually flashes the speed if you are doing more than the posted limit.

Speeders may not like these, but law-abiding folks probably do - a gentle reminder to "Slow it down" as the Roswell police have been trying to do, seemingly unsuccessfully, for years. I must admit, I do speed - a little anyway, normally no more than 5 miles over the speed limit, with gusts up to 10 over as my wife likes to say. So when my speed is gusting while passing one of the Your speed is signs, its time to back off on the accelerator.

Another great thing about these speed guns is it gives us a place to test our speedometers. It may not be easy when the roads are crowded, but early in the morning you will be able to see your exact speed. Then, the next time somebody comes up on your butt, you'll know that you are doing the limit (or 5 mph over).

Georgia has passed a new super-speeder law that increases speeding fines across the board, up to $400 extra if you are caught doing 85 on a four lane highway. This will keep more people within the legal limit without a doubt. With the economy the way it is the quickest way to change bad habits is through the wallet (or pocketbook, as the case may be). A law-enforcement friend has told me that at least initially, when the law goes into effect in January, 2010, some departments are intending stricter enforcement. Some cities have already begun stricter enforcement. According to the Gainesville Times, the police are already out citing drivers for speeding infractions and trying to slow down cars in general.

Now if your a "5 mph over" guy like me you may want to check your speed the next time you go past a radar gun speed sign, not because you will get a super-speeder ticket but because of the stricter enforcement. And if you are in the super-speeder category, the next time you get stopped and fined for speeding watch for a second bill mailed to you from the state. This will be your super-speeder fine.

Before you ask, the super-speeding money (estimated to be $32 million in 2010) is tagged to support trauma care in the state.

November is finally here!

2009-11-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

October is always a busy month as the leaf change hits full swing in North Georgia, but by the start of November we trim down our travel and concentrate on the area just north of Atlanta. In fact, sometimes Pam and I don't have to travel very far. I took this photo of a tree in our back yard this morning. While the surrounding trees are past peak, this guy looked stunning in the early morning light, brilliantly reflecting sunlight right into the camera. We hit a number of our favorite stops this year, from Brasstown Bald to Blood Mountain to the Rocktown Trail.

One of our articles in About North Georgia will be about the Gorilla Haven in Fannin County on Paris Mountain. We are excited about the work these folks are doing, giving homes to, well, gorillas here in North Georgia. One final tour is available on November 28, 2009, and according to the web site, it has not filled up yet. If you love gorillas (and who doesn't), you can give to the Gorilla Haven on line! If you have a blog, or even better a Facebook page, why not help them out and add a blurb for this wonderful cause.

More Fall in North Georgia

2009-10-27T05:08:00.001-07:00

This image from the Bartram Trail by Annette Gelbrich shows some excellent color in Rabun County at higher elevations and plenty of leaf change to come. It was taken on the weekend of October 24, 2009. The leaves at the top of Brasstown Bald were gone by October 22, although the drive to the top still had some excellent reds and yellows.

To the west, GA Highway 52 from Ellijay to Fort Mountain was in full color on the weekend of October 24 as well. Its a beautiful and easy scenic drive with multiple pull-offs for the peepers.

Fort Mountain has a scenic overview (near the CCC tower). While nearby trees are in full color, the valleys nearby are only at 25-50%.

Have a fall update? Please add it to our comments section.

Fall is in the air

2009-10-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 5-day stay at Enota Mountain Retreat in Blairsville, Georgia and the fall colors are moderate to good. Just before we arrived a rain storm passed through, followed by fairly high winds (gusts to 30 mph). This blew a lot of the early fall color off the trees. The good news is that only about half the trees had begun to change at 2000-3000 feet, so there is still plenty of leaf change to see. Below 2000 feet it seems the fall will run a little later than normal with the best weekend probably being the last weekend of the month for the northern counties and the first week of Atlanta for counties closer to Atlanta.

We stopped by Cucina Rustica in Morganton for some of the best Italian food in the Southeast United States this past Thursday. This restaurant has become a standard on our trips to North Georgia. It will be a feature in an upcoming issue of About North Georgia.

We also visited some of the lesser known CCC works in the North Georgia mountains and plan to continue this journey in the near future.

Seems like the drought is really over

2009-10-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

Finally, Georgia seems to be catching up on the rainfall it lost over the last eight years. I just wasn't expecting it to come in a couple of months, September and October 2009. Lake Lanier is near full levels (of course, Lanier is not a good way to judge a drought since the levels are controlled by the Corps of Engineers). The Chattahoochee River flooded badly in September and portions are flooding with this October. The ground is saturated and its actually fun to do the fall planting, if you can get a day without rain.

The rain brings back memories of months were rainfall totals were less than 1 inch and dire predictions of weather change because of global warming. Of course, 2008 was the first year that the average temperature fell in 10 years. I'm not sure but it seems this year is unusually cold so 2009 may be the second drop. The good thing about this rain and the cooler weather coming behind it is that there will be a positive effect on the leaf season. If you haven't planned a trip to the mountains, this is a good time to go. Plenty of fall events abound, our favorites being the Apple Festival and the Sorghum Festival.

Noise, Noise, Noise

2009-10-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Have you notice how noisy its getting in our North Georgia? Even when hiking a trail where it seems impossible to here traffic noise, it seems to be right around the corner. I was hiking Desoto Falls Trail the other day and had to listen to the noise of cars and bikes until I finally came to the Falls, about a mile and a half from the start of the trail.

I think Georgia needs to pass a noise ordinance.