CLASSIC CITY NEWS

September 10, 2026 Dear Commissioners, I am writing to you because two formal ethics/conflict-of-interest (COl) complaints I filed with the City Attorney in June and July 2026 remain publicly unaddressed over 60 days later. In that regard, I am requesting a formal public response from you to the specific questions on page three of this letter. Overview These complaints allege COl's involving the mayor and two nonprofit organizations. The City Attorney acknowledged receipt of

By Albert DeSimone I happily toiled as a mid-level administrator for the better part of my career at The University of Georgi, where I was a communications director in the IT department with an identity problem. "You don't need to know corn to sell corn flakes.” This old business maxim might resonate with some, but not me. If I was going to “sell” IT services, I felt it necessary to learn about those services. So I did. I acquired a bit of a reputation for my ability to “tal

By Erik Hogan Science may explain the night to us. It describes an aspect of the spherical Earth rotating away from the illumination and warmth of the sun’s light. In those hours of facing the emptiness of space, darkness covers that part of our planet, diminishing ambient light and cooling off the atmosphere. But the Earth continues to rotate and, invariably, the hours of visibility and warmth return. This does not even begin to portray the human experience of the night. Beg

By T.W. Burger It was built somewhere around 1917, the same year my father was born and while the U.S. threw itself into World War One, also known as The Last War. As if. It was a gift from a schoolteacher aunt when I was 15. I like to think she gave it to me because she recognized in me a writer taking root. More likely, she had decided nobody would ever be able to decipher my handwriting. It was the beginning of a very productive relationship. School papers, journals, poetr

I’m writing because last week they killed 10 dogs at the shelter and the new director is not allowing transports to the north rescues-and you can’t even apply for dogs anymore. You have to go in and adopt them and they’re only open from 11 to 4 and they don’t answer the phone. I tried to get a dog and at that time there was an app process last week. They never contacted me and then they sent the dog to rescue. So at least they didn’t kill him. But everybody’s upset, especial

By Dennis Rice It would disturb me greatly if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalist and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it. That's what evangelist Billy Graham had to say in 1981. Today he would be appalled that so many so called mainline churches and so many mainline ministers, some highly trained at their seminaries, who know better, are afraid to speak out. They have allowed Christian Zionism to enter

By T.W. Burger Kay Scoggins was tall, blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful, kind, affable, tough as nails, really country, and sort of a force of nature. She served as a patrol officer and state trooper for decades and even ran for president at least once. She got 13 votes. In an interview a few years later she said she had not made a lot of promises during her campaign except to ensure freedom of speech and maybe put a doublewide mobile home on the front lawn of the White House. Eve

By Albert DeSimone The continuum from capitalism to communism describes economic systems, though these systems also heavily influence political and social structures. At their core, they represent fundamentally different answers to the basic economic question: Who should own and control the resources used to produce goods and services while distributing the fruits of economic progress? Capitalism: Capitalism is a basic economic system that, at its core, is driven by a combina

By Paige Brimer It was a warm autumn morning when two friends and I took a stroll along the Greenway off MLK, Jr Pkwy. We decided to stop and sit on some rocks by the riverside to enjoy a little company, coffee and creation. It wasn't long, however, until a pesky side of creation had us unnerved and searching our bags for bug spray. Mosquitoes were swarming, and that's no exaggeration. They were everywhere! After we got ourselves sprayed down, we began to speculate about why

By Paige Brimer My son Levi Brimer is gifted but learning disabled. He is bipolar and I swear something only half diagnosed: a narcoleptic (diagnosed) insomniac (medicated in youth). In his life he's been a poet, comedian, dad extraordinaire, a provider/Award Winning Executive Chef, a gamer, music junkie, occasional dance king, and an overall caring and loving heart and soul. When he was fifteen years old we moved away from an area where he had developed close friendships. I

By T. W. Burger I found it, naturally, while looking for something entirely different. In a box on a bottom shelf in my office, jammed in with some other mementos, was my old Mr. Trash hat. It was filthy. Of course, it was filthy when I put it away, sometime back in the early 1980s. The grime is easy to explain. Mr. Trash, while it existed, was a “refuse removal business,” which most of us would still call “garbage company.” I was the field manager, though I’m not sure I had

By Albert DeSimone Jimmi Hendrix used it. Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Dave Davies, and Tony Iommi used it, as did many others from the 1960s hard rock scene. We’re talking about the power chord and how it was incorporated into the distorted sound of rock music in the 1950s. The process of the heavy, distorted sound of hard rock goes back to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Godmother of Rock and Roll, as she is often referred to, is credited with creating the first rock and roll s

From ACC Leisure Services Athens Creative Theatre (ACT) presents "A Midsummers Night’s Dream" on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 16 and 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in Dudley Park. These performances are free of charge and will take place in the amphitheater at Dudley Park near the pavilion. Parking information is available at www.accgov.com/dudley Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and enjoy the show! Join ACT for its inaugural

The best movies often use a simple plot as a transcendent metaphor for a greater truth. Field of Dreams is one of those movies. When Terrence Man (James Earl Jones) talks about baseball and America, we learn that the field of dreams (America) is “all that was once good and it could be again.” He describes the American dynamic as a blackboard that has been erased, rebuilt, and erased again. Such a perspective guides us toward retrospection, introspection, and evaluation. Let

By T. W. Burger Mulling over the second mug of coffee this morning, reluctant to begin another day in front of the keyboard, I considered the mass of flowers in the vase at the table's center. It was a typical spring mix, several varieties of daffodil, with a smattering of giant snowdrops. It has often been said that it is a shame that flowers last such a little time before they wither. Wouldn't it be great if they could bloom all the time, some say? Yes. And no. They would n

If nothing else, Trump has brought out the true “American” in many Americans. Americans standing up for what they believe—to protest with the largest numbers possible—is what made us who we are. Support for the cause is irrelevant. Support for the right is everything. Thomas Jefferson put it perfectly: “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.” When Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tried to shut do

By T.W. Burger The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would be 97 this year if some pinhead hadn’t shot him. He would perhaps be gone frail and a little dotty. Thinking back on his arc as firebrand and martyr, which is frankly hard to imagine. Those of us who were around in his day remember him differently than younger folks do. While he was alive he was, depending on where you stood, a visionary, a man of God who held his country’s collective feet to the fire of its own founding do

By Eddie Whitlock Hobby ​Remember Jon Lovitz as “the Master Thespian” on Saturday Night Live? He was a fellow who was all ham. His catchphrase was to stop whatever nonsense he had devolved into doing and shout, “Acting!” ​I am no actor. I respect actors. When I was a kid, I thought the people on television were just making things up as they went along. Memorize a script? Are you kidding me? ​In fifth grade, we did a class play. I was cast as the King’s advisor. I had a few li

People discussing the SAVE Act are missing a very frightening possibility. Eliminating the filibuster—an action President Trump appears to support if necessary to pass the controversial SAVE Act. Criticism of the act centers on stricter requirements for voter registration and photo ID for voting. The filibuster is a stopgap measure in the Senate to prevent a political party majority from forcing its agenda on Americans. It requires 60 votes and not a simple majority to pas

People discussing the SAVE Act are missing a very frightening possibility. Eliminating the filibuster—an action President Trump appears to support if necessary to pass the controversial SAVE Act. Criticism of the act centers on stricter requirements for voter registration and photo ID for voting. The filibuster is a stopgap measure in the Senate to prevent a political party majority from forcing its agenda on Americans. It requires 60 votes and not a simple majority to pas