Via Beyond the Trestle, a candidate announced for Athens-Clarke Commission today.

Sara Bickerton, 28, is program coordinator for the Athens Literacy Council and assistant program manager at the Jack R. Wells Boys & Girls Club. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Georgia. Her Facebook page describes her political views as liberal/progressive. She is also listed as “special commandante for charitable outreach / sign making czar” in the Washington Street Liberation Army, a group of young political activists who describe themselves, tongue-in-cheek, as breaking the "Republican ... monopoly on fear-mongering, macho-posturing, and willful ignorance."

Or, I Didn’t Know This Was Coming Up for a Vote Because the Feral Cats Ate My Newspaper

Not only do pawn shop owners not read the paper, they’re apparently either senile or prone to blackouts.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, pawn shop owners claimed they only heard about a police proposal for new regulations a day ago. But one of the speakers, Joe Thornton, was interviewed for an ABH story on the regulations that ran last Thursday.

It was a classic case of Athens Politics Disease: A group of people shows up to voice their opposition at the last possible second, claiming nefarious forces kept them in the dark about a vital issue and asking to delay a vote until they get it together. The commission, as they did on Tuesday, falls for it every time.

This comes as no surprise, but Athens-Clarke Commissioner Kathy Hoard told blogger JMac that she is running for re-election this year.

Hoard, who has served on the commission since 2003 and previously served on the Athens City Council, had hinted that this would be her last term. After her husband died last year, though, she’s been hinting that she would return.

Defense attorney Bill Overend was poised to run if Hoard retired.

Bad to worse

Paulding County voters elected a young banker named Daniel Stout to replace former House Speaker Glenn Richardson, who resigned after news broke that he’d had an affair with a lobbyist.

Stout, 29, admits to sleeping with his first wife’s mother 10 years ago. They divorced, and he remarried in 2005.

Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison and Commissioner Kathy Hoard traveled to Greece last month for a meeting of officials from all the Athenses (Athi?) in the world.

They talked about the experience at the end of Tuesday’s commission meeting and said they’d like to return the favor by hosting our sister cities here next year.

“I learned a lot from them,” Hoard said. “I think we can share opportunities and experiences through such dialog.”

Davison said she was particularly impressed with Athens, Greece’s Christmas tree. It’s made of 250 smaller trees stacked together. After the holiday, the saplings are planted all over the city, she said.

Just like no statewide politician ever lost an election by attacking Atlanta, so the voters in Barrow, Jackson and Madison county are never going to turn someone out of office for slamming Athens.

State Senate candidate Kelley Gary did just that on Wednesday, taking a shot at the Athens-Clarke government for raising tax values on about 3,000 parcels.

Gary makes a couple of mistakes. He refers to a lawsuit filed against Athens-Clarke County. Actually, there have been two of them so far, and they’re tax appeals, not lawsuits. Details aside, here’s the gist:

Or, Night of the Living Light Ordinance

Athens-Clarke Commissioner David Lynn had harsh words for the county’s advisory planning commission on Tuesday. They’ve been writing restrictions on outdoor lighting into development plans that come up for rezoning, and Lynn doesn’t like it. He told Planning Director Brad Griffin at the commission's voting meeting to send a “strong message” not to legislate from the, um, table.

“If they want to change the lighting ordinance, come up with a recommendation they can all support,” Lynn said.

Fat chance.

Athens-Clarke commissioners put together their annual list saying what they want state legislators to do during the upcoming session.

It’s fairly run of the mill, mostly tax reform and recycling proposals. As usual, the General Assembly will completely ignore it.

In fact, the list is more notable for what wasn’t included than what was: Fluoride.

Or, I Wish Frank Lloyd Wright Had Responded To Our RFP.

Athens-Clarke commissioners approved the new downtown parking deck Tuesday night pretty much as-is, with one small exception.

At Ed Robinson’s request, Alice Kinman included a clause in her motion that gives the commission the right to select artwork that will be displayed in the deck. Robinson said he wants the deck to be a “mini-Guggenheim” showcasing local artists.

Come to think of it, the spiral-shaped art museum would make a fine parking deck. Haven’t New Yorkers ever heard of mixed use?

Less than 24 hours before the Athens-Clarke Commission is set to vote on a new downtown parking deck, opposition continues to grow.

Thirty-nine people accepted a Facebook invitation to voice opposition at the Tuesday commission meeting, when a more or less final vote is scheduled. A “Friends of Downtown Athens” Facebook page urging opposition to the deck has 177 members, including First Dude Al Davison. On Oct. 29, someone posted this message to the group’s wall: “It is important to contact your commissioners now, before it's too late, to let them know of your concerns about its scale, location and impact on parking fees.”

Sorry, guys. It’s too late already.

Activists with the Democratic group Organizing for America turned out at Tuesday night’s Athens-Clarke Commission meeting to lobby for President Obama’s health care reform proposal, ticking off some of the liberal commissioners in the process.

About half a dozen people made speeches at the end of the meeting – when anyone gets three minutes to say whatever they want – some of them asking for medical coverage, others slamming Broun, who’s called the plan a rotting fish. Video will be posted here (click on the Sept. 1 voting meeting and scroll down to “citizen input”).