The biggest obstacles to OneAthens working will be the people in charge and the people OneAthens is trying to help.

That the black community doesn’t trust the two-year-old poverty initiative became abundantly clear at an East Athens Development Corp. board meeting Monday to discuss the Athens-Clarke Commission’s recent budget cuts.

Board chairwoman Diane Dunston expressed disappointment that EADC isn’t getting more funding through OneAthens. Others went further, voicing a conspiracy theory that EADC was cut so the commission could direct the funding to white-controlled OneAthens (never mind that OneAthens is run by a black man, Steve Jones, or that it’s not getting any block grants, or that its community foundation is going after super-wealthy private donors, not federal funds).

Good morning, all.

Interesting discussions are sparking up in the aftermath of the OneAthens party Monday night. Not that any shockers came out at the zero hour, but I think it will be worth keeping your eyes and ears open over the next few days as the reactions start gaining traction. As my colleague Jim Thompson would say, it should be a good week or two for letters to the editor.

I’m proud of how the public sector – county government and University of Georgia specifically – has stepped up in a big way. But that’s easier to do when you’re playing with house money.

Bob Smith loves hockey and bowling. Who knew?

Lobbyists.

The Watkinsville state representative took $1,115.91 worth of free stuff from lobbyists in January and February, according to state Ethics Commission records.

The haul included 29 meals; a trip to the bowling alley from pharmaceutical giant Novartis; tickets to six Thrashers games courtesy of the Georgia Oilmen’s Association, Georgia Automobile Dealers Association and SCANA Energy; and a birthday present from Karen Pope, who represents such clients as Wal-Mart and Allied Waste. How thoughtful!

Good morning, all.

I guess it’s all in how you look at it.

For the purpose of our discussions, this community views poverty as a number (poverty rate), a magical line we hope to drag as many of our fellow citizens above in order to give them a fighting chance. It’s a noble goal based on a fairly meaningless digit for an area already strapped with underemployment and wage retardation. Just getting folks to the line would be nice, but it only guarantees them additional company among our community’s almost-poor masses.

Happily, it appears that the opening-day spasm of veto overrides in the Georgia House of Representatives will represent the sum-total of House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s nose-thumbing at the governor.

Following the Banner-Herald’s Tuesday editorial criticizing Richardson and the House for using the first day of the General Assembly session to concentrate on overriding Gov. Sonny Perdue’s vetoes of legislation from last year’s session, instead of getting an early start on water, transportation, education and taxation issues, I got a call from Richardson’s spokeswoman, Clelia Davis.

Saying she was sure she wasn’t going to be able to change the newspaper’s frequent criticism of the speaker, Davis added that the Tuesday overrides of a dozen of the 41 bills vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue (approximately 30 of which originated in the House) represented all of the overrides that the House would pursue.