My Athens

Fantasy World's Marquee Offered a Clue

On June 30, 2009, I posted this shot of Fantasy World's marquee. About a week earlier, Philip Markoff, the so-called "Craiglist Killer," had pleaded not guilty to murdering a women in Massachusetts he had arranged to meet after responding to her ad in Craigslist's erotic services category.  The Markoff story and the related controversy about whether Craigslist, the free online classified ad web site, should allow people to advertise prostitution was very much in the news. 

Seems like Fantasy World was not so subtly signaling what was for sale inside.  That brazenness, especially given it's proximity to the police substation--about a block and a half away--struck me at the time.

Use Flower Power to Fight Burglaries

As part of its efforts to fight burglaries, Athens-Clarke Co. Police Department might want to consider encouraging residents to plant lots of flowers in the hardest hit neighborhoods.

According to public safety officials in at least one city, planting flowers in residential neighborhoods seems to deter burglaries. Here’s the logic: Planting flowers in front of homes gets people outside to take care of the plants, and while they’re out and about they can see who else is out and about. More eyes on the street = less crime.

Supposedly, Operation Flower in Suginami, a district of Tokyo, helped reduce break-ins by 80 percent over six years.

Planting flowers was only part of a multi-part effort that also included volunteer patrols and security cameras, so it’s not clear how much crime fighting power flowers actually have.

Maybe here in Athens vegetable gardens would work better than flower beds at getting people out and training more eyes on the street.

Still, the general idea of enhancing the natural attentiveness of local residents to deter crime is a promising one. Consider flower planting as a way of adding some pleasure and beauty to the chore of the neighborhood watch.

Looked at this way, the idea of crime-fighting flowers doesn’t sound as silly.

Organized Burglary, Looming Deadline, Don Nelson

Just how organized is burglary in Athens? Joe Johnson’s story about burglaries in Sunday’s Athens Banner-Herald really intrigued me. I want to know more about organized fencing operations, and about whether Athens police are doing a good job busting burglars. How did some Pakistani convenience store owners get into this racket, and why? What's the history behind this connection? Are there other organized fencing operations at work here? How are other cities fighting burglaries? How would crime-fighting experts evaluate our cops’ efforts? [Photo credit: Flickr user timsamoff]

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Will next Friday’s paper be the last for Athens Banner-Herald? Probably not, but June 12 is the deadline for Morris Publishing Group LLC, the parent company of the Athens Banner-Herald, to make a $9.7 million interest payment. According to this article, the interest payment is way, way overdue and creditors could—if the payment isn’t made—force the publishing company to start repaying more than $400 million in bonds, interest and revolving credit. What’s going to happen? I’m afraid for the future of local news coverage here, though in this letter the publisher told us not to worry. [Photo credit: Flickr user Dan Lorentz]

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Newspaper reporting can’t be replaced by bloggers. Don Nelson, Athens Banner-Herald business reporter, columnist and editor, is a good example of why not. This collection of Nelson’s columns is a great way to learn about Athens, and it offers a taste of what a good, full-time, paid, professional journalist brings to the table: clear writing, insightful choice of topics, diligent research, steady productivity, deep knowledge of the local scene and years of experience. You just don’t—can’t—get that whole package from local bloggers, who usually aren’t paid and don’t have copy editors. [Photo credit: Athens Banner-Herald]