Congratulations to respected local artist and Augusta State University professor, Raoul Pacheco, on winning the coveted media award, "Press about Artwork that made Someone Think about Weiners." Maybe it should really be called, "Gives People an Excuse to Talk about Weiners in Public." Although I'm not sure Pacheco earned it with that pantless, Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-ish, little recurring ceramic character of his he calls Otto, he certainly deserves it. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. And it's fun to read the townsfolks' participation of this age-old ritual in the comments section. Maybe we could borrow Augusta Prep's Crucible costumes and have a dramatic reading downtown of them. Raoul could be in the middle holding the painting of Ott. I'm thinking maybe the RCSO would help us block off some Broad Street on a Friday night for us now that I know how pro-flash mob they are. Congratulations also to the Westobou Festival for continuing the Westobou Spirit in Augusta. They managed to pull off a well-publicized and police-organized flash mob right here in downtown Augusta! We're pretty cutting edge. (Remember when our very own Mayor Deke ran a grassroots campaign right out of the Mayor's office ?)
I kid the townsfolk with their comments, but sometimes the comments are very informative and even funny. The articles can be good too. Today Susan McCord hips us to the fact that department heads are getting 15% pay raises (and also suggests that the city administrator may have granted raises better than 15% although forbidden) in a year that saw city employees lose retirements, take furloughs (including fire, police and teachers as i understand), and lose jobs entirely, and the city privatize the bus system and our only municipal golf course here in the Golf Capital of the World. (Someone in the comments tells us that's retroactive and they'll be getting a catch-up check if you want a little more spice on that.) In other news, another real estate buyer gets another chunk of cash gifted from the people. Some of you may remember Augusta Country Club neighborhood properties collector who lives on the hill, Lucien Williams, receiving twenty some thousand in damages for camellias being cut when the city crew mowed the overgrown unkempt lawn of own of his properties a few months ago. This week we have a buyer of properties on streets like "Dublin, Ellis, Kennedy, Miles, Minor, Nannette, Barton, Shirley, Starnes and Tubman Home" getting "the abatement of about $22,653 in penalties, interest and other fees charged to RTG Investments." I'm not sure how they decide to grant forgiveness; if I'm remembering correctly I've seen a soldier and a widow asking forgiveness for property costs and be denied. Maybe someone should keep a scorecard of strike-outs and homeruns in these requests.
