SUNDAY

November 18, 2012

acRoss the aRea

sustainable development

9 arrested in Aiken raid

Nine people are in jail after a raid by the Aiken County sheriffs narcotics unit and SWAT team in the Shiloh Heights area Friday. The warrants were obtained because of an investigation into drug dealing at a trailer at T&S Trailer Park and in the first block of Hillview Circle. A news release said two children found were placed with family members. Police seized a firearm, several grams of crack cocaine, marijuana, controlled prescription pills and more than $6,000. Those arrested and their charges: l Christine Brooks, 55, of James Shaw Road in Wagener; possession of crack cocaine l Alonzo Strom, 47, of T&S Drive in Aiken; probation and parole violations l Steven Laboo, 43, of the first block of Hillview Circle in Aiken; possession of crack cocaine l Patricia Franklin, 29, of the first block of Hillview Circle in Aiken; two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child l Stacey Lamont Bing, 39, of the 200 block of Whispering Pines Terrace in Aiken; possession of crack cocaine l Steven Allen Harrah, 55, of the 900 block of Croft Avenue in Aiken; possession of crack cocaine l Charles Alexander Bush, 37, of the first block of Hillview Circle in Aiken; possession of crack cocaine and unlawful conduct toward a child l Marsheral Lashawn Curry, 35, of the first block of Ridgecrest Drive in Aiken; possession of crack cocaine l Pamela Thomas, 44, of the first block of Offsprings Road in Aiken; an active family court bench warrant and three counts of unlawful possession of prescription medicines. From staff reports
More area news/2B

Runoff repeat of 2009

By Susan mcCord
Staff Writer
SARA CAlDWEll/STAFF

commission distRict 1

Brenda Durant points to an area on one of the maps outlining the illustrations for the Priority Development Corridor as she speaks with artist Lucy McTier during a presentation from the Augusta Sustainable Development Implementation Program at T.W. Josey High School.

Planners talk 15th Street

Walkability key to proposals for thoroughfare
By lisa Kaylor
Staff Writer

Safety, walkability and employment are a few issues residents of the 15th Street-Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard-Deans Bridge Road corridor told project leaders they want addressed in a new master plan. After a week of meetings between residents and stakeholders, drafts of a proposed redesign were presented to the public at T.W. Josey High School on Saturday. About 30 people attended the meeting and gave feedback using keypad polling devices. Most of the feedback was positive. John Paul Stout, Augustas sustainable development manager, said more than 350 residents participated in the process over the week. Renderings of the proposed streetscapes include wider roads, more streetlights and bus stops, bike lanes and tree-lined sidewalks, especially along 15th Street in the area of Cherry Tree Crossing.

A groundswell of voter turnout Nov. 6 that gave Augusta a black sheriff, black probate judge and black solicitor general did not restore the black-white balance on the Augusta Commission, when neither of two black candidates won 50 percent of votes in the District 1 commission race. Instead, incumbent Matt Aitken won 4 0 percent of votes in the 65 percent black district and heads into a repeat of 2009, when he and Bill Fennoy dueled Aitken in a December runoff for the commission post. This years runoff is Dec. 4. In 2009, two black candidates and two white candidates faced off in the general election, with Aitken coming in first and Fennoy, then and now, in second. Aitken won nearly the same percentage of votes in Fennoy the 2009 general election as he did on Nov. 6 40 percent while Fennoys share of votes was less, dropping from 32.5 percent in 2009 to 30 percent on Nov. 6.
See RUNOFF on pAGE 2B

A small audience gathered to listen to planners discuss possible changes to the 15th Street corridor in Augusta. READ pASt stories about development efforts on the projects topic page at augustachronicle.com.

whO CAN vOtE?

Anyone who lives in District 1 and was eligible at the time of the general election Nov. 6 can vote in the runoff.

Two designs were proposed at the intersection of 1 5 th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. One included a roundabout to keep traffic flowing smoothly. Both included a new centerpiece building with greenspace on the corner where a gas station now stands. The Southgate shopping cen-

ter would be reconfigured to include a bus substation, more trees and walkable access from surrounding neighborhoods. In the Rocky Creek area, a series of lakes would alleviate flooding and create potential for recreation. A farm would provide access to fresh produce, for which residents expressed a desire. The area provides the best option for safe senior housing,
See CORRiDOR on pAGE 2B

hOw tO vOtE
EARlY vOtiNG: From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and Nov. 26-30, ballots can be cast at the Richmond County Board of Elections office in the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building, 530 Greene St. ABSENtEE: The elections board is accepting applications for absentee ballots and hopes to have them by Monday. ElECtiON DAY: 14 polling places will be open for the Dec. 4 runoff.

The quality of poetry is defined only in the readers mind

Poetry is what gets lost in translation. Robert Frost

.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey came back to Georgia earlier this month to lecture at her alma mater, the University of Georgia. Trethewey, who received an undergraduate degree from UGA in 1989, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book Native Guard. She was chosen national poet laureate earlier this year. Her credentials are impressive, but for most of us her craft remains mysterious. What is good poetry? Stuff that rhymes is popular, but as we got into high school most of us became aware that not all poems

did. So, let me judge your taste. I have selected some examples of sensitive wordplay. See if you pick out the work of our poet laureate. ExAmplE 1 All day Ive listened to the industry of a single woodpecker, worrying the catalpa tree just outside my window. Hard at his task, his body is a hinge, a door knocker

to the cluttered house of memory in which I can almost see my mothers face. ExAmplE 2 The lads Ive met in Cupids deadlock Were shall we say? born out of wedlock. They broke my heart, they stilled my song, And said they had to run along. ExAmplE 3 The windows of time stand open Into the Soul of the World I tread the Path And there I stood Crouched on bootfeet ExAmplE 4 Three things there be that I cannot endure, A little child too sick to

help or cure, A dying dog, killed by a neighbors hate, An empty stocking by an empty grate. ExAmplE 5 You cant see me Im the future I represent how its gon be Im the future ExAmplE 6 That fawn-skin-dappled hair of hers, And the blue eye Dear and dewy, And that infantine fresh air of hers! ExAmplE 7 Miranda in Mirandas sight Is old and gray and dirty; Twenty-nine she was last night; This morning she is

thirty. Ready for the answers? Example 1 does come from our poet laureate and is the opening of her poem Limen. Example 2 comes from a poem by Dorothy Parker called A Fairly Sad Tale. Example 3 is from Augusta attorney Joe Neal Jr., who offered these lines in The Running of Bulls, which was on his Web site. Example 4 was from a poem written 80 years ago by editorial page columnist Louisa K. Smith, urging people to contribute to the Empty Stocking Fund. You can donate to this years fund by visiting augustachronicle.com/empty stocking. Example 5 might be

called urban poetry. These are lyrics from the hip-hop performer Lil Bow Wow in The Future. Example 6 is from A Pretty Woman by high school lit favorite Robert Browning. Example 7 is from A Lady Who Thinks Shes Thirty by Ogden Nash. Im not sure what all this proves, but I know its practitioners were similarly conflicted. As Parker (Example 2) once wrote: Should Heaven send me any son, I hope hes not like Tennyson. Id rather have him play a fiddle Than rise and bow and speak an idyll.
Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.