Snodgrass nailed it. Why do we celebrate and tolerate a non-native species that overwhelms the habitat of native species. I would be interested in fishing for native smallmouths in the north Georgia mountains, but they're for the most part gone due to these non-native trout, which basically go limp as soon as they bait the hook.

There's no sport in that.

I noticed the guitar/ leaf renderings in the windows of the new parking deck the other day and thought that was very fitting for Athens.

Instead of making new laws -- and please, Georgia don't make any new laws -- the state is busy undoing rediculous laws on the books. Kind of like taking away the restriction of selling beer for take out within 100 yards of a university, thus eliminate the possibility of a downtown grocery store.

It's not like a collective body studied and looked into this and determined it was for the public good. They were just feel-good laws to begin with.

I'm not taking up for the repubs, but it wasn't until they took over the general assembly that brewpubs were really able to exist in Georgia -- in otherwords, there were no high gravity beers allowed under democrat control of the state.

I'm sure all the commandos on here would have made quick work of the situation.

"In the premium market, which had continued to sell well as the mass market slumped, manufacturers were starting to feel the pinch. BMW was down a slight 0.9 percent while Daimler rose 0.2 percent."

That would contradict the assertion that Mercedes-Benz is showing a decline in sales there -- with Daimler being the parent company and all.

The crazy part is that we have this huge resource -- which they evidently don't have in Europe -- and we don't use it here! Will someone please explain to me why that is?

Apparently a small amount of these wood pellets will warm a home for a day.

I always felt Athens had huge potential to be a brew pub desitination, kind of like Asheville N.C. has become -- and it's already starting, with Terrapin becoming big and the new brewery opening at Snow Tire. But tight state restrictions will prevent a rash of breweries from locating here.

And then I read this article about how Georgia will follow the state that's not that good at it.

And the final quote sums it all up. “Compared to North Carolina, oh my gosh, we’re light years behind what they’re doing there,” said Tenny.

It always cracks me up when the ABH gets all technical about the names of places; I mean, Bethel Midtown Village sounds like a quaint, charming little place.

Bethel Homes, which is what the rest of the world calls it, not so much.

So had he been 21, he wouldn't have been considered drunk and there would've been no prison time?

Those players actually did Saban a favor. When you have 95 scholarship players and have to widdle it down to 85 before the season starts, you have to cut 10 players anyhow. Now there's only 6 more to go.

@district8er: You must not realize how much money Prince Avenue has in its coffers. $100,000 per year is gravy for this school. Remember who some of the churches attendees are: they include Coach Richt and some of the wealthiest people in the area.

If you take money away from public schools, but you in turn remove students from the public school payrolls, I don't see where the net effect is a loss of funding. It sounds like a wash to me.

Weekend crime reporting is much different than during the weekdays. All officers on duty don't rank high enough to comment; the ones that do are at family barbecues and such and are not answering the phone, or just don't know because they're off duty.

And in this case the neighborhood residents may not have known what was going on or just wouldn't talk to a reporter. Plus the crime report isn't prepared until the next day which is why most blotter items are two days old.

Yes the story is incomplete but I'm sure more details will come out.

Atlanta is paying for 70 percent of the stadium, and proposing that the other 30 percent is funded by hotel guests who come from out of town. The government then collects the rent on the stadium, which it will own.

And people are opposed to this? Seriously?

Yes, Atlanta needs a new stadium to improve the miserable fan experience the current one provides. Folks, have you ever gone to a 1 p.m. game on a sunshiny day in the dome, where it's dark and depressing? It's morbid in there. It's good for the SEC title game, but not an every other week venue where most games are in the afternoon.

@LinaryKingdon: Be careful, a positive comment like that will surely draw the ire of 95 percent of the commenters on here.

I love this state. But this is the perfect example of its hardheaded and outdated ways. Let the man have the tag he wants.

Give the kid a break. Tennessee was probably the wrong fit for him and the only reason he went is because Dooley was an obvious Athens connection. And now Dooley's gone.

I must have missed the explanation of why a gun ban costs $500 million.

As an Athens resident, I will concede that the west side of Athens will take a massive hit by all this. The future of Athens is downtown, and that's why it's critical that we plan for something unique and different. The now failed river district idea was a great start. We simply don't have enough space to plan for mall environment.

@theold33: I agree with the first part of your statement. Not the second. The hurry up was working too well to spike it at that time; and, had the receiver just dropped the ball, there would've been another play.

@grove600: Let's not forget that all this happened way before Oconee County existed; the county argument seems to be where everyone's going with this. If you read the sign at the Oconee Courthouse, it states something like, Oconee was founded in the late 1800s because the citizens were upset that Clarke County wanted to make Athens the county seat.

Of course, if I'm not mistaken, all of this was in Jackson County before Clarke County splilt off from it.

Ironically, Waycross is my hometown. It is very amusing hearing some of you talk like it's some bustling, booming place on the cutting edge of the modern era. It ain't.

Bobbidiboo, I'm pretty sure you got that from a song, but who is it? Clearly there's no mountain, or cave I'm aware of there.

@retiredandhappy: Blankenship's Diesel repair shop on 78 opened as a direct result of Caterpillar, well before this company was thought of. It's close, but I'm pretty sure it's on the Clarke side of McNutt Creek.

Also, as a business friendly Oconee Countian, you would welcome a Wal-Mart in downtown Watkinsville with open arms right?

@mtn1965: "Wonder if it'll like fish sticks like daddy."

I must be the only one who got the joke. Funny

@Jaki: "Such trash...both of them. Why is this newsworthy?"

I don't know. Maybe asking the 14 or 15 millionth person who clicked on the story would reveal an answer.