Rotary Club of Athens, GA, USA

WOMAN CHAMPIONS 211-MILE TRAIL DESPITE HIGH COSTS With a project cost of $2 million per mile, building the 211-mile Georgia Hi-Lo Trail might seem a daunting challenge. But Mary Charles Howard, inspired by her late father, has accepted the challenge with gusto.... Mary spoke to the Rotary Club of Athens from her home in Sandersville, where she is the mother of three children. Before her third child was born, she was commuting to Athens. In the midst of making a career change, her father was killed in a tractor accident. I am the youngest of five, she said. We were best buds. He taught me how to hike and how to build trails. It seemed fitting for her to blaze a new trail. The Hi-Lo trail will follow as much as possible abandoned rail lines between Union Point and Savannah. The terminus in Union Point will connect with the Firefly Trail, which starts in Athens and has been partially built in sporadic locations, including Winterville. She aims to bring the trails through towns, hoping that they can be an economic engine. There are just no recreational opportunities in rural America, she said. It will pass through Sparta, Sandersville, Wrightsville, Waynesboro, Statesboro and on to Savannah. Trails like this can reinvigorate rural America, she said. In the process of building the trail, she wants to bring along Internet fiber. She is connected to statewide leaders each step of the way. The next step is to contract with Path Foundation to develop a comprehensive plan. Mary said she hopes to encourage local communities to add the trail to special purpose local option sales tax project lists. The trail sponsored the recent Athens to Savannah bike ride, which was a challenge because of the pandemic. The ride featured virtual riders too, who could watch videos of destinations along the route. Future rides will be held on the off weekend for Georgia football in the fall, partly to reduce the amount of vehicular traffic that bike riders have to deal with.

The club intends to return to a hybrid in-person/zoom meeting format beginning Wednesday, November 4th. The meeting will begin at our usual 12:30 pm time at the Athens Country Club. Due to Covid-19 the following protocols will be followed for the meeting: - Meeting size will be limited to 50 members of the club.... - Please no guests at this time. - If you would like to attend the meeting in-person please reply "YES" to President Carl Blount at [email protected] - Masks must be worn the duration of the meeting unless you are eating. - Food will be provided in the form of a box lunch which can either be eaten at your table or taken with you. - The meeting will also be broadcast via zoom WITH A NEW ZOOM LOGIN that you will receive in President Carl's weekly email.

TERRAPIN BREWERY IS MORE THAN JUST A BEER MAKER Terrapin Brewery started as a couple of guys making an award-winning pale ale. Now the brand covers 22 states. But beyond its geographic expansion, Terrapin has grown to be much more than just a brewery.... Dustin Watts, the company’s second employee, is now its president. He told Athens Rotarians about the company’s efforts in sustainability, a brewing-education scholarship fund, and conservation. Dustin said that local breweries were very common before prohibition, but most closed. Now there are 8,000 breweries in the nation. Dustin said that operations during the pandemic have been difficult, and the brewery is closed to the public as a result. Dustin described Terraprint, which is short-hand for the company’s impact on the environment. Every decision we make at the brewery has an effect, he is quoted on the company website. Be it the local waterways we pull from, the energy each shift consumes, the soil we help build through composting, or any of the resources we draw on to manufacture, we choose to be aware of these effects and strive to keep our impact on these resources to a minimum. Dustin said that Terrapin is one of the few breweries that has a wastewater pre-treatment facility as part of its plant. They recently invested significantly in installing 720 solar panels to its roof. Byproduct from the wastewater pretreatment facility is composted. They use recycled aluminum cans. The brewing education scholarship fund is in partnership with Middle Tennessee State University. We want to grow diversity within Terrapin and the brewing industry as a whole, Dustin said. This begins with increasing opportunities for employment and education. The community outreach has been diminished because of the pandemic, but they have hosted Facebook Live events in the meantime. Terrapin produces about 25 varieties a year. The brand is in 22 states, mostly in the Southeast. Georgia does about 45 percent of its volume a year. We have a lot of room to grow and expand, he said.

ENVISION ATHENS MAKING PROGRESS TOWARD ITS GOALS Athens Rotarian Erin Barger provided an update on Envision Athens. Obviously, Envision Athens has a vision: We aspire to reach our full potential in unity, prosperity, equity and compassion. The sense of togetherness motivates increased pride, unparalleled civic enterprise and significant progress.... Erin, the project manager, shared examples of the four pillars. Unity: A commitment to upholding both grace and truth in how we think about and talk about ideas and our neighbors. Equity: When confronted by inequity and unfairness, we are willing to name it and help our community to be inhospitable to any construct that is hateful to humans. Prosperity: A culture of brilliance and craftsmanship, in which each process, person and product is viewed with high regard and attention. Compassion: A genuine love for one’s neighbor, manifesting in bringing to light the best in others. Envision Athens is a 20-year community development plan for Athens-Clarke County that will synthesize community input, community assessment and targeted analysis. Eleven funding partners support the public-private partnership. Along with three citizen representatives, they oversee the implementation of the action agenda. The action agenda covers 14 domains and 103 action items. The domains include health, safety, social services, arts & culture, civic engagement, land use, environment, neighborhoods, housing, agriculture, infrastructure, transportation, economic development and education. Envision Athens keeps track of progress. Some have already been completed, such as setting aside 20 percent of the county as protected green space. Future goals include increasing community awareness of substance abuse disorders, increase participation in the Athens Creative Directory, completing a community behavioral health needs assessment, support multi-family housing development and expanding the Marigold Market in Winterville. Erin said she knows of no other community like Athens that has launched a similar process.

HIGH PRICE OF LUMBER RAISING BUILDING COSTS Spoiler alert: the pandemic impacted home building. But local home builders have persevered, said Ruth Ann Miller, executive officer of the Athens Area Home Builders Association.... Demand for housing remains strong, she told the Rotary Club of Athens. Inventory is not staying on the market long, she said. Housing weathered the pandemic better than predicted, she said. The demand for lumber has increased. However, lumber harvesting has not kept pace, and so lumber prices are high. The price has increased more than 170 percent since April, she said. It is estimated that this adds $16,000 in average to a new home. She explained that this is felt disproportionally by those families in low-to-moderate income ranges Ruth Ann said that the association seeks to keeps its members informed of pertinent rules and regulations, particularly those that could hinder the building process. We want to let our local officials know how much harm or delay could be imposed by new regulations, she said. The association seeks to foster professional relationships that are beneficial. Many of its members are not builders, per se, but those who service the industry. Ruth Ann said that there is an emphasis on empowering the under-40 workforce. She sang the praises of her predecessor, Jean Channell. Ruth Ann came from the Atlanta association, and she is delighted to report that her staff has embraced her goals. Local members automatically become members of the state and national associations.

THANK YOU SARAH MCKINNEY FOR AN AWESOME PROGRAM QUARTER! CLUB JOINS ZONE INITIATIVE TO FEED 10 MILLION The Rotary Club of Athens has set a goal to provide 20,000 meals toward the Feed 10 Million campaign launched by Zones 33 and 34 of Rotary.... Athens Rotarian Chuck Toney, executive director of the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, said that he used an unscientific method to arrive at that goal. Our club was founded in 1920. It is, of course, 2020. That is a lot of 20s, he said. Based on zone averages, Athens should be expected to provide 5,500 meals. But our club is not average, he said. Randy Rednor, the chairman of the project for District 6910, said that COVID-19 has heightened food insecurity. Chuck echoed that, noting that the Food Bank delivered twice as much food the first six months of 2020 when compared to 2019. The goal for the district is 1 million meals. Randy said that the district had already delivered 200,526 meals. Athens Rotarian Eve Anthony, CEO of the Athens Community Council on Aging, said that food access is a huge issue for seniors. We have seen a 70 percent increase in Meals on Wheels, she said. We need delivery drivers. We also need help with distribution. Some options for reaching the goal include the following activities: Serve meals at a food kitchen Serve meals at a club/area/district event Pack or deliver food at a food bank Pack or deliver food for a backpack program Pack or deliver food in concert with another organization Participate in a Rise Against Hunger, Meals of Hope, or other similar packing event Provide funds, where appropriate, to collaborate with another organization Collaborate with local or regional food banks. Eve said that a Georgia Grown event will be held in Athens in the near future.

ROTARY CLUB OF ATHENS MEMBER MARLON TRONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NE GA AMERICAN RED CROSS, ON DEPLOYMENT IN PENSACOLA, FLORIDA Members of the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia chapter were deployed to the Gulf region to support relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sally. Trone was lucky enough to be one of those individuals. For the past several weeks, volunteers from all over the United States and the southern region have worked beside the residents in the affected... communities to begin the process of rebuilding. His assignment included collaborating with faith-based leaders and local organizations to provide supplies, coordinate volunteer training and support disaster assessment efforts in the affected communities. With hundreds of families severely affected in the Pensacola, Florida area, the American Red Cross has worked to provide shelters, food, and many other emergency supplies that will serve as the foundation for what will undoubtedly be a long road to recovery for many. It is remarkable to witness the unity, compassion and the relentless spirit of human nature work in concert to help those in need. This IS the best part of who they are, and Trone is proud to be a part of an effort to serve our great and worthy people. See more

C-SPAN REMAINS RELEVANT IN CROWDED MEDIA MARKET The media environment is much different than when C-SPAN was founded, but it remains an important part of the landscape, said Janae Green, a marketing representative for C-SPAN. "Television was once three networks and PBS," she told Athens Rotarians. "We believe we are more relevant than ever."... C-SPAN has been around for more than 40 years as a non-profit entity funded by cable television providers. It is not driven by ratings. It feature long-form reporting with no editing, multiple viewpoints, no commentary, direct access to leaders and viewer participation. C-SPAN's gavel-to-gavel coverage effectively puts viewers in the room, giving them access to the entire event, and allows them to make their own judgments without being told by commentators how to think. Joel Bacon, also a marketing specialist, said that the network's unedited coverage opens the door to some unusual material being telecast. He recalled a time when brothers who were debating on air received a call from their mother insisting that they come home for Thanksgiving. C-SPAN offers a feature-rich website as well as the requisite social media platforms.

IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY THREATENS BALANCE OF POWER, DEMOCRACY The imperial presidency is a factor of aggressive power reaches by presidents and Congress’s inability to exercise its own constitutional authority, said Loch Johnson, a nationally respected expert on international affairs. Loch is a professor emeritus at University of Georgia. In 2012, he was the Southeastern Conference professor of the year.... He framed his remarks by focusing on war powers, treaty powers and spy powers. He zeroed in on the presidencies of George H. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. While the President is the Commander in Chief, Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war. The Constitution says presidents can make treaties with foreign powers, but the consent of the Senate is required. The Constitution is silent on spy powers. Loch said that Bush and Obama were less than robust in sharing their constitutional powers, and Trump is no better. He said President Bush tricked Americans by painting pictures of mushroom clouds in the USA, winning broad authority to fight a fractious war in Iraq. President Obama engaged in counter terrorism against ISIS in Libya. President Trump ordered air strikes against ISIS and Syria. Regarding treaty powers, Loch pointed out that Trump abandoned the Paris Accord that was six years in the making. He has refused to hear regular briefings. Constitutional safeguards are an important innovation and a great gift to us, he said. Whether we will honor them is a matter of ongoing debate. We must reign in the reckless abuse of power or else our noble experiment in democracy will disintegrate into the rise of autocratic rules.

DR. FAUCI NAMED PAUL HARRIS FELLOW

PANDEMIC AND ECONOMY OCCUPY GOV. KEMP It is safe to say that Brian Kemp did not anticipate that as the governor of Georgia that he would be faced with a global pandemic. As with so many other civic leaders, the pandemic has been front and center since the beginning of 2020. Yet the affairs of state must continue as well....Continue reading

DISTRICT GOVERNOR PRAISES ATHENS FOR ITS ROTARY HERITAGE If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. That African proverb was how Rotary District 6910 Gov. Tina Fischlin concluded her official visit to the Athens club last week. She admitted that a virtual visit was not her preference, but it is the world in which we live.... Tina praised the Athens club for its rich heritage and continued service in Athens and the world of Rotary. She cited the club’s annual dictionary distribution, which dovetails with Rotary’s emphasis on literacy this month. On Sept. 21 the district will be hosting an event focused on peace and unity. She hopes to have Rotary International President Designee Jennifer Jones. Andrew Young will be the keynote speaker. The event will be simulcast. Tina said that the district had reviewed its strategic plan. She encouraged clubs to ask questions about its future: what are we doing, where are we going and why would anyone want to be a member of Rotary? The pandemic has forced clubs to be innovative. She said flexible meeting options and affordable dues options can be used. Tina is already looking forward to the District Conference, this year in Jekyll Island April 22-25. Fun in the Sun activities include a beach bash Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., island boat tours, a plunge for polio, a Golden Isle carriage tour, and a mosaic museum and trolley tour. There will be a pack a backpack service project Friday afternoon of the convention. If you choose to bring backpack supplies to the convention, here is what they need: pencil, pens, markers, scissors, glue sticks, sticky notes, crayons, pencil sharpeners, pencil pouches, rulers, erasers, folders, notebooks, basic calculators and healthy snacks and drinks.