Couple of things

- Granted, the Clarke County Board of Education was confronted with a difficult problem, but ... cutting 25 teaching jobs to save 59 paraprofressionals is kind of an odd trade-off, isn't it? While paraprofessionals are vital to the learning process, um, so are teachers ... and if you gave me the choice between 25 teachers or 59 paraprofessionals, I'm going teachers.

- Also 87 percent of the school's budget is tied in administrative costs?

- More on crime, which confirms what we already know ... crime's rising in Athens-Clarke County, and a combination of a concerted, tough crackdown in the short-term coupled with diversion strategies in the long-term are sorely needed.

- Grift talks about properly crediting sources for stories, and he's using the recent coverage of 'secret meetings' in Oconee County as an example. It's an interesting discussion, but the point I want to underline is my disagreement with Travis Fain ... I'm not sure in what journalistic world it's taught that you don't properly credit the appropriate source regarding breaking news, particularly in the early going of a developing news story. During my days as a reporter, if I was beat on something, I would routinely say 'as originally reported in ...' or 'The such-and-such is reporting ...' and then, after establishing that outlet as the original source, I would develop follow-up articles without attribution.

- The problem with the increased tipping fees is that it's pinching the wrong entity. The private hauling companies are dealing with the increased cost and, as Curbside Services proved, rather than pass that cost onto the consumer, they're simply identifying other venues to take trash. If the goal is to encourage higher rates of recyling among citizens, then citizen-targeted incentives and/or punishments have to be incorporated.

- Blake's talking body language and Ed Robinson, and it's connected to Robinson's opposition to cutting The Link service out to the Stonehenge area. While he's doing the work of his district in fighting for it, it's difficult to rationalize preserving The Link seeing how it's a colossal waste of money. An average of 12 people use it ... 12. And it costs roughly $60,000 to fund it for a year. Save $40,000 and let's subsidize those 12 folks with $20,000 for cab service.

- So last night I turned down a pair of offers to go play trivia with some friends to watch Will Ferrell join Bear Grylls on Man Vs. Wild as they were dropped into the Artic for 48 hours. It may not have been as funny as I had hoped, but watching Ferrell eat the head of a reindeer was pretty entertaining.