Couple of things

- I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Oconee County Commission Chairman Melvin Davis, and what resulted with a three-part interview series touching on a variety of topics. The first one deals with the potential change to the structure of Oconee County's government. The second one addresses the perception that Davis has been an ineffective communicator, something the chairman strongly contests. And the third one focuses on Davis's belief that the proposed joint economic development partnership between Athens-Clarke County and Oconee County might work better as a more broad-based, regional organization with multiple members.

- John Reilly, one of the authors of the M.I.T. study that has been deliberately misrepresented by House Republicans - including Rep. Paul Broun - emailed me concerning his frustrations and bewilderment over their continued misuse of his work.

- Athens-Clarke County leaf and limb pickup is back on schedule with only a few batches of storm debris to gather up.

- James Simms is leaving some big shoes to fill.

- Inefficient government bureaucracies ... oh wait, you mean it worked better? Shocking.

- Personally, I think The Georgia Theater ought to transition to a non-profit entity, but I think this editorial raises good questions about the ongoing fundraising efforts. They're all being conducted with the best intentions in mind, but there's going to be three primary problems ... prioritizing the use of incoming funds, managing and oversight of the revenue and maintaining the need for ongoing fundraising. Formalizing the process somewhat - say with the creation of a 'Friends of The Georgia Theater' program - can help address those questions.

- I think this is incredibly noble and signifies Kristina Higgins having her priorities in place, but ... why participate in the contest anyway if you knew, going in, you couldn't fulfill its obligations?