Students more interested in SATs than Bible classes

Georgia educators say students are more interested in taking SAT prep classes than Bible courses.

Two years ago, Georgia became the first state in the country to allow publicly funded Bible classes when lawmakers passed a groundbreaking law. But Georgia educators say students are more interested in taking SAT prep classes than Bible courses.

But interest has been minimal. Many districts say students aren't interested in a non-devotional course about the Bible. And some districts have avoided offering the classes because of concerns about lawsuits.

During the 2007-08 school year - the first year the state allowed the classes - just 37 of the Georgia's 440 high schools offered Bible as an elective. The state won't have numbers for this school year until June.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of this issue.

Muscogee County School Board votes on version of Bible for schools

Muscogee County School Board (Dave Bender)

Muscogee County's School Board voted Monday to use the King James version of the Bible in two elective course teaching the Bible as history and literature for high school students in the fall.

Muscogee's eleventh and twelfth-graders will also use "The Bible and Its Influence" as a secondary text in the courses, covering the Old Testament and New Testament eras. The courses will only be taught if 15 or more students request them.

Board member Dr. Peggy Connell, chief academic officer for Muscogee County says the issue of whether or not to teach the sacred texts wasn't the controversy, but rather which version of them: “There's not any controversy about that. This was passed by Georgia legislators last year, and the state board has approved the curriculum.”

But there were dissenting voices. Rabbi Tom Friedman of Temple Israel in Columbus told the board that teaching the Bible as history was liable to be a minefield of contesting interpretations of even basis concepts. He called for proper oversight of the curriculum.

Friedmann addressing the board.
(Dave Bender)

"The teaching of the Old and the New Testament periods objectively is very difficult and an requires an extensive amount of training, and a great deal of an academic background. Both courses can be taught objectively – with the proper input,” Friedmann told the board.

Muscogee County is one of the first major school districts statewide to adopt the plan, voted in, in the 2006 legislature to allow state-funded courses on the Bible in public schools.

Realtor drops home price $12,000 as clock ticks; no one buys

The clock ran for 124 hours and the price of the new home dropped about $12,000.

But still, no one bought it.

Jim Bible, a realtor, had come up with a unique idea that he thought would sell a home quickly: Start the clock, and drop the asking price by $100 for each hour it didn't sell.

Bible hosted a marathon open house that ran 24/7 for five days.

And he arranged for a couple of radio promotions, where he ran the clock ahead some extra hours to knock the price down further.

But only about 40 people showed up to the house, and after $12,000, Bible says he and the construction manager couldn't lower the price any further.

"We never intended to give the house away," said Bible, who noted the gimmick was an attempted inducement to get a buyer to make a deal.

The newly constructed home was originally priced at $194,000.

But Bible says he'll consider dropping the price back down to $182,000 if the right buyer comes along.

Federal Judge says Bible must be taxed

People who buy the bible in Georgia must now pay sales tax. That because a federal court struck down a state law that gave an exemption to the bible, testaments and Holy Scriptures. The ruling also struck down a law that allowed religious insitution to sell texts withough charging a sales tax.
The law suit was brought by a woman who ownes a bookstore and a man who complained that he had to pay a tax on other spiritual books like “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance” or the "Bhagavad Gita." Jerry Webber with the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union argued the case for the plaintiffs. "The government can’t choose which religions are the right religions and which ones are entitled to a tax exemption," he said.

Federal Judge Richard Story wrote in the 18 page decision that allowing a sales tax exemption for selected religious texts violates the first and fourteenth amendment.

Bible courses not so popular

Few Georgia high schools offer non-devotional Bible courses two years after the state made them legal. Two years ago, Georgia became the first state in the nation to allow publicly funded Bible courses. But only 37 of Georgia's 440 high schools offered the courses last school year. Educators say students are not interesting in the courses. Other school districts have shied away from offering them out of fears of lawsuits.

(Associated Press)

Bible Courses Get Approval For State Funding

By Susanna Capelouto

The State Board of Education today decided to add 2 bible courses to the proposed list of state funded electives. One class on the new and one on the old testament were approved by the state legislature last year. In January, the state board of education approved standards for the classes and now they made the list to get state funding. Each School system must now decide whether it wants to offer them as elective. Maggie Garrett with the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil liberties Union says her organization will closely watch school system that decide offer the classes.

“Once you get it implemented into the school district is where you see the real problem," she says. "That's where you see the proseletizing, that's where you see teaching the bible from one religious prospective.”

School systems can choose to offer the classes this fall once the State board of Education give final approval to it’s list ofelectives. That vote is expected at next months board meeting.

Barrow may wait on Bible classes

A Barrow County school committee is expected to recommend holding-off the introduction of Bible history classes in county schools until 2009.

Barrow County’s Board of Education meets tonight, and will get the recommendation from a 10-member committee made up of teachers, students, parents and community members. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the committee wants more time to review proposed coursework and plan curriculum.

The Barrow school board has been considering the addition of two classes teaching history and literature of the Old and New Testaments. Courses were approved by the state in January of this year.

Bible courses in public schools has been criticized by some, including the ACLU. It fears state-approved coursework is not specific enough to avoid teachers crossing the line from class-teaching, to preaching.

Bible classes likely for Barrow County

In northeast Georgia, Barrow County is considering offering two elective Bible-focused courses. The county Board of Education would need to sign off on the recommendation next week. Then, each high school could begin plans to offer a literature or history class covering either the Old or New Testament as soon as 2009. A 2006 change in state law allows schools to offer the courses.

Sex offenders claim religious worship stifled

Five sex offenders say a state law blocks them from participating in religious worship. They filed a lawsuit today against a provision that bars sex offenders from serving any role with a religious organization. The complaint says "even helping a pastor with Bible study or preparing a meal in a church kitchen will subject (sex offenders) to prosecution and imprisonment." The main portion of the measure bans sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather.

GOP Convention Recap

Georgia Republicans united behind likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain at the party’s annual convention this weekend in Columbus. They selected delegates to represent Georgia at the national GOP convention in September.

Elected officials taking the podium said the party needs to return to its conservative roots, focusing on issues like tax, immigration, military might and gun rights.

Perdue urged Republicans to be steadfast, and said recent Democratic wins in the Bible Belt should be a warning around the south and the nation. Then outside to reporters, he said he feels very good about Georgia.

(Associated Press)

Sweet tea, moonshine and wine

A worker picks grapes at Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Clayton, Ga., on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008. Persimmon Creek Vineyards is part of a rapidly expanding winery industry across the South, where lands once given over to tobacco now produce a more tourist-friendly crop. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

In the same mountains where generations of Georgians distilled corn into moonshine, the Hardman family is fermenting a libation of another flavor.

Along the banks of a babbling creek near Clayton are acres of twisting grape vines that will yield bottles of riesling, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and merlot.

The Hardmans' winery, Persimmon Creek Vineyards, is part of a rapidly expanding winery industry across the South, where lands once given over to tobacco now produce a more tourist-friendly crop.

"It's not something you can only grow in France and California," says Mary Ann Hardman, who runs the winery from her home on 100 acres of picturesque farmland. "I believe wine is the taste of a place."

And in the American South, the taste ranges from sweet, wet whites from the local scuppernong grapes (a muscadine variant) to Euro-style like chardonnays and merlots.

The Hardmans began producing wine six years ago on the cusp of an explosion in the region's viticulture industry, which has begun drawing tourists from across the globe to the rural South.

Today there are 433 wineries across the region, a nearly 50 percent increase from just three years ago, according to the National Association of American Wineries. That's almost four times as many wineries as 15 years ago.

The growth mirrors a national trend, with every state now boasting at least one winery _ even Alaska.

Southern vintners are particularly proud that their region finally has developed a foothold in the U.S. wine industry after years of connoisseurs looking down their noses at vintages from below the Mason-Dixon line.

Not that the stigma has completely vanished. But experts say the South is making a place for itself in the wine world.

"I have had some good Southern wine and some interesting Southern wine," says Lettie Teague, executive wine editor for Food & Wine magazine. "There is reason to look forward to the Southern wines of the future."

Southern wines tend to go the way of the region's tea _ incredibly sweet _ especially from scuppernong grapes.

"There is an exceptionally good sparkling scuppernong being made in southeast Georgia. There's a good chardonnay being made in North Carolina, as well," said John T. Edge, contributing editor at Gourmet magazine and head of the Southern Foodways Alliance at Ole Miss. "The diversity of topography and the diversity of grapes lends itself to the South emerging as a contender on the international stage."

Regional wine sales are tough to track because most Southern wineries are small and mostly sell directly to customers.

Tourism has played a key role in the boom. As at wineries in California, tasting rooms welcoming visitors are common. Some wineries even have built rental cottages for travelers wishing to rest among the vines.

The South was a leader in the U.S. wine industry during the early part of the 20th century, but Prohibition devastated the nation's industry. While other parts of the country bounced back, recovery has been slower in the South.

For decades after prohibition, farmers in the heart of the Bible Belt shied away from wine grapes. But modern vintners have discovered the cool weather in southern mountain towns is ideal for many varieties.

They've also needed to find new uses for land once dominated by tobacco.

"The industry we've been depending on in the South is no longer here," says Kim Myers, president of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association and owner of Laurel Gray Vineyards in Hamptonville, N.C. "People are looking for alternative things to do with farm land."

California remains the country's largest wine producer, with 2,600 wineries. North Carolina has just 91 wineries, but that's up from just 54 three years ago. Virginia went from 122 to 169 in that time.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Georgia agriculture.

(AP)

Imperial Sugar victims remembered on the explosion's anniversary

Imperial Sugar memorial service. (Photo: Orlando Montoya)

Saturday marked the first anniversary of one of the worst industrial disasters in Georgia history.

About 400 people gathered at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah to remember the 14 workers who died in an explosion and fire there on February 7th, 2008. Company President John Sheptor dedicated a park remembering the victims.

"We are calling this ground Legacy Park," Sheptor told the audience, who heard gospel music and Bible readings during a 90 minute program."This plant and this company have much to remember. We have endured struggles, hardships, hard labors and tragedy."

Federal investigators blamed the explosion on an excessive buildup of combustible sugar dust, later issuing Imperial one of the largest health and safety fines in U.S. history. The company is still contesting those fines and a rash of lawsuits filed by victims.

Legacy Park is located in a shady corner of the hulking plant's property. It has a simple stone marker for each of the victims. Still to be finished is a statue depicting outstreached hands and doves. Saturday's ceremony included a release of 14 doves.

Columbus: GA GOP unites behind McCain

Sen. Chambliss addresses a sparse crowd of convention delegates at the Columbus Civic Center, on Friday, May 16th, 2008. Many more arrived for Saturday's session. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Republicans united behind likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain on Saturday and fired up their faithful members at the party's annual convention Saturday.

Delegates were selected to represent the state at the national GOP convention in September, and a steady stream of elected officials who took the podium said the party needs to come home to its bedrock conservative issues from taxes and immigration to military might and gun rights.

"We've got some work to do. We've got some proving to do,'' said U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg. "The base didn't get lost. We got lost.''

Governor Sonny Perdue urged Republicans to avoid poll-driven "gimmicks'' and suggested there was a damaging disconnect between party leaders in Washington and conservative states like Georgia.

Recent contests in the Bible Belt that have elected Democrats "ought to be a warning around the South and around the United States,'' Perdue said. But, he later told reporters, "I feel very good about Georgia.''

Democrats made gains in 2006 by winning control of the U.S. House and Senate, but Georgia bucked the trend by electing Republicans to a couple of statewide posts that had been held by Democrats.

However, Republicans said they were not taking anything for granted, especially after Democrats cast more ballots in this year's Feb. 5 presidential primary than the GOP.

The main order of business Saturday was to select delegates who will attend the national GOP convention. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won Georgia's presidential primary with strong support from religious conservatives and independents. But on Saturday, John McCain stickers were everywhere and nearly every speech plugged the Arizona senator.

The slate of 30 delegates and 30 alternates selected included prominent supporters of Huckabee, as well as other former GOP contenders including former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Fred Thompson, the one-time senator from Tennessee; and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Among the delegates were supporters of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. A vocal group of Paul supporters were also in the stands, according to the Associated Press.

Bickering on the floor turned caustic at times. One delegate demanded a resolution condemning abortion as "prenatal murder.'' Another participant had his microphone turned off when he criticized the war in Iraq.

"I've never seen debate stifled that much,'' said state committee member Brian Laurens, of Ellijay, who said he's been involved in state conventions since 2002.

Turnout by delegates on Friday afternoon's 2 p.m. opening session was light; many arrived later in the evening, and on Saturday. (Dave Bender)

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss on Friday said he'd warned President Bush that vetoing the farm bill could hurt presumptive GOP nominee John McCain in reliably Republican states this fall.

"If they get turned off by Republicans it's going to make it tough for John to get those votes," Chambliss told reporters following his speech.

Chambliss, a loyal Bush ally who is running for re-election, said he told the president that that with his low approval ratings he should avoid alienating voters in agriculture-rich states in the South and the Midwest that have supported him.

White House officials have suggested Bush will veto the bill.

Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, defended the recently adopted bill from critics who said it is heavy on rich subsidies to wealthy farmers.

"That's ridiculous," Chambliss said. He said the bulk of the farm bill spending went to nutrition programs, like food stamps and school lunches. And he argued that individual farmers earning more than $750,000 a year don't qualify for federal aid, under the bill.

Chambliss was asked about the five-year $300 billion farm bill by reporters but he made no mention of it in his speech to the party faithful at the Columbus Civic Center for the kickoff of the state party's convention. Also missing from the speech: Any reference to President Bush.
Bush's dismal approval ratings have many election-bound Republicans steering clear.

Chambliss did talk up McCain and urged Georgians to unite behind the Arizona senator. Georgia went for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Feb. 5 primary. Huckabee drew strong support from independents and religious conservatives.

Chambliss made a case for his own re-election to a second-term by issuing a dire warning about what the nation will be like if Democrats win a handful of additional seats in the U.S. Senate. Under Senate rules, Republicans will lose the ability to block the Democrats' agenda.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the presidential elections.

(The Associated Press)

Homeless in Columbus: getting past the overpass (Updated)

Homeless under the Second Street Bridge.
Click on images for larger view.
(Dave Bender)
Heeding -- at least temporarily -- the demands of a municipal decision to clear out, several dozen homeless residents camped out beneath Columbus's Second Street Bridge made themselves scarce by noon Monday.

Today was the deadline for the some 50 homeless men to to move out from the hobo camp, set up under the overpass and alongside some railroad tracks. Nearby businesses had called for clearing the area.

Joe Riddle, director of the city's department of of community reinvestment told GPB News that the city plans to clear out the mattresses, blankets and meager personal belongings remaining in the makeshift lodgings in coming days. He says the homeless themselves requested trash cans in order to help clean up the area.

City representatives set up a table at the site for several hours a day twice a week throughout April, and helped the homeless obtain more stable living and, for some, employment arrangement.

Representatives are to meet this week with numerous homeless support groups to coordinate efforts to comprehensively deal with the city's indigent population. Riddle says several dozen are already moving to homes and shelters, and are dealing with alcohol and substance abuse problems.

Elizabeth Alcantara, director of the Homeless Resource Network, says that raised awareness of the plight of Columbus, Phenix City, Al., and the area's some 2,000 indigent residents is itself a positive step.

"We've had some recent newspaper coverage about people sleeping under the bridge; and while many people feel that, 'you know, we're sorry to see that in the paper, and to hear that' - I was thrilled, because it brings attention.

"We think that we're not a big city - we're not New York, we're not Atlanta, and we don't have homelessness here - and we do."

One fact that both Riddle and Alcantara agree on is that Columbus's homeless problem is largely homegrown:

“For the most part, the people that we are serving are from our area,” Alcantara says.

“They're down on their luck,” Riddle says, adding, “a lot of them are from Columbus; they've had a bad situation, and they end up out on the streets.”

Sleeping rough: Mattress, Bible, crutch and
shovel. Click on images for larger view.
(Dave Bender)