ATLANTA BRIEFING March 2005

News this month

Finally caught

A 26-hour manhunt ended on March 12th, when Brian Nichols, the alleged murderer of three people, surrendered. The day before, Mr Nichols had been on trial for rape at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta when he overpowered a sheriff’s deputy and stole her gun. He then fatally shot Judge Rowland Barnes, a court reporter and another deputy. Later that night, Mr Nichols apparently killed a US Customs agent in north Atlanta and then took refuge in an apartment complex in Duluth, a suburb north of the city. There, he held a woman hostage before surrendering to police surrounding the building in the morning (the woman managed to call them). In court on March 15th, Mr Nichols was told he will be charged with four counts of murder.

Critics have swiftly blamed the court's lax security, with local attorneys claiming that something like this was inevitable. Mr Nichols had been handled by only one deputy while in court. During the subsequent manhunt, Atlanta police made a crucial early blunder by concentrating on finding a green Honda Accord which Mr Nichols had stolen from a reporter for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Mr Nichols had actually abandoned the car and escaped by subway; the car was found in the parking garage it was stolen from. Courthouse security in Fulton County has already improved, with more uniformed deputies in court, and specially trained officers accompanying high-risk inmates.

The plan is set

On March 14th, Georgia’s Republican-dominated state legislature passed the 2006 state budget of $17.4 billion. Sonny Perdue, the Republican governor, was pleased as the budget included several of his proposals, such as a $384m bond issuance to widen several highways. Cuts controversially included the $88,000 salary drawn by the press secretary of Mark Taylor, the lieutenant governor (a separately elected office). Mr Taylor, a Democrat, plans to run for governor this year, and Republicans have ensured that his press secretary does not become an opposition campaign manager.

Some hard decisions remain for the state. The National Conference of State Legislators predicts that states will have to bear some $30 billion in unfunded federal mandates, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In an interview with Stateline.org, a governmental news website, Mr Perdue named “the super-inflation of health care” as his biggest fiscal concern.

Drawn and redrawn

What will Georgia’s congressional districts look like in future? The newly dominant Republicans have made no secret of their eagerness to redraw the district map, last revised in 2001. But while several new maps have been put forward, none have yet been approved by both houses of the state legislature. A map passed on March 10th by the House of Representatives is still sitting before the state senate. Because of its segregationist past, Georgia must have any redrawn map approved by a federal judge, to ensure that it does not dilute the voting strength of ethnic minorities.

Larry O’Neill, a prominent Republican in a district with an air-force base, wants his county to be Republican, reasoning that his party would do better at bringing military jobs to the state. Although the new map will probably favour Republican candidates, not all state Republicans support it.

Voting with their feet

Democratic state lawmakers walked out of the legislature on March 11th to protest a pair of bills on voter identification. Both House Bill 244 and Senate Bill 84 make identification requirements tighter at voting outlets. The offended legislators complained that such measures would limit the ability of poor and minority voters to prove their identity.

The number of identification documents accepted from voters would fall from 17 to six—it would no longer be enough to show a pilot's license, gun license, social security card or bank statement. The debate led to legislative theatrics: one state congresswoman sang a civil-rights song at the podium, while the (white) Republican speaker of the house said, “I know what it’s like to be on the end of the iron fist of the majority,” referring to the long-standing Democratic control of the state legislature.

A strike ends

A week-long machinists’ strike at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, north-west of Atlanta, ended on March 15th when workers voted for a new contract by a 3-to-1 margin. It was the second strike in three years at the defence plant; a strike in 2002 against outsourcing measures lasted 49 days.

This strike came after machinists voted against a contract on February 27th. Members were worried about higher health-care premiums. But after workers at two California Lockheed Martin plants ratified identical contracts, the Marietta machinists had a weak position to bargain for more. Georgia's congressional representatives, meanwhile, are lobbying against cuts that would curb spending on the FA-22 Raptor fighter and the C-130J transport plane—two specialities of the Marietta plant.

Deadly roads

Though some of the nation’s deadliest roads are in Georgia, surprisingly they are not Atlanta's frenetic highways. A study released in early March by the Road Information Programme, a non-profit group, found that half of the state's 7,800 traffic fatalities between 1999 and 2003 occurred on rural roads, which only host 35% of the traffic. That makes Georgia the state with the seventh-deadliest back roads in the country. Legislators say they plan to improve the roads' safety. Part of the problem is Georgia’s relatively lax seat-belt laws, which don't apply to pick-up trucks, a vehicle popular in rural areas.

Catch if you can

April 2005

“The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer”

Until May 7th 2005

In this Pulitzer Prize–nominated drama, performed by the reliable Actor's Express Theatre Company, the scientist most closely associated with the birth of the atomic bomb meets a femme fatale who rattles his world view. John Ammerman, a longtime member of the Georgia Shakespeare Festival and a professor and resident artist at Emory University, stars as the flummoxed J. Robert Oppenheimer. This is part of the “New American Voices” series, which highlights lesser-known works by living playwrights. A pay-as-you-wish night on April 4th will benefit the National New Play Network.

Actor’s Express, King Plow Arts Centre, 887 West Marietta St. Tel: +1 (404) 607-7469. Performances: Thur–Sat at 8pm; Sun 2pm and 5pm. Tickets: $16–21.50. For more information and to buy tickets, see the theatre's website.

More from the Atlanta cultural calendar