Fountains full again, finally

By Hal Tift

Campus fountains are flowing again with the help of some ingenuity on the part of Physical Plant staff at the University of Georgia. They are no longer flowing with municipal, potable water but with water from the university’s own stash.

For more than a year the two largest fountains at the university were kept dry because of the severe drought in Athens. The larger of the two fountains is located on Herty Field, and the other is next to Old College.

Athens-Clarke County has had restrictions in place since rain fall was drastically below normal levels early in 2008. The campus fountains were among water fixtures that were forced to be turned off.

This spring the rain is falling again at more normal levels, but that’s not why the fountains are shimmering again.

The restrictions have been slackened but not removed, said Thomas Satterly, assistant vice president for physical plant. There are some water fixtures, specifically ones with fish or plants in them, that were never subject to the restrictions, Satterly said. But the two largest fountains do not meet those requirements.

To get the fountains running again, the Physical Plant staff got innovative.

They formulated methods of collecting condensate that could be used according to water restrictions. Among the methods are collecting condensation from air conditioning units, with cisterns that catch rain water from roofs, and wells owned by the university.

The fountains could have been running in this fashion throughout the drought, but the plans were extensive and time consuming.

“We had to go through the plumbing and design to determine if it was feasible, Satterly said. “That took about a year.”

Now the fountains are running, and there is no reason to believe that they will ever depend on the municipal water system again.

“It’s self-sustaining,” Satterly said. “There’s more than enough condensate.”
The fountains being full and running again changes the atmosphere for some in the university community. People often lounge on the lawn of Herty Field in the pleasant company of the fountain.

“It’s a lot nicer out here when the water’s running,” said senior Ukiah Busch from Ellijay, Ga.
Busch is a fifth year triple major in French, Italian, and Spanish. He spends a lot of his time in the nearby Romance languages building, so he says that Herty field is a common lounging spot for him. “The background noise is nice if nothing else.”






Ukiah Busch, fifth-year senior from Ellijay, Ga., lounges on Herty Field after the fountains quit running early Wednesday. (Photo by Hal Tift)









In a continuing story, the two fountains on the University of Georgia campus which have been running for nearly three weeks after a year of dormancy have stopped flowing yet again.
The smaller fountain near Old College is totally dry after running perfectly as recently as 10:30 a.m.

“It wasn’t running right, so we had to pump out the water so I could work on it,” said university grounds worker Joe Marshall. Marshall oversees all the fountains on campus.

The larger fountain at Herty Field was full of water but no longer spouting today. Marshall said that the wind was blowing too much water out of the fountain. The limited amount of recycled water wasn’t enough to sustain the fountain’s flow.



-Edited by Suha Zakiuddin

Federal aid not enough to cover growing need

By Sara Spigener

Athens-Clarke County is slated to receive $38,325 in emergency food and shelter aid, but local agencies fear that this will not be enough to meet the area’s growing need.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is distributing funds made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Several agencies are vying for a piece of this stimulus money because they fear that donations will not be able to keep up with the steady increase in need in Clarke County.

Community Connection is a referral service in Clarke County that directs those seeking aid to the proper agency. Their call volume is up 20 percent this year over last year, and 50 percent of calls are for financial assistance with housing or food, said Julie Meehan, the organization’s executive director.

The Salvation Army shelter is so full at times that mats are rolled out onto the floor and used as beds, said employee Carol Pumadera. Project Safe’s emergency shelter has also been operating at capacity, said the organization’s associate director, Carol Ann Adams.

Most agencies cite the economy as the primary reason for the sharp increase in need over the last eight to 10 months. People are seeing their work hours get cut, and many are losing their jobs altogether.

One recent visitor to the Athens Emergency Food Bank was a longtime truck driver, but when business slowed down, he lost his truck and his job.

“People who have worked their whole lives are now needing assistance,” said Kim Ramos, director of the Athens Emergency Food Bank.

Meehan said that a large volume of Community Connection’s callers have never needed aid until recently.

“The economy has shaken up their lives,” she said.

Both Project Safe and Community Connection are losing some of their grant and government funding. The FEMA allocations will provide much needed money to supplement donations, but many agencies need the money, and it will probably be spread thin.

While donations are holding steady for now at most agencies, they fear that they will not be able to meet demand in the near future without an increase in aid. Meehan said that individual donors have stepped up lately, but it is hard to find the support that agencies are used to.

“If donations do not increase to meet the increase in need, we will not be able to meet that need,” Ramos said.

To volunteer or make a donation to any of the Athens-Clarke County emergency shelter and food agencies, please contact Community Connection at 211 or 706-353-1313.

-Edited by Bailey Keiger

Food Services alters its focus during summer

Oglethorpe Dining Commons is the only dining hall open during Maymester.

Photo by Suha Zakiuddin









During the summer, there are less students on the meal plan.

Photo by Suha Zakiuddin








By Suha Zakiuddin

Because there are fewer students in the dining halls during the summer sessions, Food Services at the University of Georgia shifts its operation gears.

The only dining hall open during Maymester is Oglethorpe Dining Commons, also known as O-House. The other dining halls open for operation in June and July, while O-House closes on June 4.

There are some noticeable differences in O-House compared to the fall and spring semesters, mainly more employees and fewer students.

Unsurprisingly, there are fewer students on the meal plan during the summer, as there are fewer students taking classes and living on campus.

So, why are there so many more employees in O-House?

“May is a whole different kind of thing,” says Cafeteria Manager II Darnell Tate, Sr. “Dining hall employees are on a 12-month contract. When the academic year ends, all the employees move to O-House to continue work.”

The only student employees working in the dining hall during Maymester are Student Supervisors; management cuts down the amount of students they hire because there is less of a need for employees. Student employment starts again in June and July.

The dining hall feeds roughly 3000 students during the fall and spring semesters, but in the summer, the number falls to about 150 to 200. The dining hall also feeds a different group of people.

According to Chantai Meadows, a third-year Magazines major and Student Supervisor in O-House, “the clients are different. There is a mixture of students and camps. Last week a middle school class came.”

During the academic year, Meadows’ responsibilities include making sure other student workers are on task, that they take their breaks in a timely manner and making schedules. Those responsibilities change to just helping out where needed because there are no other students employees to oversee.

Meadows is currently working on a new way to train new student employees. “Right now we are changing the way we train students. Making it more detailed,” says Meadows.

William Lee, another Student Supervisor and a Spanish and Theater major, also discussed responsibilities related to his job. “We have to maintain the floor and manage students,” he said.
Both Meadows and Lee prefer the academic year to the summer term because there are more students.

Lee will also be working on the Freshman Orientation team this summer, which sells the meal plan to incoming students.

One of Food Services main sources of income is selling the meal plans to students, since it does not receive subsidies from the university.

“If we don’t sell the meal plan, we don’t have jobs,” says Tate.

When asked if the summertime was less stressful, Tate shook his head. “The management team works on a different mode of operation, with different goals.”

The goal is to get students to join the meal plan.

“In the fall, there is an influx of new students who are getting used to the meal plan, to college,” says Tate. “[The dining hall] is not just a place to eat, it’s a place to socialize. A lot of students are
not successful because they don’t make a connection to the university. The dining hall is a place to do that.”

Edited by Bailey Keiger

Oglethorpe Dining Commons

Dorothy Bolton, an employee at Oglethorpe Dining Commons poses for a picture while placing cake slices on the dessert bar.

Photo by Suha Zakiuddin

-Edited by Bailey Keiger