While away from the campus over the summer, some students missed significant events in Athens.

Some of these changes will affect the campus landscape, and others will impact us from afar.

Campus expansion moves fraternities

Over the summer, three Lumpkin Street fraternities agreed to move to River Road, the University was chosen as a finalist for the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility and it took two rounds to decide a Congressional special election.

Three of the Lumpkin Street fraternities accepted the University’s proposal to move to River Road. After discussing the University’s offer from March to July, these fraternities – Pi Kappa Alpha, Tau Epsilon Phi and Phi Delta Theta – agreed to move if the University would reduce the rent rates.

With this land, the University has made plans to expand the northwest portion of the campus. But their plans may be interrupted by other Lumpkin Street fraternities, two of which are planning on staying.

The agreement provides the University’s offer to pay for construction costs without up-front investments from the fraternities and a 30-year lease with an optional 30-year renewal, according to a report released by the University.

Sigma Chi and Chi Phi are the only two of the six Lumpkin Street fraternities who plan on staying in their houses.

Sigma Chi signed a 40-year lease with the University in 1996, and Chi Phi maintains its right to stay based on a document.

However, the University did make a housing offer to Chi Phi. The fraternity can debate this proposal, and they must respond by Sept. 1.

Kappa Alpha, the sixth Lumpkin Street fraternity, turned down the University’s offer and has made its own plans to move to West Hancock Avenue.

Election names Broun winner

Politicians clamored to represent the 10th Congres-sional District.

A June 19 special election held to decide who would fill the seat of the late Charlie Norwood resulted in indecision.

Ten candidates ran in the special election, but none of the candidates received more than 50 percent, the required percentage of the vote needed to be declared a winner.

The two candidates who secured the most votes, Paul Broun and Jim Whitehead, were forced to campaign in a runoff election. Both Broun and Whitehead are Republicans.

Voters chose Broun, a doctor from Athens, over Whitehead, a former state senator from Augusta, in the July 17 runoff.

Broun said in an interview last month he “is eager to represent the people.” He also said he will rely on his experiences with patients to help him listen to the 10th District residents and find solutions to their problems.

“I’m going to represent the people in my district’s interests,” Broun said. “I will not be a Republican robot.”

Broun called himself an “ardent capitalist,” and said he wants to streamline the federal government.

In 2004, Broun participated in a mission trip to Iraq. He said the experience “opened (his) eyes to things that have not been reported in the press.”

He was initially opposed to the war in Iraq, but after speaking with Kurdish political leaders who said Saddam Hussein was contributing to Al Qaeda, Broun changed his opinion.

Despite this, Broun said, “We’ve got to find a way to end this war and bring our troops home.”

During the runoff campaign, there was much discussion of a regional battle between the two candidates.

Whitehead, Broun’s opponent from Augusta, made comments that suggested he would pay more attention to that area.

But John Stone, Whitehead’s communications adviser, disagreed.

“That was Broun and the Athens Banner-Herald saying that,” Stone said in an interview with The Red & Black following the runoff.

Broun then pledged to put an office in Athens. Broun’s campaign said they didn’t want to divide the district.

“Whitehead tried to make that an issue, but Dr. Broun wanted to represent the entire district,” said Joshua Evans, Broun’s campaign manager, in an interview with The Red & Black after the election.

Although they did not endorse a candidate, the College Republicans participated in the election. About 12 members of the organization went on an “express trip” to Augusta to campaign for Whitehead for the four days leading up to the election and the election day itself according to David Ballard, the College Repub-licans’ president.

Ballard said some members participated in a similar effort before the election.

The vote in the runoff was so close that a winner was not immediately named. But after the final count, Broun won with 23,529 votes, or 50.4 percent. Whitehead received 23,135, or 49.6 percent of the vote.

Bio facility possible addition to Athens

The Department of Homeland Security listed an Athens location as one of five finalists for the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility.

The facility will serve as a spot for biosafety laboratories. It will also provide a place to research zoonic diseases such as the West Nile Virus, avian influenza and anthrax.

Homeland Security chose the five finalists July 11 after visiting 18 locations, including two potential sites in Athens. The visitors saw sites on College Station Road and South Milledge Avenue and picked the site on Milledge as a finalist.

David Lee, the vice president of the office of research, said the site in Athens would be a positive choice for homeland security, thanks to its proximity to the Center for Disease Control and University facilities.

Lee said a “statewide team” has assembled to secure the facility. He said Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the state’s two U.S. senators, professors from Emory and the University and many others have joined “a very broad group” to take the steps necessary to convince the Department of Homeland Security that Georgia is the spot for the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility.

“Georgia will continue working hard to convince federal officials that we have the right combination of resources, infrastructure and talent to bring this research center to our state,” Perdue said in a news release.

The economic impact of the facility is also significant.

The facility will provide about 1,000 construction jobs and an estimated 250 to 350 high-quality jobs when it opens, according to the news release.

According to a Carl Vinson Institute of Government study, this facility could provide a significant source of money for the Athens area. It can bring in $1.5 billion in wages and salaries in 20 years.

The same study found the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility will have a $3.5 billion impact over 20 years on the Athens economy.

As the team prepares for the Department of Homeland Security’s final selection in October of 2008, Lee said the team will make “very careful environmental analysis.”

Lee also said the team will engage in discussions with the Athens community about the facility. He said officials plan on informing citizens, hearing concerns and addressing those concerns.

Lee expects the first public meeting with Department of Homeland Security officials Sept. 20.

The idea for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility came from a 2004 presidential directive to the Department of Homeland Security.

In January of 2006, the department began developing the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility. They released a list of 18 possible sites in August 2006.

According to a news release, the four other finalists are in Kansas, North Carolina, Texas and Mississippi.

But representatives from Georgia have expressed confidence in the state’s chances.

“With the CDC, USDA facilities, our top-ranked health institutions and our research universities, Georgia is the ideal location for the new National Bio and Agro-Defense facility,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson in a news release issued by Perdue.