Atlanta’s dark hours re-visited

So I finally had a chance to see the CNN Special about the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children Cases which to this day is still the darkest chapter in Atlanta’s 20th century.  And once again, Wayne Williams, the man who was convicted of two of the murders, was trotted out and proclaimed his innocence, tried to convince everyone a new trial should be started, and was once again the smooth talking man who you possibly couldn’t think was the guilty mass murderer, blah, blah, blah… We have seen this act for nearly 30 years.  Oh, I hear the scuttlebutt that the Klan was actually behind the murders, witnesses lied or were coerced, the defense was not prepared, etc.

No matter what people think about whether or not Mr. Williams was the guilty party, one undeniable fact remains:  since Wayne was arrested, no male African-American child/young adult ever disappeared to be found strangled in the manner these 30 young men were during the crisis.  It’s something that not even Wayne’s staunchest supporters can deny. 

Does it mean the Police got the right man with Wayne?  Probably.  Did the three failed lie detector tests Mr. Williams take hurt his case?  Certainly.  Did Wayne’s cross-examination hurt the defense?  Yes.  Even with that, are there still doubts?  Of course.  Only a select group of people knew what really happened:  the victims and the killer or killers.  Unfortunately, the victims can’t speak.

Growing up in the Atlanta area during this time was nerve-racking.  Sure, I was a Caucasian child living in the suburbs, and since the victims were African-American in the city, you would think there would be nothing to worry about.  Wrong.  Just because other kids were dying, you had to wonder:  What if the killer started targeting white boys?  What if girls were targeted next?  What if other adults began to disappear?  What if the killer moved out to the suburbs?  You never knew.  Just like in a bizarre echo over 2 decades later you didn’t know if the D.C. Sniper was hanging out in your area waiting to take you out, the same paranoia filled Atlanta.  Heck, they found Patrick Baltazar’s body in the parking lot of the Office Complex that my dad was working at the time.  What if the killer began targeting the Buford Hwy./North Druid Hills area?

Still, some 30 years after those season of fear, the echoes haunt those of us who had to live with the reality of a child killer on the loose in our town.  Now that I’m a father, how will those echoes affect my desire to protect my son?

The realignment of the big college conferences

So the cannibalization of the Big 12 has begun with Nebraska and Colorado realigning to the Big 10 (or should we now call them the Big 12) and Pac-10 respectively.  The question is how will this all end and what will the Big conferences look like after the carnage.

Here’s one scenario on how this will all play out:  Let’s assume Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech all join the Pac-10 as well.  The 16th team to the Pac-10 would either be Utah or Texas A&M with Utah being the backup plan if A&M goes to the SEC.  Let’s also assume Missouri joins Nebraska in the Big Ten.  That leaves Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor for either the Mountain West or Conference USA to scoop up.

Let’s also assume that in addition to Nebraska and Missouri, the Big Ten also adds Notre Dame.  Then the question is whether the Big Ten would be happy with 14 or would like to expand to 16.  If they want 16, the guess is that they will further raid the Big East adding Syracuse and either Pittsburgh, Rutgers, or West Virginia.  That would then set in motion the beginning of the end of the Big East.

The ACC would not be free of pillaging either as the SEC will not stand idly by.  If the other conference go to 16 teams, the SEC will follow suit.  So who becomes the SEC’s next four?  Assuming A&M does NOT join the SEC, the selection is easy.  First, Florida State and Georgia Tech make the most geographical sense.  Also, Clemson makes some sense as well.  The final team comes down to either Miami or Louisville.  My guess is Louisville will be that final team, because the ACC will make sure Miami stays. 

The ACC will then pick apart the rest of the Big East adding South Florida, the two losers in the Big Ten Beauty contest of Pitt, West Virginia, and Rutgers, Connecticut, and Cincinnati to reach 14.  Throw in Georgetown and Villanova in Basketball and you now have 16 for Basketball.  The remaining Big East schools (which only play conference Basketball) would realign to the Atlantic 10, Horizon (Marquette), or Conference USA.

Whether this new group of super-conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 16, and Pac 16, plus a super-size Mountain West) will help or hurt NCAA Sports remain to be seen.  Still, what is going to happen in the next few years will prove interesting.

Is Thomas Wolfe Right?

Thomas Wolfe (the writer from the early part of the 20th century) summed it up nicely in the words of his character George Webber: "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

It's been over four years since I last went home to Georgia. In those four plus years, a lot has changed in my life and in the life of Snellville (from what I can gather). From my perspective, I've gotten married, traveled across much of this great country and around the world, experienced locations I've never been to, and become a father. From Snellville's perspective, new shopping locations, a new city hall, a more decentralized downtown, and a changing, more diverse population has given the town a new look and feel.

How will I feel when I return to Snellville this September? The Snellville I knew and loved as a kid is forever gone, replaced by this new larger version of an Atlanta suburb. Joshua and Liz will never see what I saw in the town that made this city great. No Snellville Day parades going down Main Street. No rural farmland just outside of town. No small town feel. A high school that has completely changed. I can only convey how this town looked in the 1980s as I grew up without showing it. And what will the people who remember me as a kid think of me upon my return now that I am a father and husband? They'll see certain flashes of the old me, but it will be a person shaped by years of Chicago and Baltimore experiences and not Snellville ones.

One thing is for sure: this will be the most interesting trip I have ever had going back to the town I grew up in.