Mike Saunders

The Athens - Oconee Junior Women's Club, that's who.

As you wander around Athens-Clarke County you will very likely run into some highly decorative and brightly colored BullDawgs. They have been placed throughout the county as a mobile public art exhibit showcasing the talent of several local artists as well as featuring Georgia's favorite canine, the BullDawg.

This mobile outdoor art museum project, We Let the Dawgs Out, has, at any one time, up to 36 bulldawg statues on display at various locations throughout the county. While most of them can be found in the downtown area there a several that are in other venues throughout the county. Manu can be visited at Southeast Clarke Park. Thurston LaDonnahue III stands watch at the intersection of Barnett Shoals Rd.-Gaines School Rd and Greencrest Dr.

Each bulldawg statue is 44" tall, 70" long and 33" wide. There is a plaque between the front feet indicating the BullDawg's name, the artist and the sponsoring patron. Pictures of all 36 dawgs can be found in a gallery on the project website. Click on the thumbnail photos to get full size pictures.

Next time in Athens, try and find out how many of these dawgs you can find!

I like to play golf and at every golf course that I have played I have one or more favorite holes. They may be my favorites because of the way they set up for my game or because of their aesthetic qualities. The 8th hole at Lane Creek Golf Club is one of those that fits both qualities.

Hole 8 is a PAR 3 with the distance varying from about 100 yards from the red tees to 170 yards from the tips. The tees are elevated and you need to carry your ball high across a marsh and a creek to land softly on the green. The approach from tee to green looks wide but there is forest on either side and a slight push or pull from the back tees will guarentee a lost ball. Once you cross the creek you still aren't safe. A hook or a slice will require a tricky pitch onto the green.

The green has two levels with the right side being a bit higher than the left. There is a small ridge dividing the two. It slopes from back to front and from left to right. Carry the ball a little long and you end up on a step slop chipping back down to the green, unless you end up in the bunker where you will require a tricky sand shot to hold the green. If you are short left of the green you end up in a deep sand bunker that will require you to get your ball up quickly out of the sand.

The pin on the day this picture was taken was in the middle back of the right side of the green. You can just make out the white flag looking like a bright spot in the middle of the bunker. I must have been feeling some adrenaline on this tee shot because I ended up about 18 feet to the right and above the pin.

Lane Creek Golf Club is located in Bishop, just a few miles from Watkinsville and 20 minutes from Athens. Butch Foust is the owner manager and always like to discuss golf.

By the way, my birdie put slipped just below the hole leaving me about 6" for my par.

Madison County is showing some resilience in todays housing market.

For August and September the sliding average of annual home sales in Madison County has remainded virtually unchanged. However, sales are still down almost 28% from the start of the year. The D.O.M. (Days on Market) decreased slightly but is still up almost 9% since January.

While down from last month, the average home sales price in Madison County is still slightly higher than at the start of the year while the median price is down from last month and just over 1% lower since January.

The following chart shows the sliding 12 month figures for Madison County:

But the median and average prices are virtually unchanged.

The month of September saw another decrese in the average annual residential sales in Oglethorpe County dropping the volume to almost 50% of a year ago. The average Days on the Market (D.O.M.), however, is still bucking the trend of other nearby areas and showing a decrease.

The following chart shows the sliding 12 month figures for Oglethorpe County:

Are Watkinsville home sales bottoming? Data from September shows that with a decrease of 1 sales were virtually flat with August. The sliding 12 month sales figures indicate a decrease in sales volume holding steady at just under 26% for the last two month. The average number of days the sold home is on the market is still slightly increasing but overall it is only a 6-1/2% increase since the beginning of the year.

The median sales price has continued to rise, up just over 17% since Jan. 1. The average sales price is down from the previous two months but virtually even with the beginning of the year. The median sales price is down also.

The following chart shows the sliding 12 month figures: