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The fine reporters, and their finer editors, at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution apparently are unable to describe locales south of the Atlanta metro area without employing a worn cliche.

Drop below Clayton County and, to the AJC, you’re in the wasteland, “south of Atlanta.” This has been going on for years, though Piney W. Pete is likely the only reader sensitive enough to be outraged by the geographically dismissive, willfully ignorant, tone of the paper.

The latest affront to all non-metro Atlanta residents of Georgia came in a story Saturday, June 13, “Safety changes call for plunge in pools’ budgets,” written by one Mark Davis. It was an informative and well-written piece about the financial hardships swimming pool and hot tub operators have had complying with a new drain safety regulation. Things were going well and Piney felt informed and advised. Then Mark Davis dropped in what might be termed the “if-it’s-south-of-Jonesboro-we-don’t-know-where-it-is” graph.

And I quote,“Gisi said he knows of only three closed public pools whose operators say they cannot afford the changes: the Rockdale pool, plus facilities in Americus and Blakely, south of Atlanta.”

Don’t they have a map at the AJC?  Tell us something meaningful.

Blakely is south of Columbus. It’s in southwest Georgia, east of Dothan and southwest of Albany.

Americus is near Plains. Surely the average AJC reader has heard of Jimmy Carter. If that’s too much, then say it’s southeast of Columbus or southwest of Macon.

South of Atlanta! I’d like to have a dollar for everytime that phrase has been used to describe a Georgia town in the AJC, a newspaper published in Atlanta, north of Miami.

1. C SMITH says:

   June 15, 2009 at 6:58 am

   Piney, “Ol buddy” I will be glad to make you a small wager that most of the columnist at AJC since Lewis Grizzard come from north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Mississippi and have no idea that 3/4 of the state of Ga. is below Jonesboro. Glad to see your effort to recognize our state as a whole and there is life outside of Atlanta. A much better one to I might add!

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2. Diane says:

   June 15, 2009 at 8:06 am

   Sorry, Piney Woods. Those places ARE south of Atlanta, and when every word counts and your audience is Atlanta, that’s really all they need to know. The AJC doesn’t even care to deliver to the rest of the state. It’s an Atlanta paper. I’m just grateful I still have a paper to read. I know where those places are, and good many others.

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3. Ciambellina says:

   June 15, 2009 at 8:59 am

   Oh you’re funny! I do see your point, though (“north of Miami” — ha ha ha).

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4. Dallas says:

   June 15, 2009 at 9:46 am

   Maybe a time frame? We go often to Jupiter FL, 10.25 hours south of Atlanta.

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5. Wayne Johnson says:

   June 15, 2009 at 10:16 am

   I live in Griffin, about 40 miles south of Atlanta. I once called in a story to the AJC about an event in Griffin, and the reporter I talked with wanted to know where Griffin is!! You don’t have to live in South Georgia to be ignored by the AJC.

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6. Glenda says:

   June 15, 2009 at 2:04 pm

   There are so few local writers left at the AJC we should be relieved to have one still know that Atlanta itself is in Georgia.

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7. Cliff Green says:

   June 15, 2009 at 9:10 pm

   Everyone has already nailed this one: the people who now work at the AJC couldn’t find Macon or Savannah with a map. And since the paper no longer circulates south of Jonesboro, there’s no reason for them to learn.

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8. Mark Davis says:

   June 18, 2009 at 1:17 pm

   Folks, keep reading the AJC and I will keep my Georgia map at hand. Thank you.

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9. Paula says:

   June 22, 2009 at 11:34 pm

   It’s the “two Georgias” syndrome, the haves and have nots. Go Piney. You tell it like it is.

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10. Gita says:

    January 24, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    We who live west of Atlanta, in the giant suburb known as Alabama, are glad the AJC doesn’t cover us anymore. We were tired of the liberal spin the paper put on our doings.

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