Athens Today--February 6

Speak out for Species, a UGA student group, is sponsoring the Animal Voices Film Festival, which runs all this week. The first documentary show today at 7:30pm in Room 102 of the Miller Learning Center, at the intersection of Lumpkin and Baxter. The first movie is “Elephant in Living Room.” All the films are free and open to the public. 

Montana State's Jack Horner can't make a dinosaur speak, not yet, but he may be working on it. The renowned paleontologist, who wrote "How to Build a Dinosaur," will talk about how he and colleagues are trying to create a real dinosaur. His 4pm talk today is part of UGA's Darwin Days celebration. It will be in Room 102 of the Miller Learning Center.

Tomorrow is the regular meeting of the Athens Clarke County Mayor and Commission at 7pm in City Hall. Commissioner Jared Bailey is expected not to approve the minutes of the last meeting, but to change his vote so that he approves spending $50,000 on . That will make the vote 5-5 on the issue, so Mayor Denson will have to break the tie.

It’s not too early to buy your ticket for a Feb. 17-18 performance of Circus Athena at the . Friday, things start at 7pm; Saturday, at 2:30pm and 7pm. The circus has something for everyone, including aerialists, fire-spinners, dancing dogs, dancing humans, BMX bikers, hula tricksters, local actors and clowns. For tickets, call the Morton Theatre box office at 706-613-3770 or online

This coming Saturday is the Athens Kids Expo at the Classic Center. The family fun filled event, from 10am until 4pm, has most everything a kid could want: a jumpy castle, a magic show, a petting zoo and much much more. At $5 a pop, it's even affordable. The money goes to Wee Read, a program of the United Way, which sends a free book to children from birth until age five.