The staff at Newt Gingrich’s Buckhead headquarters is gearing up for a big Southern push after the Florida primary Tuesday.

Volunteers will be in the Gingrich office Tuesday making get-out-the-vote calls to Floridians in hopes of swaying undecided voters in Gingrich’s campaign against Mitt Romney, whom polls show having a formidable lead in Florida.

A handful of volunteers were making calls Monday afternoon, with the bulk of the staff in Florida doing last-minute campaigning. Volunteers were also fielding calls from around the nation and from as far away as Australia.

Even if Gingrich falters in Florida, his local strategists are looking for a strong performance on Super Tuesday on March 6 in Georgia and Tennessee, although Gingrich will not be on the ballot in Virginia. He could also do well in the caucus in Alaska, whose former governor, Sarah Palin, has spoken favorably of Gingrich. Palin’s husband, Todd, has endorsed him. After Super Tuesday, the Alabama and Mississippi primaries follow in seven days.

“Newt will do well in Florida,” said adviser Rayna Casey Monday at the Buckhead office. “He blew it out of the water in South Carolina, and expects to do that again in Georgia and throughout the South.”

With Gingrich nailing down the support of  former candidates Rick Perry and Herman Cain and former Tenn. Sen. Fred Thompson, there is “more and more momentum and consolidation” of the GOP’s conservative wing behind Gingrich, said Gingrich’s Southeast political director, Maria Zack. The Gingrich camp calls Romney a moderate, with views out of step in the conservative deep South.

A key Romney supporter in Georgia, House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, who represents Buckhead, countered that Romney is the GOP candidate with the best chance of defeating Democratic President Barack Obama next fall.

“First of all, Mitt Romney is a strong fiscal conservative who has the right kind of executive and business experience to get America back to work,” Lindsey said in a call to Buckhead Patch.

“After tomorrow, two things are going to become very clear to every Republican; first we need to defeat President Barack Obama on Nov. 12, and No. 2, Gov. Romney is the best candidate to do that,” Lindsey said. “I call for all Republicans to join with those of us who have endorsed Gov. Romney and push him over the top so that we can start focusing on President Obama.”

With former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum trailing in Florida, the campaign for the GOP nomination is expected to shift even more to a battle between Gingrich and Romney, with Texas Rep. Ron Paul continuing on with Libertarian support. After Florida, the pressure for Santorum to leave the race is likely to build.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal heads a strong group of state and local officials backing Gingrich, his Georgia supporters said. Gingrich also holds the support of  most of Georgia’s congressional delegation, his office said, including Tom Price, who will represent Buckhead under reapportionment.

Romney also has core of Georgia backers. Nationally, Romney’s backers include John McCain, Robert Dole and George H.W. Bush. “All are moderates, and all lost the White House,” Zack said. Bush, George W. Bush’s father, was the incumbent president when he fell to Bill Clinton.

A big event Tuesday will be a conference call with Deal at 6 p.m. to rally supporters with an eye toward the Georgia primary, for which Gingrich is expected to make several stare campaign stops. Gingrich will also participate in a March 1 metro Atlanta debate, sponsored by CNN and the Georgia Republican Party.

With the state campaign gearing up, Gingrich’s Buckhead headquarters is also looking for volunteers in a variety of roles, such as phone bank representatives, precinct walkers, sign distributors and administrative workers.

“We have lots of volunteer opportunities for high school and college students, retirees, and everything in between,” said Sonia Harrison, director of Georgia operations.

The office on Maple Drive will receive a shipment of 25,000 Gingrich yard signs Tuesday, and the signs will be available to Bckhead residents who come by the office. The office is also giving away bumper stickers.

Two separate Buckhead middle schools are called for in the new APS redistricting options released Friday.

The proposal is likely to draw opposition from Buckhead parents, with concerns that the two schools will be unbalanced in terms of ethnic diversity, as reported in a recent article.

Under Option A, Sarah Smith and Warren T. Jackson elementaries would feed into a middle school at the Sutton Middle School site, while the other Buckhead schools would go to a new middle school at the current North Atlanta High site.  Under Option B, Garden Hills Elementary, with a significant number of Latino students, would also go to the Sutton campus. Option A also calls for the construction of a new Midtown middle school, while that plan is dropped in Option B.

Under redistricting, students from Midtown’s Home Park neighborhood would also go to the new middle school at the North Atlanta site.

Other concerns raised by parents include the probability that the new North Atlanta middle school would not be immediately certified by the International Baccalaurate program, now a mainstay of Buckhead schools. On the other hand, the North Atlanta campus recently received an extensive renovation, with facilities that might be considered better than Sutton’s, although it was also renovated several years ago.

Last spring, APS propossed placing a separate sixth grade academy at the Sutton site and all Buckhead seventh and eighth graders at the North Atlanta site. But APS Superintendent Erroll Davis said after first taking office that he was unaware of that proposal.

The two separate middle schools would alleviate overcrowding at Sutton, now Buckhead’s only public middle school.

Give us your views on the two middle schools. Participate in our poll, and give us your thoughts in comments.

From Patch Reports

Monday, Feb. 6 is the voter registration deadline for the March 6 presidential primary in Georgia.

Go to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to check your registration status and to find other information such as your poll location and early voting places. The link also has a tab for you to register to vote.

You can also go to the Fulton County elections web site for voting information.

The March 6 presidential primary in Georgia will help decide the Republican nominee to run for president against Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich, whose campaign headquarters are in Buckhead, is battling Mitt Romney, Rich Santorum and Ron Paul for the nomination.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich face off in Florida today, and from the latest polling, it looks like the former Georgia congressman may have lost some momentum in his quest for the GOP nomination for president.

The Gingrich campaign office in Buckhead is hitting the phones today to get supporters to the polls in Florida. And they’re already looking ahead to Super Tuesday on March 6, which will include the Georgia GOP primary.

Tell us what you think. Who will win? Who should win? Please weigh in on our polls and share your thoughts in the comments area below.

From Patch Reports

The Buckhead Coalition’s annual meeting Jan. 25 drew 160 community leaders, the largest attendance ever, President Sam Massell announced.

Mayor Kasim Reed and 13 of 15 city council members attended the event at 103 West along with a broad selection of other political leaders and business, nonprofit and media representatives.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana spoke at the meeting, giving an update on New Orleans’ recovery from flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. She also cited the long ties between Massell, the former mayor of Atlanta, and her father, former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu.

At the meeting, coalition members elected five of its directors to three-year terms on its Executive Committee: Chris Dardaman, CEO of Brightworth LLC; Jackson Houk, CEO of three Atlanta LLC; Andy Isakson, CEO of Isakson Living  Inc.; Linda Klein, managing shareholder, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell Berkowitz, LP; and Charlie Mann, CEO of the Mann Group. 
         

One correction to the story “Transparency Seen in New APS Options“: The Pine Hills neighborhood has been a split neighborhood, with the majority of students zoned for Sarah Smith, while a small portion at the southern end is zoned for Garden Hills — a situation that happened, according to some neighbors, more than 30 years ago, before the construction of Ga. 400.

The Pine Hills neighborhood’s objections to the first round of proposals, in which the whole neighborhood was rezoned for Garden Hills, legitimately objected to transporting children through the I-85/Ga. 400 interchanges, among other reasons.

The new options essentially maintain the status quo, continuing to preserve Pine Hills as a split neighborhood. Obviously, this does not jibe with APS’ guiding principle of keeping neighborhoods together.

Beth Wood
Pine Hills

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_trends

The number of Republicans in the country increased by a percentage point in December, while the number of Democrats fell back two points to the lowest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports.

During December, 35.4% of Americans considered themselves Republicans. That’s up from 34.3% in November and just below the high for the year of 35.6% reached in May.

At the same time, just 32.7% of adults said they were Democrats, down from 34.9% in November. The previous low for Democrats was 33.0% in August of this year. .

The number of voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties rose to 32.0% in December from 30.8% the month before.

Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based on telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002. The margin of error for the full sample is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence.

From Patch Reports

Girl Scout Cookies will be sold at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza from Feb. 17 through March 11, according to the Girl Scouts.

The popular cookies will be offered at booths hosted by Girl Scout troops from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The cookies will also be sold at other Simon malls in metro Atlanta.

At Lenox, the booth will be located at the Market Level Food Court near Chick-fil-A. The Phipps location will be at Monarch Court, behind Guest Services.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of their founding in Savannah, the Girl Scouts are adding a new variety this year, Savannah Smiles. Of course, they will also have their old favorites Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Do-si-dos znd Tagalongs. . Each cookie variety sells for $3.50.

For a list of other cookie booth locations in your area, visit the COOKIE LOCATOR at www.gsgatl.org to search by your city or county. New locations are posted daily.

Also, the Scouts have  a free mobile app that can be downloaded to iPhones, iTouches or android devices by calling **gscookies!

And, don’t worry about bringing cash: Many Girl Scout troops will have mobile credit card readers this year.

I’ll never forget the time I looked a wild peregrine falcon in the eye. The encounter lasted at least five long minutes and is right up there with my best wildlife sightings ever. The year was 2000.

The huge majestic bird appeared on the ledge of my sixth floor window at CNN Center, giving me a rare chance to stare at its intricately speckled white breast and piercing dark eyes that looked right through me. I often wonder why that regal bird chose me. Who else working in downtown Atlanta ever had a similar encounter?

Carl Crowley wonders the same thing. Did the wild creatures choose him, or was he just in the right place at the right time? Since 2010, the business attorney at McGee Oxford, whose office is on the 28th floor of Buckhead’s Tower Place, has lovingly chronicled the comings and goings of peregrine falcons that nested on top of a nearby skyscraper, in perfect view from his window.

In fact, the open-air pointed triangle that caps the Buckhead Grand condos is clearly reminiscent of a mountain peak, the birds’ natural habitat.

“All Southern boys know the red-tailed hawk,” the Buckhead native said. That’s why he knew that what he saw racing by was smaller. Crowley explained the meticulous process and detective skills used to prove his theory. He Googled “peregrine falcons Atlanta,” his best guess for what he may have seen. Every time a bird showed up, he noted “PF” on that day’s calendar. After a few sightings, he saw that the bird’s markings exactly matched the photos online.  He affectionately nicknamed the bird Perry Sentell after his favorite law professor at the University of Georgia.

He also found GABO, the highly active website hosted by UGA that allows birders around the state to easily report their sightings. About 30 e-mails a day come through. That’s how we first learned about Crowley’s sightings in Buckhead.  Crowley also learned that two tall buildings in Atlanta were home to peregrines — Sun Trust Plaza downtown and the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown.

Then in March 2011, the birds gave Crowley quite a gift. Right before his eyes, two falcons were mating on top of the Buckhead Grand. Crowley reached out to the GABO community with the juicy news using the subject line “Two for certain! Mating observed!” 

These excerpts from his GABO post described the intimate encounter: “I’m no birder, but it sure looked to me like animal copulation. One bird was perched on the back of the other; both were flopping around using odd postures with wings held up in the air at odd angles. By the time I finally got binoculars to my eyes and focused, the bird on top (the male?) was still attached to the one beneath him (the female?). Gosh, I wish I had a camera; I felt like Marlin Perkins!” (host of the popular TV show “Wild Kingdom,“ who later used his influence to advocate for endangered species).

GABO member Krista Gridley in Athens wrote back, “You say you’re no birder, but I’d say you’ve been ‘bitten’ or maybe ‘smitten?’ And you have binoculars — a sure give-away!” She suggested he contact Jim Ozier at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who bands peregrine chicks and tracks them in Georgia. Ozier actually visited Crowley’s office, confirmed the ideal conditions and encouraged him to be on the lookout for a nest.

As Crowley wondered how a nest could be found, the answer showed up right outside his window. Who is able to scale tall buildings? Window washers, of course. Using his binoculars, he zoomed in on the window washers’ shirts to read a company name. Again, he turned to the Internet. He easily connected with the right people who were glad to alert their staff working at the Buckhead Grand to keep their eyes peeled.

Peregrines, who mate for life, don’t actually build nests. They deposit their eggs in a shallow, scraped depression high on a rocky cliff. At the Four Seasons in Midtown, eggs were laid in a ventilation opening.

Out of the blue, Crowley received a call from the Buckhead Grand’s building manager. Window washers found a nest. Not surprisingly, it was placed on the steepest, most inaccessible extreme slope of the building. Mama Falcon had laid her eggs inside an empty light fixture, an ingenious substitute for hidden crevices on a mountaintop. Two babies — known as eyasses — were inside.  Crowley notes, “You couldn’t get a safer, more protected spot, and one with a fantastic 50-mile view.”

When asked how he felt when he heard the good news, Crowley says he marveled at how so many people collaborated to piece the evidence together, and how it all worked. He calls it “crowd sourcing” at its best.

Coincidentally, another law firm was also “bitten and smitten” by the pleasures of peregrine falcon watching. McKenna, Long Aldridge occupies the top floors of the Sun Trust Plaza downtown. The firm funded a web cam that offered live updates of a peregrine nest located in a planter on a 51st floor balcony. The nesting site provided a soft bottom layer and protection from the elements and was too high for any natural predators. Unfortunately, the web cam is temporarily offline and should be active later this year. 

History
The peregrine falcons’ odyssey from soaring on the brink of extinction to thriving as healthy Buckhead residents goes back to pioneering interventions made by scientists in the 1970s.

During the DDT era, peregrines apparently disappeared for years. The only known nest in Georgia was at Cloudland Canyon State Park in the early 1940s. In addition to the two known pairs in Atlanta, Crowley’s Buckhead pair makes three.

For a marvelous overview of the history of their decline and strong comeback titled “From Death’s Door to Life in the City,” click here. Peregrines have been removed from the federal list of endangered species, yet Georgia still lists the birds as rare. Their scientific name, Falco peregrinus, means wanderer.

Peregrine falcons specifically are also the fastest birds on earth, clocked at 200 miles per hour when “stooping” to dive down on their prey. According to Crowley, it’s thrilling to watch them stoop. “They hug in their wings like a fighter jet.” He’s noticed they often dive into the forested North Buckhead neighborhood just across the Buckhead Loop with its diverse menu of smaller birds as easy prey.

No one knows if the Buckhead peregrines are offspring of the falcons who live closer intown. Regardless of why they chose the Buckhead lifestyle, their impressive adaptability and triumph over adversity is inspiring.

Bird watching is quickly becoming the No. 1 hobby in the United States. Master Birder classes — an eight-week course presented by the Atlanta Audubon Society — are offered right here in Buckhead at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. The next class begins in February.

Lisa Frank is a certified master birder and president of Frank Relations. She lives and gardens in Buckhead where her yard is designated a backyard wildlife sanctuary by the National Wildlife Federation and the Atlanta Audubon Society.

Mourners have gathered for the funeral service of Senior Police Officer Gail Thomas.

The service is taking place now at Elizabeth Baptist Church, 4245 Cascade Road. The burial will follow at Mount Harmony Cemetery on Veterans Memorial Parkway in Mableton.

Law enforcement officers and friends also held a vigil Sunday night outside the family home in Austell Sunday night.

Thomas, a 20-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver on the I-75/I-85 Brookhaven split Tuesday evening.