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Morning, y’all. Friday already. Abbreviated work weeks for the win!
⛅️ The weekend forecast should sound familiar: temperatures around 90 degrees and the chance of scattered thunderstorms throughout.
📱 Quick social media note: If you’re making the jump to Threads, you can find the AJC at @ajcnews.
On to the news.
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Concrete conundrum
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
No one knows who blew up the Georgia Guidestones.
It’s been a year now since someone planted an explosive at the base of north Georgia’s most mysterious monument and drove off in a gray sedan. Separate surveillance videos show the explosion and the car.
Locals assume the destruction was likely fueled by long-swirling conspiracy theories involving the unusual granite slabs.
But 366 days later and still no arrests. The GBI says it doesn’t have any updates to share.
Wild, right? Well, to paraphrase Winston Churchill: this monument has always been a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
The Guidestones were erected in 1980 outside of Elberton — “the granite capital of the world” — about 15 miles from the South Carolina border. As the story goes, a man using the pseudonym R.C. Christian pitched the 19-foot pillars to the president of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company.
The company tried to get out of it by suggesting an absurd price. But “Christian,” whose true identity has never been revealed, didn’t flinch. And the four-pillar, Stonehenge-like monument soon appeared in a cow pasture.
These, of course, were not blank slabs of rock. The included inscriptions offered “wisdom for the ages” in eight different languages.
Credit: WSB TV
Credit: WSB TV
Some of it honestly made a bit of sense: Avoid petty laws and useless officials. Leave room for nature. Prize truth.
Then there was the whole thing about “guiding reproduction wisely” and limiting Earth’s population to 500 million people. Other inscriptions about creating a “world court” and a universal human language are what helped fuel conspiracy theories.
About two months before the explosion, fringe GOP gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor called the Guidestones the work of the “global Luciferian regime” and vowed to tear them down if elected.
So city officials ultimately decided not to rebuild the monument. A popular tourist attraction and curious point of local pride was now too politicized.
The remnants were donated to the Elberton Granite Association and its museum for safekeeping.
Maybe one day we’ll know who was behind the Guidestones’ demise — and their creation.
For now, all we’ve got is an empty pasture and a heap of whodunits.
Keep scrolling for more news — and find more local coverage here.
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MORE TOP STORIES
🏳️🌈 Experts are split on the true impact of the Supreme Court’s decision involving a wedding website designer and same-sex couples. But some LGBTQ-friendly business owners in Atlanta say making their stance clear is even more important now.
“This decision gives us the fuel to be more intentional in letting our customers know that we are very supportive,” said Carlton Brown. “We want to let people know who we are.”
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🐘 Members of Congress’ far-right “Freedom Caucus” ousted U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from their ranks.
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Georgia is receiving more unaccompanied migrant children than ever before. Some end up in abusive situations, the AJC’s Lautaro Grinspan reports.
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METRO ATLANTA
⚽️ Some Cobb County officials are calling offsides after a soccer field originally pitched for an underserved community relocated to a park in a more affluent area.
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🙏 The funeral for a Georgia deputy killed during a traffic stop is set for Monday.
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THE NATION AND WORLD
⚖️ Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty in the classified documents case that also implicates his boss, former President Donald Trump. A judge also unsealed new details from a search warrant related to the case.
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✅ The FDA gave Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi full approval — clearing the way for Medicare and other insurance plans to cover treatment for the devastating disease.
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SPORTS
⚾️ The red hot Braves start their series against the Rays tonight in Tampa. Perhaps more importantly, Max Fried begins his rehab assignment Sunday in Gwinnett.
Also of interest: Sunday’s AJC will include a special edition poster celebrating the home team’s eight all-stars.
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⚽️ Atlanta United made a flurry of roster moves.
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🏁 NASCAR’s Quaker State 400 comes to town on Sunday. It will mark Kevin Harvick’s last race at Atlanta Motor Speedway — the track where he claimed his first-ever checkered flag in dramatic fashion.
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LIVING AND ARTS
🍿 If you’re still in search of something to do this weekend, we’ve got 15 ideas to choose from. How about a movie in the park?
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🎸 Legendary rock band the Eagles announced a farewell tour that includes a Nov. 12 stop at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. Tickets go on sale next week.
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ON THIS DATE
July 7, 1944
Fire claims dozens of lives at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus.
Newspapers refer to the deadly Connecticut blaze as “the greatest disaster in American circus history.”
“It was only a little blaze when it started — it could have been put out with a pail of water,” one survivor said. But “it spread awfully fast — right up to the top. Everybody was trying to get out at once. It was a terrible scene.”
About 6,000 people were inside the big top when the flames erupted. Later counts put the death toll at 168.
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PICTURE OF THE DAY
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
AJC photographer Katelyn Myrick recently captured young Snyder Acosto-Lopez beating the heat at Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta.
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ON THE RECORD
I gotta get back in shape.
- ANDREW YOUNG, 91-YEAR-OLD FORMER MAYOR AND U.S. AMBASSADOR, ON NOT BEING ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEWLY RENOVATED POOL AT THE LOCAL YMCA NAMED FOR HIM AND HIS BROTHER.
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Thanks for reading A.M. ATL. Contact Tyler at tyler.estep@ajc.com with any thoughts, comments or suggestions. Until next time.
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