Sunday, September 14, 2008 | News, Sports, A+E, Food, Life, In this Issue..., Style, Nightlife
The SP 100

Presenting the fourth annual SP 100: The Sunday Paper staff’s thoroughly researched, hotly debated and extremely opinionated list of Atlanta’s finest entertainers, restaurants, philanthropists, nightspots and more.

Spark St. Jude
Jimmy Carter


Courtesy of the Georgia Aquarium
Alice the Whale Shark, in the Georgia Aquarium’s Ocean Voyager exhibit


Spark St. Jude
Bob Barr

JIMMY CARTER

WHY: Whether monitoring elections in Third World countries, meeting with foreign leaders or writing the controversial book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” former president Carter has often been a lightning rod for controversy since leaving the White House. The former peanut farmer, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work with the Atlanta-based Carter Center, continues to make headlines, as when he met with leaders of the terrorist organization Hamas during a visit to Syria earlier this year.
WHERE: www.cartercenter.org.

GEORGIA AQUARIUM

WHY: First, the “Big Tank,” as we like to call it, made international headlines for its sheer size. Who’d have thunk a landlocked city would be the place for the world’s largest aquarium? Certainly not the big beluga whales and whale sharks, four of whom have died since taking up residence there. These days, Bernie Marcus’ fish tank is drawing visitors (and publicity) with such attractions as the “Titanic Aquatic” exhibit and its “Journey with Gentle Giants” program, which allows interested parties to swim or SCUBA dive with its whale sharks.
WHERE: 225 Baker St., Atlanta. 404-581-4000. www.georgiaaquarium.org.

MATTHEW WHITTON AND RICK DYER

WHY: Whitton and Dyer stuffed a Halloween costume with possum guts, stashed it in a leaky freezer and claimed they’d found Bigfoot. Their red carpet ride ended when the hoax was revealed, and Whitton, a Clayton County police officer, was fired for lying to the public. But the pair’s 15 minutes of fame, which lasted about two weeks longer than anyone expected, was undeniably entertaining at the time.

CLAYTON COUNTY SHERIFF VICTOR HILL

WHY: The constable in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” said “Let it be writ that I am an ass.” Hard to imagine Sheriff Hill watching any Shakespeare, but how else could he have gotten the impression that he’s supposed to behave like a lunatic? In a recent hostile takeover attempt, he banned Clayton County police from interviewing inmates, and sent an e-mail to the police chief signed, “Your Future Employer.”
WHERE: www.co.clayton.ga.us.

THE MANSION MADAM WOMEN

WHY: The case against former Penthouse pet Lisa Ann Taylor, aka Melissa Wolfe, has dragged on like a bad date. But finally the last john, Emory University Medical School professor Jay Morgan III, was sentenced earlier this month to one year’s probation and a $500 fine. Only weeks before, Taylor’s partner in the mansion/brothel, Nicole Probert, now known as Nicole Slater-Myers, who’d turned state’s witness in exchange for charges being dropped, was arrested on a drunken driving charge.

BOB BARR

WHY: We’ll say this much for Barr: He keeps things interesting. As a U.S. representative, he took positions that could appear opportunistic (helping to launch impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton) or just plain out of touch (he once opposed a crackdown on the online sale and distribution of “crush” videos, which show women in stilettos stomping puppies and kittens to death). Barr’s image hasn’t changed much. These days you can often catch the Libertarian presidential candidate on such CNN programs as “CNN Newsroom” and “American Morning,” offering his expert opinion on the presidential race—which might be construed as a conflict of interest if Barr had any chance of winning the White House.
WHERE: www.bobbarr2008.com.