Brad Schrade
Columbia County Bureau
Article dated April 7, 1996

Grovetown Mayor Dennis Trudeau sees Old Glory waving en masse this summer as the Olympic flame passes through this working-class town of 4,200.

But his idyllic picture has a snag: The torchbearers' trail is scheduled to edge about a half-mile south of town along Georgia 78 as the flame passes west from Augusta, to Harlem and Thomson, and eventually to Atlanta.

Mr. Trudeau wants to change the torch route and, in the process, the history of this tiny town, whose skyline is a water tower reading ``God Bless America.''

``We feel a little like a stepchild,'' Mr. Trudeau said. ``It's a historic event that will never happen again.''

The city council and mayor sent a letter to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games last week to ask that torchbearers run up Robinson Avenue - through the heart of town - and then take the Harlem-Grovetown Road west.

The alternate route wouldn't be out of the way, Mr. Trudeau said. It also may mend some residents' bruised egos as they listen to reports of the torch passing through Harlem, their sister city just seven miles away.

``It's probably going to get some people talking,'' Mr. Trudeau said. ``They'll say, `How come they got it and we didn't'... like nobody invited us to the dance.''

If the path is rerouted, the torch run would possibly be the biggest event in the history of a town noted for its annual July 4 barbecue and Christmas parade.

``It will put us on the history records,'' Mr. Trudeau said of the event scheduled for mid-July. ``We'll be right up there with Atlanta.''

Dori Wofford, an ACOG spokesman working on the torch relay, said she hadn't heard about Grovetown's request and didn't know if it would be granted.