By Lori Wiechman
Staff Writer
Article dated June 27, 1996

Residents along Milledge and Jackson roads will have gold-medal viewing when the Olympic Torch passes through Augusta.

The flame arrives in town about noon July 14. It will travel 16.9 miles throughout the city, carried for more than three hours by 53 community hero torchbearers.

``It is going to be a whole afternoon where citizens can link into what's going on in the Olympics,'' said Don Johnson, chairman of Augusta's Olympic Torch Relay Committee, after he announced the torch route Thursday.

When the torch arrives at the Riverwalk, about 1:15 p.m., the committee has planned a 15-minute ceremony at the Jessye Norman Riverwalk Amphitheater. After the torch moves on, an afternoon of sports, entertainment and children's activities continues until 4 p.m. at the Riverwalk.

``I'm not sure that ever again in your life, as least in Augusta, are we going to be about to watch the Olympic torch that was fired in Greece three months ago come through our city,'' said Mr. Johnson, a district manager for IBM. ``This is a way every single person can in some fashion say they have been part of the Olympics.''

The torch, which will come into Augusta via Phinizy and Old Louisville roads, moves on to Old Savannah Road, then Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Riverwalk, then Ninth Street to Broad Street.

From there, it moves to 15th Street, across Butt Memorial Bridge, right on Walton Way and up the Hill. Then it turns right on Milledge Road, left on Washington Road and past Augusta National Golf Club. Next, the torch turns left on Berckmans Road and winds onto Walton Way. It turns left onto Jackson Road and right on Gordon Highway, leaving for Harlem.

``(The route) covers the economic diversity in the community. It will showcase'' many parts of the community, Mr. Johnson said. ``We don't think any section of the community will be left out.''

The torchbearers, who were nominated for their community service, already know which part of the route they will run. A caravan of ACOG vans carrying the torchbearers, officials and media will ride after the torch, along with Georgia State Patrol escorts.

The torch will reach opening ceremonies in Atlanta on July 19. The Olympic flame, which was flown from Greece to Los Angeles, left the city on April 27, and will be carried by about 10,000 bearers. The entire torch run lasts 84 days and covers more than 15,000 miles.