Oconee County, GA Politics

Becky Vaughn of Bogart qualfied at the last moment of the extended qualifying period to run against Bob Smith for the State Representative slot in the new House of Represenatives district 113, including all of Oconee County, and some of Clarke. This should be an interesting race to say the least. Becky ran against Brian Kemp in 2004 for State Senate and gave the man seeking the Ag Commish post everything he wanted and then some in a very close contest. Smith has not had opposition for several terms but now must keep some of his considerable war chest at home in Watkinsville instead of running amok on other nearby contested races such as the Kidd-Cowsert round II or the Ag Commish primary or the Lt. Gov. primary or who knows what else. Becky learned a lot last time around and has jettisoned some of the excessive baggage of the previous campaign. We will keep you updated on her strategy as it becomes available.

Hello, Mr. Karl Hwang is an overqualified, inspirational, and generally amazing teacher that is being fired by Oconee County High School without a reasonable explanation. A coach that is currently in the P.E. department is being forced to go into the math department to make room for an assistant of the incoming football coach, Nick Saltaformaggio (“Coach Salt” for short). And there are several other questionable firings happening this year at the high school such as the only woman in the physical education department. Originally Mr. Hwang, a graduate of Georgia Tech, worked as a civil engineer and tutored physics and calculus on the side. Soon he grew tired of Engineering and decided to pursue teaching. He earned a Masters in Mathematics Education from the University of Georgia and began student teaching at Oconee County High School. A few months ago, two years after he began teaching full time at Oconee, Mr. Hwang confirmed rumors that he was being let go. Apparently, the administrati...

Dear folks, We had another fine scholarship banquet last Thursday evening, April 27, at the Sanctuary in Watkinsville. Over ninety persons attended. We awarded six $1,000 Moore's Ford Scholarships to graduating seniors from five high schools and $100 merit awards to eight finalists. We gave community service awards to Oconee Schools Supt. Thomas Dohrman for his efforts in hiring minority teachers and staff; another award to Loganville banker Stanley Kelley, whose The Community Bank donated $10,000 to our endowment. Dena Chandler of the Lemuel Penn Memorial Committee and Blair Rothstein, representing renewed interest in the Leo Frank story in Cobb County, both participated in this program. They are considering hosting scholarships for Penn and Frank back home. Press release, program, credits are attached. I will try to send a group picture of the finalists by separate email. It was a lovely evening. Thanks to all who contributed and worked to host this event. Let'...

Bogart City Council May 1, 2006 Oconee Living Section Athens Banner-Herald Bogart Council agrees to disagree with Mayor By Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Correspondent The long simmering feud between Mayor Jan Thurmond and city council members Woody Bruce and Terri Glenn came to a head at the Monday meeting in Bogart. The city lawyer David Wages started before the meeting giving Thurmond the answers she did not want to hear, namely her son’s engineering firm of Armentrout, Roebuck and Matheny was no longer employed by the town after a motion was passed terminating the operating agreement at a special called meeting April 16. Even the minutes for the April 16 meeting were not entered in the record for the May meeting after Mayor Thurmond forgot to bring an affidavit and resolution coming out of an executive session. She called home to try and get her husband to retrieve the information during the meeting but was unsuccessful. There was even some question as to whether there was a quorum pre...

Merritt makes sense of Bogart beef and how it stalls city progress 04/30/06