Oconee County, GA Politics

Oconee native and 10th district Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Saxon helped county parties in Oglethorpe and Oconee counties this week with an appearance scheduled in Lexington Thursday and used his Veteran experience to good work by directing the Oconee County Democratic Committee where to properly address their Christmas cards to get them to our troops in hospitals in Augusta and elsewhere. The Oconee County Democratic committee intends to hand out pre-addressed Christmas cards to parade attendees to mail at home or at the post office during the Watkinsville Christmas parade Saturday morning along Barnett Shoals and Main Street past the Eagle Tavern.

OUR XMAS PARTY HAS MOVED From the Sanctuary in Watkinsville to First African Baptist Church in Monroe, GA Directions from Athens-Clarke/Oconee: head west on Hwy 78 to Monroe area, take second Monroe exit on Hwy 11, turn left and head south over bridge towards downtown Monroe. After only ¼ mile, turn left on Tyler St (Churches Chicken on right corner). First AB fellowship hall is one block on left. If lost, call 706-202-7802. Directions from Atlanta: head east on Hwy 78 to Monroe area, turn right on Hwy 11, same - OR - head east on 1-20, then northeast on Hwy 138 to Monroe area. After merging with Hwy 78, turn right on Hwy 11, same. From Madison & South Georgia: head north on Hwy 441. Before getting to Madison, GA, turn left and head west approximately 16 miles on 1-20 towards Atlanta, then turn right at exit 98 and head north on Hwy 11. Go straight through Social Circle, then stay north on Hwy 11 to Monroe. After passing county courthouse on right in downtown M...

Oconee Democrats invite county residents to remember a veteran at this special time of year. Contact: Becky Vaughn becky@beckyvaughn.org At the Christmas parade in Watkinsville on December 1st, the Oconee County Democrats will be handing out to parade spectators Christmas cards that have been pre-addressed to reach veterans at V.A. Hospitals in Augusta and Atlanta. The cards include instructions the hospitals require to ensure delivery to patients. Becky Vaughn, the chair of the Oconee Democrats, said, "We wanted to make it easy to send a note of thanks and good cheer to the men and women who have served our country so bravely. The theme of the parade is 'We wish you a Merry Christmas,' and we hope that people along the parade route will take this opportunity to extend their wishes to veterans hospitalized during the holidays." For more information, contact Vaughn at becky@beckyvaughn.org .

Rich Rusk, son of former JFK and LBJ Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and the fine folks at the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee made massive inroads into the solving of the lynching of four people at the border of Walton and Oconee counties; now they want to solve another riddle of racist past around these parts with the site of a grave of seven slain prisoners incarcerated only a century ago in Watkinsville. This will not be an easy task to accomplish, and I hope they do solve it soon . Anyone who knows anything about this prison lynching or the whereabouts of their mass grave please let us know as soon as possible. The Moore's Ford group is to be applauded for not stopping with just the deaths, no matter however tragic, of four African-Americans in 1947, to help ameliorate the wounds from earlier times in our recent past. This murder of nine prisoners occurred when Watkinsville was still the county seat of Clarke County.

This represents from whom the donations are coming in the political season including our recently completed special election cycle. So it seems Dr. Paul Broun, Jr. is popular with his homies and Barack Obama will face off against Mitt Romney a year from now if our donations are any bell weather for what the rest of the nation is going to do. I have seen a bumper sticker for Mitt in my neighborhood and a Kucinich bumper sticker on a car from Barrow county.

The New Day News from the Democratic Party of Georgia State party launches new website                                           The Democratic Party of Georgia launched its new website today. Designed in partnership with NGP software, the new website gives the DPG a new look and some updated functions. The new website also interfaces seamlessly with the party's fundraising database, which is also provided by NGP. Funding for the new website (as well as for some behind-the-scenes technical upgrades) was provided by a fundraising drive held in October. Our target for the drive was $10,000 from 100 individual donors, a goal we shattered. The total amount raised from this project ...

That ticking clock you hear is the statute of limitations about to run out on a group of Hispanic male day laborers arrested almost two years ago near the Home Depot in Oconee County. Why these folks continue to flock toward Hope Depot's (as opposed to Lowe's) is beyond me but it is obvious that the shelter built for them is not working. I have no suggested solutions on this one but welcome your feedback on this delicate deportation situation.

Diane Cronin is a concerned homeowner in the Eastern part of Oconee County, much closer to the river than Watkinsville. She has battled clear-cutting developers tearing virgin forests and rare old growth tree thickets to no avail, but now she has State Representative Bob Smith in her sight . Her rage stems from Smith's approach to the exceptional and historic drought crisis, which is give back to landscapers the right to water the lawns. Even the slightly yellowed lawn at Athens Academy's Slaughter football field has survived the drought and frost reasonably well. Now I do not know if the fine landscapers at Athens Academy or elsewhere have used lake water or gray water to keep their fields and lawns reasonably hydrated. I hope no more area landscapers have to deal with the drought to the point of going out of business, but I also know the plans for the Charmar closing were in works for years. Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties are forever joined at the hip legislatively, ec...