Reminder: Second Candidate Forum



Go ask some questions of our Board of Education candidates tomorrow night - Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at the Oconee County Library on Experiment Station Road in Watkinsville.

Dear Friends,
 
The second Candidate Forum will be from 7-10 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Oconee County Library. Bring a friend, a plate of cookies, some soda to share, and good questions.
 
The School Board could have a near complete turnover of members. What this Board does affects us all, whether we have kids enrolled or not. We pay more property taxes for our schools than for anything else in the county.
 
The first Candidate Forum last night was quite a success. We had a packed house. People literally could not get into the room. And the questions were excellent. I think we demonstrated that citizens can be trusted to ask good questions.
 
The answers were always informative. At times, there were real exchanges between the candidates. The incumbents were forced by explain decisions; the challengers were asked to tell what they plan to do.
 
For me, incumbent Commissioner Don Norris provided some comic relief.  He said with a straight face how happy he was that the county was going to start webcasting Board of Commissioner meetings soon. He didn't say the Board on which he has served for 18 years has rejected requests for telecasting in the past. Nor did he mention that this issue had been forced on the Board by four people in the room (Charlie Baugh, Tony Glenn, Russ Page and me) who said they will start webcasting immediately and will continue to do so until the Board takes the task upon itself. The latest estimate is a July 1 start-up of the official webcasting. In the meantime, you can go to http://www.vimeo.com/OconeeBOC for webcasts made by volunteer citizens for citizens. (If you would like to help, let me know.)
 
The meeting last night also was recorded. We'll upload it as soon as possible. The BOC meeting of tonight will follow. It included a very helpful discussion of tax assessment and tax rates.
 
I hope to see you tomorrow night at the second Candidate Forum.
 
Thanks
 
Lee
 
P.S. The Chamber of Commerce isn't doing much to promote its two forums, which will be held June 16 (state Senate and Board of Education) and June 17 (Board of Commissioners) at the North Oconee High School auditorium. The Chambers's web site  ( http://www.occoc.org/ ) doesn't even mention the meetings, which, according to press reports, start at 7 p.m. Questions will be moderated by Tim Bryant of WGAU, who also has been doing interviews of the candidates on his Newsmaker show at 9 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays (1340 on the A.M. Dial). These programs are archived at http://1340wgau.mypodcast.com/ and are quite informative.
 
 
Lee Becker
 
 

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