Oconee County, GA Politics

The clubhouse at at the Jennings Mill County Club was destroyed by fire early this morning and the website email blast by the Oconee Enterprise seemingly scooped all the other media in this town, although admittedly I have not scoured or scouted every newspaper and radio station in the area. The fire consumed the clubhouse on this Memorial Day weekend and involved fire departments from Athens-Clarke and the wonderful volunteers from Oconee County. Obviously it could have been much worse, say taking place during the recent golf tournament or during the day, but thank goodness no one was hurt. I am thankful that our fire departments can cooperate and coordinate in ways our governments have never even imagined. I hope the residents of Jennings Mill can enjoy the holiday weekend despite this major setback.

Picking up the slack where Congressman Paul Broun dropped the ball, U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss asked for $2.8 million to attempt save the J. Phil Campbell, Jr. Agriculture Center in Oconee County . Glad somebody came to our rescue.

On the way to Southworks, stop by and have a Cuban guava pastry or various tasty cake slices at Eagle Tavern. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Hi Everyone,   This Saturday, the Oconee Farmers Market will feature carrots, radishes, nasturtium greens, herbs, snap peas, spinach and/or chard, (thanks Jamie Swedberg!)   Cuban guava pastries (Jamie), a variety of pound cakes (Sandra Bowden), coca-cola chocolate cake (tastes just like gingerbread but better!), buttermilk & lemon pound cake slices (Young Female Farmers), fresh, hot boiled peanuts and pro skins (Holly Jackson and family).   Russ Page, one of our local cattle farmers will be pre-selling / taking orders for sides or quarters of his Grass-Fed Senepol Steer meat -delicious!  Many customers have been inquiring about grass-fed beef so here's your chance to give it a try.   Mary King (Acme Plants) will be back with her beautiful perennials, featuring varieties of heuchera. ...

Let's all go to the movies - you do not have to be a Democrat or feel as if you will be branded a member of the Democratic party if you attend. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.  We're getting together for another movie night at Ciné!    Let's meet at the 7:15 showing of the acclaimed movie, Body of War, next  Thursday, May 29th. Please stay to chat afterwards if you have time.    Hope to see you!    Pat and Neal Priest  Members,  Oconee County Democrats          BODY OF WAR  http://www.bodyofwar.com    [ USA 2008, Digital, 87min, Dir: Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue, NR ]    WINNER: National Board of Review -- Best Documentary of 2007  WINNER: Hamptons International Film Festival – Audience Award – Best  Documentary    BODY OF WAR is an intimate feature documentary about the truth of war  today. Meet Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet t...

I am always quick to condemn the Planning Commission as slash and burn developers hell bent on paving every inch of sod or clay left in Oconee County, so I need to acknowledge when they do something reasonably good. A large chunk of sparsely populated Bishop, Georgia will NOT be developed according to this story in Athens Banner Herald . Good for them. But when will the local authority realize we are in an economic recession and more and more home sites may be graded and paved, but we have a huge surplus of some 3,000 lots not developed and getting larger by the day? At least the votes are getting a whole lot closer at 4-3 than the usually 6-2. I think it is not wise to have developers such as Dan Arnold and Travis Marshall on the Planning Commission because it creates the impression of a huge conflict of interest at the very least. Let them run for the Board of Commissioners or any other public body, but I think they should be replaced at the next convenient appointment time.

Former Oconee County Board of Commissioners chairman Wendell Dawson knows a whole lot more about tax parcels than I ever will, and his homework has very obviously been done well on his A VOC.info site as far as the tax assessments of public officials such as Board of Commissioners members Don Norris and chairman G. Melvin Davis . I fully expect our public officials to take as full advantage of the tax laws as possible, but this does not look very ethical or positive in a political campaign season.

Lee Becker, Charlie Baugh and Russ Page for Oconee County Board of Commissioners 2010! Dear Friends,   On May 6, four citizens, including me, used the citizen comments section of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners meeting to ask the Board to begin exploring ways to make a videocast of its meetings available to citizens. I observed that citizens often are too busy to attend meetings, and the Board should do what neighboring counties are doing already by telecasting its meetings and making them available on the web. I also said that a video of meetings would provide everyone with a complete record of BOC activities. Russ Page, Charlie Baugh and  Tony Glenn also spoke, making the same point.  We said we were prepared to start making videocasts on our own if the BOC does not act. As is usually the case when citizens speak at BOC meetings, not a single commissioner responded. Chairman Melvin Davis immediately entertained and obtained a motion to adjourn, an...

Southworks is another wonderful event at Rocket Field in Watkinsville. Please consider coming to Watkinsville this weekend. Each year on Memorial Day weekend we celebrate the arts by bringing a variety of art forms to the community.   Here is a schedule of the performing arts events. Please list/post on your web page or any other calendar or posting you can access. Also, send a note to everyone on any of your mailing lists. Print it out and share it or tape it up somewhere. But most of all, join us for a rocking good time. SOUTHWORKS 2008 Entertainment Schedule Portable Stage Times Saturday May 24 Times Sunday May 25 11:00 Paula Benson - Jazz R&B singer songwriter http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulabenson 11:00 Prime Time Jazz - Athens Georgia 's Premier Jazz Group. House band for the recent Twilight Jazz Festival Jam Session. ...

I have not studied the 600 page proposal for the Charter School for Math and Science in Oconee County, nor do I claim any expertise in the area of academic innovation other than Governor Sonny Perdue signed some law easing the path for their creation and ultimate integration into the state and local school systems. Adam Thompson of the Athens Banner-Herald wrote a pretty balanced view of the evolution of this possible addition to the local schools. Jmac at Safe as Houses wrote an interesting take on this as well . All I know is more and more kids are being home schooled even here with one of the best school systems in the area if not the state, which is not a bad thing onto itself, but it is emblematic of a larger dissatisfaction with the public school system in Oconee County (and every where for that matter). There are soccer teams and journalism clubs planned, so I am down with those. The laptops and small teacher-student ratio work well for me. We have a few budding Einsteins who...

Some dork (me) got up and talked about curbs, recycling, ballfields, paving, soil and a Board of Education candidate who helped pick up trash at Harris Shoals Park: MINUTES OF MEETING OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL CITY OF WATKINSVILLE May 14, 2008 PRESENT: Mayor Luken, Council members Link, Purcell, Brodrick, Walsh, Walter and City Attorney Reitman VISITORS: See attached sheet. QUORUM CHECK: Mayor Luken acknowledges a quorum is present. He also welcomes Chuck Horton, County Commissioner , to our meeting. All speakers are asked to approach the lectern and address Council. PRESENTATION OF THE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD: Councilwoman Purcell presents Maridee Williams of 1021 Jeremy Drive the Watkinsville Beautiful Yard Award for the month of May. The selection was made by Athens Seed. MINUTES: Councilwoman Purcell moved and Councilman Link seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the April 9, 2008 Council meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously. AR...

Mike Maxey may have made his biggest visible mistake by leaving (behind?) his campaign sign in the sacred soil of Harris Shoals park in Watkinsville, but there is lots going on behind the scenes that gives one pause and puzzlement at the very least. This Board of Commissioners candidate originally had his sights set on the Chairman's job, but the Chairman Melvin Davis's campaign manager Larry Benson is building a big hotel that Maxey will be paving soon here in Oconee. So this appearance of conflict of interest coupled with the convenient decision to pave the Veterans Monument coupled with the changing of his mind at least three times does not exactly instill confidence in the Maxey approach to governing Oconee County. This gives me ample reason to endorse the candidacy of incumbent Board of Commissioners candidate Chuck Horton for Post 4. Horton has more experience than just about anyone in public service, first as the Chief of Police at the University of Georgia and several t...