Bits and pieces of banter about a wide array of topics

Thank God that developer Frank Gunter Property LLC dropped their lawsuit against the Oconee County Board of Commissioners for an ill-advised, poorly planned and almost unanimously opposed shopping center in a neighborhood that does not need one. Almost everyone in the Chaddwyck subdivision - at ground zero of this proposed development - came out against this bird brained proposal, as did the Planning Commission and initially at least so did the Board of Commissioners.

Put a Whole Foods or Trader Joes there (or anywhere in Oconee for that matter) and I might be down with it.

Former Oconee County Board of Education candidate Ashley Hood should put her name in for the newest slot on the Oconee Planning Commission advertised in the Enterprise this week.

I drive my son to school a couple of times a week to Athens Academy along LaVista Road off 441 and as anyone who has tried to exit from the neighboring Waffle House, it is already difficult to turn left against traffic. I turned right on to LaVista the other day ~ and lo and behold, who did I see in his SUV? ~ I waved to our Congressman Dr. Paul Broun, Jr. and as much grief as I give our esteemed U.S. House of Representatives member, he did pony up a pair of tickets to the Inaugural of President Barack Obama to me, but I have been down and out with an upper respiratory infection for the better part of a month and had to decline his invitation. For his decision to include me I am grateful to him and his staff and I will always be polite to him in public, no matter how venom I spew online or laugh at some of his ludicrous assertions.

Speaking of sickness, seems like just about every kid (and a lot of their parents) I know has been nailed with a virus of some sort or another recently. I appreciate every kid on my Oconee County Recreation Department basketball team and their parents for putting up with my pummeling defensive and run and gun offense in the Mite League - and kudos to my buddy Tony Lathrup for putting up with me.

Becky Vaughn and some other Oconee Democratic Committee members are attempting to coach some budding politicos in the fine art of lobbying or at least effectively visiting your elected Representatives before a non-partisan Transferable Development Rights Educational Summit Sunday, February 22 at the Oconee County Library. Becky wondered if we - the Oconee Dems - would advertise the training before the seminar and I have to scratch my bald head on that one. If we are trying to trumpet the TDR summit as non-partisan, why would we tie the most partisan of events completely unrelated otherwise except for time and date to it to sink any attempt at making this TDR event a truly non-partisan event? Appreciate Dr. Russ Page in helping out with this event and hope to see Athens-Clarke Planning Commission chair Lucy Rowland in the audience that Sunday.