Oconee County, GA Politics

Oconee County Democratic Committee member Dr. Patricia Priest has worked hard on this event and has also continued work with the book club. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. To: oconee@yahoogroups.com From: ppriest@charter.net Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 21:46:48 -0500 Subject: [oconee] Dancing with Athens -- and Oconee -- Stars First I wanted to send a reminder that the book group sponsored by the Oconee Democrats will meet Thursday, February 19th, at 6 at Five Points Deli on Epps Bridge Parkway to discuss "Three Cups of Tea." It's a great, uplifting book. You can pick it up at Books Galore in Watkinsville -- with a 25% discount. As always, newcomers are welcome. I'm also writing to let people know that tickets are now on sale for "Dancing with Athens Stars" -- the very fun March 1st show at the Classic Center that will benefit Project Safe. Oconee's own Courtney Gale (working with Ron Putman, who t...

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Oconee County Democratic Committee will be hosting an Educational Summit on Transferable Development Rights 5 pm Sunday, February 22nd at the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville. This will be a non-partisan event featuring Dr. Russ Page talking about preserving agricultural property in the southern rural part of the county in exchange for denser zoning in the northern suburban section of the county. Everyone is invited regardless of party affiliation or residency. For more information call 706-769-1131.

Transferable Development Rights is a difficult to grasp concept where essentially one end of Oconee County would give up its right to build on its land for the other end to be able to build at a higher density than is allowed currently by zoning and planning. The Oconee County Democratic Committee distributed and discussed the report put together by activists and developers to try to begin the process of possible putting this in place for Oconee County. At 5 pm on Sunday, February 22nd at the Oconee County Library (if available)in Watkinsville the Oconee County Democratic Committee will host a meeting to help foster understanding of this complex issue with the possibility of Dr. Russ Page and Wayne Provost if they are willing and available to discuss this issue. Newton County has begun the process of of beginning this with the help of Rick Pruitz. There are other examples in Georgia such as the Chattahoochee Hills community in Fulton County and to a much lesser degree the Orange Twin ...

Lee Becker informs us about what will be on the next SPLOST ballot March 17 here in Oconee County. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: SPLOST Ballot Language Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:39:18 -0500 From: Lee Becker <lbbecker@mindspring.com> Reply-To: lbbecker@mindspring.com To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, The ballot language for the March 17 election shows the wish list that voters will see when they cast their votes on the next SPLOST. The financial reports released to the Commissioners on Jan. 26 tell a lot about what has been done with money from the current SPLOST-- and what has not been done. Details, as usual, are http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ Lee -- Lee Becker Blog: www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com Web: http://lbbecker48.googlepages.com/

Couple of cool local Democratic committee activities Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.  Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 12:35:43 -0500  From: lelrod@UGA.EDU  Subject: Meeting- Commissioner Kelly Girtz  To: YDEM-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU    Hey Young Dems,    Join us for FREE FOOD tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5:30 in room 250 of the Miller Learning Center for guest speaker Kelly Girtz! Kelly is a member of the Athens-Clarke County Commission, and he'll be speaking about local government and big issues of the day. Bring your friends and lots of questions for Kelly!    See you tomorrow,    Louis Elrod  President, UGA/ACC Young Democrats    ANNOUNCEMENTS:    ATHENS-AREA DEMOCRATS BREAKFAST-The next breakfast will be on 14 FEBRUARY 2009 at 9:00 A.M. AT TRUMPS ON SOUTH MILLEDGE. This location is at The Shops of South Athens near the location of the old Bi-Lo.    The speaker will be: HEIDI DAVIDSON, MAYOR O...

State Representative Bob Smith has introduced legislation to attempt to convene Georgia's first Constitutional Convention since 1787 , and I think this would be the worst possible scenario for this State on any number of reasons. Smith's rationale is to rework the State Tax Code, which is fine, but why he does not introduce legislation to do just that is beyond me. Once we open Pandora's box with a Constitutional Conversion there is no telling what ridiculous legislation will be passed. Criminalize abortion and birth control? Sure, give women and their doctors 10 years in jail for exercising control over their own reproductive systems. School vouchers? Why not, let's kill all the public school systems and make the Taliban proud with every kid having to study the Bible. Get rid of all the Halls of Fame and every State sponsored everything. You get the idea. Basically once we start a Constitutional Convention then every crack pot idea ever introduced will have a short cut...

I have been battling an upper respiratory infection and what little energy I could muster has been directed toward my son and his basketball team. Tomorrow I turn 46 and I am on the mend. We also have another Oconee Recreation Department game tomorrow night as well. Former two time chair, 20 year lobbyist and twice defeated candidate Becky Vaughn will be recounting her recent Inauguration experience 7:30 pm Thursday at the Oconee County Governmental Annex off Highway 15 in the southern part of Watkinsville. Here are some excerpts of what else to expect from the meeting of the Oconee County Democratic Committee that night (the following have been lifted directly from their listserv): As is going to be my habit, I wanted to let all of you know what will be on the agenda for Thursday's meeting. I will be doing this about a week ahead of all our meetings so that those of you who are inclined to think about these things before hand will know what to think about. My hope is that this wil...