Oconee County, GA Politics

Bob Smith is a tool. Who he is a tool of in this act is open for debate, but he has never once tried to act with authority toward the airport in Athens, so why should he take on the world's busiest airport is beyond me. But I do know this much: never has there been a worse idea out of Oconee County. DeCosta calls airport authority bill 'irresponsible' - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Oconee County State Representative Bob Smith, fresh after shooting down an ill-advised and poorly timed raise proposed by the Oconee County Board of Education and helping the charter of North High Shoals get to the Legislature, has cashed in that good will with a harebrained idea of the State of Georgia taking over Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, the world's busiest airport. This is an idea who should have never seen the light of day. Lawmaker: State should take over Atlanta airport | ajc.com

Critics: Stem cell bill would hurt Ga. business - Forbes.com

Let David Weeks, Tom Breedlove, Mack Guest and cohorts know what you think of their raise idea. --- On Thu, 3/12/09, Rich Clark <richclark32@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Rich Clark <richclark32@yahoo.com> Subject: Special Board of Education Meeting announced To: "Rich Clark" <richclark32@yahoo.com> Cc: "Janet E. Clapp" <clapp@charter.net> Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009, 11:51 PM In case you missed it, the Oconee BoE announced late this afternoon its intent to hold a public meeting on Monday, March 16th, at 5 p.m. for the expressed purpose of hearing from the public on the issue of Board member compensation.  In the Oconee Enterprise, BoE Chairman David Weeks said, "I don't feel that our side has been told. We want a chance to tell how it all happened."  So possibly this is more of a dialogue.    Because there is not much time to advertise this public meeting, please share the news with anyone who may be interested.  ...

Those who wish to comment on the possibility of three convenience stores selling beer and wine inside of the city limits just as 90% of the rest of county does already are counseled to attend the next two Watkinsville City council meetings for the reading of the proposed beer and wine retail ordinance on the second Wednesday of the month. Councilman Brian Brodrick, realizing the mathematics making reasonably certain his defeat in opposing the measure, instead took the tact of making the measure the best it could by tightening what he thought were a few holes in the conservative document. City Attorney Joe Reitman conversed with Brodrick and addressed other concerns through out the evening. Reitman works for a dozen different municipalities including Bogart which now allows beer and wine sales (but evidently does not do so yet). He cobbled together the latest proposal from some of those and refined from the time when Watkinsville recently allowed beer and wine sales in restaurants (now ...

I am still undecided on how I am going to vote for this measure or not. Charles Grimes: Oconee needs SPLOST funds | Athens Banner-Herald

They say timing is everything in life. If so, the members of the Oconee County Board of Education have been shooting themselves in the foot with the decision to triple their pay at a time when the School system is suffering severe economic hardships. Tell them NO to their pay raise. Oconee school board members want pay hike | adam.thompson@onlineathens.com

North High Shoals postpones election | Athens Banner-Herald

The gathering at High Shoals Elementary School was largely a dog and pony show for the Charter "to move forward" according to State Representative Bob Smith who was requested by oddly absent Mayor Jeff Thoomas and misquoted the vote tally (3-1 vs. 3-2). But otherwise you had an entertaining collection of concerned residents of every stripe, mostly divided into the "I've lived here all my life and the rest of you are just carpetbaggers" in the distinct minority and the more sober and numerous people supporting the Charter including a Vietnam Veteran sporting some fashionable white uniform from the Coast Guard and a couple of the towns council. Mayor Johnny Pritchett of nearby Bishop was in attendance, as was the Mayor of Watkinsville Jim Luken and Oconee County Board of Commissioners chair G. Melvin Davis along with five dozen or so residents of the High Shoals area. The discussions of the audience ranged from fringe zealots screaming about Nazis to most people p...

OnlineAthens: Features: Meet Steve Holzman 02/04/04

I totally stole this my friend Steve's blog but the gist of the message is that anyone concerned with the future of small town Oconee County municipalities should attend this meeting if they can. We will be having another public hearing about the new town charter on Monday March 9th at 6:00 pm at the High Shoals Elementary School on Hwy 186. This will be the last public hearing/meeting about the charter and I sincerely hope our representatives will take the charter to the Legislature for passage. Fred Johnson prepared this statement about the charter, and both Violet Dawe and myself support it. Please read, and come out on Monday to let your voice be heard. Thank you. --------------------------------------------- Why Monday’s Meeting is Important Someone on the Town Council has raised a new idea about the town charter which is now revealed to council members by the town attorney the Friday before this big Monday meeting. They have asked the town attorney to research language for a...

Joy D'Agostino: Storm brought good neighbors | Athens Banner-Herald

Message mixed on regional economic plan | adam.thompson@onlineathens.com

Broun rectifies office budget | blake.aued@onlineathens.com

New call to help solve lynchings | ryan.blackburn@onlineathens.com

From: Carl McGrath <carlmcgrath@yahoo.com> To: Carl <CarlMcGrath@yahoo.com> Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2009 3:41:49 PM Subject: TO: All who participated in any way with our Oconee Team during Pres. Obama's campaign   This is to let you know that I have accepted an invitation from OFA (Organizing for America) to participate in a phone conference call this coming week (Mar 12). The purpose of the conference is:   "...to give you an update on Organizing for America's next strategic steps.  We're about to embark on some exciting new initiatives, but we need to start organizing and building support now in order to make them a success. Your involvement, as always, will be crucial." Jeremy Bird, Deputy Director, OFA Following the conference, I will prepare a summary and email it to you.  If you wish to be removed from future mailings on OFA, please reply to this message with "Remove me" in the Subject line.   Yes We Can Re-build Ame...