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Showing posts from October 4, 2009

Seila Saturday Stroll shows Watkinsville history and reveals where the Big Spring of Big Springs is

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Watkinsville was once known as the city of Big Springs. Art Masters store owner Geoff Seila described where the actual water source of that name is - on private land down Barnett Shoals behind the Yarn Barn on the property of local electrician Quinton Phillips and his artist wife Cindy Jarrell.  We did not walk down there and both them, but Geoff did lead a lively discussion of the history of this area Saturday morning, describing how Watkinsville was first the site of Fort Edward(s) where Eagle Tavern now resides and it is generally but not definitely ascribed that the namesake of the town was Augusta attorney Robert Watkins.  The property for the original county seat of Clarke came from the Cobb family and Geoff pointed out some of the earliest structure still remaining down the street from Eagle Tavern.  Many new businesses are opening in Watkinsville store fronts including a wedding shop in the Elder building and another new business I am forgetting now next to the latest

Watkinsville City Council agenda for next week

AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE October 14, 2009 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE : 4H Club request SWEARING IN OF COUNCIL MEMBER TOBY SMITH PRESENTATION OF THE WATKINSVILLE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD MINUTES 1. September 9, 2009 APPEARANCES: 1. Brandon Campbell – business license – The Scissor Lift Company – 1401 Greensboro Hwy., Ste A 2. Debra Daniel – business license – Campus Girl – 20 N Main Street 3. Martha Alliene Roling – business license – 2 by Two (daycare center) – 180 VFW Drive 4. Jeff Bell – business license – Oconee Finance – 54 N. Main Street 5. Jeff Bell – building permit – 70x80 warehouse @ 1090 Business Boulevard 6. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) discuss Watkinsville Cemetery ADMINISTRATION 1. August 31, 2009 Reconciliation Report MAYOR’S REPORT CITIZEN’S COMMENTS OLD BUSINESS 1. Nominations for designation as Historic Structures 2. Recommendations for Use of Parks and Recreation SPLOST Funds

Bill would let hunters import polar bear trophies | News | OnlineAthens.com

Congressman Paul Broun's self interests are obviously much more important than the University of Georgia or the Medical College of Georgia {sarcasm}. Bill would let hunters import polar bear trophies | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Call 'em Doggy Parton and Elvis Pugsley | Living | OnlineAthens.com

Please attend this dog party and bring your pooch this Sunday if you can. It should be a fun time for animals and their owners. Call 'em Doggy Parton and Elvis Pugsley | Living | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Oconee well's water to be sold | News | OnlineAthens.com

So we are pumping our water to Walton while we get our drinking water from a lake bordering Jackson County? Once again not very smart planning on the part of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners. Chuck Horton is the only one who seems to have our best interests at heart. Oconee well's water to be sold | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Oconee Board of Commissioners meeting video last night

Oconee County BOC Mtg. 10-6-09 from Oconee County IT on Vimeo .

Winter Registration and Oconee Veterans Park Fitness Area

We now have a public health club in Oconee County at Oconee Veterans Park. It is a really nice facility and well worth checking out and sweating it out. Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. From: wbyce@oconee.ga.us Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 13:17:06 -0700 Subject: Winter Registration and OVP Fitness Area Winter Registration: Basketball, Lacrosse, Wrestling, Homeschool P.E., Tennis, and Yoga began Monday, October 5th.  Please visit our website www.ocprd.com to register or stop by Oconee Veterans Park or Herman C. Michael Park during office hours.  Oconee Veterans Park Communtiy Center Fitness Area: Now requires a membership.  Membership's can be purchased from the Oconee Veterans Park office staff between the hours of 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday -Friday.  $60 per year or $20 per quarter, per person. Questions, please call Drew Torok or Lisa Moss at 706-769-3965. If you have any questions please call 706-769-3965. Thanks, Oconee County Parks and Recreation Department Oconee Veterans Par

Please consider volunteering with HandsOn Northeast Georgia- October 2009

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Great volunteer opportunity with HandsOn Northeast Georgia to clean the Oconee River and assorted other opportunities. Please consider donating your time and efforts. Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Subject: HandsOn Northeast Georgia- October 2009 Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 19:05:29 +0000 VerticalResponse Click to view this email in a browser October 2009   Volunteers carrying out litter from last year's Rivers Alive   Rivers Alive! Saturday, October 17 9:00am-1:00pm Be a part of this annual state-wide river clean-up event to help protect Athens' most valuable water source: the Oconee River and its' tributaries.  In addition to the general clean-up volunteer opportunity, individuals are also needed to help with: Registration and Parking Clean-up Crew Lunch Kids Activities Mascots   Parent-Teacher Conferences October 20 - October 22 V

Who should run for higher office in Georgia - and which office?

This is kind of like a very Athens-centric fantasy politics. Trying to guess who is going to take the plunge and run for (another) office is often an exercise in extreme futility, but it is fun none the less to look into the murky world of politics and take a stab in the dark at who is going to run for what position. A lot of what prompted such speculation on my part was the ninety minutes of euphoria spurred on by the joke run amok of Athens area attorney and State Representative Doug McKillip running against Johnny Isaakson this past Sunday.  I would vote for his very intelligent wife Mary Byers McKillip as a write-in candidate against Isaakson if no one else announces soon.  As much as it hurts me to say this, right now I would wager on a near unanimous (with the probable exceptions of hometown favorite son Michael Thurmond and possibly Roy Barnes) GOP sweep in Georgia for 2010, although much could erupt to change that. No Democrats have stepped up or even hinted at running agai

Don't miss upcoming strolls!

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My good friend Geoff will provide an interesting and engaging stroll this Saturday morning, and I will attend as well. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. To: oconee@yahoogroups.com From: ppriest@charter.net Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 10:02:18 -0400 Subject: [oconee] Don't miss upcoming strolls!   Watkinsville' s founding will be the subject of this week's "Saturday Stroll." Geoff Seila, who holds a degree in history from UGA, will lead the hour-long tour, which starts at 9 AM. You'll learn about an old fort, a spring -- and more! Seila owns Art Masters gallery in Watkinsville. He sells folk art and does custom framing at the gallery, which has recently moved closer to the central business district (to 18 North Main). Seila is also an avid record collector and hopes to one day start a low-power radio station in Watkinsville. Each week the volunteer guide determines which charity will receive the $5 per person fee; Seila has chosen t

Fwd: Town Hall Meeting

From Lee Becker Subject: Town Hall Meeting To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, The BOC voted on Tuesday night to do its first town hall meeting on Oct. 20. For details of the town hall format and other action at the meeting, go to my blog, http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ Thanks Lee Sincerely, Dan J. Matthews, Jr.

Do you have any gently used clothes, furniture, household goods, or toys?

I will come and pick them up, or you can drop them off at Rita Bennett's house on the corner of School and Second Streets in Watkinsville. Her house is across the street from the left field corner of Rocket field and near some of the cool street art of spinning wheels inside a colorful painting. We need your help in donating your items that you are no longer using for a yard sale for the Oconee County Democratic Committe during the Oconee County Fall Festival October 17. You can call my house at 706-769-1131 and leave a message or just haul it on over to Rita's house at School Street. We need it soon and urge you to price it yourself, or at least suggest a price when dropping it off. Rita's driveway is on Second, and I just spent a couple hours lobbing off vast chunks of privet, wisteria and crepe myrtles to try and make her yard just a little more presentable for the mass quantities of people presumed to be walking by for the Oconee County Fall Festival that same day.

ghetto grandmothers

Nathan Deal is running for Governor so I thought it would be apropos to post this on the blog. I think you might say his Gubernatorial campaign climbed aboard the Titanic.

Life in Watkinsville...

This is an amusing video tale of fowl and girls moving them

Tealvox to open show at Melting Point | Oconee | OnlineAthens.com

I have been needing to go see this band for some time and am Facebook friends with them and their mother, so please attend this show if you can Monday at the Melting Point and support Oconee County music and musicians. Tealvox to open show at Melting Point | Oconee | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

AN A-MAZE-ING OUTING - Variety

More seasonal story with some great photos from Daniel Shirley about Washington Farms, perhaps Oconee County's best known tourist attraction, especially this time of the year. AN A-MAZE-ING OUTING - Variety

Around Oconee: Stroll through history | Oconee | OnlineAthens.com

My good friend Geoff Seila will show what he has learned from a lifetime in Oconee when he leads a Saturday Stroll around Watkinsville Saturday. He use to do this in Athens for their Historical Society, so it should be interesting as well as informative. I will be there for this one as there is no soccer practice this Saturday morning. Around Oconee: Stroll through history | Oconee | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Paul Brown Jr. at Town Hall Meeting in Athens, Georgia VFW talking about health care

Chip Shirley and Dan Aguar show Paul Broun's town hall meeting in Athens last week

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann names our Congressman Paul Broun worst person in the world for the third time

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

Packway Handle Band cancelled yet again at Ashford Manor Bed & Breakfast TONIGHT

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The Packway Handle Band, who was scheduled to perform at the Ashford Manor Bed and Breakfast Concerts on the Lawn series this evening, is instead going to play in two weeks. This is the second time they have been rained out at Ashford Manor this season alone. Go see them Monday evening, October 19 in lovely downtown Watkinsville.

Family diversifies farm, carves out a niche with corn maze | News | OnlineAthens.com

Great Oconee County autumn tradition. Family diversifies farm, carves out a niche with corn maze | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Georgia Congressman Calls Obama Marxist

Here is the Associated Press take on our esteemed Congressman and his paranoid ranting

McKillip to NOT run against Isaakson for US Senate

I hope Athens area attorney and Democratic State Representative Doug McKillip is going to run against Johnny Isaakson for the US Senate, but he is going to have to raise a ton of money fast. I know he is having a fundraiser at his office October 6th, so now I might have to actually give some money! Oops, what started as a joke between Mary Jackson Byers McKillip and Athens Banner-Herald's writer Blake Aued nearly tumbled into a Draft Doug McKillip campaign You can still go by his office Tuesday at 5 to donate.

North Oconee HS varsity cheerleading 10 3 09

Remember the Titans. I support cheerleading as a competition sport but am certainly uncertain as to how one might grade or critique the competition. I am sure it is somewhat akin to rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming as far as unanimity and fluidity of motion. This moment of non-political discussion was brought to you by a very proud mother.

Oconee officials pleased with National EMS | News | OnlineAthens.com

Once again the comments section of the Athens Banner-Herald article continues to be a source of more information than the article itself. I do not know the author of the story, and he wrote a good ephemeral article about ambulance service in Oconee County, but I hope he continues to learn from some of his critics after the fact. Oconee officials pleased with National EMS | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Paul Broun Tells A Doctor Who Treats The Uninsured That Tax Breaks For Doctors Are The Solution

More non answers from our supposed leader alleged Dr. Paul Broun