Watkinsville government gets F in participating in Great American Clean Up in Oconee this year

 I was extremely disappointed in the City of Watkinsville's lack of participation in the Great Oconee Clean Up this weekend.

I did see Oconee County Government officials including Commissioner Chuck Horton, Clerk Angela Helwig and Sheriff candidate Trey Downs taking part in the clean up at various spots all over the county, but it seems that Mayor Charles Ivie of Watkinsville has better things to do than take part, participate, condone, or at least acknowledge the citizens and residents picking up litter and refuse as the Municipal Government had spearheaded in the past.

I know he was made aware of the event by organizers, but did very little to help facilitate or make things go more smoothly for the residents of Watkinsville or others from outside the city limits to help clean the city streets.

Perhaps there was too much going on this Saturday, or perhaps ignorance is an excuse we will hear again and again from the current Mayor of the county seat. During the past administrations of Mayors Jim Luken and Joe Walter, the city facilitated the competition and at least bought the participants a cup of coffee from Jittery Joe's as a token of their appreciation for picking up trash on the streets of Watkinsville.  We had 10 people on our side and I do not know the numbers for other groups this year.

There has been a friendly competition between proponents of the Oconee County Republican and Democratic parties as a means to see which political party does the best job of picking up trash for the better part of a half dozen years.

I went to event organizer Angela Helwig and let her know about this before the event, and even got involved in an email exchange ongoing with the city to see if they wanted to get involved in this year again. Apparently they did not. Helwig as they head of Keep Oconee Clean and Beautiful did a great job organizing the event and getting streets all over the county cleaned up, and garbage separated into recyclables and others after being weighed.

Let's make it easier for industries to clean up the garbage on their properties. Let's make it easier for citizens to clean up the trash on railroads and assorted government property. Let's fine those who toss cigarette butts at intersections. Let's get more public trash receptacles in logical locations where people can use them instead of tossing their cans and bottles on the ground. Let's encourage the restaurants and businesses to keep their locations clean and tidy. Let's involve the local government to keep some pride and polish on our city streets instead of having isolated pockets of pollution permeated our city streets and sidewalks.

Thank you to the Lions Clubs and other groups who took it upon themselves to tackle the trash in Harris Shoals Park. Thanks to Sara Jane Love and all the other volunteers who took it upon themselves to make this city a better place.

It is highly regrettable and downright embarrassing that the current Mayor could not find the time and effort to at least welcome the people who took time to make the city a better place while Southworks and a crawfish boil were going on inside the city limits.

I only had two bags full of trash picked up by myself and my son when we reached Third Street. The chunks of garbage were too big to take packing in my already-packed garbage bags, but they were reported to Ms. Helwig at the Commissioners' office. Sadly you are either part of the solution or part of the problem on the pollution here locally, and it seems that the Mayor does not want to condone the clean up.

So instead I decided to photograph some of the more egregious areas of refuse, rubble, garbage and trash long ignored in the area. The Republicans have always opted to clean the western side of the city and the Democrats did the same for  eastern side, including the industrial side. I took it as a chance to walk across a large lot of private property that I have passed by dozens of times and largely ignored myself. This lot is off of Barnett Shoals Road. It appears that garbage and waste has been festering for decades under the shadow of the old water tower in the city that was once called Big Springs.

This year we expanded to include Morrison and Depot Streets, both of which were needing considerable more clean up than what a dozen people could do in an hour. The lot adjacent to the Oconee Enterprise and Athens Seed and Feed has been mowed but little else in the last several decades.

I do not like to trespass on private property and would well imagine a lot of this belongs to Athens Seed and Feed. I would hope that they would simply send some folks out there to pick up the stuff that seemingly dates back to the time when Mayor Ivie was council man Ivie in the early 1970s.

Perhaps it came from others who occupied these warehouses before they did. I picked up a few seed bags and many dozens of cigarette butts undoubtedly deposited by very important customers or truck drivers vital to this city's economy.

 We can do better than this and allow fields to harbor oil slicks and carts and other odd industrial garbage from decades gone past. We can work together to make Watkinsville a better place for all of us, instead of turning a cold should to the volunteer efforts of a small army of people who want to make the city and county a much cleaner place. Admittedly times have changed since Mayor Ivie was on the city council but some of the garbage has not. I would wager that some of the trees and areas have been used by those we used to politely refer to as "hobos" when it came to transient people we know call homeless.

So I cast a pox upon any cigarette filter tossing fools who do not have the common courtesy of cleaning up after themselves, oh wait they have done that themselves to their own lungs. Kudos to people like Brooke Daniels of Gober Road who came to Jittery Joes with her dog and husband and truck and wants to be able to take part in this clean up. Well done of the Thrasher-Law family who went above and beyond the normal routine and picked up garbage from one end of the city to the other. Boo to those who let oil and other noxious fluids from their pollution pile in the streams and standing water in the area.

I am not condemning any individual members or employees of the Watkinsville municipal government and know quite well the excellent effort and long hours volunteered by our public servants. I am quite certain that the members of the City Council have cleaned the area in any number ways recently if not Saturday.

I do not intend to besmirch Mayor Ivie's desire to keep the streets of Watkinsville as trash free as anyone, but I feel it is incumbent upon me to let you know if I feel the institutions of government fall short of previous participation, good, bad, or indifferent.

The Farmers Market has moved across the street from behind Eagle Tavern to a place where people can see it as they drive by Main Street with no adverse consequences to the traffic flow or needs to the County's business on the weekends.

This transition in use is welcome and appreciated and another area where recycling bins, public trash cans and clean up have all seem to have been very well handled in this nascent stage of the location here. This provides local folks with an option of getting fresh produce and some groceries and notions under tents in a much more visible manner.

It is a shame that some people would rather walk up to the Golden Pantry to shop when the same items are across the street at the Courthouse.

Last year when I parked a truck sign here I got a call on a Saturday from the Chairman just asking me to keep a fire lane open.

I am glad to see this policy has changed and adapted to the needs of the public that demands it.

We can change for the good of all of us without disrupting tradition. The County Government can and does do a lot without a whole lot of consultation to the City government.  This relationship has had its ups and downs over the years and can be found chapter and verse elsewhere in the pages of this blog.

I encourage visitors to come to Watkinsville to enjoy our restaurants, check out the shops and farmers market, and stay at our bed and breakfast or hotels.

This is a great city and area to live in, and we have lots of affordable houses for sale and rent in the area.

But we can all work better to keep our county and city cleaner. I hope Mr. Elder succeeds at whatever business he endeavors to support at his location also photographed here with a minimum of abandoned vehicle the city seems at a loss to try to contend with. Garbage comes in all forms, whether in a carport, along the railroad tracks, or in a yard of a non-entity of government concerns such as Cokey Elder's garden and Bar-b-Que Butt emporium.

We were besieged by political commentary this weekend with the ubiquitous Stop Kony campaign, so yes the alliterative "Stop Kony in Oconee" came into play.

Commissioner Horton found a flyer and asked me about it, and I commented that the Ugandan War Lord probably was not hiding in Oconee County, but the publicity can't hurt the righteous hunt to find him.

In the grand scheme of things, it is somewhat ironic that Joseph Kony would make an appearance in the public political dialogue at least on the same weekend as a dedication of the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy  are dedicating a marker and flagpole inside the city limits.

The marker is in front of Eagle Tavern and the flagpole is in the city cemetery. I think this is how the city escapes the necessity of the shining a spotlight on the flag as per law.