Oconee County, GA Politics

I wish Tammy Gilland would run against Sarah Bell for the chair of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners in two years no matter what the outcome of Gilland's race against Margaret Hale this time around. I wish the Oconee County Board of Education would have simply followed precedent in picking the replacement for Tom Breedlove from the get-go instead of getting all weak-kneed and ineffectual with their wishy-washy, spineless, gutless maneuvers of back tracking on their own policy after a Democratic candidate named Carter Strickland dared to speak the truth and call out a few of the more deserving people needing to be off of anything to do with the public educational leadership of our children. I wish that bipartisan politics really occurred in Oconee County instead of former School Board members getting sweetheart deals at inflated prices behind closed doors in secretive deals with municipal governments that have no business whatsoever getting involved in the land shenanigan...

I realize that a fire set at 3:47 am Sunday morning might be occurring at the most inopportune time possible for the sleepy Athens and Oconee County media and bloggers, but I am somewhat astonished that no one else - not the Banner-Herald, not the Enterprise and no other bloggers - have picked up on the apparent arson of the Watkinsville police officer William Horton's golf cart, car, and house in very near Main Street in downtown? I came home from Atlanta late Mother's Day afternoon and after watching some NBA playoff basketball was somewhat surprised to see Watkinsville Police Chief Lee O'Dillon talking about one of his own on the evening news out of Atlanta. Apparently WSB TV was the only one of the three Atlanta television news channels to send a reporter to Oconee County as the other two pretty much rehashed the Associated Press reports with the offer of the $10,000.00 reward from State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine's office. But again I am somewhat disturbe...

Last night the Watkinsville City Council started the long process of considering the sale of beer and wine at the city's two or three stores. These sales, known as package sales, were introduced by council members John Walsh and Samantha Purcell. Immediately council members Brian Brodrick and Mike Link spoke out against the measure to allow a couple of convenience stores to sell beer and wine. Keep in mind it is already legal to buy beer and wine at stores outside the city limits of Watkinsville in Oconee County. This leaves city council member Joe Walter as the deciding vote on this contentious issue. There will be forthcoming workshops and public input at various, much like the process the city went through last year to decide to allow beer and wine sales in restaurants. I hope Walter supports the idea of Purcell and Walsh. Sam wants to attract a new grocery store to town. I am sure the local churches will be in opposition once again. Police Chief Lee O'Dillon said to me h...