Oconee County, GA Politics

Civil rights activists sponsoring Saturday’s 10th annual reenactment of Georgia’s last known mass lynching expect a large crowd from across the state, but hope they won’t have to keep reliving the bitter history much longer. The reenactments of the 1946 killing of two black couples on the Moore’s Ford Bridge in Monroe, Ga., were designed to rattle the consciences of some of the 200 or so witnesses in hopes they would come forward and lead investigators to the perpetrators who have escaped prosecution all these years. Last year, one man did come forward to relay tales he had heard as a boy of his family members recounting atrocities they participated in against blacks. The event organizers have written the chairmen of the congressional judiciary committees to ask for hearings to pressure federal investigators to step up their actives. One organizer, state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, speculates that part of the ...

Renewed calls for justice in an unsolved murder case

Psychic helps motivate author to finish book | Online Athens

WSB Television led off their 5:00 pm newscast this evening with news of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation digging up the yard of a home in Walton County near the Gratis community. Apparently a home was searched, a bomb was found and detonated, and forensic recovery teams set up tents to sift through potential evidence. I heartily commend the GBI for their efforts in trying to solve the Moore's Ford Bridge lynchings of two African-American couples 62 years ago. This is just the most recent in a string of racially divisive news events in the past week in Northeast Georgia including a noose displayed from a business in Oglethorpe. I do not equate the SCV or most people bearing a St. Andrews cross with terrorist groups but instead like the DAR a semi-historic heritage group.

Fear mongering is a popular spectator sport in Oconee County. The county government is not going to start forcing people to buy beer at $1.00 a bottle with a plate of chips at various restaurants outside of the municipalities. The misinformation flying around about this argument is amazing as usual, but I must give the various components of the opposition to allowing people to order beer and wine with a meal credit for effective tactics in attempting to delay the inevitable. I was not living in Oconee County when beer was first made available in convenience stores in the mid 1980s I believe. I did drive out to Oconee County to some solitary cinder block shack somewhere off the old 441 back when I was a degenerate undergraduate earlier than that to buy beer on Sunday for the then outrageous amount of $10.00 for a 12-pack. People are going to drink no matter what you do. People will tailgate and dine at restaurants in various eating establishments, and if they want a beer or wine with th...

I love the History Channel and the Moore's Ford incident, as horrible as it was, needs to be accurately recreated for future generations to never forget our inhumanity. CAST + CREW CALL :: HISTORY CHANNEL RE-ENACTMENT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Producers from the HISTORY CHANNEL are seeking actors, crew and production assistants for a historical re-enactment shoot of the Moore's Ford lynching to be shot near Athens on FRIDAY MARCH 7th From the Producer…. We need to cast: 2 Black males - 22-28 years range. They should appear young and trim. 2 Black females - 20-25. They should appear young and trim. 12-16 white males - from 20 to 50 years of age. Our 4 young black actors need to have some acting skills as they will be playing the part of the very distressed victims. The white men don't need any major acting skills. They'll be tying up the black males, dragging them through the clearing, and firing the prop guns at the mock exec...

OUR XMAS PARTY HAS MOVED From the Sanctuary in Watkinsville to First African Baptist Church in Monroe, GA Directions from Athens-Clarke/Oconee: head west on Hwy 78 to Monroe area, take second Monroe exit on Hwy 11, turn left and head south over bridge towards downtown Monroe. After only ¼ mile, turn left on Tyler St (Churches Chicken on right corner). First AB fellowship hall is one block on left. If lost, call 706-202-7802. Directions from Atlanta: head east on Hwy 78 to Monroe area, turn right on Hwy 11, same - OR - head east on 1-20, then northeast on Hwy 138 to Monroe area. After merging with Hwy 78, turn right on Hwy 11, same. From Madison & South Georgia: head north on Hwy 441. Before getting to Madison, GA, turn left and head west approximately 16 miles on 1-20 towards Atlanta, then turn right at exit 98 and head north on Hwy 11. Go straight through Social Circle, then stay north on Hwy 11 to Monroe. After passing county courthouse on right in downtown M...

Rich Rusk, son of former JFK and LBJ Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and the fine folks at the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee made massive inroads into the solving of the lynching of four people at the border of Walton and Oconee counties; now they want to solve another riddle of racist past around these parts with the site of a grave of seven slain prisoners incarcerated only a century ago in Watkinsville. This will not be an easy task to accomplish, and I hope they do solve it soon . Anyone who knows anything about this prison lynching or the whereabouts of their mass grave please let us know as soon as possible. The Moore's Ford group is to be applauded for not stopping with just the deaths, no matter however tragic, of four African-Americans in 1947, to help ameliorate the wounds from earlier times in our recent past. This murder of nine prisoners occurred when Watkinsville was still the county seat of Clarke County.

Moore's Ford has forever stained the Walton-Oconee county border with the indelible stain of racism. Rich Rusk and friends invite you to their Christmas festivities December 1. The following video re-enactment they had nothing to do with in terms of staging, but it gives you a good idea of why racial reconciliation is so important. Keep in mind the following is an invitation from Rich and the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee and goes on here in Watkinsville Dear Moores Ford friends and invited guests, Please attend our 11th Annual Moores Ford Christmas Party. See invitation below. For a better copy and our full, two page invitation, please open the attachment. We have had yet another good year and it is time to celebrate. Some very special guests have been invited to receive Moores Ford Community Service Awards, including: Amrey & Debra Harden, GABEO President Tyrone Brooks, organizers from the Maceo Snipes memorial effort – John Cole Vodicka, Prison & Jail Proj...

Just something more to ponder about our ugly recent past:  Moore's Ford re-enactment, rally and march for justice July 25 from Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO): 59th Anniversary Commemoration and Re-enactment of the Lynchings at the Moore’s Ford Bridge Posted on Jul 15, 2005 GABEO Sponsors 59th Anniversary Commemoration and Re-enactment of the Lynchings at the Moore’s Ford Bridge Monroe, Georgia Demanding Justice, Arrests and Prosecution Now July 25, 20052 p.m.1st African Baptist Church Tyler Street at Highway 11 (Across from Church’s Chicken)(Doors of Church Open at 12 Noon) Invited Guest Speakers: The Reverend Jesse Jackson, Founder, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Chair, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda Senator Charles Steele, National President SCLC Martin L. King, III, Pres. and CEO The MLK, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change Attorney Janice Mathis, Vice President, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Rita ...