Oconee County, GA Politics

Great local specials from various outstanding local businesses - I would love to book Ashford Manor Bed and Breakfast for 23 of my friends From: OCAF director@ocaf.com Date: 03/05/2013 9:01 AM (GMT-05:00) To: Subject: March Specials from OCAF Sponsors! Having trouble viewing this email? Click here Support OCAF Sponsors! March 2013 Dear Dan, Each month OCAF will bring you valuable ads and coupons from our sponsors. These businesses support our mission of supporting the arts and artists in our region and Georgia. Please support them through your patronage. Thank you... Joe M. Ruiz OCAF Executive Director OCAF Sponsors Links Ashford Manor The Oconee Enterprise Ruth Parsons Agency The Loft Laura Leidan Realtor ...

Thank you for all those who packed the house this evening for the first of the bimonthly meetings of the Oconee County Democratic Committee. I was delighted to finally see my favorite columnist of the moment John MacKay and his lovely northern Italian bride of North High Shoals and very grateful to have his spine in defending the Oconee Enterprise newspaper from the slings and arrows of some of our more learned members. I adore Margaret Holt as much as she loves recently anointed DeKalb County Board of Education leader Michael Thurmond and only regret not being interviewed with her about the lexicon of language used locally. I think the idea of her husband Stef about having one idea inspired me to use that as a means of introductions for the next meetings with a definitive idea for each of us to coalesce around. Mine would be reduced to sidewalks. It was good to hear and see from people who are fed up with the lack of alternatives to the Republican status quo. The marketplace of id...

I appreciate the long and storied journalistic career of Blake Giles at the Oconee Enterprise and other newspapers, but when are you going to start realizing that Oconee County does have another party besides the Republican? We are a two party county, and I hope his bosses begin to make him realize that. Could he take the time to call one/any Democrat or Democratic leader for a comment on this story? Evidently not. Let me make it easier for you Blake, my home phone number is 706-769-1131 and my cell phone is 706-372-1062. My email is danjmatt@bellsouth.net or danmatt@hotmail.com. I will be glad to comment on this or any story, but evidently I am not viable enough for him. How does he know that I did not meet with President Obama last week to plan to run for this office? He does not, and did not check. How does he know that Congressman John Barrow is not going to run for the US Senate slot currently held by Saxby Chambliss? He does not, because he did not call him either. How does he ...

Also please listen to me on the radio on WUOG 90.5 FM Friday evening 6-8 or attend our canvassing meeting Wednesday at 6:00 pm at Jittery Joe's in Watkinsville Sincerely,  Dan Matthews Subject: FW: Mayoral Forum Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:58:04 -0400 From: Maridee Williams [mailto:oconeeenterprise@mindspring.com] Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 3:36 PM To: Julie Sanders Subject: Mayoral Forum A forum for the Mayor's race in the City of Watkinsville will be held Thursday, October 13, starting at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments, and the Oconee County Library (Watkinsville). The two candidates for Mayor of Watkinsville, Charles Ivie and Dan Matthews, will answer questions submitted in writing from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Blake Giles, editor of The Oconee Enterprise, will be the moderator. Dr. John Jackson, superintendent of the Oconee County Schools, will speak briefly about the ELOST vote prior to the Q and A session. Questions for the mayoral candidates may be submit...

This particular article written very well by Blake Giles is not available on line yet as the Oconee Enterprise newspaper website but news is news and I urge everyone to run out and either buy the Enterprise newspaper itself, advertise or subscribe to the newspaper as well . I added other information about the Western Judicial Circuit job openings and the next step in the Judicial selection process as well as a job opening posted for the Public Defender's Office. 15 attorneys apply for Superior Court seat BY BLAKE GILES (c) Oconee Enterprise Fifteen men and women have submitted  their  name  to  Gov. Nathan Deal in hopes of being nominated  to  fill  the  vacant Superior Court judgeship in the Western Judicial Circuit. Judge  Steve  Jones  resigned last month to accept an appointment to federal District Court in Atlanta. Gov. Deal will appoint someone to fill out his term of office. Of the 11 men and four women who have applie...

Many Georgia restaurant fans will fondly recall Harry Bissett's in downtown Athens at 297 East Broad Street. This longtime New Orleans themed Cajun eatery has closed since the first of the year primarily due to lack of payment of taxes, but a host of other ills had tainted this recent convert to chain, and series of poor business decisions doomed the once grand dame of the Athens seafood restaurant. Along come Mike and Nona Thornton of Watkinsville with a plan to resurrect the style and substance of Bissett's with their new N ew O rleans ' N A thens restaurant called NONA in the same Broad Street location that was once a bank in Athens.  Contrary to recent reports in the Oconee Enterprise newspaper, Thornton in not in bankruptcy over the development  behind the Oconee County Campus of Gainesville State College on Bishop Farms Parkway South by Georgia Aquatics Center (although proceedings have begun against his partner in the project and the bank has refused to finance ...

The Oconee Enterprise > Latest Updates > Arson fire destroys vehicles, damages home Posted using ShareThis

The Oconee Enterprise > Latest Updates > Candidates signing up for office Posted using ShareThis

I am quick to criticize the Oconee Enterprise newspaper, so I should be equally quick in giving them praise when it is due. The special section dedicated to outgoing Watkinsville three-term mayor Jim Luken is well done, deserved and a wonderful keepsake for the son of the former Mayor of Cincinnati. Blake Giles wrote a long essay that pretty much portrayed the former Marine from every angle imaginable. Good job folks

I do my best to respect people's privacy. I am in no way condemning the Oconee Enterprise newspaper for disclosing that she has Lupus, especially if she is OK with them disclosing it. I guess I am a little sensitive to the sharing of medical information after working in the University Health Center for a number of years.  I hope Margaret Hale battles and defeats Lupus and gets her discs in her back worked on to the point where they are no longer bothering her.

This will serve as a good primer for those unfamiliar or needing an introduction to the seedy world of the Oconee County, Georgia Blogosphere with three comments at the very least - I highly recommend it and even added a couple of links. From: Lee Becker ; lbbecker@mindspring.com Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 9:09 AM Subject: Feeling Rejected To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, Recently I had a letter I submitted to The Oconee Enterprise rejected because, I was told, it referenced my blog. The paper said I could pay to have my letter run as an advertisement. I didn't. And a few weeks earlier I had tried to get Banner-Herald columnist Johnathan McGinty to run a criticism of his column on his blog. He didn't. It got me thinking about the new world of journalism, of which my blog is a part. We still are largely in a world of one-way communication. Dialog is difficult. For details, go to http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ And let me know what y...

Well written letter by UGA Journalism professor Lee Becker with links and facts. Somehow someone commented at the end that the Oconee Enterprise newspaper is owned by a Tea bagger. While Miss Vinnie may enjoy an occasional steeped and brewed cup of tea, she has never struck me as being that far right. Rob Peecher at the Oconee News Leader is another story all together. Lee Becker: Pivotal Oconee vote is Tuesday | Letters | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Former Oconee Enterprise editor Billy Vaughn passed away at age 48 in Watkinsville yesterday. I always enjoying chatting with him at the various events where our journalistic paths would cross. His father and my father were buddies at the Red and Black newspaper in the late 1940s and early 1950s in Athens. It seems Billy and I were almost never employed at the same time and the same place at the same newspaper, but we both shared a zest for life and knew where a lot of the bodies were buried not just in Oconee County. I will miss him greatly and wish the best for his life. I hope the best for his family. May he rest in peace. Blake Giles wrote a great obit here .

Wow, I am watching the Republican party implode every day in new ways I could never imagine. This is a letter to our Congressman from a constituent in the 10th District of Georgia. Will all this increase the turnout on either side of the aisle? Of course I think it will help the Democratic candidates of Jim Powell and Jim Martin. Three full time Obama staffers (two moved in since the General Election) are in Athens alone so let's see what we can get done. I think the Republican Party have provided a once in a lifetime opportunity here so we damn sure need to take full advantage of it. Keep talking about Paul Broun. I think there were four letters to the editor today and Jay Hamilton of Oconee County wrote a great one yesterday in the Athens Banner-Herald. The Oconee Enterprise wrote a very good story about Carl McGrath, Barb Eza and Patricia Priest volunteer efforts for the Obama campaign in Oconee County in different ways. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton could be another great c...

Once again Lee Becker calls out the county organ The Oconee Enterprise newspaper with some serious misreporting by Miss Vinnie Williams via pdf file and thorough fact checking and correcting. Many Oconee County Democratic Committee members expressed disdain in their listserv this afternoon in their choice of headlines and coverage locally on the political scene. Perhaps I will post some of it later. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lee Becker < lbbecker@mindspring.com > Date: Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 10:58 PM Subject: Correcting Enterprise Report To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, I usually let this kind of thing pass, but the story in today's edition /The Oconee Enterprise/ regarding the Daniells Bridge Road rezone postponement is so bad I felt I had to try to correct it. I've marked up a copy of the story pointing out what is wrong. I could not find much of anything right. The link to the correction is in my blog at http://www.oconeecountyobserva...