Oconee County, GA Politics

Everyone who reads this blog with regularity realizes I supported Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry in his recent re-election campaign, however his first official duty after winning the Primary made me at least pause to reconsider whether I should have supported Trey Downs or not. I do think Trey will be our next Sheriff in 2016. But this is about playing politics outside the county. That initial action by Berry upon winning another term was endorsing the runner up in the recent primary in former Sheriff Clayton Lowe in his attempt to regain the lead law enforcement officer position in nearby Madison County.  Lowe lost to current Sheriff Kip Thomas four years ago and Lowe was second in the Primary 15 days ago. The difference then was 500 votes and the difference tonight was 300. Tonight Thomas retained the Sheriff's office in the run off by a similar percentage as in the primary.  I would think most folks in any nearby county would bristle at the suggestion of an out of ...

Backpage sex sting nets nine arrests in Oconee County

Oconee Sheriff Candidates Debate Methods of Law Enforcement at Packed Political Forum

I have no doubt that both people running for Sheriff in Oconee County are good people and fine law enforcement officers.  There were a few sparks last night at the North Oconee County High School Fine Arts forum that really left me wondering who is going to win the race. It also kind of made me sad about the schism that is so evidently present between these two candidates and their followers and wonder about what will happen in Oconee County, Georgia after July 31, 2012. There are deep wounds inflicted on both sides of this contested race, and many things more than mere campaign signs have been slashed. I think this race will be extremely tight and could go either way.  One candidate did themselves a favor last night in my opinion, and another candidate seemed to strike a much more strident tone and may have inflicted damage to their once viable campaign. Before last night my supposedly conventional wisdom would have predicted that Sheriff Berry would win in a narrow victo...

I think any challenging candidates counting on this rather delicate issue as some springboard for them to upset Sheriff Berry in the upcoming Republican primary would be sadly mistaken. In fact, I think voters in Oconee County are just resilient and intelligent enough to think beyond this unfortunate criminal act by the brother of the Sheriff. It would be one thing if it had been covered up, but this is anything but the case here. Kudos to Sheriff Berry for taking charge of this disturbing family member and getting him the help and incarceration he needs. Brother of Oconee sheriff gets 15 years for child porn | Online Athens

Go dogs, sic'em, woof woof woof Woven brightly,  Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Subject: Alert Message: Suspect crashed a stolen truck then fled. K9s searching From: oconee-county-georgia-sheriffs-office@emails.nixle.com To: danmatt@hotmail.com Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 17:38:45 +0000 Hi Dan Matthews, Alert Message has been issued by the Oconee County Georgia Sheriff's Office. Thursday May 5, 2011 1:38 PM EDT Suspect crashed a stolen truck then fled. K9s searching For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/4687265/?sub_id=496910 . Contact Information: Scott Berry Command 706-769-3945 sberry@oconeesheriff.org

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Jones Resigns Superior Court Post - Oconee, GA Patch

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry is a true professional law enforcement provider and is talking to both sides of the aisle before the protests start Saturday morning at Oconee Veterans Park near Watkinsville near what some once labeled the Eastville area of unincorporated Oconee County, Georgia. Berry, an acknowledged Republican, responded quickly to a fax to come to the library a day early at the total fault of this writer, when in fact the Oconee County Democratic Committee is meeting Thursday evening at the Library to make signs for their counter demonstration supporting President Barack Obama's efforts at health care reform. They will appear at the front of the park as to not curry complete confrontation with their conservative counterparts contemplating ways at killing any attempts at health care reform. "Y'all are not the ones I am worried about," quipped Berry to Veit late Wednesday evening. Apparently the Sheriff was going to try to talk with the local GOP le...

Given all the shock and dismay over the Oconee County High School softball coach's sleazy and reprehensible behavior with one of his recent former players , I am glad there is something positive to write about this week. After rain and thunderstorms delayed kick off for an hour, the Titans of North Oconee and the Spartans of Athens Academy made the home folks proud with victories in the opening rounds of the Georgia High School Association football playoffs last night. I hope both teams go all the way to the Georgia Dome and win, but each week will become increasingly difficult. Also this season you have to make it all the way to the Finals for the trip to the Dome (instead of the semifinals, where Athens Academy made it the last two years). I feel sorry for the Oconee County HS Warriors quarterback Zach Mettenberger in their opening round loss at Gainesville but he will be enrolled at UGA soon enough and finally be surrounded by talent equal to his on his side of the ball. Also ...

Upon a recent tour of the Oconee Jail, Sheriff Scott Berry said the facility was not yet ready to handle the supposed massive amounts of illegal aliens and become a half way house for deporting foreigners back to their country of origin, but it could happen in the future. Does this enter in to the equation of why twenty something people who were detained while seeking work , of that I am not certain. Oconee County had kind of reached an odd detente with the day laborers by building them a shelter and providing a port-a-potty for the workers to use and wait for the various developers, landscapers and others who employ them, generally off the books. Even homeowners needing a ditch dug or some other

Sheriff Scott Berry kindly toured his new facility with the law abiding members of the Oconee County Democratic Committee Sunday evening. He answered every question directly and took us places where not many public people get to go. The communication center was extremely interesting as to how they keep DVR copies of all the many video cameras for 60-90 days. The most hilarious aspect of the tour was hearing the Star Trek sound effects on the copious computer terminals through out the very impressive and sterile facility. No pathogens or staph infections here, thank you very much. No basketballs in the recreational area either (so no attempted outages of the surveillance equipment. They have room for around 180 prisoners but only had around 70 at the time we went through. They have a contract with Jackson County and the city of Winder to house their prisoners, as well as an understanding with Clarke County to house some of their overflow. We were not treated to any shakedowns or MSNB...

Come with us this Sunday, October 28th, to see the Oconee County jail ina special tour led by Sheriff Berry and hear a lecture about domesticviolence by the director of Project Safe. Here are the details:Joan Prittie, the Executive Director of Project Safe, will speak aboutdomestic violence and the expanded role her first-rate non-profit has taken on while the Sexual Assault Center is rebuilding. She'll speak this Sunday at 7 PM at the Oconee County Jail Complex in Watkinsville. The lecture is part of the Oconee County Democratic Party’s FourthSunday series that addresses topics of importance in our region, state,and nation. The lecture will be held in the hearing room of the complexand is free and open to the public. Attendees may also tour the jail with Sheriff Scott Berry before the lecture if they arrive by 6:30 sharp. See the details below about this tour, as there are some rules everyone must strictly follow. There's information below, too, about where to park so that you...