Oconee County, GA Politics

I am no paragon of virture or saint when it comes to crossing the line from journalist to activist to blogger and back and forth. I have angered many a source and even a few friends, loved ones and roommates over the years when presented a potential story and deciding whether or not to run some confidential information given to me on the daily routine I may have had at that particular time and place. So keep in mind the following is not meant as a criticism of the people involved but more a conversation starter about what I see and how it may or may not be ethically flawed at the very least. Blake Giles of the Oconee Enterprise  newspaper is an accomplished journalist and editor with whom I have crossed paths for more than a few decades. I can recall having a rotisserie baseball fantasy draft run by him in the earliest days of the new Athens Banner-Herald building. I have seen him wear the black and white striped shirt at Georgia basketball games in some sort of officiating duty...

Congratulations to Amrey Harden for being appointed to this board by Governor Sonny Perdue State Workforce Investment Board B. Amrey Harden, 55, Watkinsville – Harden is president and chief executive officer of Oconee State Bank. He formerly served as mayor of Watkinsville, Georgia and is currently a member of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission, Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, and Northeast Georgia Workforce Investment Board. He is also a trustee for Athens Regional Medical Center and is a member of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce. Harden earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia. He and his wife, Debra, have one child.

Former UGA football player and Veterinarian Sonny Perdue, currently lame duck Repubilcan Governor of Georgia, has reportedly been "set up" to be the next President of the University of Georgia. This might come as a surprise to current UGA President Michael Adams, who has long been rumored to be the replacement for the late Miles Brand, the former head of the NCAA. Needless to say, this is all extremely intriguing speculation without the least bit of corroboration, but it does come from a Washington, DC source. This will make for a whole lot of denials of hob

Apparently there are a lot (at least six as of 2 pm Friday) of gas stations in Athens completely out of gas and not going to be filling up their tanks again until Monday. Wonder what Gov. Sonny Perdue will do this time? Close the schools again? Blame it on Ike, blame it on Palin, blame it on Steve Spurrier. I hope Dawg fans don't get stranded in Columbia, South Carolina.

I have not studied the 600 page proposal for the Charter School for Math and Science in Oconee County, nor do I claim any expertise in the area of academic innovation other than Governor Sonny Perdue signed some law easing the path for their creation and ultimate integration into the state and local school systems. Adam Thompson of the Athens Banner-Herald wrote a pretty balanced view of the evolution of this possible addition to the local schools. Jmac at Safe as Houses wrote an interesting take on this as well . All I know is more and more kids are being home schooled even here with one of the best school systems in the area if not the state, which is not a bad thing onto itself, but it is emblematic of a larger dissatisfaction with the public school system in Oconee County (and every where for that matter). There are soccer teams and journalism clubs planned, so I am down with those. The laptops and small teacher-student ratio work well for me. We have a few budding Einsteins who...

This pretty much sums up the contempt that the Governors of the four Southern States have for the working media and bloggers. They will be down yonder in Greene County on the shores of the shriveling Lake Oconee not worrying about the water crisis or anything important.