Oconee County, GA Politics

So this is the second time in a week I have heard mention that some ill advised comments from a citizen proposing the banning of bicycles on our roads in Oconee County, Georgia. While I do not think for a second that the current Board of Commissioners would ever pass such a stupid law, it would be the quickest way for the Democrats to come back in power in Oconee.  Not to mention a huge waste of sheriff deputy and municipal police time. Non-Watinsville resident Kate McDaniel dared dangle that out of her mouth at the end of Watkinsville City Council meeting the other evening, and evidently she was harkening back to this meeting that Lee Becker once again uncovered. Thank you Lee. Even Athens madman Jeff Snowden would oppose this, not to mention Watkinsville city council member Brian Brodrick, the dozens of local bicycle enthusiasts and triatheletes and every parent who bought their chid a bicycle at Sunshine cycle or Wal-Mart. From: Lee Becker < lbbecker@mindspring.com > Dat...

Why should you want to fill out this survey? Because you might care about what local governments do with their roads, sidewalks and bike paths. Please take the time and fill out this survey sent to me by Dr. Anthony Glenn of Farmington. Subject: 2010 Northeast Georgia Regional Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan   The Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC; www.negplanning.org ) has created the first in a series of two online surveys to help guide the planning process for the 2010 Northeast Georgia Regional Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan. This first survey is at this link: http://tinyurl.com/mn3vam .  It should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and is available until Friday, October 30, 2009.     The Northeast Georgia region includes the following counties: Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, and Walton. Please help us gather as many responses as possible by sending the survey link to...

Time for a little fantasy work here about our roads in Oconee County. I do not suffer the Georgia Department of Transportation gladly, but I drive enough roads around these parts that I can share a few ideas no matter how far fetched they may seem. Leave Simonton Bridge/Whitehall Road substantively alone. Build some bike paths off the road, maybe add a turn lane here or there, sidewalks would be welcome as well. Add extra lanes on 441 from the Watkinsville By-Pass all the way to the Athens Perimeter. Here too bike lanes would actually make sense and a couple of sidewalks would do wonder to the health and beauty of Oconee County. Extra acceleration lanes off the Perimeter on to Highway 316 (at least past the Oconee Connector past the perimeter). Hook up the new fly over the By-Pass behind Lowe's and across the Perimeter to the Jennings Mill Superhighway. Then it will only take four minutes instead of five for Jennings Mill residents to take the back way to Sam's Club. Mak...

We can pave paradise and put up a parking lot, to paraphrase the old Joni Mitchell ditty as redone by the Counting Crows more recently. But I would offer up a different point of view: we can pave small strips and preserve paradise here in Oconee County. My friend Brian Brodrick, Watkinsville City Council member, responded to my printing the GDOT list of road projects remaining on the approved schedule over the next quarter century. We both travel the scenic route of Simonton Bridge Road/Whitehall Road coming into Watkinsville from the east side of Athens the the south end of Milledge Avenue many times (which survived the cuts to remain on the list of those slated for widening). I have yet to work up the courage and stamina to try and bike up those large rolling hills from the various forks of the Oconee Rivers, but Lord knows it is something I want to do in the next several years. I see many bicyclists daily dallying up and down the shoulders of this access to Oconee County, and s...

The oh-so familiar J. Phil Campbell Sr. Agriculture Station on State Route 53/Experiment Station Road may cease to function after the new 2009 budget of President George Bush is adopted with the new fiscal year. This erosion experiment center will be a huge loss for the federal, state, county and municipal governments. Perhaps Gainesville State College can acquire the property for the ever-expanding needs of their growing and still-way-over-populated Oconee County campus across the street. While they should connect Bishop Farms Parkways North and South, because of wetland protection they will not without huge amounts of tax dollars. The proposed exit for the backside of the campus off 441 is way down the road of things the DOT is going to do in this county. We could sure use some sidewalks/bikepaths along Hog Mountain Road and all of Experiment Station Road.