Oconee County, GA Politics

Come help us clean up garbage along Simonton Bridge Road/Whitehall Road coming into Watkinsville Saturday morning. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. To: oconee@yahoogroups.com From: jveit@bellsouth.net Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 21:53:49 -0400 Subject: [oconee] Reminder: Democrats VS Republicans Watkinsville Litter Clean-Up   Just a reminder and final entreaty to area Democrats to meet on Saturday, May 8th at 9 am at the Watkinsville First Baptist Church (1610 Simonton Bridge Rd., Watkinsville) to clean up Watkinsville. This is the now annual Democrats VS Republicans Litter Clean-Up. Last year, we outdid them. Let's do it again, then meet at Jittery Joe's in Watkinsville to enjoy each other's company and drink free coffee. Partly sunny with temperatures in the mid 60s at that time in the morning. The weather couldn't be better! When: Saturday, May 8th, 9 am Where: Meet at Watkinsville First...

Melissa Steele is an Oconee County artist seeking to clean up the waters around Rose Creek and Elder Mill Covered Bridge Saturday, March 6, 2010. To possibly sponsor the breakfast at Antioch Christian Church at 9:00 that morning, email or call Steele at mechanted757@gmail or on her cell phone at 706-255-8528.

The City of Watkinsville had scheduled a clean-up of their lovely Harris Shoals Park, but a deluge kept all but the hardiest out of stream and playground area litter gathering Saturday morning. Mayor Jim Luken and a few stouthearted council members including Samantha Purcell braved the ultra humid elements to find a tiny turnout. Just after Purcell suggested they reschedule the park clean up, a Scout master and a trio of Boy Scouts appeared and Luken stayed around to battle the rapids and pick up the bricks and trash in the stream. "We made a lot of progress," said Luken. "Not as much as I would have like to had with double digit numbers, but it was a good start. With all the rain the stream was way up over the shoals making it somewhat difficult to pick out the garbage. We are going to reschedule another clean up at a later date." The outgoing Mayor has yet to select the date, but made it clear that the cleaning of Watkinsville remains a priority in his remai...

This is just some of the garbage I found on a brief trespass across one backyard in Taylor's Landing and over to Farmview Drive on a brief Sunday stroll with my son. I completely respect the railroads and want to know what we can do to clean this up together with them. I also know that railroads are an imposing entity which governments such as Watkinsville cannot always cope with, but I think we can work with them to try to find a solution to keep our backyards beautiful. The litter is primarily caused by the people tossing garbage and not necessarily anything to do with the locomotives on the Norfolk Southern leased to Benny Anderson line. He has every right to park his cars anywhere he wants. I also realize there is a great deal of garbage generated by the railroads such as with old cross ties and spikes themselves but that also people whose property abuts the tracks use them as a place to dispose of their unwanted belongings. I hope we get it removed as painlessly as possible. R...

Here are some of the pictures I took this morning from the garbage clean up in the city of Watkinsville which was dreamed up by Mayor Jim Luken as a means to foster some friendly political competition between Republicans, Democrats and Independents inside the city limits. Sadly there are lots of pockets of garbage remaining off the main thoroughfares, but that is for another day. For an hour on a warm Saturday morning, more than fifty people who participated in the clean up of every stripe and direction Some of the people who picked up free coffee from Jittery Joe's this morning after cleaning up garbage in the city limits. My son Lowell picking up garbage on Barnett Shoals in Watkinsville this morning. We started out at 8:30 at the church near Chairman Veit's house at Calls Creek, then drove on Norton Road and started picking up garbage at the sides of the road on Barnett Shoals. Picked up a couple of odd items ranging from a photo of people kissing to several parts of hubca...

You do not have to live in Watkinsville or even Oconee County to help us pick up litter this Saturday. If you are one to want to help the Democratic leaning lifters of garbage, you may gather at Chairman Jonathan Veit's house in Calls Creek subdivision (actually just outside Watkinsville city limits on Simonton Bridge Road/Whitehall Road entrance to Watkinsville at 8:30 am. This is near Veit's house and you can call him at 706-255-0222 or email gridirongazette@bellsouth.net or you can pick up debris in your own neighborhood if need be. This is from an email sent out by Veit earlier this week. What: Watkinsville Litter Pick-up. When: Saturday, May 30th, from 9 - 10 am (Coffee at Jittery Joe's to follow.) Where: Gather at the entrance to Calls Creek Estates, which is on Simonton Bridge Road. Park at the Watkinsville First Baptist Church, 1610 Simonton Bridge Road. Calls Creek Estates is directly across the street from the church. From Veit's house, or possibly on my own ...

The battle lines are drawn and Watkinsville is area of contention. Your task, should you choose to accept, is to start at the municipal boundaries of the county seat of Oconee County and pick up as much garbage from the streets as possible. Should you choose to participate in a partisan manner, you may do so with the Democratic party through Jonathan Veit (706-255-0222) or Jay Hanley with the Republican party through the Oconee Enterprise newspaper or Facebook. You can also choose to freelance or pick up garbage on your own in a non-aligned manner. The only thing required is you pick up trash on the streets of Watkinsville between 9 and 10 am Saturday, May 30.

Mayor Jim Luken of Watkinsville is a former Marine who had remained largely nonpartisan is an incredibly partisan position. To his credit, he has remained above the fray even when those around him might be supporting one candidate or the other. In general, he has done what is best for the county seat of Watkinsville whether it might favor Republicans, Democratic people or neither or both. Luken came up with the briiliant idea, and has approached the youngest county chair in the State in the G.O.P's Jay Hanley as well as his crusty old counterpart Jonathan Veit on the Democratic side, to have an hour long competition to see which political party can gather the most garbage on the streets of Watkinsville. This will take place 9 to 10 am Saturday, May 30th with the Oconee Democratic participants starting on Simonton Bridge and the Republicans starting on some abandoned development near the jail (just joking there - but I have not known too many Republicans to pick up garbage, so this ...

Well worth your participation. There may indeed be something in North High Shoals as well. Steve? Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. To: oconee@yahoogroups.com From: becky@beckyvaughn.org Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 16:22:42 -0500 Subject: [oconee] Fwd: MLK Service project ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carl McGrath < carlmcgrath@ yahoo.com > Date: Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 3:35 PM Subject: To: Carl < CarlMcGrath@ yahoo.com > Hey, remember me from the campaign? Well, Felton Hudson and I have answered the call from Barack Obama to organize a service project on the MLK Holiday, Jan 19th. Since this is also the day before Inauguration, the activity can also serve to rally us together to begin our celebration of Barack Obama becoming President of the USA .   The service project will involve removing debris from a ravine in the Maple Circle Community in Greensboro.  To see a photo of the project si...