Oconee County, GA Politics

The following is directly from the Oconee County Sheriff's Office: We are looking for a Chevy or GMC single-cab, short-bed pick-up truck that is pewter in color. It was seen on Simonton Bridge Road on Wednesday at the time Misty Myrick's body was discovered. We need to talk to the driver of this vehicle as they may be a witness. The truck was pulling a trailer. A picture of a truck is attached depicting the body style and color of the truck that is of interest. It is not the actual truck. The roadway was shut down earlier today to do a scale diagram of the scene. We have no reason to believe that residents in the area are in any particular danger.

The Greensboro massacre occurred on November 3 , 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina , United States . In the shoot-out, five marchers were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party while in a protest. It was the culmination of attempts by the Communist Workers Party to organize industrial workers, predominantly black, in the area. [1] The protesters killed were: Sandi Smith, a nurse and civil rights activist; Dr. James Waller, president of a local textile workers union who gave up his medical practice to defend workers; Bill Sampson, a Harvard University graduate in the school of divinity; Cesar Cause, an immigrant from Cuba who graduated magna cum laude from Duke University ; and Dr. Michael Nathan, chief of pediatrics at Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham, NC , a clinic that helped children from low-income families. From Wikipedia Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. From: fishlabs@bellsouth.net Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 19:14:14 -0400...

WSB Television led off their 5:00 pm newscast this evening with news of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation digging up the yard of a home in Walton County near the Gratis community. Apparently a home was searched, a bomb was found and detonated, and forensic recovery teams set up tents to sift through potential evidence. I heartily commend the GBI for their efforts in trying to solve the Moore's Ford Bridge lynchings of two African-American couples 62 years ago. This is just the most recent in a string of racially divisive news events in the past week in Northeast Georgia including a noose displayed from a business in Oglethorpe. I do not equate the SCV or most people bearing a St. Andrews cross with terrorist groups but instead like the DAR a semi-historic heritage group.

I extend my deepest condolences to the local families and friends of the student killed at the University of North Carolina today and the George Walton Academy student murdered yesterday at Auburn. Any death is awful, but to have a life extinguished on campus when we think someone is safe is exponentially horrendous. The same can be extended to the Drew Marshall family and that of Mark "Microwave" Myrtowitz, for their deaths in recent weeks, even though circumstances may differ greatly, death sadly put things in perspective.

The Athens Banner Herald newspaper correctly took Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry to task for inappropriate comments coming on the heels of the murder of a motorcycle rider in Bogart. The death of anyone is a tragedy and should be treated as such, not to be woven into socio-political commentary (even though that is what I am guilty of here). The editorial is a well written chastising of Sheriff Berry for letting his true feelings come out at a most difficult time. Oconee and Clarke counties have been remarkably free of conflagration and horrible tragedy on a mass scale, and I certainly hope it remains that way. However our leaders need to show a little more discretion before opening their pie holes to make fools or our selves and our counties. For the record, I have nothing but the highest regard for the fine deputies and staff of the Oconee County Sheriff's Department and have always been treated extremely well and very professionally every time I have had any reason to step fo...