Oconee County, GA Politics

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.

Rich Rusk, son of former JFK and LBJ Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and the fine folks at the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee made massive inroads into the solving of the lynching of four people at the border of Walton and Oconee counties; now they want to solve another riddle of racist past around these parts with the site of a grave of seven slain prisoners incarcerated only a century ago in Watkinsville. This will not be an easy task to accomplish, and I hope they do solve it soon . Anyone who knows anything about this prison lynching or the whereabouts of their mass grave please let us know as soon as possible. The Moore's Ford group is to be applauded for not stopping with just the deaths, no matter however tragic, of four African-Americans in 1947, to help ameliorate the wounds from earlier times in our recent past. This murder of nine prisoners occurred when Watkinsville was still the county seat of Clarke County.

Moore's Ford has forever stained the Walton-Oconee county border with the indelible stain of racism. Rich Rusk and friends invite you to their Christmas festivities December 1. The following video re-enactment they had nothing to do with in terms of staging, but it gives you a good idea of why racial reconciliation is so important. Keep in mind the following is an invitation from Rich and the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee and goes on here in Watkinsville Dear Moores Ford friends and invited guests, Please attend our 11th Annual Moores Ford Christmas Party. See invitation below. For a better copy and our full, two page invitation, please open the attachment. We have had yet another good year and it is time to celebrate. Some very special guests have been invited to receive Moores Ford Community Service Awards, including: Amrey & Debra Harden, GABEO President Tyrone Brooks, organizers from the Maceo Snipes memorial effort – John Cole Vodicka, Prison & Jail Proj...