Oconee County, GA Politics

Just picked up the first issue of the new weekly newspaper and was very impressed with the initial edition. Any time there is competition for local news everyone benefits (although I know a certain General Manager who might disagree with me). The 24 page tabloid is colorful and printed well. It reminds me of a top notch college newspaper printed well in Monroe. The logo is kind of off balance or off kilter a bit, and I would suggest making it about an inch and a half wider on the left and less curved. I know Rob Peecher from our days together in Eatonton at the Messenger and he will put out a quality product. It is a tad too gray on some of the inside pages - page 3 could have used a photo, but considering the start-up from near zero, they have exceeded expectations in a short time. Rob wrote almost every news story and feature, and he can't possibly expect to continue that load. The autism feature was interesting but read more like a magazine story, but I would well imagine he had...

The latest informational meeting of the Watkinsville City Council was packed to a full house Monday evening. The funniest event of the evening was when a supporter of the beer and wine proposal was describing how his 91 year old mother was trying to foist a bottle of wine while using a walker and then having to drink the whole bottle.

Not from me, but from Jim Shearon of Ashford Manor fame: 27 July 2006 Dear Mayor Luken and City Council Members, We acknowledge that you have been working steadily and digilenty with the RDC to format new ordinances for the City and that it is an extensive and complicated process. None the less we are greatly concerned over the possibility that there could be additions, renovation/remodeling, removal of buildings on properties within the Historic/Business District that would not be consistent with the look and atmosphere of the existent buildings and the vision of the City that came out of last year’s Visioning Sessions. We fear that potential developers within this area might not show the sensibility and aesthetic exhibited in the Town Center development. This fear is reinforced by the slovenly care of many of our downtown properties including Commercial, residential and undeveloped plats by their current owners. The Urban Forrest Ordinance and the new Sign Ordinance (which di...

We need to ween Georgia off fossil fuels as soon as possible. I have added a tank or two of biodiesel to my truck, not yet available in Oconee although we're working on that one. Go to Apex Oil off Old West Broad in Athens for Biodiesel FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kristin Brekke, Communications Director Phone: (605) 334-3381 / E-mail: kbrekke@ethanol.org Ethanol-Blended Fuel Could Ease Atlanta Gas Prices Sioux Falls, SD (March 31, 2005) – Atlanta gas prices could drop by seven cents per gallon or more if ethanol was used in the metro area's fuel, according to the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). “Because of the strong production of ethanol in the U.S. and record high prices for gasoline, the price of ethanol-blended fuel is a great value,” said Ron Lamberty, ACE Vice President / Market Development. “We estimate that, based on current market prices, fuel prices in the Atlanta metro area could be seven cents per gallon lower if stations were allowed to use ethanol...

Good evening everyone, Below is some info regarding the upcoming public reading and subsequent vote on the county’s stormwater ordinance. The following info comes via Charles Baugh and Lee Becker. Please attend the upcoming BOC meetings and/or write the Commissioners in support of countywide application of the ordinance. If you aren’t familiar with the issue, you can study the files available at the Friends of Barber Creek website (http://www.barbercreek.org/barbercreek/library.html). Given the rapid growth occuring in the county, a countywide ordinance is the only way to ensure proper protection measures are in place for our streams and rivers. The county actually has a very good history of implementing environmental protection standards that are beyond the State’s basic guidelines (e.g., 100 buffer on rivers for construction; 50-100 buffer on the flood plain). Let’s hope they keep such high standards for the stormwater issue as well. My apologies for any duplicated posts. Ch...

Bobbie Paul, Director of Women's Action for New Directions (Nuclear Disarmament), is searching for men who are willing to play the part of KKK men in a drama on Tuesday afternoon, evening, in Oconee County at Moore's Ford, as described below. Senator Tyrone Brooks is the leader of the effort, as described below. This is a nationally famous event. Please check out the directions below and respond to Bobbie Paul: Bobbie Paul Director Atlanta WAND 250 Georgia Ave SE Suite #202 Atlanta, Georgia 30312 (404) 524-5999 www.atlantawand.org bobbiepaul@rp.cbeyond.com Tyrone brooks can be reached here. There is press conference at Concerned Black Clergy tomorrow at noon. GABEO Legislative Building Suite 511 18 Capitol Square SW Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Phone: 404.656.6372 Fax: 404.656.0238 mowens@legis.state.ga.us http://www.gabeo.org/nm/publish/news_63.shtml 60th Anniversary Commemoration and 2nd Re-enactment of the Lynchings at the Moore’s Ford Bridg...

Hi everyone, PLEASE share this email with your friends and other groups you are affiliated with in North Georgia. Charlie Norwood is attending the Georgia Mountain Fair Parade in Hiawassee, GA, this Saturday, July 22. The parade starts at 12:00 p.m. (Norwood's campaign opponent, Terry Holley, has a conflict and won't be at this event.) Norwood is behind the push for I-3, the proposed interstate through the North Georgia mountains. (Terry Holley opposes I-3.) IT WOULD BE GREAT if folks who oppose I-3 and especially folks who oppose Norwood could attend this parade on Saturday, and take some homemade signs (like: "To stop I-3, stop Norwood!"), and scatter themselves along the parade route. Please encourage folks to do this! Also, the latest Stop I-3 Newsletter can be found online at: http://www.stopi3.org/newsletter.html Thanks much!! -- Kat Here is the link to the latest Stop I-3 Coalition Newsletter (which includes the latest candidate tracking poll...

Not even 10 pm and he gives up. 11alive.com

Dear Moore's Ford friends, Please attend our upcoming film screening on July 22 with Keith Beauchamp. A short press release and longer personal column are attached. Keith is terrific - young, eloquent, full of passion. No wonder he got some older residents in Mississippi to start talking about Emmett Till. Please send this news to friends and list servs you think may be interested. How about Common Ground in Athens and OCAF in Oconee County, among others? Had a great trip to Alaska, where I was helping a friend build a home. But its always nice to come home. All the best, Rich Emmett Till Film & Producer Headed for Monroe On July 22, to honor the 60th anniversary of the Moore’s Ford lynching of 1946 and build support for the current FBI and GBI investigations, the Moore’s Ford Memorial Committee will host a film screening – The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till – by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. Set for 1 p.m., Saturday at the Monroe Community Center, Beauc...

So I will not be there in person, but I just got a telephone call from a producer at WSB TV (channel 2) confirming that they are going to use a question I submitted for the Republican debate between Ralph Reed and Casey Cagle. This debate is going to air Sunday at 5 pm. Ironically I submitted it for the Democratic governor's debate instead, but it applies just as well by Casey and Ralph Now I am not going to ruin the suspense by revealing what I am going to ask them, because that would give them a chance to prepare some textbook response. Suffice to say it is something echoed by many voters besides me and it will add some spice to the usual boring debate queries. It has nothing to do with Abramoff or banking directly.

I consider Watkinsville City Council member Brian Brodrick to be a friend of mine. He devours these blogs quicker than just about anybody, and in his business of working for Jackson-Spalding PR agency he is more sensitive to it. We live in a very small town. Sometimes emotions get carried away on contentious issues such as beer and wine in grocery stores and restaurant, and he wanted to reply to an article I wrote. By most considerations what happend last night was over in a minute and Brodrick basically called out Jim Shearron for berating Kate McDaniel. The entire three-way verbal spat did not last 15 seconds. And so I feel it is appropriate to publish his response to my article written last night: The following was written by Brodrick. 1) The only reason I raised my voice towards Jim is because I felt like he got personal with Kate. I always want debate to be civil at council, and felt like he crossed a line in attacking her. Both made valid points. I have the utmost respect for ...

Good evening everyone. I thought I’d pass along this bit of good news from Lee Becker regarding the county’s stormwater ordinance. My apologies if this is a repeated post. Cheers, Tony Glenn President, Citizens for South Oconee County -----Original Message----- From: Lee Becker [mailto:lbbecker@mindspring.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 9:43 PM Subject: Good News Dear Friends, Yesterday I spoke with Amy Morrison, who is in charge of the stormwater ordinance for the county. She said the overwhelming number of comments coming in to the county are calling for the stormwater ordinance to be rewritten so that the entire county will be required to follow the state standards for control of runoff. As a result, she said, she has changed the ordinance. The version that she posted to the web on July 6 contains language designed, she said, to accomplish this. The key provision is Section 3, part E, which says that the Oconee County Board of Commissioners "shall" compel a land ...

July City Council Meeting Oconee Living section Athens Banner-Herald July 12, 2006 Nerves frayed toward end of Watkinsville council meeting By Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Correspondent Athens Banner-Herald Contentious rancor erupted briefly toward the end of the first regular monthly meeting of the Watkinsville City Council since City Attorney R. Judson Huff resigned over a “liquor elimination ordinance,” according to Police Chief Lee O’Dillon. “It gives us a tool,” said O’Dillon. “It will stop the brown bagging.” He did not need to intervene in the quick heated exchange between Council member Brian Brodrick and a couple of residents. Cooler heads and apologies soon prevailed after Mayor Jim Luken restored order. Brodrick said he favored “baby steps” toward the beer and wine in restaurants and package stores instead of “jumping into the deep end of the pool.” Local Republican Party secretary and retired blogger Kate McDaniel of APVOC.com questioned the council’s attitude toward change, an...

So I was told at an OCAF volunteer dinner that the Athens Regional Medical Center is going to build a new hospital some 10 years down the road off Jimmy Daniel across from the back of Jennings Mill. About time Oconee County gets some first rate medical facilities. 91-year-old Louise Shearon was selected volunteer of the year and Ashford Manor chosen the business of the year, both well deserved. Here are a bunch of photos from that event.

Mr. Rob Peecher Sr. has bankrolled some newspaper competition for the Oconee Enterprise and Athens Banner-Herald Oconee Living section. This newspaper will be called The Oconee Leader. I worked for his son in Eatonton a few years back and knew his dad lived up this way. Rob Jr. spent a lot of time in West Georgia and at the Eatonton Messenger. Find out more Wednesday. Maybe I will drive down that way and see if I can scout up some more information. AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE July 12, 2006 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK WATKINSVILLE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD MINUTES APPEARANCES 1. Maridee Williams – Bicentennial Birthday Celebration 2. Steve & Dory Brown – demolition permit – existing house @ 36 S. Main St. 3. Robert Peecher, Sr. – business license – The Oconee Leader – 46A Greensboro Hwy. 4. Brian Young – building permit – Ice Vending Building – 42 N. Main St. 5. Scott Boswell – building permit – remodel existing building @ 64 N. Main St. 6. Sherry Carson – swimming pool permit – 108...

A peach of a scandal in Georgia By Garrison Keillor July 6, 2006 If a preacher secretly accepts a bucket of money from a saloonkeeper to organize a temperance rally at a rival saloon and maybe send in a gang of church ladies to chop up the bar with their little hatchets, this would strike you and me as sleazy, but others are willing to make allowances, and so Ralph Reed's political career is still alive and breathing in Georgia. He has bathed himself in tomato juice and hopes to smile his way through the storm. The facts are fairly simple. Mr. Reed left the Christian Coalition in 1997 as it was sinking, and he was paid by Jack Abramoff to organize opposition to a gambling bill in the Texas legislature, which would have opened the door to competition for Mr. Abramoff's client casinos in Louisiana. So Mr. Reed got the good Christians of Texas to bombard the legislature with phone calls and letters denouncing gambling, for which Mr. Reed was paid millions of dollars in gambling mo...

I have been told that the fact I live in a municipality, the fact that I am the head of the local political arm of the Democratic committee, and the newspaper reporting gig are the reasons I am never voted on to be on the planning commission. Fourth time was not the charm in my attempt at adding some citizens' input on the Board dealing with buildings in Oconee County. Perhaps if my dad was a good old boy involved in the real estate, developers or bankers' communities I would be given more creedence in the eyes of the local elected officials. Maybe next time I should ask the BOC questions instead of making a spiel about why they should pick me. At their meeting on July 6, 2006, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners made the following appointments: Land Use & Transportation Planning Committee - terms ending 9/30/2008 Abe Abouhamdan Bob Isaac James Morris Henry Norman Bob Sanders Frank Watson Planning Commission - terms ending 9/30/2010 Travis Marshall Fritzie Jackson Recr...

These two fine gentlemen addressed the July meeting of the Oconee County Democratic committee Thursday evening at Maison Bleu in the Town Center development in downtown Watkinsville. Neither of these non-partisan groups should be called "anti-development" but both are pro smart growth" and getting the control of our government out of the hands of developers. We had several new faces upstairs in the balcony of Maison Bleu and that is what we want in the local Democratic efforts. Glenn told us of the efforts of Citizens for South Oconee County and the success they had against a truck stop below Farmington. They also hosted a succesful Fourth of July celebration with 200 people appreciated small town Americana down yonder. Becker battled the local powers-that-be who are dumping our affluent effluent in little old Barber Creek. Experts have warned this creek is entirely too small to support our waste and recommended that we build a treatment facility for sewage on the Oconee...