Oconee County, GA Politics

OK, so I challenge anyone to tell us what we are doing in Iraq now that Saddam Hussein has been executed. If President Bush would just tell the American people, "OK, we wanted to take out Saddam but we really just wanted to get a foothold in the Mideast so we can have the oil to go with the Kazahkstan natural gas." All wars are economic in nature. Grant Kurdistan a sovereign nationhood tomorrow. Bring the troops home by 2008. Let the Shi'ia and the Sunnis have their own sectors.

Please reflect on the year that was in Oconee County, Georgia. This name challenged county decided aliens were no longer welcome to gather at shelter we built at the Home Depot. Houses no longer can be built here for under $125,000. We have planted more generic strip malls and developments than the sewer and other infrastructure can handle. The main road arteries like Mars Hill Road and 441 are no longer worthy of consideration for expansion. The beer and wine in Watkinsville restaurants next week leaves numerous Athens eateries lining up if only the county follows step. The black granite edifice to man's inhumanity to man will clash with the soccer and softball fields in the Community Complex. Meanwhile any plans for public swimming facilities gets to sit in the back of the bus, whoops we still don't have any public transportation, or decent sidewalks, or functional bike paths. We now have more high schools than Clarke County. We have better golf courses too. Better Christmas...

Announcing the P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2006 By Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen , AlterNet . Posted December 26, 2006 . Many can plausibly lay claim to stinky media performances, but only a few can win a P.U.-litzer. Tools Share and save this story: Also in Top Stories More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death by Soda Joshua Frank, AlterNet Maternal Profiling: How Employers Discriminate by Marital Status Sheila Gibbons, Women's eNews More stories by Norman Solomon Jeff Cohen Main AlterNet RSS Feed Get AlterNet in your mailbox! Competition has been fierce this year for the fifteenth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes. Many can plausibly lay claim to stinky media performances, but only a few can win a P.U.-litzer. As the judges for this un-coveted award, Jeff Cohen and I have deliberat...

It does not surprise me that a certain segment of society here in Oconee County wants to ship all those immigrants back to Mexico. I am glad our Sheriff at least checked out their first meeting and that 10 people would be about par for the course of the local isolationist reactionary quasi-military radicals. I am none too keen about having firearms on display in the library except for an educational prop.

MINUTES OF MEETING OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL CITY OF WATKINSVILLE December 13, 2006 PRESENT: Mayor Luken, Council members Link, Purcell, Brodrick, Walsh and Walter and City Attorney Reitman. VISITORS: See attached sheet. QUORUM CHECK: Mayor Luken acknowledges a quorum is present. Mayor Luken also asks those with non-emergency cell phones to turn them off or down. All speakers are asked to approach the lectern and address Council. CHRISTMAS PARADE AWARDS: Mayor Luken thanks Maridee Williams for all her hard work on the Watkinsville Bicentennial Birthday Party and the Watkinsville Christmas Parade. He thanks all for getting involved. See attached list of parade award winners. WATKINSVILLE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD: Councilwoman Samantha Purcell announced _____________ of ____ Jeremy Drive as receiving the Watkinsville Beautiful Yard Award for the month of December. The selection was made by Details Plus. MINUTES: Councilman Link moved and Councilman Bro...

So it seems our Governor knew exactly what he was getting when he signed the law giving himself a $100,000 tax break

Forgive the duplicated posting. See the comments below regarding the EPD hearing held last Tuesday night. No need trying to say anything more when Charlie and Lee sum it up very well. Folks, trust us when we say Lee Becker worked very hard on this issue. Through his diligence there may yet be a lasting impact on how the county handles wastewater discharge. There are articles in today’s Oconee Enterprise and Athens Banner Herald. Below is a link to the ABH article. You may have to register to read it (no worries, it’s free and harmless). http://onlineathens.com/stories/121406/news_20061214037.shtml Cheers, Tony Glenn Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 Following is a message from Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek with a summary of the DEC. 12 public hearing on the county's application to discharge treated sewer water into Barber Creek. Lee did a wonderful...

Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.

More from Lee regarding the meeting tonight. See the info below. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dear Friends, I have heard from a lot of people who say they will attend the meeting on Tuesday night before the EPD. We need everyone possible there. This is a chance for us to show the EPD and the County that we really do care about Barber Creek and that we have reasonable requests for changes in the draft permit. We want to address problems of flooding, we want the cleanest possible water released, and we want independent monitoring. These three requests are listed in a flier available on the Friends of Barber Creek web site at www.barbercreek.org under the news and events section (petition). Or you can go directly to http://www.barbercreek.org./barbercreek/Help_Preserve_Barber_Creek_Flier_v2.pdf to download the flier. Please print out this flier, sign it, and bring it with you to the meeting on Tuesday night. If you cannot a...

Becky Vaughn defeated me in the race for chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee. Seems some of the members thought my leadership style left a little something to be desired. I gave it my best effort for the last year. I never once sought reimbursement for a single expense, a move I now regret. Becky will do a fine job of running the meetings, if she does not get stuck in Atlanta traffic as was the case this evening. Now that I am no longer chair, I can at least take off the gloves when it comes to crafting letters, blog entries and columns. At one point this evening there was a long discussion about the possibility of co-chairs. Stubbornly I did not want to be vice-chair. I did not think we had enough members to have factions, but I guess I was wrong about that. Bill Yarbrough will take over the duties of vice chair along with Jonathan Veit, Violet Dawe and Herb West will reprise their roles. So I never thought of this blog as being the official voice of the Oconee County D...

Says Butler: Let’s make it safe for Democrats to exit the closet Friday, December 1, 2006, 08:40 AM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution In anticipation of upcoming elections within the state Democratic party, Columbus attorney Jim Butler has sent out a letter to state committee letters warning that it’s make-or-break time for the party — that unless certain, unnamed people get serious, certain other unnamed people may get tired of playing Sisyphus. “If Democrats can win in Montana, Democrats can win anywhere, including in Georgia,” begins Butler, who has spent much effort and treasure on party causes. January will see an election for a new party chairman, but Butler says he’s not angling for the job. The entire letter can be found at blogfordemocracy.org , but here’s the gist of it: The truth is that in most suburban and rural areas, it is ‘socially unaccep...

About time this bum gets his due. My problems with him were more political than personal, but he never gave me that honest feeling in any of his many endeavors. I can fondly recall various public pissing matches in the Editorial pages of various newspapers, where basically I was condemning the current administration as a corrupt failure and this felon and his minions immediately branded me with every ill ever concocted by anyone having anything whatsoever to do with Democratic party. I also have aestheic and governmental concerns about the whole process and design of the Veterans' memorial, and the fact that next to no Democrats are involved in the current planning process. I also shudder at the entire politicization of the process of quasi-governmental approved edifices for man's inhumanity against man. OK, I salute the Veterans and thank them for keeping us free, but also want as much honor for those such as Oconee County's own Montana Representative Jeannette Rankin who...

Want to come be a part of a Christmas parade Saturday morning in Watkinsville? The Oconee County Democratic committee can certainly use your volunteer spirit, camaraderie and assistance. Meet outside of the Southwire plant at 9 am if you want to help quickly decorate the carriage and help out with a large horse team. I will have my cell phone 706-372-1062 with me or you can call me at home 706-769-1131. We can use people to walk, bike, carry gifts, scoop poop and donate money to help pay for the horse team. Hope we can will at least see you there. At least hope it does not rain.

e: Proposed rezone along Barnett Shoals Road This is to update you on the status of the proposal to build 238 houses on 264 acres on Old Barnett Shoals Road adjacent to Green Hills Country Club (now called Creekside Country Club). The proposal includes 30,000 sq ft lots on septic tanks in an environmentally and historically sensitive area. Just when we think these developments can't get any worse comes this one. Consider, a project so bad: 1. The Northeast Development Center determined the project is not in the best interests of the state. 2.The Planning Commission recommended the Board of Commissioners deny it. 3. So bad that 2 developers spoke against it at the Planning Commission hearing. The proposal was to go to the Board of Commissioners at its next regularly scheduled meeting but the developer asked that it be tabled until the February meeting. The BOC approved the request to table the application at its agenda meeting last night. Citizens in the ar...

Not even the most ardent local historians or archeologists have heard of the Rutherford community near where what was Green Acres Country Club and where it recently stood. Now there is a plan afoot to bring in a massive new county club development with $350,000 houses on 3/4 acre lots. The closest subdivisions I am aware of in Clarke County have five acre minimums. UGA art professor Bill Paul is heading up a community effort to block the Marshall development destined to destroy the scenic gateway along Barnett Shoals into Oconee County. This area has large lots and many acres of undisturbed beauty in an area untouched by subdivisions (so far) and also any substantial surveys of historical impact on cemetaries and ruins of the mill culture. The following was borrowed from the NEGRDC report on the area: DEVELOPMENTS OF REGIONAL IMPACT Regional Review Notification Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center • 305 Research Drive, Athens, Georgia 30605-2795 • 706.369.5650 • Fax 706.369.5...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, call 706-769-5161 Watkinsville Celebrates its 200th Birthday on Nov. 24 “Artland of Georgia” will offer commemorative postal cancellation, re-enactments, and more WATKINSVILLE, GA., Nov. 13 – While shoppers around the state hit the malls, citizens of at least one thriving Georgia town will celebrate a different kind of milestone on November 24. The Northeast Georgia city of Watkinsville will celebrate its 200th birthday on Friday, November 24. Beginning at 9:00 a.m. ceremonies will be held at the Eagle Tavern, located at the intersection of Main and Third Streets in downtown Watkinsville. “Our citizens are excited about this celebration, and I anticipate a large crowd to help us start our next 200 years off right,” said Luken. “It will be a fun-filled morning with ample doses of history, humor, and honor for our citizens and guests.” After decades of mystery, the city learned earlier this year the exact date of its anniversary thanks to re...