Oconee County, GA Politics

MINUTES OF MEETING OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL CITY OF WATKINSVILLE January 10, 2007 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. Mayor Luken also notes the passing away of former president, Gerald Ford. President Ford was a guy with great communication skills and ethical standards, per Mayor Luken. MINUTES: Councilwoman Purcell moved and Councilman Walter seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the December 13, 2006 Council meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously. JOHN MURRAY: Tiffany Murray represented John Murray in his absence. Councilman Walter moved and Councilman Brodrick seconded the motion to approve a business license for Engi...

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 Following is the text of a message from Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek with follow up information on the meeting with Banner Herald staff. Charles Baugh Dear Friends, About 30 people showed up at the Oconee County library last night to meet with the half dozen editors from the Athens Banner-Herald, who organized the gathering to get citizen input on the paper's coverage of Oconee County. I was encouraged when Executive Editor Jason Winders told me that the paper will assign a new reporter to cover the County five days a week, rather than the three days that former reporter Merritt Melancon spent on the County. Melancon, who has left the Banner-Herald to become editor of The Oconee Enterprise, did general assignment on Saturdays and Sundays. Her off days were Thursdays and Fridays. I also was pleased when Editorial Editor Jim Thompson asked me about the pending Georgia E...

Janurary 11, 2007 Contact: Christy Wilson (770) 314-2487 Dear Concerned Citizen, This notice is for a Town Hall Meeting that Representative Keith Heard and Doug McKillip will be holding on Wednesday 17, 2007 in the auditorium of the Athens Clarke County Library located at 2025 Baxter Street . At this meeting, Representative Heard and Representative McKillip will be discussing important issues that influence you and your community. We encourage all of you to attend. Sincerely, Representative Keith Heard District 114 Representative Doug McKillip District 115 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Christy Wilson January 11, 2007 (770) 314-2487 REPRESENTATIVE KEITH HEARD AND REPRESENTATIVE DOUG MCKILLIP WILL HOLD A TOWN HALL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 17, 2007 BEGINNING AT 6:30 PM IN THE AUDITORIUM OF THE ATHE...

AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE January 10, 2007 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK WATKINSVILLE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD MINUTES APPEARANCES 1. John Russell Murray – business license – Engineered Site Solutions – 74 Thrasher Drive 2. Mandy Felton – business license – The Purple Paintbrush Kids Art Studio – 8 School Street 3. Justin Duncan – business license – Southern Floor Covering – 395 Jerry Smith Drive , Suite A 4. Donna Wood – business license – Stage Door – 73 N. Main Street 5. Rene Hammond – building permit – 20’ x 28’ addition to existing residence – 1041 Williamsburg Place 6. Norm Grayson – sewer request – 1 N. Third Street 7. Scott Boswell – beer and wine license for Floyd’s Grill – 64 N. Main Street ADMINISTRATION MAYOR’S REPORT CITIZEN’S COMMENTS OLD BUSINESS 1. Consider concept plan and future land use map. ...

BREAKING NEWS! It's shocking but true - a bill calling for a total abortion ban will receive a public hearing on the second day of the legislative session! The General Assembly meeting notice was just posted on Saturday, but apparently, the anti-choice crowd has been planning this for some time. This bill is laced with Georgia Right to Life language, an extremist, religious group that does not represent the majority of voters. Public Meeting on House Bill 1 Tuesday, January 9th 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM Room 606 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building If you'd like to read this bill, go to: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hb1.htm Please note the use of junk science such as: abortions increase tobacco smoking and reduce the tax base??? The bill would make physicians guilty of a felony, and would not allow an abortion even in the case of rape, incest, or detriment to the health of the woman. Even having an abortion to save the life of the pregnant...

Olbermann on Bush's Sacrificial Surge & Accelerate Plan Keith Olbermann once again nails President Bush on his irresponsible and perhaps illegal effort to kill more American soldiers

Last night I went to Gautreau's an ordered a beer with my three appetizers in Watkinsville. While this might seem routine in Athens-Clarke, it represents nothing short of a historic occassion in the previously dry town of Watkinsville . You can still buy beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores outside of the municipalities' city limits. Now Watkinsville has put an end to brown bagging at the restaurants. I ate at the bar and gazed at a dozen pedestrian bottles of wine and more than three dozen different hot sauces. Two gentlemen sitting next to me did not have their IDs and did not drink. The woman behind the bar had already rejected a fake ID as well. She checked mine also. She seemed to think that liquor was imminent, but I think that the Board of Commissioners will follow suit soon enough and allow beer and wine in restaurants outside the city limits.

Friends, Tonight at 7pm the newly elected, returning Commissioners and I will be sworn into office. Please join us at City Hall at 7pm either in person or on the government Channel 7 on Charter if you have cable. We would love to have a crowd - these cyclical moments in the life of the community are special and historic as we usher in a new year along with a new Mayor & Commission. They are made all the more meaningful when friends and supporters attend the festivities. Along with the swearing in ceremony there will be a few procedural votes as well as three items of business. The meeting will be relatively short. Happy New Year and I hope to see many of you tonight. :-) heidi

9/11 Truth: What Happened to WTC Building 7 An interesting look back to the part of the 9/11/01 no one wants to talk about, Rudy

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...