Oconee County, GA Politics

I think Ralph Hudgens must have been reading the blogs or at least the tea leaves indicating he had no chance in Hell of winning the Special Election for Dr. Charlie Norwood's seat in the US Congress. Maybe this will spur Brian Kemp or Doc Eldridge to drop their hats in the ring, so we are back down to 10 candidates (nine announced) for the June 19th race. Hudgens has too much baggage from his malapportionment boondoggle of Athens-Clarke County a year ago plus.

Please spread the word! From: Purcell, Samantha [mailto:spurcell@walton.k12.ga.us] Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 11:03 AM To: Mark Campbell; kmcq13@yahoo.com; Jan.Smith@georgiacenter.uga.edu; John McNally; Brian Brodrick Subject: 10:00 - 12:00 Watkinsville City Council Clean Up Day March 24 Please spread the word that we will be meeting at Rocket Field on March 24th. We will give volunteers predetermined routes to clean. It would work well if volunteers cleaned routes near where they live and work. John, can Oconee Clean and Beautiful help us out? We need orange trash bags. Do you know where we can get them free? Your group could count this as part of the Keep Oconee Clean and Beautiful Campaign. Give me a call 769-2788 or my cell 706-338-3838. Thanks for everyone’s support of the city! Sam

The Landowners Meeting on March 15, 2007 at 7:00 PM in the Oconee County Library Auditorium will be the kick off meeting for the Oconee Partnership for Farmland Protection 2007 Program. Please help to reach all those who might be interested in protecting their farm with an Agricultural Conservation Easement, or those who might benefit from the considerable federal and state tax incentive programs. It will be an educational meeting which can help any landowner see the value in protecting their land, and see how they can benefit from putting a conservation easement on their land. Those who are interested in protecting their land for "Agriculture", for a "River Walk", for "Open Space", or just for land conservation purposes should attend this meeting. See the letter below from Russ Page. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Oconee Partnership for Farmland Protection 1201 Sunset ...

Go Blue Devils Go

WE DID IT!!! The BOC voted unanimously to deny the rezone request by Francis Williams to develop a convenience store and gas station at the corner of Branch Road and US441. After 15 months, three different plans, two withdrawals by Mr. Williams, and two denials by the Planning Commission, the BOC finally got to hear the issue. I am very proud of all of us, with a particular pat on the back to Paul Poninski. Paul spearheaded a petition drive that resulted in 205 signatures of individuals who did not want to see this type of development in south Oconee. Paul presented the petition signatures to the BOC, which clearly got their attention. Overall approximately 20 people signed up to speak against the rezone. We provided them with our own personal assessments, data on traffic and fire hazards, and even statements from the county’s Comprehensive Plan and Planning Staff Report that clearly supported our position. In other words, we made a thorough and strong case for denial. I knew ...

Here is the article from the Athens Banner-Herald and below is a letter from Charles Baugh. I think it is well past time that we need to get some quality candidates to run against Luke and Norris and even Chairman Davis. Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 The Board of Commissioners voted to join with Walton County in the troubled Hard Labor Creek water project. Commissioners Davis, Norris and Luke voted to enter into an agreement which will ultimately cost Oconee in excess of $105,000,000 plus interest with the initial cost to be in excess of $45,000,000 and only 3.5MGD of water. Here is how the vote went. Commissioner Horton moved they vote not to participate in the Walton project and Commissioner Hale seconded. Commissioners Luke and Norris voted against the motion and Commission Davis voted against to break the tie. Commissioner Luke moved to enter into an agreement with Walton County which was seconded by Commissioner Norris. Hale a...

PRESS RELEASE Two Local Golfers Earn Sponsor’s Exemptions into the Athens Regional Foundation Classic Peterson and Rymer are Former Champions on Nationwide Tour ATHENS, Ga., March 6, 2007– Tournament organizers announced today that Northeast Georgia residents Matt Peterson and Charlie Rymer have been offered two of the sponsor’s exemptions for the 2nd Annual Athens Regional Foundation Classic (ARFC), scheduled for April 19-22 at Jennings Mill Country Club. The Nationwide Tour event will not be an unfamiliar place for Rymer and Peterson, as both have experienced victory on the Tour in their professional careers. “Matt and Charlie are two of this area’s most accomplished and well-known golfers, and we’re thrilled to have them in the field,” said Len Sapera, Chairman of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. “We’re confident that our home town heroes will be able to play with the best when the tournament arrives in Athens in just over a month.” Success came early for Rymer who, at the a...

Todd DeFeo must be the writer who has taken over the beat Merritt Melancon had before she went to the Oconee Enterprise. This is a good history of the bucolic town on the river.

Number of hopefuls for seat reaches 10 By Sylvia Cooper | Staff Writer Thursday, March 01, 2007 Augusta Attorney Evita Paschall announced her candidacy for the 10th Congressional District seat Wednesday, becoming the 10th candidate and second Democrat to say she will run in the June 19 special election. Ms. Paschall, 55, has practiced law in Augusta for 31 years, beginning her career in the Richmond County District Attorney's office after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1976. She went into private practice with Carl Brown - now an Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge - in 1979 before opening her own practice in 1981. She has served as an assistant solicitor in Richmond County State Court and solicitor of Richmond County Civil and Magistrate Court. In 1992, she was appointed judge of Augusta Recorder's Court, which was abolished when the city an...

Because now we have Dr. " Hutch " announced in the 10th Congressional District Special election, making it half a dozen candidates for the non-partisan partisan election June 19th to fill the seat of the late Dr. Charlie Norwood and inevitable run-off two weeks later. Dr. Paul Broun, Jr. of Oconee County would appear to be the loser today with another activist staunch conservative Doctor and Real Estate Agent (what a combo!) taking the potential vote from him in McDuffie and Columbia and the top tier of Richmond Counties near Augusta. The links in the Augusta Chronicle article do not reveal that conservative activist Braselton's Bill Greene is also a member of the wanna-be militia bastardizing the name Minutemen. It again illustrates how much Athens and Auugusta have nothing to do with one and other politically or media-wise. And the state Democratic officials continue to let McDuffie County's Terry Holley hang in the wind while preaching that they are seeking some ot...

You may have attended last years' meetings for "Your Watkinsville". We are now in the process of looking at the zoning ordinance, which will correspond with the Concept Plan and Future Land Use Plan developed from those meetings. We will conduct the public hearing, which has been advertised in the newspaper for several weeks now, on February 28th @ 7:00 p.m. Potential to adopt the new zoning ordinance on March 14th @ 7:00 at the next regular Council meeting. To view the proposed zoning ordinance click on the link below and then click on Watkinsville Zoning Ordinance. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at City Hall @ 706-769-5161. The document is too large to e-mail but, you can download the document from http://www.negrdc.org/departments//planning/bookstore.asp . Thank you. Julie Sanders City Clerk wkvcityhall@charter.net

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 This is a reminder that the BOC will probably vote on the water reservoir at tomorrow nights meeting. It is the first item on the agenda. I know many of you have called, written and emailed the Board on this issue. Many also attended the 2 meetings at which the issue was discussed. Please do it one more time. The Commissioners should be looking at a full house when they vote. I have sent a great deal of information on the issue and the alternatives so I won't recount those now. I am including the text of a letter that was printed in the Banner Herald on the 26th written by Jerry Studdard that summarizes the issues quite nicely. Please turn out one more time. Charles Baugh The Athens Banner-Herald http://onlineathens.com/stories/022607/letters_20070226002.shtml . February 26, 2007 LETTERS . Jerry Studdard: Major questions linger on Oconee water issue ....

Republican online activist William "Bill" Greene of the extremist RightMarch.com and numerous other odd right wing political websites became the latest loose nut to throw his hat in the ring for the 10th District Congressional race this morning in Commerce. I am sure his online supporters will amount to maybe a couple of dozens votes in the June 19th primary. This Greene has participated lots of unsuccessful and unpublicized boycotts of Miller Beer and Bank of America among others, and evidently been on C-SPAN a couple of times thanks to his website bookmark. His radio interview was long on flag-waving and grandstanding and short on specifics as to how to address problems like PeachCare in Georgia. The biggest looser for this latest entry may be former NFL and Clarke Central football player Willie Green, who shares a similar name to this Braselton/Commerce man. May many more right wing zealots toss their hat into the ring, the more the better. I think we could hit double figu...

As expected the water issue is on the agenda for the Board's 2/27 meeting. There are several issues around this decision that have not been adequately worked and resolved. Less costly alternatives, inflated population estimates, and lack of an intergovernmental agreement are most important. Once again call, email or have a direct conversation with as many Board members as you can before the 27th. Plan to be there for the meeting. The vote is number one on the agenda. The Board needs to be looking at a standing room only crowd when they vote. The agenda follows this message. Charles Baugh AGENDA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF OCONEE COUNTY, GEORGIA Tuesday, February 27, 2007 Commission Meeting Chambers Oconee County Courthouse 7:00 p.m. 1. Consider future water sources for Oconee County. 2. Consider approval of Comprehensive Plan Community Assessment. (Wayne Provost) 3. Consider approval of Community Partici...

Just wanted to show some of the photos from a trip I made a year back. Admittedly a few at the end having nothing to do with this trip to the Gold Dome and General Assembly.

She is an Augusta businesswoman running for the 10th district special election congressional seat . I salute and admire anyone who can pony up the candidate qualifying fees for this race. Lord knows I have tried to use the backdoor excuse to get on the planning commission and the Board of Education here a couple of times. Poteet's lack of familiarity with voters in Athens and Watkinsville illustrates how unknown a Dr. Paul Broun, Jr. or Doc Eldrige or Tom Chasteen or Willie Green are in Augusta and surrounding counties. This special election will be a case study in micro-campaigning in two relatively divergent media markets that have almost nothing to do with Atlanta. Perhaps the person who gets on infomercials the quickest will get a leg up on this race. Again I think Blake does a great job of pointing out the obvious anger Hudgens has honed in Athens with the redistricting debacle last year. Current web profile for all the candidates is almost non-existent save for some bookmark...

Special Election for Georgia’s 10th District to Occur in June E-Mail By Rachel Kapochunas Published: February 22, 2007 The special election to replace the late Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District will take place June 19, according to a writ of election issued Thursday morning by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. Press Release The winner in this strongly Republican-leaning district — either in the June 19 vote if one candidate wins outright with a majority, or in a July runoff between the top two vote-getters if no one wins a majority — will succeed the popular Norwood, who died of cancer Feb. 13 just more than a month after he was sworn in to the seventh term he easily won last November. According to the governor’s office, June 19 is the next possible special election date as set forth in Georgia law that also would allow for county, municipal and/or sales tax issue elections to be held on the same day. State officials had previously expressed their des...

I was hoping Dr. Paul Broun, Jr. had inherited at least a little bit of his Democratic father's views on some topics, but I was wrong, at least if I was to believe every bit of negative venom spewed by the local doctor on an interview on local radio today. Dr, Broun has obviously been listening to and adhering to the talking points belched forth by Bill O'Reilly, Neal Boortz and Rush Limbaugh. It seems many of the Republican candidates will try to out do each other on various matters of intolerance, xenophobia and hatred toward anyone who is not a red blooded American. There is this general perception of the 10th Congressional District in Georgia as being the most closed minded, reactionary area on the map. I think there is a whole lot more open minded individuals than the candidates and some pundits might give us credit for between Athens and Augusta.

Once again proving corrupt Republicans will do just about anything to keep their diminishing electoral slots secure, Governor Sonny Perdue will wait until June 19th to hold a special election to replace the late congressman Dr. Charlie Norwood in Georgia's 10th district. I guess his wriggle room evolves from issuing a writ of election some 30 days after the day, not the actual election.

Even Before Election Day is Set, the Ballot Takes Shape In Georgia 10 By Rachel Kapochunas | 5:51 PM; Feb. 20, 2007 | Email This Article Republican state Sen. Jim Whitehead announced Monday that he is a candidate for the not-yet-scheduled special election in Georgia’s 10th District, ensuring that there will be competition between politically experienced candidates for the seat left vacant by the death of veteran Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood. There are signs that Whitehead could emerge as the early front-runner in the 10th, a conservative-leaning Republican stronghold in northeastern Georgia. Republican state Rep. Barry A. Fleming, who was considered a potential candidate for the pending special election, introduced Whitehead and offered his public endorsement at the press conference, essentially taking himself out of the running. The men both hail from Columbia County, north of Augusta, and would likely split home-base support if they both participated in the House race. Joel ...