Oconee County, GA Politics

For Immediate Release: February 22, 2008              Contact: Martin Matheny                  678-278-2108 (o)                  706-461-0439 (m)                  martin@georgiademocrat.org     Official Democratic delegate numbers for Georgia   ATLANTA – The Democratic Party of Georgia released the final, official delegate breakdown for Georgia today.   The numbers are:     Senator Barack Obama Senator Hillary Clinton Statewide At-large Delegates 13 6 Statewide Pledged Party Leaders/Elected Officials 7 4 Congressional District 1 2 1 Congressional District 2* 3 2 Congressional District 3 ...

It was a wet Thursday afternoon at Athens restaurant Harry Bissett's New Orleans Cafe when former U.S. Senator Wyche Fowler took time out of his busy day to join a small group of very dedicated Democrats from Oconee County for a lunch and conversation. Fowler has been teaching a class at the UGA Law School and has deep ties to the community. Dr. Neil Priest recalled Fowler's encyclopedic knowledge of the hymnal. I was asked by the former ambassador of Saudi Arabia to recount his announcement before running for Senate involving the such notorious bands as the Bar-B-Que Killers and Eat America at the 40 Watt Club many moons ago. Fowler peppered the spicy meal with lots of anecdotes ranging from deserts the size of France in Saudi Arabia to carrying Castro's machine gun in Cuba while the recently resigned strong man drove him around his island. During the meal former US Congressman Don Johnson came up and talked briefly to Senator Fowler about the forthcoming conference of f...

Lord knows I do not read the Catoosa County News newspaper on a regular basis, and could not have told you if it even was owned my Morris or just subscribes to syndication of their editorial writers. Their Atlanta writer Walter Jones takes on the powerful local legislator and chair of the House Appropriations Committee in Watkinsville Republiucan Bob Smith in his campaign to derail the Board of Regents with countless controversial Constitutional adjustments he thinks can be hammered through this remaining half session of the legislature. Good luck Representative Smith, I do not share your confidence in trying to do to the Board of Regents what Speaker of House Glen Richardson tried to do to local control of property taxes and countless "un" Fair Tax proponents have tried to do the IRS. Professing one's ignorance of the local media does not do one any favors in the eyes of the public or even your voting constituency.

Local soil scientists want to stay put in Watkinsville working at the USDA's J. Phil Campbell Sr. Soil Research Center instead of having it fall to Federal Budget constraints for FY 2009.

Lee Becker hits a homer with Attorney General Thurbert Baker while County Attorney Daniel Haygood continues to ignore requests to open up the sewer probe. Dear Friends, The Georgia Attorney General's office, as part of its mediation program to handle citizen complaints, has asked Oconee County to respond to my complaint about the County’s denial of access to the Selection Committee reviewing bids for the upgrade of the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant. In the meantime, I received a letter from County Attorney Daniel Haygood again denying me again access to a second meeting of the Selection Committee and to documents produced by that Committee. Haygood has an interesting argument. He said the Committee reviewing the bids is not the Selection Committee called for in the Request for Proposal. Basically, if it walks like a Selection Committee and quacks like a Selection Committee, I’m inclined to believe it is a Selection Committee. For details, go to my blog at ht...

Bill Yarbrough is the current vice chair and is past chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee. He is also a referee in high school and college football, as well as a realtor and flower shop owner.  He is on the Oconee County Planning Commission and Board of Elections. In this instance, he will be talking about the new voting districts and other political and electoral details. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. To: oconee@yahoogroups.com; katemail@bellsouth.net From: ppriest@charter.net Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:52:12 -0500 Subject: [oconee] Bill Yarbrough to speak on election-related issues The Oconee County Democratic Committee is pleased that Bill Yarbrough, a member of the Board of Elections in Oconee County, will be our Fourth Sunday speaker this month. Bill recently updated the committee about the new polling districts, and we immediately thought that other people would find his behind-the-scenes comments informative...

The oh-so familiar J. Phil Campbell Sr. Agriculture Station on State Route 53/Experiment Station Road may cease to function after the new 2009 budget of President George Bush is adopted with the new fiscal year. This erosion experiment center will be a huge loss for the federal, state, county and municipal governments. Perhaps Gainesville State College can acquire the property for the ever-expanding needs of their growing and still-way-over-populated Oconee County campus across the street. While they should connect Bishop Farms Parkways North and South, because of wetland protection they will not without huge amounts of tax dollars. The proposed exit for the backside of the campus off 441 is way down the road of things the DOT is going to do in this county. We could sure use some sidewalks/bikepaths along Hog Mountain Road and all of Experiment Station Road.

Apparently the KKK is there protesting day laborers or some such something

Will this last? When will another entirely inappropriate development come along to make South Oconee County less rural and more congested>

I urge everyone interested in making sure Democratic nomination is delivered to front runner Senator Barack Obama and not given to Hillary Clinton in superdelegate shenanigans to follow the steps and fill out the forms necessary to run as a regular delegate. Attend the training and get your Democratic friends to attend the congressional district conventions in April. The following was lifted off the website of the Democratic Party of Georgia. The training for our 10th district is in Augusta March 1. Delegate Selection On Saturday, April 19th, 2008, all 13 Democratic Party of Georgia Congressional Districts will assemble to elect Delegates to send to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25 - 28, 2008. Delegate Candidate Training Workshops will be held throughout the state every Saturday between January 26, 2008 and February 23, 2008. Prior to attending a Training Workshop, download and review the 2008 Georgia Delegate Guide and Application (click to downlo...

State Representative Bob Smith may be exacting revenge on Oconee County resident and Board of Regents member Donald Leeburn's proclivity for controversy and fights, but that is the only reason I can fathom for trying to reign in the governing body of Georgia's schools of higher education. The Banner-Herald institutional editorial makes a strong case for Smith's grandstanding and largely impractical reaction to the fact he was last to learn about the Medical College of Georgia opening a satellite campus at the Navy School property in Normaltown on Prince Avenue. Admittedly the Board of Regents is a largely unknown and anonymous organization with a lot of power to set policy, and needs some more democratization in their governance, but Smith's bill opens up all Georgia public college students to more exploitation and less bang for their educational buck.

Welcome to the new person in command at OCHS. One thing she will do for sure is teach those kids to pronounce HOW-Stun COunty

This was sent to me by an attorney who knows what she is talking about: I strongly and wholeheartedly oppose the siting of the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility in Athens. Please come out to the meeting on Wednesday, February 13th at 7pm at the Presbyterian Student Center on Lumpkin Street. Kathy Prescott and Grady Thrasher of FAQ will be there to hand out some information my law firm has gathered to help you understand why having this compound in our town is a very, very bad idea. Hillary Clinton won't have it on Plum Island because that's too close to where people live. And Plum Island is a mile and a half off Long Island, with no pedestrian connections. Don't let the federal government play around with foreign incurable diseases in the heart of our Classic City. No amount of money is worth that risk. (And, you know, the way our university and local officials are acting you'd actually think there was a lot of money coming in from this proposed bio-terror lab...

AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE February 13, 2008 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK MINUTES APPEARANCES 1. Scott & Tammy Miller – Beer & Wine Pouring License – 20B Greensboro Highway- Big Easy Café 2. Sean Hogan (for Doug & Julie Crowe) – building permit – 160 sq. ft. sunroom addition to existing residence at 143 New High Shoals Road. ADMINISTRATION 1. November & December Reconciliation Reports MAYOR’S REPORT CITIZEN’S COMMENTS OLD BUSINESS 1. Consider Subdivision Regulations 2. Consider Acceptance of Deed of Gift (Southwire Company) NEW BUSINESS 1. First reading of Amendment to Personnel Manual 2. First reading of Text Changes to Zoning Ordinance 3. Arbor Day Proclamation (Councilwoman Purcell) ADJOURN

Obviously I am not the most objective person to make this assessment, but I concur with Blake Aued's article here , but if the Oconee Democratic Committee is more concerned with bike rides and district member mapping matters, than say, ACTUAL CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE , then they have no hope to ever regain even a toehold on local political matters. The Republicans such as Jim Ivey and Melvin Davis are making things easier for Oconee County Democrats, but if no real candidates come forward soon, then the local Democrats can have all the book clubs and meetings without any real or tangible success. They need to have someone more active, serious and better organized than the last-minute and extremely poorly run campaign of their current chairperson against the current state legislator last time around.

Lee Becker bounces Board of Commissioners' comments continually creating controversy and contentious context for cascading governmental failure on many different levels. Keep it up Lee and read his blog as well..... Dear Friends, The controversy over the retreat that the Oconee County Board of Commissioners held in Madison on December 7 without giving 24-hour notice and the decision of the County to close the bidding process for the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant upgrade has brought out fissures on the Board that were in evidence at the January 29, 2008, meeting. The story in the Athens Banner-Herald  about the January 29 meeting gave a sense of those differences. A close examination of the comments, however, gives a fuller picture of how differently members of the Board view the controversy. Commissioners Chuck Horton and Margaret Hall made pretty strong statements criticizing the way the issue had been handled. Commissioner Don Norris was unapologetic, a...

Got to tour the new Taco Stand with big glass doors in Butler's Crossing and it looks like a smaller version of any of the four Taco Stands in Athens or Atlanta. Square feet wise, it most closely resembles the Milledge Avenue Taco Stand but with the glass doors it should be more spacious and less crowded. The Oconee County Taco Stand will not open by Valentine''s Day but should be open sometime in March probably once they get the tile laid and painting. The principal of the Oconee Middle School across the street reportedly wants to open a BBQ restaurant right next door and an unidentified restaurant owner wants to bail out of the rapidly deteriorating and nearby Jamestown Shopping Center and move over there. Found out a pair of restaurants closed in that nearby Colony Square Shopping Center, a Zero's Subs and a Meals in a Minute place closed in the last month. There is a newer restaurant there called Rachel's Southern Meals that has great sausage biscuits and goo...

The Moore's Ford Memorial Committee's Tri-County talent show this Saturday night showcases at the Oconee County Civic Center is always an entertaining good time. Please consider attending this event. Thanks to Cathi Watkins for drawing our attention to this event. I cannot vouch for the non-standard email address of Mary Babington but I would suggest calling Kirkland or email Hattie if you are interesting in attending the event in Savannah at the end of March. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. We'd love to see some you at either or both of our upcoming events -Cathi Watkins The first Moore's Ford Memorial Committee Civil Rights Bus Tour will be traveling to the RALPH MARK GILBERT CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM in Savannah, Georgia on Friday evening; March 28, 2008. It will leave the Athens area around 6:00 pm. Scheduled return trip back to Athens area is approximately 10:00 pm Saturday night March 29, 2008. Please see ...

Want to know what the best political party is doing in Oconee County, then read the redacted minutes of the Oconee County Democratic Committee. I actually attended this one briefly before other matters dragged me away. Herb West is very busy with his tax work at this time of year. He needs a replacement so if you are a bit of a parliamentarian and enjoy progressive politics in a decidedly underdog role, then write back or comment or attend the next meeting. We also need candidates to run for every office in Oconee County, from Board of Education to Board of Commissioners.  PLEASE RUN FOR OFFICE HERE ON THE DEMOCRATIC SLATE!   Vice-Chair Jonathan Veit called the meeting to order at 7:50 pm.   A quorum was declared present.   Minutes :  The minutes from the January 3, 2007 meeting were approved unanimously after a motion by Pat Priest and second by Pat Adams.   Treasurer’s Report :  Treasurer Violet Dawe shared the thank you note from...

If you are interested in history and Historic Preservation, the Oconee County Historic Society would like your participation. Nothing quite says romance like a Valentine's Day meeting in Farmington. Here is their latest blast with the new officers. Congrats and keep Oconee historic. Here is a summary of what happened at our last meeting and a reminder that we will meet again this Thursday, Feb 14^th 7pm at the old Carson's store in Farmington. Last month we elected new officers. They are: President Richard Pendergrass Vice President Alex Murawski Secretary/Treasurer Margaret Sommer We discussed doing some more oral history and hope to have a report on the results at this meeting. We are also working on a grant for a project at Central School house and discussing some speakers for future meetings. Come help us plan. Peggy