Oconee County, GA Politics

Took this while biking down to the First Friday with my son Lowell Friday in an attempt to get this sidewalk to curb smoothed out with a ramp instead of a dangerous chasm where tires get caught. The rest of Watkinsville has been improving greatly with the Streetscape program, and I just want this added to the list.

Everytime MSNBC's Keith Olbermann picks out our moronic Congressman as the Worst Person in the World, I keep thinking that voters in the 10th District will suddenly wake up out their collective doldrums and decide we could do a whole lot better and elect someone with a brain, but then the cruel hand of fate slaps me upside the head and reminds me that ignorance is sometimes bliss here. Congressman Broun has slipped to a new low even for him here, and I shake my head in sadness and pity. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

These people came from Walton County and found First Friday by happenstance after a previously pleasurable dinning experience at Mirko's Pasta. They came in to Sweet ReTreats while a waitress brought in a nice dinner to the owner's daughter from neighboring Mirko's while we dined on a pair of hot dogs and a scoop.

Begin forwarded message: From: Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation < info@ocaf.com > Date: May 1, 2009 11:16:23 AM EDT To: danjmatt@bellsouth.net Subject: SOUTHWORKS Arts Festival Is This Weekend Reply-To: info@ocaf.com   Annual SOUTHWORKS Arts Festival is this Saturday & Sunday! * Artist Market * Juried Art Exhibition * * Live Music * * Kids' Activities * Food & Beverages * Admission and Parking are FREE!     Featuring artwork by more than 60 artists, musical performances in jazz, rhythm and blues, folk, country, rock, soul, gospel, steel drums, salsa, oldies. Theatrical performances by the Rose of Athens Theatre Company.   For more information on the event, a list of artists and a schedule of performances   < Click Here >     Festival Hours: Saturday & Sunday  May 2-3, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM   L...

Although I am very tardy in reporting about it, the First Friday celebration is commencing right about now in lovely downtown Watkinsville. This is an attempt to put a spotlight on the businesses in downtown Watkinsville's business district with various family friendly activities to entice shoppers and keep the kiddies happy. If I get out of work and back to Oconee County in time, I will take a few photos of the goings on. It is going to be a ridiculously busy weekend with the Relay for Life (thanks Chuck and good luck to your wife at 3:00 am at Oconee County High School track) and tons of soccer and other activities and festivals. Enjoy and see you there if you go. Or see you at OCAF tomorrow.

Former Oconee Enterprise editor Billy Vaughn passed away at age 48 in Watkinsville yesterday. I always enjoying chatting with him at the various events where our journalistic paths would cross. His father and my father were buddies at the Red and Black newspaper in the late 1940s and early 1950s in Athens. It seems Billy and I were almost never employed at the same time and the same place at the same newspaper, but we both shared a zest for life and knew where a lot of the bodies were buried not just in Oconee County. I will miss him greatly and wish the best for his life. I hope the best for his family. May he rest in peace. Blake Giles wrote a great obit here .

Once again Lee Becker is on top of the ball about what is going on with the Oconee County Board of Commissioners From: Lee Becker < lbbecker@mindspring.com > Date: Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 10:45 PM Subject: Efficiency, Process and Civics Lessons To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis would like the discussion of the proper relationship between the chairman and the other members of the board to focus on efficiency and effectiveness. Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton have made it clear that they are more concerned about process than efficiency and effectiveness. Each had stated strongly that Davis achieves his efficiency and effectiveness by withholding information from them, making it hard for them to make independent assessments of the issues before the county. The dispute should play out in public on May 6 and possibly on May 7 when Davis and the four commissioners are to meet to discuss the...

begin:vcard fn:Vicky Moody n:Moody;Vicky email;internet:vickymoody@charter.net tel;work:706-583-2859 tel;home:706-769-7966 tel;cell:706-338-9185 version:2.1 end:vcard Go see some good live music this weekend in Watkinsville and shop some funky art while you are at it. --- On Fri, 5/1/09, Vicky Moody <vickymoody@charter.net> wrote: From: Vicky Moody <vickymoody@charter.net> Subject: Athens Area Musicians - free performances To: Date: Friday, May 1, 2009, 9:58 AM Come join us at SouthWorks 2009, OCAF's 14th Annual Arts Festival. Treat yourself to a sampling of the finest musicians in the Athens Area. Parking is available and admission is free. Please share this with your friends. OUTSIDE STAGE                                                ...

Mailbox - Opinions

The horrific scene at the Town and Gown Theater this weekend found its way to Oconee County today as Sheriff's Deputies investigated a remote area of woods in the Northwest part of the county, according to a great article written by newly non-sports journalist and old friend of mine Chip Towers in today's non-issue. I have mixed emotions about the whole capital punishment movement, and do not feel all that swell about the government taking someone's life in my name. The death now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in Butts County for a murder occurring in Oconee County does not make me happy or upset in particular, but if Zinkhan has not already taken his own life, I would fully agree with the government doing it in this particular instance. I know we have a great Sheriff's Department and I hope the Deputies find Zinkhan soon.

There was a road race in my neighborhood Friday. St. James United Methodist Church held a raise which started and ended at the neighboring Baptist church, which I thought gracious of them. I sat up a water station table and so did members of the church. This was a sacred running holiday for me when I was growing up as it was part of the Drake Relays, so I was happy to play my part this time around. We would get out of school to go to the Drake Stadium for the races when the team like the University of Georgia and Coach Lewis Gainey would bring Herschel Walker and Mel Lattany (all three in the Drake Relays Hall of Fame) to Des Moines. So I had to help this time around out my back door. Watkinsville Council member Brian Brodrick, former Berry College scholarship runner, continued his road race efforts with a great job pushing his kid and staying near the front. I had fun as he faked shoving his son and my direction and he came back to get water from my neighbor Jimmy Marbut, who had a b...

I am not one to plug a whole bunch of church activities, but this is for the National Day of Prayer and features Coach Mark Richt of UGA, so why not? Oconee County churches will sponsor breakfast at 6:30 a.m. May 7 at the Oconee County Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road in Watkinsville, in observance of the National Day of Prayer. Mark Richt will be the keynote speaker. Open to the public. (706) 769-7660 or www.briarwoodbaptist.net.

I hurriedly drove to the Watkinsville beer and wine hearing at 5:55 pm and the doors were locked tight on the Community Center. When I got back in my truck, I saw the Oconee Enterprise newspaper reporter Blake Giles coming out the place where the Watkinsville City Council holds its meetings. I guess we will have to wait for yet another one of his breathtaking reports about how the evils of alcohol will destroy the moral fabric of Watkinsville as we know it so we can get some actualities of residents who could make it back home before 6:00 pm. So then I drove over to the MACORTS meeting at Oconee Veterans Park and the people there could not have been more friendly. I think there were only four people who recorded their viewpoints. They asked where we live, where we worked, where we would commute to on public transportaton, and offered up some other suggestions. I arrived in the park just as Chairman G. Melvin Davis of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners was departing the park. I a...

--- On Thu, 4/23/09, Pat Priest <ppriest@charter.net> wrote: From: Pat Priest <ppriest@charter.net> Subject: Lecture on Obama's Cabinet at Oconee Library Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009, 1:41 PM Hello! I'm pasting in a press release below from the Oconee Democrats about a slide show on President Obama's Cabinet that we've scheduled for May at the Oconee Library. Please see the details below. Thank you for your assistance! Sincerely, Pat Patricia J. Priest, Ph.D. Member, Oconee Democrats ----------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dr. Larry Nackerud to speak about President Obama's Cabinet 4 PM Sunday, May 17th Oconee County Library Contact: Pat Priest 353-8310 Dr. Larry Nackerud, professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia, will present a slide show about the members of President Obama's Cabinet at 4 PM on Sunday, May 17th, at the Oconee County library in Watkinsville. The free, pu...

Which is a good excuse to see the lovely new Veterans Park if nothing else from 4 to 7 pm at 3500 Hog Mountain Road near Butler's Crossing outside of Watkinsville proper. Go tell them we need a train and bus and sidewalks and bikepaths in Oconee County. Or don't.

I wrote yesterday implying the special called Watkinsville City Council meeting to air grievances or support of the proposed beer and wine package sale ordinance was that night when in fact it is at 5:00 pm Thursday at the Watkinsville Community Center. This is to determine essentially if there are going to be beer and wine sales in convenience stores inside the city limits. It may lead to other businesses relocating in Watkinsville, but I would make damn sure those business owners are at the meeting this evening. I need to go by the store on Baxter and check it out. I am sure it would go well with concerts at Ashford Manor Bed and Breakfast. Speaking of which, there is a cool event there Sunday for those planning a wedding or any other special event.

  I don't think so

  David Poythress at Oconee Veterans Park

A step in the right direction: I would go ahead and make it a requirement by law. Thanks Lee for posting this. From: Lee Becker < lbbecker@mindspring.com > Date: Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 11:12 PM Subject: Mitigation Resolution Makes BOC Agenda To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight agreed to give preliminary consideration at its regular meeting on May 5 to a resolution that would state the county's preference that future mitigation of damage to streams and wetlands in the county be carried out in the county. A draft resolution for the county to review was presented to the Board by Katie Sheehan, the staff attorney at the River Basin Center in the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. The U.S. Corps of Engineers recently granted a permit for destruction of streams and wetlands on the site of the Epps Bridge Centre on Epps Bridge Parkway and allowed mitigation to be in Greene County. For details...

A new Barberitos restaurant will be opening in the old Shishkabobby's/Gautreau's location in Town Center this weekend. Board of Education chair David Weeks and company have apparently completed the transformation and we will see beans and guacamole coming out of that restaurant soon. Not so sure about getting lots of traffic in and out of there, but good luck in this tight economy opening anything and making it stick. All businesses are going the extra mile with promotions or sometimes giving up the ghost after losing or at least not making money recently. I know of one longtime Watkinsville business that is probably going to stop being open in October, and they are not selling the old Allen's sign. Just wanted to let you know that two times in a row, going to the Publix in Watkinsville, I saw former Board of Education candidate Ashley Hood shopping for her family, and this time the entire Hood entourage was sighted piling into their SUV and teenage cheerleading champion d...