Oconee County, GA Politics

Evidently not content to rest on their laurels for saving Principal John Osborne's job, now these citizen activists have the Oconee County Board of Education in their cross hairs. North Oconee's parents not done | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Be patient with parking, access and egress at Oconee Veterans Park and the neighboring Herman C. Michael park tonight and most week nights for the next month and a half or so. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. From: tlathrup@oconee.ga.us To: danmatt@hotmail.com Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:22:22 -0700 Subject: 2009 Fall Activities Greetings, Receipt of this e-mail indicates you are a parent of one of the approximately 1250 kids involved in one of the seven OCPRD fall 2009 youth programs. We sincerely hope that not only your childrens, but your whole family's experience this season will be rewarding and fun. With such a large number of children and families involved in fall activities it can make for some busy practice and game days often filling our parks to capacity. Add in over 400 kids from Oconee County Little League and the Oconee Futbol League soccer group who also utilize our fields and it is easy to see how gym and field space become quickly limited. Today mar...

'this is supposed to be a flyer for the closing of Wanda's Hallmark store on Epps Bridge Parkway.' Shared via AddThis

This will serve as a good primer for those unfamiliar or needing an introduction to the seedy world of the Oconee County, Georgia Blogosphere with three comments at the very least - I highly recommend it and even added a couple of links. From: Lee Becker ; lbbecker@mindspring.com Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 9:09 AM Subject: Feeling Rejected To: lbbecker@mindspring.com Dear Friends, Recently I had a letter I submitted to The Oconee Enterprise rejected because, I was told, it referenced my blog. The paper said I could pay to have my letter run as an advertisement. I didn't. And a few weeks earlier I had tried to get Banner-Herald columnist Johnathan McGinty to run a criticism of his column on his blog. He didn't. It got me thinking about the new world of journalism, of which my blog is a part. We still are largely in a world of one-way communication. Dialog is difficult. For details, go to http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ And let me know what y...

Ryan Lewis on MSNBC

I am a little conflicted about the circus coming to town (or county). I believe they are certainly entitled to make their living, but I just wish they would take better care of their animal acts. There have been a bazillion free tickets floating around so I can only imagine how many other things they are going to hawk on the grounds of the Heritage Park near Farmington this week. This article is in today's Red and Black newspaper on campus at UGA. Travelling circus hosts rare acts and unusual professions - Variety

I salute and admire all our Veterans and applaud the efforts of the committee, but this project has been cursed from the onset due to politics lingering from the Jim Ivey embezzlement scandals, poor planning, not taking existing community plans in to even consideration yet alone effect, ignoring significant opposition to the design, not taking into account that black granite gets hot with the Georgia sun on it, not using area grey granite instead and the list goes on and on. I am in no way being disrespectful to our Veterans, but it does not take a soothsayer to see the karma coming full circle and into effect. Moisture mars Oconee veterans monument | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Well written letter to the Editor which should be the Final Chapter on the North Oconee ~ Oconee County High School debate, but it won't be. That much is for certain. Victoria E. Cruz: Focus on academics in Oconee | Letters | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Public transportation in Oconee County, Georgia, any form of it, is about three decades overdue and well behind most of the Western world. How about we work together to try and maintain some level of assistance for the elderly and those in need. Pushing for transit in Oconee | News | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Bulldogs to honor troops on helmets | ajc.com Posted using ShareThis

Perspectives: GA Pottery Invitational Largest pottery sale of it's kind in Georgia - Over 5,000 pieces on display and for sale!   Open every day now thru Wednesday,September 16, 10 AM to 5 PM Don't Miss This Final Weekend! Studio Tours Sunday, September 13th The 7th annual Perspectives Exhibit and Sale is underway and is designed to showcase the largest variety of functional handmade pottery currently being produced by professional art potters throughout the state of Georgia. Over 4,500 individual pieces of pottery provided by 50 of Georgia's finest potters are available for sale at this event. Visitors to the OCAF Art Center may see two outstanding exhibitions of pottery. The largest exhibit, with over 140 pieces of pottery, will feature the works of each of the 50 participating potters and a select number of pieces from private collections. The second Members Gallery Exhibit is titled "Pottery Line-Up" will display art ...

Time for a little fantasy work here about our roads in Oconee County. I do not suffer the Georgia Department of Transportation gladly, but I drive enough roads around these parts that I can share a few ideas no matter how far fetched they may seem. Leave Simonton Bridge/Whitehall Road substantively alone. Build some bike paths off the road, maybe add a turn lane here or there, sidewalks would be welcome as well. Add extra lanes on 441 from the Watkinsville By-Pass all the way to the Athens Perimeter. Here too bike lanes would actually make sense and a couple of sidewalks would do wonder to the health and beauty of Oconee County. Extra acceleration lanes off the Perimeter on to Highway 316 (at least past the Oconee Connector past the perimeter). Hook up the new fly over the By-Pass behind Lowe's and across the Perimeter to the Jennings Mill Superhighway. Then it will only take four minutes instead of five for Jennings Mill residents to take the back way to Sam's Club. Mak...

Oconee County Republican leader Jay Hanley, who may indeed be the youngest party county party chair in the state of Georgia, declined to resign his dream gig as Chair of the local GOP to run for the non-partisan Post 3 slot Joe Walter is giving up on the City Council to become Mayor. "I  will not be a candidate (for the Watkinsville City Council at this time)," wrote Hanley in an email earlier this evening. "While I don't rule out a future run for public office in the City of Watkinsville or Oconee County, my political focus right now will be the Chairmanship of the Oconee County Republican Party." While I have not attended either of the recent meetings, I must give massive props to Jay for having the political acumen to schedule a series of strong speakers with free food and advertising in the local media to keep attention focused on the majority party in Oconee at the Watkinsville Town Hall exactly opposite of the Oconee County Democratic Committee meetings....

OK, it is the Ed show and not Countdown with Keith Olbermann or the Rachel Maddow show, but I knew some national media would hop on this clip. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

Dr. Neil Priest, who lives in Oconee County, offers a prescription for our health care needs. Forum: Local doctor offers health reform ideas | Opinion | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis

Go buy eggs, dairy and veggies at the Oconee Farmers Market this weekend and consider attending the Saturday Stroll with Mary Mellein, chair of the Keep Oconee County Beautiful committee at 9:00 am leaving from the Courthouse. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:32:47 -0700 From: oconeefm@yahoo.com Subject: Saturday's Market To: oconeefm@yahoo.com Hello, I hope to see you all at the market this week! We will have: many types of pound cake , banana bread , assorted pies, fresh bread, homemade dog biscuits, farm fresh eggs, milk from Johnston Dairy, peaches, scuppernongs, an assortment of jellies and jams, handmade soaps and lotions, squash, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans , field peas, eggplant, onions, canteloupe, watermelon, fresh cut flowers, ornamental plants , herbs, grass fed beef, fresh lamb, woolens, gourds, woodcrafts, salsa from Salsa Ya'll and many more wonderful things, so come on out and support our local gro...

Sounds like a great excuse to get out early Saturday morning Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:32:47 -0700 From: oconeefm@yahoo.com Subject: Saturday's Market To: oconeefm@yahoo.com Hello, I hope to see you all at the market this week! We will have: many types of pound cake , banana bread , assorted pies, fresh bread, homemade dog biscuits, farm fresh eggs, milk from Johnston Dairy, peaches, scuppernongs, an assortment of jellies and jams, handmade soaps and lotions, squash, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans , field peas, eggplant, onions, canteloupe, watermelon, fresh cut flowers, ornamental plants , herbs, grass fed beef, fresh lamb, woolens, gourds, woodcrafts, salsa from Salsa Ya'll and many more wonderful things, so come on out and support our local growers/vendors! See you there this Saturday!!   Karl Don't forget to tell a friend or co-worker about the market!!   ...

I know this event has nothing to do with Oconee County, Georgia but I just had to post this. 32nd Harkin Steak Fry Shared via AddThis

The pissing match that is the facilities/PR battle between Oconee County Board of Education Superintendent John Jackson and North Oconee High School principal John Osborne is now forever embargoed to the scrap heap of history for people to weigh the merits and make the same old arguments over and over again. Once again I would suggest a three and a half mile run between the two area schools on the first day that Osborne returns from his non-self-imposed leave of absence. Editorial: Statements not enough in Oconee principal issue | Opinion | OnlineAthens.com Shared via AddThis