Oconee County, GA Politics

I love Watkinsville and Oconee County;  the fact that local folks and folks far away like to keep up on how we got where we are at and how we are getting there. History is alive, and we need to chronicle your story. Come to this event and let us know your past.

Toby Bradberry envisions a town that celebrates its citizen’s contributions on a personal level and through the connectivity of the Internet. There’s no mountaintop from which to shout, but there is a picturesque river that could be photographed and promoted on social media, he said. As sole qualifier for a special mayoral election, Bradberry has won the election by default. The North High Shoals native will be sworn in during the April town council meeting.~ by Michael Prochaska North High Shoals has new mayor : North High Shoals has 53 followers on Facebook but more than 650 people res...

She practices in Watkinsville, too Lakeview junior Samantha Simonton seeks Olympic spot in shooting

Britt Beaver spends his day helping kids make the right choices. As the lead counselor at Anita White Carson Middle School in Greene County, Beaver prepares students for collegiate studies and life in the workforce. Beaver said his former students should not be surprised to see his name on the ballot May 24. Beaver is running for the Board of Education chairman’s seat against incumben...

Suburban counties again head the rankings of Georgia’s healthiest counties, with Oconee County placing second overall. For the fourth straight year, Forsyth County is the healthiest in Georgia, according to the 2016 County Health Rankings, released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Forsyth was followed by Oconee, Fayette, Harris and Gwinnett. Rounding out the Top 10 were Cherokee, Cobb, Columbia, Paulding and Coweta. Forsyth and six others are in suburban Atlanta. Oconee is near Athens, Columbia near Augusta, and Harris is just north of Columbus, and has high per-capita income. At the bottom of the Georgia list is Quitman County. Seven of the bottom 10 counties, like Quitman, lie in the southwest corner of the state. Clarke County placed 52 out of the state’s 159 counties, ranking 22nd in length of life but 101st in quality of life and 142nd in physical environment. Jackson County was 33rd...

AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE March 16, 2016 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK MINUTES 1. February 17, 2016 APPEARANCES 1. Jason McGahee – business license – Clarke Veneers and Plywood – 1450 Greensboro Hwy. 2. Randy Tallent – business license – US Lawns/Athens – 1401 Greensboro Hwy. 3. Trixie Ware – business license – FitMix, LLC Personal Training & Fitness – 10 S Barnett Shoals Road 4. Jeff Hutchins – business license – J.B.’s Smokin’ Pig, LLC – 64 N Main Street 5. Kenton Jenkins – business license – Kenton’s – 1121 Industrial Drive 6. David Branch, Jr. – business license – Branch Environmental, Inc. – 72 ½ N Main Street 7. Luke Bishop (Fifteen Properties) – Demolition Permit – existing house @ 420 Jerry Smith Dr. 8. Luke Bishop – variance request – 1010 Hillside Drive (to allow 7 lots off private drive) 9. Luke Bishop – preliminary plat consideration – 1010 Hillside Drive ADMINISTRATION 1. Reconciliation Reports – February 29, 2016 Genera...

State Senator is also executive with billion dollar a year state vendor

Two pieces of sculpture went up on Main Street in downtown Watkinsville over the weekend, continuing the city’s commitment to being the “Artland of Georgia.” Cindy Farley, the director at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, said the sculptures are part of the 2016 Pop-Up Sculpture Exhibit, which is partially funded by a Georgia Council for the Arts grant. The exhibit will see fie sculptures erected in downtown Watkinsville. “What we thought was that for years we have had all these artists working in their studios all around Oconee County,” Farley explained. “That’s why Watkinsville is the Artland of Georgia. Our thinking was that we should bring this art out into the community.” Farley, who serves on the city’s Arts Advisory Council, said that group initiated the campaign. A total of five sculptures will go up around town. Saturday afternoon, Joni Younkins-Herzog was putting up her sculpture Scopa in front of the AT&T building on Main Street. The piece is ma...

On March 5, Oconee County Cpl. Mark Smith met with a 70-year-old Bishop man, who reported that on March 3 he received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as being with legal aid in Illinois. The caller explained the man’s grandson was in jail on a DUI charge. The grandson is stationed in Germany but was in Illinois for the funeral of a friend and was in a wreck. The grandson then got briefly on the line and though it didn’t sound like his grandson, the caller explained his voice change by saying he broke his nose in the wreck. The grandson had bail set at $3,500, but could get out if his grandfather would send $1,162 by Moneygram. Bishop man loses over $1,000 in phone scam

From her Facebook: Well, it's official. I qualified today to run for the Georgia House of Representatives, District 119, against incumbent Chuck Williams. I'm running as an Independent. I look forward to discussing the issues and concerns of voters in Oconee and Athens-Clarke Counties. I'm pictured with Erin in the Georgia Secretary of State's Office who helped me register. I hope you will vote for me in the November 8, 2016 General Election. Thank you.

Man charged with murdering Chad Ruark has court appearance in Oconee County

As the noon deadline for qualifying clicked closer Friday, Pat Daugherty, a retired educator living in the Oconee County town of Bishop, signed up to run as a Republican for the District 46 seat in the Georgia Senate held by Cowsert, which encompasses all of Oconee County, western Athens-Clarke County and most of Walton County outside the Social Circle area. In addition to being a retired educator, Daugherty is president of Conservative Republican Women of Northeast Georgia, formed a year ago “to promote good government and conservative candidates,” according to its website. Ginn is facing a Republican challenge in Senate District 47, which covers Madison and Barrow counties and parts of Jackson and Walton counties, from Tyler Hollifield, a military veteran and student at the University of North Georgia. Hollifield is making his first foray into politics. The other three members of the Athens delegation to the state legislature, Reps. Regina Quick, R-Athens, Chuc...

Subject: Why the President is going to Austin today: President Obama is traveling to South by Southwest today -- the first sitting President to do so. In Austin, he's going to make the case for people "from all walks of life, working inside or outside of government, to help us make this democracy even stronger."   President Obama is traveling to South by Southwest today -- the first sitting President to do so. In Austin, he's going to make the case for people "from all walks of life, working inside or outside of government, to help us make this democracy even stronger." Coming from the tech industry, I was aware of the ways President Obama, his campaigns, and the White House have used technology to help people embrace the "imperative of citiz...

The Oconee County Magistrate Court was quite the happening place this Friday morning: you had Fox 5 videotaping from Judge Eric Norris's third floor courtroom for the initial hearing of accused Chad Ruark murder suspect (and brother-in-law) Daniel Anglin to a packed house of attendees, along with another domestic violence case. My heart goes out to all involved in that case. Next it was time for the probable cause hearing for Douglas Lanier Orr, a 70 year old Vietnam Veteran and accused animal abuser after four or five dead cats and a couple of chickens were found in his trash.  The trash company called Animal Control, and Oconee County Animal Control Officer Hensley responded to ostensibly find one cat to have yet to have expired, complete with an eyeball out in the best Bill the Cat description I have heard in a while, and kudos to Judge Norris for not making the members of audience look at all the photos of the deceased animals. The subsequent University of Georgia Veterinar...

Oconee County Observations: Sarah Bell Files To Run For Post 4 On Oconee Count... : Two BOE Incumbents Also File Sarah Bell today filed to run for the Post 4 position on the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, joining in...

Handling growth will be the greatest challenge ahead for Oconee County, said Marcus Wiedower, 40, an announced candidate for the vacancy created on the Board of Commissioners by John Daniell’s resignation. Wiedower, a graduate of the University of Georgia and a self-employed building contractor, said that growth will “clearly” have the greatest impact on the county. He cited the “trickle-down” effects on the schools and infrastructure, including sewer and roads. Wiedower is a native of Atlanta who came to UGA and never left. He has lived in Oconee County for a decade, but he has worked here for longer. His company, Blueprint Builders, specializes in custom work, which includes historic renovation. He was the finishing builder of the barn that recently burned down at the Clydesdale farm near Bishop. Local builder seeks Daniell’s vacant seat : Handling growth will be the greatest challenge ahead for Oconee County, said Marcus Wiedower, 40, an announced candidate for the vacancy created ...

A lifetime in Oconee County has given Ben Bridges an empathy for his fellow residents. Bridges told The Oconee Enterprise this week that he will run for the commission seat being vacated by John Daniell. “I will listen to the people,” said Bridges. “I am not a politician. I can feel the pain. I know what it is to be a citizen of the county and watch things get done when you knew it was not the right thing to do.” Ben Bridges will seek office : A lifetime in Oconee County has given Ben Bridges an empathy for his fellow residents.

Dr. Paul Broun, the physician who represented at least part of Athens-Clarke County in Congress for seven years, announced his intention to seek Georgia’s 9th District congressional seat Wednesday on a Gainesville radio station, but had not formally qualified to run as of Wednesday evening. According to a report from WDUN-AM in Gainesville, Broun said on the station’s “Morning Talk” show that he “had conservatives all over this district for almost a year now encouraging me to run because they know that I have represented half of the counties of this district.” Broun went on to tell the radio station, according to its report, that he was challenging incumbent Doug Collins, a fellow Republican, because Collins is an establishment Republican who “has the values of John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Washington, D.C.” Broun announces congressional run, but has yet to qualify

Chad Ruark was shot twice in the back of the head before he was buried in a shallow grave in a forest, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said Wednesday. Ruark’s body was found late Tuesday about 150 yards from where he was last seen on Feb. 23 off Carson Graves Road. Later that same day, sheriff’s investigator’s charged Ruark’s brother-in-law, Daniel Lamar Anglin, 36 with murder. When he was booked into the Oconee County Jail, Anglin provided an address in Watkinsville, but Berry said Anglin was living in Oglethorpe County at the time of the slaying. Anglin remains in jail without bond. The suspect was arrested at a relative’s home Tuesday night in Watkinsville, according to Berry, who said deputies received a tip on Anglin’s whereabouts. The suspect was arrested without incident, when deputies arrived at the house, Berry said. ~Wayne Ford - Athens Banner-Herald Oconee County deputies charge brother-in-law with murder of Chad Ruark