Oconee County, GA Politics

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Thank you very much to the nearly 20 people who braved cold temperatures early Saturday morning to clean trash in Harris Shoals Park in Watkinsville. Parker Allen was the youngest and Ed Tant or Joe Walter might have been the oldest members of our community to come pick up garbage around the six acre municipal park. We had a great time getting wet in the creek, removing pipe shards and old tires. Many bags were removed by members of the Watkinsville City Council, including Mayor Jim Luken, members Joe Walter, Samantha Purcell and Brian Brodrick. Storm water expert Joe McGregor gave a brief overview of what was the history of storm water retention in the area. Thanks again to everyone involved in the removal of items ranging from PVC pipe to old tubes to cans and bottles and plastic wrappers. There still is a lot of work to be done to control erosion on the sides of the creek there, and you can count on the Oconee County Democratic Committee for more help in the future. Carley the OCHS

Please use this opportunity to rethink the design and location of the Veterans Memorial. How many black granite monuments are in Georgia? None come immediately to my mind. The present design will be hotter than an in-use frying pan in the summer months. At the very least please consider the use of Georgia/Elberton gray granite. Also there is a much better design already on the table done by local artist Jerry Chappelle which is much better in scope and execution than the cold, unfriendly and overbearing design presently offered. Chappelle has also suggested another more appropriate location for the memorial in Heritage Park, and I concur. I appreciate the work done by Ken Beall and others on the behalf of the Oconee Veterans, but I know we can do much better for our community. Ask the members of OCAF for their input instead of forcing a criminally-tainted monolith down our throats. Thank you very much for your consideration, Dan Matthews Response from Melvin: Dan— Thanks for your sugg

Kate McDaniel, who spies on Oconee Democrats with great regularity at our meetings, may be remembered as the Rosemary Woods of Iveygate. The local Republicans continue to bury their heads in the sand and try to pretend this is some kind of trivial matter. Crimes were and maybe even are being committed in your name, people. Please continue to ignore this if for no other reason than it will hasten the death of the dominance of the Oconee County Republican party. Welcome to Another Voice From Oconee County

Welcome to Another Voice From Oconee County

OnlineAthens.com | News | Money taken from Oconee vets account 12/08/05

Here is a link to Wendell Dawson's website and his take on Iveygate: http://avoc.info/info/article.php?article=3231

This is not the least bit political, but well worthy of pause and personal reflection. Wayne Smith, 51, the longtime janitor/maintenance person for both the Truett-McConnell and Gainesville State College campus in Oconee County, collapsed in my bookstore this morning outside Watkinsville. He died en route to St. Mary's Hospital. He had just helped move a large table for the Book Buy Back and did a pirouette after putting the long table down and fell into a clothing display. Whether it was a heart attack, seizure or stroke is uncertain, but he had stopped breathing and had clinched teeth. He suffered a large gash on his forehead when he fell face first. He was well loved on this campus and would always help anyone with anything. Rest in peace, Wayne. He left a wife and several step-kids behind.

Last night at the Oconee County Board of Commissioners meeting, Jim Ivey, self proclaimed Mr. Republican, was recorded offering to refund donations to his hideously-ugly-designed Veterans Memorial at the new Oconee Community Complex on Highway 53 across the street from Herman C. Michael Park. While he stopped just short of admitting any criminal behavior, Ivey stunned the crowd by confessing some monies had been inappropriately spent. Ivey has been appointed to a presitigious Veterans Commission by Governor Sonny Perdue and named to the head of the design committee for the memorial by Oconee County B.O.C. chair G. Melvin Davis. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is reportedly involved and sources indicate Ivey not only embezzled all the funds but checks bounced as well. Miss Vinnie Williams reportedly invested several thousand dollars of Oconee Enterprise earned money in this ridiculous memorial. I think this should seal Ivey's poisoned fate, or at least the fate of the horrible d

Cobb Joins Gwinnett in Protesting Slashes to Education Budget (Atlanta) For the second time in a week, a major school district has publicly rebuked Governor Perdue’s billion dollars in cuts to Georgia’s K-12 schools. Yesterday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution article “Schools’ No. 1 wish: No more state cuts” noted that the state’s second largest school district was taking umbrage with Governor Perdue’s slashing of their budget. The article stated that “Cobb schools have lost $72 million in state dollars in Gov. Sonny Perdue's cost-cutting.” [ Stepp, “Schools' No. 1 wish: No more state cuts,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 12/4/2005 ] Last week, Gwinnett School Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks, who heads the state’s largest school district, asked legislators from his home county to help recoup the $87 million in cuts to the Gwinnett portion of the education funding formula since Governor Perdue took office. [ Diamond, “Wilbanks to legislators: We need that $87 million,” Atlanta

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OnlineAthens.com | News | Human Relations Council sets banquet 12/04/05

OnlineAthens.com | News | Perdue's meetings upset Democrats 12/03/05

Even though certain day laborers may have indeed whistled catcalls or habla'd espanol in a rather crude and unwelcomed manner, I do not think that gives Sheriff Scott Berry the right to arrest people for being brown-skinned. Who is going to do all the yard work in Oconee County, not to mention the work on all the MPDs and subdivisions that all the developers are building and paving all over Oconee County? OnlineAthens.com News 31 seeking day labor arrested in Home Depot lot 12/02/05

OnlineAthens.com | News | Oconee sheriff fields calls after parking lot bust 12/03/05

We were actually booed by a few Neanderthal Republicants in the parade Saturday morning. It was wet and cold, and we had more than three bicyclists if you count one more unicyclist and two people totting their kids in wagons. I had kids tell me I stepped in horse poop. I did not give them a bouncy blue rubber ball. Nor did my son. Nor did they get any candy. OnlineAthens.com News BikeAthens makes trip to Watkinsville 12/04/05