It seems unlikely Republican Houston Gaines will run out of money as he seeks to unseat Democrat Deborah Gonzalez in Georgia House District 117 in November.
Gaines, in his second attempt to win a House seat, was sitting on $169,450 in unspent funds as the election entered its crucial stage this summer.
Tony Townley is asking the county to allow him to carve out and rezone 11.1 acres that are part of the Plant Sciences Farm on Snows Mill Road he purchased from the University of Georgia in 2014 so he can turn the property into commercial use.
Townley is proposing to operate what he is calling the Eastville Car Museum to display classic, vintage, and historical automobiles and equipment in buildings already on the property, including the University of Georgia’s Red Barn, which Townley purchased and moved to the site.
Enrollments at Oconee County Schools increased by 246 students over the last year, marking the fourth straight year that enrollments in the county schools grew by more than 3 percentage points.
Brook Whitmire, chief Human Resources officer for the school system, told the Board of Education on Monday that the growth in enrollments means that the county is adding enough students each year to represent about half of K-5 school.
The event honoring the victims of the terrorist attacks 17 years ago was nonpartisan, North Oconee High School Young Americans for Freedom Chapter Advisor Kirk Shook told the roughly 100 people assembled at the school on Sunday.
To emphasize the point, Shook noted that Democrat Deborah Gonzales, representing the 117th House District in the Georgia General Assembly, was among those gathered to place 2,977 small flags on the school’s lawn to commemorate the victims of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Citizens who spoke at the hearing on Thursday regarding the county’s plans to issue $155 million in bonds for Presbyterian Village Athens raised two concerns.
Some said they felt the bonds represented a risk to the county.
Oconee County commissioners Tuesday night delayed until Oct. 2 their decision on a rezone for a proposed shopping center between Lenru Road and Malcom Bridge Road just south of Malcom Bridge Elementary and Malcom Bridge Middle schools.
The commissioners made that decision after receiving only opposition from residents in neighborhoods surrounding the proposed development, hearing from and interacting with the developer, and getting input from county staff.
Oconee County will hold at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Courthouse in Watkinsville what could be the only public hearing on the issuance of $155 million in revenue bonds for Presbyterian Village Athens.
County Attorney Daniel Haygood will serve as the hearing officer at the meeting, which is required by the United States Internal Revenue Service before the county can approve the issuance of the tax-exempt bonds.
