Thursday, December 30, 2021

Oconee Elections Board Moves Forward With Consolidation Of Precincts; Citizens Have Chance To Comment

***Site For Early Voting In May Not Yet Determined***

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration voted unanimously in a called meeting last week to move forward with consolidation of eight precincts, reducing the total number of precincts in the county from 12 to eight.

Notices regarding the proposed changes will appear in the legal advertisements section of the Jan. 6 and 13 editions of The Oconee Enterprise, and citizens will have until Jan. 31 to comment on the proposed changes.

At a meeting on Jan. 31, the Board is expected to take action on the consolidation, which will become final once the Board acts.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

COVID-19 Cases Soar In Oconee, Clarke Counties, Northeast Health District

***Confirmed Deaths From Disease Double***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 1,538 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, nearly three times the number added in the week ending on Dec. 17.

The Northeast Health District added 13 deaths, more than double the number added on Friday a week ago.

The average number of added cases per day in the week ending on Friday was 219.7, compared with 77.3 on Dec. 17.

Oconee County added 118 new cases in the week ending on Friday, compared 33 in the week ending on Dec. 17.

Clarke County added 440 new cases in the week ending on Friday, compared with 106 in the week ending last Friday.

Rolling Averages

The seven-day rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Friday per 100,000 population was 40.0, and it was 50.3 in Clarke County.

Click To Enlarge

Last week those rolling averages had been 9.9 in Oconee County and 12.1 in Clarke County.

The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on Friday was 16.7, compared with 4.1 on Friday of last week.

In Clarke County, the unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases on Friday was 64.7, compared with 15.3 on Friday of last week.

The confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the Northeast Health District in the last week were in Barrow (2), Elbert (1), Jackson (4), Madison (1), Morgan (3), and Walton (2) counties.

The Northeast Health District now has recorded 1,289 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Northeast Health District had 121 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, up one from the week before. The added "probable" death was in Walton County.

These data are from the Friday Daily Status Report of the Department of Public Health.

The Department of Public Health no longer releases Daily Status Reports on weekends.

Oconee County Schools is not in session and released no report on COVID-19 cases on Friday.

University, Hospital Reports

The University of Georgia on Wednesday, in its COVID-19 Health and Exposure Updates, reported 49 positive COVID-19 tests, up from 22 in the report for the previous week.

The report covered the period of Dec. 13 to Dec. 19.

The University reported that 433 walk-in tests were performed on individuals by the University Health Center, up from 375 a week earlier, and 13 of the tests last week came back positive.

The positivity rate for the walk-in tests was 3.0 percent, compared with 0.8 percent a week earlier.

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals was 51, the same number as a week earlier.

The number of ICU beds in use was 57, down from 65 last week, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 36, up from 27 a week earlier.

The listed number of available ICU beds at area hospitals is 70.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Sarah Virginia Bell Honored A Year After Death With Ceremony At Harris Shoals Park In Watkinville

***Sisters Say Tree Planting A Fitting Remembrance***

Twenty people turned out at Watkinsville's Harris Shoals Park on Sunday to participate in the unveiling of a plaque to honor Sarah Virginia Bell, who passed away just less than a year ago after a fight with pancreatic cancer.

The plaque is at the base of a Flame Red Maple tree, which, even in the cold and overcast day late in the season, showed the color for which it is named.

Friday, December 17, 2021

COVID-19 Cases In Northeast Health District, Oconee, Clarke Counties Remain Largely Unchanged From Week Earlier

***Hospital Cases From Disease Increasing***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 541 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, and six new confirmed deaths from the disease.

One of those added deaths was of a 55-year-old male in Clarke County without a chronic condition.

The average number of added cases in the week ending on Friday was 77.3, or nearly the same as the 77.0 of a week earlier.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

University Of Georgia First Amendment Clinic Asks Oconee County Schools To Alter Its Social Media Use Policy

***Waiting On Response From School Attorney***

The staff of the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law has asked Oconee County Schools to remove or modify a restriction contained in its Social Media Terms of Use put into place before the beginning of the current school year.

Those Terms of Use prohibit persons from commenting on the social media sites maintained by Oconee County Schools if the comment, in the view of the school staff, "relates specifically to an employee, parent or student grievance or complaint."

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Oconee County Board Of Elections To Vote On Consolidation of County Election Precincts

***Eight Precincts Would Be Reduced To Four***

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration is scheduled to hold a called meeting at 5 p.m. on Dec. 22 to vote on a proposal to reduce the number of precincts in the county from 12 to eight.

The proposal is to combine two precincts that already use the same voting locations though they remain technically separate.

Friday, December 10, 2021

Northeast Health District Reports Increase In COVID-19 Cases; Number Of Confirmed Deaths From Disease Down

***Booster Vaccinations Highest In Oconee At 17.4 Percent ***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 539 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, and six new confirmed deaths from the disease.

One of those added deaths was of a 79-year-old female in Clarke County without a chronic condition.

The average number of added cases in the week ending on Friday was 77.0, compared with the average in the two weeks ending on Dec. 3 of 59.7.

Oconee County Commissioners Expand County Medical Area With Two New Rezones

***Jail Contracts, Committee Appointments Approved***

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved zoning on Tuesday for a new large medical building and an assistant living community in the fast-developing medical area along Virgil Langford Road between SR 316 and SR 10 Loop.

University Cancer and Blood Center plans to open a 25,000 square-foot medical office on the just less than five acres of undeveloped land on the northeast corner of the Oconee Connector and SR 316.

Valeo Americas plans to develop an age-in-place retirement community with a memory care and assisted living complex, an independent living complex, and senior living cottages on just less than 31 acres fronting on SR 316 but stretching back to the Jennings Mill residential area.

Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Oconee County School Board Approves Bid For Construction Of Third Middle School

***Low Bid Approved From Three Submitted***

The Oconee County Board of Education decided on Monday to award a $34.4 million contract to Bowen and Watson Construction Company of Toccoa for construction of a third middle school next door to Dove Creek Elementary School in the far northwest of the county.

The estimated total cost of the project is $39.6 million, including furnishing and technology.

Internal documents Oconee County School prepared in advance of the Education Local Option Sales Tax referendum approved by voters in March had estimated the total cost at $36.6 million.

Monday, December 06, 2021

Remembrance Vigil For 1921 Lynching In Oconee County Draws Crowd; Crosses For Three Victims Planted And Honored

***Launched From Harris Shoals Park In Watkinsville***

Just more than 70 people turned out at Harris Shoals Park in Watkinsville on Saturday to remember the nearby lynching deaths of three African-American men on that date 100 years earlier.

The group then walked across Experiment Station Road to the approximate site of the lynching and drove three wooden crosses into the ground.

The crosses bore the hand-lettered names of Aron Birdsong, 36, Wes Hale, 55, and George Lowe, 45, Oconee County farmers killed on Dec. 4, 1921.

Sunday, December 05, 2021

Oconee County Schools Has Issued Request For Proposals For New Middle School

***Update On Submitted Bids Likely On Monday***

Oconee County Schools has issued a request for proposals for construction of new, third middle school, with responses due on Nov. 11.

Fred Ricketson, director of facilities for Oconee County Schools, told members of the Board of Education at their work session last month that 11 potential bidders had participated a pre-bid conference and he expected five actual submissions.

Friday, December 03, 2021

Average Number Of Added COVID-19 Cases Per Day Levels Off In Northeast Health District

***Oconee County Reports Death From Disease Of 41-Year-Old***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 836 new cases of COVID-19 in the two-week period ending on Friday, and 14 new confirmed deaths from the disease.

One of those added deaths was of a 41-year-old male in Oconee County without a chronic condition.

The Department of Public Health did not issue a Daily Status Report last Friday, the day after the holiday, making the two-week comparison necessary.

The average number of added cases in the two weeks since Nov. 19 was 59.7 per day on Friday, compared with 59.3 in the week ending on Nov. 19.

Thursday, December 02, 2021

Reps. Gaines, Wiedower Say Oconee County Not Much Affected By Redistricting; Gov. Kemp Defends Decisions On 2020 Election

***Audience Response To Kemp Mixed***

The redistricting maps passed by the Georgia General Assembly do not have much impact on Oconee County, Representatives Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower told Oconee County Republicans on Monday.

The only change is the switch of the East Oconee Precinct from Gaines’ district to Wiedower’s district, they said, using those words, indicating that they plan to run for re-election next year. Both are Republicans.