Sunday, July 31, 2022

Oconee School Board Ready To Adopt Policies Required By Recent Action Of General Assembly

***Divisive Concepts, Parents Bill Of Rights Included***

The Oconee County Board of Education on July 18 approved for discussion three policies mandated by legislation approved by the General Assembly this year.

The policies specify Unstructured Break Time, a Divisive Concepts Complaint Resolution Process, and a Material Harmful to Minors Complaint Resolution Process.

Friday, July 29, 2022

Speakers At Oconee Board Of Education Tax Hearings Overwhelmingly Express Unhappiness With Proposed Tax Increase

***Final Hearing On Monday***

The three members of the Oconee County Board of Education who attended the public hearing on Monday evening on the proposed 9.8 percent increase in property taxes for Oconee County Schools got an earful.

The increase is “incomprehensible,” “unconscionable,” “ridiculous, absolutely absurd,” “a tax grab,” “nuts,” in the words of the 12 speakers at the 38-minute-long session.

Monday, July 25, 2022

Oconee Elections Board Accepts Petitions, Putting Two Independents On November School Board Ballot

***Votes Set Up Contests With Republican Nominees***

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, over the objection of its Republican Party representative, voted on Monday to accept the petitions of Melissa Eagling and Ryan Repetske to run as Independents for the Board of Education in November.

Director of Elections and Registration Rebecca Anglin said Eagling and Repetske had met the requirement that each get 1,425 signatures of voters on petitions asking that they be placed on the ballot.

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Oconee Elections Board Meeting On Monday To Decide If Independents Get On School Board Ballot

***Will Receive Report On Verifications***

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration will meet at 11 a.m. on Monday to review a report on the verification of signatures by voters asking to put Ryan Repetske and Melissa Eagling on the ballot as Independent in November.

The Board will then vote to accept or reject the petitions from Repetske and Eagling, seeking to run for the Board of Education, according to Oconee County Director of Elections and Registration Rebecca Anglin. Anglin chairs the Board.

Anglin said on Friday that she and her staff completed signature verifications on both of the submitted petitions about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Number Of Cases Of COVID-19 Remains Unchanged At Area Hospitals; Case Count In NE Health District Up Just Slightly

***Clarke Records Another Confirmed Death From Disease ***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 33 COVID-19 patients, the same number as on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 70, down from 72 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 26, down from 29 a week ago.

Friday, July 22, 2022

Hearings Set On 9.8 Percent Increase In Property Taxes For Oconee County Schools

***Millage Rate Drop Does Not Offset Assessment Inflation***

The Oconee County Board of Education will hold the first two of three public hearings on Monday on what amounts to a 9.8 percent increase in property taxes for operation of Oconee County Schools in the coming year.

The Board in June adopted a budget for the Fiscal Year that began on July 1 based on lowering the millage rate for schools from 16.5 to 16.25.

Because of the inflationary growth in the assessment of property in the county, however, the Board would have had to have dropped the rate to 14.8 to have avoided a real increase in property taxes for county residents.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Oconee Planning Commission Recommends Approval Of Rezone For New Shopping Center At Hog Mountain Road And U.S. 78

***Residents of Oconee Crossing Asked For Denial***

Residents of Oconee Crossing subdivision told the Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday evening that they are not opposed to a proposed shopping center at the edge of their neighborhood.

They said they have expected development of the acreage between their neighborhood and Stripling’s General Store at the corner of Hog Mountain Road and U.S. 78.

The Oconee Crossing residents knew the approved rezone plans for their neighborhood called for commercial development on that land, a representative of the neighborhood association told the Planning Commission.

What they object to about the current plans, the representative said, is the change from a B-1 General Business District Zoning to a B-2 Highway Business District Zoning for a portion of the property.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Oconee County Commissioners To Cut Millage Rate To Offset Growth In Property Tax Assessments Due To Market Forces

***Decision Offsets Tax Increase***

Oconee County commissioners are scheduled to adopt on Aug. 2 new millage rates for the unincorporated and incorporated parts of the county that are 0.7 points lower than the current rates.

When the Board of Commissioners adopted its Fiscal Year 2023 Budget on June 7, Board Chair John Daniell said he expected to be able to propose a millage rate reduction for 2022 to offset inflationary market growth in property value.

Friday, July 15, 2022

Area Hospitals Report Slight Drop In COVID Cases; Count In NE Health District Increases

***Clarke County Reports Confirmed Death From Disease***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 33 COVID-19 patients, down from 35 on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 72, up by one from 71 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 29, down from 30 a week ago.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Two Independents Submit Petitions To Be Placed On November Ballot For Oconee County School Board Posts

***Verification Of Signatures Expected To Take Week Or More***

Independent candidates Ryan Repetske and Melissa Eagling submitted petitions signed by registered voters in Oconee County on Tuesday asking to have their names appear on the ballot in November for the Board of Education.

If the signatures for each of the candidates are verified to be of properly registered voters, Repetske’s name will appear as an Independent in November with Republican Amy Parrish for Post 2 and Eagling will appear as an Independent with Republican Ryan Hammock for Post 3.

The Democrats did not put up any candidates for the two races.

Saturday, July 09, 2022

Area Hospitals Report Highest Number Of COVID-19 Cases Since March; Case Count In NE Health District Nearly Unchanged

***No New Confirmed Deaths From Disease Reported***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 35 COVID-19 patients, up from 24 on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 71, up from 67 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 30, up from 29 a week ago.

The number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals has not been this high on a Friday since March 11, when it was 36.

Friday, July 08, 2022

Construction Underway On Two Commercial Projects On Hog Mountain Road West Of Butler’s Crossing

***Site Plans Approved***

Two construction projects, one visible to passing motorists and the other not, will have impact on the traffic and character of Hog Mountain Road between Butler’s Crossing and the Civic Center and Oconee County High School if they are built as planned.

The visible project, fronting on Hog Mountain Road, is to be built in phases, according to its preliminary site plan, and to consist of six buildings, including the relocated historic white house on the site.

Saturday, July 02, 2022

Area Hospitals Report Decrease In Number of COVID-19 Cases; Case Counts In Health District Up Slightly For Eighth Week In Row

***Five Confirmed Deaths From Disease Reported***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 24 COVID-19 patients, down from 29 on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 67, up from 61 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 29, up from 27 a week ago.

Last week, the number of COVID-19 patients had increased from 14 to 29, but the number of ICU beds had dropped by two from the week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use had increased by four.

Friday, July 01, 2022

Oconee County Delivered Large Number Of Votes For Collins In June 21 Republican Congressional District Runoff

***Oconee Democrats Played Lesser Role In Party’s Runoff

Oconee County played an outsized role in Mike Collins’ sweeping victory in last week’s runoff for the Republican nomination for the 10th Congressional District.

In the primary on May 24, only 15.0 percent of Oconee County voters using the Republican ballot selected Collins as their preferred candidate in the race for the open U.S. District 10 Congressional seat.

A slightly higher percentage of the county’s voters–17.6 percent–picked Vernon Jones.