Walton County Chair Reported Plans To Sell Water From Hard Labor Creek Reservoir For Data Center, Without Oconee County Involvement

***Plan Fell Through When Center Moved To Different Site***

Walton County Board of Commissioners Chair David Thompson reported to the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board last week that his efforts to obtain $7.5 million from a company wanting water from the reservoir for an additional data center in Social Circle have been unsuccessful.

Thompson said the approach from the data center operator came after Archer Western, contractor for the $141.5 million treatment plant under construction on the reservoir, said it was an ideal time to reverse an earlier decision to scale back the plant from 12 to 16 million gallons per day.

First Day Counts For Oconee County Schools Show Decline In Enrollments Of 130 Students For Current School Year

***Drops In Enrollments For Three Straight Years***

Oconee County Schools had 130 fewer students as the school year began on Aug. 3 than it had at the beginning of last school year, according to First Day Counts released by system Human Resources Officer Justin Cofer on Thursday.

Last year, based on those same counts, enrollment had dropped by 259 students, and the year before the drop had been by 26 students.

Oconee County’s State Rep. Gisler Covers Wide Range Of Topics In Town Hall Meeting, Ends With Response To Attack Mailers From Texas

***State Senate Candidate Smith Joins Gisler***

Georgia House District 121 Rep. Eric Gisler began his ninth Town Hall Meeting at the Bishop Community Center last week saying it would be a little different from the others he had held.

Gisler said “he decided to blur the lines a little bit” between receiving feedback as a representative and receiving feedback as a candidate running for reelection.

Oconee County Commissioners Tell Developers Of Celebration Village That Assisted Living Facility Must Precede Residential Duplexes

***Commission Affirms Decision Of Planning Staff***

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night turned down a request by Celebration Village Athens that would have allowed it to build and occupy self-standing housing units before it completed the assisted living and memory care components of the Assisted Living Community.

Active Senior Concepts, developer of the 61.7-acre complex on the Oconee Connector across from Home Depot, was proposing to contract for assisted living services to operate out of the social club prior to completion of the assisted living and memory care building.

Oconee County Observations Turns 20 With This, The 3,110th Post

***Largest Number Of Posts During COVID Year 2020***

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my first post to Oconee County Observations.

I posted only 15 stories in those final four months of 2006, and that number grew only to 26 in all of 2007.

Republican Candidate For U.S. House District 10 Tells Oconee County Republicans That Democratic Candidates Are Radical, Far Left

***Urges Turnout To Prevent Democratic Gains***

Houston Gaines, the only candidate with opposition in November speaking at the Oconee County Republican Party meeting on Monday (8/24/2026), devoted most of his opening comments to attacks on Democrats running for office in New Jersey and Michigan, across the state, and for Georgia House Districts 120 and 121.

“These folks are radical,” he said of Democrats. “This is not the difference of just a couple of issues on the ballot. The difference between the two parties couldn't be couldn't be further.”

Canvassing, Phonebanking Key To Democratic Victory In State Legislative Races, Field Organizer Tells Oconee County Democrats

***Local Office Coordinating State Campaigns***

Vikram Bharadwaj, Democratic Party field organizer for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, in a meeting with Oconee County Democrats earlier this month, emphasized the importance of making personal contact with voters leading up to the Nov. 3 election.

Democrats Eric Gisler, Susanna Karatassos, and Ray Smith, seeking to represent Oconee County in the Georgia General Assembly, have fewer resources to spend on advertising than their Republican counterparts.