The first of two forums for candidates in the Oconee County May 24 Republican primary will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 14 at the Community Center in Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road.
A second forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on April 25 at the North Oconee High School Auditorium, also on Hog Mountain Road.
Oconee Farmers Market launches its 13th season on Saturday in front of the Courthouse in downtown Watkinsville.
Market Manager Cindy Pritchard is expecting between 20 and 25 vendors offering eggs, beef, honey, Spring greens, cakes, pies, breads, other baked goods, pasta, peanuts, roasted coffee, soaps and other farm items.
Concerns about Oconee County’s sewer upgrade plans dominated the citizen comment section of the Board of Commissioners meeting last night.
Tony Greco, 1071 Winthrop Place, in the Hickory Hill subdivision outside Watkinsville, was the first to speak, and he informed the commissioners about the formation of Friends of Calls Creek and the meeting it held on Monday night attended by more than 70 citizens.
More than 70 people turned out last night to hear Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie explain his plans to run a sewer line down Calls Creek, and all of those who spoke up told Haynie in no uncertain terms that they didn’t like the idea.
The meeting, called by a newly created group called Friends of Calls Creek, ran for about two hours and included a description by engineer Jimmy Parker of what easements for and construction of the pipeline would mean for residents along the creek.
Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie has a busy week ahead of him.
On Monday Haynie is to appear before a group calling itself Friends of Calls Creek to provide an update on plans to put a sewer line down the creek, and through the yards of a number of residents of subdivisions along the creek.
The Georgia Senate voted a few hours before the session ended last night to exempt the Georgia Department of Transportation from the requirements of the Georgia Environmental Policy Act.
The Senate vote was on an amended version of the original Senate Bill 346, and Sen. Bill Cowsert, who represents Oconee County, voted with the majority. Cowsert also is the Senate majority leader.
A year ago the budget conference committee of the Georgia House and Senate stripped the funding for the Bogart Library renovation and expansion from the final state budget, even though the project had been highly ranked by the state Board of Regents and approved by both the House and the Senate.
This year the conference committee inserted $1.8 million for the Bogart Library in the budget even though neither the House nor the Senate had included the monies in the budgets they had passed.
