Oconee County Citizens Show High Level Of Interest In Proposed Truck Bypass Linking SR 15 And U.S. 441 South Of Watkinsville

***Impact On Bishop A Concern***

Sixty people participated in two public informational meetings this week held by the federally-mandated local metropolitan planning organization MACORTS as it considers a request to launch a scoping study of a truck bypass link between SR 15 and U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville.

The first of these meeting was on Monday evening and was virtual, with 12 people participating.

On Thursday evening, 48 people turned out at the community center in Oconee Veterans Park to ask questions of MACORTS transportation planners.

COVID-19 Cases Drop In Oconee And Clarke Counties, Northeast Health District; Confirmed Deaths From Disease Drop In District

***Hospital Cases Continue To Decline***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 1,367 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, down from 1,904 a week earlier, and 27 new confirmed deaths from the disease, down from 35 last week.

Five of the confirmed deaths were in Clarke County.

The average number of added cases in the District was 195.3 per day, compared with 272.0 per day in the week ending Sept. 24.

Oconee County Democrats Note Difficulty Of Running In 10th Congressional District; New Map Suggests It May Get Harder

***Labor Commissioner Candidate Criticizes Incumbent***

Oconee County Democrats were polite and supportive of Kimberly Clark Reuter as she spelled out her positions on the issues she plans to focus on in her campaign for the Democratic nomination in the open U.S. 10th Congressional District.

They also were clearly dubious of the likely success of her venture.

Reuter, one of two declared candidates for the Democratic nomination, no doubt would face an uphill battle in the race to replace Jody Hice, who has stepped down to run as former President Donald Trump's endorsed candidate for Secretary of State.

Oconee County Schools Has Bulk Of Relief Funds Still Unallocated; Four New Buses To Be Purchased With Federal Monies

***Sales Tax Revenues Allocated For New Classrooms***

Oconee County Schools had available at the end of August nearly $2.7 million in federal relief funds allocated to the schools, Liz Harlow, chief financial officer for the system told School Board members on Monday.

Harlow, making her first report after having been appointed chief financial officer at the Board’s Work Session a week earlier, also reported that collections for the system’s Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) were up 25 percent from July of last year.

Oconee County Schools Reports Continuing Decline In SAT Scores Of Its Student

***Schools Drop To Eighth In State***

For the third year in a row, Oconee County Schools has seen a drop in the average score of its students who have taken the SAT college entrance exam.

The report of the drop in SAT scores followed a report by Oconee County Schools last month of a drop in state Milestone test scores.

COVID-19 Confirmed Deaths Increase In Northeast Health District While Cases Drop Slightly

***Oconee County Reports Three Deaths From Disease***

The 10-county Northeast Health District added 1,904 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, down from 2,115 a week earlier, and 35 new confirmed deaths from the disease, up from 27 last week.

Three of the confirmed deaths were in Oconee County, and two were in Clarke County. Each of the 10 counties in the District added at least one death.

The average number of added cases in the District was 272.0 per day, compared with 302.1 per day in the week ending Sept. 17.

Oconee County Citizens Given Multiple Opportunities To Comment On Study Of Truck Bypass For Watkinsville

***Changes Required In Planning Documents

The first of two informational meetings related to the launch of a study of a truck bypass south of Watkinsville will take place virtually on Monday evening, followed by an in-person meeting at Oconee Veterans Park on Thursday.

The virtual meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday via Webex.

The in-person meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday in the Community Center at Oconee Veterans Park, 3500 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.