The Oconee County Democratic Party will hold a forum on Thursday night with candidates for three of the five races on the Democratic ballot in the June 21 runoff election.
Jessica Allison Fore and Tabitha Johnson-Green, candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. House District 10, have agreed to participate.
Dee Dawkins-Haigler and Bee Nguyen, candidates for the party’s nomination for Secretary of State, also will join.
The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 18 COVID-19 patients, up from the 11 reported on Friday of last week.
The number of ICU beds in use was 58, down from 66 as a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 24, down from 36 a week earlier.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners passed an updated Truck Traffic Ordinance on Tuesday night that bans through trucks on Mars Hill Road in its entirety, on the Oconee Connector from Daniells Bridge Road to SR 316, and on Astondale Road.
The ordinance lists 56 roads in the county on which through truck traffic is forbidden, up from the 47 on the list when the ordinance was given first reading on May 24.
The two candidates seeking the Republican Party nomination for Post 3 on the Oconee County Board of Education in the June 21 runoff election agree that School Board openings should be filled by voters, not internally by the Board, as is the case at present.
They also think older citizens should get a break on their school taxes and that School Board elections should remain partisan and at-large, rather than by district.
And both said that the School Board should hold Town Hall meetings, which it has refused to do, and that they are in favor of live-streaming Board meetings, which it does not do at present.
Oconee County Public Works Director Jody Woodall’s recommendation that trucks continue to be banned on Astondale Road and on Mars Hill Road between Butler’s Crossing and SR 316 ran into opposition from two members of the Board of Commissioners last month.
Commissioner Amrey Harden said he thinks Mars Hill Road and the section of the Oconee Connector from Daniells Bridge Road to SR 316 should be removed from the list of roads on which through truck traffic is prohibited in a revised Truck Traffic Ordinance.
The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 11 COVID-19 patients, up just one from the 10 reported on Friday of last week.
The number of ICU beds in use was 66, up from 60 as a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 36, up from 19 a week earlier.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration certified the results of the May 24 party primaries and nonpartisan election on May 31, setting the stage for the party runoff elections on June 21.
Rebecca Anglin, director of Elections and Registration for the county, told the Board that the May 24 election had run smoothly, though there were long wait times on election day at all eight of the county’s polling locations.
The wait times ranged from 30 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes, she said.
