Update for Parents

There is a man around Athens/Oconee acting odd and staring at young children on various playgrounds in town; he drives a distinctive red and white truck. I have received an e-mail about him from a friend and Johnathan details him here; I also heard from Chief O'Dillon that the Oconee Sheriff's Department spotted him outside a day care center on Daniell's Bridge Road earlier this week and asked him to leave. The Watkinsville Police are on the lookout for this individual as well, particularly around ESP, Harris Shoals Park, and Rocket Field.

While he hasn't broken any laws, this sort of behavior isn't exactly normal. So if you visit local playgrounds, parks, etc. keep your eyes open and report him to the local authorities, who are monitoring him closely. Description of the individual is below:

He is a white male with no hair (shaven) and has a neatly trimmed reddish auburn
mustache and beard. He is driving a smaller red pickup truck with black and white checkered trim on his tailgate and has tons of bumper stickers in the cab window (it almost looks like a toy truck - like a lego truck). The tag is Virginia XVH 8157.

Hugging Trees

Sorry for the absence of blogging lately. Thought I would come back with a bang -- after being struck by all the "green" during a recent drive down Peachtree Street in Atlanta, I came home inspired.

As it turns out, there was a local connection between the trees I noticed on Peachtree and Oconee County, and I was lucky enough to get an op-ed on the topic in the AJC today. Even though the state's flagship paper doesn't deliver in these parts anymore, the story highlights one of Oconee County's top exports -- trees!

Look here for the story and click here and here for more on sustainable trees and an Oconee County company that is looking to educate the world about healthy trees.

Tree planting is an area where Oconee can learn from Atlanta. Sometimes we take our rural ambiance for granted, but in my opinion, Oconee and its municipalities could get much more aggressive about planting and requiring long-lived, sustainable trees throughout the community.

Watkinsville Forum on Beer and Wine Sales This Thursday

If you are interested in commenting on a proposed ordinance that will allow beer and wine to be sold in Watkinsville's retail establishments, there is a public comment session with council members Joe Walter and Samantha Purcell on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

As has been detailed elsewhere (here, here, and in a story only available to subscribers of the Oconee Enteprise), the city is considering loosening its beer and wine ordinance to allow limited package sales in convenience stores and perhaps future retail establishments. If you can't make the 5 p.m. meeting, visit Watkinsville's website and e-mail your opinion to the Mayor and council. Councilwoman Samantha Purcell and Councilman Joe Walter are members of the subcommittee working on this ordinance; other councilmembers will not be there due to open meetings laws.

History Made in Oconee County

Oconee County is now a part of golf history.

At today's second round of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic, UGA alum Brendon Todd aced the 17th hole at Jennings Mill -- for the second day in a row. As far as we know, this is a first in professional golf. WNEG's Mark Edmonston captured today's hole-in-one on video.

The video is embedded below and national coverage is coming in droves (blogs, AP, ESPN, Bloomberg, PGA Tour). Keep an eye out for the video of local track Jennings Mill on local and national sports broadcasts and be sure to check out the tournament this weekend!



Caveat: My company, Jackson Spalding, proudly helps promote the ARFC!

Transportation Stimulus Funds Bypass Clarke, Oconee

Out of $512 million allotted for Georgia roads, bridges and transit dollars, Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties got exactly zero Federal stimulus dollars in phase one allocations. Details here and here on who got the bacon, and who didn't. Gwinnett County alone scored 13% of the total allocation and more than twice as much funding as our entire congressional district (approximately $70 million to $30 million). Granted, Gwinnett has enormous transportation issues, many of its own making. But the short story for our area: no cash, no transit, no roads, no jobs, nothing changes. Hopefully we will do better in round 2 of the sweepstakes.

Getting Ready for Augusta National

This is off topic, but awesome. Anyone else ready for Georgia's annual moment in the golf spotlight? The Masters is just a week or two away.....

Earth Hour

Earth Hour is this Saturday night. What is Earth Hour, you ask? It is a global effort to get everyone to turn off their lights for one hour, from 8:30-9:30 this Saturday night. Pretty neat idea.

Check it out, and maybe we can "turn out the lights" in Watkinsville for just a little while this weekend. I will try to remember and do my part. Check out the video below and consider doing yours. Maybe next year we can orchestrate a more organized effort to make this happen in our local cities.