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.