In the Loop
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Bird Owes UGA Over $500,000 for 1,100 Impounded Scooters
Photo Credit: Savannah Cole
It’s been four months since Bird scooters began hatching around downtown Athens and soaring through the University of Georgia campus in August as part of the company’s nationwide “University Pop-Up Tour.”
After a week, university officials began confiscating Birds on campus, and ACCPD and UGAPD later started ticketing riders who did not obey the law. Now, Bird scooters are causing another problem for University of Georgia officials since the company has refused to pick up the impounded scooters or pay fines.
As of Nov. 19, the University of Georgia had confiscated a total of 1,096 Bird scooters since August and stored them in the Carlton Street parking deck. At that time, Bird owed the university $504,360, according to UGA spokesperson Rebecca Beeler.
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Watkinsville Hires ACC Commissioner Sharyn Dickerson as City Administrator
The Watkinsville City Council has hired Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Sharyn Dickerson as its first-ever city administrator, according to the Oconee Enterprise.
“I’m super, super excited about the vision this mayor and council have,” Dickerson told the Enterprise. “I’m so grateful for the meaningful, thoughtful, deliberative process that the mayor and council have gone through to bring someone in. It’s a dream job; it’s my dream job, and I look forward to serving the community.”
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Watch Secretary of State Candidate John Barrow Debate an Empty Podium
Republican Brad Raffensperger was a no-show for an Atlanta Press Club debate with Democrat John Barrow for the runoff for secretary of state.
The debate aired Tuesday on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Raffensperger claimed he had a scheduling conflict, but the press club said it had been trying to negotiate a date and time for almost three weeks.
His absence allowed Barrow—a former congressman and Harvard Law graduate—to run roughshod over an empty podium as he contrasted himself with both Raffensperger and Gov.-elect Brian Kemp, who was widely criticized for voter suppression as secretary of state while overseeing his own election.
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Early Voting for the Dec. 4 Runoff Is Now Open
John Barrow.
Even though Stacey Abrams fell a bit short in her bid for governor, there will still be a runoff Dec. 4.
Athens’ own John Barrow faces Republican Brad Raffensperger for secretary of state, so if you’re not happy with the way the election was conducted under Brian Kemp, you know what to do. Barrow may be a centrist white guy who doesn’t quite give you that tingly feeling Abrams did, but he wants to get rid of Georgia’s antiquated voting machines, and he’s certainly not going to go along with suppressing minority voters on behalf of the GOP. The importance of having a Democrat in this office come 2020 can’t be overstated.
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Oconee County Voters Cast Mostly Party-Line Ballots
Oconee County voting on Nov. 6 showed little variation by election contest, suggesting that most ballots were cast along party lines.
No Republican got more than 74.6 percent of the vote or less than 66.8 percent in Oconee County, and no Democrat got more than 30.7 percent of the vote or less than 25.4 percent, an analysis of the certified results shows.
Voting for the state as a whole showed that same pattern, with almost all contests being split, with about half of the vote going to Republicans and nearly half going to Democrats.
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Protesters Criticize UGA's Handling of Slavery Issue at Baldwin Hall Memorial Dedication
A small group of protesters, including Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Mariah Parker, held signs at Friday's dedication ceremony for a memorial to slaves whose remains were found under Baldwin Hall to remind attendees of UGA's history of slavery.
“We are drawn here today by a deep sense of respect for these individuals and by a strong sense of duty to commemorate the lives they lived,” UGA President Jere Morehead said. “The memorial we are dedicating this morning will provide for an enduring tribute as well as a physical space for meaningful reflection in the future.”
None of the three speakers—Morehead, U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones and Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Michelle Cook—mentioned slaves or slavery.
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Athens-Area Reservoir Named to Georgia's 'Dirty Dozen'
The Georgia Water Coalition has named the planned withdrawal of water from the Apalachee River for an expanded Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir on its 2018 Georgia’s Dirty Dozen list.
The coalition labeled the proposed Apalachee River water intake “an exercise in overbuilding” and called on the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to turn down the current requests for the intake.
The Georgia Water Coalition is an alliance of more than 200 organizations, including the Greater Apalachee River Community, a group of Oconee County and Morgan County residents that organized this year to represent the interests of the Apalachee River.
“For the Apalachee, the aquatic wildlife it harbors and the people who live along and play in it, this proposed withdrawal creates other problems simply because it is super-sized for such a small river,” the report states.
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Election Officials Butt Heads as Recount Forces Athens to Miss Deadline
Photo Credit: Savannah Cole
The Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections faces possible state sanctions after missing the deadline to certify election results because of a chaotic recount Tuesday that raised as many questions as it answered.
The “recanvassing”—prompted by petitions from three voters in eight precincts who were concerned about every vote being counted—started at 11 a.m. and was supposed to end at 2 p.m., but continued well past the 5 p.m. deadline for counties to certify their election results and deliver them to the secretary of state’s office.
Vote totals were uploaded around 6:30 p.m., said Charlotte Sosebee, the director of elections and voter registration. However, the election wasn’t certified until closer to 8 p.m. Documents were turned over to the Georgia State Patrol at 9 a.m. today for delivery to Atlanta.
Not only were all the votes counted on Election Day, the recanvassing revealed that too many were counted. Twenty-five mail-in absentee ballots were counted that should not have been.
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