Blog Topic: Government

In the Loop: ACCPD Chief: No Tolerance for Violent, Racist Officers

By Blake Aued | July 13, 2016 4:19pm

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman.

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman will fire and arrest any officer who violates a citizen’s civil rights, he said at a community forum on racial issues Tuesday night at the ACC Library.

“If you do your job, I will back you up to the hilt, even if it costs me my career,” Freeman said he tells his officers. “If you violate somebody’s constitutional rights, I will fight the GBI to be the first one to put handcuffs on you.”

Freeman defended an officer who shot an armed suspect earlier this year. He also fired and pressed charges against another officer, Jonathan Fraser, who beat up a drunken UGA studentlast August.

Freeman said he wants the right to more easily fire officers like Fraser. “He should have been fired years prior to that taking place,” he said.

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In the Loop: Oconee: No Agreement on Mars Hill Median Cut

By Lee Becker | July 12, 2016 1:48pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

Oconee County Commissioner Jim Luke.

Oconee County officials now say that the county does not have a written agreement to build a full median cut on Mars Hill Road to provide access to property owned by Dickens Farms Inc.

The officials also say that, prior to its meeting on Tuesday night, the Board of Commissioners had never voted to support that full median cut or to ask the Georgia Department of Transportation to modify its design for the road to include the full median cut.

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In the Loop: Secret Mars Hill Road Deal Approved

By Lee Becker | July 7, 2016 3:10pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

Oconee County Commissioner Jim Luke.

Oconee County commissioners Tuesday night agreed to spend $10,000 for design work—double the amount originally planned—as part of a previously unknown deal to create a full median cut on Mars Hill Road to provide access to 103 acres owned by Dickens Farms Inc.

The investment could be good money thrown after bad, as Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara told the commissioners that the Georgia Department of Transportation already has rejected the proposed plans for the change in the roadway design.

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In the Loop: Tasers Are Now Legal at UGA

By Blake Aued | July 6, 2016 12:43pm

Photo Credit: Jason Esbain/Wikimedia Commons

Guns are still illegal at the University of Georgia, but Tasers are A-OK!

House Bill 792—sometimes referred to as “campus carry lite”—is among a number of new laws that took effect July 1. The law allows people 18 and older to carry electroshock weapons such as Tasers and stun guns on college campuses and use them—but only for self-defense.

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In the Loop: Athens' Republican Congressmen Hate the Supreme Court's Abortion Ruling

By Blake Aued | June 28, 2016 11:37am

Pro-abortion rights protesters outside the Supreme Court.

Athens is represented in Congress by two Republicans who also happen to be Baptist ministers, so it’s no surprise that they’re extremely unhappy with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, striking down Texas restrictions on abortion clinics that would have closed most of the clinics in the state.

Here’s Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville) on the 5-3 decision:

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In the Loop: Oconee Commission Approves Move for Mercedes-Benz of Athens

By Lee Becker | June 27, 2016 11:47am

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted to rezone property for an Athens Mercedes-Benz dealership that wants to move, based in part on an economic development document that wasn’t made available to the public.

Three weeks after the Oconee County Planning Commission voted against a proposed rezone on Highway 316 for auto dealerships, county Economic Development Director J.R. Charles sent members of the Board of Commissioners an “Economic Impact Analysis” that said the project would benefit the county.

Charles also sent the report to Jon Williams, president of Williams and Associates, who was representing those asking for the rezone, saying “Thought you would like to have it in your back pocket if you have to speak at the Commission meeting.”

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In the Loop: Supreme Court Rules Against Immigration Program

By Blake Aued | June 23, 2016 1:20pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

"Victoria" told Flagpole last year that her husband, a 22-year Athens resident, was deported, leaving behind her and their grandchildren, who may never see him again.

A Supreme Court ruling has put in jeopardy the Obama Administration’s plan to shield 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

A 4-4 tie (due to Senate Republicans’ refusal to vote on the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s replacement) announced this morning means that an injunction on expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will remain in place—for now.

DACA allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children before 2007 to remain here and work legally. Obama announced in 2014 that he would expand the programto cover newer arrivals, as well as the parents of U.S. citizens and green-card holders. Texas and 26 other states sued to stop the program.

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In the Loop: UGA, Athens Transit Win Grants for Electric Buses

By Blake Aued | June 22, 2016 1:28pm

Photo Credit: courtesy of UGA

An electric bus demonstration on the UGA campus.

Athens Transit and UGA Transit will receive funding for 29 new electric buses, replacing one-third of the diesel buses in those fleets, Gov. Nathan Deal announced today.

Deal announced the 11 winners of a combined $75 million in grants under the GO! Transit Capital Program.

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In the Loop: Oconee County Had Plans for Calls Creek Sewer a Year Before It Told the Public

By | June 21, 2016 2:14pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

A proposed sewer pipeline down idyllic Calls Creek northeast of Watkinsville and through a series of neighborhoods along the creek has Oconee County in a bit of turmoil. Protest road signs, bumper stickers and T-shirts are popping up around the county.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis, who lost control of several meetings in which citizens voiced their unhappiness, has imposed strict restrictions. Sign-up sheets are required for citizens wanting to speak. A large clock is projected on the screen as people come forward to comment. A loud buzzer goes off if the speaker exceeds the allowed three minutes.

Despite these restrictions, citizens have used the open comment section of meetings, budget hearings, rezone hearings and discussions of sewer and water contracts to make it clear to anyone who wants to listen that a 24-inch pipeline with its required 30-foot buffer is not wanted.

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In the Loop: 100 Prince Is Back With No Changes

By Blake Aued | June 20, 2016 1:01pm

Photo Credit: Smith Planning Group

100 Prince—the mixed use development proposed for the St. Joseph Catholic Church property—will be resubmitted this month with no changes, according to Jim Warnes, the Athens attorney for the Greenville, SC development company Homes Urban.

Plans were withdrawn in early May, just before the Athens-Clarke County Commission was to vote on (and likely approve) them. At the time, Warnes told Flagpole that Homes Urban was facing issues with lining up a main commercial tenant, high construction bids and tax credits for development in low-income areas.

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