About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2017)
GET FIRED UP: Lake Country football preview INSIDE! Your official newspaper serving Greene, Morgan and Putnam counties in Georgia’s Lake Country \ www.LakeOconeeNews.us VOL. 19 NO. 33 FRIDAY AUGUST 18 2017 75 CENTS T. Michael Stone/Staff Greene County residents gather in front of the courthouse to deliver a message of unity in response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Greene group responds to Charlottesville tragedy T. Michael Stone michael@lakeoconeenews.us A small group of concerned citizens gathered in front of the Greene County Courthouse Tuesday evening in response to racial violence in Charlot tesville, Virginia, over the previous weekend during which a pair of state troopers and woman were killed. SEE HOPE » All ii All I want to do is reach down and pull up a child and say, ‘there’s hope and its not through hate.’ -Annie Grant Contributed A Harley-Davidson motorcycle lies in the grass along Harmony Road where it crashed. Madison man dies in single-vehicle wreck Lynn Hobbs Randall George Rice, 68, was lynn@lakeoconeenews.us found dead in the grass at the edge of the woods on Harmony A Madison man was killed in Road, presumably thrown from a motorcycle wreck sometime the bike, Putnam County Sheriff during the wee hours of Sunday, according to authorities. SEE WRECK»A3 GREENE COUNTY East Point man arrested with more than half a pound of pot Most of the time speeders get most of the at tention from law enforcement, but sometimes a slow poke is suspicious. On Aug. 9, Greene County deputy Patrick SEE ARREST » A3 Wright T. Michael Stone michael@lakeoconeenews.us index Calendar B4 Churches B8 Classifieds D3 Community B1 Opinions A4 Recipes D1 Sports C1 FRIDAY 92/75 Isolated T-storms WEATHER »D6 0 94922 87855 7 Published by Smith Communications Inc. GREENE COUNTY Greene County squeezes short-term rentals Mark Engel engel@lakeoconeenews.us The Greene County Commis sion is considering a proposal to dramatically control short term home rentals in the county. The most challenging part of the new ordinance for people who want to rent their homes is a provision that requires owners to get written approval from 80 percent of the other property owners in their com munity. That’s what is needed to set up a “Short Term Rental Overlay District” (STRO). That may be relatively easy for those who live in a small community like Vintage Club. It’s an ominous task for residents of developments like Harbor Club that have hundreds and hundreds of property owners. “People don’t realize,” Com missioner Ernie Filice (Dist. 4) said this month in a post on the social media network Nextdoor, “that the current county zoning ordinanc es, passed years ago, do not provide for short term rentals. SEE RENTALS » All VRBO Pan of the HomeAway Family Scratchpad Login ▼ Help Greensboro, GA, USA 08/29/2017 09/05/2017 4 guests MORGAN COUNTY Options for the future of Morgan County discussed at commission retreat Katherine Klimt katherine@lakeoconeenews.us On Friday, Aug. 11, the Morgan County Board of Commissioners held a planning retreat to discuss future directions for the area, includ ing the possibility of future expanded internet access, water resources, SPLOST funds and other matters. County manager Adam Mestres led the retreat, a relatively informal planning session where no definitive decisions were made. Planning retreats allow commissioners to explore options for improving and sustaining the county. Broadband Internet The county is actively looking for ways to improve access to the Internet, which remains spotty in many parts of the county (a common situation in rural areas). The most intractable issue remains insufficiently high levels of usage. For internet companies to invest in an area there must be high enough numbers of poten tial future users of high-speed internet; these numbers don’t exist in Morgan County without a partnership with a lucrative client like the school district. Without proof that installation of broadband services would be profitable, compa- SEE RETREAT » A12 * BBB OUTDATED HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM CLEANING OUT CALL WILSON BRYANT • Commercial • Residential • Maintenance • New Install 866 Harmony Rd. Eatonton, GA 706-485-5456 www.bryant-air.com
