Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the Oconee Historical Society.
About The Oconee enterprise. (Watkinsville, Oconee County, Ga.) 1887-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2013)
Tfrr’? r 7 I'TTTfTT'l TT'TTXT-rTTT’V'TT ON THE STREET What is your favorite Christmas song? Question: What is your favorite Christmas song? ■ George Therriault, Athens: “Silent Night. It is a pretty song, and on Christmas Eve and it is snowing out there, it is so silent. It is just amazing.” Therriault ■ Terry Watson, Athens: “I guess Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I know it. It is a song I have been hear ing for a long time.” Watson Stephens ■ Joseph Stephens, Watkinsville: “It would have to be Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song. He is a wonderful vocalist. Everybody keeps remaking that one.” ■ Gerald Newman, Bishop: “O Little Town of Bethlehem. I remem ber it as a child growing up.” Newman ■ Ashley Silva, Watkinsville: “Hark the Herald Angels Sing. I remember my dad singing it when I was a little girl.” Silva ■ Donna DufFee, Watkinsville: “Mine is O Holy Night, but my chil dren’s is Rudolph. We were listening to it this morning as we were fixing breakfast.” Duffee Oconee’s own soldiers at war Following is a list of soldiers who are either from Oconee County or have rel atives here. Some have been deployed to the Middle East while others are serv ing state-side. If you know someone who has been called up, call The Oconee Enterprise at 769-5175 ore-mail news@oconeeenterprise.com. Please include a phone number. ■ Matt Amerson ■ Brett Baker ■ Jonathan Bartlett ■ Joshua Ryan Barton ■ Stephen Marcus Barton ■ Charles Berdanier ■ David Berger ■ Hunter Bernard ■ Jonathan David Blanton ■ Micah David Blanton ■ Jesse Bodie ■ Sergio Bodie ■ John Boswell ■ Dave Brown ■ Mitchell Burton ■ Gregory A. Calhoun ■ Shannon Carithers ■ Myles Cheatum ■ Stephen Chi tty ■ Hunter Coram ■ Patrick Corbin ■ Lawrence Mercer Cox ■ Charles E. Crane ■ Sean Ellis Crawford ■ Burt W. Cruz ■ Josh Darnell ■ Kelly Davison ■ Willie Delgado Jr. ■ Toby Dillard ■ Brandon Doss ■ Kyle Duncan ■ Kenji Dorsey ■ Dave Durden ■ Alan Russell Eddy ■ Kaitlin Webber Ellis ■ Christopher Ellis ■ Justin Harper England ■ Billy Keith Epps II ■ Daniel Evans ■ Robert E. Everett III ■ Jason G. Fitzpatrick ■ Justin Foies ■ Duane Fox ■ Brandon Gibson ■ Lucas C. Givens ■ Michael W. Gordon ■ Brandon Griffin ■ Cory Gunter ■ Daniel E. Gunter ■ Richard R. Gustafson ■ Timothy Harrell ■ Bryan Harris ■ Daniel Harrison ■ Jeremiah D. Hensley ■ Christoph Himmelsbach ■ Mitchell Hopkins ■ Christopher Andrew House ■ Chris Howington ■ D.J. Howington ■ Ricardo Hueso ■ Jack S. Hunter ■ Lucas Ivarie ■ John A. Jenkins ■ Philip Jenkins ■ Charles Johnson ■ Tracy Johnson ■ Nathan E. Kanouff ■ Robert Kellps ■ William Kennedy ■ Micah Kirkpatrick ■ Andrew Krisel ■ Samuel J. Lang ■ Jace Lasseter ■ Edward Laturell ■ Matt Lavendar ■ Jeremy Lewis ■ Alan Maisonet ■ Melissa Marcantonio ■ Steven Mazanec ■ Keith McDonald ■ Kevin Meagher ■ Brian Meeler ■ Eugene E. Moye ■ John Russell Murray ■ Cameron Myers ■ Joshua Noble ■ Chandler Norris ■ Russell O’Dillon ■ Dana Padgett ■ Jeremy Pallas ■ Branson Parker ■ Brandon C. Parkman ■ Brad Patton ■ Joshua D. Pedersen ■ Joe Bartley (Bart) Porter ■ Dylan T. Posey ■ John M. Pritchard III ■ Elisabeth Flage Register ■ John B. Ripley ■ Andrew Robison ■ Robbie Robison ■ Elijah Selvidge ■ Joseph Screws ■ Kyle Screws ■ Brett Sims ■ Ryan Simms ■ Jason Smigiel ■ Jayson Stephens ■ Michael Stephens ■ Mitch Swan ■ Richard Taylor ■ Brett Thomas ■ John Trane ■ Thomas Turpin ■ Matthew Vedder ■ Jeffrey Logan Veazey ■ Wilhelm F. Waters ■ Mark Wagner ■ Christopher Watson ■ Zachery White ■ Chad Whitehead ■ C.J. Whitehead, Jr ■ Bradley Williford ■ Russell Windsor ■ Rusty Windsor ■ Russ Witcher ■ Judson Wood ■ Freddy Zarraga DECEMBER 19, 2013 THE OCONEE ENTERPRISE A7 And for our next number we offer a little up tempo holiday number for everybody at the OE. We hope you all enjoy “Grandma Got Runned Over By Good King Wenceslas”. ONLINE POLL RESULTS Following are the results of last week’s online poll at www.oconeeenterprise.com for the period of Tuesday, December 10 through Tuesday, December 17. Question: What should be top SPLOST priority? 83% Public safety, including fire stations To express your opinion on this week’s poll topic, go to www.oconeeenterprise.com and scroll down to the bottom left of the homepage to select your answer. Question: I’ll take holiday photos with a... Possible answers: ■ Single-lens reflex camera ■ My phone ■ A pocket camera The answers will be published here next week. OUR OPINION The joy of walking thrives in Watkinsville Sidewalks crisscross the city of Watkinsville, coming and going. Once sidewalk slim, our county seat has glis tening ribbons of concrete running to both banks that dip into the Oconee Cultural Arts complex and circle around to the Eagle Tavern. Nearby neighborhoods aren’t left out of the loop, nor are clusters of stores. And newside- walks pick up, and continue, where old side walks came to ends among the grass. “We are becoming a walkable community,” rejoices Mayor Charles Ivie. “Sidewalks are good for business, for the health of walkers, and they make us appear urban without without losing the small-town look.” When Ivie ran for election two years ago, sidewalks, or the continuation of them, was on his “promise plan,” he reminds. “I understood that Watkinsville had grown up and I wanted to continue the sidewalks the pre vious mayors had begun,” he remembers. Long ago, the late Mayor Sammy Sanders began it all with Streetscape. Mayor Toby Hardigree tried continuing the plan, but the company that got the contract was, he remem bers, “distracted.” “After promising it would come and begin work, it didn’t,” he remembers. Never mind. A former Marine, Jim Luken whose father was mayor of Cincinnati, knew how government worked. “You nagged and tore at it until it gives in.” And the State of Georgia, even the U.S. government, gave in. “We got traffic signals, crosswalks, and beau tified Main Street. We stopped detouring Main Street behind the courthouse—that kept us from losing businesses that depended on the traffic— and we continued sidewalks.” Before Sammy Sanders was Mayor A1 Giardini, a retired University of Georgia profes sor, cut in the cloth of Jim Luken. Only after rooting out the kudzu that blanketed the hillside between city hall and U.S. 441, he passed on from cancer. Now we have sidewalks and plans are ahead for more. A recent story in “Georgia Cities,” a publica tion from the Georgia Municipal Association puts it succinctly: “Study Reveals Walkable Communities Connected to Economic Success.” Sidewalks are described as “infrastructure”— and the article stresses “(People) want many essential amenities...within easy walking dis tance from a residence.” These are described as Walk-Ups (Walkable Urban Place)s and the study urges shorter city blocks and subsidized public parking. Already Watkinsville has the last and needs both more parking, easily identified, and sig nage. The downtown Watkinsville Trade and Tourism Association has urged both, former President Maridee Williams reminds. Watkinsville’s Main Street is a busy business center with few empty stores. It offers all sorts of goods and services, although a small super market is needed. Already people enjoy walking in the evenings, shopping at the Farmers Market, First Fridays, Halloween and after the Watkinsville Christmas Parade. Sidewalks are making us a Walk-Up and high time. Editorials represent the position of The Oconee Enterprise and are written by the pub lisher, editor and staff writers. Oconee is a great place to run a newspaper The letter “1” has a lulling sound, as in “love” and “loyalty.” And those words describe our emotions when we look around at you and Oconee County. This small weekly, The Oconee Enterprise, wouldn’t exist without you, your affection and loyalty. These aren’t the best of times for many. Still you hang in with us when we put a wrong foot for ward. You are infinitely forgiving. I wish you could see our Christmas card holder jammed with greetings from county and city officials, old friends and busi nesses. These are our rock, our base, as well as large corporations. And don’t think that the staff, passing the hall table with the cardhold er, doesn’t rif fle through the greetings and say, “Hey here’s one from—” And you are the “one.” The Oconee Enterprise is blessed with this county, and you who are aware, warm, and con cerned. We are The Artland of Georgia and have OCAF and vol unteers that prove this. Our farm ing community isn’t only stewards of the land that nourishes us, but alert to its beauty. One of our in-house jokes is, “We’ll never get a General Front Page from the Georgia Press Association.” Why? Because we don’t have the polit ical chicanery, the cheating, the downright wrongdoing that several of our neighboring counties do. Their weeklies happily expose these. The GPA loves that. Our General Manager says, “We have no trouble collecting for ads. Most are from small businesses and times aren’t the best. “Folks may take a couple of months to pay, but they always do. We have few, if any—forgive the word—deadbeats.” So we are coming to the end of 2013. This is nearly our last chance to tell you, each of you, “God love you, bless you, and keep you. And thank you.” Vinnie Williams is publisher of The Oconee Enterprise. Opinions expressed are those of the writer. Off the Record Vinnie Williams “This small weekly wouldn’t exist without you (Hhp tEtttwprisp Your Community Newspaper Since 1884 Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. No part of The Oconee Enterprise may be reproduced by any process without written permission of the Publisher. The Oconee Enterprise (USA402-720) is published every Thursday by the Oconee Enterprise, Inc., 26 Barnett Shoals Road, Watkinsville, Georgia 30677. Telephone: (706) 769-5175. Fax: (706) 769- 8532. Periodicals postage paid at the Watkinsville, Georgia, Post Office and addi tional mailing locations. Subscription rates: $19 per year in Oconee County; $22 per year out-of-county in Georgia; and $24 per year out-of-state. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to The Oconee Enterprise, P.O. Box 535, Watkinsville, Georgia 30677-0535. Visit The Oconee Enterprise on the Internet at OconeeEnterprise.com or e-mail us at news@OconeeEnterprise.com. MEMBER Member Vinnie Williams PUBLISHER Chuck Cunningham CARTOONIST Ryne Dennis Michael Prochaska Maridee Williams GENERAL MANAGER Blake Giles EDITOR Derek Wiley SPORTS EDITOR George H. Windate GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tracy Harmon Angela Pulliam Beverly Rodgers ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES REPORTERS Jay Hanley PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Cita Simmons NEWSSTAND DELIVERY
