Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his fourth trip to Georgia on April 29, 1926, closing on the purchase of property at Warm Springs, Ga.
Dachau concentration camp was liberated by American troops on April 29, 1945. At least 31,951 inmates died there, more than 30,000 survivors were found on liberation day, and more than 250,000 passed through the camp and its subcamps.
Dobbins Air Force Base was dedicated on April 29, 1950, named for in honor of the late Capt. Charles M. Dobbins and in memory of the other servicemen from Cobb County. Dobbins was shot down over Sicily in 1943 and his family attended the opening of the base.
Hank Aaron hit his first home run in Atlanta against the Houston Astros on April 29, 1966, providing the winning margin as the Braves won 4-3.
Atlanta was selected as the host city for the 1996 Summer Olympics on April 29, 1988.
On April 29, 1993, Barry White guest-starred on The Simpsons. I guess that makes today “Whacking Day.”
Georgia Politics
Bill Signings
After setting aside his bill signing pens for several days, Governor Deal at 11:30 this morning at the State Capitol will sign HB 429, Ava’s Law, in a ceremony in the Georgia State Capitol.
Here’s a bill signing from two years ago.
The Governor uses multiple pens to sign legislation and then presents them to legislators and others who were instrumental in advocating for the legislation. Sometimes folks get a little grabby.
After today’s bill signing, Gov. Deal will head over to the 191 Peachtree building to speak to the Atlanta Press Club luncheon beginning at 12:45 PM.
Governor Deal will sign Senate Bill 8 and Senate Resolution 7, collectively called “Rachel’s Law,” on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 9:30 AM. We don’t know if it will be a public signing ceremony or a closed signing in his office.
Ethics Commission
Congratulations and condolences to Stefan Ritter, who will leave his post as Senior Assistant Attorney General to become Executive Secretary for the Georgia State Ethics Goverment Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.
Commission Chairwoman Hillary Stringfellow says Ritter is the most qualified candidate and is ready to hit the ground running. Ritter says he plans to make the commission non-partisan, resistant to outside pressure and efficient.
Previous secretaries of the commission made similar promises, but have run into a litany of problems. “Perhaps no state illustrates the political perils of ethics enforcement better than Georgia, where the ethics commission has been the nexus of more infighting, vitriol and litigation than a Univision novella,” wrote the Center for Public Integrity in 2012.
State & Local
Congressman Rick Allen is urging his colleagues in the Senate to approve legislation to repeal the federal Death Tax.
State Senator Dean Burke (R-Bainbridge) delivered a “State of the State” address to his local Rotary.
[Sen. Burke] gave a summary of the issues and workings of the senate as well as his view of the fiscal state of Georgia, which he describes as very positive. He anticipates a 5 to 6 percent growth in revenues for the end of the year, which would make Georgia number one in all the states for additional revenue.
He described working out a much needed transportation bill with a good compromise that should ease many of the fears the schools and local governments had from what was contained in the original bill. He said users will see a change of 5 or 6 cents per gallon at the pump. He stressed the need for the bill as all federal funds have basically dried up.
He also addressed the passing of the medical marijuana bill, saying that it gave approval for people with certain medical conditions, such as children with seizures,
patients with chronic pain, Cancer patients, to receive oil made from marijuana.He said he had voted against it, along with 6 or 7 other senators, feeling “We’ve okayed a drug that hasn’t been proven. I hope we don’t look back in five years and find it was the wrong thing to do.”
Another health issue was the autism legislation that approves paying for extensive treatment for children diagnosed with autism. This was described as an increasing health problem, with one in 64 children being diagnosed with autism. If it is caught between the ages of one and six, authorized treatment can educate and train them for independent life.
Georgia Peanut farmers voted by a 92.4% margin to keep the Georgia Peanut Commission.
Commission officials said Tuesday that of 92.41 percent of those who voted in the referendum conducted March 16-April 15 endorsed continuing the commission, which is funded through producer checkoff dollars.
“I appreciate the farmer’s confidence in the commission and we are committed to continue earning that confidence,” commission Chairman Armond Morris, a peanut farmer from Ocilla, said. “The commission continues to work together as a partnership between Georgia’s peanut farmers, the commission board and staff, in funding research projects to assist with increasing yield, promoting peanuts and working on the farmers’ behalf in Washington, D.C.”
As required by Georgia state law, the state’s peanut farmers vote on the commission every three years. The ballots were mailed to peanut growers the week of March 16 and the Certified Public Accounting firm of Allen, Pritchett and Bassett on Tuesday counted the ballots that were returned.
A Gwinnett County judge ordered the City of Snellville to pay $88,000 toward attorney’s fees for Mayor Kelly Kautz’s lawsuit against the city.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Warren Davis handed down the ruling late Monday, ordering the city to pay the mayor’s three-attorney team, though the cost was slashed from the more than $220,000 initially requested. Davis explained that Kautz was entitled to have her fees paid, just as the council members had for their $115,000 bill from City Attorney Tony Powell’s team.
The judge also took more than a few chances to criticize the officials on both sides of the controversy in the troubled town.
In recent years, Davis said, Snellville’s government has gained a reputation as a “more raucous ‘bare-knuckles’ form of government,” ruled by “insults, verbal challenges and in-fighting,” as much as it is by regular city issues. He found fault with the mayor and council.
“Deciding important city business in the courtroom rather than the council meeting room is a costly last resort when all else has failed,” he wrote. “Sadly, that failure, attributable to both sides, occurred here.”
Gwinnett Center will be expanding, as the County Commission approved a new hotel.
The commission approved a ground lease agreement with the Development Authority of Gwinnett County, who will in turn work with North Carolina-based Concord Sugarloaf LLC to have the headquarters hotel built. Once built, the $70 million hotel will bridge the center’s conference and event spaces.
The deal came with the support of the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Board of Directors, who voted last week to recommend approval of the agreement.
Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr continues to skirmish with Columbus City Council over his department’s budget, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Sheriff John Darr went before Columbus Council on Tuesday to defend his office’s performance in the wake of what he considered a misrepresentation of the facts, at the least, in Mayor Teresa Tomlinson’s presentation of her proposed fiscal 2016 budget two weeks ago.
Part of Tomlinson’s proposed budget would cut the sheriff’s budget from $27.65 million to $26.97 million, a reduction of about 2.5 percent. It would also transfer some positions to the Columbus Police Department to reduce what Tomlinson called “duplicative services.”
She also shared statistics that she said showed Muscogee County funds its Sheriff’s Office at a higher rate per capita than many other counties. Muscogee County, with a 203,000 population, spends $151 per capita for the Sheriff’s Office while Clayton (population 264,000) spends $127, Clarke (121,000) spends $122, Gwinnett (859,000) spends $87 per capita.
On Tuesday, Darr produced his own comparisons that showed his office spending less money per inmate in the county jail than many other counties, a statistic that he claimed was a better way to judge the efficiencies of different departments.
Peach County’s Board of Education is considering converting to a charter district, according to the Macon Telegraph.
A charter system, as compared to a status quo system or Investing in Educational Excellence contract, allows for school-level governing bodies. That makes it an attractive option to board Chairman Ben McDaniel, who also noted no final decision has been made.
“I like the idea about the school governance … getting more input from the community,” McDaniel said.
Superintendent Daryl Fineran presented the attributes of the charter and IE2 options to the board at Tuesday’s study session, the first public address of the issue ahead of the June 30 state deadline. He did not present the status quo model as a choice and has stated in the past that he didn’t see that as a viable option.
Both of the other models allow for waivers of specific state policies regarding class size, teacher salary and other cost-saving measures. The district must present a plan to the state for how those waivers will be used to improve student achievement.
Savannah Police held their own goat rodeo, using Cheetos to round-up a herd of free-range goats found wandering in midtown.
“That was our saving grace,” said Savannah-Chatham Animal Control officer Christina Sutherin. “They started to follow a Cheetos bag. They ate the entire contents of the bag.”
After metro police were called about the loose pack of livestock in the road at 52nd and Exchange streets, a patrol officer found the animals impeding traffic and was able to corral them until animal control could arrive.
A spectator with a bag of the cheese-flavored puffed corn treats jumped in, and officers were able to lead the sometimes noisy herd into an animal control vehicle, Sutherin said.
“They didn’t appreciate being handled very much or put on the truck, but for the most part they were cooperative,” Sutherin said. Part of the trick, she said, was getting the rest of the herd to follow the large male goat, whom officers have named Big Daddy Goat.
Savannah will issue $20 million in bonds to fund school system debt repayment and stormwater drainage improvements.
Effingham County and the City of Springfield may merge their fire departments.
Increased manpower is the one area the county is lacking in its efforts to keep its insurance rates low, according to consultant Harold “Skip” Starling.
“You can have the newest fire trucks parked in front of a station, but you need people,” he told commissioners during an April 21 workshop. “People are what puts out fires.”
Starling said many departments nationwide are turning to consolidation to share resources. “Most communities get forced to it eventually because of volunteerism issues,” he said.
DeKalb County Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander traveled to Baltimore to meet with community leaders on behalf of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, where he serves as President, according to the Gainesville Times.
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