On September 25, 1789, Congress adopted the first twelve amendments, called the Bill of Rights, to the United States Constitution. A little more than two years later, in 1791, enough states had ratified ten of the Amendments, with two not receiving sufficient support.
On September 25, 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis met with General John Bell Hood and visited troops at Palmetto, Georgia.
Ronald Reagan appointee Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Justice of the United States on September 25, 1981. In an interview with Terry Gross, she recalled receiving the call from President Reagan:
“I was working in my office on the Arizona Court of Appeals,” she tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “I was at the court in my chambers when the telephone rang. And it was the White House calling for me, and I was told that the president was waiting to speak to me. That was quite a shock, but I accepted the phone call, and it was President Reagan, and he said, ‘Sandra?’ ‘Yes, Mr. President?’ ‘Sandra, I’d like to announce your nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow. Is that all right with you?’ Well, now, that’s kind of a shock, wouldn’t you say?”
The Princess Bride was released on September 25, 1987. Inconceivable!
On September 25, 2008, the last car came off the line at GM’s Doraville Plant.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp has received a shortlist of recommended candidates for appointment to a vacancy on the Superior Court for the Enotah Judicial Circuit, which serves Lumpkin, Towns, Union, and White Counties.
The Judicial Nominating Commission has submitted recommendations to fill a vacancy within the Superior Court of the Enotah Judicial Circuit. The vacancy was created by the resignation of the Honorable N. Stanley Gunter. Gov. Kemp will fill the vacancy from the recommendations provided. The Governor’s Office will contact candidates to schedule interviews.
The following names were submitted to Gov. Kemp:
• Jeremy D. Clough – Judge, Juvenile Courts, Enotah Judicial Circuit
• T. Buckley Levins – Senior Assistant District Attorney, Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit
• Kerry B. Morris – Special Assistant Attorney General, Department of Family and Children Services; attorney, Law Office of Todd L. Lord
If the Governor wanted my two cents, I’d say that the only candidate I know of the ones listed is Jeremy Clough, and I know him to be a fine man whose work ethic, temperament, and philosophy would make him a good judge whom I could enthusiastically support.
The AJC looks at the five-year relationship between President Trump and Senator David Perdue.
Five years ago this month, when he was best known as a real estate mogul-turned-reality star who raised questions about President Barack Obama’s citizenship, Donald Trump telegraphed his admiration for David Perdue, the political newcomer who’d unexpectedly secured the GOP nomination for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat.
“He’s a fantastic guy who will fight hard against ObamaCare,” Trump tweeted.
The tweet came after the duo’s initial Trump Tower meeting in September 2014, where they laid the groundwork for a political alliance that would help shape Trump’s anti-establishment presidential run and facilitate Perdue’s rise as one of Capitol Hill’s foremost “Trumpsplainers.”
This year, Perdue’s Democratic challengers are all too happy to broadcast the senator’s ties to Trump, especially his loyalty after the president’s blunt comments about African countries and four freshmen congresswomen of color that many considered racist. They’ve also highlighted his continued support of Trump’s trade and disaster relief policies, even as both have led to near-term pain for local farmers.
Georgia Democrats are speaking in support of an effort to impeach President Trump, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson, John Lewis and David Scott were the first Georgia congressmen to call for presidential impeachment proceedings to move forward. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr., D-Albany, also backed the impeachment inquiry late Tuesday.
Johnson, D-Lithonia, said the president’s “recent admission” of discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden is “profoundly troubling.”
“Attempting to coerce a foreign government into digging up dirt on a political opponent, then trying to cover it up by unlawfully refusing to turn over the whistleblower complaint to Congress, crosses a red line,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “President Trump’s repeated obstruction and flagrant disregard of his oath of office demands the issuance of Articles of Impeachment.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Austin Scott also commented.
Scott said in a prepared statement Tuesday evening, “Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi has succumbed to the belligerent left and their media allies to move forward with an impeachment inquiry against the President. Democrats continue to waste time and taxpayer dollars on endless investigations while refusing to address the many challenges our nation faces.”
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, slammed U.S. House Democrats in a statement to CNHI, saying, “Just when you think they can go no lower, Washington Democrats have proven us wrong.
“No plan to grow jobs, no plan to allow hard-working Americans to keep more of their money and no plan to keep us safe, but wasted energy on an impeachment process that is going nowhere in a hurry,” Ralston said. “President Trump’s record of creating jobs, growing our economy, cutting taxes and making sure America stands strong in the world is beyond dispute. Also beyond dispute is the obsessive hatred of Washington Democrats.”
That’s a very thorough article by Riley Bunch, which is worth reading in its entirety.
Several Democratic contenders for top Georgia offices also announced they would back filing formal charges against the Republican, changing course amid allegations that he pressured a Ukrainian leader to investigate his top political rival.
In an even trickier spot was freshman Congresswoman Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, whose 2018 upset victory in a Republican-leaning suburban district was the state party’s crowning achievement in the midterm. She refused to answer reporters’ questions following a closed-door meeting with Pelosi and other Democrats on Tuesday afternoon.
“The administration should absolutely follow the whistleblower process, I call on it to do exactly that, and I know that it will,” said U.S. Rep. Woodall, R-Ga.
“But when the House Democrat majority moves to start impeachment proceedings based on that complaint before it even holds a hearing to gather the facts, we have the answer to whether this is a serious constitutional effort or a partisan political exercise.”
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice struck a stronger tone in a statement Tuesday night where he accused Democrats of attempting to “nullify the will of the people and overturn the results of the 2016 election” while also accusing Democrats and the media of being “dead set on resisting” Trump.
“The abrupt and absurd decision by Speaker Pelosi to formally begin impeachment proceedings without waiting for a single piece of evidence is a dramatic overstep to distract from the real issues that matter to the American people,” Hice said.
“The simple fact that Speaker Pelosi could not be bothered to wait a mere 24 hours, when the President has said he would release the call’s transcript, indicates just how desperate and misguided the Left has become.”
Congressman Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) is working to bring together resources for homeless people, according to The Brunswick News.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-1, is working to bring together resources for homeless individuals, particularly homeless veterans, in hopes of better addressing the issue in communities Carter represents.
That effort began Monday with an initial roundtable discussion in Glynn County that included representatives from numerous local resources aiming to address homelessness in this area, as well as local government leaders including Brunswick Mayor Cornell Harvey and Glynn County Commissioner Allen Booker.
“All of us have the same common goal, and that is to end homelessness,” Carter told the meeting participants. “… I always like to say that none of us is as smart as all of us. If we’re duplicating services, or if we’re concentrating and we’ve got an overabundance of one thing and not enough of another thing, then we’re not really doing everything that we can do.”
Most of the one-hour meeting Monday, held at the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce office, was spent on introductions from the various attendees, who shared their organizations’ missions and plans.
Democrat Governor Stacey Abrams presented a fictional account speech in Pooler, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Abrams, the founder and chair of Fair Fight, spoke to members of the public at the National Association of Letter Carriers’ office on U.S. 80. Her visit came on National Voter Registration Day, an unofficial national holiday that started in 2012.
“My name is Stacey Abrams, and I am not the governor of Georgia,” Abrams said at the start of the talk, which drew about 70 people into the crowded building on U.S. 80.
“I like to announce that because some people think I’m confused,” Abrams said. “You see, I recognize that by legal sufficiency we have someone else who sits in that office, but I was raised by two United Methodist ministers and two Civil Rights activists who raised me to believe that, if you see something that’s wrong, you need to say it’s wrong.”
“To concede an election, to say that it was true and right and proper, when in Pooler, Georgia, people got turned away because they ran out of provisional ballots … When that happens in the state of Georgia, when that happens in Pooler, Georgia, but also in Troup County and in metropolitan Atlanta and in Stewart County and across the state, then the right to vote was not fair and proper, and I will not say it was so if it is not so.”
The Gainesville Times looks at north Georgia applicants for appointment to the United States Senate.
Several local applicants have sent in their resumes for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson’s retirement, including U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville.
Local applicants include Collins, radio host and former Kemp adviser Martha Zoller, CEO of The Norton Agency Frank Norton Jr., Gainesville City Schools teacher Lewis Fraser, and Northeast Georgia Health System employee Andy Whitener.
A Collins spokesperson declined to comment on Collins’ application for the Senate position. In a statement last month, Collins praised Isakson’s leadership.
“Johnny Isakson has been a standard of public service and statesmanship for decades in Georgia. He’s always drawn on his extensive roots in our state to deepen his advocacy for all Georgians,” Collins said. “Johnny faithfully remembers the forgotten, including America’s veterans. I’ve looked up to him as a mentor and still work to emulate him.”
Zoller, of Gainesville, is currently a radio host with WDUN. She was previously Kemp’s director of field offices and worked with Kemp’s campaign as director of outreach. Before that, she was a policy adviser to U.S. Sen. David Perdue and for Perdue’s campaign. She has worked for several Georgia radio stations.
“I have traveled the state of Georgia on behalf of elected officials and heard the needs that constituents had throughout the state,” she said. “I would be honored to continue to do that service in the United States Senate.”
The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear defendants in a RICO case involving Floyd County schools, according to the Rome News Tribune.
On Aug. 12, Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach ruled that the DA could drop both indictments, which gives them a six month period in which to re-indict. Attorneys for defendants in the case argued the court should have thrown out both indictments.
The distinction between allowing the district attorney to drop the indictments and having the court throw them out boils down to whether or not the case continues.
Attorneys for the defendants of the RICO case are petitioning the court of appeals to overturn Niedrach’s decision stating the last two indictments were void and therefore the entire case needs to be dismissed.
According to information presented in court, Derry Richardson is accused of using his position as maintenance director in the school system to steal millions of dollars from the Floyd County School system over a period of years and included family, friends and co-workers in the ongoing scheme.
Multiple people have been charged with RICO violations and other charges in the case. Along with Derry Richardson, his wife Lisa Richardson, his father Jimmy Richardson and brother Dwayne Richardson are all charged in the plot.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) will build training sites at Fort Benning, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
ICE is set to spend more than $961,000 to purchase five different training structures — the first steps toward a complex that will emulate buildings and structures the agency’s expanding Special Response Teams would encounter across the United States and Puerto Rico, according to a federal contract.
The plans also call for expansion later at the post, which is near Columbus.
The structures will be made from portable shipping containers or other appropriate materials that can be relocated to different sites if needed. But specifics of what each replica would look like are not included in the federal contract.
The AJC looks at the prospective hemp industry in Georgia after passage of legislation to allow the practice.
Andy Peck wants to start growing hemp plants at his nursery in Dacula, but like many farmers across Georgia, he’s worried that government regulations will stifle the new industry before it starts.
Peck wouldn’t be allowed to sell hemp to anyone except processing companies, which don’t exist yet in Georgia. He couldn’t ship his product outside Georgia, but out-of-state producers could bring their hemp here. With such an uncertain market, Peck doesn’t know whether hemp would even be profitable.
Since Georgia lawmakers legalized hemp farming earlier this year, Peck and 71 other people have submitted public comments to the state Department of Agriculture, almost all of them expressing concerns about the state’s proposed regulations. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained their comments through a request under the Georgia Open Records Act.
“The way they proposed it isn’t going to work for Georgia farmers,” said Peck, who would like to grow hemp along with violas, ferns, perennials, annuals and other flowers in greenhouses on his 21 acres at Quail Hollow Nurseries. “We want to make sure Georgia is competitive with the rest of the South. The way the laws are written now, we won’t be.”
Warren Hanchey of Whole Leaf Co., a business that grows hemp in Colorado and Oregon, said the hemp regulations require farmers to enter into written agreements with processors, but processing plants haven’t been built yet. He said farmers should be able to do business with any plant that offers the best price and service.
“They’re just trying to over-regulate everything,” said Hanchey, who lives in Johns Creek. “We’re trying to create all-new steps in Georgia to grow the hemp. I’m afraid it’s going to lead to a disaster for the farmers getting into this.”
The Georgia Department of Agriculture will review the public comments and decide whether proposed regulations should be changed, said Julie McPeake, a spokeswoman for the department. The state is waiting on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release federal hemp program rules before moving forward with Georgia’s regulations.
Savannah has hired a firm to help collect overdue water bills, according to AccessWDUN.
A city in Georgia that is owed about $6.5 million in overdue water bills has hired a debt collector to help reel in the delinquent payments.
News outlet report the city of Savannah has hired Professional Credit to assist in collecting unpaid water bills from about 12,500 accounts. The highest delinquent bill owed to the city is more than $27,000.
The city Revenue Director Ashley Simpson says it’s become increasingly difficult to collect on delinquent accounts especially because some of the holders moved away, passed away or filed for bankruptcy.
Augusta Commissioners declined to support the call by colleague Sammie Sias to drawdown the Savannah River for a second look at potential changes, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Augusta won’t be asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a second drawdown of the Savannah River after one city commissioner’s call to do so gained no support Tuesday.
Commissioner Sammie Sias would not say why he specified the corps’ alternative 2-6a for removing the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam in his Tuesday request for another drawdown, other than that “all options are still on the table.” Lowering the river level would show the impact of one of six corps proposals , and the corps has said that particular alternative has the least effect on water levels.
Macon-Bibb County Commissioners discussed a proposal to give county employees time off to vote, according to the Macon Telegraph.
Macon-Bibb County Commissioners Virgil Watkins and Elaine Lucas came up with an idea to give county employees a holiday on election days.
The idea met some resistance from fellow commissioners so Watkins modified the time off to include wellness and other civic activities and reduced it to a half day.
Those changes still didn’t work.
The resolution came before the Operations and Finance Committee, which Watkins chairs. After Watkins explained the motion, Commissioner Scotty Shepherd made a motion to table it, and the motion was approved 3-2 without discussion.
The Chatham Area Transit Board of Directors met to discuss art, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Sept. 24 CAT board meeting saw the debut of a proposal to add unique murals to neighborhood bus stops outside of Savannah’s historic core. Board member Clinton Edminster, who was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, suggested this initiative as a way to strengthen the connection between CAT and various communities that it serves with individualized artworks reflecting the surrounding neighborhood’s character.
Although this concept garnered initial encouragement among board members on Tuesday, Chairman Michael O’Halloran was quick to point out that there is no room in CAT’s budget to fund the initiative.
“I really think it could improve the shelters. … Art’s important, and I’m not opposed to it. I like art,” O’Halloran said, while adding that when Edminster approached him with the idea, he responded, “Plan on us not funding it.”
In other business, the board unanimously approved new funding agreements with the Westin Savannah hotel and the Savannah Convention Center regarding ferry services across the Savannah River. The agreements stipulate that each of the two Hutchinson Island visitor destinations will pay $50,000 annually to support ferry operations.
Statesboro will seek outside funding for transit, according to the Statesboro Herald.
City of Statesboro staff members are ready to move forward with applications for state 10% matching funds and a federal 80% grant toward equipment costs of $811,750 to launch a city bus system.
The system is expected to cost $658,800 a year to operate and maintain, with a different federal grant potentially providing 50% of that and rider fares a little over $78,000 annually. These projections are for a system with the main buses running two, two-way fixed routes, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Of four options presented by Connetics Transportation Group, or CTG, in its May transit study report, city staff last week recommend this as the most “cost effective” option based on ridership projections. But it has the highest up-front capital cost and second-highest annual operating cost.
Albany Commission Ward IV member Tommie Postell was honored by colleagues, according to the Albany Herald.
Mayor Dorothy Hubbard presented Postell with a proclamation declaring Tuesday Tommie Postell Day in the city, and Postell also received a letter and proclamation from U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany.
“He’s a legend, during the era of civil rights and, of course, in today’s time,” Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard said during an interview following the reception. “He will be sorely missed for his ferocious opinions at times, (but) then he could be as humble as a lamb.”
Three candidates – John Hawthorne, Leroy Smith and Demetrius Young are vying to replace Postell in the Nov. 5 municipal election.
Candidates for Valdosta Mayor and Council will meet in a political forum this week, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
The Valdosta Divine Nine sponsors a political forum 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at Mathis City Auditorium, 2300 N. Ashley St.
A meet-and-greet with the Valdosta mayoral and Valdosta City Council candidates is 5 p.m., organizers said.
Mayoral candidates are Kevin Bussey, Scott James Matheson, J.D. Rice David Sumner and Brooks D. Bivins.
City Council at-large candidates are Jeremy Stone, Adrian Rivers, incumbent Councilman Ben H. Norton and Edgar “Nicky” Tooley.
A forum on human trafficking will be held in Brunswick on Sunday, according to The Brunswick News.
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