According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Rome was founded. The one in Italy, not the one in Floyd County.
On April 19, 1775, British troops entered Lexington, Massachusetts, encountering 77 armed Minute Men.
British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun.
Two hours later, another confrontation between the British and American patriots took place in Concord, Massachusetts.
On April 19, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the blockade of ports in “Rebellious States.”
Whereas an insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue can not be effectually executed therein conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States; and
….
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned and to the protection of the public peace and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings or until the same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the law of nations in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid.
On April 19, 1995, Governor Zell Miller signed legislation declaring the peanut the Official State Crop.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Several county Republican party conventions adopted resolutions welcoming the reign of Democratic Governor Stacey Abrams criticizing top elected officials, according to the AJC.
Republican delegates in more than a half-dozen counties passed resolutions over the past week assailing Kemp for not doing more to help Trump’s false claims of voting fraud. And several more also punished Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who have also drawn Trump’s wrath.
And while most local GOP groups refused to rebuke Kemp, the mostly rural counties that did offered evidence that the governor must still shore up his base in an expected rematch against Democrat Stacey Abrams, the nationally known voting rights advocate and former House leader who narrowly lost to him in 2018.
“Many of the Trump supporters that did not return and vote in the January runoff will not return to vote for Kemp in 2022,” said Brian Pritchard, a North Georgia GOP activist and commentator. “The only way to get a Trump supporter to vote for Kemp is to get Trump to endorse Kemp. And we don’t see that happening.”
While efforts to punish Kemp went nowhere in many counties and were blocked by the governor’s allies in others, delegates in a range of counties voted to rebuke him. They include censure votes in Appling, Chattooga, DeKalb, Jasper, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Pierce and Pickens counties. They join two others – Murray and Whitfield – that punished him last week.
Hall County activists dinged Duncan and Raffensperger – who are vilified by many in the base for more forcefully opposing Trump’s lies about a “rigged” election – but sidestepped a rebuke of Kemp.
Ellis Davis, a Camden County activist, said local Republicans rallied around Kemp and attacked Jones as someone who is not a “legitimate” candidate for the GOP nod.
“Certain individuals that have ulterior motives introduced anti-Kemp resolutions and they were promptly voted down,” said Davis. “His leadership and care is evident in all that he does and the fact that all anti-Kemp resolutions were voted down is proof of that.”
In Gwinnett, three resolutions censuring Duncan, Kemp and Raffensperger failed to pass, to the delight of Kemp allies.
Former Georgia GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler on Saturday pleaded with Fulton County Republicans to pursue party “unity” and not to censure state officials for “not helping” former President Donald Trump to overturn his November 2020 election loss.
Despite Loeffler’s defense of several state officials, including Governor Brian Kemp, Republicans in her home county joined numerous others across Georgia in voting to punish party members accused of betraying Trump.
Loeffler urged the Fulton County GOP to focus on Democratic Party leader Stacey Abrams’ ability to register voters and win. But local party members across Georgia voted in favor of censuring those who didn’t show “loyalty” to Trump.
The Gwinnett County Board of Education unanimously adopted a $2.35 billion dollar budget for the next Fiscal Year, according to the AJC.
The budget is $8.4 million, or 0.4%, more than the current fiscal year. The school district plans to keep the tax rate at 21.60 mills total.
Increased expenses include $1,000 raises at every step and level of the teacher salary schedule. That’s an average raise of about 3% for teachers, who move up the steps based on experience and evaluations and gain levels based on degrees earned, said Joe Heffron, chief financial officer at a recent school board meeting. A starting teacher with a bachelor’s degree earns $47,646 next year under the proposed schedule.
The school district plans to take nearly $13 million from reserves to balance the budget. Heffron estimated Gwinnett’s reserve fund next year will total 10 times that much.
Gwinnett is predicting an enrollment increase of about 2,500 students next school year, bringing the total enrollment close to 180,000.
Public hearings on the budget are scheduled for May 20 and June 17, with a final vote the second date. The tax rate will be adopted over the summer.
The AJC reports that U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) is moving toward a campaign for United States Senate.
The Savannah-area lawmaker hasn’t finalized his decision yet, though two people close to him said he’s nearing an announcement. He told WGAU in a recent interview he’s “considering it very seriously and doing our due diligence” before making his decision.
Carter, a pharmacist and former Pooler mayor, was a long-time state legislator before he was elected in 2014 to succeed Republican Jack Kingston in the U.S. House. He’s staked a conservative agenda in Congress while drawing scrutiny from watchdog groups over potential conflicts of interest.
He was also among the group of six Georgia U.S. House members who voted to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory hours after a deadly mob descended on the Capitol, a decision that was rooted in false claims of widespread voting fraud.
The list of potential contenders includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins and ex-U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler. The biggest wildcard, however, might be University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker, who has been encouraged by former President Donald Trump to run.
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