Georgia Governor Joseph Terrell signed legislation creating the State Board of Health on August 17, 1903.
Georgia Tech was designated the State School of Technology on August 17, 1908 by joint resolution of the State Senate and State House.
In a quaint bit of Georgia history, on August 17, 1908, Governor Hoke Smith signed legislation prohibiting corporate donations to political campaigns. Cute!
Georgia Governor Hugh Dorsey signed legislation creating the State Department of Banking on August 16, 1919.
Georgia Governor Clifford Walker signed legislation changing the method of execution in Georgia from hanging to the electric chair on August 16, 1924.
On August 16, 1974, The Ramones played their first public show at CBGB in New York.
Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977.
On August 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton testified as the subject of a grand jury investigation.
The testimony came after a four-year investigation into Clinton and his wife Hillary’s alleged involvement in several scandals, including accusations of sexual harassment, potentially illegal real-estate deals and suspected “cronyism” involved in the firing of White House travel-agency personnel. The independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, then uncovered an affair between Clinton and a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. When questioned about the affair, Clinton denied it, which led Starr to charge the president with perjury and obstruction of justice, which in turn prompted his testimony on August 17.
That last tidbit is particularly interesting today.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Fulton County’s Clerk of Courts office got a little bit ahead of themselves, posting a fictitious document pruporting to be a charge list in the Trump conspiracy case. From the Associated Press via the Valdosta Daily Times:
After refusing to explain what happened for more than a day after Reuters posted the document the media outlet said was published on the court’s website, clerk Che Alexander’s office said she was doing a “trial run” of the court’s filing system on Monday “in anticipation of issues that arise with entering a potentially large indictment.”
Alexander’s office said that led to the docketing of “what appeared to be an indictment, but which was, in fact, only a fictitious docket sheet.” Reuters found the docket and reported on it Monday afternoon, hours before the grand jury returned the indictment charging Trump and 18 allies over efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
The docket sheet published by Reuters included a list of 13 counts against Trump, including Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, solicitation of violation of oath by public officer and false statements and writings. They were the exact same counts the former president was charged with in the indictment handed down late Monday. The erroneous document also included a case number, though it differed from the one on the actual indictment.
The statement comes on the heels of confusing comments from the clerk and her office that have fueled speculation about the document Trump and his allies have pounced on to claim that the charges against him were already decided before grand jurors took a vote. It has given Trump and his legal team an opening to try to undermine the credibility of prosecutors and the clerk’s office at the very outset of the high-stakes case.
The clerk’s office said shortly after Reuters posted the document online that the clerk had “learned” of what it called a “fictitious document that has been circulated online.” When pressed about it later Monday, Alexander said she didn’t know “what else to say,” adding: “I haven’t seen an indictment, right? So I don’t have anything.” Alexander also didn’t publicly rule out that it could have been the result of a hack when asked Monday.
In the latest statement, however, Alexander’s office said that the clerk immediately took down the document “upon learning of the mishap.”
“The Office understands the confusion that this matter caused and the sensitivity of all court filings. We remain committed to operating with an extreme level of efficiency, accuracy and transparency,” the clerk’s office said.
The confusion over the document thrust the newly sworn in Fulton County courts clerk into the spotlight as reporters descended onto the Atlanta courthouse to get a glimpse at the witnesses called in to testify before the grand jury hearing District Attorney Fani Willis’ sprawling case. Hours later, cameras followed as Alexander handed a stack of indictments — which included the 2020 election case — to Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
Trump legal team has already suggested it would claim prosecutorial misconduct, saying shortly after the document was posted that “this was not a simple administrative mistake,” but is “emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception.”
“The events that have unfolded today have been shocking and absurd, starting with the leak of a presumed and premature indictment before the witnesses had testified or the grand jurors had deliberated and ending with the District Attorney being unable to offer any explanation,” lawyers Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg said in a statement after the indictment was released. “In light of this major fumble, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office clearly decided to force through and rush this 98-page indictment.”
Trump himself also seized on the issue to raise money for his 2024 presidential campaign, writing in an email before the indictment came down: “The Grand Jury testimony has not even FINISHED – but it’s clear the District Attorney has already decided how this case will end.”
The Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council will appoint a special prosecutor to decide if Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R-Jackson) should be charged as part of the Trump conspiracy case, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was one of 16 Republican electors who falsely claimed that Trump won Georgia. As a state senator, he also sought a special session of Georgia’s Legislature aimed at overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred by a judge from indicting Jones. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed with Jones that Willis, an elected Democrat, had a conflict of interest because she hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat who lost to Jones in the 2022 election for lieutenant governor.
That leaves the Prosecuting Attorneys Council, a state agency that supports district attorneys, to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Jones’ actions were criminal. Pete Skandalakis, the council’s executive director, said Tuesday that he will begin looking for an appropriate prosecutor.
“Ultimately, the special prosecutor will make the decision about whether or not to file any charges,” Skandalakis told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Jones has previously denied wrongdoing, saying he and other electors acted only to preserve Trump’s chances if Trump won a court challenge. Others who used that explanation, including former state Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, were indicted. Tuesday, Jones issued a statement claiming Willis’ investigation was “a constant media and PR campaign for the sole purpose of furthering her own political career.”
Jones suggested Willis was pursuing “the political vendettas of the past” and should have been “going after real criminals.”
Skanadalakis said he would review the indictment, seek a copy of the still-sealed report of the special investigative grand jury that laid the groundwork for Monday’s indictments, and consult with Willis on what her investigators may know about Jones. Despite being ordered not to subpoena Jones or his records, Willis was allowed to ask other witnesses about him.
Willis only indicted three of the 16 electors who signed certificates falsely asserting Trump won the state and claimed to be the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Two of those people — Shafer and then-state party treasurer Shawn Still — helped orchestrate the meeting, the indictment alleges.
However, the indictment lists 30 unindicted coconspirators. “Individual 8” is clearly identifiable as Jones, with actions listed including taking part in state Senate committee meetings, receiving emails from other people, issuing a tweet calling on people to pressure state lawmakers to support a special session, and acting as a Trump elector.
Skandalakis doesn’t have to name one of Georgia’s 49 other district attorneys to examine Jones. He can choose anyone with prosecutorial experience. But he said that it may be difficult to find a prosecutor willing to take the case. Georgia pays little to a special prosecutor and provides no money at all to hire other staff. That means a district attorney would have to use their existing staff to do the work, and a retired prosecutor wouldn’t be able to hire any staff at all.
Jones, a state senator at the time, played a prominent role as Republicans in the General Assembly considered rejecting Georgia’s official presidential electors and appointing a slate of Trump electors instead.
Jones and a handful of other senators pressed for a special legislative session to consider appointing the Trump electors, supported lawsuits that sought to void the results and pressed Vice President Mike Pence to reject the official results when Congress met to certify Biden’s victory.
Finding a special prosecutor may not be easy. Skandalakis said state law limits the special prosecutor’s compensation to less than $60 per hour — not much for many lawyers — plus some travel costs. If the prosecutor wants the help of an investigator or administrative assistant, he or she must bear the cost out of pocket.
It’s unclear how soon Skandalakis will appoint a prosecutor or how soon a prosecutor will make a determination about Jones’ case. But Skandalais said the special prosecutor will not be bound by the timetable of Willis’ case.
Governor Brian Kemp spoke about the 2020 elections, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.
“The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen,” Kemp said on Twitter in response to Trump’s claim.
For nearly three years, Kemp pointed out, “anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward — under oath — and prove anything in a court of law.”
“Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor,” Kemp said.
United States Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Extreme Northwest Georgia) also reacted to the news, according to the AJC.
The conservative firebrand has labeled the criminal prosecution of Trump and 18 others as a political vendetta and chastised the district attorney for ignoring more serious crimes in Atlanta.
On Tuesday, Greene spread her criticism to her fellow Republicans, most notably Gov. Brian Kemp. On Tuesday, Kemp defended the state’s voting system via social media in response to yet another false claim by Trump that the 2020 election was rigged.
“His message should have been against this, not arguing with President Trump about the election and making it about his own ego and pride over Georgia’s election,” Greene said. “That’s a bad statement, and I was very upset over it.”
Greene questioned whether Kemp’s statements could erode his support among GOP voters in the future. She referenced Kemp’s rumored 2026 U.S. Senate run — the governor is term-limited in his current post — and wouldn’t rule out challenging him in a GOP primary for the Senate seat.
“I haven’t made up my mind whether I will do that or not,” she said. “I have a lot of things to think about. Am I going to be a part of President Trump’s Cabinet if he wins? Is it possible that I’ll be VP?”
Greene called serving as Trump’s running mate “an honor” and something she would consider “very, very heavily.” She’d previously shunned suggestions that she join Trump on the GOP’s 2024 presidential ticket.
Rules for Georgia public school teachers have begun to sound like 1984. From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times:
Controversial changes to rules for teacher training the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) adopted in recent months take effect Aug. 15. The new rules delete words including “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion,” and replace them with phrases including “fair access, opportunity, and advancement for all students.”
Those required changes in nomenclature also are tucked into broader legislation the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed last year prohibiting the teaching of “divisive concepts” in Georgia elementary and secondary schools. At the time, legislative Democrats, teachers, and civil rights advocates argued the restrictions would prevent teaching students the full reality of Georgia and U.S. history, both the good and the bad.
The new rules are sowing confusion among teachers, said Sarah Hunt Blackwell, First Amendment policy advocate for the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Educators don’t know what they can and can’t say,” she said. “It’s a continuation of the divisive concepts bill.”
Brian Sirmans, the commission’s chairman, said the University System of Georgia (USG) asked for the new rules to clarify expectations for incoming teachers. The words the commission voted unanimously to delete from teacher preparation standards have come to mean different things to different people in recent years. which has made interpreting them difficult, Sirmans said he was told by university system officials.
United States Representative Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) stopped in Brunswick to oppose efforts to slow ships and protect whales, according to The Brunswick News.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-1, stopped at Brunswick Landing Marina on Monday to defend legislation he is co-sponsoring that would stop the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from imposing a speed limit on smaller vessels during right whale calving season.
Carter introduced the bill in June that would prohibit the federal government from requiring vessels 35-65 feet in length to adhere to a speed limit of 11.5 mph when approaching the East Coast from November through April.
On Monday, he addressed a handful of media members, flanked by banners stating that the rule would affect a maritime commerce industry amounting to $230 billion in revenue, 800,000 jobs and 36,000 businesses.
Carter claimed the rule would cost Georgia specifically around $3.8 billion annually. It would essentially kill the fishing industry for five months out of the year, including charter and recreational ocean fishing.
“You will not find any group of people more environmentally sensitive than recreational fishermen,” Carter said.
He was supported in his comments by Brunswick Harbor Pilot Bruce Fendig, Sea Island Co. Waterfront Manager Mike Kennedy and Georgia Ports Authority Chief Administrative Officer Jamie McCurry.
The rule would seriously affect the charter and recreational fishing sectors, Kennedy said, and McCurry supported Fendig’s point, adding that it would seriously hamper the ability of Georgia ports to receive and process cargo. Larger vessels are already under the speed limit cap, but the amended NOAA rule would expand the time and the ocean area it would be in effect.
The right whale population has dropped to fewer than 340, and many deaths are attributed to vessel strikes and entanglements in commercial fishing rope, the letter states. Less than 100 calving females are alive today.
“All the best scientists in our state and country tell us that we cannot afford to lose even one more whale,” One Hundred Miles wrote. “We are deeply concerned about the number of misstatements put out by (Carter’s) office and others around NOAA’s proposal to expand its safe and effective vessel speed rule to include yachts and other large ships 35-65 feet.
Hyundai and the Georgia Ports Authority celebrated the first shipment in support of the new plant in Bryan County, according to the Statesboro Herald.
As the massive container ship Hyundai Pride loomed in the background on Monday, officials celebrated the arrival from South Korea of the first equipment bound for Hyundai’s Metaplant America in Bryan County.
Hyundai announced it was building its Metaplant America in Ellabell in May 2022, and the state announced later that summer it had purchased the land near the I-16 exit 143 at Highway 280 for $61 million.
Now, [Chair of both the Bryan County Commission and the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority Carter] Infinger said, buildings are “coming out of the ground,” on the site which together stretch some three-quarters of a mile along the interstate. He called the project transformative.
“This will make generational change and provide plenty of opportunity for jobs,” Infinger said. “And we’ve made great friends with Hyundai. These are exciting times.”
“This shipment is equipment is vital to the completion of the project,” said Oscar Kwan, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. “I’m sure this plant, and the vehicles that will be produced there have the potential to change this community, the future of electric mobility, and assist in creating a more sustainable future for us all.”
Georgia’s Senate Local Option Sales Tax Study Committee heard about issues between local taxing authorities, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The mayor of Tifton asked Georgia lawmakers Monday to fix a system of distributing local sales tax dollars that favors counties at the expense of cities.
Under current state law, cities and counties that can’t agree on how to allocate local sales tax revenues between them must submit to an arbitration process that skews toward counties, Julie Smith told a Senate study considering potential changes to the system.
A county that doesn’t like a city’s offer has the right to abolish its local option sales tax (LOST) in favor of an alternative called the homestead option sales tax (HOST), which is used to reduce property taxes on owner-occupied housing and infrastructure.
Since counties don’t have to share HOST revenue with cities, counties can use it to threaten cities during negotiations over allocating local sales tax dollars, Rusi Patel, general counsel for the Georgia Municipal Association, said Monday.
Smith said that’s what happened last year when the city of Tifton and Tift County sat down to negotiate. She said the city had built a strong case for its request that Tifton get 45% of the local sales tax revenue but was forced to settle for 30% after the county threatened to adopt a HOST and the talks got confrontational.
“It got ugly, and it got ugly publicly,” Smith said. “The people who are suffering because of that are the citizens when we can’t sit down and look out for their wellbeing.”
Patel said similar controversy has marred local sales tax negotiations between other Georgia cities and counties.
Sen. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah, said the study committee will hold two more meetings in Griffin and Savannah before returning to Atlanta for a final meeting that could lead to recommendations for the full Senate to consider early next year.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson discussed reports of rising gang violence, according to WSAV.
After two weekends of gun violence within 4 week span, resulting in at least two fatalities and multiple injuries, Mayor Van Johnson said at his Tuesday press briefing the crime is “not unexpected.”
“Something about the heat, and something about the people out on the streets engaging in the streets, younger people in the streets,” says Johnson.
When News 3 asked Mayor Johnson about this directly, he says it cannot explicitly be defined as gang violence.
“We do not have a gang problem. We have an issue with young people in that community. They don’t necessarily fit the definition of what we have as established gangs, but we have some in this community,” says Johnson.
Though three months ago, L.t. Colonel Bill Hutchins, Deputy Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Public Safety says a lot of crime in Savannah is gang-related.
“The root of most of the violent crime in our state, you see it right here in Savannah is crime that is gang-related, and it had been here for a while,” says Hutchins.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson says it’s law-abiding gun owners who are to blame. From WTOC:
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson has announced plans aimed at reducing gun violence.
He says he’ll introduce a new ordinance that will fine gun owners who don’t properly store their firearms.
Mayor Johnson spent much of his news conference Tuesday talking about this latest round of weekend gun violence that left one person dead and three others injured.
The mayor says too many guns are in the hands of people that should not have them. He says an unacceptable number of guns are stolen from unlocked cars.
That’s prompting the mayor to introduce a new city ordinance that would hold gun owners who don’t properly secure their weapons responsible.
He says guns that are under car seats or in glove boxes can be stolen and eventually used to commit a crime.
Under this ordinance, the mayor says any gun owner in the city would be fined if they don’t store their weapon properly or report when it is stolen.
So, we’re blaming crime victims again?
Property owners in Richmond Hill will see higher tax bills despite a stable millage rate, according to WTOC.
Although Richmond Hill is proposing that the millage rate stays the same, councilmembers say taxpayers may still be seeing an increase.
That’s because millage rates are based on the property value of people’s homes, and with inflation, along with sky high demand, property values for most homes in Richmond Hill have gone up making the taxes you pay increase.
“If you live in a $350,000 house for example, your taxes would go up about four to seven dollars a month, depending on what exemptions you’ve got, and at the higher end of that, of course, on a $450,000 dollar home, those monthly taxes would go up anywhere between six and eight dollars a month,” Steve Scholar said.
Houston County property owners will also see higher property tax bills, according to 13WMAZ.
Even though Houston County Commissioners voted to lower their millage rate, property taxes will still go up.
Tuesday night, the county voted to set their 2023 millage rate back by .249 mills.
“Due to property values in Houston County going up significantly in the past year, we had to advertise that rate as a tax increase despite the fact that we actually reduced the millage rate,” Chairman Dan Perdue said.
“Considering we are taking the Bonaire fire station full time, and we’ve hired nine new firefighters to staff that fire station, a revenue shortfall within our fire fund would be a significant setback,” Perdue said.
“I feel like this strikes a balance between guaranteeing that we have the revenue to appropriately deliver services to the citizens of this county while attempting to offer some type of property tax relief,” Perdue said during the meeting.
The City of Edison has hired a new city clerk, according to WALB.
The city is nearly $500,000 in debt and can’t pay all its bills. The council wants the state to do an audit, but an accounting firm must first prepare the city’s financial records.
• The council unanimously approved Demetric Jackson to become the new city clerk
• The city has not paid its trash service since May, adding to its $450,000 debt
• The fire department has been unable to get their pumper worked on because the mechanics are afraid they won’t be paid. And there’s been at least one instance of firefighters having to pay for diesel for the truck.
• And city vehicles are currently uninsured, including police cruisers.
“God forbid, but what is your plan if a city police is headed to a call and gets in a wreck and there’s no insurance?” a meeting attendee said.
“We’ll just hope that don’t happen.”
When asked if the Georgia Bureau of Investigation could step in to investigate what went wrong with the city’s finances, one resident said she’d spoken to Georgia State Representative Gerald Greene.
He told her that the GBI could only be involved if evidence of criminal activity was uncovered.
Augusta is changing some street signs in advance of the renaming of Fort Gordon, according to WRDW.
Georgia Department of Transportation and the city are working to replace them all as the post changes to its new name, Fort Eisenhower.
“It’ll be a big change. People that have been here for any amount of time call it Fort Gordon, and probably will for a while until they get used to the new name,” said John Ussery, assistant director of traffic and engineering for the city.
More than 35 signs belong to the Georgia Department of Transportation, but a few dozen of them are owned by the City of Augusta. So there is a joint effort in replacing them.
“The majority of the signs that are Augusta’s are located along Tobacco Road. The signs along Gordon Highway, Interstate 20, Bobby Jones, those are all responsible to Georgia DOT,” said Ussery.
While the official name change to Fort Eisenhower doesn’t happen until October 27, Georgia Department of Transportation officials and engineering with the city said preparation for the new signs start now.
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