On July 24, 1778, Georgia ratified the Articles of Confederation.
Georgia’s John Walton was present on July 9, 1778, and signed the document then. Georgia’s other two delegates – Edward Telfair and Edward Langworthy – did not sign until July 24, 1778, which is the date most often used for Georgia’s ratification of the Articles.
An interesting sidenote is that John Walton‘s brother, George Walton, signed the Declaration of Independence on Georgia’s behalf.
General William Tecumseh Sherman gained the upper hand in the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864. Estimated casualties were 12,140 (3,641 Union, 8,499 Confederate).
On July 23, 1864, Union and Confederate forces in and around Atlanta gathered the dead and worked to save the wounded. Union artillery began bombarding Atlanta. On July 23, 2014, Republicans did the same in the aftermath of the Primary Runoff Elections the previous day. Democratic artillery advertising would soon fill the air.
Former President Ulysses S. Grant died on July 23, 1885.
The Cleveland Metropolitan Park District was established on July 23, 1917 and currently has a set of beautiful parks winding through the city.
On July 22, 1964, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia released their opinion in the case Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States. The court held that the Commerce Clause gave the federal government the ability to order private businesses to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
From the New Georgia Encyclopedia:
Notwithstanding such states’ rights–based challenges, the Court in the Heart of Atlanta Motel and McClung cases unanimously held that the sweeping antidiscrimination provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were a proper exercise of Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. In effect, the Court reasoned that race discrimination by even very localized businesses, when viewed in the aggregate, had such far-reaching negative effects on the interstate movement of people and products that Congress could remove these impediments to commerce whether or not its true motives centered on a moral condemnation of racism.
Ensuing enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the dismantling of many of the most overt forms of racial discrimination, which in turn contributed to the emergence of the “New South” and the explosion of economic activity that spread throughout the region in ensuing decades.
The Heart of Atlanta Motel case would later be heard by the United States Supreme Court.
At 12:51 EDT on Sunday, we mark the safe return from the moon of Apollo 11 on July 24, 1969.
On July 22, 1975, the United States House of Representatives voted to restore U.S. Citizenship to General Robert E. Lee posthumously.
Though President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to the Southern rebels in 1865, it required Lee to apply separately. On Oct. 2, 1865, the same day that Lee was inaugurated as president of Washington College in Lexington, Va., he signed the required amnesty oath and filed an application through Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
Nonetheless, neither was Lee pardoned, nor was his citizenship restored. After receiving it, Secretary of State William Seward gave Lee’s application to a friend as a souvenir. Meanwhile, State Department officials, apparently with Seward’s approval, pigeonholed the oath.
In 1970, an archivist, examining State Department records at the National Archives, found Lee’s lost oath. That discovery helped set in motion a five-year congressional effort to restore citizenship to the general, who had died stateless in 1870.
President Gerald Ford signed the congressional resolution on July 24, 1975, correcting what he said was a 110-year oversight. The signing ceremony took place at Arlington House in Virginia, the former Lee family home. Several Lee descendants, including Robert E. Lee V, his great-great-grandson, attended.
On July 22, 1977, Elvis Costello released his first album, My Aim is True.
The number one song in America on July 23, 1982 was “Eye of the Tiger,” by Survivor, from the Rocky III soundtrack.
John Smoltz started his first game as a major league pitcher on July 23, 1988, as the Braves took a win over the New York Mets.
On July 24, 2000, former Georgia Governor Zell Miller was appointed to the United States Senate to serve in the seat vacated on the death of Senator Paul Coverdell.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
First Lady Jill Biden visited Georgia, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona ended a three-state tour of summer learning programs with a visit on Thursday to the University of Georgia, where around two dozen elementary students participated in outdoor activities before showing off their swimming skills.
The tour comes as part of an effort to highlight summer programs funded through President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which will aid students disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
“Just like you and your students, I was teaching over Zoom and so I saw how hard it was for my students to keep them devoted, and keep their attention,” she said. “You parents were the ones at home trying to keep your kids on a steady path. … It was a really tough time for kids.”
COVID numbers are rising in the following areas:
Savannah Morning News – Chatham COVID cases, hospitalizations rise with BA.5 strain now in area – On July 20, the Coastal Health District reported 1,004 positive COVID cases in Chatham County over the past two weeks. The 7-day rolling average for Chatham is sitting at 77.9 positive cases with the total gradually moving up since an all-time low amount of 6.6 positive cases per seven days in early April.
Valdosta Daily Times – SGMC: Virus cases rising
Rome News-Tribune – 41 covid patients in Rome’s hospitals Thursday, the most five months as BA.5 variant surges. Probate court closed Friday because of spread.
Unemployment hit an all time low in Georgia, below 3%, according to the Center Square via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Georgia’s June seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit an all-time low of 2.9%, below the national unemployment rate of 3.6%, state officials said.
The number of jobs in the state reached an all-time high of more than 4.8 million, increasing by 18,100 from May to June and 246,300 over the year.
“We have never seen an unemployment rate below three percent,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in an announcement. “The unemployment rate is decreasing exactly the way it should in a strong economy. We are adding new job seekers and they are quickly finding employment.
“The labor force has increased to its highest number ever as more Georgians are actively working or looking for work,” Butler added. “Georgia ranks highest in the Southeast and third highest of the ten most populated states with a labor participation rate of 62.3% for May.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney questioned District Attorney Fani Willis’s hosting a fundraiser for the political opponent of a State Senator she is considering prosecuting, according to CNN via the Albany Herald.
“It’s a ‘What are you thinking?’ moment,” McBurney said. “The optics are horrific.”
Thursday’s hearing turned on the efforts of one of the 16 — Georgia state Sen. Burt Jones — to disqualify Willis from any prosecution related to Jones due to Willis’ alleged conflict of interest and political bias.
Jones, a Republican, is currently running for lieutenant governor in Georgia against Democrat Charlie Bailey. Willis hosted a campaign fundraiser for Bailey last month and donated to his primary campaign earlier this year.
If Willis is not disqualified, Jones asked that any report from the special grand jury be sealed until after the November 8 election.
McBurney said it’d be very unlikely the report would come before then, promising that it would not be an “October surprise,” and that he would make sure it will not be released close to November’s election so that it’s not a conflict.
“Using the title of your office and having on social media that you as this political office holder are holding a fundraiser for the opponent of someone that this political office is investigating, I don’t know that it’s an actual conflict, but I use that phrase: “What were you thinking?’” the judge said.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to suspend Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson due to alleged ethics violations, according to the AJC.
Among the allegations against Peterson, who was the first Black probate judge in Douglas County when she was elected in 2020, are the misuse of social media and allowing staff to back-date official documents. An initial complaint containing 18 charges was filed last fall. Last week’s filing brought the number of allegations to 50.
The commission contends Peterson’s “continued service on the bench poses an immediate and substantial threat of serious harm to the public and to the administration of justice.”
The Floyd County Probate Court is closed to the public today due to COVID, according to the Rome News Tribune.
Judge Steven Burkhalter says the Probate Court office is closed to the public on Friday “in order to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” according to a media release. Probate Court staff will still be available from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. via phone and e-mail to answer citizen questions. For more: Call the office at 706-291-5136.
State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome) moved to dismiss a challenge by losing candidate Jeff Lewis, according to the Rome News Tribune.
“On nothing more than pure speculation, petitioner Jeff Lewis asks this court to ignore and invalidate the will of nearly 27,000 residents of Senate District 52 who voted in the May 24, 2022, Republican Primary, and then to order a new election to be held at the expense of taxpayers,” the motion read. “Of course it comes as no surprise that Lewis would like a Mulligan, having garnered only 23.24% of the votes cast to Sen. Hufstetler’s 62.3%,” it reads in part.
During early voting in May, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger upheld an administrative law judge’s opinion that Lewis was ineligible to qualify as a candidate in the state Senate District 52 race.
A “transparency” law passed by the Georgia General Assembly this year — that went into effect just days before the qualifying period opened — bars candidates from qualifying if they have outstanding state fees, fines, taxes or campaign finance reports.
United States Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R-TX) spoke at a livestock auction, according to the Albany Herald.
“I grew up in, like I said, Wrightsville, Georgia,” Walker told the crowd of farmers and ranchers. “I grew up with goats, cows, horses, crap on my feet. You ask my opponent if he grew up like that. So, I know what you guys are going through, and I’m going to fight with you. I stand with our farmers.”
What farmers are going through is price increases that touch nearly every aspect of the job, said the venue’s owner, Todd Stephens.
“Fertilizer prices last year were about $450 a ton. This year, they’re about $850 a ton,” he said. “Diesel fuel went from three something a gallon to $5.50. The customers we got today are losing five cents a pound just in fuel costs.”
Walker sought to pin the blame for those increases on the actions of his Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, and President Joe Biden.
“We have people on the left who are campaigning, they’re not telling you the truth,” he said. “You know that they’re not telling you the truth, you’ve seen these gas prices. Inflation has gone off the roof, and they’re telling you, ‘Get used to it, that’s the way it’s going to be.’”
Walker also campaigned in Hall County, according to the Gainesville Times.
“People aren’t concerned about that,” Walker said when asked if the abortion ban that took effect in Georgia Wednesday might hurt his chances at the polls.
“People are concerned about the gas, they’re concerned about food,” he said. “They’re not even talking about that. That’s not what I’m hearing about.”
Walker, who is running against Raphael Warnock for a U.S. Senate seat, visited Jaemor Farms in an apparent effort to secure the rural vote. He touted his Wrightsville roots and claimed his opponent is “against all the farmers.”
“I’m for the farmers,” he said, “and he’s for Joe Biden.”
State Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, and Terry Rogers, former Republican state representative for the 10th district, were also present, flanking Walker as he fielded questions from the media.
Bulloch County voters will decide three referenda in November, according to the Statesboro Herald.
Bulloch County voters will say yes or no on an unusually large number of local referendums, three, in the November general election. Two have to do with sales taxes; one with liquor.
The Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners recently acted separately to put questions for five-year extensions of two 1% special purpose local option sales taxes, the Education SPLOST and Transportation SPLOST, on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The E-SPLOST funds capital spending for the Bulloch County Schools, such as school and athletic facility construction and school bus, technology and security equipment purchases. The T-SPLOST funds spending for roads, streets, sidewalks and bike paths for Bulloch County and the cities of Statesboro, Brooklet, Portal and Register, as well as for the county-operated airport and Statesboro’s planned public bus system.
Sales taxes on nonexempt items in Bulloch County currently total 8%, which will remain the same if the T-SPLOST and E-SPLOST renewals are approved. That includes a 4% general revenue tax that goes to the state, as well as four 1% local option taxes. The others are the original LOST, which in Bulloch County goes for school system operations, and the original SPLOST, divided among the cities and county for special projects.
There’s plenty of time between now and November 8, but I’m not feeling too strongly about the chances of passing two sales tax referenda on the same ballot in November.
United States Representative Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) voted against a bill designed to protect same-sex marriage, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, know by the acronym DOMA and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. DOMA was already ruled unconstitutional due to the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in 2015, invalidating the law and its enforcement.
The Democrat controlled House voted 267-157 in favor of the bill, which included 47 Republicans voting in favor. Carter joined the other Republican members of the Georgia delegation is voting against the measure.
He said Wednesday that the bill was a distraction from more pressing issues, calling same-sex marriage, a right that has been guaranteed since 2015’s Obergefell v Hodges Supreme Court ruling, “settled law,” despite Thomas’ hopes of revisiting the case.
“I’m not interested in playing these games that Democrats want to play. This is settled law. This is not something we need to be codifying in the legislature. The Supreme Court’s already made a decision about this,” Carter said. “This was nothing more than than the Democrats trying to fear monger, if you will, with social issues, trying to undermine the Supreme Court, and that’s not good legislation. That’s not a good use of our time.”
“People aren’t interested in that. What they’re interested in is the real crises that are going on in this country right now: the price of gas, the price of groceries, inflation. They’re interested in the southern border, and the drugs that are infesting our communities, they’re interested in crime in our cities, and how we’re going to prevent that,” Carter said. “Those are the issues that we should be concentrating up here in Washington, DC, and not trying to deflect interest and attention, like the Democrats are trying to do, on these kinds of social issues.”
Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stacey Jackson said he will decide whether to prosecute abortion cases on an individual basis, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Stacey Jackson, the top prosecutor for Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Muscogee, Talbot and Taylor counties, said decisions to prosecute would depend on whether or not law enforcement agencies made arrests and if the cases are referred to his office.
“If I’m presented with a case, whatever the circumstances may be, we’re committed to following the law in that situation,” he said. “I don’t want to commit to hypotheticals because at this time this office hasn’t (had) to make a decision on any type of prosecution… When and if those cases are presented to us, we’d just handle those on a case-by-case basis and make a decision at that point.”
Several District Attorneys representing Georgia’s largest cities and counties previously said they will not prosecute cases under Georgia’s abortion law. District Attorneys representing the cities of Augusta, Athens and Savannah have pledged they would not prosecute cases under Georgia’s more restrictive ban after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Augusta Chronicle reported. Top prosecutors in the metro Atlanta area have also said they would not prosecute cases, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. They include Fulton County DA Fani Willis, Clayton County DA Tasha Mosely, Cobb County DA Flynn Broady and DeKalb County DA Sherry Boston. Like Jackson, Gwinnett County DA Patsy Austin-Gatson said she would prosecute on a case-by-case basis, the AJC reports.
Jackson, a Harris County native, was appointed as Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit DA in April by Gov. Brian Kemp to replace Mark Jones, who resigned after pleading guilty to misconduct in office. Jackson took office in May.
State Senator Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro) discussed changes in his district, according to the Statesboro Herald.
State Sen. Billy Hickman acknowledged in remarks to a Statesboro club that the Senate District 4 he represents going into the next term has been altered significantly from its past boundaries. He also noted that high poverty rates remain a concern for Bulloch and some neighboring counties.
“Our Senate district has changed, not right now, today, but one, one, twenty-three (Jan. 1, 2023) …,” Hickman told Rotary Club of Statesboro members and guests Wednesday. “But we’re very fortunate. We have grown. Our communities have grown.”
Hickman, a certified public accountant and Republican from Statesboro, was first elected in 2020 to succeed long-serving Sen. Jack Hill, who had died suddenly that April. Hickman is unopposed for re-election this year.
But after the Legislature redrew district lines in response to the 2020 census, Hickman’s District 4 for the 2023-2024 term will no longer includes any of Hill’s home county of Tattnall or any of Emanuel County. Instead, the district was redrawn to include about 27,000 residents of Pooler and Godley Station in Chatham County.
“You know, you hear so many people say that the state of Georgia is now 10.7 million people and that we’ve grown a million people (in the past decade),” Hickman said. “Well, that’s not really true. South Georgia lost 200,000 people, and North Georgia grew 1.2 million people.”
So southern Georgia lost one state Senate district and three state House districts.
“We lost one Senate vote and we lost three House votes. … If we continue not growing and losing population, you can take that and move it 10 more years, and we’ve lost another one and three,” Hickman said. “So, you can see how important it is for us to have growth and provide opportunities in South Georgia so that people choose to live here.”
But later in his Statesboro Rotary remarks, Hickman expressed concern for high poverty rates and low household incomes in Bulloch and neighboring, rural counties such as Candler and Evans.
“Let me mention something that’s really heavy on my heart,” he said. “We all believe in this room that we live in the greatest community in the world … But you know what, we’ve got a lot of things that we could do better in our community, and it’s up to us as leaders in this room to make things better.
He cited the poverty rate in Bulloch County as 22%, meaning that almost one in four Bulloch residents get by on incomes below the federal poverty level. He said that means a family of four living on about $26,000 a year or less. The poverty line varies with the number of people in a household.
He cited poverty rates of roughly 25% in Candler County, 24% in Emanuel County, 23% in Evans County and 21% in Tattnall County.
“The one that will surprise you is Effingham, 7 percent,” Hickman said.
Dalton Public Schools may lower the millage rate as property values have risen, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
“Reports indicate a 20% increase across the board” for properties in the city, [Chief Financial Officer Theresa] Perry said. That’s an average, however, so some property tax increases could be less than 20%, while others could be 30% or even 40%.
The current property tax rate is 8.095 mills, and at that rate Dalton Public Schools would receive $4.4 million more than budgeted due to the substantial increase in assessed property values, she said. With a rate of 7.9 mills the school system would still receive $3.6 million more than budgeted but that would bring the average property tax increase down from 20% to 16%, and “I feel comfortable with 7.9.”
Perry recommended decreasing the 0.57 debt service millage rate to 0.52.
Dalton Public Schools plans to issue revenue bonds for ESPLOST (Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) VI, collections for which begin in January, Perry said. Dalton Public Schools did likewise for ESPLOSTs III and V in order to jump start construction projects and take advantage of favorable interest rates.
The debt issuance would be through the Dalton Building Authority, with a five-year amortization, said Doug Gebhardt, first vice president for the Atlanta branch of Davenport & Company, financial adviser for Dalton Public Schools. The direct bank loan would allow for the ability to prepay the loan at any time in part or in full.
Houston County Commissioners may roll back the property tax millage rate, according to 13WMAZ.
Houston County plans to drop its tax rate a bit, but most property values are going up, and that means most homeowners will probably pay more taxes.
The Houston County Board of Education sets their millage rate and then the Houston County Board of Commissioners set theirs.
This year, the Houston County Board of Commissioners plans to set the county’s millage rate at 9.81 mills. That’s down a bit from last year’s, which was 9.935 mills. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in value.
For 20 years, Houston has operated under a tax cap, which sets a max millage rate. Because of that cap, the board must rollback the rate by just over a tenth of a mill.
“So, we have to get back up under the tax cap, which is 9.81 mills; and you say, ‘How did you exceed the tax cap?’ Again, it goes back to the growth we are having in the county, either through market changes or new growth, new construction,” [Commission Chair Tommy] Stalnaker said.
“It went up because of the reasons of market value changes, new growth, or any new improvements on property; and it is not anything that the government has done to drive up the market prices up,” Stalnaker said.
However, Stalnaker says your tax bill will increase only if your property value increases through market adjustment or if you made improvements.
The Bibb County Board of Education is moving forward with a property tax millage rate rollback, according to 13WMAZ.
Thursday morning, the school board announced it would lower the rate.
“Taking out the effect of inflation for the homeowner,” [Chief Financial Officer Sharon] Roberts explained.
“This affords us the opportunity to support our taxpayers by not imposing any further increases in taxes on them at this point in time,” said Superintendent Dan Sims.
Just because the board approved it Thursday does not mean it’s final just yet. They have to do a final approval, which is August 11.
Muscogee County public schools will offer an online option for 9th and 10th grade students, according to WTVM.
This year is the first year – post COVID – that the Muscogee County School District is giving high schoolers options. The Muscogee County School District is offering an online option for 9th and 10th graders. Lighthouse Virtual Academy is providing AP and honor courses, general academic courses, and a wide array of electives.
“I think this is something that we absolutely have needed for a while,” said Stacy Martin, Director of Lighthouse Virtual Academy. “Students are so excited about coming to Lighthouse Virtual Academy – we’ve been doing one-on-one meetings with our students and our parents and the first thing that they say is we are so excited to be a part of this academy.”
This year is the pilot year for the virtual academy – only for 9th and 10th graders as of now. Martin says they have hopes to add 11th and 12th graders next school year.
Dougherty County is raising their minimum wage for county employees from $10/hour to $13/hour, according to WALB.
County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said this will make Dougherty County have the highest minimum wage of local governments in southwest Georgia.
Right now, Dougherty County has 650 employees and 135 job openings.
“What organization on the planet earth could operate at that deficiency,” said Cohilas.
In many cases, Cohilas said they train employees, and they leave for better pay. He said the county has not been paying its employees a livable wage — until now.
The Georgia Ports Authority has increased throughput and capacity during the pandemic, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Despite inflation, rising shipping fees and a surplus of retail goods, the Port of Savannah continues to see record growth. Last year, the port experienced a 20% increase in volume, according to GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. Before the pandemic, an average year brought 6.5% growth.
Container volume increased 54% from May 2020 to May 2022. The Port of Savannah has processed between 350,000 and 600,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard unit of measuring volume at ports) per month since the pandemic arrived on Savannah’s shore in spring 2020.
“If we could have 20% more capacity than demand, we could stay ahead of things,” Lynch said, referring to how many containers the port can handle, versus how much their customers need them to handle. “This last year, we grew by 20%, and all that additional capacity was eaten up.”
The Port of Brunswick, the state’s second-largest port, moved 650,000 vehicles and heavy machinery units last year, a 10% increase from 2020.
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