On June 17, 1759, Sir Francis Drake claimed California for England.
On June 17, 1775, British forces under General William Howe engaged American colonists at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
On June 17, some 2,200 British forces under the command of Major General William Howe (1729-1814) and Brigadier General Robert Pigot (1720-96) landed on the Charlestown Peninsula then marched to Breed’s Hill. As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, Prescott, in an effort to conserve the Americans’ limited supply of ammunition, reportedly told his men, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the Redcoats were within several dozen yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat.
After re-forming their lines, the British attacked again, with much the same result. Prescott’s men were now low on ammunition, though, and when the Redcoats went up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. However, by the end of the engagement, the Patriots’ gunfire had cut down some 1,000 enemy troops, with more than 200 killed and more than 800 wounded. More than 100 Americans perished, while more than 300 others were wounded.
A distant ancestor of mine, John Logue, fought with the Americans at Bunker Hill, though he was not yet an enlisted soldier.
President Andrew Johnson appointed John Johnson (no relation) provisional Governor of Georgia after the Civil War on June 17, 1865; John Johnson had opposed secession.
France announced its intention to surrender to Germany on June 17, 1940.
Five men were arrested for burglary of the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, DC on June 17, 1972.
The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, the official organization of Nixon’s campaign.
In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the president’s staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and he had recorded many conversations.
After a protracted series of bitter court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes to government investigators; he ultimately complied.
Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable goings-on that had taken place after the break-in.
Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, then issued a pardon to him on September 8, 1974.
Newton Leroy Gingrich was born on June 17, 1943 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Gingrich graduated from college at Emory University, where he founded the Emory College Republicans. Gingrich’s congressional papers are collected in the the Georgia’s Political Heritage Program at West Georgia College, where he taught before being elected to Congress. Also at West Georgia are the papers of former Congressmen Bob Barr, Mac Collins, and Pat Swindall, along with a near-perfect replica of Georgia Speaker Tom Murphy’s office.
A new historical marker in Culloden, Georgia, tells the story of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, who as President of the Women’s Political Council, played a major role in planning and sustaining the Montgomery bus boycott, according to the Macon Telegraph.
“I think that people were fed up. They had reached the point that they knew there was no return — that they had to do it or die. And that’s what kept it going. It was the sheer spirit for freedom, for the feeling of being a man and a woman,” Robinson said during an interview for “America, They Loved You Madly” in 1979.
Robinson and her family were honored in Culloden on Wednesday with a historical marker near 3 Old Highway 341 detailing Robinson’s role in the Civil Rights Movement.
She became the president of the Women’s Political Council in 1950, and more than a year before the boycott she wrote a letter to the mayor of Montgomery asking for the desegregation of buses.
Although the boycott is known to have started right after Rosa Parks was arrested, Robinson said in the 1979 interview that the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery had been planning it for years.
After Parks was arrested, Robinson had tens of thousands of leaflets printed to let people know the boycott would start Dec. 5; she had her students at Alabama State College distribute them.
During the 13 months of the boycott, Robinson had her car windows broken and watched police pour acid on her car.
Robinson said in the interview that they held a meeting after the verdict to celebrate their victory.
“We had won self-respect… We felt that we were somebody, that somebody had to listen to us, that we had forced the white man to give what we knew was a part of our own citizenship,” she said. “If you have never had the feeling that this is not the other man’s country, and you are an alien in it, but that this is your country, too, then you don’t know what I’m talking about.
“But it is a hilarious feeling that just goes all over you, that makes you feel that America is a great country, and we’re going to do more to make it greater.”
The Ezekiel Harris House in Augusta was home to a Revolutionary hoax, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Today we know the structure as the Ezekiel Harris House, which has stood close to Broad Street since it was a Cherokee trading route.
They say the house was built about 1797 by Ezekiel Harris, a tobacco merchant and businessman who among other things gave the Harrisburg neighborhood its name.
Tobacco salesmen, however, aren’t all that interesting, so sometime in the late 1800s, Augustans around Harrisburg started what became the neighborhood’s best urban legend – that the old wooden house was actually the famed “White House,” or Mackay trading post and the site of one of the American Revolution’s most barbaric atrocities.
It was where, the legend said, 13 Patriot prisoners – one for each colony – were hanged from an inside staircase.
But never let the truth get in the way of a good tale. And in 1938, it didn’t.
That’s when a city brochure of tourist sites featured today’s Harris House as the “The White House of the Revolution, or the Mackay House, built in 1750.” It also repeated the legend of the 13 hanging Patriots.
In the 1970s, the state of Georgia acquired the site and sent a young historian named Martha Norwood to examine the house for details in advance of the upcoming 1976 bicentennial. Norwood – evaluating the building’s construction techniques, including the types of nails used – quickly discovered the truth. She told her superiors the house was not built during the Revolutionary War years, but years later. They brought in an expert from Williamsburg, Va., who agreed. A public announcement was made.
Augusta’s esteemed historian Ed Cashin agreed, admitting that, yes, a dozen or so Patriots were probably executed, but that was because they had violated previous paroles involving battles with the British. But it wasn’t at the Harris House.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Georgia’s legislative redistricting committees set a schedule for public hearings, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Rome News Tribune:
• Monday, June 28: Atlanta
• Tuesday, June 29: Cumming
• Wednesday, June 30: Dalton• Tuesday, July 6: Athens
• Wednesday, July 7: Augusta
• Monday, July 26: Brunswick
Augusta City Commissioners have begun working in a subcommittee on redistricting local political lines, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
“I’m very concerned about how our last redistricting process went,” Commissioner Sammie Sias said. “Judge (Randal) Hall 10 years ago ravaged south Augusta, and I’m still upset about that.”
After each census, federal, state and local district lines must be redrawn to accommodate population shifts. While census data is running far behind due to COVID-19, the subcommittee began work on Augusta’s plan at a Wednesday meeting, naming Commissioner Sean Frantom as chairman.
Cities under home rule may draw their own district lines but Georgia counties and school systems must submit them to the General Assembly, Sias noted. As a consolidated government, Augusta-Richmond for most purposes is considered a city and a county, but since consolidation has kept the same district lines as the school board.
No school or legislative members had stepped forward. The subcommittee on Wednesday discussed going it alone, leaving the school board to either adopt Augusta’s plan or draw its own. City Administrator Odie Donald II and Richmond County Elections Director Lynn Bailey each said they weren’t familiar with using a standalone process, and the subcommittee would opt to keep the method as is.
In addition to time constraints, Augusta is unlikely to have assistance from a state reapportionment consultant as it did a decade ago with Linda Meggers, Bailey said. Staff are attending an upcoming national redistricting conference while the city IT department expects to add a redistricting module to its GIS mapping software, she said.
The subcommittee agreed to extend an invitation to legislators and the school board and planned to meet again next month.
Former United States Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Atlanta) is reportedly considering another run, according to CNN via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia met with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, as she considers whether to wage a rematch against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock next year when he runs for a full six-year term.
“I haven’t ruled it out,” Loeffler told CNN.
Asked why she met with McConnell, Loeffler added: “I’m updating the leader on the situation in Georgia.”
Loeffler lost to Warnock by two points in January January in one of two runoffs that flipped the Senate to Democrats. Since then, she has launched an organization, Greater Georgia, aiming to serve as a counter to Fair Fight, the voting rights organization founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams. Loeffler has also kept in touch with Trump, recently meeting with the former President in Bedminster, New Jersey, and wishing him a happy birthday on Twitter.
DeKalb Chief Superior Court Judge Asha Jackson rejected the DeKalb County Republican Party’s nominee for the county Board of Elections, according to the AJC.
Paul Maner is officially out of the running for the DeKalb Elections Board.
“The decision to reject his name as a nominee was based on an extraordinary number of phone calls and emails to Judge Jackson about Mr. Maner’s candidacy as a nominee and a determination after review of the same, that another more suitable candidate would need to be considered for the Board of Elections,” DeBerry said.
The terms of all members of the five-member board expire at the end of June. One of the two Republican members, Anthony Lewis, appears set to serve another term. Democrats plan to keep their two representatives — Dele Lowman-Smith and Susan Motter — in place.
The board oversees elections within the county and assists with voter registration and absentee voting.
All five appointments to the board will be made on or before June 30, 2021.
The Georgia Department of Transportation is considering a public-private partnership for I-285 toll lanes, according to the AJC.
State officials plan to allow a private company to set toll rates and keep the revenue from the proposed I-285 express lanes — a move that will affect hundreds of thousands of metro Atlanta commuters.
The firm would invest in the design, construction and maintenance of the new lanes, currently set for construction beginning in 2023, then recover its investment by collecting toll revenue for 50 years. Many details — including which company will operate the lanes, how much it will invest and any limits on its tolling authority — have not been determined.
Georgia transportation officials say private investment will allow the state to add more toll lanes than the state alone can afford to build along the top half of the Perimeter. It also could mean more entry points to the lanes than currently planned, allowing more people to easily use them.
GDOT says such “managed lanes” are the best way to address metro Atlanta’s world-class traffic mess because “free” lanes fill up almost as soon as they open. The agency says traffic in the toll lanes can be managed through adjustable tolls — the worse the traffic, the higher the toll — that discourage enough people from using the lanes to keep traffic moving.
That benefits motorists willing to pay by the mile to use the lanes. But GDOT says the toll lanes also benefit other motorists by freeing up space in the free lanes.
Decatur County Republicans heard from local legislators, according to the Bainbridge Post-Searchlight.
The Decatur County Republicans convened at Spring Hill Tree Farm on Tuesday evening. Attendees were met by Georgia State Representatives Joe Campbell and Darlene Taylor, with State Senator Dr. Dean Burke present as a last-minute addition as well.
“One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been in the legislature is that, end products that we produce at the end of a session are always better for the discussion, and input, and committee process,” Burke said. “If you can imagine a 30-page bill, we have people who argue over every word in that 30-page bill, and that means, at the end, there’s less likelihood that we screwed up.”
“I think that election bill goes a long way to bring back appropriate oversight of the election process, but until we have an election or two, there’s still going to be shortcomings that we’re going to have to find, because no bill is perfect,” he said.
Rep. Taylor spoke next. “I’ve been up in the legislature for 11 years… What you do when you get up there is find out who’s there to climb the ladder, and who’s there to help the people back home. And I’m there to take care of the people back home,” she asserted.
“I will tell you, as we look at legislation, Dean was right on it. Every piece of legislation gets really thoroughly washed and scrubbed before it comes out.” She then went on to discuss both Georgia’s reaction to the pandemic, as well as the previously mentioned election bill. “I’m vice chair of appropriations in the House for healthcare. And it is a tremendous, really tremendous thing to look at. Those needing have Medicaid, and they’re very much in need. And that’s a growing part of our population, again, because of the pandemic. On the same token, we have state employees and teachers that we needed to protect too, and those dollars go out very quickly.”
“In my retirement, I started, just like ya’ll are, got started getting involved in the Republican Party at the local level. So that kind of got me started…. But the real reason I did this, it looked like to me, and you gotta remember this was three years ago when all this started happening… it looked like to me that our way of life down here was being attacked.” [State Rep. Joe Campbell] continued, “I just felt like ‘The opportunity’s there, the door’s open, and I need to get off the sideline, get on there and see if I can make something happen.”
Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman spoke about a rise in violent crime, according to WTVM.
The Sheriff’s office and the Columbus Police Department are working together to catch people who commit heinous acts of violence. However, it’s been a challenge since they’re faced with a nationwide law enforcement shortage.
“Many years ago, when the community said we had an issue with crime, some of the leadership at the time said we did not have an issue with crime. (The community) said we had a problem with gangs. Then, government leaders said we did not have an issue with gangs and now here we are,” said Countryman.
Sheriff Countryman says the first step to rid the city of crime is to bring unity on all fronts – meaning the courts, police, and sheriff’s department including mental health resources.
Augusta continues looking at P-card use, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Commissioner Brandon Garrett said he wanted to examine the lack of policy because of Davis’ card use. The charges have included large payments, some via PayPal, to current and former staffers, consultants and a Florida video production firm. Davis has said any allegations of wrongdoing are unsubstantiated.
The commission on Tuesday unanimously approved having the city Law Department and Administrator Odie Donald review the matter and develop a policy. They took no action on Davis’ call for an audit, although some said it was a step in the right direction.
If approved, the new guidelines may require cardholders to sign an agreement with stated rules for use such as spending limits, documentation, prior approvals or other justifications for use of the cards.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioners adopted a final budget for FY 2022, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Athens-Clarke commissioners on Tuesday gave final approval to next year’s budget, which includes a $15-an-hour minimum wage for government employees.
They backed Commissioner Mariah Parker’s budget proposal, which included the minimum-wage hike. It passed on a 7-3 vote, with Commissioners Allison Wright, Mike Hamby and Ovita Thornton voting against it.
Wright, Hamby and Thornton pitched their own proposal — similar to Parker’s, but in addition to the minimum-wage increase, all county employees would have received a 12.2% raise on Jan 1.
Athens Clarke County internal auditor Stephanie Maddox was reappointed for a two year term, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Maddox will serve a two-year term, facing a reappointment vote again in 2023. Maddox’s duties include reviewing and analyzing operations and fiscal procedures as well as the organizational structures and responsibilities of Athens-Clarke departments.
“Even though I was reappointed by the [Mayor and Commission] last night, my reappointment comes with uncertainties that still feel unsupportive and inadequate. [The Mayor and Comission] has not asked me what resources I need to complete my job for the remainder of this calendar year nor have they provided my office with any measurable benchmarks. This has not felt like a normal reappointment process, especially given the circumstances. I would reach out to [the Mayor and Comission] to find out more,” Maddox said.
The vote came a week after a news conference where Maddox alleged she had been harassed by local government officials. Maddox claimed Mayor Kelly Girtz and County Manager Blaine Williams had targeted her after she submitted an open records request for a 2018 Athens-Clarke County Compensation Study, after several members of her staff did not receive pay raises.
Columbia County Commissioners approved a budget for fiscal year 2022, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
The county’s Board of Commissioners voted to adopt the proposed Fiscal 2022 budget of more than $203 million. That’s an increase of 8.68% over last year from adding 19 new jobs in the general fund and reclassifying segments of the budget. But despite a 6% drop in capital, the budget still balanced, County Manager Scott Johnson said.
“The way we were able to do that is, with the growth in Columbia County and the growth in the digest we had balanced this budget using a 3% increase in property tax revenues but we are seeing additional growth in the digest,” he told commissioners. Because of that, “I feel very certain that the county is going to be taking up a matter to actually roll back the millage rate when we have the millage rate hearings.”
The millage rate is the rate per $1,000 of property value, used to calculate local property taxes. Last August, commissioners voted unanimously to keep the county’s millage rate at 5.999. The rate had been rolled back for five of the past six years.
The new budget also applies a new salary matrix for county employees that raises new workers’ minimum hourly wage to $15 an hour.
In a separate vote Tuesday, commissioners approved an intergovernmental agreement in which the county would buy the city of Harlem’s water and sewer system for $7 million and merge it with the Columbia County Water Utility, effective July 1.
Savannah-Chatham County public schools paid five local charter schools three years of back revenues owed, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The total for all five schools dating back to fiscal year 2018 is $66,530. Payments range from just under $7,000 to Tybee Island Maritime Academy to just under $28,000 to Oglethorpe Charter School.
According to the district website, the payments were made from the district’s general fund and are adjusted allocations paid with budget transfers between accounts.
The funds the charter schools say the district owed to them stem from “other local revenue” the district received from sources other than local property taxes, federal funding, state funding, and the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) funds.
“‘Other local revenue’ could be from when the district sells a surplus building or rents a building or has interest income,” explained Barry Lollis, executive director of Savannah Classical Academy. He added the district is supposed to allocate a share of those proceeds with the charter schools.
“As a matter of annual practice, the district has issued mid-term funding calculations to all district local charter schools. The mid-term calculations included additional ‘local revenue’ that were not part of the FY21 initial calculations,” Savannah-Chatham Public Schools said via email Wednesday afternoon. “To be consistent in our effort moving forward, the district decided to adjust the last three years as well. This action is not part of any settlement or recent action from the 2021 Legislative Session. The district’s objective is to treat local charter schools fairly and in accordance with the law.”
The Dalton Board of Education offered Superintendent Tim Scott a new three-year contract, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
Tybee Island is issuing increasing numbers of tickets for shenanigans on the beaches, according to WTOC.
During the pandemic, city officials say it was difficult to have a fully-staffed code enforcement team. However, now that they have a full crew, it is harder for people to get away with breaking the rules.
Since the start of this season, City Manager Shawn Gillen says the code enforcement team has been fully-staffed and patrolling the beach for most of the day. They are looking for people violating rules including littering, having glass on the beach, pets on the beach and being on the sandbar.
“We’ve written more dog tickets in the last year than we have in the last four years combined. It’s one of those things where we’re getting more and more signage to let people know about the rules and we ask people to go to our website, look at the beach rules and understand them because the code enforcement will be writing a ticket if they see the violation,” Gillen said.
Floyd County Superior Court is eying a return to its usual environs, according to the Rome News Tribune.
With the potential for a statewide judicial emergency order to expire at the end of the month, local jury trials are likely to move back within the Floyd County courthouse from the Forum River Center.
The order was first put in place in March 2020, as the number of COVID-19 cases began to rise in Georgia, and renewed several times. Earlier this month, soon to retire Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton stated he does not expect the emergency order to extend beyond June 30.
“The question is what we’re going to do when that decision is made,” said Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach. “We’re still going to take precautions.”
At this point, it is likely that jury trials will move back into the Superior Court’s four courtrooms on the third floor of the courthouse. The courts will potentially keep holding jury selection in the smaller, and more isolated, ballroom area of the Forum.
Statesboro is estimating potential revenue from a liquor referendum on the November 2, 2021 ballot, according to the Statesboro Herald.
Statesboro already receives significant revenues, $902,800 in 2020, from a wholesale excise tax on alcoholic beverages and retail licenses for bars, pubs and restaurants that serve beer, wine and liquor drinks and stores that sell beer and wine. Only the sale of distilled liquors for off-premises consumption is currently prohibited here.
Some cities that already have liquor stores and very similar populations actually receive less revenue from these sources, such as Hinesville with 34,345 residents but $562,895 from excise tax and licensing.
Other comparison cities, such as Dalton with 33,921 people but $1,005,692 in relevant revenue, receive substantially more.
“We would need to commission an outside study for that; that’s not something we could just figure out,” [City Attorney Cain] Smith said. “There are too many variables. We just don’t have that sort of polling and statistical expertise.”
The City of Dalton school system ended its mask mandate, according to the Dalton Daily Citzen News.
Dalton Public Schools opened the 2020-21 academic year mandating masks for students and staff except in rare cases, such as while eating or drinking, or when social distance could be maintained, and the school system revised its policy to recommend, but not mandate, masks during outdoor activities in early May. That meant year-end outdoor activities, such as graduations and field days, could be held without masks.
Though the 2020-21 academic term concluded at the end of May, the school system has numerous students and staff in its facilities this summer for various programs. Those individuals will not be required to wear masks, although they are free to do so.
“We have about 680 students doing some type of summer learning” in Dalton Public Schools, said Laura Orr, the school system’s chief academic officer. Those students are being served by approximately 120 staff members, so “we’re in full swing.”
Dalton Public Schools will remain flush with cash due to federal COVID relief funds, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
In 2020, Georgia school systems were told to expect an 11% reduction in state funding due to austerity measures in response to the economic downtown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but “we got about $2.6 million back,” Perry said. Additional funds from the first and second federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Acts have aided the school system, as “CARES is helping us with a variety of expenditures we would have done out of the general fund.”
Dalton Public Schools has received approximately $2 million from the initial CARES Act, $7 million from the second CARES Act and $17 million from the federal American Rescue Plan of 2021, Perry said. “The majority of” funds from the second CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan will be spent in fiscal year 2022 and 2023, as all funds must be exhausted by fiscal year 2024.
Roughly $4 million in typical general fund expenditures is being covered by CARES II and American Rescue Plan funds, however, so the school system will have to be prepared to eventually pick up those expenses, she said. Dalton Public Schools is using CARES Act II funds to pay for six months of custodial salary and benefits and four months of clerical salary and benefits, for example, and using $2 million of American Rescue Plan funds for 20 teacher positions, including interventionists, credit recovery specialists and instructors for English Language Learners.
“It’s very important we help our youngsters in many ways with them” having missed so much in-person learning due to COVID-19, said Palmer Griffin, vice chairman of the school board. “There are some learning gaps being addressed through CARES and” the American Rescue Plan.
The Richmond County public school system is considering a 1:1 policy on student computers, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Through funds from the American Rescue Plan, Verizon Innovative Learning Schools and Cares 2, HP Probook laptops will be issued to each student and teacher so they have the tools for sufficient education.
ssociate Superintendent Malinda Cobb said each family will have to sign a loan agreement. This form must be signed by a parent and affirms that the device will be used for educational purposes only and that the device’s care and security are fully the responsibility of the parent.
The 1:1 handbook further explains that these devices are school property and are not to be used for inappropriate behavior, non-educational entertainment or non-permitted social-media sites. The handbook also instructs on connecting to the Internet, how to properly care for devices and cyber safety tips.
The school district will be offering optional insurance for devices. The handbook says the insurance plan would cost $25 per year and cover loss, theft or damage to the laptop. Cobb said if a student loses a second device, that student will become a “day-user” for the rest of the year and will get a device to use only while on school grounds and cannot take it home.
Fees associated with the program include $25 for any repairable damages, $49 for a lost charging cord and, if the student does not have the insurance, $750 if the computer is lost or damaged beyond repair. Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw said they have options like payment plans if families need to pay a fee but are not immediately able to.
The board’s fiscal year 2022 budget received unanimous approval for its final adoption. The budget, approximately, includes a general fund of $283.5 million, $30.6 million for debt service, $56.7 million for capital projects and $148.3 million for special revenues.
Coastal State Prison in Savannah is vaccinating inmates at a higher rate than the general public, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The 1,300 men incarcerated at Coastal State Prison in Savannah are accepting COVID vaccinations at a higher rate than county residents as a whole.
In Chatham County, about 43% of residents have received at least one dose as of June 15. Statewide it’s 42%. The rate at Coastal State is 84% using the base population of 1,300. That gives an idea of the coverage but not a precise picture because the number of inmates fluctuates daily, with the census rising by 300 from May 1 to June 1.
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