On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution before the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia calling for American independence from Great Britain.
Lee’s resolution declared: “That these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.”
Four weeks later, Georgia’s members of the Continental Congress – Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton — voted for a version written by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and called the Declaration of Independence.
The expulsion of the Cherokee from Georgia began on June 6, 1838 as 800 members left by riverboat.
The first successful ascent of Mt. McKinley, also called Denali, in Alaska, the highest mountain in North America, was completed on June 7, 1913.
On June 7, 1942, Japanese troops occupied American territory in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
On June 6, 1944, seventy-one years ago, Allied forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower began the invasion of France, called D-Day.
On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.
By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops–Americans, British and Canadians–had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.
The first Porsche automobile was completed on June 8, 1948.
Ronald Reagan became the Republican nominee for Governor of California on June 7, 1966.
On June 8, 2004, Georgia hosted the G-8 summit meeting of the world’s major industrial democracies, which included representatives from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom, plus a representative from the European Union. The 30th meeting of the G-8 was held at Sea Island at the Cloister.
Georgia Politics
True to his prediction before we went on-air, Eric Tanenblatt made news on Friday’s “Political Rewind,” mentioning that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will be in Atlanta on June 29th.
Last week we noted Erick Erickson’s endorsement of David Van Sant in the Special Election for House District 24. Today, we bring you an excerpt from the endorsement of Republican Ethan Underwood from longtime GOP activist Bettye Chambers.
Erick Erickson has spent a great deal of time on his WSB radio show insisting that voters in the 24th GA House District NOT vote for Ethan Underwood who is running for this seat which Mark Hamilton held until recently. Mark resigned to take a job in Tennessee. Erick does not really know Ethan but is in his pulpit preaching to voters to NOT vote for Ethan but vote instead for David Van Sant, a local personal injury attorney. Records show that Van Sant contributed to Democrat candidate Michele Nunn for the U.S. Senate in 2014 who lost to David Perdue. Van Sant has also contributed to other Democrat candidates. ERICK ADMITTED THIS TUESDAY.
Erick did not address the fact that Van Sant voted in the 2012 Democratic Primary, but didn’t even vote in the General Election of 2012 when we needed votes for Romney. Unlike Erick Erickson, I could never vote for any Republican who donated to Michelle Nunn or any other Democrat candidate.
On numerous occasions on the radio, Erick had exhibited his great dislike for the GA GOP. Why does Erick seem to always get involved in endorsing candidates? He has endorsed many who were defeated. Why is Erick publicly on WSB radio endorsing Van Sant over Ethan Underwood? Ethan has served in a number of different positions in the Republican Party, including four years as Chairman of the Forsyth Republican party and various positions in the 9th District Republican party. Don’t know about you, but I am very weary of Erick using his radio host position to tell us how to vote when we know more about the candidates than he does.
I have known Ethan Underwood for many years though our work in the 9th District Republican Party where he served as a Vice Chairman, parliamentarian for a number of conventions and also chaired important committees. It was always a pleasure working with Ethan who is very intelligent, dedicated to our conservative Republican cause and always thoroughly prepared for his tasks.
Ethan assures me that he will vote his own convictions in the GA House and will not take orders from anyone at the Dome concerning how to vote on bills. Ethan is a man of strong conservative convictions who will not be “forced” to follow the lead of power brokers at the Gold Dome.
The Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis, chaired by State Rep. Allen Peake, holds its first meeting this week on Tuesday from 1-4 PM at the Coverdell Legislative Office Building Room 606.
The meeting will feature a presentation from Mike Liszewski of Americans for Safe Access. Liszewski will talk about various state medical marijuana laws and pending federal legislation.
“I’m eager to begin the work with some of Georgia’s smartest citizens to come up with a solution that works for our state regarding safe, effective, and timely access to medical cannabis,” Peake said.
In mid-April, Gov. Nathan Deal said that the entire registration system should be up and running in 30 to 60 days. The law requires that the registration cards be issued no later than September 1.
Carroll County Probate Court is preparing for the possibility of a Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, according to the Times-Georgian.
“Right now, our application forms have ‘bride’ and ‘groom,’” said Probate Judge Betty Cason. “That’ll be changed to ‘applicant 1’ and ‘applicant 2.’ That’s the only change on the form.”
Chatham County Commissioner Yusuf Shabazz was cited for leaving the scene of an accident with Savannah City Workers.
City workers were unloading a piece of heavy equipment from the back of a flatbed truck Monday at Holland Drive and Holland Court when Shabazz drove up in what Savannah-Chatham police spokesman Julian Miller said was a non-emergency medical transportation vehicle. Instead of stopping, Miller said, the commissioner went around an employee who was serving as a flag person, and a mirror on his vehicle struck the arm she was using to hold the flag, causing minor injuries.
Shabazz apparently kept going, but later returned. He was told police were being called and that he needed to stay, at which point he said, “Tell the police I’m Commissioner Shabazz” and left again, Miller said.
Traffic officers from the police department started an investigation, and decided to charge Shabazz with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, reckless driving and driving on the wrong side of the road, all misdemeanors. On Friday, the citations were delivered to Shabazz’ attorney, who accepted them on the commissioner’s behalf, Miller said.
State Senator Bruce Thompson (R-White) and State Rep. Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs) will hold a Town Hall meeting Thursday night, June 11, 2015 at 7 PM at the Bridgemill Fire Station, 9550 Bells Ferry Road, in Canton.
The next week, State Senator Brandon Beach will hold a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, June 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Cherokee County Administration Building in Canton to discuss transportation infrastructure in Cherokee County and howt the Georgia General Assembly and the Georgia Department of Transportation are doing to address these needs.
“We’re expecting a crowd,” Beach said. “Commissioner Russell McMurry of GDOT will give a short history of the state department of transportation, gas prices, funding and current projects. It will focus on state projects like Ga. 20 and Ga. 140.”
Also attending will be Jeff Lewis, Cherokee’s 11th District transportation member on the GDOT board, as well as Mark Burkhalter, who represents the neighboring 6th District on the board.
Beach said GDOT will have the latest information on improvements for Highway 20 in front of Canton Marketplace, as well as progress on the North by Northwest Managed Lane Project.
In a separate effort to improve Cherokee County’s roads, the county will hold a second round of follow-up meetings for the county’s Comprehensive Transportation Update June 23 from 6 to 8 p.m., also at the county administration building. A list of potential county projects has been developed and the county hopes to get input from the public.
Congressman Rob Woodall (R-GA-7) will join Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., Reps. Tom Graves and Rick Allen, both R-Ga., officials from the Georgia Department of Transportation and Ports Authority and local companies in a round table discussion by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 9 AM at the Peachtree Room of the Georgia Tech Student Center, 350 Ferst Drive, NW, Atlanta, GA 30332. Paid parking in the Student Center Parking Deck is located next door at 391 Ferst Drive.
Gwinnett County Public Schools are expecting 2800 additional students and $13.3 million extra dollars on local revenue.
The Gwinnett County Board of Education last month tentatively set the millage to remain at 21.85 mills as part of the 2016 budget process. The added enrollment means the projected number of students for next school year is 176,000. The district is also scheduled to open four new schools for the upcoming school year.
A projected net growth is expected to be three percent in the local property tax digest. Because the millage rate is projected to remain the same, taxpayers whose property has not been reassessed will see no change in their school tax bill.
Three public hearings are scheduled on the matter. They will be at 7 p.m. June 16 and 11:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. June 25. All of the hearings will take place at the district office at 437 Old Peachtree Road NW in Suwanee.
While district officials noted the increase in revenue, they noted in a press release that the local property tax is $100 million less than what was collected in fiscal 2009.
Richmond County’s school board budget has improved to where they can give employees raises and eliminate furlough days in the 2016 budget.
Kyle Wingfield of the AJC writes about turnover in the Georgia General Assembly, and what it might mean for legislation.
For every nine legislators in office [in 2009], only four remain. That’s 55 percent turnover in just six years.
The changes reach to the top. Of the 13 members of the House leadership back then, only four are still in office; just two remain in leadership. It’s a similar story in the Senate, where just five out of 12 members of the leadership circa 2009 remain senators, two of whom are still in leadership.
There’s been commensurate change in committee chairmanships, a valuable currency for legislative leaders. Only two of 27 Senate committees have the same chairs as in 2009. In the House, it’s 12 of 38.
What those statistics mean in human terms is a steady departure of institutional knowledge, personal relationships and working alliances.
As appealing as arguments for term limits may be, this extent of turnover doesn’t necessarily help when it comes to much-needed reforms. Yes, there are smart people who arrive with fresh ideas. But there are also fewer people who have been around long enough to know how agencies and programs and policies work, how they don’t, and what might work better. I suspect that’s one reason it has been hard to get anything done in recent years without effort on the governor’s part.
The Rome News-Tribune brings us news that the 14th Congressional District in Extreme Northwest Georgia ranks 4th among Georgia’s district for total exports, with a value of more than $3.5 billion dollars.
The First Congressional District, on the Georgia coast, is tops in exports, with more than $5.6 billion in goods and services going overseas.
The Third District — west central Georgia, including LaGrange, Carrollton, Griffin and a southwest part of metro Atlanta — ranks second, with exports of more than $4.4 billion.
The Ninth District, including the other half of Pickens County, Blue Ridge, Blairsville and Gainesville, ranks third with $4.3 billion in export trade.
A total of $1,631,673,908 in merchandise is exported from Georgia to countries that are part of the various free trade agreements with the United States, according to the report, which is based on 2013 data.
Macon-Bibb County Commissioners are having issues adopting their first budget, according to the Macon Telegraph.
There’s still a great deal of unknowns about the budget, largely how many eligible employees will take an early retirement incentive package. Because employees have until July 31 to decide, the budget will have to be approved by June 30 without an exact number, meaning commissioners will have to adjust the budget during the first fiscal quarter this summer.
On Wednesday, Commissioner Virgil Watkins questioned both the revenue projections for the upcoming year as well as the level of services Macon-Bibb County departments can offer if their budgets are being trimmed.
“For me, there are still a lot of moving parts,” Watkins said. “I think revenues are over-projected. Services will be affected, and I want to be able to figure out how.”
One of the budgetary questions is why LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) revenue received from the state is down $4 million dollars.
Julie Moore, assistant to the county manager, said officials are investigating with the Georgia Department of Revenue, to try to explain why Macon and Bibb County received about $4 million less in fiscal 2012 than the previous year under the category “miscellaneous services,” which include transportation, information technology, finance, insurance, health care, arts and entertainment, and finance.
In fiscal 2012, Macon and Bibb County received about $6.3 million combined from that portion of the LOST, but the following year, they only received about $2.275 million.
Moore said local officials don’t have a specific reason why the money dropped off so sharply. According to records, there were significant differences in collections in July 2011 compared with July 2012, and in January 2012 compared with January 2013 — almost a $1 million difference in both cases.
Macon and Bibb County collected a total of about $35.8 million in LOST funds in fiscal 2012, but about $30.5 million in fiscal 2013.
Hillary Clinton has been criticizing Republicans for what she claims are voter suppression efforts aimed at minority voters.
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday accused Republicans including her potential rivals Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Rick Perry of “deliberately trying to stop” young people and minorities — both vital Democratic constituencies — from exercising their right to vote, as she presented an ambitious agenda to make it easier for those groups and other Americans to participate in elections.
Mrs. Clinton accused Republicans generally of enacting state voting laws based on what she called “a phantom epidemic of election fraud” because they are “scared of letting citizens have their say.”
“What is happening is a sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people from one end of our country to the other,” Mrs. Clinton told a crowd of about 2,000 in a basketball arena at the historically black campus.
Presumably, she’ll be equally critical when the Macon-Bibb Commission reduces the number of voting precincts.
The Board of Elections’ plan would reduce the number of voting locations from 40 to 26. While some of the locations like Jessie Rice and W.T. Morgan schools are being closed, others are being taken out of the mix for different reasons.
In addition to questioning the logistics for proposed new locations, the residents who addressed the advisory council also said they suspect an ulterior motive for the changes. John Glover said many of the changes would put a “hardship on the minority and the poor people” by making them travel greater distances to vote.
“I do think there’s some maneuvering, and it’s a plot to discourage the black voter,” he said.
County Commissioner Elaine Lucas, who attended the meeting, agreed with that assessment. Lucas, a Democrat, questioned the need for the precincts to be changed at all and suggested that potential changes were aimed at limiting the participation of Democratic voters.
“It’s a scheme by somebody to cause some problems,” she said.
While budgetary concerns also had been presented as a driving force for the changes at a meeting in January, Lucas, who serves on the commission’s Finance and Operations Committee, said there had been no discussion in committee or commission meetings about lowering the elections board’s budget by reducing precincts.
Dawsonville’s past and future come together
Under legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Deal, the Dawsonville Moonshine Distillery will be able to sell it’s spirits to people taking tours of the distillery.
“The signing of Senate Bill 63 by the Governor represents a great win for small businesses. As of July 1, craft distilleries and breweries across Georgia will be able to add more jobs and increase the amount of tourism dollars that are invested in their local communities,” said Christie Haynes, president of the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce and office of tourism development.
Currently, those wanting more than a taste of Dawsonville’s legal white lightning or apple pie moonshine have to drive a half mile away and shop at the local package store.
Housed at the Dawsonville Municipal Complex, the Dawsonville Moonshine Distillery is open daily for tours and tastings.
“Many of the Georgia distilleries, like our own Dawsonville Moonshine Distillery, are located in rural areas,” she said. “This passed legislation will have a great impact in areas that are the most eager for furthered tourism and economic development.”
The Georgia Department of Transportation will build three roundabouts in Dawsonville, a double roundabout at Dawson Forest Road and Hwy. 9 South and single roundabouts on Hwy. 53 at Elliott Family Parkway and where Elliott Family Parkway connects to Hwy. 52. While the pavement is new, driving around in circles is nothing new for Dawsonville, where modern stock car racing came out of the culture of moonshiners and the small Georgia town has produced five Daytona winners.
Tickets to the Gun Show
The Georgia Republican Party will hold its first celebration for gun owners and Second Amendment advocates from 11:00AM until 2:00PM on Saturday, October 24 at Wild Bill’s in Duluth. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Visit www.GAGOP.org for more details.
The event will include well known entertainers, booths for firearm dealers and merchants, and remarks from elected officials, candidates*, and NRA leadership.
Leading up to the Second Amendment Celebration, the Georgia Republican Party will launch the Great Gun Give-Away where legal, qualified residents of Georgia can enter to win a wide array of firearms. Details regarding this free, random drawing will be released at a later date.
Sponsorship opportunities are available. If interested, please contact Joe Dendy (jdendy@gagop.org).
*All of our presidential candidates will be invited and some are expected to attend.
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