Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 20, 2021

Blue jeans with copper rivets were patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis on May 20, 1873.

On May 20, 1916, more than 20,000 visited Stone Mountain for the dedication ceremony to mark the beginning of a Confederate memorial on the north face.

On May 20, 1995, the section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed to automotive traffic.

The 400th episode of The Simpsons aired on May 20, 2007.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Unadilla Mayor Myron Mixon won his fifth world championship in a BBQ contest, according to 13WMAZ.

This past weekend, Mixon won his fifth world BBQ title in Memphis and now with a lot of years left in his career, some are calling him the GOAT (greatest of all time). He says he doesn’t disagree.

“We had already won the one in 01, 04, 07 and the last time in 2016, and this win was just as special,” said Mixon.

Going to Memphis in May is like the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the World Series of barbecue. Mixon still wears the golden ring from the very first year he took home the title.

This go-round had Central Georgia written all over it when he cooked up two hogs and presented the meat to the judges.

“One weighed 151 lbs., the other one weighed 154 lbs., and as a matter of fact these came from M&T Meats over in Hawkinsville,” he said proudly.

He is the winningest man in his calling, so he doesn’t mind when people nickname him the GOAT.

According to his website, he has 200 Grand Championships and 11 National Championships.

“If that’s what you go by — and that’s the stats — I’ve won more barbecue contests than anyone else,” he said.

Maybe Atlanta can get Chuck Norris to help with the crime problem. A Texas Ranger arrested two people in Lowndes County, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Two people were arrested in Lowndes County by a Texas Ranger Monday during an organized crime investigation, resulting in the confiscation of dozens of cars, according to Texas authorities.

John L. Warren and Cynthia Warren were arrested with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, according to a statement from the Midland County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation began in September when the Midland County Auditor’s office reported a possible theft by Vector Fleet Management and/or employees of the company, the statement said. Midland County had subcontracted maintenance of county vehicles, said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk.

The Warrens were arrested Monday at a Lowndes County residence they owned, Paulk said.

About 50 vehicles were seized in Lowndes County; John Warren was a car collector, and had a pair of British right-hand-drive Mini Coopers in his collection, Paulk said. The cars are now in a Lowndes sheriff’s office impound lot.

Another 24 vehicles were seized in Odessa, Texas, the statement said.

Governor Brian Kemp appointed two new Solicitors General: Tracy Alan Brown for Jeff Davis County; and Graham F. Floyd for Appling County.

Governor Kemp and state legislators will soon begin considering how to use federal COVID relief funds, according to the AJC.

More than two months after President Joe Biden signed a COVID-19 relief bill that promised the state about $4.8 billion, the money hasn’t found its way yet to Georgia.

But Gov. Brian Kemp’s office is expected to soon announce committees that will take applications for spending the money over the next few years. The committees, in turn, will make recommendations to the governor, who by law makes the final decision.

Kelly Farr, the governor’s budget director, said some of the money should be heading to state accounts within the next 60 days.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week came out with broad guidelines for spending the money when it arrives, and Kemp said there’s a chance to use the money for “generational change” with broadband infrastructure, particularly if the state can combine its allotment with other pots of funding going to local governments and schools.

“We want to be very smart and efficient, but we have a chance here,” the governor said.

The need for expanding high-speed internet access — particularly in rural Georgia — has been a hot topic at the General Assembly for years, but lawmakers could never come up with a way to pay for it without raising taxes and fees.

The money coming to Georgia can be used broadly for COVID-19 response, including making direct payments to Georgians, providing aid to small businesses and giving extra pay for “essential workers,” as well as funding infrastructure projects.

Kemp announced on March 31, the last day of the 2021 General Assembly session, that he would set up committees to review applications to spend the federal relief money.

Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller (R-Gainesville) will run for Lieutenant Governor in 2022, according to AccessWDUN.

Miller confirmed he has filed the necessary paperwork to run for the office in 2022. He offered no other comment, saying he will make a formal announcement in the near future.

Miller’s announcement comes just three days after Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan confirmed he will not run for another term.

The Georgia State Elections Board forwarded to the Attorney General’s office two complaints against politicians alleging they campaigned at polling places by providing food for voters in line. From the AJC:

State Reps. Roger Bruce and Matthew Wilson, both Democrats, are under investigation, facing allegations they gave gifts to voters in the form of snacks. The State Election Board recently voted to refer their cases to the attorney general’s office, and they’re facing potential fines.

Giving away food and water to weary voters became commonplace in precincts with hours-long lines during the last few elections, when volunteers and voting organizations encouraged people to endure delays and ensure their ballots counted.

Georgia’s new voting law banned distributing refreshments to waiting voters, a measure supported by Republican lawmakers who said voting lines should be protected from outside influence. The law allows poll workers to set up self-service water receptacles.

Bruce, a Democrat from Atlanta, gave out bags of potato chips in October during early voting in his district while wearing a shirt that said “Roger Bruce State Representative.”

“If they felt like they needed to pass a law, that meant it wasn’t clear I was doing anything wrong in the first place,” Bruce said in an interview. “People were standing in line for hours. I saw the people there and I felt bad for them.”

Wilson, a Democrat from Brookhaven who is running for state insurance commissioner, bought four boxes of pizza and handed out slices at his home precinct at Cross Keys High School on Election Day in November 2018. Wilson told investigators he didn’t identify himself as a candidate and got permission from the poll manager before handing out food.

“The only real events that led to this year’s election rewrites are the Republican losses at the ballot box,” Wilson said. “In response, Republicans brought this legislation with the sole desire to make it harder for folks to vote in historically Democratic areas.”

Handing out refreshments is punishable as a misdemeanor, with maximum penalties of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. But these kinds of cases are usually handled outside of court by the State Election Board, which generally issues public reprimands or levies fines between $150 and $2,000.

Bruce and Wilson also face allegations that their distribution of food violated laws prohibiting candidates from campaigning at polling places, charges that they deny.

United States Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Atlanta) is asking the FAA to take its time in considering the Camden Spaceport application, according to the Savannah Morning News.

“This is not the time to cut corners on environmental review or cut out public participation in the evaluation of this project,” he wrote. “The incoming FAA leadership should be given the opportunity to evaluate fully these issues with the benefit of public input before moving forward with a final decision.”

The FAA first issued an environmental impact statement for the project in 2018. Plans for a revised environmental review were dropped in the fall of 2020 after the issuance of President Donald Trump’s executive order “Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities.”

But President Joe Biden repealed that order, Warnock points out in his letter.

“Further, President Biden signed Executive Order 13990 (Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis), requiring the FAA to make decisions ‘guided by the best science and be protected by processes that ensure the integrity of Federal decision-making,’” he wrote.

Warnock points out several practical reasons for a more thorough review. For one, Camden now plans to launch small rockets, which have a higher failure rate than the originally planned medium rockets. Also, the FAA has cited the risk of uncontrolled wildfire on Cumberland and Little Cumberland from a failed rocket but not studied the issue.

Bibb County Superior Court Judge Howard Z. Simms said the courts are back in business for protecting the community against violent crime, according to the Macon Telegraph.

Judge Howard Z. Simms, a former prosecutor known for his stern yet homespun lectures from the bench that offer equal parts wisdom and admonishment to the guilty, said that with the coronavirus pandemic subsiding the county’s highest court was “back in business.”

Said Simms: “If I live to be 1,000 years old, I will never understand why it is that in this community we settle our differences with a gun. To a greater extent than I see in a lot of other places.”

The judge said that for him the only good thing about the coronavirus crisis was that he “got a year off from having to sit in this room and look at dead bodies on (the courtroom television monitor) and look at young men at (the defense) table who had killed them.”

“Son, it’s a sad day in this room — for everybody in it,” the judge began in his parting words to Howard.

“Sending you to the penitentiary may not stop the next guy or the one after that or the one after that. But word needs to get out. We’re back in business down here. … I can’t stop other people from killing people, but I can stop you from doing it again in this town. And that’s what I aim to do.”

Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson suspended the city’s mask mandate for most residents, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

The suspension will go into effect at noon Thursday. The announcement comes after the number of COVID-19 cases dropped below Gov. Brian Kemp’s threshold requirement of 100 cases per 100,000 people, according to a news release from Henderson’s office.

Despite this suspension, anyone entering buildings owned by the Consolidated Government of Columbus or designated courtrooms are required to wear face coverings.

Those who are not vaccinated are asked to still wear masks in situations where they cannot social distance, according to the release.

The Chattahoochee Valley set a new record for opioid-related overdoses last week, according to WTVM.

Cheryl Kolb with the Columbus Health Department tells News Leader 9 that is the highest weekly count since the start of last year. According to Kolb, 15 of the hospitalizations were seen in Muscogee County. The remaining hospitalizations came from nine neighboring areas with zip codes 31820, 31903, 31904, 31906, 31907. Rural counties include Crisp, Harris, Randolph and Schley.

It’s unclear exactly what the cause of the overdoses were, but Kolb says she has a feeling it has to do with the uptick in fentanyl-laced drugs in the area.

According to the health department, tainted drugs are on the street that are laced with fentanyl. She advises anyone who is considered high risk to suffer from an overdose to consider visiting the health department and pick up a Narcan. For more information click here, or contact Cheryl Kolb at 706-326-1601.

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller proposed an FY 2021 budget that cuts “outside agency” funding, according to 13WMAZ.

Mayor Miller says the county just doesn’t have the money in the budget to fund Atrium Health Navicent and museums in town, so he’s proposing cuts that can save the county roughly $230,000.

The mayor says the outside agencies receiving the cuts include the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the Tubman African American Museum, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Macon Arts Alliance and Atrium Health Navicent. All those mentioned received $50,000 last year, except the Macon Arts Alliance which received $30,000. With Miller’s proposal, that funding will drop to 0 from the general fund.

Mayor Miller says he’s looking to pull from the county’s American Rescue Plan money to help these museums and also boost tourism. He says, so far, they haven’t received guidelines on how to spend the money.

Dalton City Council hired a consulting firm for outreach to Hispanic residents, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

Dalton’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 46.3% Hispanic, and businesswoman and consultant Jackie Killings told the City Council Monday it is vital for the city to publish “important information .. in both Spanish and English on all platforms that we use, written and digital platforms.”

Council members approved a $16,500, nine-month contract with Killings in October to review the city’s operations, with a particular focus on communication and engagement with the community, and on Monday she gave them an update on her work.

“The goal of this is to make sure that the city is serving the citizens with the services they need and we are delivering the services in the way the citizens need,” she said.

[City Communications Director Bruce] Frazier said that “on messages that are of critical importance, such as messages regarding COVID-19 guidelines and more recently vaccination efforts by the city, we have been trying to have those messages available in English and Spanish. We have a staff member at (the Parks and Recreation Department) who has been translating those messages for us. We have also for many years been sending all of our email releases and messages to Spanish-language publications as well as to the English-speaking media, and we have also sent those same messages to community organizations like CLILA (Coalition of Latino Leaders) and the LAA (Latin American Association) so they can get those messages to the people they serve.”

Lumpkin County Commissioners selected Alan Ours as the next County Manager, according to AccessWDUN.

Waynesboro Mayor Gregory Carswell announced he will take a leave of absence, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

“It is with deep regret and mixed emotions that I come to you today that I’m going to take a leave of absence,” Carswell said Monday. “In the best interest of the city and of the citizens and for my family, I need to take a leave of absence to make sure that I’m there for them.”

The announcement comes almost a year since Carswell was arrested in Statesboro on theft and fraud charges. Carwell was indicted with theft by deception, theft by taking, identity fraud and forgery in the second degree.

Carswell was booked on July 27 and released on a $10,000 bond. Carswell turned himself in after being contacted by the Statesboro Police Department.

According to Bulloch County Superior Court documents, Carswell allegedly took $11,920 from Check Into Cash, where he was employed, by fraudulently refinancing a title pawn account and creating a fictitious title pawn account. He is also accused of using identifying information to refinance two title pawn account without the person’s consent or authorization.

Until he returns, Vice Mayor Chick Jones will be acting mayor. Carswell did not give a date for when he might return to office.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners voted to restore the 2 AM last call, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Athens-Clarke County commissioners voted Tuesday to move last call back to 2 a.m., which was changed last year to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ordinance update goes into effect Thursday.

In August 2020, the commission voted to moved last call — the final opportunity of the night for bars to serve alcohol — to 11:30 p.m.

When the change was made, it also required that patrons clear out within 30 minutes of last call. Tuesday’s vote extended that time to 45 minutes.

Rome City Commission will consider a revised parking ordinance for downtown, according to the Rome News Tribune.

City Clerk Joe Smith explained that the new ordinance clears up some legal language to address four things: how notices are assigned to illegally parked vehicles, the automatic doubling of unaddressed fines, the penalties for parking violations and the method for contesting parking violations.

“It’s somewhat housekeeping for the way we do things,” Smith told members of the Rome Public Safety committee this week.