You’ve seen the ads and commercials: “Got milk?”
This week, your community newspaper borrowed the idea to ask: “Got news?”
The answer is yes, we do. There’s plenty of news inside the pages of The Oglethorpe Echo to go with these opinions.
The Oglethorpe Echo
Thumbs up for public comment
If you attended last week’s Oglethorpe County commission meeting, you saw the crowd of residents challenging the proposed quarry on Lexington-Carlton Road.
Elberton is proclaimed the “Granite Capital of the World,” but locals say much of that stone comes from beneath Oglethorpe’s soil.
Quarries are part of the community’s economic structure, but their placement is a matter of concern for residents.
The issues of noise, dust and trucks were raised at the meeting. Even though the planning and zoning board had voted to change the zoning for the proposed quarry, the commissioners listened to the residents and did the right thing.
They delayed their vote.
We give a thumbs up for thoughtful research on a controversial issue.
Thumbs up for state champs, again
The OCHS girls track team did it again.
The Lady Patriots won the state title for the third time in four years this past weekend.
Tim Stoudenmire and his wife/assistant coach Penni Stoudenmire have done a remarkable job with their athletes. And he said he feels the 2020 team would’ve won it all if COVID-19 hadn’t wiped out the season that spring.
The Stoudenmires are retiring from coaching this year. There’s not a better way to go out.
Thumbs down for not voting
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you know that politicking is in high gear. After weeks of advertisements and campaigning, voters get a chance to cast their choices on Tuesday, May 21.
We published a sample ballot in last week’s edition.
Early voting is now underway, but it will end Friday.
Have you voted?
If you haven’t, and you don’t plan to vote, don’t complain. When you fail to vote, you lose your voice in our democracy. And that earns you a thumbs down.
Thumbs up for advocating
Oglethorpe County and Madison, Wilkes, Warren and Elbert counties have had a fight on its hands for years.
The foul-smelling “fertilizers” that are labeled “soil amendments” have been stinking up rural Northeast Georgia, and there’s been an organized group to fight back.
Chairman Jay Paul of Rural Georgia Protection Alliance was recently recognized by the Georgia Water Coalition as a hero in the alliance’s advocating for remedying the smelly problem.
Efforts are underway to better regulate the bad actors of this soil-enhancement method.
So, we give a thumbs up to Paul and the Rural Georgia Protection Alliance for their fight for what’s right.