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How Georgia’s redistricting process sets the playing field for 2022 and beyond

By
Stephen Fowler
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The political and demographic tides of Georgia may have turned in Democrats’ favor over the past decade, but the Republican-led redistricting process has allowed the GOP to ride the waves of power a bit longer.

Georgia voters elected two Democratic U.S. senators in the January 2021 runoffs, narrowly picked President Joe Biden in November 2020 and flipped two suburban U.S. House seats to Democratic lawmakers in the past four years, but state government is still dominated by Republicans.

This month, the GOP-led Georgia General Assembly approved redistricting maps that overhaul a suburban congressional seat held by a Democrat to favor conservative voters in Atlanta’s northern exurbs, even as the maps shifted more districts to metro Atlanta Democrats in the state legislature.

Barring successful legal challenges or any mid-cycle realignments, these maps will control Georgia’s politics for the next 10 years and have a profound impact on how the swing state will be governed and what types of candidates will run.

While statewide elections have essentially been a competitive 50-50 split recently, the new boundaries approved for state and federal lawmakers are not as competitive, possibly leading to more races being decided in lower-turnout primaries and the potential for more extreme candidates to take office.

Every state and federal lawmaker will be on the ballot except Sen. Jon Ossoff. Georgia has played a pivotal role in national politics, and with control of the U.S. House and Senate on the line, the 2022 midterms will be no exception.

Here are some of the most notable changes to district lines, candidate decisions and other factors now that the redistricting special session is complete.

U.S. House

Currently, Georgia has eight Republican and six Democratic representatives in the U.S. House, but that number is destined to change. The new congressional map takes the 6th District, represented by Democrat Lucy McBath, and turns it into a conservative stronghold by moving the seat northward to include Cherokee, Forsyth and Dawson County voters. In turn, the 7th District represented by Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux shrunk its footprint to just part of Gwinnett County and Johns Creek, creating a safely Democratic district.

McBath quickly announced she would be running in the new 7th District, noting that, technically, there is no incumbent since Republicans did not include Bourdeaux’s home in the new boundaries. But the law does not require members of Congress to live where they run or represent, so Bourdeaux has also said she will run for reelection in that district.

This sets up a potentially messy primary between two sitting Democratic lawmakers unless one ultimately decides to switch to a different office or not run.

In the 6th District, several existing Republican candidates live in the Cobb and Fulton portions, leaving open a possibility for a candidate more familiar to Forsyth County voters to have a strong showing in a primary.

Rich McCormick, the 2020 GOP nominee for the 7th Congressional District, has indicated he will run again but will announce which seat he will vie for soon. He currently lives in the new 9th Congressional District but is close to the border of the 6th District, which includes parts of the old district he ran for last year.

Rep. Andrew Clyde of the 9th District said Tuesday morning on Voice of Rural America that he would run for reelection in the 9th after fellow Republicans drew his home into the new 10th District, which is open because of Jody Hice’s run for secretary of state.

While the contours of other U.S. House districts will change, the competitiveness of the races will not by very much. In the new congressional map, the closest district would be Southwest Georgia’s 2nd District, represented by Sanford Bishop, which would favor Democrats by about 10 points.

On average, a Republican congressman from Georgia would win with 61% of the vote in their district while a Democratic representative would capture 72% of the vote, meaning districts with Democratic U.S. House members have Democrats more heavily packed into them than Republicans are in Republican districts.

State Senate

The Georgia state Senate map takes two more rural Republican districts that will be vacated by lawmakers running for higher office and moves them into Democrat-heavy areas in metro Atlanta, while shifting the boundaries of Sen. Michelle Au’s Johns Creek-based district to become conservative-leaning and majority white.

Sen. Bruce Thompson (R-White) is running for labor commissioner, so Republicans moved his Bartow and Cherokee-based seat to north Fulton County. State Rep. Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) quickly announced he would run for the new seat.

Sen. Tyler Harper (R-Ocilla) is running for agriculture commissioner, and so, due to population loss in South Georgia, his district is moved to Gwinnett County. State Rep. Beth Moore (D-Peachtree Corners) announced she would run for the new seat as well.

Democrats objected during the special session to the new boundaries for Au’s district, which shifts from majority-nonwhite to majority-white but keeps its percentage of Asian voters.

An analysis from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project finds only one of the 56 new districts is competitive.

State House

Republicans in the state House created a map that primarily takes advantage of retirements to shed a few seats of their majority and shift more districts into metro Atlanta. New vacant House seats would be created in conservative-leaning Forsyth County and Democratic parts of Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties.

One set of incumbent Democrats in Gwinnett County are paired against each other: Rebecca Mitchell and Shelly Hutchinson in Snellville. Republican Rep. Gerald Greene (R-Cuthbert) now sits in Rep. Winfred Dukes’ (D-Albany) district and Rep. Philip Singleton (R-Sharpsburg) is now in a South Fulton-based, Democrat-heavy district under this new map.

Democrats could gain as many as six seats on paper, but a difficult national environment for the party could translate into down-ballot troubles.

Statewide

The political maps for state and federal lawmakers don’t affect statewide races like governor or secretary of state, but there are still implications. Democrats are hoping to build on the 2018 election cycle that saw Stacey Abrams come within 55,000 votes of becoming governor, and are preparing for her likely rematch against Gov. Brian Kemp.

Some Republican lawmakers and candidates continue to question the 2020 election outcome and demand a so-called “forensic audit” of the results that were counted three separate times. In the January 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs, this in part led to a noticeable drop off in votes across Georgia in conservative strongholds.

Some are worried a repeat could happen in 2022, especially in places that do not have competitive local races to energize voters to the polls.

With fewer competitive races and seats available to them, Democrats must make choices about which candidates to support in primaries and what resources to put behind candidates and districts that seem impossible to win.

This article appears on Now Habersham through a news partnership with GPB News

Fire damages garage and apartment in White County

By
Dean Dyer, WRWH Radio
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Firefighters battle fire on Nonquit Drive Tuesday. (Photo: W.C. Fire Service)

White County Fire officials say there were no injuries as a result of a residential fire Tuesday.

White County Fire Chief Seth Weaver said the fire at 125 Nonquit Drive east of Cleveland heavily damaged a garage and apartment attached to the residence at the location. Other areas of the home received smoke and water damage.

Fire units were dispatched just before 3 p.m. and when they arrived found fire and smoke coming from the building, plus there was a woods fire adjacent to the home. The woods fire burned about an acre, with the flames being fanned by the wind.

According to Chief Weaver, there is nothing suspicious about the fire but the State Fire Marshalls office is investigating to determine the origin.

Quarterfinal previews

By
Todd Holcomb
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Here’s a preview of Northeast Georgia area teams still in the hunt for a championship title. The quarterfinals of the GHSA State Football Championships kick off Friday. Check out Now Hab’s NEGA Area Scoreboard on our sports page for updates.

MORE: Review Round 2

Class 5A
Calhoun (10-2) at Clarke Central (10-2): This is a rematch of a 2020 second-round game, also played in Athens, that Calhoun won 33-14. Calhoun’s Christian Lewis passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns in that game. Now a senior, he was at his best last week, completing 29 of 50 passes for 447 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-42 victory over Ware County. Wide receivers Cole Speer (10-201-1) and Quin Smith (6-117-1) gave the Gators fits. Another Calhoun win would put the Yellow Jackets in the semifinals for the first time under Clay Stephenson, who became coach in 2019, or since they moved out of Class 3A. Clarke Central has won nine straight after an 0-2 start (lost to Buford and Oconee County) and is in the quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons. Clarke’s most recent semifinal was in 2009. This Clarke team, which throws for only 74.4 yard per game, is far more run-oriented than recent ones. In the second round, William Richardson rushed for a career-high 205 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-7 victory over Starr’s Mill. He has 930 yards rushing on the season.

Class 4A
North Oconee (9-3) at Bainbridge (9-3): Both teams were 1-3 after the fifth week of the regular season, but they come into this week’s game as region champions with eight-game winning streaks. North Oconee has held six of eight opponents in the streak to a touchdown or less, including Spalding in a 37-0 victory last week. Khalil Barnes scored on a 53-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage, and the Titans led 23-0 at halftime. Rodrick Finch and Dominic Elder added rushing touchdowns in the second half. Bainbridge had 436 yards of total offense in a 48-7 second-round victory over Northwest Whitfield. Kennan Phillips ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns, and Bo Smith was 11-of-17 passing for 255 yards and three scores. Phillips has rushed for 687 yards and Smith has passed for 1,970 yards this season. Bainbridge limited Northwest Whitfield to minus-4 yards rushing on 20 carries and 242 total yards. The Bearcats have held five of eight opponents to eight points or less during their winning streak. Bainbridge is in the quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons. North Oconee is making its first appearance since 2014.

Class 2A 
Rabun County (11-1) at Thomasville (11-1): This game matches the two top-rated teams in Class 2A (No. 1 Rabun County, No. 2 Thomasville). These schools, located 325 miles apart in opposite corners of the state, have met just once in football, a 38-24 victory by Thomasville at home in the 2019 quarterfinals. Rabun County is in the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive season but still seeking its first state title. The star of the show for the Wildcats is four-star QB Gunner Stockton (committed to Georgia), who threw for 444 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 60 yards and three TDs in a 56-7 victory last week against Jeff Davis, which had given up just 54 points all season. Stockton, who has 53 TD passes this season and just one interception, has 13,492 career passing yards and needs 411 more to break Trevor Lawrence’s state record of 13,902. Thomasville, in its fourth quarterfinal in five seasons, advanced with a 42-16 victory over Heard County last week. Shannen White was 8-of-10 passing for a season-high 252 yards and four TDs, giving him 1,595 yards and 19 TDs for the season. Ricky Fulton rushed for 59 yards and has 766 for the year. Malik Harper leads the Bulldogs in rushing with 1,051 yards and 19 TDs.

Class A Private
Prince Avenue Christian (11-1) at First Presbyterian (10-2): Third-ranked Prince Avenue Christian, the defending state champion, is in the quarterfinals for the 10th time in 11 seasons. Aaron Philo was 21-of-25 passing for 368 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-0 victory over Brookstone last week. The sophomore has thrown for 3,422 yards for the season, second only to Rabun County’s Gunner Stockton. Bailey Stockton had five receptions for 146 yards, putting him at 1,080 for year. He caught two touchdown passes and scored on a 45-yard interception return. The Wolverines held Brookstone to 52 total yards on 38 plays. No. 9 First Presbyterian defeated Mount Vernon 31-0 last week to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012. Griffin Green ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns, putting him at 1,100 yards for the year. Jackson Moore scored on a 22-yard reverse and a 68-yard pass from Jakhari Williams, who passed for 142 yards. Williams, also a sophomore, has thrown for 1,700 yards this season. Prince Avenue won the two previous meetings, beating First Presbyterian in first-round games in 2014 and 2015.

 

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Tallulah Falls sweeps tournament games for second straight day

By
TFS Athletics
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The Tallulah Falls varsity basketball teams against took a pair of wins in the Andy Landers Thanksgiving Tournament, as both the girls and boys won for the second straight day.

GIRLS

The Lady Indians have their first 2-game win streak of the season after beating Hart County, 59-38. It was a dominating effort from the opening tip, as TFS went up 23-2 after just one quarter of play. The girls edged Hart by 6 points in the second (18-12) to take a commanding 41-14 halftime lead.

Macy Murdock (photo by Austin Poffenberger)

Hart County battled back with a 13-12 third quarter advantage, but that only got them within 54-26 heading into the final quarter. Hart again outscored TFS, 13-6, but the Lady Indians cruised to a 59-38 final.

Once again, the Lady Indians got contributions from several players, as 8 different players scored points in the win. Veronaye Charlton led with 21 points, while Denika Lightbourne had 13. Molly Mitchell had 8 points, Macy Murdock and Haygen James both had 5, Allie Phasavang had 3, and both Barrett Whitener and Miracle Bain had 2 points.

TFS is now 3-2 overall on the season, and will return to the court next week after Thanksgiving break.

BOYS

The Indians came out on the right side of a thriller, securing a 54-50 victory over Alcovy. For the boys, it means a fifth straight win to open the season. Though Anfernee Hanna led in scoring with 24 points, it was truly a complete team win, as several players had outstanding performances.

The Indians are 5-0 on the season, and are in action next week.

Biden opens oil reserve to relieve high gas prices—but it won’t be immediate

By
Jacob Fischler
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President Joe Biden said he coordinated the release of the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a complex of four sites along the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coasts, with leaders in Japan, South Korea, India and the United Kingdom, which would also release their own reserves. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

(GA Recorder) — As gasoline prices spiral ahead of the big holiday travel season, President Joe Biden authorized the release of a record 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Tuesday—complicating his administration’s goal to transition to cleaner energy sources.

In prepared remarks, Biden said he coordinated the release from the reserve, a complex of four sites along the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coasts, with leaders in Japan, South Korea, India and the United Kingdom, which would also release their own reserves.

The effort would not affect gas prices overnight, he said.

Republican critics have hammered Biden recently over not moving fast enough to stem inflation and rising prices for energy and consumer goods. But the move highlighting the reliance on oil also comes after Biden and other world leaders at the United Nations Climate Conference pledged to move away from fossil fuels.

The president said the release from the reserve was intended to relieve high prices in the short term, but a strategy to transition to other fuel sources would be more effective in the long term.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm echoed the president’s sentiment to reporters at a press briefing following Biden’s remarks. She said the administration was aiming to provide short-term relief from oil prices that are at a seven-year high.

She said the White House hoped to see domestic oil producers return to their pre-pandemic levels, even as Biden has made climate action a central part of his agenda—which would mean more reliance on clean energy rather than oil.

“We are in a transition, and the transition doesn’t happen overnight,” Granholm said. “This is a short-term strategy to make sure that people are not hurting. And the long-term strategy to make sure that the country doesn’t hurt into the future is to build clean.”

In his prepared remarks, Biden said high gas prices were “a problem, not just here but across the world.”

He blamed oil-rich countries and large companies for not increasing supply.

“This coordinated action will help us deal with a lack of supply that in turn helps ease prices,” he said. “The bottom line: Today we’re launching a major effort to moderate the price of oil, an effort that will span the globe in reach and ultimately reach your corner gas station, God willing.”

Granholm declined to predict when gasoline and home heating prices would fall as a result of tapping the reserve but said consumers should “start to see some tick-down over the next bit.”

A senior administration official told reporters earlier Tuesday that the release of reserve oil would hit markets in mid-to-late December at the earliest.

As Biden’s work with international leaders became public, energy prices have already dropped about 10%, the official said.

The reserve barrels will be released gradually over weeks, Granholm said.

Oil dependence

A move to clean energy would be the best thing to protect consumers from “energy price shocks” caused by a dependence on oil, Granholm, a former Michigan governor, said.

The administration’s recently enacted $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure law, with its funding for electric vehicle charging stations and electric grid upgrades, would help with the transition to clean energy, she said.

The second piece of the administration’s two-pronged domestic spending plan, a $2.2 trillion social spending and climate bill that has passed the House and will soon be considered in the Senate, also includes tax credits to help move the energy sector away from fossil fuels to wind, solar and other sustainable energy sources. But in the short term, the administration is pushing domestic and international oil suppliers to increase production.

“We want to encourage them to increase supply,” she said. “We want supply to be increased, both inside the United States and around the world, so that we can reduce the pressures at the pump.”

The Energy Information Administration, part of the U.S. Energy Department, estimates domestic production was at about 11 million barrels per day over the last 10 months, down from a peak of nearly 13 million in late 2019 and early 2020.

Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee urged more production of oil, gas and coal to combat high prices last week, just days after the climate conference.

Granholm said the oil and gas industry was 150,000 workers short of its pre-pandemic level. The industry also holds 9,500 permits to drill on public lands and waters that it is not using, she said.

Leases to drill for oil and gas do not always translate to production and can take years to develop.

Last week, Biden tasked the Federal Trade Commission with investigating possible price manipulation for gasoline. Granholm said Tuesday that the price of gasoline was higher than would be expected for the current price of crude oil.

In a statement released through a spokeswoman, Frank Macchiarola, the American Petroleum Institute’s senior vice president for economics and regulatory affairs, said the investigation was “a distraction from the fundamental market shift that is taking place and the ill-advised government decisions that are exacerbating this challenging situation.”

Macchiarola agreed with the administration’s view that the uneven recovery from the pandemic-induced economic fallout has led to demand outstripping supply.

But the executive at the largest oil and gas industry group said the administration’s policies were hurting energy supplies.

“Further impacting the imbalance is the continued decision from the administration to restrict access to America’s energy supply and cancel important infrastructure projects,” he said, likely referring to the Inauguration Day order to cancel the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline,  which would have traversed eastern Montana on its way from the Alberta oilfields to the Gulf of Mexico.

“Rather than launching investigations on markets that are regulated and closely monitored on a daily basis or pleading with OPEC to increase supply, we should be encouraging the safe and responsible development of American-made oil and natural gas.”

Jury starts deliberations in trial of three men charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing

By
Ross Williams
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Defendant Travis McMichael looks on during his trial with William "Roddie" Bryan, and Gregory McMichael, all charged with the February 2020 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. (Octavio Jones/Pool Photo via AP)

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The fates of three men charged with the death of Ahmaud Arbery are in the hands of a Glynn County jury after the prosecution made its closing arguments Tuesday.

According to pool reports, deliberation will continue Friday and Saturday if necessary. Members of the jury will decide how long they will deliberate on any given day, including whether they recess early on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan confronted 25-year-old Arbery as he jogged through the streets of a Brunswick-area neighborhood in February 2020. The three men, who are white, chased Arbery, who was Black, in two pickup trucks for several minutes before shooting him. All three face multiple felony charges including murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment, and could receive life sentences if found guilty.

Arbery’s death gained national attention after Bryan released a video of the killing, which he believed would be exculpatory. Others drew a vastly different conclusion from the footage, and Arbery became one of the faces of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, with supporters arguing the three defendants targeted him because of his race. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse throughout the trial bearing signs and chanting slogans like “No justice, no peace.”

Defendant Gregory McMichael looks on during his trial and of William “Roddie” Bryan and Travis McMichael, charged with the February 2020 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. (Octavio Jones/Pool Photo via AP)

Well-known Black pastors including Rev. Al Sharpton were present at the trial, spurring one of the defense lawyers to complain that the clergy could intimidate jurors. Judge Timothy Walmsley said Tuesday he was confident the jurors could not hear the protesters from inside the courthouse.

The defense team previously argued that Travis McMichael was afraid for his life before he pulled the trigger on his shotgun and that the trio was reacting to reports of Arbery earlier walking through the construction site of a house in the neighborhood. They said they were attempting a citizen’s arrest, which they say was allowed under state law at the time.

Gregory McMichael previously worked in law enforcement, including as an investigator for the district attorney’s office in Brunswick. Former district attorney Jackie Johnson initially cited the state’s citizen’s arrest law as justification for not arresting the McMichaels. She was later indicted for her handling of the case, which is now being prosecuted by the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.

Lawmakers overhauled Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which had ties to the practice of rounding up runaway slaves during the antebellum period, earlier this year following the negative publicity surrounding Arbery’s case. The state Legislature also passed a hate crimes bill following Arbery’s death, and whichever way the Glynn County jury’s verdict falls, the men will face additional federal hate crimes charges.

In her final statement to the jury, Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski dismissed claims that the men were justified in attempting to perform a citizen’s arrest on Arbery under the old law, arguing that they would only be entitled to do so if he had committed a crime in their presence or if they had immediate knowledge of a crime he committed.

She read from what she said was a statement Gregory McMichael made to police:

“(Officer:) ‘Did this guy break into a house today?’ (McMichael:) ‘That’s just it, I don’t know. That’s what I told what’s-her-name out there. I said, Listen, you might want to go knock on doors down there because this guy just done something because he was fleeing from — I don’t know, he might have gone in somebody’s house,’” she read. “You can’t make a citizen’s arrest because someone’s running down the street and you have no idea what crime they have committed that day. You can’t hold somebody so the police do show up and go, ‘Well, he must have done something. Why don’t you police officers go figure out what it was that he went and did today.’ But that’s what Greg McMichael told the police.”

William “Roddie” Bryan’s defense attorney Kevin Gough presents a closing statements to the jury during the trial of he and Travis McMichael, and his father, Gregory McMichael, at the Glynn County Courthouse, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The three men are charged with the February 2020 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool)

Dunikoski also sought to dismantle the defendant’s claims they were acting in self-defense, feeling threatened by the unarmed Arbery.

Such a claim is not valid if the defendants were the ones who instigated the confrontation, Dunikoski said.

“In this case, they committed four different felonies, including aggravated assault with a shotgun,” she said. “They started it. They do not get to claim self defense. And then of course, provocation. You can’t force someone to defend themselves against you so you get to claim self defense. This isn’t the Wild West.”

Dunikoski urged the jurors to find all three men guilty of Arbery’s murder even though Travis McMichael fired the fatal shots, comparing them to a team of bank robbers that includes a lookout and a getaway driver. Under Georgia law, all of them would be party to the crime even if they never entered the bank, she said.

“Of course, you’re saying, but Linda, only one person had their finger on the trigger in this case, and that was Travis McMichael, so how do we find Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan guilty of malice murder?” she said. “Under the law in Georgia, it’s as if they were all holding the gun together. And in this example, the guy who never got out of the car, who was the getaway driver, is just as guilty. In this example, the guy who got out of the car and stood at the front of the bank is just as guilty. Party to a crime.”

Walmsley told jurors they could find Bryan guilty of reckless driving rather than aggravated assault in connection with using his truck to try to stop Arbery, a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski presents a closing argument to the jury during the trial of Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan, at the Glynn County Courthouse, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The three men charged with the February 2020 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool)

Dunikoski showed jurors gruesome photos from the scene, which spurred Arbery’s father to leave the courtroom and his mother to cry out, according to pool reports.

She ended her presentation with a photo of a smiling Arbery juxtaposed with a close-up of his face after his death.

“They know exactly what they did, and they know why they did it,” she said. “It’s not a mystery to them. When you come back with your guilty verdict, all you’re doing is telling them we know what you did too, and we’re going to hold you responsible for it. Because guess what you did? You turned this young man into that young man. That’s what you did, for absolutely no good reason at all.”

GEFA provides solar energy funding for Habersham aquatic center

By
Hadley Cottingham
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(NowHabersham.com)

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) has awarded Habersham County $175,815 to install solar panels at the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center. If the Habersham County Commission accepts the award, solar energy could become the power source for the aquatic center.

Interim County Manager Alicia Vaughn applied for the GEFA award at the end of September, and the authority announced on Nov. 16 that they would cover 75 percent of the costs of solar panels and battery storage at the aquatic center. The estimated total of the project is $234,420.

“The county is excited to receive this opportunity to install a green energy source at our aquatic center,” Vaughn says. The award comes from GEFA’s Solar Resiliency Technical Assistance Program, which helps government entities afford solar power technology for critical infrastructure.

Aside from being a location for swimming and recreation, the Habersham County Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center serves as a Red Cross Shelter Facility, voting precinct, public safety training location, heath department vaccination site and overflow courthouse jury trial location.

Solar power technology at the aquatic center will help the facility stay operational during inclement weather. The facility has lost power during bad weather before, but with solar power infrastructure, losing power will be far less likely. Batteries would hold power reserves from collected solar power and would keep the facility running.

The technology could also save taxpayers money— the Habersham County Parks and Recreation Department spends about $140,000 on power annually according to Habersham County Public Information Officer Carolyn Gibson. That power bill includes the power for the aquatic center as well as lighting for county parks.

“This GEFA program will allow the county to significantly lower the utility bills generated by our Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center,” Vaughn says. “Our staff continues to seek grant opportunities which lower the burden on the county’s general fund, and in turn allows the county to maintain a low property tax rate for our citizens.”

The Habersham County Board of Commissioners will vote on whether or not they will move forward with the GEFA award and solar panels at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 20, 2021.

Vacant gas station in Clarkesville demolished

By
Hadley Cottingham
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The old building at 159 Grant Street, next to the Copper Pot in Clarkesville, has been demolished. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)

The old gas station on Grant Street in Clarkesville next to the Copper Pot has been demolished.

Friday, Nov. 19, the property owner had the building torn down. Located at 159 Grant Street, the building has sat vacant for years. Now, the lot where it used to be is empty.

The 1,162 square foot structure sold back in March for $268,500, according to the online real estate marketplace company Zillow.

According to Clarkesville Zoning Administrator Caleb Gaines, the property owner, Marcus Stonecipher, had the 1961 structure demolished.

The old gas station sat at the corner of Historic US 441 and GA 197 North for 60 years. (Google Street View)

Now Habersham has reached out to Stonecipher about his plans for the property but he has not responded to our request for comment.

“The owner hasn’t submitted any official plans yet, but the lot will be cleaned up and that corner will look a whole lot better,” Gaines says.

This article has been updated with additional information

Area fire professionals share Thanksgiving safety tips

By
Hadley Cottingham
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(NowHabersham.com)

As Thanksgiving Day approaches and people head to their kitchens to whip up the biggest meal of the year, area fire professionals are encouraging Georgians to make sure they’re cooking in a safe environment and limiting the risk of residential fires this Thanksgiving.

Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black says he’s responded to many Thanksgiving Day fires, all of which were related to cooking. He says two Thanksgiving Day fires he’s responded to ended with homes being “almost completely destroyed.”

Black says to make sure you prepare ahead of time for cooking— have a working fire extinguisher, smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector at home. He says to also be sure your oven and stove are clean before cooking; remove grease and food buildup from surfaces that will get hot to reduce the risk of a kitchen fire.

While cooking, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King tells Georgians to wear clothes with tight-fitting sleeves to avoid clothing fires and keep towels and rags away from cooking areas.

Black says you should never leave anything cooking unattended. Even if something is in a smoker, or in the oven on low heat, you should not leave home and it should be checked on regularly. If you have something cooking on the stovetop, don’t leave the kitchen, and make sure handles on pots and pans are turned inward to prevent accidents and keep children from grabbing them.

One of the most dangerous Thanksgiving practices involves deep-frying turkey. King and Black both warn Georgians to follow deep-frying instructions closely, and to never deep-fry a frozen turkey.

 

“Keep [deep-frying] at a minimum of 10 feet away from the house and on flat ground, not the deck or front/back porch,” Black says. “Never leave [the turkey] unattended, and wear eye protection for oil splatter. Completely thaw the turkey and don’t overfill fryer oil, [and] follow manufacturers guidelines to a ‘T!'”

Fire safety during the holidays doesn’t end in the kitchen, though. Black says that if you’re lighting candles at home, make sure there’s a 1-foot diameter around the candle free of other flammable items.

“I am immensely thankful for our firefighters and first responders,” Commissioner King says in a Thanksgiving safety press release. “However, we’d prefer if Georgians didn’t have to call on these emergency officials this Thanksgiving, so please follow these simple fire safety tips as you prepare your family feast.”

Habersham’s academic bowl racks up wins, builds community

By
Hadley Cottingham
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The HCHS Varsity Academic Bowl team faces off against Banks County. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)

The Habersham County Academic Bowl teams are racking up wins with an impressive season, competing in-person for the first time in over a year. They may not be the Raiders that initially come to mind when you think about the Habersham Schools competitive teams, but the academic bowl has been taking names since their comeback two years ago.

While academic bowl has long existed at Habersham Central High School, over the past two years, faculty sponsors Hannah Blalock, Preston Kitchings, Caroline McFarlin and Kathy Miller have helped the academic bowl grow to a new level long-time teachers haven’t seen before.

The academic bowl is divided into two teams, the Habersham County Junior Varsity Academic Bowl, comprised of students from the Habersham County Ninth Grade Academy and HCHS sophomores, and the Habersham County Varsity Academic Bowl, made up of HCHS juniors and seniors.

So far in the season, the JV team remains undefeated, and varsity holds two wins and one loss. Last year, the JV team scored enough wins to compete at the national level.

HCHS Sophomore Elijah King, who serves as captain of the Habersham Junior Varsity Academic Bowl, catches up on current events with the rest of his team. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)

“Knowing that every one of these students [is] intelligent— it’s nice to have all our strengths come together, almost like a machine,” JV Academic Bowl Captain Elijah King says. “. . . Where there’s some weakness, other people have the strengths in order to make up for those.”

While competing against area schools and developing a game plan is part of the fun, it isn’t the only part the students love. The academic bowl students call themselves “nerds,” and while some of the students haven’t always felt like they belonged at HCHS, the academic bowl has given them a place to thrive.

“I always felt like I was an outsider,” Varisty Academic Bowl Secretary Jose Macias says. He says that while HCHS cares about academics, before joining academic bowl, he felt like the school didn’t appreciate their achievements like they did athletics. “Us nerds, as we call [ourselves,] we would never have an official team to come together and show our academics and face other schools in a way that athletics always [have].”

He says with the academic bowl, the team is able to show off their skills and the knowledge they’ve gained in the classroom, and also feel the school pride and friendly competition their athletic counterparts get to experience.

“We have a good football team here, but we also have good minds that work together to compete against other schools,” Macias says. “We can also be supported in a way that athletics has been perceived to be supported by the general [Habersham] population.”

Jose Macias (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)

The sense of pride and engaging in competition brings these students together as teammates, and the relationships they’ve built along the way have given them a greater sense of belonging.

“It’s [academic bowl] really supportive,” King says. “It just works with us all being in this group and in an environment where we all can do something well. It almost forges a stronger bond between the students.”

As they make friends in the club that support them in their academics and in their lives, members of both the JV and varsity teams share that the academic bowl community has been a valuable part of their high school experience.

“Overall academic bowl is an experience,” Macias says. “And for us nerds, it’s a way that we can bond and change our lives for the better.”

Boil water advisory lifted for Mt. Airy residents

By
Staff Report
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The Town of Mt. Airy’s boil water advisory has been lifted. The town’s test of their water came back free of contaminates on the afternoon of Nov. 23, 2021.

The boil water advisory was put in place Friday, Nov. 19 for anyone who lost water that morning due to a water main break on Dicks Hill Parkway.

The water main break on Dicks Hill Parkway resulted in approximately 200,000 to 250,000 gallons of water loss, according to Mt. Airy Town Manager and Police Chief Tim Jarrell.

The leak has since been repaired.

Habersham County volunteers to put on free Thanksgiving meal

By
Hadley Cottingham
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Community members gathered at the Cornelia Community House to go over a game plan for Thursday's free meal event. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)

Habersham County citizens are putting on a free Thanksgiving dinner at Cornelia Community House on Thursday, where anyone who would like a hot meal is welcome to come by and get a meal for themselves and their family members.

The free dinner isn’t put together by an organization, it’s a group of Habersham County citizens who come together to donate their time, skills and resources to make sure everyone in their area has a hot meal for Thanksgiving. Cornelia Fire Cheif Billy Joe Jenkins helps organize the volunteers and raise funds, but it’s a group of more than 20 that run the show along with him on Thanksgiving day.

Cornelia Fire Chief Billy Jenkins, alongside a group of volunteers, is organizing a free Thanksgiving day meal for anyone who would like one.This is Jenkins’ fourth time organizing the event.

“I would like for this event to be a really uplifting [event] for people in the community,” Jenkins says. “Whether they don’t have means of getting to have a decent meal, or whether they have a decent meal and they still want to be part of something bigger, my wish is for folks to be able to know that we just want to give food away, and show them that we care.”

Not only will they serve everyone that comes by for a free meal, they plan to cook dinner for 150 women at the Lee Arrendale Transitional Center and deliver to people in White County who would like a Thanksgiving meal.

The event costs about $1,200 to $1,500 to put on, but community members and businesses help offset those costs and help the organizers get everything they need to put the event on.

Wolf Creek Barbeque has offered to smoke all 35 turkeys for the event, which Walmart put aside to make sure the organizers would have enough turkeys to feed everyone who came by for a meal. A community member offered to make tea for the meals at the restaurant she works at. Local chicken distributor Fieldale made a donation to make sure meals would include desserts. Some community members are even cooking for the 500 meals they plan to serve.

“I’ve always had a saying, ‘we don’t look down on anyone, we help them up,’ and that has really been stuck on my heart, not to put anyone down,” Jenkins says. “We have a population of homeless [people] here. […] They are still human, they still mean a lot to us, we just want to be able to reach out and serve them.”

If you would like to reserve a plate ahead of time, would like one delivered to you or have any questions, call or text Cheif Jenkins at (706) 499-0120.

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