28 Years of Service

Tonight will be Milledgeville's last opportunity to see Ken Vance hold court behind the aldermen's desk in City Hall.
Tonight is the Milledgeville City Council's last meeting of 2009, and the new Board of Alders, including Collinda Lee and Phillip Joiner, will be sworn in Monday December 21.
All that means Vance will be concluding about 28 years of service to Milledgeville with his final Tuesday-night meeting tonight.
Vance was initially elected to City Council in 1981 in a Milledgeville that is a far cry from what it is today.
Vance, who was a part-time English teacher at Baldwin High School and part-time Sheriff's Deputy working the night shift, was elected at-large to the Board of Alders at a time in his life when there was no water bill or City of Milledgeville property deed in his name.
In that time he has seen council elections be decided within districts, the installation of a Historic District in downtown Milledgeville, compulsory elected official training from the Georgia Municipal Association, the creation of the Oconee River Greenway and the implementation of a council-city manager form of municipal government.
If you have any time this evening, you'd do good to show up at City Hall and watch the End of an Era--one we wouldn't have missed for the world.
Thanks Mr. Vance!

Digital Going-ons this week in Milledgeville

Milledgeville's Municipal Wireless Broadband Network will be the topic of discussion at several community events this week.

The Milledgeville City Council will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the network's digital inclusion plan during a work session in the Executive Chambers of City Hall.
The Digital Inclusion Plan is the city's way of allowing discounted access to the city's wireless network to low-income community members. I want to remember that there are about 250 discounted Internet accounts available for Milledgeville residents who meet certain income requirements. Expect Digital Bridges to be in on finding ways of disseminating the accounts and the information that will help you apply.
Everyone is invited to attend City Council work sessions, but don't take my seat!

Correction: This may simply be a Chamber of Commerce initiative. Digital Bridges will be holding technology classes at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Mary Vinson Memorial Library.

Digital Bridges The Chamber of Commerce will also be holding one of their Technology workshops at noon Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce offices on South Jefferson Street in downtown. From the Chamber:

If you have not already signed up for our technology workshop please don't forget to rsvp. The workshop is December 10th from noon to 01:30pm at the chamber. Bring your lunch and join us each month to learn how technology can work for you and your business. Cost is $15 for Chamber members and $25 for future members. This is a great opportunity to expand your technical skills and knowledge. Space is limited please rsvp today.

Contact them at 478.453.9311.

And not strictly related to the Municipal Wireless Broadband Network, but interesting all the same: Milledgeville's Campus Club will be holding an info meeting to introduce community members to this innovative youth-oriented arts program at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Georgia College's Peabody Auditorium.
From Campus Club's release:

Campus Club Milledgeville is a youth arts and enrichment program. Our main objective is to provide training to develop and improve artistic and creative gifts such as songwriting, dancing, singing, instrumentation, and photography to our community youth. We would like to introduce skills needed to successfully enter the job market such as light/sound engineers, graphic artists, videographers, play writers, and web designers. As a registered 501(c)3, we will provide our services at no cost.

You can learn more about Campus Club here.

Some poll from some group says someone is ahead of someone else

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted last week says that the 2010 goobernatorial match up could look a lot like this cartoon predicts it will.
Who'd a thunk that the two largest names in the race would lead polls one year before an election?

Team Oxendine Aspires to Ironic Internet Fame

You can't make this stuff up!

Cutting the Cord

Here's the text from an e-mail I received this afternoon:

Hello,

The day has finally arrived!!! Clear (formerly Clearwire) will be in Milledgeville on Thursday, October 1 , at 3:00 pm for the official launch of the wireless network which was made possible by the Wireless Communities Grant, the Knight Foundation and YOU!!!

Please join us on the front steps of City Hall to celebrate this auspicious occasion and the incredible teamwork that made this day possible.

This IS just the beginning of our future and reinventing ourselves.

Hope you can be there! If you are not able to join us, please know that this community is grateful for the role that you have played and continue to play in moving us forward.

Hope to see y'all there!

Decision Time

Following last week's municipal qualifying, you wouldn't think there could be too many more questions about who will run the City of Milledgeville in the immediate future. But think again.
Milledgeville City Manager Scott Wood told the Union-Recorder Friday that he would make a decision about whether or not he will accept the City of Canton's offer to assume their City Manager position today (Tuesday).
The City of Canton offered Wood the position in a called meeting Thursday. The Canton City Council voted unanimously (read: All of them might sign-off on his contract) to offer Wood the city's top administrative position.
I'm expecting some excited (not particularly in the positive sense of the word) reactions about Wood's decision, whichever way he decides to go.
Should Wood decide to leave Milledgeville, his new assignment will begin October 1st, the beginning of the budget year in Canton.

Things Happen That Way

You gotta love this story.
But I especially love this quote:
“I was acknowledging God and all of his creation and talking to him,” Fisherman Tom Head of Warner Robins said. “I wasn’t expecting to catch anything.”

Rollin' with Rusty

Just thought I'd add this excellent picture of E. Culver "Rusty" Kidd to the blog.
If you decide to take this man on, your picture can get posted here too!

More media jumping on the Griffin 2010 bandwagon

Update: When contacted, Floyd Griffin said, "I have no comment on my political future."
So read from that what you will.

While doing the daily media rounds, I saw that Tondee's Tavern is jumping on the Griffin in 2010 bandwagon.
The Tavern, a Georgia Democrats blog, puts Milledgeville's former Mayor up against Ray City's current mayor Carl Camon for the Democratic nomination for the Lt. Governor's race.
Griffin made a failed attempt at Lt. Gov back in 1998. Griffin wrote in his autobiography--which is getting pulled off my shelf more and more these days--that his campaign for statewide office, which was run off a promise to reform education, ended in defeat because of inadequate fund raising.

"My biggest problem during the campaign was the lack of funds. While my opponents racked up nearly a million dollars apiece, I was trying to run a campaign on barely $150,000. This made for a lot of traveling around the state in my own car rather than flying; I couldn't do any mass mailings or yard signs and I couldn't afford to pay any campaign workers. Also detrimental was the lack of a TV ad campaign."

But the Tavern is not the only Georgia blog wondering about a Floyd Griffin Jr. comeback in 2010. Peanut Politics has this post about getting Griffin into some state office next election cycle.
While on the link, you may notice the poll question asking you the reader what office Griffin should seek.
I guess we can expect an updated edition of "Legacy to Legend: Winners Make It Happen" in the next couple of years.

The Griff, above and below the fold

Former Mayor Floyd Griffin pulled headlines in both Baldwin County papers this week. And if that wasn't enough, he'll be appearing again this weekend on WMAZ's "Close Up with Randall Savage" Saturday at noon and if you really must, Sunday at 6:30 a.m.
To the right is a picture of the Griff providing 12th District U.S. Rep. John Barrow with a copy of his autobiography "Legacy to Legend: Winners Make It Happen."
Griffin was actually giving Barrow a book as a barter for Milledgeville's Congressman to slip a copy of the book under President Barack Obama's door at the White House. I had another shot of Griffin showing the long inscription he wrote to the First Couple. He also included some local clips about last year's Presidential Election with the autobiography.
I got a look at the clips and the U-R's coverage did not make the cut, but of course we didn't explicitly link Floyd to the then soon-to-be Commander in Chief.