The Oconee Leader

For hundreds of photos and updates about Oconee events and people, go to theoconeeleader. com

This Week: Calendar How to use Georgia Download Destination: 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Learn how to access free eBook and Audiobook downloads from the library through GA Download Destination. This is a hands-on class. You must bring your library card and your password to the class. Limited to five participants. You are welcome to bring your laptop, iPad, Nook or Kindle. Registration required. All programs are free and open to the public. For more information, please call (706) 769-3950 or visit www.athenslibrary.org/ oconee.

Kids’s Crafternoon: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Drop in for a fun, selfdirected “Make it and Take it” craft. Check our Facebook page on Wednesdays to find out what we’e doing.

Oconee County Library Children’s Section. All ages. Free. For more information, please call (706) 769-3950 or visit www.athenslibrary.org/ oconee.

TOPS weight loss: 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Government Annex Building, Highway 15, Watkinsville. Meetings are held each Thursday.

TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) is a nonprofit support group for weight loss. Members can share challenges, successes, or goals, hear a brief program and discuss plans for the week. (800) 932-8677 or www.tops.org.

First Friday on Main: 6 p.m. Friday, Downtown Watkinsville, Main Street, Watkinsville.

Searching for fun and free entertainment for the whole family this Friday night? Look no further than Main Street.

Every first Friday from April through December, downtown Watkinsville rolls out the red carpet for families to come out and enjoy activities the whole family participate in. From free tractor hay rides, inflatables, shows and popcorn for the kids, to outdoor music, great shopping and quality restaurants for Mom and Dad, there is something for everyone. Free. www. watkinsvillefirstfriday. com/.

Oconee Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oconee County Courthouse, 23 N. Main St., Watkinsville.

The market is open rain-or-shine Saturdays through the last Saturday in November.

Located in front of the courthouse in downtown Watkinsville.

Family Movie Afternoon: 2 p.m.

Saturday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Bring a snack and watch Please see EVENTS

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Contact us:

Email editor@theoconeeleader. com

Twitter @TheOconeeLeader

Issue 31

From the Oconee to the Apalachee

Volume 11

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Sewer expansion timeline revised

By LEE SHEARER TheOconeeLeader.com

A modest expansion of Oconee County’s Calls Creek wastewater treatment plant could meet the county’s treatment needs for another decade, and a larger expansion could delay the need for another plant until 2035, according to figures the county supplied recently to the state

Environmental Protection Division.

The county is asking the EPD for permits to expand the plant’s capacity to 1.5 million gallons of wastewater a day, and later to 3 million gallons a day.

If the EPD also permitted the county to discharge 3 million gallons a day of treated wastewater into Calls Creek, a controversial sewer pipeline down Calls Creek could be pushed

back for nearly two decades, according to data and projections Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie turned over to EPD officials late last month.

Citizen journalist Lee Becker, a University of Georgia journalism professor, obtained Haynie’s letter and posted it on his blog, Please see SEWER

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Oconee, Prince Avenue hit field for softball practice

Photos by matthew caldwell • See more on Page 5

Feds ease process for protecting farmland

By Lee Shearer

TheOconeeLeader.com

Protecting Oconee County farmland from development will apparently be a little less cumbersome in the near future, The Athens Land Trust expects soon to have a new federal designation that will allow the land trust and landowners to jump through fewer hoops in the process, said Kyle Williams, conservation direc-

tor for the land trust.

The designation will help landowners throughout the state — the land trust is in the forefront of farmland protection statewide — but it’s especially important in Oconee County, which may lead the state in farmland acreage legally protected.

About 821 acres of Oconee County farmland are now in some form of protection, and retired

Oconee County veterinarian Carole Ludwig will soon add about 51 acres near Bishop to that total.

Statewide, the land trust now has about 13,800 acres of land under protective easements, including about 11,300 acres of farm and forest land, Williams said.

Ludwig’s application for an easement took more than two years to complete, but the time for future applications could be reduced by

six months to a year, Williams hopes.

The new federal designation is awarded to agencies with a proven track record in properly meeting the federal requirements for landowners to obtain the conservation easements.

Ludwig is protecting 51 acres of her farmland under a National Please see FARMLAND

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Thursday, August 4, 2016

4-H’ers attend Congress in Atlanta

Oconee County government chips in another 25 percent. The landowner must also donate an amount equal to 25 percent of the cost of the easement, but can recoup that money through lowered income taxes and property taxes.

The land trust holds the easement in perpetuity and is responsible for monitoring and enforcing its terms.

“It’s sort of like selling your farm, but you get to use it,” Ludwig said.

Ludwig is also the new chairman

of the county’s Farmland Preservation Committee, which scheduled a meeting this past Tuesday evening for people interested in participating in the program.

The meeting was “primarily to educate and encourage landowners to apply for a farm preservation easement,” Ludwig said.

Preserving farmland is important not only for Oconee County, but globally, Ludwig said.

In Oconee County, keeping farmland out of the path of developers will help preserve the coun-

Sewer Oconee Observations.”

The new projections replace older estimates from 10 years ago that wildly overestimated the county’s population growth and dramatically overstated how fast demand for wastewater treatment would grow.

“We’re a little pleasantly surprised,” said Jim McGarvey, leader of a homeowners group formed to oppose a proposed sewer line down Calls Creek, which would cut through dozens of homeowners’ yards above ground The line would carry treated wastewater from the Calls Creek plant down Calls Creek to empty into the Middle Oconee River.

But if the county can simply increase the amount it is

ty’s qualify of life, she said.

“Globally, it’s even more important,” she said. “Every time we pave over an acre of land or take it out of production, we are essentially throwing it away.”

Preserving farmland will affect food prices and even our ability to grow adequate crops to feed ourselves in the future, she said. Protecting forest is no less important, she added.

“Trees are what makes it possible to breathe the air on this planet,” she said.

Continued from page 1 allowed to put directly into Calls Creek where the plant is, the county wouldn’t have to build the line anytime in the near future.

The new projections seem more reasonable, according to McGarvey.

In 2005, private consultants predicted Oconee’s population would hit nearly 50,000 by 2015, and nearly 70,000 by 2025.

The new numbers Haynie sent to EPD officials from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget project that the county’s population will reach about 50,000 in 2035 and about 62,000 in 2050.

Growth is now “modest” in the county, according to a consultant’s report Haynie submitted to the EPD. Two

things slowed down demand, the engineering consultants said: The recession that began in 2008 slowed population growth and a long drought that began in 2007 cut water use, and therefore wastewater treatment demand.

“Nine years later, the number of building permits is rebounding but still just below the pre-recession levels,” wrote consultant Paula Feldman of Carter & Sloope Consulting Engineers to Haynie on July 25.

However, demand for wastewater treatment will grow much faster than the population, Feldman wrote.

Wastewater treatment demand is projected to quadruple from its present levels to about 4.9 million

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From page 1

Continued from page 1

Resources Conservation Service program which allows owners of agricultural land to sell off development rights, in the form of a conservation easement.

The property can still be sold, but its future use is restricted to farming — no housing developments, etc. The property owner gets money for protecting the land from development and forgoing possible profits if the land were sold to a developer.

Half the money comes from the federal government, and the

Athens Banner-Herald

Events

contributed photo Four members of the Oconee County 4-H Club attended the 74th annual Georgia 4-H Congress held during July in Atlanta. Andrew Guthrie (from left), Emily Queen, Kiana Washington and Hayden Gurthrie were among more than 200 4-H members competing for state titles in 49 different projects. Hayden Guthrie was named the state winner in the Housing, Equipment and Environment Project while Andrew Guthrie won the Textiles, Merchandizing and Interiors Project. They will have the opportunity to represent Georgia 4-H at the National 4-H Congress in November. Emily Queen competed in the Computer Information Technology Project and Kiana Washington performed in the Performing Arts-Vocal Project.

Farmland

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gallons per day, partly because of population growth but also because many people or businesses now using septic treatment will hook on to the sewer system.

Most of that growth in wastewater treatment demand will occur in the most densely populated parts of the county — the McNutt Creek, Calls Creek and Lower Barber Creek basins, according to the report.

About 13 percent of the population is now on sewer systems, but by 2050 that figure will be about 25 percent, according to the county’s report to the EPD. Total currently permitted is about 1.1 million gallons per day, including 667,000 at Calls Creek and 400,000

at Rocky Branch.

The plan calls for expanding capacity to 1.4 million gallons per day in 2018, 3 million per day in 2020, 4 million in 2030 and to 5 million gallons per day in 2040.

In March, the county requested the EPD to allow the Calls Creek capacity to be increased to 1.5 million gallons a day; that would defer expansion nine years, until about 2025.

The county also wants a further expansion of the plant to be able to treat 3 million gallons a day. If the Calls Creek plant were allowed to treat 3 million gallons a day, the county would have enough capacity to meet its forecast wastewater treatment demands through 2035.

Watkinsville ESP will receive grant Extra Special People in Watkinsville is one of several organizations in the state that will receive more than $3.7 million from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

“Communities need a broad range of assets to stay healthy, support job growth and compete in our global economy,” Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said in announcing the grants. “These grants will enable AmeriCorps volunteers to help meet local needs while developing the civic and leadership skills that are important to growing communities.”

ESP is one of 19 organizations and agencies in the state to receive the money.

a family movie on our big screen. We’ll provide the popcorn.

All ages. Free. For more information, please call (706) 7693950 or visit www. athenslibrary.org/ oconee.

Tail Waggin’ Tutors (formerly Read to Rover): 3 to 4 p.m.

Sunday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Could your child use a helping paw with reading? Or does he or she just love dogs?

Come read with the sweetest dogs ever, Star and Comet.

Reading aloud to a dog creates a relaxed, non-judgmental environment that helps children develop their reading skills and build confidence. And, it’s a lot of fun, too.All ages. Free. For more information, please call (706) 769-3950 or visit www.athenslibrary.org/ oconee.

Alanon: 7 to 8 p.m.

Sunday, Watkinsville 1st Methodist Church, 1331 New High Shoals Road, Watkinsville.

12-step recovery for people affected by someone’s alcohol use. Free. Meets daily in the area in various locations. www.ga-alanon.org/.

NerdHerd Hangout: 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Come hang out at the library and geek out with other nerds. You can even bring food.

Grades 6-12. Free. For more information, call (706) 769-3950 or visit www.athenslibrary.org/ oconee.

Teen Advisory Board: 7 to 8 p.m.

Monday, Oconee County Library, 1080 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville.

Teen Advisory Board is a volunteer team of teens that meets once a month. Members make book suggestions for the library, help plan teen programs and assist with displays or other projects. Grades 6-12. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, call (706) 769-3950 or visit www.athenslibrary. org/oconee.

Scream Free Parenting Class: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Grace Fellowship Church of God, 1120 Malcom Bridge Rd, Bogart. Grace Fellowship Church will offer a Scream Free Parenting Class from on Wednesdays beginning Aug.10 until Oct. 26 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Grace Fellowship.

The cost is $15 for required workbook and childcare is free.

Are you a screamer?

Or do you employ the “silent treatment”? Are you looking for ways to better connect with your children? Join us for a 12-week study (DVD, discussion, exercises) designed to equip you for your most important job.

To register (required), visit http://graceathens. com/connect/details/ scream-free-parenting/ or for more info, call the church at (706) 769-4001.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

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Athens Banner-Herald

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Oconee County All Stars State Champions 2016: Images from the state swim meet

Photos courtesy of JULIE FREY

For hundreds of photos and updates about Oconee events and people, go to theoconeeleader.com

This Week: PACS

WARRIORS l TITANS l SPARTANS l WOLVERINES l LIONS

August 4, 2016

Fun way to wrap up summer Softball

Practice photos Page 5

Oconee

MATTHEW CALDWELL/Oconee Leader

Softball

Practice photos

Prince Avenue Christian’s softball team concluded summer practices last Thursday. Following practice, the team walked over to the baseball field and set up a slipand-slide where they took turns sliding. Games start August 12 at Madison County.

For more photos of the team sliding on the slip-and-slide, see theoconeeleader. com. Photos of practice can be found on Page 5 and theoconeeleader.com.

Page 5

Online

To see photo galleries of Prince Avenue Christian and Oconee County softball practices, see theoconeeleader.com. North Oconee’s softball team resumed practice earlier this week. to see photos, see theoconeeleader.com

Online

To see photo galleries from this summer’s youth camps, see theoconeeleader.com

Townley returns with second place at Pocono in ARCA Series Following a monthlong absence as he recovered from a minor concussion, John Wes Townley’s return to competition produced mixed results this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

The 26-year-old North Oconee graduate posted a solid second-place finish in the No. 05 Jive Communications Chevrolet during Friday’s ARCA 150 on the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped facility in Long Pond, Pa. But after flirting with the top 10 early in the going during Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 150, Townley’s No. 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet tagged the outside wall following a tangle with Christopher Bell on lap 16 in the Tunnel Turn. Townley’s was left saddled with a 29th-place finish. ‘It was definitely a roller coaster weekend for Athenian Motorsports,’ Townley said. ‘I was proud that we fought and finished P2 on Friday in the ARCA race.’

Contributed photo

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Tell our advertisers you saw them in The Oconee Leader • Go to theoconeeleader.com for picture galleries

Page 5

Summer practice wraps up last week for Oconee, Prince Avenue Christian softball teams

Photos by MATTHEW CALDWELL/Oconee Leader

Oconee County’s softball team finished summer practice last week and were on the field this week to officially begin practice for the upcoming high school season.

The Lady Warriors open on the road August 9 at Monroe Area. They play in a tournament at Madison County on August 12-13. Their first home game of the season is August 23 against Jefferson.

Photos by MATTHEW CALDWELL/Oconee Leader

The Prince Avenue Christian Lady Wolverines have been practicing this summer in preparation for the upcoming season. The Lady Wolverines have a new head coach, Jason Myers, but assistant coaches Kevin Soles, Cheryl Murray and Rodney White return. The team has six seniors, zero juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen. The Lady Wolverines open the season with a tournament at Madison County on August 12-13. Their first home game is August 23 against Towns County.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

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Athens Banner-Herald

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