Area briefs: Ga House targets SRT regs, former state Chair speaks to Athens GOP

A Georgia House committee is looking at legislation that would undo short term rental regulations of the sort approved at last week’s meeting of the Athens-Clarke County Commission. Commissioners, last Tuesday at City Hall, passed an ordinance requiring Airbnb and VRBO hosts to live in the homes they put on the short term rental market in Athens.

Former Georgia Republican Party Chairman John Padgett is the featured speaker for tonight’s meeting of the Athens-Clarke County GOP. It’s a 6 o’clock session at the Country Inn and Suites on Old Epps Bridge Road in Athens.

Today is a deadline day in Athens and around the state: this is the last day to register to vote in presidential preferences primaries that will be held on March 12, one month from today.

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department opens a public comment period as part of an annual assessment aimed at achieving reaccreditation. Public input can be submitted via the Athens-Clarke County government website and will be accepted through April 3.

A suspect in last week’s shooting in Athens was, at last report, still in the Clarke County jail: Douglas Barnett is 25 years old, from Athens. He’s charged with wounding a man who was shot at a bus stop on Lakeside Drive in Athens. Athens-Clarke County Police say injuries to the victim were not life-threatening.

Cedar Shoals High School principal Antonio Derricotte says he is leaving the school at the end of the school year. Derricotte was named principal at Cedar Shoals in 2022.

The list of the country’s 50 best online grad schools from education ranking firm College Consensus includes both Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.

There is an evening meeting of the Oconee County School Board: it is a 6 o’clock session at School headquarters on School Street in Watkinsville.

Michael Ransom begins his campaign to be the next Chair of the Oconee County School Board. Ransom, who is serving his first term on the School Board in Watkinsville, is running for the post that will open when current Chair Kim Argo ends her tenure at the end of the year. Running for Ransom’s seat in Post 5 is Brock Toole, who has worked as a Chief Operations Officer for Oconee County Schools.

Jackson County, in the process of applying for a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant, says it has assessed the environmental impact of plans for a park that would be funded by the grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service. Officials in Jefferson say there are no significant environmental stumbling blocks for a proposed park on Cabin Creek Road in Jackson County. The County is seeking $500 thousand in funding.

People in a neighborhood in Walton County are complaining about problems with a development under construction in Monroe. Residents of the Vine Street area in Monroe say they’re dealing with flooding and overflow from city sewage lines.

Investigators in the Hall County Sheriff’s Office were, at last report, still searching for suspects in a reported break-in at a pharmacy in Lula. Pharmacy owners say cash was stolen.

An iconic northeast Georgia establishment has been sold to a developer in Atlanta. The Dillard House in Rabun County goes to Legacy Ventures. No sale price was disclosed. The Dillard House opened as a restaurant and hotel in Rabun County in 1917. The new owners say it will now be called the Dillard House Farm and Resort.

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