Liquor Question on the Ballot

The decision to sell wine and beer on Sunday in Lumpkin County is now in the hands of the voters. After months of arguments, editorials, speeches, and signs, the County Commission (by one vote) agreed to put the Sunday liquor sales referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The controversy surrounding Sunday sales centered on the people having a right to vote on an issue that affects the entire county. The argument ultimately doomed the political career of one Lumpkin's commissioner. Because of his stubbornness and refusal to allow the referendum to be put up to public vote, the people voted him out of office in August.

Emotions are still high regarding Sunday sales, on both sides of the issue. Our stance since the referendum first became an issue has been that the people have the right to vote...be it yes or no. But no matter which side of the debate you are on, please vote. Once the votes are tallied, the commissioners will know how their constituents feel on the issue...and the people will have spoken.

How We Protest in Dahlonega and Beyond

In so many parts of the world, when you get angry, you get a few thousand of your closest friends, relatives, and acquaintances together and riot. You burn a few buildings. Turn over a dozen or so cars. Throw heavy rocks at police officers. And, of course, you scream chants incessantly loud over and over  while waving your fists in the air.

Europe protest photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty

Fortunately, oh so fortunately, that's not how people in Dahlonega and Beyond react when they get mad. Here in North Georgia, we show our anger without taking to the streets, burning and looting

Here are a few examples of how people in our part of the world show their disdain:

1. Earlier this year, residents were angry, very angry, with County Commissioner Tim Bowden's seemingly disregard for voters. So, Commissioner Bowden was voted out of office.
2. A local distraught Walmart shopper, instead of rioting over a perceived misjustice, picked up a paint brush, a couple of cans of paint and painted a huge Don't Shop at Walmart sign on an abandoned building on Hwy. 9.
3. A Lumpkin homeowner, angered by a commissioner's actions (which she and others viewed as lawbreaking), printed up fliers, stood on a street corner and handed out her missives as voters went to the polls.
4. Upset with the response from a Lumpkin County Sheriff's deputy, a member of the Dahlonega Women's Club penned a scathing Letter to the Editor for The Dahlonega Nugget.

While the people in our area may show their dissatisfaction in non-violent ways, don't think we don't value our freedom and will fight for them. Our love of freedom and are country are quite evident to anyone who sees the war memorial on Dahlonega's town square or the graves of war veterans in local cemeteries.

No to Bowden. Yes to the Stealth Candidate.

The people have spoken. Tim Bowden was voted out as District 2 Commissioner for Lumpkin County in the recent run-off election.

Steve Shaw, sort of a stealth candidate, bested Bowden by about 15% of the votes. The total was BOWDEN 1257 (42.55%) and SHAW 1697 votes (57.45%).

As District 2 residents who weren't too happy with Commissioner Bowden, we can only hope that Mr. Shaw will be a better representative for our area. Unfortunately, we don't know  that much about Mr. Shaw. He's what we call the stealth or mystery-man candidate.

The soon-to-be Commissioner Shaw didn't spend a lot of time handshaking, kissing babies, riding in parades, hosting fundraisers or going to campaign events. He was a no-show at the major candidate debates. The Dahlonega Nugget even had a hard time tracking him down for an article on candidate position statements and qualifications.

Let's hope that newly elected Commissioner Shaw has time to devote to his new part-time county job, and that he won't be so hard to find when a constituent has a question or wants to talk to him. We can also hope that if Mr. Shaw is given a key to the county, he won't lose it.

13 Votes Made the Difference

Just 13 votes. That's all that separated candidates Steve Shaw and Carlton Smith for the crucial run-off spot for Lumpkin County District 2 Commissioner when the votes were counted last Tuesday, July 31 after the primary election.

The vote was so close that Shaw and Smith had to wait until Friday (Aug. 3) for the provisional and military votes to be counted before they knew which one of them had captured the run-off spot against incumbent Tim Bowden.  Finally after EVERY vote had been tallied, 13 votes still separated the two candidates. Steve Shaw had 13 more votes than Carlton Smith. (It's a shame Smith didn't make the run-off. He would have made a terrific commissioner.)

Steve Shaw now faces Commissioner Bowden in the August 21 run-off. If Shaw can capture a large portion of the Carlton Smith votes, he will win the commission seat. (Bowden only managed 38 percent of the votes in the July 31 primary with Shaw and Smith splitting the other 62 percent.)

D&B is not so sure what kind of candidate Steve Shaw is. We do know that he wasn't much into campaigning. He failed to show up at the candidate debates, he wasn't at the Lumpkin County Republican Party event for candidates, and he wasn't spotted at any fundraisers or campaigning at large county social gathering.

The next two weeks until the run-off will be interesting. Will Shaw continue his non-campaigning campaign? Or is Shaw's strategy one of hoping there will be enough anti-Bowden votes that he (Shaw) can cruise to victory? Only time will tell.

Politics in Lumpkin County

As they say, "You win a few. You lose a few." That's what happened yesterday in the primary elections in Lumpkin County.

Big Loss
D&B actively supported two candidates - Guy LaBoa and Carlton Smith. Unfortunately, Guy wasn't able to pull out a victory in his race for Lumpkin County Commission Chairman. He definitely fought the good fight, but as a Lumpkin newcomer (he's only lived here 9 years), he was an underdog the minute he decided to run. Guy, a retired Lt. General, would have made a great leader for Lumpkin.

Big Maybe
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Carlton is still in the race - just 12 votes away from making the run off for the District 2 Commissioner seat. With military ballots and some absentee ballots still to be counted, Carlton gain enough votes to come in second and face incumbent Tim Bowden in a run off. Hang in there, Carlton. You still have a chance!

Big Win
In another big vote, Lumpkinites voted over 72% (one of the highest ratios in the state election) against the 1% transportation sales tax. In this economy, the people in this mountain area just weren't ready to pay more taxes, especially when such a small amount of the money raised in the Mountain District were for Lumpkin highway projects.

Vote for Carlton Smith

Carlton Smith Gets D&B Vote for Commissioner.

In the election for Lumpkin County Commissioner, District 2, many voters are going to the polls to vote AGAINST Tim Bowden, the district's uber controversial commissioner. Bowden's single-mindedness and seemingly disregard to the electorate are reasons enough to cast a ballot for another candidate.

However, in D&B's case, we are not voting AGAINST Bowden. We are voting FOR Carlton Smith. Carlton is a neighbor, a man whom we know personally. In fact, he was one of the first people to welcome us to Lumpkin and extoll the virtues of our new county.

Carlton is a successful small business owner. He knows the challenges that businesses face. He's familiar with budgeting and the need to make wise financial decisions. He was a public safety worker for years so he values the roles that our fire fighters and sheriff deputies play.

Carlton is a husband, father, and grandfather who values the quality of life we have in Lumpkin. Most importantly, he loves Lumpkin, he's a true leader, and he will make a darn good commissioner.

P.S. Carlton spoke out months ago on giving Lumpkin voters the right to vote on the Sunday alcohol referendum. While he may not vote for Sunday sales, he strongly stands for letting the people vote on such a controversial issue.

Liquor Referendum Makes the Ballot - At Last

Clarence Stowers casts deciding vote.

The Sunday beer and wine sales referendum will be on the ballot in November! The decision came Tuesday morning at the Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners' meeting, with Commission Chairman John Raber breaking a 2 - 2 tie by voting YES to the referendum.

Commissioner Clarence Stowers, who had voted twice against the referendum, switched his vote to YES, joining Commissioner Bill Lewis on the YEAH side. Commissioners Tim Bowden and Clarence Grindle voted NO, as they had done previously when the issue was before the Board.

The pressure has been on the commissioners for months as Lumpkinites (including D&B) argued that the commissioners had denied voters the right to vote.

That public pressure seemed to be what changed Stowers' vote. When asked by The Dahlonega Nugget why he switched his vote, Stowers said he had not changed his mind on Sunday sales, but that he had changed his vote because "of the attacks," including attacks on his wife and mother. Some county employees had trouble doing their jobs because of all the calls on the Sunday sales issue, he said.

No matter what his reasons may have, Dahlonega and Beyond says, "Thank you, Mr. Stowers, for joining Mr. Lewis and Mr. Raber in giving the vote back to the people."

Let the People Vote

The Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners has a giant decision to make Tuesday night, July 17. Should they, or should they not, let the Lumpkin voters vote on Sunday liquor sales?

In two other 'Should the Voters Vote' decisions, three of the four county commissioners said NO. Only Commissioner Bill Scott voted to let citizens decide on the sale of beer and wine on Sunday.

The hope of an ever growing group of Lumpkinites is that at least one of the Negative Three will switch his No vote to Yes. If that happens, the tie breaker goes to Commission Chairman John Raburn, who has publicly stated that he supports the referendum.

The pressure is on the commission. Last month, the Dahlonega City Council voted to put the liquor referendum on the ballot for voters WITHIN the city of Dahlonega. If the city's referendum passes, then county businesses. This fact was acknowledged by all four commissioners in last week's issue of The Dahlonega Nugget.

D&B are not the only ones who feel that our right to vote is being held hostage by three men. The Nugget's editor Wayne Knuckles, in a strongly worded editorial in the same issue of the Nugget, urged the commissioners to "let the people have the final say." After all, he wrote, "The proper course of action, the fair thing to do, is to put the question before the voters."

D&B will be part of the crowd Tuesday night to see just what the commission decides.

It's time, commissioners, to let the people vote.

Say No to Tim Bowden

No Bowden signs throughout Lumpkin County.

Tim Bowden, who is running for re-election to Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners, District 2, is not a popular man. That is if the signs posted throughout the county recently are indication on his popularity.

Why the Bowden animosity? The primary reason is that he has been the strongest voice on the County Commission against the referendum to vote for Sunday wine and beer sales. Bowden voted at least twice to keep the referendum off the ballot and was the most vocal against proposal.

The overwhelming opinion in the county seems to be that the people want to vote on the issue. It's what the voters in dozens of counties across Georgia have done. But Bowden says No.

His contention, according to his public statements and articles in the Dahlonega Nugget, is that Sunday liquor sales will cause an increase in highway accidents and put a burden on our public service officers. Really, Mr. Bowden?

Fortunately, Bowden has an opponent in the upcoming July 31 election, Carlton Smith, who supports giving the public the right to vote on the referendum. Smith, like others who are running for the commission this year, believes that such an important decision should be up to the people, not by three commissioners.

Political Debates - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

In this famous debate, Nixon sweats and loses.

The uncertainty and anticipation of what can happen make debates entertaining, and that was why the Lumpkin County Republican Candidate Debate this week was worth attending.
While we've been to political debates before, the Lumpkin debate was the first time we had ever seen anyone debating over the office of Coroner. One candidate even told us that he had covered two murders. Guess if you are a coroner, you need to know how to deal with dead people.

The big hot button for Lumpkin was discussed - Whether voters should have the right to vote on the referendum for Sunday Beer and Wine sales. Guy LaBoa, Carlton Smith, Chris Dockery, Bill Scott, and Doug Sheridan all agreed that the issue needed to be voted on by the people. The only negative - and this comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with this issue - came from Tim Bowden, the current Commissioner from District 3. (By the way, Carlton Smith is running against Bowden. Not going to think too long about which one will get our votes.)

The only cheap shot of the night came from County Commission Chairman candidate Dockery. After LaBoa passionately explained why he went to Iraq to help our soldiers, Dockery made an off the cuff remark that sounded to many in the audience as a direct insult to LaBoa.

Retired Lt. General LaBoa was too much of a gentleman and soldier to respond. Let's hope that at the next scheduled debate on June 14, that everyone is on their best behavior. As Laurence Sterne once said, “Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.”

Lumpkin's Gang of Three Vote NO Again

Well, the Lumpkin County Commission did it again. In their April meeting, the infamous Gang of Three (Tim Bowden, Clarence Stowers and Clarence Grindle) decided the referendum for Sunday Liquor Sales would NOT be on the November ballot.

The three commissioners didn't exactly vote NO on allowing the vote. What they voted on in meeting was to remove the topic from the meetings' agenda. "If we just don't talk about it," they surmise, "maybe this whole 'let the people vote' issue will just go away."

Unfortunately, Commissioners Bowden, Stowers and Grindle, the issue is NOT going away. The people of Lumpkin want the right to vote. If anyone doubts that, just pick up the latest issue of the Dahlonega Nugget, read the paper's news story on the meeting, and then read the angry Letters to the Editor.

Lamar Bates spoke out at the meeting and also penned one of those angry letters. In his speech to the commissioners, he challenged the Gang of Three to let the people decide. "It looks like you're scared to death to let the people vote," he said. "Church and state are to be separate, but not here in Lumpkin. You are interjecting your own beliefs into the issue. Put it out there and then let us (the voters) decide."

Lamar's letter, believe it or not, was even stronger. "Personally, I am embarrassed," he wrote, "by the recent Gang of Three - Bowden, Grindle, and Stowers - and their actions at the commission meeting. Their arrogant attitude let to the imposing an oligarchical government on the country."

But Lamar isn't the only 'Let the people vote' voice in the county. In another Letter to the Editor, Brad Musgrove wrote, "The simple fact that this issue continues to garner attention from both sides is reason enough to hand the issue to the voters of Lumpkin County."

Deborah Hunt's letter was just as pointed: "As someone recently said to me, 'The heritage of this county is alcohol, moonshine to be exact.' So does the heritage an history of this county cover seven days a week, or do we exclude Sundays? Come on commissioners, step into the 21st Century and put the matter on the ballot and let the people of the county. choose."

Bowden, Stowers and Grindle - Are you listening to the voters - or more importantly, do you read the local newspaper?

Lumpkin Commissioners to Consider Sunday Liquor Sales AGAIN

The people spoke, and obviously the Lumpkin County Commission listened...this time. In a meeting Tuesday, the commissioners agreed to ANOTHER hearing on a vote for Sunday Wine and Beer Sales.

For those of you who haven't been following the Great Sunday Liquor Sales controversy in Lumpkin, in February the County Commissioners voted 3 to 1 AGAINST a referendum to allow Sunday sales of beer and wine. After the commissioners' vote, people across the county were 'riled up', angry that they had been denied the right to vote on this issue. (A 2011 act by the Ga. Legislature allows local voters to decide on Sunday Liquor sales in their communities.)

One of the Commission's No Votes, Commissioner Tim Bowden, argued that if Sunday sales are allowed, Lumpkin would see 'possible and even probable' increase in DUIs and domestic violence incidents.

The lone Commissioner who wants Lumpkin voters to decide on this controversial issue is Commissioner Bill Scott. For his support of a public referendum, Commissioner Scott has been criticized by many in the county. Alternately, many (such as this writer) strongly support Commissioner Scott (who describes himself as a tea-teetotaler) for his belief that 'the people should decide'.

Dahlonega and Beyond will be attending the Tuesday, April 17, Commission meeting when the topic of a Sunday Wine and Beer Sales referendum is discussed again. Maybe this time, more proponents of the vote will be in attendance and those commissioners who voted NAY last time will be more OPEN to discussion. We're hoping the NO will become a YES.