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Due to projections of a much larger than normal turnout and the fact so many polling places here are at schools, Coweta County opted to close the schools today.

Long lines at the county office

Went to jury duty as ordered, and was on a panel that included 50 of us—all for a single trial involving two defendants, one accused of murder.

Since there were only a few trials to take place, or

Maybe eleven. Plus me. Starting a week from today.

I’ve been called to sit in judgment of some poor schmuck who’s run afoul of the law. I don’t know who or how or whether he did it or not. I’ll find

Rude and distracted drivers in Coweta County—longtime readers of The McGehee Zone may already know about the tailgating and center-line crossing that goes on around here—have sent three rural mail

Saturday evening, on our way to the fairgrounds, Chris and I saw a ten-mile-long backup on northbound I-85 due to a series of accidents not far from our own exit. Vehicles in the backup attempting

Today at 2:00 p.m., hams across the country begin “Field Day,” a 24-hour activity designed to practice emergency-power operations, make contact with a lot of other hams far away, and if possible

To paraphrase Don Rumsfeld—and as proved yesterday—sometimes you have to choose your candidate for the reasons you have, not necessarily the reasons you want or wish you had.

I mentioned last month

I think I must be unusually lucky in that I almost always manage to have an elected representative worthy of my respect.

Westmoreland said he was contacted by a constituent about a petition asking

Last month I sized up the candidates for Coweta County’s state-court solicitor position, and decided to support the incumbent, Robert Stokely. Stokely liked the title of that post and has adopted it

So I’m driving along on a state highway here in Coweta County—one on which the posted limit is 55—and I come up on a parade.

About a half a dozen vehicles are stuck plodding along at 35 behind a

In a post three days ago I wrote about the state-court solicitor post that’s on the ballot this year:

Coweta County’s State Court Solicitor, Robert Stokely, finally has a challenger—and if this

With all the hoopla about the presidential fracas, even in less nonsensical years the local elections are overshadowed. But qualifying has just concluded for those seeking the Democrat or Republican

I had no clue the Times-Herald was going to be upgrading their website when I added a link to them and to the Fayetteville Citizen in the sidebar, but today the Newnan daily’s website actually looks

I mean, come on: “without tanks”? Nice try, Alex.

There’s a deal to sell the 1,200-acre Moreland megasite to the People’s Republic of China, according to classified government documents discovered

These damn animal-rights wackos are really getting on my nerves.

A local environmental group has vowed to stop construction of a new Coweta elementary school, claiming the work will destroy the

Tonight for the first time in a long time Chris and I decided to head up to nearby Palmetto to dine at our favorite Dairy Queen (so dubbed as much for its outdated decor as for the fact it, alone of

Over the years I’ve complained in this space about the Kroger supermarket at Thomas Crossroads.

I’d go there for months at a time, happily finding most everything I want there, and then all of a

Maybe the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service group isn’t the only thing that needs to be reassigned.

Coweta Commissioner Leigh Schlumper filed a civil lawsuit against fellow commissioners Tim

I don’t talk much about my ham radio activities here, now that I’ve got my Extra-class license and my vanity callsign—I did get on the Coweta County volunteer-examiner (VE) team and have graded and

Apparently there are a lot of Bobcats being detected here in Coweta County. Well, considering the amount of construction activity, that should be no surprise.

Kathy Hernandez’s recent experiences

No…?

Well, then—just ignore this puny selection of shots I took this afternoon.

It’s still coming down now as I post this, too.

Update, next day: Chris has added to the album with some icicle

I didn’t say anything ahead of time about the prospect of snow a few days ago, and it happened. I didn’t say anything ahead of time about the prospect of snow today, and it’s happening.

As often as

I am flabbergasted.

The 2008 Coweta County Spelling Bee title came down to a “feud”—literally—between Evans Middle’s Miranda Hayes and Smokey Road Middle’s Olivia Colomb.

» Evans student wins county

Longtime readers know I don’t have any particular animus toward Wal-Mart. And if not for two specific aspects to this specific proposal, I’d have to suck it up and limit my complaints to personal

...not that it couldn’t be 40°F. and be snowing.

We’ve got a respectable-looking snow shower going as I type this, but as yet it isn’t sticking. There’s a winter weather advisory posted that isn’t

I recently exchanged emails with a local fellow who wanted to know where things stand on this. Seems he suspected—as I had too when I first saw it—that some prep work at the next exit up toward

Did you see the temperature reading on this post? Forty degrees Fahrenheit.

Nature, that mother—, is trying to fool me into thinking we’re going to have something resembling autumn weather here in

It almost feels cooler outside. And dryer. Drier? More dry. Anyway…

It’s October.

Discuss.

As we came in the driveway this evening after a late dinner-and-groceries run, Chris said, “Is that our bunny rabbit?” (We have had wild rabbit sightings in our backyard for some years, and I saw

Supposedly there’s cooler weather on the way to The McGehee Zone World Headquarters. As a matter of fact, the temperature is already sliding downward at a fair clip, and tomorrow it’s not even

This afternoon I showed up to what would have been my first amateur radio license testing session as an accredited volunteer examiner. I was one of eight VEs who showed up (three are required to

Well, maybe. There’s thunderstorms headed for The McGehee Zone World Headquarters, and I can hear the thunder as I type this. Whether there’ll be actual rain on the premises is yet to be known. And

I’ve been watching the temperature reading on my browser (1-ClickWeather, a Firefox extension) for the last hour or so, waiting for the “99” to turn to “100.” It didn’t. As you can see in the little

It wasn’t all that long ago if we wanted to fill up the gas tank and take advantage of Kroger’s customer-loyalty discount on gasoline, we’d have to go to Douglasville. Since then a new Kroger has

The grumblestorms have sprouted—the local radar picture looks like a bubbling cauldron.

Rumble, rumble, flash and grumble.
Breezes blow and raindrops tumble.

When Wifey-Ki-Yay and I lived in Alaska, I had fairly regular contact with local elected officials, including very liberal ones who wouldn’t have considered voting for me on a bet when I was a

Nobody ever tells me these things.

Today was EATAPETA Day—Eat A Tasty Animal for PETA—and I had no idea about it until a few minutes ago.

Fortunately, I eat an animal every day, just in case. And

Last June, the possibility arose of a new Wal-Mart being built, a mile-and-a-half in driving distance from my front door. I was not happy.

By last December, the idea of putting a Wal-Mart in that

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its circulation area by dozens of counties, offer buyouts to 80 newsroom employees and spend $30 million to upgrade a printing plant as part of a

7:44 p.m.: How sleet it is!

Not much, actually. But we have seen a little bit, over in the area of Interstate 85 and Bullsboro Drive. It petered out as we headed eastward toward Yippee-Ki-Yay! World

The warning was extended to 7:30 but the center of suspected rotation has already crossed over into Fayette County to threaten Peachtree City. We got some heavy rain for a few minutes but that’s

...until about 7:00 according to the issuance from NWS. May be in the area of Yippee-Ki-Yay! World Headquarters later than that. According to Atlanta TV stations’ radar it is almost to Newnan and

I’ve been in the habit, following local custom, of referring to the county in which I live by its name, sans the identifying suffix of “County.” Well, except in the name of the category, “Coweta

I’ve just fired off a letter to the Newnan Times-Herald:

This evening I was leaving the Kroger shopping center at Thomas Crossroads, planning as usual to make a right turn onto 154 from the driveway

My congressman, Lynn Westmoreland (once reviled in the blogosphere for voting against a Katrina relief bill because he wasn’t satisfied with its safeguards), is opposed in his first effort at

We arrived a few minutes after the scheduled start time, but we not only found seats, we were barely in them when things got started, even though other people were still filtering in several minutes

Chris and I met Floy Farr one night while listening to her co-worker’s blues band at Starbucks in Peachtree City. He and a female friend of his happened to sit down at the table where Chris and I

Coweta County commissioners voted some time ago to dedicate a stretch of State Route 54 in Coweta County to SGT Michael Stokely, who was killed in Iraq in August 2005. The dedication will take place

In a disastrous dinner meeting Sept. 5, a preliminary plan for the arena presented to the Maloofs failed to include several key provisions the brothers said they were counting on, said Suheil Totah,

Ready or not, here it comes.

When it is completed in 10 to 15 years, the McIntosh mixed-use project planned for east Coweta County would add nearly 44,000 vehicle trips a day to local roads,

With zeal that would be envied by presidential campaign managers, community volunteers in Hill Country have gathered lists of eligible voters and property owners and thrown themselves into

Sorry if the old joke in the post title seems inappropriate to some.

As Coweta County 911 dispatchers helplessly listened on the phone late Monday night, an elderly couple were stabbed to death in

A years-in-the-making moment occurred today, in which the main highway link between Coweta County and adjacent Peachtree City was finally opened to four lanes. This project had originally been

A front-page story in today’s Wednesday’s Newnan Times-Herald (article will be linked when it goes online tomorrow) has left us here at Castle McGehee just a little bit flabbergasted. For

Well, so tonight the two gas stations I bypassed (because they didn’t seem able to actually sell any gas) the night of this post are now selling regular unleaded at $2.59⁹, but Summit, the station

The City of Newnan wants to replace an overburdened four-way stop sign at the intersection of East Broad Street and Greison Trail—just a stone’s throw from downtown—with a roundabout.

Apparently no

Sgt. Mike Stokely, USA, was killed in Iraq last summer. His father, Robert, is State Court Solicitor for Coweta County. Tonight he sent out an e-mail to his friends about the recent marking of

Or, “How to Demonstrate Just How Housebound and Out of Touch You Are.”

Sally Cheatham wonders why all of these new roads need to be built. “Is there really that much traffic, or are we simply

In journalism, as with all forms of fiction, the most essential ingredient is the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief.

[Originally posted Friday, 10 March 2006]

Since this item appeared here, I’ve gotten the occasional e-mail asking about the case. Today there’s finally been a follow-up report in the Newnan

I’ve mentioned before the upcoming special election on whether to extend Coweta County’s special-purpose local-option sales tax. The other day the Times-Herald, daily newspaper serving the interests

We don’t like our carpets. And we really hate the infernally dark wood parquet flooring in the front foyer. And with a diabetic cat the only workable replacement flooring is tile. Which is

But that was after the storms had passed, so…

First came a glorious, spring-like New Year’s weekend that saw temperatures climb into the high 60s. We drank it in, shedding our coats and even

The old rules of which gas stations could be expected to have the best prices, and by how much they would undersell their across-the-street rivals, have been turned upside down in the aftermath of

...until 7:15 p.m. EDT. ‘Bye for now.

UPDATE, 7:15 a.m. EDT: The shack is still standing. The warned storm didn’t come near us, and the second one that was headed our way made some noise and wet all

My state rep (and friend) Billy Horne has replied to the e-mail I sent about the Kelo decision and what if anything can be done to strengthen the protections in Georgia law.

I will look into what if

This was in the Newnan Times-Herald yesterday Sunday:

Today, I and several hundred of my closest friends descended on the Coweta County Board of Elections in Newnan to kick off early voting.

There was a line to get the application form. There was a

Republican Jawjabloggers might find this site of some interest. It’s run by fellow Cowetan Bob Redman, who wants to help preserve Georgia’s Republican majorities in Congress and the state Senate,

There’s a tornado warning for the county south of us. Raining hard, high winds. Radar shows the center of Ivan’s remnant storm hasn’t quite gotten as close to us as it’s going to get, but it’s

Coweta Schools Chief Leaves Post, but Pay Continues Through 2005 Laura Diamond, AJC

Coweta County’s superintendent of schools for the past two years left her job Wednesday evening following an

State Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R), who stepped down from his post as Minority Leader in Georgia’s state House of Representatives to seek the 8th District congressional seat given up by Mac Collins

County’s Only Elected Dem Quits Re-Election Race W. Winston Skinner, Newnan Times-Herald (not archived regularly)

Coweta County’s sole elected Democratic official is removing himself from the

For explanations of the selections listed in this post, see this cluttered version. These are the votes I plan to cast in the July 20 primary election.

(*Digital Brownshirt)

I get results.

A while back I mentioned that my local newpaper, the Newnan Times-Herald, has an anonymous forum called “Sound Off.” I’ve been a consistent contributor to same,

[Originally posted June 12]

The last few days I’ve been seeing hand-scrawled cardboard signs placed at various locations bearing only the word UNSEEN and an arrow, as if to direct people to a

This front-page article from last Sunday’s Newnan Times-Herald—which doesn’t archive news stories—is about the pastor of our church. I’m ashamed to admit that Chris and I haven’t been to church in

blogoSFERICS is your one-stop shopping for up-to-the-minute election coverage.

Leading at 7:40 p.m.:

• Republican: Bush 100%
• Democrat: Kerry 42.6%
• Flag: 2003 75.8%
• Coweta Liquor Sales: No

In a pathetic kind of way. A dusting, but it’s enough to suspend my description of hereabouts as “snowless west Georgia”—until next winter.

The Coweta County zone forecast this morning looks like

If that was how people in Newnan thought of it when Alan Jackson released Little Man on his 1998 CD High Mileage, I think the song probably changed that. After all, just about everybody around these

The school system here in Coweta County—which is here in subtropical west Georgia—has an annual budget of $214 million for fiscal 2004. That’s $214,000,000.00 for those who need to compare big

So, it’s raining a little hard as I’m on my way to the store to replenish my stockpile of too-cheap-to-be-trendy sparkling water, and thanks to traffic I decide to waste a little time going the long

All further updates on this subject will be added to this post.—Ed.

The Newnan Times-Herald had a bunch of photos in today’s edition, along with additional articles. I haven’t read the articles yet

This is yesterday’s Times-Herald news article about the storm.

A violent storm roared through Coweta County around 7 p.m. Wednesday night with numerous reports to Coweta County 911 of funnel

Some news bites about Georgia’s recent bad weather. In addition to last night’s tornado warnings, the storms also dropped a lot of rain on already saturated ground, resulting in flooding getting the

Coweta County came under another tornado warning last night, thanks to a storm that had spawned confirmed tornadoes in Alabama and, if I’m remembering correctly, Heard County (which lies directly

I have of late become interested in the railroad lines that criss-cross Coweta County, here in subtropical west Georgia. There are three—two owned by CSX, which used to be the Chesapeake, the other

Newnan taxpayers provide several free services to the city’s top officials—a perk that worries people inside and outside Coweta’s county seat.

Over the past year, the city-owned utility, Newnan

One Dem state Senator—Dan Lee of LaGrange, which is about 35 miles south of my house via I-85—has already announced that he’s switching parties. Another, from Augusta over next to the South Carolina

And not too shabby over in Alabama either, since it looks like the Republican in their gubnor’s race may wind up getting elected too.

Here in Georgia, the hometown paper says there are only 30

Not only did Chambliss clean Cleland's clock (say that ten times fast), but Sonny Perdue overturned 130 years of history by becoming the first Republican governor elected in Georgia free of

Today is Georgia’s first experience with the fallout from Florida2K—the new touchscreen voting machines. Here’s how the system works:

In Georgia, you go into the polling place, and your first stop

By that I don’t mean roaches or those little spiders that crawl out of little holes in the drywall. I’m talking about critters that live in the neighborhood. Like the squirrels and mockingbirds most

And if they live in Cynthia McKinney’s district, today real patriots vote for Denise Majette.

Here in Coweta County, we have two out of five county commission seats under consideration, plus four

I’m going to take a shot at rebuilding the narrative lost in last night’s timeout fiasco—only better, because as I recall I was getting the feeling the narrative as I wrote it was not a real

On March 20, Coweta County voters — that’s where I live, Coweta County — defeated by a mere 98 votes a measure to extend for five additional years a one-percent special local-option sales tax