This will be mostly an Augusta good news column. Well, I suppose I’ll let the readers decide. I have some good news and then, I must spill the beans about a few other things that are questionable at the very least.
I was overjoyed to hear the news about another large company moving to Augusta and bringing jobs our way. The Augusta Economic Development Authority is continuing to show its value. Residents of Columbia County should be excited as more jobs come available. A lot of those fine homes in Columbia County are paid for with jobs in Augusta, anyway.
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Aurubis, one of the leading recycling companies in the world, will establish a $340 million facility in this community and create at least 125 jobs. This deal is another historic feather in the cap for the leadership of the Development Authority. It’s just a show of the sustainable growth that is taking place in and around Augusta.
Speaking of growth in Augusta — I mean Columbia County — I had an opportunity to ride by the Columbia County Fair, and let me just say this – it was crowded. That is a good thing in my eyes. It shows that people are OK with getting back out to outdoor activities, and it also shows that they may have to figure out somewhere to move that fair to.
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I was reading comments online about the fair, and everyone talked about how much fun they had. They also talked about it being crowded and how there were long lines, especially for food vendors.
That makes me feel good. Growth like this affects our entire community.
Speaking of effects on our entire community, let me speak on a few things that have been coming up lately. We still have not heard anything from the Sheriff’s Office regarding all the violence in Augusta (This is where you insert the cricket noise.)
There was quite a bit of talk about the Columbia County Commission taking a trip outside the county for a commission meeting on a Sunday. Government officials having a meeting outside of their normal chambers has become something that is a little more common lately. Perhaps they are taking a retreat to discuss things they may not want to say in front of the community, since most of the time, the media is not present or has not been invited.
This latest trip by the Columbia County Commission was brought under scrutiny when Lee Muns made mention of it in a social media post and basically wondered how the community would respond if the Augusta Commission did the same thing. His post drew quite the response – just take a look and tell me what you think in the comments below.
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As the redistricting talks continue, and after I made mention of it in one of my columns, I received a series of emails between some members of the redistricting committee and state legislators. The emails exhibited some anger about two local legislators who went to meet with Republicans in Atlanta directly without anyone’s knowledge to discuss keeping districts 3, 6 and 8 the way they are as well as working to not break up the Summerville neighborhood and other neighborhoods that may lean a certain way.
Member Hannah stated after learning of this, “I am of the belief that such a request should have come from the committee’s leadership…”
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Member Cain was confused, as if she had missed a meeting to decide to “focus” on certain districts and why only those districts were included.
She stated in an email, “I thought this was a group effort.”
Commissioner Mason, who is also in this group, seemed to be a bit astonished by this discovery as well. He simply wanted to remind everyone involved, “Let us not have history repeat itself.”
He stated in the email that this was a reminder of the last time and how they had to let the courts decide the fate of the district. Either way, it seemed to upset several committee members that a couple legislators from our local Richmond County delegates decided to go and speak on behalf of the entire county and basically asked the Republican leadership to take care of Republican leaning-areas, but in exchange for what, the person sending me the emails asked me.
I told them, it’s simple. This entire deal was so that… Well, here I go getting ahead of myself again. Tune in next week if you really want to hear the rest of that story.
Michael Meyers is a Columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Michael.meyers@theaugustapress.com
