We had over an inch of rain at our place last night, and it came down hard at times. This morning, it was 29°. The roads were a little icy in places, but the wind dried out the roads for the most part, and it was pretty easy to get around. So the extent of the winter weather so far is still just a few flurries.
The Fannin County political “silly season” is heating up, with campaign announcements and rumors hitting almost every day. So far, Blue Ridge Police Chief Johnny Scearce has declared as a challenger to Fannin County Sheriff Dane Kirby. He’s been police chief for seventeen years, and is well liked. Many observers give him an excellent chance of defeating Dane in the fall. Garnett Webb, currently Post 1 Commissioner, has announced his candidacy for County Chairman, and there are rumors of other challengers to Bill Simonds for this post. There are other elected officials who are expected to retire, which will lead to a more interesting election season than we have had in some time. Most or all of these folks will be running as Republicans, because – especially in a general election year – it is very tough going for a Democratic candidate in Fannin County.
A lot of people were relieved to learn that the Blue Ridge Food Lion will not be one of the stores that Food Lion is closing in Georgia. There is still no confirmation of the rumor that Wal-Mart is going to be building one of their smaller units – the ones keyed to competing with Dollar General – next to the Home Depot. I guess that means that the Race Trac station on 515 at Josh Hall Road is the most visible addition to the local business scene in the last year.
The second part of the streetscape project has started in downtown Blue Ridge. It will be nice when it is completed, but right now West Main is closed in front of our office, and it seems it will be a while until the project is complete. At this point, I understand that they are working on water and sewer improvements.