Today my hat is off to Danita Knowles, Chair of the 1st Cong. District. - One Dedicated Democrat (and incidentally, Coffee County's own Rajin' Cajun)

Do you remember the 11-24-04 post entitled "A report of a meeting of local Georgia Democrats discussing our future. -- The meeting was in Savannah, but it could have been anywhere in Georgia?"

Today I am writing about two other reports of meetings of local Georgia Democrats, these reporting on Democratic caucus meetings held in the two counties comprising state House District 169, Coffee County (Douglas) and our neighbor Atkinson County (Pearson).

Wouldn't it be the best Christmas present the Democratic Party of Georgia ever received if each of our 159 counties could report to DPG headquarters that they too had similar meetings, with each and everyone in attendance fired up and ready to do battle in meeting our immediate challenge of being prepared come Nov. 2006.

Report No. 1: The first report is from the Friday edition of Coffee County News; the weekend edition of The Douglas Enterprise ran the same article.

COFFEE COUNTY DEMOCRATS CAUCUS

On December 4, an interested and enthusiastic crowd of Coffee County Democrats met at party headquarters with new executive committee members to elect officers and a state committee member. Re-elected for two year terms were chair, Danita Knowles, co-vice-chair, Guy “Whit” Moorman, III, co-vice-chair, Olivia Coley Pearson, and treasurer, Richard Baker. Lisa Leverette was elected secretary. Hazel McIver will serve as assistant secretary.

Local attorney Sid Cottingham was elected to serve a four year term as Coffee County’s member of the state committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia. This native Coffee Countian will bring a wealth of knowledge and political savvy to the state committee.

Danita Knowles gives a second voice to Coffee County views on the DPG as the elected chair of the 1st Congressional District, an executive committee position. These two Coffee Countians will help drive the platform and agenda of the state party at various statewide meetings throughout the coming year. Both express the desire to bring South Georgia to the attention of the state party in the same way that they hope to bring the South and its positions to the attention of the Democratic National Committee.

Rounding out the Coffee County Democratic Executive Committee are Fred Jones, Jr., Oscar Street, Johnnie Lee Roper, Nina Lott, Jeff Hennessy, Dewey Hayes, Jr., Doris Madson, and Dr. Lori Seward.

Ms. Knowles commented, “We are excited by the diversity, energy, and commitment this new committee brings to Coffee County Democrats. For the first time in a long time, there is no weak link in the chain. Each of us will contribute our skills to address the needs and concerns of local citizens for better government through the ideals of the Democratic Party.”

Cottingham stated: “Everyone on this local committee recognizes that the Democratic Party in Georgia lost some of its luster and former glory as a result of the November elections in 2002 and 2004. But we also know that the pendulum is always swinging. And with the kind of enthusiasm that has surfaced both locally and on a statewide basis since November 2 of this year, it is apparent to me that the job has begun in earnest to right the Democratic Party’s ship in this great state. Sure we’ve got our work cut out for us, but with the interest shown locally over the past month in meeting our challenges, I feel confident that we are up to the task. I appreciate this group’s confidence in me, and they know and the public knows that my door is always open for any concerns and suggestions.”

All citizens of Coffee County who are committed to the principles of the Democratic Party are invited to attend all meetings to voice opinions, participate or work on committees of the local party. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 6, 6:00 P.M. at the Madson Mortgage office, 319 Madison Avenue, Suite G. Local meetings are held monthly on the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 P.M. More information can be obtained by logging on the Party’s website at: CoffeeCountyDemocrats.com.

Report No. 2: The second report is from the weekend edition of The Douglas Enterprise:

ATKINSON DEMOCRATS OPTIMISTIC FOR A BRICHT FUTURE

Despite narrowly losing the 2004 Presidential race along with several statewide positions, the Atkinson County Democrats remained optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party and the current status of the United States during their meeting on December 4.

An energetic crowd met at the Country Cabin Steakhouse in Pearson to discuss several matter. Among these were the revitalization and rejunevation of the county party and the education of votors for future elections.

Current ATCO Democratic Party Chairmanb Eston Metts began the meeting by introducing Mrs. Danita Knowles, current Chair of the Coffee County Democratic Party and 1st Congressional District Representative for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Mrs. Knowles expressed her desire to help the county party in any way she can in her capacity as the state party's 1st Congressional District Representative. Additionally, Knowles relayed to the crowd the need to elect one person to represent Atkinson County on the state committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia.

As a result, Mr. L.H. James was unanimously elected to serve on the state committee. In this capacity, James will attend several meetings of the state party throughout the year and will speak on behalf of the county party.

Following the selection of Mr. James, long-term ATCO Democratic Party officers Eston Metts and Mrs. Margaret Mizell relayed their desire to retire their current positions.

"It's not that we don't want to stay involved and help," stated Mizell. "The fact is we have held these positions for a long time and we feel the county would be better served with a younger group. We would always be here to help out and office advice, but, again, we need younger and more able people to carry this group forward."

In response, those in attendance opted to delay officer elections until the next meeting in order to give members ample time to discuss the matter further.

Concluding the meeting, several members spoke openly about this year's election and what Democrats could do in order to promote the Democratic platform.

"We have to educate voters on the issues," stated one member. "I think this is the real key. People should understand thata we are "the party of compassion." It a common misconception that we are all about raising taxes and this simply is not true. We're about ensuring that every American, Georgian, etc. is provided an equal chance in life despite his or her economical or social status. We're also about ensuring citizens' safety in all areas. We need to do real grassroots campaigning and education, helping people to again realize that we are the party for the common man."

The next meeting of the Atkinson County Democratic Party will be held on Saturday, January 15 at 9:00 a.m. at the Country Cabin Steakhouse. County officer elections are scheduled to be held at this time. All citizens of Atkinson County who agree with the basic principles of the Democratic Party are invited to attend.

[The next time I run into Danita Knowles I am going to ask her if she knows the name of the individual making the comments about what the Democratic Party stands for and how we to get this message out. When I get his name, I am going to pass it along for consideration as our Chair of the DNC.]
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I said I was going to make this post about the above two reports, but while writing I recalled a couple of other recent events about Danita that I think would be appropriate to share.

Other Event No. 1: One was a copy of an e-mail that a member of the Executive Committee of Ware County (Waycross) sent to Danita and copied me:

Dear Danita:

I would like to say thank you on behalf of the Ware Democratic Party group.

You have no idea how much we appreciated your being at the last meeting [on Nov. 30 when officers were elected] and all the information that you shared with us. We have been muddling along since we began and your presence provided a boost that we really needed.

Other Event No. 2: Last Wednesday I got an e-mail from Danita asking if I knew any Democrats in Echols County* (Statenville) and Cook County (Adel) (these counties are on the western edge of the 1st Congressional District). She noted that we didn't have no local Parties organizations there, and that she hoped to correct this situation.

I wrote back saying I knew some good attorney Democrats (are there anything other kind, Democrats that is) in Adel whom we could contact, but didn't think they were any attorneys in Echols County. (The minimum number of attorneys in a county is two. Even though a county's population may indicate that it can support an attorney, by himself or herself the attorney will starve. Bring in another gunslinger and they both can make a decent living suing each other.)

I told Danita that although I did not know anyone we could contact in Echols, my good friend Tom Chambers practices law in Homerville in the adjacent county of Clinch, and he was as good a person and Democrat as there was in South Georgia.

The next thing I know it is Thursday afternoon and Danita is in my office, with her 1st Congressional District files and folders under one arm, and her GADCC stuff under the other (did I neglect to mention that Danita is also Secretary of the Ga. Ass’n of Democratic County Chairs.

After getting the ball rolling for Cook County and putting Tom Chambers to work searching out possibilities and prospects in Echols, and thinking I was going to be able to get back to practicing law, the Chair politely lets me know we are not quite through.

It seems that no one in the DPG office in Atlanta has any records on who is on the local Democratic Party Committee in Long County (Ludowici**). All Danita has been able to come up with is a name of someone whom she cannot find in Long County. After thirty minutes of some good and encouraging conversation with some attorney friends in Ludowici, and we are once again off and running.

Based on our afternoon's work, I suspect that sometime during January the 1st Congressional District Chair will be making a trip to Cook, Echols and Long Counties to help get committees in these locations up and running.

Need I say any more why, as publisher of this blog, I hereby proclaim Danita Knowles -- a great Georgia, a loyal Democrat, and Coffee County own Rajin' Cajun (Danita hails from Louisana) -- Georgia's Democrat of the Moment.

As is obvious from the post, Danita's tireless efforts on our behalf seem to know no bounds. But from being in public service and having represented several governmental and quasi-governmental clients throughout most of my professional career, I can share one thing with you.

Just as we do not tell our spouses how much we love and appreciate them often enough, we also fail to tell our public officials how we appreciate their service and efforts on our behalf. The only time most of them hear from constituents is when the constituents disagree with some action taken by the official.

Not expecting that we are going to be able to find much with which to fault Danita, by this post I am telling her how much I appreciate her and all of her efforts. If you feel so inclined, her e-mail address is rajincajun@coffeecountydemocrats.com.

Just kidding; her actual e-mail address is dknowles52@hotmail.com

Whether you e-mail her or not, thank her when you next see her. She is a friend of the Democrat Party, and someone whom I am proud to be able to say is my friend.
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I know many of you who live in Georgia -- rather than the Other Georgia -- have not heard of some of the places that I might write about from time to time. But unless you are young, two of the places I have written about in this post are ones with which you are familiar. Right?

*Echols County: You never heard of the county-unit system? Well then not only are you young, but you also did not read my 08-29-04 post wherein I wrote:

"[In 1962] "cuff link Carl" Sanders beat "they ate my bar-b-que Marvin Griffin" . . . [in a] Georgia gubernatorial race . . .that represented good's triumph over evil for me when I was 13 . . .

"1962 was an important year in Georgia history. That year in Westberry v. Sanders a federal court invalidated our state's county-unit system, and thus was born the one man one vote concept. And Gov. Sanders became Georgia's first governor elected by popular vote rather than under the county-unit system. The county-unit system was somewhat akin to the electoral college on the federal scene, but with significant differences.

"[W]hile I generally agree with doing away with the county-unit system -- there is some logic to having our state Senate comprised differently than the state House just as it is with the U.S. Senate, not necessarily by county, but on some other basis than just one man one vote -- currently I am not in favor of doing away with the electoral college. It might need some revising, I really don't know; all I know about it is what I learned in college while minoring in political science and watching it every four years. Thus I am not an expert in the subject to say the least. But I do know that I don't want New York, California, Florida and Pennsylvania being the only states that determine who our president will be."

Back to Echols County. Although you may not have heard of Echols County, I can assure you that in every candidate for Governor and the U.S. Senate running for statewide office prior to 1962 had heard of it, and spent part of the candidate's campaign time there soliciting valuable votes.

And someone else who has heard of it is former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. He wrote the Court's 1962 opinion in Westbury v. Sanders noted pointed that invalidated the county-unit system.

(More so than this important decision, perhaps Justice Douglas's most memorable opinion was Griswold v. Connecticut that I also studied in law school. This case struck down a law prohibiting the purchase of contraceptives, and in so doing, began a judicial revolution by making privacy a constitutional right, leading to subsequent decisions such as the one everyone has heard of, Roe v. Wade.)

In writing the opinion for the Court Justice Douglas stated the following about Georgia's county-unit system:

"[The person who brought the lawsuit challenging the county-unit system] asserted that the total population of Georgia in 1960 was 3,943; that the population of Fulton County, where he resides, was 556,326; that the residents of Fulton County comprised 14.11% of Georgia's total population; but that, under the county unit system, the six unit votes of Fulton County constituted 1.46% of the total of 410 unit votes, or one-tenth of Fulton County's percentage of statewide population. The complaint further alleged that Echols County, the least populous county in Georgia, had a population in 1960 of 1,876, or .05% of the State's population, but the unit vote of Echols County was .48% of the total unit vote of all counties in Georgia, or 10 times Echols County's statewide percentage of population. One unit vote in Echols County represented 938 residents, whereas one unit vote in Fulton County represented 92,721 residents. Thus, one resident in Echols County had an influence in the nomination of candidates equivalent to 99 residents of Fulton County."

[Man, talk about the good old days . . . And you think Atlanta and Fulton County have grown since 1960. Echol County's population has more than doubled from 1960 to 2000, barely. The 1,876 in 1960 in 2000 was 3,754. And yes, Echols still the state's least populous county. Back when state prisoners made tags each year rather than beating up on each other all of the time and engaging in Gov. Perdue's faith-based initiatives, a county ranking population wise would appear on the county. Echols sported a 159; Coffee a 36.]

** Ludowici: While attending college at Davidson College, I once picked up an issue of Time and started reading about Gov. Lester Maddox and his assault on a town 70 or 80 miles from Douglas in Long County -- Ludowici, Georgia.

You must appreciate that what I am fixing to write about was accepted as the gospel truth. I had been instructed since getting my learner's license at the age of 15 to slow down, and then slow down so more, until I was going only 10 or 15 m.p.h. whenever approaching and going through Ludowici, which we would do when going one of the two different ways when travelling from Douglas to Savannah (the other route goes through Ft. Stewart).

There is Time was a picture of my Governor standing beside a billboard on the outskirts of Ludowici warning motorists they were about to enter a speed trap (our state had gotten a bad reputation among Florida-bound tourists for such).

I can't recall whether the rest of what I am going to tell you was in Time, but in addition to having the big billboard installed, Gov. Maddox stationed state troopers at the billboard to prevent it from being torn down. And then to finish up with the great story, when a local official came to his office to protest, Gov. Maddox grabbed him by the arm and escorted him to the door: "Get out of here, you dirty skunk!" Maddox shouted as the man hurried out of the governor's crowded reception room.

Only in Georgia (the Other Georgia you say; no, this was in Georgia).

Is this a great state or what. I love it. God loves it too.