Vote 'no' for proposed local school property value assessment cap tax exemption

By Max Black   This is the second of three proposed local property tax exemption referendums I’m covering that will appear on your 2024 election ballot.

I’m voting for Trump and Vance

  By Rina Thomas   As Chairwoman of the Elbert County GOP I want to thank The Elberton Star for giving us the opportunity to speak directly to voters as we approach the start of early voting. I want to speak directly to voters who do not intend to vote for Donald J. Trump.

I’m voting for Harris and Walz

By Donna Wood   We have many reasons to vote Democratic this year: economics, immigration, health care, Social Security, education, international affairs, and reproductive freedom. Oh – and hope and joy instead of fear and hate. First, consider the economy. COVID struck us hard in 2020.

Happy 100th birthday, James Earl Carter Jr.

By: Dink Nesmith   On South Georgia’s Corridor Z in 2017, three black SUVs streaked by our older son’s truck. His wife, Heather, turned and said, “Alan, there goes President and Mrs. Carter. I bet they are headed to the island.

Voting matters more than ever for Elbert County

By: Otha Thornton   John Adams once wrote to his wife Abigail from the President’s House in 1800, offering a blessing that would later be engraved on the mantel of the State Dining Room: “I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And All that shall hereafter Inhabit it.

Who Are ‘The Good Ole Boys?’

By: Ronda Rich   Someone—a non-Southerner —asked me the other day, “What is a good ole boy?” I’m happy to answer that question. Let me tell you about the South’s good ole boys: First of all, you will probably see him at every Friday night home football game.

Vote 'yes' for property tax exmeption for seniors

By: Max Black   In May, the Georgia State Legislature approved three local Elbert County ballot referendums to be voted on Nov. 5 for senior homestead owners 65 and older.

Blame the state if your 2024 property taxes go up

By: Max Black   In some prior columns I had written about the one-time good deal the state of Georgia gave to homeowners in terms of property tax relief for 2023.

What you need to know and can do about your property tax bills

By: Burt Jones   Property tax bills represent a major household expense every year for hardworking Georgians. A homeowner’s property tax bill is mostly based on two factors: the local tax rate and the assessed value of their home.

People vote with their feet

By: Kyle Wingfield   People vote with their feet, as studies about migration among the states have shown. But they don’t only do this by crossing state lines. The IRS publishes yearly data about migration not only from state to state, but from county to county.