One black male inside the jail, Ed Thrasher, was spared from the lynching. Another incident occurred on 1917 that could have been racially motivated. Government Watkinsville is governed by a five-person elected city council, which is led by a separately elected mayor. The current mayor is Brian Brodrick, and the current city council members are Chuck Garrett, Connie Massey, Brett Thomas, Christine Tucker, and Jeff Campbell. The city clerk is Julie Sanders. The City Manager is Sharyn Dickerson, formerly an Athens-Clarke Commissioner. Education The Oconee County School District provides primary and secondary public education services for all residents of Watkinsville. The only public schools within the Watkinsville city limits are Colham Ferry Elementary School, Oconee County Elementary School, Oconee County Primary School, Oconee County Middle School, and Oconee County High School. Watkinsville has one of the best education systems in Georgia as ranked by the Georgia Department of Education. There are also several private schools such as Westminster Christian Academy, Athens Academy, and Prince Avenue Christian School. Arts and culture Watkinsville has the unofficial motto "The Artland of Georgia" on the wall of the Community Center, as designed by the late artist Jim Shearon. The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation or OCAF is located in Watkinsville in the old high school as part of the 1902 OCAF Center and Gallery near the Board of Education. The Iron Horse sculpture stands in a field approximately twelve miles south of Watkinsville (barely in Greene County). Notable people Nathan Crawford Barnett, member of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Secretary of State for more than 30 years. Alan Busenitz, baseball player Ed Crowley, baseball player Atticus Haygood, Methodist Bishop and Emory College president Hank Huckaby, chancellor of University System of Georgia Zach Mettenberger, NFL quarterback for Tennessee Titans Jeannette Rankin, first woman to serve in Congress: being elected from Montana in 1916 before women had the right to vote in other states. An American politician and women's rights advocate, a peace advocate who opposed all war, she was one of only fifty persons in Congress who voted against entry into WW I. "I wish to stand for my country," she said, "but I cannot vote for war." Years later, she would add, "I felt the first time the first woman had a chance to say no to war, she should say it." She was reelected to Congress in 1940 from Montana. She cast