Austin’s Daily Commentary – January 30, 2024

Austin: Don Cheeks was quite a character. He grew up in the Harrisburg section of Augusta and as a young man apparently was a weaver and dealer from a very, very early age, starting, I think, a paper round, he told me. And then he would resell dry goods out of a wagon. I mean, I remember these stories now. They're all coming back to him.

Word came down yesterday that Don Cheeks passed away at the age of 92, after a long and illustrious career, not only as a real estate investor but as one of this area's leading politicians. At the time of his retirement, he was one of the movers and shakers in the Georgia Senate and one of the biggest party switchers in the history of the CSRA.

When Don Cheeks moved from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in the 90s at the behest, by the way, of the man who would become our next governor in the state of Georgia, Sonny Perdue, it was quite a production indeed. I remember the big event that Don Cheeks hosted for Sonny Perdue in an aircraft hangar at Daniel Field Airport. It's a big, huge deal.

Yeah, I don't think politicians these days, local ones, particularly carry that kind of clout and and have that kind of, almost Hollywood star, personality and quality that Don Cheeks and I, he could be a curmudgeon, don't get me wrong. But again, when it came to keeping the CSRA as a complete and total star of the state legislative agenda, he was really quite the expert. He and Charles Walker, easily the two most important men in the Georgia legislature as far as the, city of Augusta goes for many, many years.

God bless him. He leaves behind a wonderful family that loved him dearly, Don Cheeks passing away at the age of 92. Quite the political star in his day. And that's the comment, I'm Austin Rhodes, AM 580/95.1 FM, News Talk WGAC.