Former Legislator Watts Recognized by City Council

A local roadway will now bear the name of a longtime Paulding County resident and community leader.

Receiving a road sign that read “Charlie Watts Drive,” Watts — a former state legislator, now a lobbyist in the Georgia General Assembly — and his family were recognized at Monday’s Dallas City Council Meeting. Watts served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1983 to 1996 and is in his 15th year as a lobbyist.

“When the development of the southeast corner of Highway 61 and Jimmy Campbell Parkway took place, we had a street there that was unnamed, and the council chose last month by unanimous vote to name it in honor of Charlie Watts for his years of service to the people of this city, both as a legislator and as a business owner, and as a volunteer and a member of various boards,” Mayor Boyd Austin said during the meeting. “Charlie served this city and this district for 14 years as a state representative, and then made an unsuccessful run for Congress — I think we’d be in a lot better shape if we had men like him up there.

“Also, it kind of completes the triangle — he was very instrumental in the development of Chattahoochee Technical College’s Paulding County Campus, has lobbied for the funding of the additional building that’s there, and the other two streets are Thomas B. Murphy Drive and Nathan Deal Boulevard, so those three will forever be paired up together, and I think it’s a fitting tribute,” Austin added.

The mayor also lauded Watts for serving as chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Agency and for his help in facilitating the purchase of Dallas Theater.

Watts, who moved to Paulding County in 1972 and Dallas two years later, said he was very appreciative of the honor.

“When I first moved to Georgia … I thought I hated Georgia because I worked at Lockheed,” Watts said. “We moved to Paulding County, and my brother came over from Alabama, and I never will forget [him saying], ‘This is just like home.’ My sister called four or five years ago and wanted to know, she said, ‘Do you think you’d ever come back home?’ I said, ‘I am home.’

“It’s been a privilege for me — I love Paulding County, and I love Dallas,” Watts added.