Last night the County Commission Chairman turned a routine event invitation into front page news in the VDT this morning: http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x1162624684/Paulk-No-more-biomass:

Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk called a halt Tuesday evening to commissioners hearing biomass comments during public portions of regular board meetings.

LAKE has videos; here’s a playlist, and here it is embedded:

Michael G. Noll, president of WACE, invited Commissioners Ashley Paulk, Joyce Evans, Richard Raines, Crawford Powell to an event about biomass issues related to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). Chairman and former Sheriff Paulk proceeded to interrogate Noll, thus turning a simple invitation into front page news.

Listen for yourself, but here are a few quotes from Commissioner Paulk:

“I’ve allowed y’all the time.”
“Certain people affiliated with you, some of your cohorts … have some hidden agendas.”
“We have received veiled threats.”
“In your column in the Sunday paper you also said you voted us in, you voted us out.”
“I was the sheriff sixteen years; I locked up some of my best friends; that’s the way I operate.”
“Our ethics are above reproach.”
“Are you a registered voter?”
“You’re a German national, is that correct?”
“I have email here where some of your cohorts, they attack personalities.”

And of course, what appeared to be Chairmain Paulk’s main point:

“It’s my job to maintain order in these meetings and the taxpayers pay for these meetings. I’m not going to continue to provide you with a public forum at the county taxpayers’ expense.”

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, at the regular public meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 Jan 2011.

-jsq

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