As my mother, who used to teach at Pine Grove Elementary School (not a High School at that time), used to say, it takes a big man to admit it when he’s wrong, and Fred Wetherington is a big man

because he thought it was a good idea. He looked at the evidence; he looked at the research; and determined it was not a good idea.

I look forward to the members of CUEE standing up and being big men and women because the research, their own research, and the research that we’ve heard tonight, the research from Tennessee, and the research from Troup County: consolidation is not a good idea.

And I’m still waiting for some CUEE big men or women….

Anyway, my question:

And one reason that it’s not a good idea that we’ve heard tonight is that … taxes for people in the county will go up. For people in the city too, but particularly for people in the county outside Valdosta who do not get to vote on the referendum: Is that not taxation without representation?

Supt. Smith responded:

Mr. Quarterman, in my opinion it is. I’ve used that analogy before.

He used it again in his op-ed in the VDT the other day.

So if you live in the county and you don’t want your taxes going up for no benefit to you or to the children of this county, there are still a few hours to get your friends in Valdosta down to the polls to vote No school consolidation.

Here’s the video:

Taxation without Representation —John S. Quarterman @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011
Why we oppose consolidation,
Community Forum, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

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