Category Archives: Activism

Videos: Stealth Commission district reapportionment and half million dollar developer giveaway @ LCC 2022-01-25

As expected, the Lowndes County Commission at its Regular Session passed the half million dollar bailout for a developer.

Not expected, they changed the agenda at the beginning of the meeting to approve new Commission district maps and a resolution supporting them, for immediate transmission to the state.

One citizen wishing to be heard spoke about the never ending noise from the 15 month old Arglass factory.

[Amendment, Commissioners, New Districts]
Amendment, Commissioners, New Districts

Developer Bailout

For 5.k. Property Purchase – Building Valdosta, LLC County Manager Paige Dukes said staff acted at the direction of the Commissioners, seeming to distance herself and staff from this action.

Reapportionment

I’m guessing the added agenda item was 5.l..

Vice Chair Joyce Evans, presiding over the meeting in the absence of Chair Bill Slaughter, introduced the agenda change for district reapportionment indicating the Commissioners all already knew this was going to happen. Continue reading →

Nydia Tisdale should be emulated, not punished: LAKE to Judge 2017-12-17

You can also write a letter of support. Please send it today before the sentencing hearing 9AM December 18, 2017.

Nydia Tisdale

Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
3338 Country Club Road #L336, Valdosta, GA 31605
www.l-a-k-e.org
lakesubmissions@gmail.com
229-242-0102

December 17, 2017

Hon. Senior Judge Martha Christian
Dawson County Judges Office
25 Justice Way, Suite 4202
Dawsonville, GA 30534
C/o Catherine Bernard
catherine@bernardlawoffices.com

Your Honor,

Nydia Tisdale is an inspiration for everyone who is in favor of the First Amendment, especially citizen journalists such as ourselves. Her years of educating local governments about Georgia’s open meetings laws by handing out materials, and of shining a light on local government activities by videoing their meetings, are exemplary and should be emulated, not punished.

With attorney Bruce Harvey inside AJC
Photo: John S. Quarterman for LAKE, 14 October 2016.

The misdemeanor conviction of Nydia Tisdale makes no sense, since Continue reading →

America’s largest college mutual fund VA529 owns Spectra Energy, a stranded investment

Parents and grandparents buy 529 college savings plans as safe investments, so VA529 chose poorly in Spectra Energy, the very risky company behind the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline now plowing through the Floridan Aquifer drinking water of south Alabama, Georgia, and all of Florida and under the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers against growing opposition. Maybe you’d like to mention that to Mary G. Morris, the Chief Executive Officer of Virginia529 College Savings Plan, the biggest mutual fund investor in both Spectra Energy and in Enbridge, which is buying Spectra. There’s a handy VA529 contact form or you can call or write:

1-804-371-0766
Toll-Free: 1-888-567-0540
9001 Arboretum Parkway
North Chesterfield, VA 23236

Spectra is so risky it just sold itself so Enbridge would take on about $22 billion of Spectra debt. Debt especially racked up since Continue reading →

Video: Nydia Tisdale thanks her supporters

We asked Nydia Tisdale to say a few words about her recent legal situation, and here’s what she said.

See previous post for context of what she’s talking about, and of course Nydia’s website About Forsyth and her YouTube channel.

Continue reading →

Visiting Nydia Tisdale

Update 2016-10-19: And we asked Nydia to speak directly through YouTube.

Here’s Nydia Tisdale with her picture on the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Gretchen and I dropped in on Nydia Sunday afternoon in Roswell, GA. Needless to say, we support Nydia. She usually doesn’t even provide commentary with her video reports, yet when videoing public meetings she’s repeatedly faced obstruction from people who don’t seem to know the First Amendment, nor even the Four Amendment, much less Georgia’s Open Meetings Law.

Chris Joyner, AJC, 6 October 2016, Ga. citizen journalist faces possible jail time, Continue reading →

Bell Brothers v. Sabal Trail Attorney Fees

You can help prevent this happening to you or your neighbors. Sabal Trail will use this to intimidate anyone who opposes them, just like they’ve been using previous court cases to scare people all along. Fortunately, the Bells have already provided a way everyone can help and thereby demonstrate we the people do not want Sabal Trail. The Bell brothers have set up a gofundme campaign. If you can’t contribute, you can help publicize it.

In the same case that people travelled to Leesburg, GA to attend twice, from Dougherty County and Lowndes County, GA and from places in Florida as far south as the Everglades, the Bell Brothers lost Continue reading →

Lowndes County Commission Trailer

Fade A movie trailer for your local government, the Lowndes County Commission! No, it didn’t win at the CAUSES 5 mini-film festival at VSU Saturday night, but you can, by speaking up at your local government (and state and federal).

-jsq


Lowndes County Commission Trailer
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Submitted to the CAUSES 5 mini-film festival at VSU, 23 January 2016, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

CAUSES in VDT, and the mini-films show 7PM tonight at VSU 2016-01-23

90-second movie trailers of local issues, tonight at 7PM, Bailey Auditorium, VSU, Valdosta, Lowndes County, GA. We sent in some submissions, and I hope you did, too; once we thought of them as trailers, it was pretty easy (by “we” I mean Gretchen”).

Printable Flyer Desiree Carter, VDT, 22 Jan 2016, Valdosta State showcases ‘Causes’,

“Causes” is a mini-festival created by Dr. Matthew Richard in the anthropology department of Valdosta State University.

“I came up with this in 2008 when Facebook and YouTube were new,” said Richard. “It’s a neat way to challenge students and to show that things learned in class can be applied to real life.”

To Richard, this project embodies Continue reading →

NAACP Reactivation Meeting, Valdosta Chapter, 2016-01-06

Received today (PDF). -jsq

Re-Activation Meeting for the
Valdosta Chapter

Re-Activation Meeting We are looking for new members to relaunch this chapter.
Please come and join us!!!!!!

When: January 6, 2016 @ 7pm

Where: Greater St. Peter Methodist Church
500 E Gordon Street
Valdosta, GA 31601

Who: Reactivation Executive Committee

For more information email:
Mrs. Angela Penn at agpenn28@gnail.com,
Pastor Darren Ncal at rcvncal@icloud.coni, or
Dr. Gerald Williams at drgeraldwilliams@yahoo.con

Continue reading →

Southern Company and Duke backing solar Florida

Are all the fracking utitilies finally seeing the sunlight? By Backing solar power in Florida, are Duke, Southern Company, TECO, and even FPL’s parent NextEra hedging their bets, or finally realizing where the future is?

Reem Nasr, CNBC, 12 June 2015, The sleeping giant of the solar industry: Florida,

Duke Energy Florida told CNBC that it “is a strong supporter of solar energy and we are committed to helping to grow solar in Florida.” Last month it announced an additional 500 megawatts of solar facilities by 2024, among other solar projects.

Meanwhile in May Duke Energy of Charlotte, North Carolina bought 7.5% of Sabal Trail, along with Spectra Energy of Houston and NextEra Energy of Juno Beach, Florida.

Southern Co., which owns Florida’s Gulf Power, said the following:

Continue reading →