Category Archives: History

When you cry, I’m gonna cry; when you laugh, I laugh —Allen Lane for Lowndes County Commission District 4 @ Baseball 2012-07-14

Allen Lane is one of the two Democrats running for the new County Commission District 4 for the east half of Lowndes County. He spoke at a baseball reunion in Naylor, 14 July 2012.

Here's the video:

When you cry, I'm gonna cry; when you laugh, I laugh —Allen Lane for Lowndes County Commission District 4
1st Annual Reunion, South Georgia Semi-Pro Baseball & Softball League (Baseball),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Naylor, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 July 2012.

-jsq

Invest in our future now or watch our kids leave —Demarcus Marshall for Lowndes County Commission District 4 @ Baseball 2012-07-14

Demarcus Marshall is one of two Democrats running for the new County Commission District 4 that covers the eastern half of Lowndes County. He spoke at a baseball reunion in Naylor, 14 July 2012.

Here's the video:

Invest in our future now or watch our kids leave —Demarcus Marshall for Lowndes County Commission District 4
1st Annual Reunion, South Georgia Semi-Pro Baseball & Softball League (Baseball),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Naylor, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 July 2012.

-jsq

North Troop Street Police

Received 15 July 2012. I hope to have time to watch all these videos. -jsq

This is information from the word on the streets of Valdosta, Georgia and the half I am told has not been told. We the people have a right to know what is going on in our beloved community and no American Citizens should live in fear in 2012. What say you?

Valdosta Daily Times Troop Street Arrest: http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x471596914/Man-arrested-following-altercation-with-police

1. Introduction: Review of News Paper Published Information http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8vg98vdrxs

2. Deshon Jones arrested on charges of felony obstruction charges.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCewqeW-A5U

3. Young Man Speaks Out and Introduction on FEAR!

Continue reading →

Fukushima children: 35.8% thyroid cysts (0.8% in control group)

ENENews reported today that Just 0.8% of children in 2001 Japanese control group had thyroid cysts or nodules — 36% in Fukushima study. Is that a risk we want in Georgia from the new nukes at Plant Vogtle? How about we deploy wind and solar instead, faster, cheaper, and on time, plus solar or wind spills do not cause thyroid cysts.

Now you may say there’s little chance of similar problems in Georgia, since Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning assured us Plant Vogtle is 100 miles inland where there are no earthquakes. Still, the same could have been said of Chernobyl. And TEPCO back in 2001 reassured everyone that tsunamis were not a problem for Fukushima.

Economics, as in the stealth tax rate hike, $8.3 billion loan guarantee, cost overrun passthrough boondoggle sucking up money that could be going to make Georgia a world leader in solar and wind for jobs, energy independence and profit, is the main point. But let’s not forget the health risks of nuclear power, from Three Mile Island to Chernobyl to Fukushima. Or Southern Company’s Plant Hatch, for that matter, leaking radioactive tritium into the ground water 90 miles from here. No tsunami and no earthquake was required to produce that leak. It’s our money and our families’ health Southern Company is experimenting with.

-jsq

Sidewalk snaps up behind coal in Georgia: Snapping Shoals EMC drops Power4Georgians

Only a few months ago, Cobb EMC pulled out of Power4Georgians and their coal plant plans; now Snapping Shoals EMC does the same. The sidewalk is indeed snapping up behind coal in Georgia. As once again customers of an EMC decide to run for its board. Southern Company and Georgia Power, are you listening? Not just about coal; also about those new nukes.

The insurgent candidates have a facebook page, Smart Energy for Snapping Shoals.

PR yesterday from Georgians for Smart Energy, Snapping Shoals EMC Backs Away From Risky Coal Plant Venture

Continue reading →

Wikileaks wins against VISA

Kim Zetter wrote today for Wired Threat Level, WikiLeaks Wins Icelandic Court Battle Against Visa for Blocking Donations

The Icelandic partner of Visa and MasterCard violated contract laws when it imposed a block against credit card donations to the secret-spilling site WikiLeaks, a district court there has ruled.

The Reykjavík District Court ruled that Valitor, which handles Visa and MasterCard payments in Iceland, was in the wrong when it prevented card holders from donating funds to the site. The court ruled that the block should be removed within 14 days or Valitor will be fined the equivalent of about $6,000 a day.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told the Associated Press that it was “a small but very important step in fighting back against these powerful banks.” He said other lawsuits are ongoing in Denmark and Belgium.

The fine isn’t nearly big enough, and of course Valitor is appealing.

“This is a significant victory against Washington’s attempt to silence WikiLeaks,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement about the win in Iceland. “We will not be silenced. Economic censorship is censorship. It is wrong. When it’s done outside of the rule of law it’s doubly wrong. One by one those involved in the attempted censorship of WikiLeaks will find themselves on the wrong side of history.”

They tried to silence Ben Franklin, too, for distributing some government communications that he got from an anonymous source.

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty
to purchase a little Temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
—Benjamin Franklin, An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, 1759

History found old Ben to be on the right side. It will find the same about Julian Assange. Which side are you on?

-jsq

Georgia Power deploys 1 MW solar; could have done 330 MW by now

Let’s compare Georgia Power’s 1 megawatt Upson solar plant with what Georgia Power and Southern Company could be doing if they weren’t wasting so much money on nukes at Plant Vogtle.

S. Heather Duncan reported for the Macon Telegraph, First big Ga. Power solar project comes online in Upson. Yay! Georgia Power and its parent the Southern Company (SO) will have a hard time now saying solar power doesn’t work in Georgia. But let’s compare the megawatts and put that in perspective.

Solar Megawatts

That’s right: we could have had 3,000 times as much solar production by now. All SO would have to do Continue reading →

Closing one end of Brinson Drive to stop speeders @ LCC 2012-06-26

Closing one end of a dirt road to stop speeders: it turns out the county can do that, after all! And it’s a popular thing to do.

One spoke against, but changed to be for. Three others spoke for. The agenda item at the 26 June 2012 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission was

7. Public Hearing: Abandonment of a Portion of Brinson Drive
  • John L. Lewis who lives in Lanier County but owns property at 4718 Brinson Road spoke against closing Brinson Drive. County Engineer Mike Fletcher clarified that they weren’t closing the whole road; they were abandoning a portion of it near Pikes Pond Road, making Brinson a dead end to stop speeding through traffic. Lewis seemed mollified.
  • Richard Rigby spoke for the closing of Brinson Road, saying it was the greatest thing the Commission had done in the last ten years, other than keeping Haunted House Road open.
  • Amanda Parker spoke for closing Brinson Drive; she lives on Oak Hill Drive at the end of Brinson and almost got run over that morning.
  • Loretta Steed spoke for closing Brinson Drive; she lives on Pikes Pond Road near one end of Brinson. She said she had been against the closing until she learned from Rigby that the county was keeping Haunted House Road open. Instead she wanted to know how it would be closed so as to stop the speeders from getting on it. Chairman Paulk said a culvert would be removed.
  • Commissioners voted unanimously to close one end of Brinson Drive.

Three years ago in a similar situation, the county insisted on paving Quarterman Road instead. Quarterman Road, which, unlike Brinson Drive, doesn’t even go anywhere. Paving resulted in speeders and drag racers through a residential neighborhood. As resident Carolyn Selby put it:

You designed a mile and a half straight-away, and they have come. Welcome to the Quarterman Road Drag Strip!

The county continues to insist speed humps are out of the question. It’s good to hear Commissioners have become concerned about safety somewhere in the county.

-jsq

Mickey Tillman recognized @ LCC 2012-06-26

As an unscheduled item at the 26 June 2012 Regular Session, Lowndes County Chairman Ashley Paulk and County Manager Joe Pritchard recognized the many years of service of Mickey Tillman. Here's an excerpt from what Joe Pritchard said:

Mickey was hired in 1975. Lowndes County was referred to as the Commission of Roads and Revenue. and the county had a population of approximately 60,000 people and was served by 150 employees. Today of course Lowndes County serves nearly 110,000 citizens with an employee base of 575. Mickey has been a part of this historical growth and he has been instrumental in the early development of several key services that continue to meet the needs of the citizens today.

Then the Commissioners posed for photographs with Mickey Tillman.

Here's the video:

Mickey Tillman recognized
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 June 2012.

-jsq

One Japanese nuclear reactor back online

Not surprising, but quite possibly not a good idea. Mari Yamaguchi wrote for AP yesterday, Japan powered by nuclear energy again, blamed anew,

Nuclear power returned to Japan’s energy mix for the first time in two months Thursday, hours before a parliamentary panel blamed the government’s cozy relations with the industry for the meltdowns that prompted the mass shutdown of the nation’s reactors.

Though the report echoes other investigations into last year’s disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, it could fuel complaints that Japan is trying to restart nuclear reactors without doing enough to avoid a repeat. Thursday’s resumption of operations at a reactor in Ohi, in western Japan, already had been hotly contested.

Government officials and the utility that runs the Ohi plant announced last month that the No. 3 reactor had passed stringent safety checks and needed to be brought back online to ward off blackouts during the high-demand summer months. Another Ohi reactor, No. 4, is set to restart later this month and the government hopes to restart more of Japan’s 50 working reactors as soon as possible.

“We have finally taken this first step,” said Hideki Toyomatsu, vice president of Kansai Electric Power Co., which operates the Ohi plant. “But it is just a first step.”

Maybe they’re like Southern Company (SO) CEO Thomas A. Fanning,who said he’d Continue reading →