Category Archives: Law

Lowndes County Soil Erosion, Sedimentation and Pollution Control Ordinance @ LCC 2016-12-12

The soil and water ordinance on the agenda at the Lowndes County Commission this morning: PDF.

It looks to be, as usual, the minimum required by state law. For example, it mentions rivers only in reference to specific state laws, without naming any of the Withlacoochee, Little, Alapaha, or Alapahoochee Rivers. And its only mention of pipe is that owners of sections of small trout streams can pipe them through their property.

Thanks to Sabrina Denson for returning this document the same day as the request Gretchen made.

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Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today!

Health appointment, 7 rezonings, abandonment, Soil Erosion, Wastewater, and alcohol @ LCC 2016-12-12

Longest agenda in recent memory, for this morning’s Work Session and tomorrow evening’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

For the rezonings, see also the LAKE videos of the preceding Planning Commission meeting. For the abandonment of unopened right of way on Avenue I, see the LAKE videos of last month’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.

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LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Service Delivery mismatch between cities and Lowndes County @ LCC 2016-11-29

Back in 1999, Lowndes County made AP news for being the only Georgia county to miss the deadline to file a service delivery plan and also not to file an extension. They finally came to an agreement in 2008 after a lot of wrangling, The tradition of local government disagreement about the 1997 HB 489 law requiring lack of duplication of tax-paid services continued tonight, with a Special Called Meeting. Caitlyn Chastain, WALBNews10, 11 November 2016, Valdosta and Lowndes Co. leaders miss deadline for SDS agreement,

Lowndes County leaders are holding a special meeting for citizens to talk about their newest proposal for the city on November 29th.

If I’m not mistaken, they only posted the agenda yesterday. But Gretchen is there with the LAKE video camera. Until they straigten this out, none of them can apply for federal or state grants. Last I heard, 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. 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 →

Public Hearing at private law firm for VSU bond to private LLC 2016-10-21

Why is a public hearing for VSU bonds being held at a private law firm? Is there no parking at VSU for the public to hear about this $58,805,000 bond issue? There is free parking at the county palace for which we the people footed around $51 million in bonds.

For that matter, why are bonds for a public university being held by a private LLC? Why are they being issued to that private LLC by the shadowy South Regional Joint Development Authority, to which the Lowndes County Commission just appointed Commissioner Clay Griner this May, even though County Manager Joe Pritchard couldn’t tell Griner when that Authority meets?

Can’t the Lowndes County Commission provide this bond Public Hearing with a public place to meet?

In the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday, October 5th 2016, and not online anywhere I can find it, was this Public Notice. Gretchen scanned it, and I OCRed it and formatted the lists to make it more legible. Continue reading →

Sabal Trail protests continue –VDT 2016-09-23

Front page today in the newspaper of record in the largest city in the Suwannee River Basin: the WWALS protest against DAPL and Sabal Trail at the US 84 Withlacoochee River bridge last Saturday, between Quitman and Valdosta, GA.

Desiree Carver, Valdosta Daily Times, Friday, September 23, 2016, front page, Sabal protests continue,

The WWALS Watershed Coalition stood on the bridge between Brooks and Lowndes County Saturday to show solidarity with Dakota Access Pipeline opponents in Dakota and to continue its battle against the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline.

That’s the US 84 bridge over the Withlacoochee River, on the Continue reading →

Sabal Trail destruction at Bell property, Mitchell Co., GA 2016-09-13

See for yourself what Jeb Bell was talking about to GPB, in these videos he sent of the destruction Sabal Trail is doing on his property. His father, James Bell, says it started immediately after a small protest Monday, and is plowing through gopher tortoise burrows, rare pitcher plants, large pine trees bulldozed and burned, and today within 300 yards of his house. James Bell the elder will be at the US 84 Withlacoochee River bridge 9AM this Saturday, September 17th 2016, to join the WWALS Watershed Coalition protest against Sabal Trail and the Dakota Access Pipeline, which are now owned by the same companies. That’s between Quitman and Valdosta, GA; see you there.

Sam Whitehead, GPB News, 15 September 2016, Sabal Trail Pipeline Plows Through Southwest Georgia, Local Opposition, Continue reading →

FPL admits no need for new electricity until 2024: so why Sabal Trail?

17%, 13%, now 0% new electricity needed in Florida, according to FPL? And the Sabal Trail excuse of coal plant “modernization” has already been accomplished without Sabal Trail? While even FPL is now deploying solar power and admits solar “is now significantly influencing FPL’s resource planning”? So what is the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline boondoggle for, then?

Two years ago I pointed out that FPL’s own projections in its ten-year plans 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 →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange