Category Archives: Law

Insanity: Sabal Trail pipeline in karst sinkhole Floridan Aquifer @ FERC Lake City 2015-10-01

“What you all have proposed is total insanity…. experts lie… The companies, they don’t care. It’s just greed and arrogance,” said a Marcellus Shale drilling veteran. Karst mitigation won’t work according to Sabal Trail’s own FERC filings, children downwind of compressor, Sabal Trail quashing evidence of its unwanted, unneeded, and unsafe Sinkhole Pipeline, and FERC is cigarette companies pushing cancer cigarettes: on the wrong side of history. We aren’t your test subjects and we can win!

Videos from previous FERC meetings:

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Sabal Trail bad for VSU, rivers, animals, landowners, and community: to FERC in Valdosta 2015-09-30

Sinkholes, explosions, and other risks to our rivers, lands, and wildlife for no benefit from the Sinkhole Trail, plus FERC and its environmental contractor are paid by the pipeline companies, but still we can win, said local landowners and others to FERC in Valdosta last night, as you can see in these LAKE videos. And you can come to the Kayaktivism Day this Saturday several Valdosta State clubs are holding on the Withlacoochee River. Meanwhile, the FERC circus moves to Columbia High School in Live Oak, FL tonight. Continue reading →

A farce, a hoax, and wrong: citizens about Sabal to FERC in Moultrie 2015-09-29

“You tell us you’re sorry and it happens again”, said Alton Burns of Coolidge about pipeline leaks, fires, and explosions, setting the tone for the whole evening, which ended with local landowners calling the whole process a farce and a hoax. As attorney Jonathan Waters said, South Georgia is a home, not a pipeline easement.

The FERC meetings started the previous evening in Albany and continue at 5:30 PM each night at:

  • Wednesday, September 30, at Holiday Inn Valdosta, Conference Center Magnolia Ballroom, 1805 West Hill Ave., Valdosta, GA 31601. LAKE videos from Valdosta.
  • Thursday, October 1, at Columbia High School Auditorium, 469 SE Fighting Tiger Drive, Lake City, FL 32025 LAKE videos from Lake City.

There are many more things you can do to stop Sabal Trail. Remember, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Here are links to the LAKE videos from last night in Moultrie, followed by a video playlist. Continue reading →

Chamber Members to be Heard

As if two two county commission meetings (8:30 AM and 5:30 PM), a Development Authority Meeting (10AM) and a Board of Elections meeting (4:30 PM) weren’t enough, there’s also a Chamber members meeting (3:30PM), all Tuesday. Here’s the Chamber announcement.

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Event Name:2015 Members to be Heard – September 8
Event Type(s):Chamber Calendar
MetroOne
Member Event
Description:We want to hear YOUR input! Present information regarding legislation Continue reading →

Videos: Nuisance ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-11

They meet again Monday morning; here are videos from when they voted two weeks ago. There was a brief update on the Shiloh Road sinkhole, adding to the previous morning’s report; see also news reports. The rest of the meeting was rather predictable Continue reading →

$9.40 for a mound of paper @ LCC 2015-08-10

Gretchen made an Open Records request Monday morning and it was available Tuesday 4:37 PM: mostly on paper and less than an hour before the Commission voted.

The rezoning material from the Planning office was sent by electronic mail. The rest cost $9.40 to retrieve on paper. Nevermind in the email earlier Tuesday of the old ordinance from 1992 the county staff demonstrated they can put a paper document on their copier and produce a PDF. They could have done that with the rest of the board packet. Why didn’t they?

The Work Session was Monday morning at 8:30 AM 10 Aug 2015. Gretchen was notified by telephone about 4:30 PM Tuesday 11 Aug 2015. The County Palace closes at 5PM. The Commission met at 5:30 PM Tuesday to vote. So none Continue reading →

Videos: Unknown ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-10

Here are videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session. This morning, the same day as tonight’s voting Regular Session, we got a few answers to some of yesterday’s questions about the Nuisance Abatement Ordinance:

What 1992 ordinance? Which state law? Where’s the new draft?

Here’s the old ordinance and the new draft. And the memo wrapping the new draft refers to O.C.G.A. §§41-2-7 through 41-2-17. The memo doesn’t seem to say when that Georgia law was updated.

Here’s the agenda. See also the Continue reading →

Minutes from 2006, Lowndes County Commission

Minutes aren’t on Lowndes County’s new website back more than a few years. 300x388 DecemberX12,X2006-015, in Loco minutes, by John S. Quarterman, 11 August 2015 Even on their previous website, three sets of minutes were not there. More than four years after Gretchen asked, she asked again, and today we finally got those three. Look who signed those minutes as County Clerk: K. Paige Dukes, the same County Clerk who took four years to return them in response to an Open Records request. Here’s the message, and I’ve linked in those minutes.

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From: Amanda Smith <asmith@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:43:18 +0000
To: “‘land@quarterman.org'” <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: Meeting Minutes

As per your request, I have attached the meeting minutes from 8/8/06, 12/12/06, and 12/20/06. Continue reading →

Got one Lowndes County ordinance (nuisance abatement) after five years asking @ LCC 2015-08-10

Back in 2011 the County Clerk didn’t say which May she would provide that list of ordinances…. 300x388 Attest: Inez M. Pendleton, in Noise Abatement Ordinance, by John S. Quarterman, 11 August 2015 Her response of today is below. The old ordinance is so old it’s signed by Inez Pendleton. It’s still in force, though, so shouldn’t it be on the county’s website, along with all the other ordinances in force that also aren’t there? See below for list; also notice the dates I’ve boldfaced. The proposed new ordinance is not readily translatable to plain text; looks like she scanned a paper copy. Both are relevant to today’s Lowndes County Commission meeting. For the minutes she mentioned, see separate post.

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From: Paige Dukes <pdukes@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:42:29 +0000
To: John and Gretchen Quarterman <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: RE: Open Records Request for Ordinances

Good Afternoon Gretchen,

As per your request, please find the attached Continue reading →

Land is not just money: appeal tax valuations today

Appeal today if you think there’s more to land (or business) and woods and fields and streams than money, unlike the Tax Assessors, whose revaluation would drive development into agricultural areas of the county where it doesn’t belong, while avoiding populated areas such as the south side of Valdosta. We can expect pipeline companies and utilities from other states to think nothing of pillaging our lands for their profit. We shouldn’t expect that of our neighbors whom we elected Tax Asssessors. If you have affection for your land, your county, your neighborhood, today’s the deadline to appeal your valuation. And there will be an election later.

As Wendell Berry said,

Whatever has happened in what economists call “the economy,” it is generally true that the land economy has been discounted or ignored.

Are the Tax Assessors boomers? Are you a sticker? Wendell Berry explains: Continue reading →