Category Archives: Law

Sheriff responds to County Commission about budget @ LCC 2013-11-14

LTE in the VDT today. -jsq

Sheriff’s Response to “budget woes”

The Sheriff’s Office has received a lot of criticism in the last several months. It appears to be the fashionable thing these days and an easy target. Sheriff Prine did not receive an invitation to the Chairman’s personal property for a review of the county’s budget and criticism of the Sheriff’s budget in particular. There are some facts that have not been reported by the Valdosta Daily Times, which may or may not have been provided.

First it should be noted that the Sheriff’s Office general fund budget was reduced from last year’s budget by $171,306. This was before another $130,492 was taken away in August as a result of shift in traffic citation processing responsibilities to the Clerk’s Office.

A closer look at some of the specific line items targeted for criticism will show Continue reading →

Commissioners listened about the pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

Commissioners at least listened about the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22. Now what will they do?

Video. The Chairman started out reiterating his disclaimer of county responsibility from back in June, but at least this time said they’d take a look at it and they understood what people were going through. Carol Singletary started to respond, and Slaughter said they would talk to her in a few minutes. And they did.

Here’s Part 1 of 2:


Commissioners listened about the pipeline Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2013.

Video of after adjournment. See previous post about how unusual Continue reading →

It was an outright threat –Ronald Kicklighter on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen didn’t appreciate a pipeline company’s bullying, especially when a second pipeline would make his land mostly useless and hard to sell, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. He said he had an existing pipeline less than fifty feet from his back yard, and this one would be less than sixty feet on the other side, wiping out the use of much of his property, including planting trees. He said he probably couldn’t even sell his property with two pipelines on it. He asked for help from the Commission.

Commissioner Crawford Powell asked for the name of the road Kicklighter lived on.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

This company is awful –Phillip Singletary on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen brought up the sordid health and safety record Spectra Energy, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. He thanked Commissioner Marshall for coming to the Spectra pipeline meeting at Wiregrass Tech 16 Oct 2013, and said that meeting wasn’t very informative. He asked Commissioners to put themselves in the landowner’s place.

Also to consider that there’s nothing in Georgia that needs a 36″ gas pipeline, which is actually going to to a power plant in Florida, coming out of Alabama. He wondered why it couldn’t run down highway rights of way instead.

He remarked on catastrophic failures, and noted the pipline company, Spectra, had been fined a record $15 million for PCB cleanup along another pipeline.

“This company is awful,”

he said. He noted a gas explosion of that size pipe could take out two football fields. He wondered if the pipeline would go through the county’s closed landfill.

He recommended they, as Commissioners or as individuals, contact FERC. He asked for them to set up a meeting with Spectra. They did later schedule Spectra to speak at their 9 December 2013 Work Session.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

All the rest of you are new –Sidney Blanton on SPLOST @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen expressed concerns about lack of transparency in SPLOST, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. He remarked that Commissioner Joyce Evans was the only one he knew, all the rest were new.

He said he would also talk to the Valdosta City Council that Thursday. (Later I told him they had cancelled that meeting due to lack of agenda items; he did speak at the following Valdosta City Council meeting.) He said he wanted the city to say the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant was their first priority, and he attested that when he used to crop tobacco on that site it was underwater then when it flooded.

He especially didn’t like that the county didn’t list what projects it was going to fund with SPLOST. I agree with him about that part.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Help the citizens of Lowndes County –Carol Singletary on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

A plea for help was at least partially heard by the Lowndes County Commission at their Regular Session 2013-10-22.

Video. A landowner in the path of the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline reminded the Commissioners of their own mission statement, mentioned the Spectra pipeline meeting at Wiregrass Tech 16 Oct 2013, said the letter the pipeline company sent her cited Georgia law about eminent domain, and urged Commissioners to contact FERC. She said:

You have a way to help the citizens of Lowndes County. … If you go on record saying you don’t have any impact, where does that leave us?

Commissioner John Page asked her to remain after the meeting so he could “gather some more information from her”. See separate post.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Keep the pipeline fox out of your henhouse! –Don Brotherton

LTE in the VDT yesterday, scan by Michael Noll. And you can also rescind. -jsq

Say no to Sabal

I have been contacted by Sabal Trail Transmission for the permission to survey our property for the proposed natural gas pipeline in Lowndes County Afier receiving several letters from Sabal and now having received the “scary” certified letter, my answer is still the same. No. We already have one gas pipeline on our property and having two will not be twice the fun.

Sabal is in the very early stages of gathering information to get a permit from FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). They can only gather this information from surveys. If property owners allow them to survey It is the same as letting the fox in the hen house. They will have the information they need to obtain the permit.

Keep the fox out of your hen house! If you haven’t already said yes, just say no!

Don Brotherton
Valdosta

Here’s a sample letter to deny permission to Sabal Trail Transmission.

And even if you already signed, you can resind permission. Here’s a sample letter to deny permission to Sabal Trail Transmission.

More on SpectraBusters.

-jsq

No Runoff in Hahira: plurality will win

The Hahira rule is plurality, not 50% plus 1.

According to email to Gretchen from John Hallman with the Georgia Secretary of State, containing a forward from Jonathan Sumner, Hahira City Manager, originally copied to all the Hahira candidates, Mayor and Council, and many city employees on 25 October 2013:

Subject: No Runoff after General Election

Mayor, Councilmembers, Candidates,

In response to a question submitted to our City Attorney and myself earlier today by Supervisor of Elections Deb Cox, we have determined that a runoff after the November general election is not allowed under our current or even the old Charter (except in the extreme unlikelihood of a tie). The original 1912 charter stated,

Continue reading →

SpectraBusters against the Sabal Trail pipeline

Pipeline opposition got written up in the Albany Herald. You haven’t seen many pipeline posts here in the LAKE blog lately because SpectraBusters has its own blog now.

SpectraBusters

Other recent developments include Florida PSC tentatively approved pipeline, Gertrude Dickinson’s stream of opposition from Sumter County Florida, and schedule of Open House meetings in December required by FERC among the FERC filings about the Sabal Trail pipeline and how to file a comment or become an intervenor with FERC.

Remember Spectra will be haunting the Lowndes County Commission Work Session 9 December 2013.

And if you want to see where Spectra’s gas comes from, come see Gasland II at VSU 7PM Thursday 7 Nobemver 2013.

SpectraBusters: We ain’t afraid a no pipeline!

-jsq

Proactively make mental health a priority –Joyce Weaver Johnson

Blogged with permission from Joyce’s facebook page. -jsq

Ok, I rarely do this but after reading something on FB earlier, I just have to because I feel SO strongly about it! I have been a social worker for 28 years. Of the 28 years, I have spent almost 15 years in the mental health field. When I started with community mental health services, I was told the patient was the #1 priority and QUALITY of service was most important.

Through the years MH services have been significantly cut with treatment facilities for youth closing, mental health hospitals closing and HMOs refusing to pay for more and more outpatient services. Now the #1 priority is BILLING and treating the paperwork not the patient is most important.

When treatment facilities and hospitals were closed, we were told Continue reading →