Category Archives: Law

Lowndes County vs. Deep South Sanitation this morning

The county government’s attempt to put a local business out of business is this 9:30 AM at the county palace this morning 14 June 2013.

Physical Address:
Courtroom 5D, Fifth Floor
Lowndes County Judicial Complex
327 N. Ashley Street
Valdosta, GA 31601

WALB’s earlier story said June 4th, but now it’s June 14th (today), because Lowndes County Attorney Walter Elliott is also an attorney for Turner County in the LOST case before the GA Supreme Court, and he was going to be in Atlanta arguing before the Supreme Court on June 4th. Funny how everything is done for the convenience of the county government, and not for its citizens. Maybe we should change that.

-jsq

Video of oral arguments in LOST GA Supreme Court case

Here’s the Georgia Supreme Court’s own video of S13A0992 Turner County v. City of Ashburn et al. Tuesday, June 4, 2013. It starts with the attorney for Turner County, Walter Elliott (who is also Lowndes County Attorney) apparently arguing that the courts shouldn’t intervene because only legislative bodies should decide on taxes. The judges didn’t seem to understand his argument.

One judge wondered how disputes would be settled then. Elliott said the local elected bodies would decide or the tax wouldn’t be levied. Another judge pointed out that legislative bodies could delegate administrative functions. Later the same judge asked how to distinguish this case from a child custody case as far as criteria and a court being able to decide. Elliott claimed that was a judicial function, but allocating tax dollars was not. The judges didn’t seem to be buying the city attorney’s argument later, either.

Funny how the Supreme Court of Georgia videos its sessions, but the Lowndes County Commission does not.

Here’s the subject of the case: Continue reading →

A metropolitan area needs better than trash government –John S. Quarterman

My LTE in the VDT Thursday. I’ve added links to some of my inspirations. -jsq

Local leaders worked hard to get the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area declared. Why now are they acting like a Ludowici speed trap for local businesses?

The Lowndes County Commission shouldn’t act like a private business trying to exclude anybody it doesn’t like. State law says local governments are supposed to have open bids and public hearings. A promise (in the VDT) in March 2013 of a non-exclusive contract for trash collection turned into exclusive in October; at least two of the five bidders are now the same company; and the county is suing a local business to the profit of a company owned by investors in New York City. Meanwhile, no public accounting has ever been seen of the former waste collection sites and no public hearing was held before they closed, despite state law.

Business exists to make a profit. Government exists to provide public services like law enforcement, water, sewers, roads, and yes, trash collection. Sure, balanced books are good. But money isn’t the main point of government: providing what the people need is, and the people didn’t ask the county to exchange the waste collection centers for lower prices that won’t last.

Businesses (except monopolies) have to Continue reading →

You’re losing the democratic process –Gary Wright @ LCC 2013-06-11

“I hope you’ll consider a democratic process working into your rules,” remarked a military veteran at Tuesday night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

After saying he was also concerned about how Deep South Sanitation is being treated, Gary Wright said:

There is a little bit of a lack of democratic process in your meeting groundrules. On your website I don’t know anything in there that said you have only thirty minute meetings for the entire thing. I don’t know if this happens whenever you have a meeting that’s only thirty minutes long; I’ve never been to one.

Their rules don’t say that, but it’s not surprising there is confusion, given Continue reading →

Do the right thing –Steve Parker @ LCC 2013-06-11

The right thing is not letting one company take all the money to New York while putting another out of business, said a local resident at Tuesday night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

When you get a company like Veolia or Advanced that’s taking all the money to New York, and then they come to my house and they leave, I put garbage bags beside my can and they won’t pick it up.
And then my guy, Cary Scarborough, comes and picks up everything, and you know what else he does guys? Continue reading →

I want a choice in who I use –Jerome Tucker @ LCC 2013-06-11

“Let me decide who I want to haul my waste,” said a former Chairman of the Industrial Authority at Tuesday night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Jerome Tucker thanked Commissioner John Page for bringing up the topic of freedom, since that was his main topic, too.

I’m here to talk about… where I have a choice who handles my waste…
Cary didn’t come to me looking for business. I saw his truck come along and Continue reading →

Thanks to the community, and I don’t understand –Cary Scarborough @ LCC 2013-06-11

The owner of Deep South Sanitation thanked the community and his family and said he didn’t understand what was going on. The Commission offered no explanation.

Cary Scarborough handed in a petition and sat down. The crowd applauded.

That rapidly turned into a standing ovation. Continue reading →

What if we only had one hardware store –Duane Roark @ LCC 2013-06-11

Does the Commission already has reputation problems when it’s being compared unfavorably to Lester Maddox? A citizen canceled a business trip to ask “what if we only had one hardware store” at last night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Our prices we pay would be through the roof; we would not have a choice.

And you’re welcome, Duane Roark: it was LAKE who put you on YouTube last month.

He also quoted a headline from the Fayetteville Observer, Operation Tarnished Badge: Years later, tarnish remains.

A corruption investigation that sent the Sheriff and 21 others to prison still casts a shadow over law enforcement in Robeson County.

If we put Deep South Sanitation out of business, it’s gonna give Lowndes County a black eye. People are to say, Continue reading →

A few Citizens to be heard for a few minutes only @ LCC 2013-06-11

Only fifteen minutes on any topic, said Chairman Bill Slaughter, even though 8 people wanted to speak about trash at last night’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. But there is no such rule in the county’s relevant ordinance.

He was enforcing an odd mashup of the county’s 25 January 2013 ordinance about Citizens Wishing to Be Heard. It does have these two rules: Continue reading →

Budget hearing public notices @ LCC 2013-06-05

Yesterday’s County Commission meeting was billed as a Budget Discussion Meeting, and apparently it was not a public hearing on the county’s budget, because state law requires such a hearing to be advertised in the newspaper or published as a news story, a week in advance. This is different from public notice for other Commission meetings: for budget hearings the notice has to be not just sent to the newspaper: it has to be published, and not in the legal notices section, and it has to appear at least a week before the hearing. It’s also illegal to refuse to provide a copy of the submitted draft budget to the public or the news media:

O.C.G.A. 36-81-5.(d) On the day that the proposed budget is submitted to the governing authority for consideration, a copy of the budget shall be placed in a public location which is convenient to the residents of the unit of local government. The governing authority shall make every effort to provide convenient access to the residents during reasonable business hours so as to accord every opportunity to the public to review the budget prior to adoption by the governing authority. A copy of the budget shall also be made available, upon request, to the news media.

LAKE is a news medium, according to federal law.

Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts has Georgia Law on Local Government Budgets: Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange