Category Archives: Law

Solid Waste Corruption in Gwinnett County?

A federal corruption probe and a developer charged with bribing a county commissioner, who already resigned, admitting it; all that plus drug dealing, nepotism, perjury, cronyism, and at least one prison term, in Gwinnett County. This AJC story has a quote by VSU alumnus and current ADS rep. Steve Edwards.

David Wickert wrote for the AJC 8 September 2012, Widening probe stains Gwinnett reputation,

New details of a federal investigation paint a troubling picture of corruption deeply embedded in Gwinnett County—allegations that may undermine the county’s previously sterling reputation as an economic dynamo.

Bribery allegations have now embroiled two county commissioners, a planning commissioner and a zoning board member….

One of Lasseter’s first acts upon taking office in January 2009 was to appoint Gary — a longtime friend — to the Municipal-Gwinnett County Planning Commission, which would pass judgment on his development plans, including the waste transfer station off Winder Highway.

More dominoes in the federal corruption probe began falling last week, when Continue reading →

GM Ag corporations thank Jack Kingston for Monsanto rider

A long list of agricultural corporations wrote a letter thanking Jack Kingson (R GA-01) for working to get the Monsanto rider into the 2013 Ag. bill:

Again, we commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston’s efforts and urge the support of Section 733 in the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
This letter is on Monsanto’s own website. It contains not one word about public health or quality of food or preservation of farmers who do not choose to poison people the Monsanto way. The glyphosate mentioned in the letter is the principal ingredient in Roundup, and research shows it causes DNA damage even when vastly diluted. Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant crops are genetically modified to include a gene which produces a poison that other research indicates is toxic to humans. These poisons are what the Monsanto rider makes harder to get out of fields.

June 12, 2012 
The Honorable Harold Rogers 
Chairman 
House Committee on Appropriations 
United States House of Representatives 
H‐307 U.S. Capitol 
Washington, D.C. 20515  		The Honorable Norm Dicks 
Ranking Member 
House Committee on Appropriations 
United States House of Representatives 
1016 Longworth House Office Building 
Washington, DC 20515 
Page 1

Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks:   

Our organizations strongly support Section 733 of the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The provision will give growers assurance that crops developed through biotechnology that have already been approved by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be planted and harvested under temporary stewardship conditions in the event of litigation against the agency’s decision. We commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston for including Section 733 in the subcommittee bill and urge your support for this necessary provision when the Appropriations Committee considers this bill later this month. The provision addresses Continue reading →

How much will trash collection rates go up in Lowndes County? @ LCC 2012-10-09

Speaking of Veolia winning its high bid for garbage collection, here’s a clue to how much more its rates may go up.

Remember ADS Veolia was bought hardly a month later by ADS, owned by Highstar Capital of New York City? Look at ADS’s bid for Proposal D: $18.39.

That’s $220.68 a year. Which is even higher than Wakulla County, Florida’s $196 a year, which Gretchen warned us all about more than a year ago. And more than double the $100 a year for the former county waste collection sites.

Want to guess how much ADS’s monthly rates will rise? Maybe Continue reading →

LOST decision coming from GA Supreme Court

Local Lowndes County and city officials are awaiting breathlessly the news from Atlanta today about new rules on LOST negotiations. Currently, negotiators have to choose one of the positions submitted by the contending parties. The GA Supreme Court may decide to let negotiators pick some other division of LOST funds. Valdosta Mayor John Gayle cancelled a meeting here yesterday so he could be in Atlanta for this court decision. Lowndes County Commissioners are rumored to be planning a meeting tomorrow morning after the decision.

Fox 31 posted 30 May 3012, Supreme Court of Georgia to hear Turner County LOST case

On June 4th, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear the case between Turner County and three cities over the distribution of Local Option Sales Taxes. Below is the entirety of the facts in the case as released by the court:

In this dispute between the governments of Turner County and three cities over how Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) proceeds should be distributed, the county is appealing a superior court ruling which picked the cities’ plan for distribution over the county’s.

There’s much more detail in that article. Also, Tim Omarzu wrote for timesfreepress.com 9 May 2013, Georgia top court to consider LOST negotiations.

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County picked the highest bid from Veolia for trash pickup @ LCC 2012-10-09

The facts don’t match County Chairman Bill Slaughter’s assertion (according to the VDT Thursday):

That decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said Tuesday.

Commissioner Richard Raines moved and the Commission voted to approve 9 October 2012 Proposal D and awarded it to the lowest bidder for that specific proposal, which was Veolia. But that wasn’t the lowest-priced proposal, according to the sheet of choices they were using in that meeting:

Continue reading →

Judge rules against school-to-prison pipeline in Mississippi

It’s a good start. Next: stop locking so many people up in general. It costs far less to educate than to incarcerate, and educated children can contribute to society, instead of being a drain on resources.

Brentin Mock wrote for ColorLines Friday, Good News in Mississippi: School-To-Prison Pipeline Closes,

The sealing of the school-to-prison pipeline in Meridian, Miss. has officially started after a U.S. District Court judge approved what the Department of Justice is calling “a landmark consent decree” that features a “far-reaching plan to reform discipline practices … that unlawfully channel black students out of their classrooms and, too often, into the criminal justice system.

In March, the Justice Department reached agreement Continue reading →

County told VDT curbside pickup would be non-exclusive @ LCC 2012-03-31

Former Chairman Ashley Paulk may say he didn’t tell Cory Scarborough of Deep South Sanitation that any contract by the county for curbside pickup would be non-exclusive (VDT 30 May 2013), but David Rodock reported for the VDT from Ashley Paulk’s guest house at a Lowndes County Commission retreat chaired by Ashley Paulk that:

Commissioners decided that getting out of the “trash business” was best and that a non-exclusive agreement with current curbside pickup companies (which about 12,000 citizens already employ) would provide service without putting any people out of business.

The VDT reported ( Commission tackles key issues: Waste management, tax lighting districts and SPLOST discussed at retreat by David Rodock, 31 March 2012) Commissioners “decided”. Yet there is no vote recorded, in contravention to Georgia open meetings law and a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision.

How is this doing “the people’s business”? Maybe if they took a vote and recorded it properly we’d all know what they said.

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State law requires public hearing before trash decision

Counter to state law, Lowndes County did not hold public hearings within 45 days before the decision to close the waste collection centers.

Georgia Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act of 1990 GEORGIA COMPREHENSIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1990 AS AMENDED THROUGH 2004: An Abstract from OFFICIAL CODE OF GEORGIA ANNOTATED Volume 10 Title 12 Article 2 Part 1 Conservation and Natural Resources:

§ 12-8-24.2. Public hearing prior to entering contract regarding landfill

The governing authority of any county or municipal corporation and the directors or managers of any local authority or special district shall hold a public hearing before entering into a contract for the sale, lease, or management of a landfill or solid waste disposal facility owned by such county, municipal corporation, local authority, or special district. The party responsible for holding such a public hearing shall cause notice of the hearing to be posted at the site of the landfill or facility and to run in a newspaper of general circulation serving the county, municipal corporation, local authority, or special district not less than 30 nor more than 45 days prior to the date of the hearing.

Can anyone argue that “or solid waste disposal facility owned by such county” does not include Lowndes County’s former solid waste collection centers? Continue reading →

VDT should dig deeper into county trash

The VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection. Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law.. Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it, the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.

Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday, Concerns continue over garbage agreement: Business owner argues case against County

The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said Tuesday.

Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart? Is money the only value the county government can name? Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more to keep the sites open. Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.

And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low? Look at Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year. But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection anyway?

Continue reading →

Exclusive franchise on photographing County Commission? @ LCC 2013-05-28

Does the county ordinance that adversely affects Deep South Sanitation and no other company follow a pattern already set by the county? The VDT posted pictures clearly taken not from the media box during last night’s Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission: this one shows Gretchen videoing for LAKE from that media box. Has the Lowndes County Commission granted an exclusive franchise to the VDT for photographing, like the one it granted to ADS for trash collection? Or has the Commission admitted its anti-videoing ordinance was actually an illegal bill of attainder directed at LAKE alone? If so, why is it still posted on the door? And why is the county still planning to sue Deep South Sanitation on account of an ordinance and contract that directly adversely affects no other business? Hm, could that also be an illegal bill of attainder?

In case you had any doubt the VDT’s pictures were taken during the actual Commission meeting in session, this one is of Steve Parker speaking in Citizens Wishing to be Heard.

Even the Cumming City Council, which illegally ejected Nydia Tysdale for videoing an open meeting, realized its error and she now videos from the front row. Only Lowndes County, Georgia continues to post a sign on the door saying all videoing and photographing must be from the back of the room. And then it lets one news organization violate its own ordinance, but not another.

To quote former Chairman Ashley Paulk: Continue reading →