Received today.
Updated 5PM 28 Sep 2011: Added preface and other changes to
the
document by Etta Mims.
-jsq
I am attaching an 8 page document I compiled this week to show
that
CUEE and the Vote Yes supporters are not answering the questions being
asked of them. They are dancing around the topics but these supporters
are spending alot of money to put our children and the employees of
both schools in danger of 4-5 years minimum of changes that will be
detrimental to all concerned.
Another interesting note, if you go to the Vote Yes page, and
CUEE still doesn’t have a plan for improving education.
When asked for any concrete examples of education improving
because of school consolidation, not one person could come up
with one: not CUEE, not the Chamber, not their invited experts.
Their invited experts established that consolidation in Troup County
not only didn’t save money, it required a bond issue.
And it took four or five years of the hardest work they’d ever done,
even though they couldn’t give any evidence that it improved education.
It was like that on almost every point: the Chamber and CUEE either
couldn’t answer the simplest questions, or even more frequently
demolished their own case.
The last question asked to give an example of any company that
had declined to come in because of multiple school systems.
Not only could nobody give an example, but someone, I believe it was
Walter Hobgood, stood up at the podium and said when he was working
for a large company he had never encountered a case where they looked
at the number of school systems.
Early on Chamber Chair Tom Gooding went on at great length about
Continue reading →
That’s 400 MW of solar power in twenty 20 MW PV plants,
just across the state line in Gadsden County, Florida.
Plus ongoing jobs, expanded education, private sources of investment, and customers for the electricity.
As series of decisions, not unrelated to race, made by the “white fathers” of
the city of LaGrange, led the citizens of the city to vote their school system
out of existence and to become a part of the county system.
The quotes around “white fathers” are in the paper.
Hm, back when I first encountered CUEE, they were speaking to SCLC in Valdosta
late last year, Rusty Griffin among them, and the theme was desegregation.
They did not receive a warm welcome.
Funny how CUEE changed its tune to “unification” after that.
But the local “white fathers” are still insisting on making decisions
for all of us.
Received this morning. Many thanks to Corey Hull and SGRC for sending this correction. -jsq
John,
I reviewed your question, and that project had an error in it, I am
attaching a new spreadsheet, that is slightly revised. It includes the
TIA funding with inflation so that it matches the other project sheets
that we have handed out at the public meetings
The corrected spreadsheet he sent is
on the LAKE website
in Excel spreadsheet and HTML versions.
In the HTML version, I have added three columns.
Name is taken from the
Unconstrained Project Listing.
Difference and Diff% were computed from
the Original total Cost Estimate and the Updated Total Cost Estimate.
Update 6:30 PM 26 September 2011: Please see the corrected version received from Corey Hull today. -jsq
Received yesterday from Corey Hull, with this cover sheet message,
responding to my request in the T-SPLOST public meeting Monday.
John,
In the attached spreadsheet you will find the each project associated
with four columns: the original estimate, the updated estimate, the TIA
funding (any difference from the TIA and updated cost estimate is a
secondary funding source i.e. federal, state, or local), and whether
that project is currently included in the constrained list.
GDOT provided the updated costs estimates (based on current GDOT bids)
and in some cases those estimates were further revised by GDOT and the
local governments where appropriate. All project scopes remained the
same with the exception of RC11-000049 and RC11-000042 (highlighted in
yellow), these project termini were changed significantly.
I hope this answers your questions, let me know if you have any more.
Cobb EMC lost a
court-ordered special election yesterday by 2561 to 1113,
according to
Take Back Cobb EMC’s facebook page.
That was the vote against mail-in voting,
because the insurgents believe mail-in voting helps incumbent directors win
re-election.
It’s Cobb EMC’s incumbent directors who want to build a coal plant in
Ben Hill County,
about 70 miles north of here.
There are two questions in the form of proposed bylaw amendments to be
decided by members Saturday: (1) whether to allow mail-in voting for
directors, and (2) whether to prohibit payment of retirement benefits
to directors.
Reform groups Cobb EMC Owners Association, Take Back Cobb EMC and Cobb
EMC Watch strongly oppose allowing mail-in voting until new directors
are elected. They argue that mail-in voting would give an overwhelming
advantage to incumbent directors with unlimited EMC member funds at
their disposal in campaigning for re-election versus the very limited
funds available to challengers.
“The historical evidence of mail-in voting shows that it favors the
incumbents over challengers,” Cobb EMC Watch says. “It gives the
corporation tremendous leverage to manipulate and influence the voting
process. The corporation can use its much greater financial resources
to back its slate of candidates.”
One would guess the second item on the ballot passed:
Continue reading →
Jane Osborn talked about two health issues:
the downside of coal mining,
and no institutions for mental health.
…also related to
the solar discussion that was begun yesterday,
I think a piece we don’t talk about very often
is the extraordinary negative side of coal mining.
We are taking the tops off of mountains in Appalachia,
leaving pristine streams clogged with the debris and the toxic waste of that.
So coal is not just the price you see that we pay for it.
Coal is seen in the price of people still dying of black lung,
every time a mine collapses, and every time another mountain
is taken down.
I would guess if they were taking mountains down in North Georgia,
we’d be fussing about it.
She said she has been a social worker for 33 years.
She said starting June the DBHDD there would be a new service
she recommended the county advertise on its website.
The extraordinary negative side of coal mining —Jane Osborn @ LCC 13 September 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Commissioner Powell wanted to know if County Planner Jason Davenport
had sent these changes out to any engineers or developers to see
if they had any concerns.
County Planner said some of them had been on the mass email
that he had sent, in addition to the notice in the newspaper,
plus he had called surveyors’ offices.
Commissioner Powell seemed satisfied.
TXT-2011-01 Combination Plats, Administrative/Clerical Changes, Zoning Map, & Other Amendments
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 September 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Commissioners and staff concerned with ironing out issues about
rezoning before voting on it!
County Planner Jason Davenport
said he wanted to talk one more time to the two parties
before it comes to the Commission tomorrow.
7.a. REZ-2011-11 West-Fuller, 5303 Tucker Road, 137-25 & 25A, ~1.31 ac, E-A & R-1 to R-1 and R-21, well/septic
Commissioner Powell wondered whether it would be best to send it
back to the Planning Commission first.
Commissioner Evans said it was her understanding that the
Planning Commission wanted it to come back to them.
The County Planner said he thought they would enjoy seeing it again,
but they might understand not making the applicant waiting another
30 days, so he wanted to talk to the applicant one more time first.
Commissioner Powell wanted to be sure there would be documentation
in the file so if something came up ten years down the road
they’d know what went on.
7.a. REZ-2011-11 West-Fuller, 5303 Tucker Road @ LCC 12 Sep 2011
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 September 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
that CUEE and the Vote Yes supporters are not answering the questions being asked of them. They are dancing around the topics but these supporters are spending alot of money to put our children and the employees of both schools in danger of 4-5 years minimum of changes that will be detrimental to all concerned.
