In the aftermath of Valdosta’s recent water calamity, it might be a
good time to ask whether residents of Lowndes County are taking things
like plentiful water for granted? Apparently, the Valdosta City Council
is already thinking ahead, for on the agenda of their January 20, 2011
meeting, was a “Consideration of an Ordinance to establish standards
for outdoor watering for the City of Valdosta.” One wonders if they’re
worried about people watering their lawns in the summer? If that’s the
case, it’s good that they acknowledge that the South is in the midst
of a long-term drought.
Or perhaps I’m giving Council credit where it’s not due?
I wonder if there is any way for the Industrial Authority, County Commission
and City Council to now do the right thing for Lowndes County.
How can they save face?
Reading the scientific data makes it clear that an error was made,
and clearly this data wasn’t made available to those who have been
charged with finding appropriate industry for us,
industry that will raise the quality of life for the citizens of Lowndes County
by providing good jobs.
They can be excused for an industry that provides only a few jobs.
Jobs are jobs, after all. But how can we help them apologize to all
of us and thank those citizens who have spent so many hours
of their own time gathering information and providing a forum to educate us?
I wish it were possible.
Local food for local jobs!
According to their
facebook page,
Valdosta Locally Grown is an online farmers market being formed to bring
consumers together with small farms, gardeners, and food producers located
around Valdosta , Georgia, all carrying the common thread of dedication
to community, environment, health and education.
We hope to be operating by the early spring harvest season.
They are working on a
website.
Their primary instigator is Tom Kuettner, whom you can see here
at the Hahira Farmers Market:
Continue reading →
Want to know what your city council really thinks?
Stay through the entire meeting
and you’ll get some clues; or watch these videos by some who did stay.
City Manager, Attorney, and each council member say what’s on their minds.
Much of it addresses some of the questions asked by citizens earlier:
cracks in the MLK monument, biomass,
council members answering questions from the audience, etc.
What they didn’t talk about may indicate what various citizens
didn’t succeed in conveying to the council.
It’s not like what they were saying was a secret.
The VDT reporter was there.
They were finishing up the agenda with the sections
“7. City Manager’s Report”
and
“8. Council Comments”.
You can see them adjourn at the end.
Some of them groused about the time citizens take up in “Citizens Wishing to be Heard”.
But remember, almost none of those citizens bothered to stay around
to listen to them.
Among the stay-latest: two cameras for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, providing you these two views:
Continue reading →
Approximately three hundred marchers converged onto the steps of the
Brooks County Courthouse to send a public message that voter intimidation
and voter disenfranchisement will not be tolerated.
This story has flown under the radar of the mainstream media, but the GBI
in conjunction with Republican J. David Miller, the district attorney for
the Southern Judicial District that represent majority-African-American
towns such as Thomasville, Moultrie, Valdosta and Alma, is preparing
to move forward in the targeting of ten African-American Brooks County
citizens, otherwise known as the “Quitman 10”.
The talk of the town (and apparently all of south Georgia today) is the Lowndes County seat
lost water.
Both the Valdosta’s city government web pages (VLD) and the newspaper (VDT)
have been reporting
online, but it’s hard to tell exactly when, since both have
only datestamps, not timestamps.
What does “in the next hour” mean when you don’t know in what
hour the notice was posted?
Time notations appropriate for paper media issued once a day
aren’t quite adequate for online posts multiple times a day.
“I think we can do better than a generator that burns human waste.
I think we can do better than a private prison
and those are two things that we seem to be excited about
as a community.”
Considering how many local farmers and others around here use hispanic
help without inquiring closely as to where they come from, a CCA prison
in Lowndes County would be more than ironic.
Spending state tax dollars to lock people up while cutting funding for
education that would cost less per person doesn’t seem like a good idea
to me.
Former VLCIA Executive Director decides based on rants in the VDT
to come say “I trust in you” and
“If it turns out to be wrong, then we live with that.”
“I made a decision that although I’m concerned about a lot of things,
and I’m concerned about anything….
I have to trust those people who are in those positions
will do their homework and make the right decision.
Then I will live with that.
If it turns out to be wrong, then we live with that.
What bothered me was when I started reading in the paper
about the veiled threats.
The personal issues.
…
When I started reading about veiled threats.
When I started reading about people being chastised because
they didn’t accept a brochure or some literature.
You know, that bothered me.
Then when I read one of the rants about it;
they wondered how you folks were chosen.
If you don’t know how these people are chosen….
They ought to do their basic homework.
But I’m here tonight to say that:
I’ve looked at it; I’ve researched it; I don’t always agree
with all the things the authority does… but I trust in you….”
Update 2014-03-31:VDT wrote 3 March 2014 that Garren joined VLCIA after Sterling Chemical came in.
Then he praises Sterling Chemical which came in on his watch,
and while Norman Bennett (currently on the VLCIA)
was Chairman of the County Commission.
See for yourself:
In the current fashion he begins by saying when he first moved here
(1965).
Is that what’s required these days to be worth listening to?
Continue reading →
I was recently reading “Masterpieces of Eloquence,” which includes a
speech delivered by the fourth Earl of Chesterfield to the House of Lords in
Feb., 1743. “The bill now under our consideration appears to me to deserve a
much closer regard than seems to have been paid to it in the other House,
through which it was hurried with the utmost precipitation, and where it
passed almost without the formality of a debate. Nor can I think that
earnestness with which some lords seem inclined to press it forward here
consistent with the importance of the consequences which may with great
reason be expected from it.” He goes on to say, “surely it never before was
conceived, by any man entrusted with the administration of public affairs,
to raise taxes by the destruction of the people.”
I find this quote applies exactly, mutatis mutandis, to the present
situation. The effects of these toxic chemicals are far more devastating to
my mind than the effects of gin. The science panel assembled by Michael is
more credible than the assurances of the industrial authority expert. In
fact, the emissions from the plant are so close to the permit threshold that
they could easily exceed that threshhold on occasion. Would the IA expert
then continue to hold the position that there is “No health hazard to the
public?” I don’t think anyone who favors the proposal is aware of the
enormity that could result if the plant goes into operation. They have left
the public health out of their equation. They have just enough science, they
think, to push the deal through over the objections of an easily deceived
public.
The
recent biomass meeting
was a great example of democracy in
action. Concerned citizens gave up an evening to educate themselves
and it was heartening to see many in the audience participate. I’m
no political scientist, but this must be what the founders of the
constitution had in mind in conceiving that document.
The evening was not without controversy. Several speakers spoke
passionately, even vehemently, prompting someone to question the tone
of some on the anti-biomass side. One wonders how closely he follows
events in the area?
Valdostans are frustrated at the blatantly anti-democratic tactics
employed by local government that result in our getting things rammed
down our throats. Biomass is just the latest example.
