The Sheriff’s office could use more space,
and VSU would like a research center downtown.
For context, videos of the other hearings, and the Committee’s report,
see
Courthouse Preservation Committee Meetings.
Tag Archives: Chris Prine
Videos: Day 2 of Budget Hearings @ LCC Budget 2015-03-04
Maybe Georgia should fund mental health facilities instead of
local jails having to act as mental hospitals.
On a positive note,
Agriculture is an $81M industry in Lowndes County.
Law, taxes, and education, in the second day which was only in the morning,
of the
three days of
“Budget Hearings” which aren’t really hearings because nobody from the
public can speak and they don’t have a budget to hear yet.
See yesterday for
the agenda.
Here are links to videos of each item with some notes by Gretchen,
followed by a video playlist.
And one more day to go today. Continue reading
Lowndes County Sheriff Deputy enforces First Amendment
Lowndes County, an oasis of constitutional rights.
Yes, really.
Here’s video evidence.
This kind of good news could do more to attract businesses here
than many things the local powers that be are doing.
Carlos Miller wrote for Photography is Not a Crime 25 June 2014, Georgia Deputy Surprises us all by Respecting Constitution,
It started off with a federal protective service officer pulling up to Jeff Gray in a patrol car for taking pictures from a public sidewalk outside the Moody Air Force Base in Georgia Monday.
Gray told the officer that he was photographing the railroad. But the cop had his doubts and accused him of photographing the entrance to the base — as if it would make any difference within the scopes of the law — and decided to call the local sheriff for backup.
When Gray tried to walk away, the cop informed he was being detained.
When Gray asked for his name and badge number, the cop informed Gray Continue reading
Maybe county should check its work about other budgets @ LCC 2013-11-14
Who’s responsible for the recent partiality in budget reports?
The newspaper, or its source of information, namely the county government
at its secretive retreat on the Chairman’s private property that even the VDT reporter had trouble finding?
When the Coroner and the Sheriff (often at odds lately) agree that the VDT’s version of the county government’s remarks about their budgets was at best partial, where is the source of that partiality? Who’s responsible for budgeting for the county, reporter Matthew or editor Kay Harris or Dean Poling? Or is it the local government our taxes pay to do that job, namely the Lowndes County Commission and its staff, which is managed by County Manager Joe Pritchard?
Maybe somebody down at the county palace should,
as Gretchen suggested recently,
“check our work”.
-jsq
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
Precincts on Election Day 2012 in Lowndes County, Georgia
There’s an election going on!
Here are some pictures of precincts around Lowndes County today.
I’ve seen no lines, and everything seems to be flowing smoothly.
Except there are multiple reports that when people call the Board of Elections
to ask where they vote they’re getting a “this number disconnected” message.
Apparently there are ten phone lines down there but only three people
answering them, and the phone is not rolling over properly.
Given all the recent changes in precincts, this is a problem.
Around 1PM Sara Crow said she heard at Pine Grove that about 900 people had
already voted there today.
I’m not blogging much today because I’m out helping
Gretchen for Lowndes County Commission Chair.
If you’ve got something interesting,
send it in;
I’m checking in frequently.
Here’s a slideshow:
Everyone Matters, so go vote!
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 November 2012.
Everyone matters, so go vote!
-jsq
CCA private prison VDT front page today
Former Sheriff Paulk luke-warm; Sheriff Prine completely opposed.
Water and sewer, wetlands, federal funding: all hurdles, says Paulk.
Sheriff’s Association also opposed, says Prine.
More in the VDT article.
Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine has also shared his thoughts on the private prison industry:Here’s video of Sheriff Prine saying most of that a few weeks ago.“If I’m going to house an inmate and if I’m going to be responsible, I’d rather them be in my facility not a private prison,” said Prine. “If I’m going to be responsible for them I want them to be within my reach. the Sheriff’s Association feels the same way I do. I’d say the large majority of Sheriff’s feel the same way about this. I don’t want a private facility handling my prisoners.”
They also mentioned the petition and quoted me:
“If those signatures and calls are making any impression on the Authority they certainly don’t admit to it,” said Quarterman. “This is another Lofton (Brad Lofton, former Authority executive director) project. It’d be nice if the Industrial Authority represented the community they were located in.”Do you want the Industrial Authority to notice? You can sign the the petition, or send VLCIA your own letter, or write a letter to the editor to the VDT, or….
-jsq
How to bring a case to the Sheriff’s attention
Sheriff Prine was at last night’s
budget hearing (his office accounts for more of the county
budget than anything else).
Afterwards I asked him how matters such as the complaints about
the animal shelter could be brought to the attention of his office.
He said that was a code enforcement matter, and if code enforcement
thought it rose to a criminal matter, they would take it to Magistrate
Court, which would issue a warrant, which would go to the Sheriff’s office,
where it would be pursued.
Remember who code enforcement is in Lowndes County. Continue reading
Animal cruelty does not require malicious intent to be illegal
A blog called Rattlin’ Georgia’s Cages
wrote at some unspecified date recently:
The blogger then goes on to quote Georgia Code, which only brings in the word “maliciously” for higher fines or imprisonment for aggravated cruelty to animals.I beg to differ with Mr. Pritchard’s opinion regarding “malicious intent”.
Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard says, “I don’t believe through our investigation, nor through any info we received from the Department of Ag, are able to indicate any malicious intent.”
Mr. Pritchard should understand that it matters not if this was done with “malicious intent” or not. “Malicous intent” should be determined by the investigating criminal agency, not a county manager. “Malicious Intent” is only important in determining whether the crime should be filed as a felony, or a misdemeanor.
The law is crystal clear regarding the denial of necessary medical care, and/or humane euthanasia, for any animal deemed to be in need of such. Any time a shelter impounds/houses a live animal, the shelter is required, by law, to afford that animal with humane care – to include necessary medical care or treatment.
The blogger summarizes: Continue reading