Tag Archives: Education

Valdosta Mayor provides more earned media for group he doesn’t like

Valdosta Mayor Gayle continues to provide earned media to a group he doesn’t agree with, South Georgia Pride. He says people support him ten to 1 in refusing to issue a proclamation against bullying. Yet a local TV online poll is running 2 to 1 against his position. In addition to the obvious cultural issues, there are also economic issues involved.

Dean Poling wrote for the VDT today, Pride denied: Valdosta mayor denies LGBT event proclamation,

Gayle said responses are running 10-1 in agreement with his decision.

WTXL.tv (ABC 27) asks in a poll attached to a story by Jade Bulecza yesterday, Mayor turns down proclamation request from gay community,

Do you agree with Mayor Gayle’s decision not to sign the P.R.I.D.E. Proclamation?
Yes (32.4%)
No (67.6%)

That looks to me like 2 to 1 against the mayor’s position. Bulecza’s story included:

“Most of them (proclamations) are for the cancer society, the heart fund, you know things like this or either a pastor at a church for so many years and everything and this is the first one I get like this where my beliefs interfere with it,” said Mayor Gayle.

The mayor says he recognizes all the group does for the community. He says he welcomes everyone to Valdosta.

Since Mayor Gayle took office in January this is the only proclamation he turned down. The south Georgia group says they had a proclamation signed last year.

In less than a year in office the mayor has already found difficulty separating his personal beliefs from his office as mayor.

What was he asked to sign, anyway? The VDT story has the details:

The requested proclamation does not include an endorsement of gay marriage nor does it officially endorse the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lifestyle.

“The proclamation opposes bullying and hate crimes based on sexual orientation,” Williams said. “It says the city recognizes we’re here and we’re part of the community.”

In essence, the submitted proclamation would have noted that the South Georgia Pride Committee:

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Professor unrepentant in latest fracking payola case

Apparently the natural gas industry pays professors to greenwash their polluting product, like back in the hey-day of radio record companies used to pay disk jockies to play their records. Remember: natural gas from fracking is the main thing Southern Company and Georgia Power are switching to from coal (not that they’re even abandoning coal, just rebranding it as “21st century coal”). That and their nuke boondoggle at Plant Vogtle. All approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission, all of whose members apparently accept massive direct or indirect contributions from the utilities they regulate. Two GA PSC Commissioners slots are up for election right now.

The professor most recently found to be in the pay of a fracking company when he reported on fracking is unrepentant. Terrence Henry wrote for State Impact Texas yesterday, Texas Professor On the Defensive Over Fracking Money

So the questions remaining are: Why didn’t Groat disclose this in the study? And did he fail to tell anyone at the University about it?

The professor would not agree to an interview, but in an email to StateImpact Texas he says the Public Accountability Initiative report is “a mixture of truths, half truths, and unfounded conclusions based [on] incorrect interpretations of information. I don’t want to discuss it.”

The University of Texas requires that financial conflicts of interest be disclosed by employees when it has “potential for directly and significantly affecting the design, conduct, or reporting of … research or is in an entity whose financial interest appears to be affected by that research.”

Dean Sharon Mosher of the Jackson School of Geosciences says that Groat submitted the financial conflict of interest form to her office in previous years, but that he had not done so this year. “I was not aware that he was still a member of the board,” Mosher tells StateImpact Texas. “Had I known he was still a member of the board and being paid, I would have insisted that he disclosed it.”

What report? Follow the links in here. Terrence Henry wrote for State Impact Texas 23 July, Fracking Company Paid Texas Professor Behind Water Contamination Study,

Earlier this year, a study led by Dr. Charles “Chip” Groat for the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin made headlines for saying there was no link between fracking and groundwater contamination. (When we reported on the study in February, we noted that the study also found some serious issues around the safety and regulation of fracking that weren’t getting much press coverage.)

But according to a new report out today by the Public Accountablitiy Initiative (PAI), a nonprofit watchdog group, the conclusions in Groat’s report aren’t as clear cut as initially reported. And Groat himself did not disclose significant financial ties to the fracking industry.

Groat, a former Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, also sits on the board of Plains Exploration and Production Company, a Houston-based company that conducts drilling and fracking in Texas and other parts of the country. According to the new report (and a review of the company’s financial reports by Bloomberg) Groat received more than $400,000 from the drilling company last year alone, more than double his salary at the University. And one of the shales examined in Groat’s fracking study is currently being drilled by the company, the report says.

Since 2007, Groat has received over $1.5 million in cash and stock awards from the company, and he currently holds over $1.6 million in company stock, according to the PAI report. (Update: we clarified with PAI, and that $1.6 million in stock comes from the stock awards over the years. PAI says Groat’s total compensation from the company is close to $2 million.)

And it gets worse from there: rough drafts published, unsubstantiated peer review claims, etc.

This isn’t an isolated case:

This isn’t the first time that academic studies of drilling have been called into question because of industry ties. In an earlier report on a State University of New York at Buffalo study on fracking’s environmental risks, Public Accountability Initiative found that it “suffered a number of critical shortcomings” and the “report’s authors had strong industry ties.”

And in today’s investigation from Bloomberg, they found other instances of industry influence and financial ties at Pennsylvania State University and University of Wyoming.

Do we want to trade air pollution by coal for groundwater pollution by fracking? When we have a better future already at hand through conservation and efficiency along with solar and wind power?

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Historical Population, Lowndes County, Georgia

Increased population is using increasing resources in Lowndes County, Georgia:

Increased population is using increasing resources

Increased population is using increasing resources
Chart by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) from Georgiainfo data.

CensusPop.
1830 2,453
1840 5,574
1850 7,714
1860 5,249
1870 8,321
1880 11,049
1890 15,102
1900 20,036
1910 24,436
1920 26,521
1930 29,994
1940 31,860
1950 35,211
1960 49,270
1970 55,112
1980 67,972
1990 75,981
2000 92,115
2010 109,233
Georgiainfo data

The population of Georgia has almost tripled during my lifetime, has about doubled since 1970, and has increased 18% in just the ten years from 2000 to 2010. That blip up between 1950 and 1960 is Moody Air Force Base.

That kind of growth doesn’t happen without increased resource use. If we want a livable county and region for ourselves and our descendants, we need to think about what we’re doing, with water, with transportation, and with energy, not to mention education, jobs, and pretty much everything else. We already cut down and sold off almost all the forests. Now we need better ways than using up all the resources that were here.

Hm, how about some knowledge-based jobs in energy and telecommunications and agriculture?

Speaking of Moody, the U.S. military learned in Afghanistan that shipping oil to places where you can generate solar energy produces a vulnerable supply chain. Moody is already leading in local solar energy. How about we help our base help us help them to move ahead in solar for everybody in Lowndes County and the state of Georgia?

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Record Georgia temperatures above 100 degrees

Driving north Friday, the temperatures kept getting hotter. John C. Griffin recorded these temperature signs, used here by permission. Friday 29 June 2012:

Record heat wave with triple digits in Macon, Georgia on Riverside Drive at Arkwright Road
Photography by John Griffin (c) 2012 All Rights reserved

I can attest it was still over 100 in Macon after dark Friday.

And it only got worse Saturday 30 June 2012:

Arkwright Road at Riverside Drive – I-75 Exit 169 – Macon, Georgia Record Heat Wave
Photography (c) John Griffin All Rights Reserved

That’s 107 on Friday and 111 Saturday in Macon, where the previous record high for June was 106.

You know, Macon, where Georgia Power is still “studying” and “experimenting” with solar power. Solar power that continues to generate in the heat with no water use. Solar power that Continue reading →

Strategies for Lowndes County? —John S. Quarterman

My op-ed in the VDT today. -jsq

Our high schools and college graduates mostly have to go somewhere else, because jobs here are few and many of them don’t pay enough for a decent living. Should we not care enough about our families and our community to come up with strategies that grow existing businesses and attract new ones that will employ local people?

We need discussions and strategies that involve the whole community, going beyond just the usual planning professionals, to include all groups and individuals with information or opinions, whether they got here generations ago or last week: for fairness and for freedom.

Sometimes we see local strategy. Winn Roberson organized Drive Away CCA. Ashley Paulk verified there was no business case for a biomass plant in Lowndes County after many people successfully opposed it. School “unification” opponents, out-financed 10 to 1, still defeated that referendum 4 to 1.

How do we go beyond opposing things and move on to sustainable strategies that build clean industry?

The Industrial Authority focus group meeting I attended Wednesday was refreshing, because their consultants asked the opinions of people some of whom previously had to picket outside. The previous day, VLCIA Chairman Roy Copeland said this strategic planning process was a long time coming. I agree, and while nobody can say what will come of it at this point, I hope it does produce a real Economic Development Strategy.

Building on the Valdosta City Council’s annual consideration of affordable housing,

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REZ-2012-09 Copeland rezoning @ LCC 2012-06-12

How can a man with health care financial troubles make a living with a shop he’s had for decades when some of the neighbors complain about a rezoning that is now required? A controversial case that raised issues ranging from wetlands to public safety to Moody Air Force Base jets flying out of Valdosta Airport made its way through two appointed boards to a Solomonic rezoning decision by the elected Lowndes County Commission. Nobody wanted to deny a man a living, but many people wanted to limit potential commercial uses of the subject property. The Commissioners attempted to take all that into account, yet failed to incorporate two major considerations raised by neighbors, mentioning one of them only to disparage it. Even that isn’t the end of it, since it may head back to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a buffer variance. Here are videos of REZ-2012-09 Copeland at the Lowndes County Commission.

It had been to the Planning Commission for a recommendation on rezoning, it had been to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a buffer variance, Monday morning it had been to the County Commission Work Session at which we learned a bit more, and Tuesday evening it went to the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session for a vote on rezoning.

Monday 11 June 2012 Work Session

At the 8:30 AM Monday Work Session, County Planner Jason Davenport had several updates since Commissioners had received their packets the previous week.

  • An email from a Mr. Bradford in opposition.
  • Some open records requests to be filled after the work session.
  • Some opponents of the rezoning had hired a lawyer. (Those of you who watched Bill Nijem at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting already would have guessed that. Nijem also spoke the next day at the Regular Session.)
  • Davenport had met with the applicant, Mr. Copeland, who had provided more materials because he believed there were some accusations about lack of continuous operations in the building.

Davenport summarized that he thought there were three camps:

  1. Those not supporting the case.
  2. Those supporting the case,
  3. Those supporting the case with conditions,

He said one possibility would be for he and the county attorney to meet with the opposition attorney to try to work out some conditions.

Tuesday 12 June 2012 Regular Session

The agenda item was

6. Public Hearings – REZ-2012-09 Copeland, 3258 & 3264 Loch Laurel Rd, R-A & R-1 to C-C, well & septic, ~5 acres

Here’s a list of every citizen speaking for, at any of GLPC, ZBOA, or County Commission: John A. Copeland (the applicant), Kevin Copeland (applicant’s son), Nancy Hobby, Charles Miles, Fuller Sorrell, Alan Davis, Robert Roffe, and Norman Bush, plus a petition for.

Here’s a list of every citizen speaking against, at any of GLPC, ZBOA, or County Commission: Bill Nijem (attorney for several neighbors), Jimmy Hiers, Gail Hiers, Greta Vargas, and Patty Haynes.

For the rezoning

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Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2012-05-08

At a recent Lowndes County Commission meeting, I said:

I was interested to learn two weeks ago that my neighbor Timothy Nessmith was interested in getting DSL on Hambrick Road.

He said you can get it as close to him as Quarterman Road. I can attest to that because I have 3 megabit per second DSL, due to being just close enough to Bellsouth’s DSL box on Cat Creek Road, but most of Quarterman Road can’t get DSL due to distance. There are some other land-line possibilties, involving cables in the ground or wires on poles.

Then there are wireless possibilities, including EVDO, available from Verizon, with 750 kilobit per second (0.75 Mbps) wide area access from cell phone towers.

Verizon’s towers could also be used for WIFI antennas, for up to 8 Mbps Internet access, over a wide scale.

Then there’s metropolitan-area Internet. Chattanooga has the fastest such network, with 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps). But hundreds of communities around the country have such networks, including (continued after the video)…

Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 May 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

…Lafayette, Louisiana, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lagrange, Georgia, and Thomasville, Georgia. They use it for public safety, education (Wiregrass Tech, VSU), and

It attracts new industry. If you want knowledge-based industry, they’re going to be expecting Internet access not just at work, but at home, whereever they live.

Other uses include Continue reading →

Solar Lowndes High?

What does the world see driving north up I-75 past Valdosta? The empty roofs of Lowndes High School. Every south-facing one of which could hold solar panels.


View Larger Map

That would do more to put Lowndes County and Valdosta on the map as supporting solar and thus knowledge-based jobs than any amount of exit beautification.

Run out of roof space? What about those parking lots:


View Larger Map

And it wouldn’t take a Ted Turner to do it. In all but a few states the Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE) could let a private company finance and install all those solar panels and then lease the electricity for a fixed rate for 20 years, greatly reducing the school’s electricity bill and promoting our local community, all without any expense to we the taxpayers.

But you can’t do that in Georgia! Because Georgia Power doesn’t want us to. Unless we get some laws changed. Follow the link for how.

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PS: I haven’t forgotten Valdosta High School. All the economic advantages would apply just as well for the Valdosta Board of Education and Valdosta taxpayers. Even Valwood could do this and profit. If we get Georgia law changed to permit it.

Company installs solar and leases it to New Jersey school: you can’t do that in Georgia

Schools can’t do this in Georgia, because of the Territoriality Law. They can’t have a company finance and install solar panels on their property and lease the power from them at a fixed rate. You can’t, either, not even on your own private property. Does that seem right to you?

US DoE EERE wrote (no date), NJ School Installs 6.1 MW Solar System,

A 100-year old private school, Lawrenceville School, in Lawrenceville, N.J., installed a 6.1 megawatt ground-mounted system on 30 acres of school-owned farm land. The system features 24,934 SolarWorld solar panels, manufactured at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Hillsboro, Oregon. KDC Solar leased the land for the project from the school and owns and maintains the solar equipment. Through a power purchase agreement, the Lawrenceville School will buy electricity produced by the array over the next 20 years.

The school says the Lawrenceville Solar Farm was dedicated 4 May 2012., and adds that they also keep bees on the same land, plus what six megawatts means:

The Lawrenceville School Solar Farm consists of a nearly 30-acre, net metered, 6.1 megawatt solar facility, and honey-producing bee hives, which ring the perimeter of the array. The nearly 900,000 resident honey bees are nourished by a special wildflower mixture planted among and around the solar panels. The Farm offsets 6,388 metric tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of taking 1,253 cars off the road annually.

The 24,934 solar panels generate six megawatts of energy, covering 90 percent of the School’s needs. During the day, the array can produce nearly twice the amount of energy needed by the School. The excess is imported to the local electrical utility, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) and credited to the School. The School will draw excess energy and all other required energy from PSE&G after sundown.

Here’s a PDF with more details.

The big picture is: you can do that in all but about four states. Georgia is one of those four states, Continue reading →

Film your cause for annual local festival

VSU professor and student publish book chapter about films of Lowndes County. You, too, can submit a film about changes in local culture for the whole world to see.

Matthew Richard and Andrea Zvikas wrote Causes Mini-Film Festival: Anthropology for Public Consumption for the book Building Bridges in Anthropology: Understanding, Acting, Teaching, and Theorizing, Edited by Robert Shanafelt, published this month.

The goal is simple: to get all of us who live in Lowndes County, Georgia, to ponder some of our casual habits and to seek better ways of doing things here. The hope is that the collective wisdom and creativity of various community members can stoke our collective imagination—maybe even our “collective conscience”—and generate improvements in our way of life. The hope is that the collective wisdom and creativity of various community members can stoke our collective imagination—maybe even our “collective conscience”—and generate improvements in our way of life. Our somewhat quixotic reasoning is that change has to start somewhere, so why not initiate it right now, right here “in our own backyard”?

On facebook: “Causes”— Valdosta’s (mini) Film Festival. 2010 Causes Film Festival YouTube channel.

Do you have a cause? If so, please make your own 90-second mini-documentary and we’ll see you in Valdosta the weekend between the Martin Luther King holiday and the Superbowl.

Here’s a sample Causes video:

Dear Valdosta City Council, we need….
Submission for Causes Film Festival 2010

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