A man sent a bird to his mother as a gift….
Here’s the video:
The bird that could speak nine languages —Rev. Floyd Rose
Sanford Florida where 17 year Trayvon was murdered, and the killer has not been arrested,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.
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That’s WCTV reporter Greg Gullberg leaning over in the picture on the right. Here’s his report Friday, Protesters Rally For Trayvon Martin At Valdosta’s Old Courthouse,
Several protesters wore hooded sweat shirts, held boxes of Skittles and cans of iced tea. They asked if those items made them appear suspicious as well.
More excerpts:
“That this community and every community in this country will continue to press for Mr. Zimmerman’s arrest and conviction,” Rev. Rose told Gullberg.The news that Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily stepped down sparked new life into the rally.
“We all know that he botched the investigation. He did not even arrest Mr. Zimmerman, which would have been standard practice,” said Rev. Rose.
“I think the story is still kind of broad right now, people want to know what’s happened. So I’m actually happy about the crowd that came out today,” Valdosta State University NAACP Chapter President DeAndre Jones told Gullberg.
LAKE videos of the rally.
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Videos of the rally on the courthouse steps Thursday.
Please join me and SCLC at the Courthouse in Valdsota at 6:30 for a “Justice for Trayvon Martin” rally Thursday, March 22nd. Thousands of people all over the United States will be gathering, including thiousands in Sanford Florida where 17 year Trayvon was murdered, and the killer has not been arrested.Come let your voice be heard: 6:30 Thursday, March 22nd.
Floyd Rose, President
Here’s a playlist:
Rally “Justice for Trayvon Martin”
Floyd Rose, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
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Citizens entitled to open government,
All governmental entities supported by tax dollars are subject to the laws. Private companies are not.As the VDT knows better than anybody else around here, getting informaiton out of Valdosta State Prison or the Georgia Department of Correcions (GDOC) is very hard. The VDT has been trying to find out what’s going on at Valdosta State Prison for years now, and getting the runaround and hitting stone walls.
Florida has a law that says private prison operators have to comply with Continue reading
drive away CCA.
Near Ft. Lauderdale, CCA wants to put a detention center
in Southwest Ranches, Florida, and
CCA Go Away (facebook)
is organizing against that.
Lots of clever signs, from the unmistakable:
to the symbolic orange jailbirds holding oversize $20 and $100 bills.
CCA Go Away
Plenty more in their flickr set:
No Prison Here in This Town
Put Residents Before Profit
The Prison is No Longer A Secret
Did You Know?
A Prison is coming to your neighborhood!
Say No to
Corrections Corporation of America
No CCA
If they can do it, we can, too.
Come to the prison site Tuesday 5PM to help
Drive Away CCA!
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Monticello and Jefferson County, Florida, have become
dependent on a prison that opened in 1990.
Why?
According to
Rick Stone of WUSF 1 Feb 2012,
Late in the 80s, with crime rising and prisons filling up, Florida needed new prison sites but few counties wanted to be one. JeffersonThat’s not our situation. Crime is as low as it has been since the 1960s, prison populations have peaked, and we do have other sources of employment. Or are we really that desperate?County, just east of Tallahassee, was different. Then, as now, underpopulated and desperately poor, it saw an opportunity and it did something unusual.
because of the state’s declining inmate population. “We welcomed them with open arms,” said Kirk Reams, Jefferson County’s court clerk and chief financial officer.
Jefferson County thinks it has lucked out again, but only at the expense of Florida taxpayers, and against the prison population trend.
John Kennedy wrote for the Palm Beach Post 8 February 2012, Condemned Florida prison gets second chance at life in House, Continue reading
David Royse wrote for the News Service of Florida yesterday, Scott Will Explore Ways to Privatize Prisons without Law Change,
Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he will explore opportunities to privatize state prisons on his own following the Senate’s defeat of a bill that would have required some prisons be bid out to private companies.
Speaking to reporters Thursday morning after a public event on insurance fraud, Scott acknowledged that initially he didn’t consider privatizing prisons a priority, but was disappointed the Senate voted down a bill that would have done that, and said he’ll explore what many backers of the Senate plan said was a possibility that the governor could order privatization unilaterally.
The irony:
Scott pointed out that there are fewer inmates than anticipated and that it didn’t make sense to spend state dollars on half-full prisons.Maybe nobody told Gov. Scott CCA wants guaranteed 90% occupancy.
More irony: Continue reading
David Royse in wctv.tv yesterday, Florida Senate Kills Prison Privatization,
A bipartisan coalition of senators bucked the chamber’s RepublicanPrivate prison proponents tried to sell it as cost savings. If prison privatization really does save money, why did the legislature previously try to hide it in a general budget bill, which was thrown out by a judge back in September?leadership Tuesday and rejected a proposal to privatize several prisons, but got warnings from leaders that it will have a cost in further budget cuts.
In a dramatic showdown with Senate President Mike Haridopolos and three other top leaders one of whom controls the Senate’s budget, one who controls the calendar and one who will be the next president opponents of the bill managed to kill it on a 19-21 vote.
The odd coalition that lined up against the bill included Republican populists who have become occasional mavericks, Democrats and some members of the GOP caucus that almost always vote with their party, but come from areas laden with corrections officers who opposed the idea.
This time, senators weren’t buying that baloney. Continue reading
Tim Croft wrote for the Star Thursday, Developer pulls out of energy center project
What project? Down at the fourth paragraph the article finally says:Citing an inability to secure financing Rentech, Inc., the developer of the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center has pulled out of the project.
…a 55 megawatt energy plant to be built in Port St. Joe.The article blames the economy, but that wasn’t all that did in Continue readingThe plant, as proposed, would produce steam to drive generators to produce electricity, the fuel source woody biomass, or forest residue. Progress Energy had an agreement in place to purchase electricity from the plant.
Mark B. Solomon wrote for DCVelocity today, Florida East Coast to add Valdosta, Ga., to relay rail network, Expansion will take place early next year.
Florida East Coast Railway Co. (FEC) said today it would add Valdosta,Hm, you’d think the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) would be announcing something like this….Ga., to its so-called relay rail network, which allows truckers to drop off trailerloads with the FEC and have the railroad, rather than the truckers, transport the freight down the Florida peninsula to Miami. The expansion will take place early next year, the railroad said.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based FEC already operates such a service at Savannah, where truckers delivering loads originating in the Midwest and Southeast drop their loads with FEC at the Georgia city. FEC then trucks the trailer to its railhead in Jacksonville, where it is transloaded onto one of its trains for the 350-mile overnight trip to Miami. The trucker can then pick up a trailer in Savannah, a major manufacturing and distribution center, for the westbound return trip. Once the trailer is offloaded in Miami, FEC returns the empty equipment to Savannah.
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