School lunches, speculators —Garry Gentry Farm Bill Forum, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Gary Black, Charles Hall, Robert Redding, John Maguire, Tifton, Tift County, Georgia, 16 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Bring our troops home —Gretchen Quarterman Farm Bill Forum, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Gary Black, Charles Hall, Robert Redding, John Maguire, Tifton, Tift County, Georgia, 16 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
They worked hard for what they got —Mr. Robinson from Brooks County Farm Bill Forum, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Gary Black, Charles Hall, Robert Redding, John Maguire, UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center, Tifton, Tift County, Georgia, 16 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Local Heirloom Tomatoes and More, Lunch and Learn, Healthy Living Task Force, (HLTF), Healthy Living Task Force, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
These are videos of the Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012. They vote at their regular session tonight, 5:30 PM.
Here’s a playlist of everything except the above two special presentations.
Videos Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
George Page, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreational Authority (VLPRA), gave a presentation to the Lowndes County Commission Work Session, 26 March 2012.
Parks and Rec Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), made a presentation to the Lowndes County Commission at their Work Session 26 March 2012. VLCIA Board member G. Norman Bennett was also present. Congratulations to VLCIA on proactively getting the word out about what they are doing!
Industrial Authority presentation Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
County Planner Jason Davenport described the problem, which came up in a request to rezone a piece of property that was partly zoned RA (Residential Agriculture) and partly Conservation:
We did get help from the clerk’s office to try to clear up when this property was zoned and why it was zoned conservation. I just don’t have anything [unintelligible]. We have minutes that say one thing and a zoning map that says another.
He said they had had limited time to investigate, and had not been able to resolve this issue.
That issue is still on the table. I would just remind you that in the grand scheme it is a minor issue.
Commissioner Richard Raines made the motion:
For my part I’m for rezoning the entire property RA and eliminating the conservation.
And that’s what they did. Which raises issues of what we should do.
Conservation records Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 February 2012 13 March 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
It may have been a civil rights violation. But let’s talk about human rights violations. That young man was a human, and he deserved his human rights to be expected. And until we as a people — a people, black, white, Latino — come together and demand our human rights, this will continue to happen.
That young man didn’t deserve this because he was black. He didn’t deserve it because he was a human.
Human rights and American rights —JC Cunningham Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012. Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
More excerpts:
But they didn’t even respect basic human rights basic American rights….
Ladies and gentlemen, we must write, we must continue to march, we must continue to speak, not amongst ourselves. Tonight I ask when you go home look to the right of you, to the left of you. I mean the houses to the right of you, the houses to the left of you. Ask them where they were tonight. Ask them what their thoughts are. What if it would have been their child. They would have been here. They would have been appalled if you were not here….
Don’t be afraid to talk to your white colleagues, don’t be afraid to talk to your hispanic colleagues. There’s nothing to be ashamed of to be out here and to demand, to demand your basic human rights.
Other notable parts of this meeting were when
staff
said conservation status was a small detail and
and
Commissioners
proceeded to get rid of it in a rezoning.
Videos
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission, (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).