Tag Archives: Law

From Macon, Patrick Davis provides insight into the Quitman 10 case

While the Valdosta Daily Times, WCTV, and WALB remain silent about the Quitman 10, and all you hear on local TV is the D.A. giving his opinion of the case, in faraway Macon Patrick Davis digs into more things we should be hearing.

Patrick Davis wrote yesterday for the Macon Political Buzz Examiner, Jim Crow politics on display as Brooks County absentee case proceeds

Brad Shealy, who had been the long-time chairman of the Brooks Board of Education faced the prospect of being voted out as chairman and witnessing a majority-black Brooks County Board of Education for the first time ever.

Shealy lost his position when new leadership was elected in January 2011.

Shealy’s day job is the assistant district attorney under J. David Miller who originally started the investigation back in the late summer of 2010.

Excuse me? The former Brooks County school board chairman works for the D.A.’s office? And the D.A. is going on TV for pre-trial propaganda in the case?

Patrick Davis asks the obvious question: Continue reading →

D.A. Joe Mulholland on Fox News on the Quitman 10

This is what local TV viewers are hearing and seeing about the Quitman 10. Somebody tell me, is it appropriate for a district attorney to declare people guilty before trial?

Justin Schuver wrote for the Post-Searchlight 29 November 2011, Mulholland interviewed on Fox News

Local viewers of Fox News on Sunday morning might have seen a familiar face on their screen, as South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joe Mulholland was interviewed by the national news station about his prosecution of a voter-fraud case in Brooks County, Ga.

Mulholland spoke to Fox News newsman Eric Shawn for approximately four-and-a-half minutes about the case, which involves 12 citizens charged for allegedly tampering in a July 2010 primary election.

According to the Valdosta Daily Times, school board incumbents Gary Rentz and Myra Exum were leading in their races, before the absentee ballots were counted. After those 979 absentee ballots were tabulated, challengers Linda Troutman and Elizabeth Thomas were able to overtake the incumbents’ leads and eventually win election in November.

On Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested

Continue reading →

Lowndes County priorities: tanks and lunches for Commissioners, but no lunches for seniors?

So the Lowndes County Commission wouldn't accept a grant for NOAA Weather Radios, (but did vote themselves $75/day travel per diem), wouldn't accept a grant for an emergency vehicle, cancelled lunches for seniors, and barely approved a grant to help people with home downpayments, but the Lowndes County Sheriff's office did accept a grant for an armored vehicle.

Dawn Castro wrote for the VDT today, BearCat Rules: Lowndes sheriff’s office has new armored vehicle

BearCats are typically referred to by law enforcement as being armored rescue vehicles primarily used to transport tactical SWAT officers to and from hostile situations and to assist with the recovery and protection of civilians in harm’s way during terrorist threats, hostage incidents or encounters with armed offenders. The BearCat is designed to provide protection from a variety of small arms, explosives and IED threats.

Sure, and it will never be used against peaceful protesters.

Last month in Tampa, Adam Freeman wrote for WTSP.com 21 November 2011, Are Tampa police using tanks to threaten Occupy protestors?

Members of the movement say TPD is cruising by in the big, armored trucks. Pictures spread around the country over Facebook and Twitter, leading to speculation that TPD was moving in with the tanks.

But officers say it's just a coincidence, and the vehicle act passed by on its way to a Great American Teach-In event.

Maybe the Lowndes County Sheriff's dept. would never misuse an armored vehicle.

And I know, the Sheriff is a constitutional officer and the Lowndes County Commission has very limited control over the Sheriff's budget.

But it's still our same tax dollars. Are these our priorities?

-jsq

FVCS Final Meeting 15 November 2011

Former electoral opponents met Tuesday as FVCS held its final meeting, with Rusty Griffin, Vice-Chair of CUEE, watching at the MLK Monument as Sam Allen, President of Friends of Valdosta Schools (FVCS) announced the dissolution of FVCS.

Sam Allen, as he has before, called for reconciliation of opponents on the recent school consolidation referendum, and support of the two school systems, financially and otherwise.

In addition to FVCS regulars such as JC Cunningham, Chamber Chair Tom Gooding was there, as were current Valdosta Mayor Sonny Vickers and Mayor-Elect John Gayle, plus re-elected Valdosta City Council At-Large Ben Norton. Valdosta School Superintendent Cason was there. I didn’t see Lowndes Superintendent Smith, although various members of Continue reading →

57 year overdue house cleaning —Barbara Stratton

Received today on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
The 1926 statute that needs to be removed is OCGA 20-2-370. The 1983 constitutional law had priority of law precedence over the older statute & CUEE was advised before they asked for signatures it could be protested on those grounds before or after the vote. Thankfully we did not have to go that route. I remember in high school I did a project on outdated laws still in the GA Constitution including mandatory hanging for horse theft (which I liked). There was also a law if you hit & killed a cow or pig on the road you were required to get out & slit the throat so the owner could salvage the meat & many others that were outdated & no longer enforced. I trust these have now been removed. The general assembly should be thankful that we are addressing this 57 year overdue need for house cleaning & remedy this in January. Rule of Law should never remain questionable when it is the duty of our lawmakers to provide clarity.

-Barbara Stratton

According to Justia.com:

2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 20 – EDUCATION
CHAPTER 2 – ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
ARTICLE 8 – CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT AND COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS
§ 20-2-370 – Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems


O.C.G.A. 20-2-370 (2010)
20-2-370. Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems

Whenever the citizens of a municipality or independent school district authorized by law to establish and maintain a system of schools by local taxation in whole or in part are operating a system of public schools independent of the county school system and wish to annul their special school law and become a part of the county school system, they shall present and file with the governing authority of the city a petition signed by one-fourth of the qualified voters of their territory; and the governing authority shall then submit the question at an election to be held in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21. A majority of those voting shall be necessary to carry the election. Only qualified voters residing within the municipality or district for six months prior to the election shall vote. An election shall not be held for the same purpose more often than every 12 months.

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Georgia may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

Citizens at Lowndes County Commission 7 November 2011

Five citizens spoke up at the 7 November 2011 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Some got answers, some got excuses, and some got fingerpointing. And one illustrated how the Commission doesn’t follow its own rules.

  • George Boston Rhynes asked about Open record requests and jail deaths and got the same excuses he’s heard elsewhere: nobody seems to be responsible for supplying information to the public about what’s going on in the Lowndes County Jail.

  • John Robinson asked about Contracts on the south side related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to Title III Section 3 of the HUD program and got a clarification from the Chairman that the county has no Title III projects.

  • John S. Quarterman asked the Commission to video meetings like the Lowndes Board of Education does, and got a slightly different excuse this time than the many previous times he’s made similar requests.

  • Matt Portwood asked the Commission or the individual Commissioners to state a position on school consolidation and was told they weren’t going to. The VDT printed that much the next morning, the morning of the election with the referendum on school consolidation. They did not print Chairman Paulk’s allusion to his already-known support for FVCS in opposing consolidation, but LAKE published a video with that on Election Day, and you can see it here.

  • Tony Daniels wanted to know How can we pursue happiness when we don’t even have a job? and had several recommendations for how the various local elected and appointed bodies could go about getting us more jobs. He also illustrated that the Commissions ordinance on Citizens Wishing to Be Heard is, as we’ve discovered on many previous occasions, merely guidelines at the whim of the Chairman.

Citizen participation!

-jsq

Only a vote where both city and county residents could take part would reveal the will of the people —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
While I live in the city as was able to vote on the consolidation issue, I feel that only a vote where both city and county residents would be democratic. Only a vote where both interested parties could take part would reveal the will of the people and be admissible. Although I opposed the effort to consolidate that was recently defeated, I feel strongly that a true vote of both city and county residence is necessary if consolidation should reach the ballot anytime in the future. For this reason it is paramount that the old law that allowed the city only vote be stricken to allow the georgia constitution to prevail. The GA constitution allows for both city and county to vote and a majority in both in order to pass.

Please contact your legislator to support repealing the 1928 law from the GA law books.

Thank you ALL for your commitment to community,

-Karen Noll

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law

Received today. -jsq
From: JC Cunningham
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:01:26 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Fw: The Repeal of Ga. Law on School Consolidation
To: [many people]

Friends,

Even though we the Citizens of Valdosta have spoken and defeated that hostile takeover, this is not the time to let up. We all must stay a vigilant as possible and never let anything like this happen again.

One way in which everyone in Valdosta and Lowndes can make a impact is to write a letter to Amy Carter, Admin. Floor Leader to the Governor, and ask for her to introduce a bill to repeal the old 1928 law that Cuee was able to use.

Remind Amy that she has an obligation to bring this bill to the floor. Remind her that the people

Continue reading →

The Comprehensive Plan updates Lowndes County refused to provide

LAKE has obtained the planning revision documents Lowndes County refused, in violation of the law, to return in response to an open records request. Here they are for all to see.

The Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning, established by the Georgia Planning Act of 1989, require updates to the Short Term Work Projects (STWP) list and the Report of Accomplishments (ROA) every 5 years. Lowndes County and the cities in Lowndes County have submitted the documents to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA)

An open records request to Lowndes County for the documents was not satisfied. However other government agencies were willing to abide by the Georgia Open Records Law ocga 50-18-70.

The documents are available for review on the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange website for Valdosta, Lake Park, Remerton, Hahira and Lowndes County.

I encourage you to read carefully what our elected officials see as the future of our community.

-gretchen

The Real Truth About School Consolidation by Supt. Smith to Lowndes County Schools

Received today. -jsq
Sent: Tue, October 25, 2011 7:55:07 AM
Subject: Letter to the Staff
Friends,
Attached is a copy a document that was sent to all Lowndes County teachers and staff from Dr. Steve Smith.
Thanks,
Sam Allen
Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus [Valdosta City Schools]
The letter is on the LAKE website. Here are a few excerpts:
REAL TRUTH: Continuing all of the current programs the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System have would require a millage rate of approximately 24 mills. Considering state law limits us to 21 mills, some programs will be eliminated. The decision to eliminate such programs will be recommended by the Lowndes County Superintendent, subject to final approval by the Lowndes County Board of Education. There will be winners and losers in consolidation and several current successful programs will likely have to go.
Continue reading →