Tag Archives: Military

Lighting Ordinance, Drainage, Well, Trash, Software, Trucks @ LCC 2018-02-26

The Street Lighting Ordinance on the agenda for this morning and tomorrow evening is not among those on the County Ordinances web page. How are we to “Know the Laws”, as the link from the county’s front page says, when unknown ordinances keep popping up? Ah, it’s currently a resolution and they want to make it an ordinance.

Lighting-ordinance-agenda-sheet-0001,

The agenda sheet says “For reference, copies of maps Continue reading

Videos: Day 2, Planning, Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2018-02-20

These videos are for those of you who have jobs, or responsibilities, which prevent you from taking random days or hours off at a time. Commissioner Marshall was absent from the second day of the retreat because he has a job which does not allow him the flexibility of daytime hours off. (The first day of the retreat was on Presidents Day.)

The topics of discussion ranged from the ever popular litter and trash collection, to special tax districts, fire and emergency response, animal control and the animal shelter, and one of my favorites, electronic records. Most presentations were made either by the county manager or clerk but the current Deep South Solid Waste Authority Chairman Kevin Beals was first up to talk trash.

Below are links to each LAKE video of Day 2, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of Day 1 and Continue reading

Hurricane Andrew was record-breaking, Irma is much worse

Seth Borenstein, NBC Miami, 8 September 2017, Hurricane Andrew Was a Monster; Irma Could Blow It Out of the Water: Andrew, “an incredible buzz saw giant tornado of a hurricane,” killed 65 people; Irma is much larger,


Satellite imagery of Hurricane Andrew (inset, at left) from Aug. 23, 1992, is digitally superimposed, to scale, over imagery of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 7, 2017.
Photo credit: NOAA

At the time, Andrew was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history with damages of $26.5 billion in 1992 dollars (about $50 billion in current dollars), according to the National Weather Service.

“The effect of Irma on the state of Florida is going to be much greater than Andrew’s effect,” said Continue reading

Videos: Appointments to Hospital Authority and Parks and Rec + well pump @ LCC 2017-07-11

Two Regular Sessions back, they started with a moment of silence for Mike Everett, recently deceased employee of the Public Works department. The obituary in the VDT, 14 July 2014,

Michael Thomas Everett, a senior heavy equipment operator with Lowndes county and long time resident of Berrien County, GA, died unexpectedly on July 9, 2017 at the age of 58 at his home. Mike was born in Miami, Florida on December 29, 1958 to Hermon J. Everett and Mary C. Everett both deceased and is survived by his loving Step-Mother Nora N. Everett. Mike also known as Mr. Mike to many of his close friends and co-workers was an avid race car fan, loved cooking, enjoyed tending to his many gardens. He also loved music and often played guitar with family and friends. He was a magnet for all dogs taking great care of any that showed up on his doorstep. Mike was a very kind and generous man who will be deeply missed by his family, close neighbors, friends, co-workers and all who knew him. There is no service scheduled at this time.

No surprise on the pump or for the Hospital Authority, but news about Ashley Paulk and VLPRA. They approved everything else unanimously, as they usually do.

Below are links to each LAKE video, with a few notes, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the agenda. There are no LAKE videos of the previous morning’s Work Session, because, they moved it half an hour early and didn’t send a notification. But there is a blog post about one Commissioner’s response to that. The county apparently does video its work sessions, but not that one, and not this Regular Session, either.

Continue reading

Videos: alias for Val Tech Road, Moody, Library, KLVB, DFCS, Construction Board @ LCC 2017-07-25

They actually spent the most time on the fire pages, but the biggest item was renaming Val Tech Road: they decided not to do that, rather to designate “a portion” of it as Wiregrass Technical College Way or something like that.

For two boards, KLVB and DFCS, they didn’t have an application for one seat, so they left it until the next meeting.

The meeting lasted more than fifteen minutes, so they’ll probably have to pay staff overtime! Below are links to the LAKE video for each item in the agenda, for yesterday morning’s Regular Session, followed by a LAKE video playlist. See also the LAKE videos of hte previous morning’s Work Session.

Videos: Moody, Library, KLVB, DFCS, Construction Board, renaming Val Tech Road @ LCC 2017-07-24

Below are links to the LAKE video for each item in the agenda, for yesterday morning’s Work Session, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

Air Force lobbyists, appointments to four boards, renaming Val Tech Road @ LCC 2017-07-24

The agenda still says 8:30 AM Monday morning for the Work Session, and they have only half an hour left to change it and still comply with state law.

In case anybody has forgotten Moody AFB is by far the biggest employer in these parts, the county wants to hire for $36,000 a year a pair of lobbyists to the Air Force: Parker and Lucy Greene, “to provide consulting services on behalf of Lowndes County to enhance relationships with the Air Force and Department of Defence regarding Moody AFB.”

Parker and Lucy Greene

Kari L. Sands (R.I.P.), VDT, 22 June 2007, Parker Greene honored with award, Continue reading

Major climate change victory in U.S. House on Bastille Day 2017-07-14

On the anniversary of the French Revolution against a corrupt old regime, the U.S. House of Representatives took a step towards independence from the clammy grip of the fossil fuel companies. This has direct implications on Moody AFB. No more pipelines. Solar power now.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, 14 July 2017, In Landmark Move, GOP Congress Calls Climate Change ‘Direct Threat’ to Security: Extreme weather and rising seas threaten bases from Virginia to Guam. For the first time, a Republican House has voted to recognize that.,

One study last year found that rising oceans threaten 128 military installations on the coasts, including naval facilities worth around $100 billion.

The Pentagon has been aware for years of Continue reading

Videos: Appointments to Hospital Authority and Parks and Rec + well pump @ LCC 2017-07-10

Nope, there are no LAKE videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session, because, remember, they moved the meeting half an hour earlier so when Gretchen showed up it was already over. The county does not video its Work Sessions, so there is no county video, either. Since the Valdosta Daily Times apparently did not run a story (I don’t even know if they had a reporter there), this means you won’t know what the Commissioners discussed nor who else was there Monday morning before they vote this evening at 5:30 PM.

Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson welcomes new 23d Wing Commander Col. Jennifer Short at the July 10 Change of Command ceremony.
City of Valdosta PR 2017-07-10: Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson welcomes new 23d Wing Commander Col. Jennifer Short at the July 10 Change of Command ceremony.

Commissioner Scottie Orenstein asked, on facebook, in response to yesterday’s LAKE blog post about the moved meeting: Continue reading

Video: Solar panels, heck yeah! –Tom Fanning, CEO, at SO stockholder meeting 2017-05-24

Tom Fanning, our genial CEO host, said some things I’ve never heard him say before like Southern Company is “pivoting towards wind” and SO’s board soon has to decide whether to go forward with Plant Vogtle “or not” probably by August. Fanning gets the first and last word in this blog post, plus a complete transcript of what I asked and Tom Fanning’s response, along with summaries of the other questions and answers.

Well see how it develops --Tom Fanning
Please hear me! I think renewables are exceedingly important in the future.
— Tom Fanning, CEO, Southern Company

In SO’s own meeting video of the 25 May 2017 Stockholder Meeting, you can see much praise about solar power and wind and R&D and a smart grid, along with stockholders wondering: Continue reading