Yet another reason Atlanta doesn’t understand south Georgia:
military enlistment is 1 in 100 people in south Georgia from
Columbus to Valdosta, and less than a third of that in the Atlanta Metro area.
Enlistment is probably related to two other major features
of south Georgia that Atlanta doesn’t understand:
it’s agricultural (traditionally a bastion of military supporters),
and it’s poor (and enlisting is one way to a career).
A certain pipeline company may not have taken this factor
into account, either. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Moody AFB
Lowndes County Sheriff Deputy enforces First Amendment
Lowndes County, an oasis of constitutional rights.
Yes, really.
Here’s video evidence.
This kind of good news could do more to attract businesses here
than many things the local powers that be are doing.
Carlos Miller wrote for Photography is Not a Crime 25 June 2014, Georgia Deputy Surprises us all by Respecting Constitution,
It started off with a federal protective service officer pulling up to Jeff Gray in a patrol car for taking pictures from a public sidewalk outside the Moody Air Force Base in Georgia Monday.
Gray told the officer that he was photographing the railroad. But the cop had his doubts and accused him of photographing the entrance to the base — as if it would make any difference within the scopes of the law — and decided to call the local sheriff for backup.
When Gray tried to walk away, the cop informed he was being detained.
When Gray asked for his name and badge number, the cop informed Gray Continue reading
Videos: Water under Moody Family Housing and Sabal Trail @ LCC 2014-03-11
Two
speakers about
the Sabal Trail pipeline,
one about
water issues under Moody Family Housing,
One
request to do something about speeding
(good luck),
a
recognition (firefighters),
a
proclamation (purple hearts),
and
an
award (budget),
one rezoning
withdrawn,
three
others
approved,
two contracts (bus system renewal
and
software master contract),
some but not all
streets accepted in Nelson Hill,
and no mention of the
Lake Park annexation request that took up at least five minutes the
previous morning.
For why John Page is no longer on the Commission, see the previous post with the agenda. Here’s the agenda again with links to the videos and a few notes. See also videos from the previous morning’s Work Session. And see also Lowndes County becomes third purple heart county in the state, by Matthew Woody, VDT, 12 March 2014.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Water issues under Moody Family Housing –Dr. Michael Noll @ LCC 2014-03-11
Water issues still need to be investigated and resolved under the proposed Moody Family Housing, said Dr. Michael Noll, presenting a public comment by him and two other VSU professors about the recent evironmental assessment to the 11 March 2014 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.
Here’s the video:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 March 2014.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Appended is the text of the VSU professors’ letter, and here it is in PDF.
Continue readingMoody Family Housing Environmental Assessment published
Spotted first by Michael G. Noll in the VDT yesterday, the document promised by Col. Ford the previous evening. A quick search finds nothing about the Nelson Hill Wells, and no mention of VSU or any of the professors there who have expressed concern and asked for access to the site to conduct an independent study.
USAF ANNOUNCES AN
ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENTIn accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and Air Force regulations, the Air Force Civil
Engineer Center (AFCEC) has completed a Revised Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI), and a Finding of No
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) to evaluate the
consequences of the following stated proposed action:The revised Proposed Action would involve the
construction of 11 housing units for senior leadership on
a 15-acre parcel on the base and 90 units on an
approximately 60-acre parcel located northwest of the
city of Valdosta, GA on Val-Del Road (the Val-Del
Parcel). This represents a reduction Continue reading
Air Force has the environmental assessment for Moody Family Housing
Last night I chatted briefly with Moody’s
Col. Ford, before he spoke at the
Lake Park Chamber Annual Awards Dinner.
He said he had been able to get on the site of the proposed Moody Family
Housing about a year ago.
I mentioned the
Nelson Hill Wells
and he said they had spent a lot of time already investigating
water issues, and now the Air Force has received the environmental assessment.
Perhaps it includes the missing piece this time,
and maybe there’s a way for the public and local professors
to provide input.
Colonel Edward Ford is commander of the 23d Mission Support Group at Moody AFB, Ga. He leads a group of more than 1,450 military and civilian members providing support and services to a population of 28,000 active duty, retired military and family members. His group maintains an installation with more than 830 buildings and more than 17,500 acres, including an adjacent bombing or strafing range. He is responsible for ensuring the readiness of support forces to mobilize and deploy to build, secure, and sustain air base operations at austere bare base locations anywhere in the world.
The 23d Mission Support Group also retains responsibility for civil engineering, environmental compliance, Continue reading
Nelson Hill Wells
Seen today on Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County:
In the Northwest and Southwest of the most westerly boundary line of Nelson Hill Subdivision there are two well sites that had been previously deeded to Lowndes County for Deep Wells for Lowndes County Water Supply due to the problems at that time with the Well at Stone Creek location. However the test bore water samples came back with negative results due to surface water contamination entering the aquifer from all the fractures in the fragile lime stone basin and active sinkholes in that area, there is a sinkhole less than half of a mile south from where the test bores were done and it’s probably 90 feet deep. All this boarders the subject site Moody Housing.
So let’s look on the west side of the remainder of the Nelson Hill site, parcel 0071 006B. There are two cutouts, each about 50 feet square or 2500 square feet or 0.057 acre. Trying to select those in the online tax assessors maps, we get:
No data found for Continue reading
Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County
Multiple people reported clearing work at the site of the
Moody Family Housing project on Val Del Road,
with its
sinkhole next to an aquifer recharge zone,
that
not even
Moody Air Force Base can get in to inspect.
So we went out to look. There is clear cutting happening on Val Del Road (both sides) but it does not appear to be happening on the property slated for Moody Family Housing.
There has been clear cutting going on in the north of Lowndes County
for some time on large tracts near Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road (near the
new river bridge) and on Val Del Road immediately south of the Moody Family
Housing tract.
It appears that most of those properties are owned by Natco LLC: Continue reading
Videos: VLMPO Policy Committee @ VLMPO 2013-10-29
I commend VLMPO for addressing real issues and getting a broad variety of organizations to show up.
However, map after map on
the consultant’s slides
showed a straight-line highway going from Moody’s
front gate to Hahira:
There is no such road. There better not be, since it would go straight through my property and would drive development right through agricultural and forestry areas that the Comprehensive Plan says aren’t supposed to be developed,. not to mention the Moody MAZ. I’m told the consultant is going to fix this.
I have my doubts, because Continue reading
Moody Family Housing is in aquifer recharge zone @ LCC 2013-08-27
The
Moody Family Housing just rezoned is in a recharge zone for
our drinking water supply, the Floridan Aquifer.
What will keep runoff from this subdivision from feeding through
the wetlands and sinkhole into the aquifer?
Should we depend on county engineering, which never put in
the traffic calming measures
required for nearby Nelson Hill, or other county staff,
who gave waivers for other required items there, or just didn’t
require them to be implemented?
What assurances can we get from our county government that Moody Family
Housing won’t pollute our drinking water?
The above map is a detail from
Lowndes County’s own
Water Resource Protection Districts
Ordinance (WRPDO) overlay Map.
Here’s an even more detailed view courtesy
VALOR GIS (turn on Streams and Waterbodies, NWI Wetlands, Muncipal Boundaries, and Groundwater Rechard Areas): Continue reading