Join the motorcade from the private prison site to honk at Valdosta City Hall
and march at the Industrial Authority office.
I’ll be on Chris Beckham’s show on WVGA 105.9 FM this morning at 7:30 AM
to talk about it.
Update: audio of the interview.
Update 2: Here’s video of the interview.
In the
17 August 2009 press release about
Damon Hininger being appointed CEO:
This press release contains statements as to the Company’s beliefs and expectations of the outcome of future events that are forward-looking statements as defined within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties associated with: (i) fluctuations in the Company’s operating results because of, among other things, changes in occupancy levels, competition, increases in cost of operations, fluctuations in interest rates and risks of operations; (ii) changesSo maybe we should drum up some community opposition to the private prison the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) wants CCA to build in Lowndes County, Georgia. What ideas do you have to go beyond the petition?in the privatization of the corrections and detention industry, the public acceptance of the Company’s services, the timing of the opening of and demand for new prison facilities and the commencement of new management contracts; (iii) the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain correctional facility management contracts, including as a result of sufficient governmental appropriations and as a result of inmate disturbances; (iv) increases in costs to construct or expand correctional facilities that exceed original estimates, or the inability to complete such projects on schedule as a result of various factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, such as weather, labor conditions and material shortages, resulting in increased construction costs; and (v) general economic and market conditions. Other factors that could cause operating and financial results to differ are described in the filings made from time to time by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
the risks and uncertainties associated with: … the public acceptance of the Company’s services, the timing of the opening of and demand for new prison facilities and the commencement of new management contracts; (iii) the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain correctional facility management contracts….
-jsq
Brennan Leathers wrote for the Post-Searchlight 3 January 2010, Walls going up at new ag building,
Which means some local workers with carpentry and construction experience were not working on that project.Work on Decatur County’s new agricultural office building is quickly progressing, with interior walls being put up and the installation of a roof soon to follow.
Decatur County Prison inmates with carpentry and construction experience were working hard last Friday, putting up the interior walls inside the 9,724-square-foot building under construction near the Cloud Agricultural Building off Vada Road.
Do we want a private prison in Lowndes County so more prisoners
can compete with local workers here, too?
If you don’t think so, remember
CCA says community opposition
can impede private prison site selection.
Here’s a
petition urging the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority
to stop the CCA private prison.
-jsq
In CCA’s 2010 Annual Report to the SEC:
CCA doesn’t like community opposition, because it reduces CCA’s ability to site prisons, which adversely affects their bottom line. Funny how that happens because a private prison company’s main goal is profit, not rehabilitation, public safety, or justice.We may face community opposition to facility location, which may adversely affect our ability to obtain new contracts. Our success in obtaining new awards and contracts sometimes depends, in part, upon our ability to locate land that can be leased or acquired, on economically favorable terms, by us or other entities working with us in conjunction with our proposal to construct and/or manage a facility. Some locations may be in or near populous areas and, therefore, may generate legal action or other forms of opposition from residents in areas surrounding a proposed site. When we select the intended project site, we attempt to conduct business in communities where local leaders and residents generally support the establishment of a privatized correctional or detention facility. Future efforts to find suitable host communities may not be successful. We may incur substantial costs in evaluating the feasibility of the development of a correctional or detention facility. As a result, we may report significant charges if we decide to abandon efforts to develop a correctional or detention facility on a particular site. In many cases, the site selection is made by the contracting governmental entity. In such cases, site selection may be made for reasons related to political and/or economic development interests and may lead to the selection of sites that have less favorable environments.
We don’t have to accept a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. If we tell the Industrial Authority and CCA no, CCA will probably go away.
And the more communities that tell CCA no, the less profitable they will be.
-jsq
The VDT explains how to effect change, if anyone is listening.
Editorial, 13 Jan 2010,
Powerless to stop the power plant:
This week as the rhetoric around the proposed biomass facility has continued heating up, leading up to last night’s forum, one of the main themes has been that “government should do something.”
While the Times does not condone or condemn Chairman Paulk’s actions in the commission meeting Tuesday night, understanding the situation may help shed light on the issue. The county is powerless to do anything to stop this power plant. The only governmental entity with any power over the project is the city, and that’s only in the form of the services being extended and the water being sold to the company, as well as the sewage sludge that’s being burned. They too are powerless at this point to stop it.
The editorial continues with the tired old excuse “they can be sued”.
Don’t they have insurance for that?
If the whole thing goes as bad as some opponents predict,
they could be sued for the kind of financial disaster
that faces Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
There is one governmental entity that does have the power. Ah, here it is: Continue reading
Georgia EPD approved the air quality permit for the Wiregrass Power LLC
biomass plant on Perimeter Road just outside Valdosta in Lowndes County,
with an effective date of July 19, 2010 (PDF, Word).
Somebody may want to do the exercise of comparing the approved permit
with the application to see if the process was entirely
rubberstamp or whether any changes at all were made after
the many questions
people asked at the
public hearing.
Meanwhile, is that it? Will the plant be built? Not necessarily: Continue reading