WCTV does include timestamps, and Dontaye Carter did some reporting for her story posted 6:48 PM: Continue reading
Tag Archives: VDT
“it wouldn’t matter” –John Fretti, Mayor of Valdosta
News Talk 105.9 FM posted this:
Exclusive Audio: Mayor Fretti on Biomass
“Kay Harris is absolutely wrong, writing emotionally again.”He’s apparently referring to the VDT editorial I interpreted here.
He goes on to say it wouldn’t matter if the city refused to supply water to the biomass plant. Yet another variant on the popular local favorite: “there’s nothing you can do.”
Technically, no doubt he’s right: they could just sink a well instead. Politically, it would make a world of difference if the plant’s host city said it wouldn’t supply water. Not to mention I suspect the county would have to approve such a well.
At the least, the City of Valdosta could do what Gadsden County, Florida did: Continue reading
VDT Civics Lesson on How to Stop a Biomass Plant
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
VDT and WCTV on WACE anti-biomass meeting
The first word is the key word in David Rodock’s VDT article today,
Opponents to proposed biomass plant speak out at meeting:
Experts from a variety of fields presented the health risks, pollution and water issues, and other concerns involved with the construction of a biomass plant in Valdosta Thursday at the Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) forum held Thursday evening.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has
repeatedly claimed to have a long list of experts on its side;
Brad Lofton wants everyone to see him
read his laundry list of authorities and experts.
“I will proudly share it with everyone,”
he says.
The VDT points out that there are experts who are against the plant.
Experts whom the VLCIA can’t even bring itself to name,
only allude to as
“folks come into the community”.
Even the caption on the VDT picture is telling: Continue reading
Tiny LAKE is flattered by mighty VLCIA!
Posting a reply from LAKE to an inquiry from Brad Lofton. -jsq
Continue readingTo: Brad Lofton
From: John S. Quarterman
Cc: [see below]
Subject: Re: VDT EditorialHowdy,
Tiny LAKE is flattered to be asked to repost VDT materials for mighty VLCIA! But to answer your question, this is a blog, not a newspaper, nor a wire service for a newspaper. LAKE also hasn’t posted all of the letters to the editor of the VDT pro and con on this subject or others of interest to us.
More basically, you seem to continue to confuse “VLCIA answered” with “the answers satisfied the questioners” or “the answers actually addressed the content of the questions” or “nobody is questioning anymore”.
Questions continued to be asked at the VLCIA “Forum” of 6 Dec 2010. I ask again:
VDT publishes biomass email exchange from December
David Rodock writes in The Valdosta Daily Times today, in
“Debate over biomass heats up”, about the
exchange of email from December that you’ve seen in full on this blog. Rodock also got some new quotes from Dr. Noll and Brad Lofton, but no answers to any substantive questions from Lofton. Is a public employee funded by 1 mil of tax money supposed to refuse to address substantive questions from the public that pays that 1 mil?
-jsq
Georgia Open Records Act
Sometimes the easiest way to find out something from your local
government is by filing an open records request.
Some local governments provide forms for that online:
The basic request is one sheet of paper on which you spell out
what you want (be specific), your name and address, and where they can send it.
Valdosta’s web page sums up the situation: Continue reading
Which new districts did the County Commission just vote for?
The VDT and the Commission’s district maps don’t agree,
and the Board of Elections doesn’t know.
David Rodock writes in the VDT today that
County revives expanding Lowndes commission:
During a special meeting Monday, county commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to include two additional voting districts within Lowndes County.Last year, this expansion failed in the legislature on a technicality. If the Commission and staff don’t make the same mistake, it seems likely the legislature will approve these new districts.The two proposed voting districts would allow for greater representation at County Commission meetings by allowing for an expansion of the current available voting representatives from three to five, while keeping a non-voting commission chairman.
But the district map the VDT published (see above) is not the same Continue reading
Brad Lofton’s memory fails him again
On 28 Dec 2010
Brad Lofton wrote:
No one but WACE has made any claims about our efforts to substantiate this project.Who are all these people, then, asking questions at the VLCIA’s 6 Dec 2010 event?
For example, this one, following up about the Environmental Impact Study he requested back at the EPD air quality hearing (see video of that event). He didn’t get an answer then, and at VLCIA’s 6 Dec event he still only got allusions to studies and standards that were not produced.
You can see Brad Lofton in that video, listening. Did he forget so quickly?
What about SAVE’s event at VSU at which Dr. Sammons spoke? What about the well-attended Biomass Town Hall that Pastor Angela Manning organized? And other events.
What about my question at the 6 Dec 2010 VLCIA board meeting? Continue reading
South Georgia GBI; Roundup of Blacks In Quitman
In the appended post about yesterday’s events in Quitman,
George Rhynes cites the
WCTV
and
WALB
stories.
Curiously, the nearest local daily newspaper,
the Valdosta Daily Times, seems to have nothing online about this.
-jsq
Continue readingAt 8:30 AM, I began receiving phone calls from Quitman, Georgia in the County of Brooks where the County Sheriffs Office was arresting citizens at random concerning the recent Absentee Ballot Problems.
These arrests reminded me of the alleged problems Black Voters/Citizens have had with the GBI harassing them during their investigation before and during the last run off election. This included alleged actions by the GBI Investigators that local citizens complained about intimidation before, during and after the election. However little or no Public Media Attention was given to alleged Black Voter intimidation by local media. Moreover, little to nothing was published in the FREE PRESS surrounding citizen’s fear from GBI Investigators. This was a major point of discussion when I along with a local Pastor from Valdosta, Georgia walked the streets to get a better understanding of what Brooks County Voters had to go through during the last election.
Today’s arrest will surely end up in the courts.