Tag Archives: WCTV

This is what democracy looks like at the Chamber @ Occupy Valdosta 14 October 2011

A gentle reminder to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce of what just happened at the polls yesterday.

Myrna Ballard:

I understand that you have something that you’d like to say?

Occupy Valdosta:

This is what democracy looks like!

Here’s the video:


This is what democracy looks like at the Chamber @ Occupy Valdosta 14 October 2011
We are the 99%,
Marching to Occupy Valdosta, Occupy Valdosta,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

That’s Sam Allen, president of FVCS holding the front Vote No sign; Vote No for the Children is holding another one. Greg Gullberg of WCTV is standing in front of Myrna Ballard, Jade Bulecza of WALB has a camera in the lower right, David Rodock of the VDT is standing behind Myrna Ballard in the video, Desiree Thompson of the VSU Spectator was there, Valdosta Today was there, George Boston Rhynes of K.V.C.I. and bostongbr on YouTube was there, and LAKE was there.

-jsq

For the second week in a row, protesters picket outside the Chamber of Commerce —WCTV

The news media might as well make Valdosta a regular weekend stop for demonstrations. -jsq

Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV 22 October 2011, ‘Vote No’ For Consolidation March,

For the second week in a row, protesters picket outside the Chamber of Commerce to the tune of: ‘No Consolidation’.

But unlike the occupy movement, this rally has one message; one voice.

They say: ‘Vote No’…..

But what does Valdosta’s first black mayor say about it?

“Just Vote No,” the Mayor chants from a podium.

Mayor Sonny Vickers is one of the strongest opponents of the consolidation plan. “The group that’s pushing this has no authority. No kind of plan to tell us anything. Because they are not on the board. So they cannot tell us anything specific about what’s going to happen,” says Mayor Vickers.

“I have seen cameras here at this building when it concerns football” — George Boston Rhynes @ VBOE 29 August 2011

If TV cameras show up for football, why don’t they show up “when the people come together on issues such as this, not just black folk, not just white folk, but all Americans are here tonight because of our concern”?

George Boston Rhynes made three points: Continue reading →

Lowndes County isn’t the only one with a trash problem

Curbside pick up for $196 per year. Mandatory.

Jerry Askin wrote for WCTV 2 August 2011, Wakulla County Soon To Have Mandatory Curbside Trash Pickup? Folks in Wakulla County could soon be forced to pay mandatory fees for curbside trash pickup.

“It’s going to provide our residents a way to easily dispose of their garbage. And it will provide recycling opportunities for the citizens of Wakulla County,” says Wakulla County Commissioner Alan Brock.

“I personally don’t want to spend the expense of having

Continue reading →

Authorities are looking into employee complaints at a local animal shelter. —WCTV

Gabrielle Sarann wrote for WCTV 27 July 2011, Deputies Review Employee Complaints at Animal Shelter
“Authorities are looking into employee complaints at a local animal shelter.”
And that’s all she wrote. Really. Follow the link. There’s only that one sentence.

-jsq

The city says solar is the future —WCTV

Dontaye Carter wrote for WCTV, Local Community Goes Solar
The Azalea City is now home to one of the largest solar arrays in Georgia. The city is hoping the solar power will provide a cleaner, greener energy source for the future.

Note “one of the largest solar arrays in Georgia” instead of Mayor Fretti’s “the largest array in the state of Georgia”. This is because Pete Marte of Hannah Solar had to correct what the mayor said. But the mayor promised to make this one bigger if somebody else leapfrogged it, so time to get cracking!

Back to the WCTV article:

The $1.4 million Wiregrass Solar project was built on two acres of land, which will produce 350-thousand kilowatts per hour of electricity annually for the next 30 years.

On average that will come out to about nine cents per kilowatt hour.

The city says solar is the future and on Thursday it lit the way.

Indeed!
There are 1,100 solar panels here, but organizers say the most surprising part is it took 18 months to find financing, but it only took five days to build.

If you’re wondering what made Valdosta such a popular spot to build the solar arrays, the company, Hannah Solar says it was the attraction of the Wiregrass Biomass plant and…

“The second is the sun. We get some incredible sun down here in Valdosta and it’s a longer solar day because we’re farther south,” said Hannah Solar CEO Pete Marte.

Funny how the biomass plant has taken even longer to not find financing, and still is nowhere near even starting building, if it ever gets there. Expanding the solar array as the mayor said we would sounds a lot more practical.

-jsq

Tornado warning: you would have heard this on NOAA Weather Radio

This is what NOAA Weather Radio would tell you right now. I know this stuff because a friend called and told me to check on the Internet. But people who can’t afford $21 for a radio don’t have Internet connections; some don’t have telephones. When there’s severe weather frequently telephones don’t work, either.

The red line is severe weather heading this way fast:

WCTV reports Tornado Watch: Severe Weather Expected Throughout Fla. Panhandle: Continue reading →

Reporting on Valdosta without water

The talk of the town (and apparently all of south Georgia today) is the Lowndes County seat lost water. Both the Valdosta’s city government web pages (VLD) and the newspaper (VDT) have been reporting online, but it’s hard to tell exactly when, since both have only datestamps, not timestamps. What does “in the next hour” mean when you don’t know in what hour the notice was posted? Time notations appropriate for paper media issued once a day aren’t quite adequate for online posts multiple times a day.

WCTV does include timestamps, and Dontaye Carter did some reporting for her story posted 6:48 PM: 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 →