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Solar energy trust to help fund Bulloch County’s budget

This story is very interesting in light of Georgia’s territoriality agreement which (I am not a lawyer) basically says not just anybody can sell electric power to municipalities.

Mary Carr Mayle wrote for SavannahNow 27 September 2011, Solar firm establishes energy trust

Two area doctors, co-owners of the Tabby Power Solar Co. in Bulloch County, have formed the Georgia Energy Trust Fund to direct part of their company’s proceeds to the county.

And, while it will take more than a few generations – some 350 years, in fact – Savannah dermatologist Dr. Sidney P. Smith and Brunswick pathologist Dr. Pat Godbey hope the trust fund will eventually generate enough money to pay all of Bulloch County’s budget and create a prototype other rural Georgia counties can follow.

Initially, the doctors are donating 1.5 percent of the gross receipts from their six-acre solar farm in Pembroke to the trust, which will invest in state bonds for the county. The county will then receive half of the earned interest, with the other half reinvested for the county.

Interesting angle, that: they’re not directly selling the power to the county; they’re using some of their income to buy bonds for the county. And they’re inviting others to do the same:
Other county solar installations, both private and public, will be able to contribute to the fund, he said.
Will Georgia Power (or somebody) sue? We’ll see!

And they didn’t wait for North Carolina or New Jersey to do it first:

Smith believes the Georgia Energy Trust is the first trust fund of its kind in the country.

“It will lead to financial independence in the counties in which it is enacted.”

Sounds like a plan to me!

-jsq

Ankle monitoring system budget adjustment: Lowndes County Commission 9-10 January 2012

Two more board appointments, several road and infrastructure items, and a budget adjustment to the ankle monitoring system, among many other items on the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission. The Commission will vote Tuesday on its meeting schedule and its budget calendar. This morning’s meeting is the Work Session; no voting during that, but maybe some information that won’t get mentioned Tuesday.

They can change their meeting schedule at any time. Did you know they had a special called meeting December 1st? They didn’t mention that during their 12-13 Dec meetings; there’s no agenda for it on their web pages; and this agenda doesn’t say what it was for.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Map of prisons in Georgia

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) does not provide a map of prisons in Georgia; at least not that I’ve been able to find. CCA does not provide a map of its private prisons, either. This omission seems odd for an industry that brags about how good it is economically.

But someone has composed this google map that gives the big picture. I don’t know if this map is current or accurate, but the spot checks I’ve made show markers for real prisons. Did you know there were so many?

Apparently,

  • the reddish circles are county prisons;
  • the red arrows are state prisons for men like Valdosta State Prison;
  • the yellow arrows are state prisons for women (Pulaski) or juveniles (Arrendale), except Washington State Prison appears to be back to housing men;
  • the blue arrows are Regional Youth Detention Centers (RYDC);
  • and the green arrows are at least some of CCA’s private prisons,

Prisons are bad economics, producing no longterm improvement in employment, and risking closure, leaving communities with expensive white elephants. We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead. Follow this link to petition the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.

-jsq

Rural prisons: economic bane or bust?

Some interesting points about prisons from a Georgia blogger.

Keith McCants posted Wednesday in Peanut Politics, Prisons as Economic Development: Boom or Bust for Rural Georgia? In Georgia today there are more prisoners than farmers. And while most prisoners in Georgia are from urban communities, most prisons are now in rural areas with high levels of poverty & a unskilled, uneducated workforce. During the last two decades, the large-scale use of incarceration to solve social problems has combined with the fall-out of globalization to produce an ominous trend: prisons have become a “growth industry” in rural Georgia, in fact Rural America.

Communities in isolated regions of the state began suffering from declines in farming, mining, timber-work and manufacturing are now begging for prisons to be built in their backyards. The economic restructuring that began in the troubled decade of the 1980s has had dramatic social and economic consequences for rural communities and small towns. Together the farm crises, factory closings, corporate downsizing, shift to service sector employment and the substitution of major regional and national chains for local, main-street businesses have triggered profound change in these areas. So, many rural areas have bought into prisons as a growth industry.

Some consequences are pretty obvious:

Many small rural towns have become dependent on an industry which itself is dependent on the continuation of crime-producing conditions.
Others may take more time to see: Continue reading →

What if shelters didn’t euthanize animals?

Some places are looking beyond the details of how to euthanize animals in shelters or how to control the drugs used to doing something about the idea of euthanizing animals in the first place.

Sue Manning wrote for AP today, Euthanasia to control shelter population unpopular

Nathan Winograd, director of the Oakland-based No Kill Advocacy Center, believes 95 percent of all animals entering shelters can be adopted or treated. And even though the other 5 percent might be hopelessly injured, ill or vicious, he said they should not all be doomed.

Some, if not most of them, can be cared for in hospice centers or sanctuaries, he said. As for pit bulls and other dogs with aggressive reputations, he said shelters need to do a better job of trying to find them homes.

That story has some interesting discussion of difficulties of getting to such a goal and methods of achieving it. Maybe we could have such a discussion around here.

-jsq

More injured and euthanized animals

Why does this sound familiar?
After a 2 1/2-hour closed-door board meeting Wednesday, SPCA of Niagara board president Bruno Scrufari III announced the request for the probe, in the wake of charges by board member Kathy Paradowski, former veterinary technician Kari E. McAlee-Miller and others that animals were unnecessarily euthanized and that injured animals brought to the shelter were left untreated.
There are a few differences from the local situation here.

Thomas J. Prohaska wrote yesterday for BuffaloNews.com, SPCA in Erie County to probe charges against Faso: Niagara board president announces request for investigation of claims,

Barbara Carr, executive director of the SPCA Serving Erie County, said her board of directors, which meets today, would have to approve the investigation, but she doesn’t expect any difficulty in winning approval.

There will be at least one key condition: “I wouldn’t do an investigation unless the document we produced was made public,” Carr said.

The relevant local authorities welcome an investigation and insist on making the results public. Imagine that!

And, according to Dave McKinley yesterday at wgrz.com, Niagara Co. SPCA Approves Outside Investigation Of Its Animal Shelter Continue reading →

Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan

Georgia can do this if it wants to, Final Comprehensive Energy Plan 2011
The Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP) addresses Vermont’s energy future for electricity, thermal energy, transportation, and land use. This document represents the efforts of numerous state agencies and departments, and input from stakeholders and citizens who shared their insights and knowledge on energy issues over the past ten months. The plan can be downloaded from this website or may be viewed at the Department of Public Service, 112 State Street, Montpelier during regular business hours.
More about those public comments:
The release of the Final CEP 2011 includes the CEP Public Involvement Report II (above). This document summarizes the written comments received during the second public comment period, between the release of the CEP Public Review Draft (CEP) on September 13, 2011 and the close of the public comment period on November 4, 2011. Over 1,380 written comments were received via email, the Comprehensive Energy Plan website, and hard copy between July 15 and November 4. Approximately 350 stakeholder groups, including municipal, business, and non-profit entities, submitted comments. Over 830 form-letter comments were signed and submitted by members of at least three different organizations. Over 200 comments were submitted by individual members of the general public.
Real input from the entire state. Imagine that!

Vermont’s population is about 622,000, or the size of a single Congressional district, so maybe it’s easier for them than for Georgia. On the other hand, maybe a regional south Georgia energy policy, or even a county policy, would be possible.

-jsq

Bike News —Matt Portwood

Received Friday. -jsq In the Fall of 2010 the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority cut a red ribbon at a ceremony dedicating Phase II of Freedom Park. The park’s new phase included a walking track, disc golf course, and a dog park. The addition of the small dog park to Freedom Park’s amenities was largely the result of a motivated group of citizens who urged the Authority to build the leash-free exercise and play space. 444 locals signed an online petition requesting that the VLPRA “create an off-leash dog park, accessible to all residents and visitors where pets can safely be taken for exercise and play.” As a result of this community involvement, park visitors now have a safe and shaded spot to enjoy a game of fetch with Fido.

The mission of the VLPRA is

“to provide quality Recreation and Parks, and to advance environmental conservation, which promotes the highest quality of life for the entire community.”
In the upcoming months, the VLPRA will begin revising its master plan. Continue reading →

Quitman 10 to see Gov. Deal in Atlanta —George Rhynes

Received today. -jsq
Moreover, I have just been notified that the Quitman 10 will be traveling to Atlanta on Friday to meet with Georgia Governor Deal about remaining on the Brooks County Board of Education. I will most certainly miss Senator Robert Brown here in the State of Georgia.

-GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES

From Macon, Patrick Davis provides insight into the Quitman 10 case

While the Valdosta Daily Times, WCTV, and WALB remain silent about the Quitman 10, and all you hear on local TV is the D.A. giving his opinion of the case, in faraway Macon Patrick Davis digs into more things we should be hearing.

Patrick Davis wrote yesterday for the Macon Political Buzz Examiner, Jim Crow politics on display as Brooks County absentee case proceeds

Brad Shealy, who had been the long-time chairman of the Brooks Board of Education faced the prospect of being voted out as chairman and witnessing a majority-black Brooks County Board of Education for the first time ever.

Shealy lost his position when new leadership was elected in January 2011.

Shealy’s day job is the assistant district attorney under J. David Miller who originally started the investigation back in the late summer of 2010.

Excuse me? The former Brooks County school board chairman works for the D.A.’s office? And the D.A. is going on TV for pre-trial propaganda in the case?

Patrick Davis asks the obvious question: Continue reading →