Just another Wal-Mart Fired Untrained Department Manager.
This is an
initial introduction to a much bigger story of truth that cannot and will
not be hidden forever! Nor will Wal-Mart Workers here in American continue
to be mistreated and ignored as if we were in the Republic of China or in
some other third world nation. Galatians 6:7, Saint Luke 4:18……
Visiting CCA HQ in Nashville, Tennessee the other day, Gretchen said:
Here we are at CCA, Corrections Corporation of America.
They think that they’re patriotic; they have a U.S. flag.
And they have a Corrections Corporation of America flag
and it says Excellence in Corrections.
We don’t think too much of private prisons.
Persistence by the local community
and environmental groups has paid off in Early County, Georgia:
the company that wanted to build a coal plant there has given up.
The country’s longest-running campaign against construction of a new
coal plant ended today as LS Power, a New Jersey-based power company,
announced that it will cancel plans to build the Longleaf Energy Station
in Blakely, GA. Sierra Club, Friends of the Chattahoochee and GreenLaw
have been organizing against the Longleaf coal plant since it was first
proposed in 2001. This victory comes as part of a legal agreement between
LS Power and Sierra Club.
This victory marks the 160th proposed coal plant canceled since
Sierra Club launched its Beyond Coal campaign in 2005. This victory is
particularly noteworthy because the struggle lasted for a decade and
involved numerous hearings and appeals, and sustained local opposition by
hundreds of Georgia residents. Longleaf was one of the very first plants
proposed when, in 2001, the coal industry attempted to block clean energy
development by building more than 150 new coal plants across the US,
a move which would have effectively locked the nation into dependence
on coal-fired electricity for the foreseeable future. Longleaf was one
of the last remaining new coal projects proposed anywhere in the United
States, counting 160 proposals that have now been defeated or abandoned
in the past decade.
Several times over the past decade it looked like LS Power would move
which I’m guessing has to do with changes in population in County Commission
districts.
Maybe they’ll say at the Work Session Monday morning.
And these interesting items:
8.f. Lowndes County Fire Rescue Standard Operating Procedures
.br>
8.g. Animal Welfare Standard Operating Procedures
I wonder if those procedures are available for citizens to see?
Plus a rezoning, a road abandonment,
a beer and wine license, and quite a few other items
for the last meeting of the year.
Given they haven’t met since
7 November 2011,
more than a month ago, I guess that’s not surprising.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The
Zoning Board of Appeals decided unanimously at its 6 December 2011 meeting
to publish its agendas and minutes on the City of Valdosta’s website.
This item was not on the agenda, but members of such a board can make motions
anyway.
Member Gretchen Quarterman suggested it.
Valdosta City Planner Matt Martin said they could do it no problem.
Discussion ensued.
They all agreed to post agends before their meetings,
and to post minutes after they are approved (usually at the next meeting,
a month later).
Maybe other local boards and authorities will follow this example.
Left to right:
Laverne Gaskins (V), Gretchen Quarterman (L),
Paul Alvarado (V), Allan Strickland, Chair (V),
Nancy Hobby (V), Dave Kirk (L),
Carmella Braswell (Lowndes County Zoning Administrator),
Matt Martin (Valdosta City Planning and Zoning Administrator).
Absent: Scott Orenstein, Vice-Chair (V), Dr. William Houseal (L).
L: Lowndes County appointee.
V: Valdosta appointee.
ZBOA decides to publish agendas and minutes on Valdosta website
Agendas and Minutes,
Regular Session, Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 December 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
First Solar Inc. is selling one of its large California solar farms to
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., ending the solar-panel maker’s search
for a buyer.
The sale places MidAmerican Energy, a unit of Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in the solar-power business for the first
time. MidAmerican operates fleets of wind farms and conventional
power plants.
The companies didn’t disclose terms of the deal Wednesday, but said the
Topaz solar-power plant, in San Luis Obispo County, is worth more than
$2 billion.
That’s more evidence there is private financing available for solar power.
Unfortunately I missed this meeting as well, and not by choice.
I vaguely remembered that Roy Copeland mentioned after the October
meeting that the December date might be changed to December 6. Thus,
I called Tuesday shortly after 5pm to verify if a meeting was indeed
scheduled. I only got the answering machine (indicating to me that the
office was closed) and the IA website (as so often) was no help.
Thus I, too, was assuming the meeting would be later this month … only
to find out the next day in the VDT that there had been a meeting
after all.
Our community has gone through so much these past couple of months,
highlighting more than ever the need to communicate and cooperate.
I was hoping after all this that we could finally start working together,
despite any differences we might have. That would, however, not only
require a certain amount of transparency but also communication of
such simple matters as meeting agendas and calendars. How difficult can
that be?
Communication is, and always will be, the key to success. Whether this
is about your children’s education, such matters as energy efficiency
and energy conservation, or a Strategic Planning Process which can only
benefit the community … if that very community (not just the same old
status quo) is actually included in the process.
Michael G. Noll, President
Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE)
BearCats are typically referred to by law enforcement as being armored rescue vehicles primarily used to transport tactical SWAT officers to and from hostile situations and to assist with the recovery and protection of civilians in harm’s way during terrorist threats, hostage incidents or encounters with armed offenders. The BearCat is designed to provide protection from a variety of small arms, explosives and IED threats.
Sure, and it will never be used against peaceful protesters.
Members of the movement say TPD is cruising by in the big, armored trucks. Pictures spread around the country over Facebook and Twitter, leading to speculation that TPD was moving in with the tanks.
But officers say it's just a coincidence, and the vehicle act passed by on its way to a Great American Teach-In event.
Maybe the Lowndes County Sheriff's dept. would never misuse an armored vehicle.
And I know, the Sheriff is a constitutional officer and the Lowndes County Commission has very limited control over the Sheriff's budget.
But it's still our same tax dollars. Are these our priorities?
Here’s something from the Industrial Authority that never happened before.
The first person I saw going into the
State Legislative Luncheon
yesterday was Andrea Schruijer,
Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
She spotted me inside, and said “I want to apologize”.
Surprised, I asked for what?
She said for
the date of VLCIA’s Tuesday meeting being unclear.
She said she had read about that in this blog that same morning.
She said they had recently changed the way they were handling their
web pages and hadn’t yet figured out how to update it correctly.
Since I was never very impressed with how it was handled before,
I readily accepted that as a good excuse.
I look forward to the updates.
I’m guessing the new PR and marketing person they’re hiring will take care of this.
She also volunteered that they did inform the VDT and it was in the
VDT’s calendar.
I agreed that that was so; we had checked, and it appears the meeting
was legal because of those notices.
She also said she thought she had said Monday evening, “see you tomorrow.”
I allowed as how if she did, I missed it.
In any case, I have to say that her predecessor would never have made
that much effort to make amends to a mere blogger.
Once again,
tiny LAKE is flattered by mighty VLCIA,
although in a more positive way this time.
When I spoke at the
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) about
the Short Term Work Projects (STWP) document
on Monday, November 28th,
I had questions about several sections,
and many of the deleted or modified items.
The next day I met with
Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport
to discuss my questions.
Some of my questions were answered to my satisfaction, some I still
had concerns about, and some are still unanswered because they were
not actually in his area of expertise.
The document covers all the cities in Lowndes County as well as the
unincorporated area. I did get some questions about Valdosta projects
answered by Valdosta City Planner Matt Martin in a telephone conversation.
Questions I had about Conservations of Sensitive Areas were answered in detail.
For example:
Continue reading →
This is an initial introduction to a much bigger story of truth that cannot and will not be hidden forever! Nor will Wal-Mart Workers here in American continue to be mistreated and ignored as if we were in the Republic of China or in some other third world nation. Galatians 6:7, Saint Luke 4:18……
