A citizen (didn’t get his name; sorry) stood up to remark on the stray dogs
that kept getting loose in his neighborhood, and how when animal control came
they just took the dogs back to their owners, who let them loose again.
Chairman Ashley Paulk had no hesitation in saying the sheriff should be called
on the owners.
Stray dogs and the law @ LCC 27 Sep 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Twice Tuesday Ashley Paulk broke a tie to vote for assistance state-funded
assistance for poor people for affordable housing.
Joyce Evans made the motion, Crawford Powell said nothing,
Richard Raines was absent, and Paulk seconded and broke the tie for.
Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission considered a routine acceptance of a
Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP)
grant.
The previous morning at the work session, Commissioner Raines had
(according to the VDT) said he was against it.
(This is the same Richard Raines who thought
NOAA Weather Radios were “wasteful spending” back in March.)
However, Raines was not at the regular session Tuesday;
presumably he was on one of his many sales trips.
Twice, Commissioner Evans made a motion related to CHIP,
and Commissioner Powell did nothing.
Twice, Chairman Paulk exercised his privilege in such a case
and broke the tie, seconding and voting for the CHIP grant.
Tuesday the Lowndes County Commission voted to renew a land lease contract
with a saddle club for I’m pretty sure they said $100 a year.
Commissioner Powell made the motion.
Yet he said nothing at all a few minutes before and after when two
votes came up about routine acceptance of a
Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP)
grant to help relatively less affluent people afford housing.
Commissioner Raines, who grandstanded about CHIP the previous
morning at the work session, apparently had no problem with the
saddle club subsidy.
He didn’t show up Tuesday to vote for or against either.
Now I have nothing against the saddle club; I know little about it. It’s the double standard that bothers me.
If you have trouble hearing what is said in this video,
thank the Commissioners for
the award they gave LAKE.
Commission votes to subsidize saddle club
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Mara Register from the Mayor’s office of the City of Valdosta
came to the Lowndes County Commission to speak about
Valdosta Downtown Farm Days, May through September.
One of the wonderful things about this event is it
highlighted our beautiful historic courthouse.
It highlighted our local growers and producers,
and our historic downtown.
But also went further to help promote healthy eating in our community.
…bringing people together to the downtown area to take advantage of the
products that were produced here locally.
The sense of conviviality was just wonderful,
bringing the community together.
It’s very exciting actually to see several of our vendors here this evening.
Ashley Paulk, on his very best behavior that day, recognized
his neighbors the Quartermans
Continue reading →
What about this, is this just a coincidence of names?
Empire Center for New York State Policy put out a press release of
8 October 2009,
According to the data, the highest paid non-professional school employee
(outside New York City) was Steven H. Prigohzy of the New York Institute
for Special Education, who was paid $230,000.
The partnership between
Public Education Foundation, headed by Steven H. Prigohzy, and
the consolidated public schools in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, Tennessee
continues.
So, how have all those great plans for improving education worked out?
In 1994 Chattanooga city voters voted to turn responsibility for education
over to the county, requiring the two systems to merge. At the request
of the Hamilton County School Board, PEF surveyed 3,300 area residents
and convened 135 community members – educators, civic and government
leaders, residents, parents and students – to help shape the vision
for the new school system. When the newly consolidated system emerged
in 1997, the partnership with PEF continued.
Interestingly, Prigohzy is no longer listed as board or staff with PEF.
Maybe we should ask them why….
In the years 2005 – 2010, Hamilton County Public Schools will meet or
exceed national benchmarks for excellence with continuous, measurable
improvement in reading, mathematics, and in the numbers of students who
progress smoothly from grade to grade, graduate from high school and go
on to college or career-path jobs. Because of this sustained progress,
Hamilton County will be recognized among the very best mid-sized public
school systems in America. The community will be justifiably proud
and more and more people will understand and support the investment
necessary for great public schools. The Public Education Foundation
will be instrumental in these achievements as a champion of school
transformation and will devote its expertise and fundraising capabilities
to the Hamilton County Public Schools as a catalyst for bold ideas that
create real and positive change.
A month after the election, the board voted to ask the Public Education
Foundation to help frame the new system. The move was partly on the
advice of educators in Knoxville, who faced a raft of problems after
consolidating rapidly with Knox County eight years ago.
The foundation, one of the wealthiest local education foundations in
the country, has worked closely with educators in both the city and
county. Its president, Steven H. Prigohzy, is a dynamo with a clear
vision of where he’d like to take education in the new system.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a county
Videos are appearing in
this playlist
of the 27 September 2011 school unification propaganda meeting by CUEE
and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC).
And if CUEE or VLCoC doesn’t want to see me call it propaganda,
nothing’s stopping them publishing their own videos of the event,
as I already suggested yesterday.
Unless maybe they don’t want people
to see their speakers contradict each other.
Videos by LAKE of CUEE 27 Sep 2011
School Unification,
Forum, Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc. (CUEE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
CUEE and the Chamber hardly need opponents for school consolidation.
All they need is for people to listen to what they say to contradict each other.
Here’s a good example.
First,
Tom Gooding said sports teams won’t change (until there’s a
newly elected Lowndes County school board, which of course can do
whatever it wants to; read the fine print as he speaks).