Author Archives: admin

Private prisons considered harmful —Gretchen Quarterman to Jack Kingston

Gretchen Quarterman
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta GA 31605
26 August 2011
PDF
 
Hon. Jack Kingston
Member of Congress
First District of Georgia
 
Dear Mr. Kingston,

You asked me last week in Tifton to provide you with evidence that private prisons have fewer guards per prisoner than public prisons.

Here is an example:

“The largest juvenile prison in the nation, Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility houses 1,200 boys and young men, between the ages of 13 and 22, and is run by a private contractor, the GEO Group based in Boca Raton, FL. … State audits over the last several years had already indicated the burgeoning problem. While it is recommended at youth facilities to have an inmate-to-guard ratio of 10:1 or 12:1, Walnut Grove had a ratio of 60:1.”
“When the Wolves Guard the Sheep,” by Mariah Adin in Kids and Crime, 28 March 2011
It’s not just less staff, it’s less qualified staff: Continue reading →

Where was CUEE at the school board meetings?

If “unification” is about education, where was CUEE at the last two days’ school board meetings?

Maybe we’ll see CUEE at some of the three forums VBOE is organizing. Maybe they’ll address issues such as consolidation producing no improvement in academic achievement, consolidation causing increased taxpayer expense, and the need for any consolidation proposal to come from educators and parents, and to be voted on by all the citizens in the affected school districts; you know, the issues LCBOE just called them on.

-jsq

Who’s qualified so far, according to Deb Cox

I called Deb Cox, Lowndes County Supervisor of Elections, and asked her who has qualified so far. Here’s the answer, where * indicates incumbent. This data also pretty much answers the question of why we keep seeing the same people in office: because hardly anybody else runs. If you want to run, you’ve got the rest of today and tomorrow to do qualify. -jsq

Valdosta

Mayor John Gayle
Gary Minchew
At Large Matt Flumerfelt
Ben Norton *
Council 1 James Wright *
Council 3 Sonny Vickers *
Council 5 Tim Carroll*

Hahira

Continue reading →

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

John Fretti resigned as mayor Tuesday, or, Roy Taylor got his way

Doubtless everyone knows this already, since the VDT and others have covered it well, including his guilty plea, the VDT’s call for him to resign, and his resignation. Here is John Fretti’s press release announcing his resignation. It seems appropriate that he sent it to News Talk 105.9 FM, where he so frequently appeared.

Personally, I thought he was not all that bad as mayor, even though he never did anything I asked him to. Given that I don’t even live in Valdosta, there is of course no reason that he should have, and he was always courteous when I appeared before the Valdosta City Council or met him elsewhere. Yes, I am well aware of many of the downsides, many of which I have written about in this blog, and Valdosta can do better.

If Valdosta is going to do better, somebody better needs to run. That’s why at the moment I’d prefer to write about the open race for mayor: qualifying is still open today and tomorrow (see next post).

I will say that whoever wins I hope will have less of this attitude:

“If they don’t say they’re against it, they’re for it.”
I think all citizens, but especially elected officials, should be willing to say what they’re for.

If people around here are too frightened to do so, then we’ve got a much bigger problem than who is mayor of Valdosta.

-jsq

T-SPLOST public meetings coming up in a few weeks

The public meetings for Transportation Sales Tax Project List are coming up in a few weeks. The one in Lowndes County is:
Monday, September 19, 2011; 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; at the Valdosta City Hall Annex; 300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia; presentation will begin at 10:30 a.m.
There’s a meeting in Fitzgerald later that same day, and an earlier meeting in Waycross on Wednesdday, September 7th.

If you’re interested in saying something about the 50% increase in the Old US 41 North widening project or about some of the other projects still on the constrained list, this would be the place to do it. You can also send in written comments. Here’s contact information.

-jsq

50% increase for Old US 41 North widening: now $12 million T-SPLOST

In addition to the Draft Constrained List for T-SPLOST draft constrained list of T-SPLOST projects, which doesn’t even include dollar estimates, this longer report contains details for each project. And the cost to widen Old US 41 North from North Valdosta Road to Union Road has gone up from the previous estimate in June of $8 million to $12 million in August, for a 50% increase! I wonder if the County Commissioners know about this rapid cost inflation.
PreviousCurrentDifferenceIncrease%
PE $650,000 $800,000 $150,000 23%
ROW $850,000 $1,200,000 $350,000 41%
CST $6,500,000 $10,000,000 $3,500,000 54%
Total $8,000,000 $12,000,000 $4,000,000 50%
Curious how when the components went up by odd amounts, the total went up by exactly 50%. It’s almost like the total was increased and then the components were arranged to add up to that.

Also curious how the biggest increase, percentage (54%) and total ($3,500,000) is for construction. I could see how Rights of Way (ROW) acquisition costs might go up because people might not want this boondoggle in their front yards, but why was it so hard to estimate construction costs the first time?

And curious how that construction increase is a bit more than Continue reading →

The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardella @ VBOE 29 August 2011

Craig Cardella said his wife Anne was a current Valdosta City Schools teacher and former Teacher of the year, and he was a former city manager who had done community development all his life.
I can tell you without doubt this is the most damaging useless thing I’ve seen proposed in many many years. This will do more damage to our community than just about anything I can think of short of a hurricane running through the middle of town. It will damage both the county and the city school systems severely. It will hinder the growth of the education of our children. It will cause chaos among the city and county school staffs, both of which are like this, because a lot of times they’re the same people.

Here’s the video:


The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardell @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More transcription; he’s just getting to the best parts: Continue reading →

Celebrate the leadership that the BOEs have shown. —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on Unanimous: LCBOE votes to oppose school consolidation. -jsq
This is truly a time for educators, and the families of students in our communities’ schools to celebrate the leadership that the BOEs have shown.

That said, I would like to commend the LCBOE on the strength of their resolution. They not only state clearly that consolidating the schools would not increase in academic achievement, but a large tax increase would be expected. Another point that LCBOE included in their resolution is that such a referendum should only be brought by citizens, families, or educators. Jame Wright also made this point in his statement to city council last week. Without the support of the educators involved, and the families impacted, such a referendum question is just a big buck political agenda on the ballot.

This town is still small enough to call this spade – money trying to drive the education bus into the ditch.

Let me just say this-

NOT WITH MY KIDS’ EDUCATION, YOU DON’T!!!

Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011

I see nothing in consolidation that would improve education, so I see no need for it ever.

I got to the VBOE meeting really early, so I was the first to sign up to speak. My main topic was to praise the Valdosta Board of Education for putting their agendas online in web-readable form (rather than entombed in PDF as so many other organizations do).

Here’s the video:


Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I.

Later I also complimented the chair for having one of those rare objects, a clock on the wall where everyone can see it so they can know how long they’ve spoken already.

Thanks, George, for the compliments in the information on your YouTube video. You were blogging long before LAKE. Everyone please look at George’s blog, K.V.C.I. Keeping Valdosta Citizens Informed.

-jsq