Don Thompson wrote for AP 23 May 2011, High court to Calif: Cut prison inmates by 33,000:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that California must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed inmates to increased violence, disease and death.
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County. Spend that tax money on education instead.
-gretchen
Presumably the issues reported by David Rodock in the 15 May 2011 Valdosta Daily Times Animal shelter probed Use of drugs investigated; employees speak out and by Gabrielle Sarann for WCTV on 19 May 2011 Lowndes County Animal Shelter Probed: The Georgia Department of Agriculture is keeping an eye on an area animal shelter and has cited it for several violationsIssues that I think you’ve heard about… animal shelter.
“I’ve seen a lot of the animals come in the shelter and not got vet care and sometimes that comes in the form of euthanasia,” says Susan Leavens, an animal control officer for Lowndes County.This led several Lowndes County Animal Shelter employees to file a complaint with the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
It launched an investigation citing the facility for not providing humane care.
Joe Pritchard continued in his report:
August of 2010 the Department of Agriculture called me and asked for a meeting about issues of concern. They expressed those issues centered around maintenance of records … what was classified as humane treatment.
Mr. Pritchard referred to “specific castration of a pot-bellied pig”.
He didn’t say whether he considered that inhumane treatment;
he merely discussed it after referring to things “classified as humane treatment”.
He continued: Continue reading
If you have concerns about anything that happened, or anything else related to the county government, there’s a regular meeting Tuesday evening.
Videos are interspersed among the agenda items:
Continue reading
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Here’s another point from Chris Miller at the
2011 Economic Summit,
according to the VDT story by Dawn Castro 18 May 2011,
:
So if the Chamber wants, as it says,
knowledge-based businesses and jobs,
Continue reading
“Thomasville didn’t have hi-speed internet,
so the process of moving products quickly was not possible,”
he said, “With Rose Net hi-speed broadband, it is now able to
work 25 times faster.
That one simple step boosted economic product growth,
and as we all know, the technical industry creates a
wage growth path.”
Georgia Internet Speed Results by www.speedmatters.org
Usually silent VLCIA board member Tom Call got a board meeting agenda
item:
Mr. Jerry and I met on May the second to review the… I was kind of educating myself as to the current operating budget and how it applies… goes into forming next year’s budget…. There’s just a few differences from the 2011 budget to the proposed 2012 budget.He listed a couple of items:
Here’s the video:
Diff Operating Budget —Tom Call @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Clearly audible outside are people honking at the biomass protesters.
OMG! VLCIA has finally put Continue reading
Myrna Ballard (President, Chamber of Commerce),
Michael Jetter (Interim Executive Director for the Valdosta-Lowndes Conference Center and Tourism Authority),
Amanda Peacock (Valdosta Main Street Manager),
Allan Ricketts (Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority Project Manager),
Jane Shelton (Valdosta-Lowndes Airport Authority Member)
|
Community leaders in the Valdosta area came together at the 2011 Economic Summit to discuss the economic health of Valdosta-Lowndes County.WALB then quotes the Chamber’s press release.Economic Summit participants raised substantive questions for the panel and shared ideas for moving forward during the facilitated discussion portion of the Summit led by VSU Center for Business and Economic Research Director, Scott Manley.
Dr. Cynthia R. Tori presented the VSU Center for Business and Economic Research study, Lowndes County by the Numbers: How Do We Compare With Peer and Aspirant Communities?That study sounds very interesting. Can we see a copy? Continue reading
Col. Ricketts reported he was on a panel at the
2011 Economic Summit which was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce,
and that he got a copy of a report by the
VSU Center for Business and Economic Research
about how the local area compares with others.
Mary Gooding said Col. Ricketts represented VLCIA very well.
If VLCIA knew how to do PR, this would have been a great PR opportunity for them to publicize.
Meanwhile, WALB and VDT reported on the event itself.
Here’s the video:
2011 Economic Summit @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Col. Ricketts reported that VLCIA participated in panel discussions
at the
2011 Georgia Logistics Summit.
He mentioned among topics of interest:
agribusiness, technology and life sciences.
He said they also got a chance to look at expansion in Savannah.
Here’s the video:
2011 Georgia Logistics Summit @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
This would have been a great PR opportunity for VLCIA, if VLCIA knew how to do PR.
-jsq
PS: No, he didn’t really talk that fast; that’s an artifact of the video editing to separate out this item. That’s why we usually just record in short clips that require no editing.
Wendy Koch wrote in USA Today 16 May 2011, Lowe’s to offer Sungevity solar panel estimates:
Wonder how much solar panels on your home would cost and how much power they’d produce? An easy answer will soon be at hand at Lowe’s home improvement stores in eight U.S. states.
Beginning this summer in California, select Lowe’s stores will have kiosks provided by residential solar company Sungevity. These booths will feature the company’s iQuote system, which uses aerial and satellite imaging to give shoppers a firm installation estimate within 24 hours. The California-based company offers solar leases, which include monitoring, repairs, and a money-back guarantee.
-gretchen
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined, according to “Prison Count 2010,” a new survey by the Pew Center on the States. As of January 2010, there were 1,404,053* persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 4,777* fewer than on December 31, 2008.Guess which way Georgia went? As you can see in the map, Georgia increased by 1.6% while Texas, already leading in not wasting tax dollars on new prisons, decreased by 0.7%. Continue readingThis marks the first year-to-year drop in the nation’s state prison population since 1972. While the study showed an overall decline, it revealed great variation among jurisdictions. The prison population declined in 26* states, while increasing in 24* states and in the federal system.
*Numbers updated as of April 1, 2010. (Report originally released March 17, 2010.)