However, there is substantial evidence that low educational performance does increase likelihood of incarceration. Furthermore, parental involvement won’t be enough to deal with this, since low-education prisoners tend to have low-education parents. Hillary was right: it does take a village.
In 1994 far more prisoners had reading difficulties than did the general public: Continue reading
The New York Times provides an interactive map of water polluters.
According to that map, derived from Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) data mostly from 2004 through 2007,
the biggest offenders in Lowndes County by number of violations are:
62 Moody Air Force BaseThese are all way ahead of Hahira’s notorious sewer system (supposed to be fixed now) and Valdosta’s Mud Creek WPCP (supposed to be being fixed now), both with 11 violations. Moody is not surprising, due to sheer size, although disappointing. The one that surprises me is the Boys Ranch.
42 Arizona Chemical Company
37 Georgia Sheriffs’ Boys Ranch
Of course, number of violations is just one measure, but it is an interesting one.
LAKE will be happy to post other opinions on either side as part of citizen dialog for transparent process. |
Vote NO on Expansion ReferendumVoters in Lowndes County are being asked in a referendum to vote YES or NO on expansion of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners by the addition of two super-districts:Shall the governing authority of Lowndes County be changed to a six-member board of commissioners to be composed of a nonvoting chairperson and five voting district commissioners, three of whom shall represent the existing three districts created by dividing Lowndes County into three districts and two of whom shall represent additional districts to be created by dividing Lowndes County into two districts which shall overlay the three existing districts? Here is my explanation of why I am voting NO and why I think you should vote NO too. |
Jack Kingston (R GA-01) came back to Valdosta, GA to hold another Health Care Town Hall after his previous one in August had ten times as many people as he expected. This time the 1200 seat Mathis Auditorium was maybe half full, so probably somewhere between 500 and 600 people attended.
The picture on the right is the core of Kingston’s argument. See for yourself.
Here’s a YouTube playlist for all the LAKE videos by Gretchen Quarterman from that September Town Hall. This is Kingston’s complete presentation except for a few words lost between videos and a few cases of camera failure. We’re still adding more videos from the question session. All the videos from the questions session are now available (17 Oct 2009); starting with Microphones are open.
The southeast doesn't need new coal plants for additional energy, because we can
increase energy efficiency instead:
An aggressive strategy to replace aging equipment with more energy efficient products throughout the South would reduce the need to build more coal-fired power plants in the region through 2020, according to a Georgia Tech study released Monday. Advocates are taking the study, funded by the Energy Foundation and the Turner Foundation, to state legislators and regulatory agencies hoping it will bolster their calls for more incentives for energy efficient products as an alternative to new power plants.This isn't enough to decommission the existing coal plants; for that we'll need other sources of energy. But it's a step in the right direction.“We’re not saying that new plants aren’t needed, because new plants can replace old clunkers that need to be replaced,” said Marilyn Brown, a Georgia Tech professor who co-authored the report. “But we don’t need to build for an expanded demand if the Southern states would begin to launch energy efficient programs.”
Jail conditions are a widespread problem.
Matthew Spina reports in the Buffalo News about Erie County, New York jails:
“Jails must provide for the basic medical and mental health needs of inmates and must keep them safe from attacks by other inmates and excessive force by staff,” Loretta King, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.This is a continuation of series on incarceration started on Canopy Roads of South Georgia; that series is now moving over here to On the LAKE Front.“We have repeatedly sought the county’s cooperation in working toward an amicable resolution in this matter, and we regret that the county’s failure to cooperate compels us to litigate,” she continued.
“In light of the severity of the conditions, including multiple suicides and beatings, we must take action to ensure that the constitutional rights of those persons detained at the facilities, many of whom have not been convicted of any crime, are protected.”
Green money is pouring into Austin, Texas, which now has to decide how to
spend it.
Sandra Zaragoza,
writing in Portfolio.com, looks into what to do with it:
Last week, American Youthworks, a nonprofit aimed at at-risk youth, received $1.4 million in federal funds to build a green charter high school that will prepare students for jobs in solar-panel installation, green facilities management, and other jobs.Education, solar, weatherization; who could argue with those things?In the last few years, Austin Community College received $99,031 from Workforce Solutions for solar and weatherization training and, more recently, $59,800 from the Department of Labor to increase the number of women in green job training programs.
And ACC is hoping to bring more funding to Central Texas in federal grants. ACC is part of a group of Texas community colleges that have applied for $3.5 million in funding to build solar-energy training programs.
But do those functions create new jobs? Continue reading
According to email from Walter Rollenhagen:
The Lowndes Co. Political Forum, or as we label it, VOTE 2009, will air on VSU-TV cable channel 20:
Sunday, Oct. 4th at Noon
Saturday, Oct. 10th at Noon and Midnight
Saturday, Oct. 17th at Noon and Midnight
Sunday, Oct. 18th at Noon
Saturday, Oct. 24th at Noon and Midnight
Sunday, Oct. 25th at Noon
Saturday, Oct. 31st at Noon and Midnight
Sunday, Nov. 1st at Noon
On Sept 15, residents of Lowndes County gathered inside VSU’s Whitehead Auditorium for a political forum concerning the upcoming 2009 General Municipal Elections. It was the competing Mayberrys, Hahira and Dasher, in the shadow of the big city of Valdosta with its council and school board. The 100 or so people who watched learned about the candidates. You can too, by watching the videos of each speaker provided by LAKE on YouTube. Perhaps VSU can also be encouraged to release online the videos it took, which are probably of higher quality.
Update: VSU TV rebroadcast schedule for this forum.
Perhaps VSU can also be encouraged to release online the videos it took, which are probably of higher quality.
The event was sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and moderated by Jim Peterson, chair of the Political Science Department at VSU. Before the forum began, the audience was provided note cards and encouraged to write questions for forum participants. A three person committee then decided which four questions that would be asked on stage for each set of candidates.
(All the other LAKE videos of this AAUW forum are also available online.)
The first question of the night concerned annexing land neighboring Valdosta and if candidates believed it to be a good idea or not. Continue reading
When compared to coal, per megawatt, this burning [biomass and the like] emits 1.5 times the carbon dioxide (CO2), 1.5 times the carbon monoxide (CO, a toxic air pollutant), and as much particulate matter.Georgia already has the country’s dirtiest coal plant, at Juliette, near Macon. Do we need still more CO2?
Maybe the Wiregrass biomass plant planned for Valdosta is somehow more efficient than the one near Gainesville. If so, it would be good to hear about that; I don’t recall the topic coming up at the Lowndes County Commission meeting in which this plant was approved.
Dr. Bussing elaborated in a recent letter:
The fallacy is in believing that plants take up all CO2 emissions. In fact plants absorb some, the ocean absorbs more (and as a consequence is becoming more acidic by the year), but a portion just stays and builds up in the atmosphere. That buildup is associated with global warming, and it doesn’t matter if the CO2 comes from coal, gas or biomass.Thanks to Seth R. Gunning for bringing this up.
