George Rhynes
posted the appended on his blog
the same day he
spoke on the same subjects
at the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Excerpts from his blog post: Continue reading
Ride your bicycle, have to show a drivers’ license, get your camera stolen
by police?
Not in Atlanta any longer!
Bill Rankin writes some good news in the AJC, APD won’t hinder citizens who videotape cops,
Faced with complaints from a citizen watchdog group, Atlanta police will stop interfering with people who videotape officers performing their duties in public, an agreement reached with the city Thursday says.That’s Copwatch of East Atlanta; here’s their press release, including video of the incident. Continue readingThe settlement, which also calls for the city to pay $40,000 in damages, requires city council approval.
The agreement resolves a complaint filed by Marlon Kautz and Copwatch of East Atlanta, a group that films police activity with cell phones and hand-held cameras. The group has volunteers who go out on patrols and begin videotaping police activity when they come across it.
Danny Orrock writes an op-ed in the AJC,
Pro & Con: Do Georgia’s electric co-ops need better oversight?
Fundamental determinations like power rates and capital expenditures should not be made in the dark — if Georgia Power customers can participate, there’s no reason EMC customers shouldn’t have the same opportunity. Transparency benefits members and the utility. The situation at Cobb EMC would likely not be so contentious if members had been allowed to meaningfully engage with the board and management several years ago.Sounds like a good idea, especially considering Cobb EMC is the one that wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County.
On the same page, Paul Wood argues that Continue reading
Sure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs
so the children don’t have to go somewhere else to find one.
But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water
those children need to drink?
This is the problem:
“What I believe the three most important things are, not only for our community, and our state, and our country, but for our country, thats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.”
I shook Brad Lofton’s hand after that speech and told him I liked it, because I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments. I’ve also pointed out I had a few nits with that speech. This one is more than a nit. This one is basic philosophy and policy.
Now one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority to be all about jobs. And that would be OK, if Continue reading
You thought maybe
Dr. Sammons was making this stuff up?
In physorg.com from 2009,
Inhaling a heart attack: How air pollution can cause heart disease:
Accumulating evidence indicates that an increase in particulate air pollution is associated with an increase in heart attacks and deaths. Research has begun in the relatively new field of environmental cardiology — a field that examines the relationship between air pollution and heart disease.This link owed to Laura Wiggins Norris and NO COAL PLANT IN BEN HILL COUNTY!
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Robert D. Bullard writes in
Dismantling Energy Apartheid in the United States,
Many “clean wood chips” burning biomass plants can easily turn to burning more contaminated fuels (which may be cheaper or even free), or get paid to take really dirty wastes like trash or tires. Public opposition to biomass facilities has driven siting that follows the “path of least resistance,” which often translates to states where environmental regulations are lax and companies are given huge tax incentives to build these kinds of incinerators, and investors count on the local residents being uninformed and apathetic. Environmental justice siting concerns often get buried in the excitement and notion of “green energy.”There’s more, including a writeup about the local proposed incinerator, starting:Zoning laws are often legal weapons deployed in facilitating energy apartheid.
Residents in Valdosta, Georgia are fighting to block a 40 megawatt biomass incinerator slated for construction on a 22-acre site in their community. The community is already overburdened with polluting industries and heavy truck traffic.Read it and see.
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Shortly after GA EPD approved the
final air quality construction permit for the proposed
biomass plant, new contracts were signed between Wiregrass Power LLC
and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Update 10 Feb 2011: JPEG images of each page are also available now.
Here they are, as PDFs generated from scans of paper copies.
These documents were obtained by an open records request by a citizen who then gave copies to LAKE.
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Ben Copeland at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce talked about
money in circulation,
about
opportunities for children and grandchildren,
about
Georgia technical colleges,
about
technical college students,
about
technical specialties and educational system.
Here’s a playlist, and here it is embedded.
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Remember,
the new rules take effect at the upcoming County Commission meeting:
The Lowndes County front page has links to the resolution the Commission passed last time, to the new rules, and to the new sign-in sheet, along with this notice: Continue reading
Buddy Boswell of Daily Dinners Personal Chef Service
talks about eating better by cooking fresh food.
He reminisces about what his grandmother taught him.
And he says a gourmet is just somebody who likes good food
with good fresh ingredients.
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