The Lowndes County Commission Tuesday
voted in
and
Chairman Paulk announced
new
Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
Interestingly, since the Commission rushed through these new rules after the last meeting, there was no time to completely implement them, so the first thing the Chairman did was to set them aside for this meeting.
-jsq
Metro Atlanta cities want to air their business in living rooms. Alpharetta agreed to spend $68,000 for a video recording system in its council chambers. Dunwoody will shell out $93,000 for a digital video recording system, enabling residents to view city council and planning commission meetings live from home.Continue readingWhile not every city electronically records its council meetings, the practice has become increasingly popular.
“It’s an overall trend of cities, going where people are to share information, to keep people in touch,” said Amy Henderson, Georgia Municipal Association spokeswoman.
Here
I discuss with the mayor
about the Valdosta City Council videoing their entire meetings and putting
them on the web for everybody to see.
The mayor indicated costs of streaming was an issue;
I recommended putting it on YouTube or Vimeo and letting them handle that part.
I think the AJC article he mentioned is this one:
Meeting access video grows among city councils,
by Patrick Fox, 18 Jan 2011.
This comment by the mayor was amusing:
The worst thing you could do would be to have one camera in the back that has room audio.Touche, Mr. Mayor! :-) What do you think, is a noisy video from the back of the room more useful than no video at all? Can you see him waving his arms around? Continue reading
Connie Littlefield remarks that
Legalizing marijuana makes pot smoking uncool:
I was in Amsterdam because my documentary, Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey, was being screened as part of a Cannabis Tribunal. Former NYPD detective Frank Serpico, who is in my film, travelled with me.Her film is DAMAGE DONE: The Drug War Odyssey, here describe on the LEAP site: Continue readingWe were invited to speak because Damage Done is about a group of cops, including Frank, and Canadian Senator Larry Campbell, who believe that the War on Drugs does more harm than the drugs themselves.
We presented a copy of our film to the chief of the Amsterdam-Amstelland Police, who told me that he became a cop because of Frank.
I wonder if there is any way for the Industrial Authority, County Commission and City Council to now do the right thing for Lowndes County. How can they save face?Reading the scientific data makes it clear that an error was made, and clearly this data wasn’t made available to those who have been charged with finding appropriate industry for us, industry that will raise the quality of life for the citizens of Lowndes County by providing good jobs. They can be excused for an industry that provides only a few jobs. Jobs are jobs, after all. But how can we help them apologize to all of us and thank those citizens who have spent so many hours of their own time gathering information and providing a forum to educate us? I wish it were possible.
Luana Goodwin
Valdosta
From: Leigh TouchtonAttached was a PDF file. Here’s an excerpt. Continue reading
Subject: NAACP Georgia State Conference asks EPA for review of Wiregrass permit
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:39:26 -0500
To: [numerous parties]Apparently some people have incorrect information about the Georgia State NAACP Conference position. Please see attached.
On 6 Jan 2011, Brad Lofton made a joke out of
“some opposition that has crept up” that he claims called him an
“environmental racist”.
He says “we just provided the facts”
and
“all of a sudden we haven’t heard anymore about environmental racism.”
Lofton has been misquoting like this since September. Back then he was willing to name the chairman of the local NAACP. He doesn’t mention that Leigh Touchton responded to him back then:
I did not call the Industrial Authority an environmental racist. What I stated quite clearly was that the siting of the Biomass Incinerator in a predominantly black neighborhood constitutes environmental racism.In her response, she went on to rebut Lofton’s alleged facts. He has never to my knowledge responded to the points Touchton raised in her rebuttal. Instead, he goes around making a joke out of the NAACP.
-jsq
See also Col. Ricketts on “folks come into the community”. -jsqFrom: Brad Lofton
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:07:16 -0500
Cc: [Dr. Noll, Kay Harris, jsq, lhenderson, hopeforcleanwater]
To: “Bill” [Sammons, Leigh Touchton], aricketts@industrialauthority.com
Subject: Re: Background information on Dr. Christopher TeafThanks again for your e-mail Dr. Sammons. As we have said multiple times now, we are satisfied with the safety of this plant, the numerous experts that have approved it, and the due diligence we have done. You can continue to send ten e-mails a day, yet our position remains the same. I hope the weather is nice today in Massachusetts.
BL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
From: Bill [Sammons]Continue reading
Cc: [Dr. Noll, Kay Harris, jsq, lhenderson, hopeforcleanwater]
To: blofton@industrialauthority.com, leigh.touchton@gmail.com, aricketts@industrialauthority.com, [Roy Copeland, Mary Gooding]
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:44:54 -0500
Subject: Re: Background information on Dr. Christopher TeafDear Mr. Lofton:
Having talked with many different people in different departments in multiple state governments I do not think that any of them would suggest that granting a permit is the same as “do nothing but evaluate the safety of these projects”. When asked they all say the are following the guidelines set out by EPA/state regulations– they are not evaluating the safety of each project. Many will admit in private that the regulations/guidelines are not up to date with science, but the people in the permitting agencies do not have the authority to grant the permit based on the best available science/data. It’s not dissimilar to discussions of BACT– depending on the size of the stationary source not all BACT is the same.
As an example if you look at the EPA regulations on PM 2.5
From: blofton@industrialauthority.com
To: Leigh Touchton, aricketts@industrialauthority.com, Copeland, Roy, [Mary Gooding] Cc: Bill [Sammmons, Dr. Noll, Kay Harris, jsq, lhenderson, hopeforcleanwater]
Date: Sun, Jan 23, 2011 9:03 am
Subject: Re: Background information on Dr. Christopher TeafThank you for your e-mail Ms. Touchton. Dr. Teaf’s credentials clearly speak for themselves, but as you know, he is only one expert that has provided guidance. His expert opinion is in the overwhelming majority. The state EPD also employs toxicologists and experts that do nothing but evaluate the safety of these projects. The federal EPA does the same. Both groups support biomass and have provided their blessing. This project was also reviewed by experts from VSU, GA Tech, and UGA. It also has been reviewed and blessed by the Obama administration, federal agencies that employ hundreds of experts, the state of GA, Lowndes County, and literally countless environmental groups and experts. There is no doubt about the safety of the three existing biomass plants in Lowndes nor another one. This issue has long since been resolved and the permits have all been approved and are in place at this time.
Have a nice day,
BL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone