Category Archives: Community

More Valdosta wastewater correspondence



Some interesting questions have come up in
Gabe Fisher's continuing correspondence with the City of Valdosta
about

sewage in his back yard
and

under his house,
while

City Council Tim Carroll continues to respond,
both copying a long list of people.

From: Gabe Fisher

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:23:12 -0500

All, I appreciate the update on where the city stands on moving the
sewer all together—I just wish we had been kept informed of
the plans over the last 4 years. Living with the *real* threat of
flooding is stressful enough, add in the guaranteed associated
sewage spill is more than I can handle.

I also appreciate the city workers spreading lime and working on the
sewer line behind my house today. But I have questions—What
about the sewage in my yard and under my house? Is this my
responsibility?

Thanks, Gabe

Tim Carroll responded with a couple of suggestions:

Continue reading →

Florida sink hole evicts church

More

sinkholes in Florida in the same Floridan Aquifer that’s under us,
this time evacuating a church.
Maybe sinkhole safety should be important here, too.

WCTV carried an AP story today,

Suspected Sinkhole Forces Church Move



Pastor Rick Shuck told WBBH in Fort Myers on Monday the sinkhole has
caused uneven floors, cracks in the walls and a hole in the ground
so large that a landscaper fell into it.

Shuck says they had to end Faith Community Church’s Sunday service
early because “it’s just not safe anymore.” He says some cracks in
the walls are a half-inch wide and part of the auditorium floor has
dropped about 4 1/2 inches.



Geological engineers say it’s definitely a sinkhole. But the
church’s insurance company sent engineers who determined there is no
problem. So next month the two sides are heading to mediation.

That second picture above was taken in Lowndes County,
showing

printouts of analysis by a VSU professor of sinkholes
under a yard in Lowndes County.


And they’re

under Michael McCormick’s shed (see picture on the right),
and they’re

in his garage.

The same Floridan Aquifer is underground here as in Florida.
Perhaps something needs to be done about sinkholes right here in Lowndes County?

-jsq

Videos: Solar Dublin High School groundbreaking @ DHS Solar 2013-03-11


Breaking ground
Groundbreaking for solar power to save Dublin High 40%,
thus reducing teacher furloughs,

financed by municipal bonds,
made possible by cooperation among a wide range of
government officials, private companies, and individuals:
that was the groundbreaking story in Dublin, Laurens County, yesterday,
videod by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE.



Dublin City Schools are willing to try something new, and that’s why
they were groundbreaking,

said Chuck Ledbetter, Superintendent, yesterday.
He

recognized members present of the Dublin City Council, the
Laurens County Commission, the Dublin-Laurens Development Authority,
and state representative Matt Hatchett, and
Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald.

Ledbetter’s theme,


News camera and speaker
Everybody worked together to make this happen.

was echoed over and over by many other speakers.
What they worked for was economic help for Dublin City Schools
through solar power, financed by municipal bonds.


The Mayor of Dublin, Phil Best added to the list

Continue reading →

Circular wastewater firing squad continues

The VDT's Sunday front page was covered with wastewater stories,
continuing the circular firing squad of the local powers that be.
Meanwhile

in Dublin, GA, they're breaking ground for solar panels
at the local high school, using a bond financing
model that we could use here, if local leaders would look up.



In addition to

some detail about the city's FEMA application
and

following up on flooded yards,
the VDT followed up on

its EPD and EPA scrutiny story
with one saying

City received help from EPD to keep EPA away.
It's good the VDT is covering these issues, but it's still leaving out
important parts of the local water story.

Apparently firing back at



Thursday's Valdosta City Council session,
perhaps especially

Robert Yost's very pointed criticisms of the VDT,
the VDT concluded its

rather rich Sunday editoral:

City leaders, please, no more of the blame game. The citizens of
this community are imploring you to just accept responsibility and
fix it.

Yet the VDT has

spent the last week blaming the city,
and has accepted no responsibility for its own role, or that of
its editor, Kay Harris, in the recent loss of the SPLOST referendum
that would have further funded wastewater work in Valdosta.

Now, I agree with the VDT that

Continue reading →

Videos: Rezoning, two grants, fire, water, diversity and transparency @ VCC 2013-03-07



Still more about the recent flooding and water issues in these
videos of the 7 March 2013 Valdosta City Council Regular Session,
by
City Manager
Larry Hanson,
Council
Robert Yost excoriated the VDT,
former City Engineer
Von Shipman defended the city.
Multiple citizens brought up issues of diversity
and
local government transparency.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, March 7, 2013

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →

Solar Dublin High School groundbreaking tomorrow



Dublin gets the jump on the rest of Georgia again:
Dublin High School will get a megawatt of solar electricity
through a lease agreement with a private company
using local government bonds to get around Georgia’s special financing problem.

Kenny Burgamy reported for for 13wmaz.com Thursday,

Solar Plant To Be Located at Dublin High,

Dublin High School of Dublin City Schools will soon implement
1 megawatt of solar energy.



The 4,000 panel solar power plant will be the largest in Central
Georgia and is expected to save the school 40 percent in energy
costs.

Dublin City Schools Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter told 13WMAZ, “The
facility will be built and owned by private business and the school
system will lease the solar power plant, saving us money in energy
costs.”

The original plan was developed more than 15-months ago by German
based MAGE SOLAR, which has a plant located in Laurens County.

The story has been carried by
GPB
by
Athens Banner-Herald via AP.

This installation is similar to but slightly different from

Continue reading →

Azalea Festival in Drexel Park, Valdosta, GA 2103-03-09



Men, women, children, babies in strollers, old folks with walkers,
dogs, and a large yellow chicken
in a time-lapse movie from the
wildlife camera Gretchen set up at the
Thirteenth Annual Azalea Festival yesterday,
plus other videos and stills, and WCTV.

Here’s

a video playlist:

Here’s

a flickr slideshow:

Continue reading →

Water Plant Planning —Henry Hicks @ VCC 2013-03-07


Henry Hicks

Valdosta Utilities Director Henry Hicks gave a detailed history of

flood control

projects
and work on the

Withlacoochee Waste Water Processing Plant
at the Valdosta City Council Meeting last night during the
"Manager's Report" section
of

the agenda.
Several Council members expressed their distaste for the VDT’s recent reporting
on the subject, and thanked Hicks and other city employees for their work.


$40 million already spent
Hicks said

they had spent $4 million on repairs
to the Withlacoochee plant, and that didn't include the $40 million
they'd already spent on upgrades in general.
Also, it took three days to build the berm around the plant in 2009,

and FEMA wouldn't approve any improvements to it.

He said he would

Continue reading →

Rezoning, two grants, fire, and water @ VCC 2013-03-07


There’s nothing on the agenda for last night’s Valdosta City Council
meeting about the recent flooding or the

Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant
or the

raw sewage in neighborhoods
or

downstream all the way to the Gulf,
but quite a bit was said last night anyway; video to follow.
Here’s

the agenda. -jsq

AGENDA

REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL

5:30 PM Thursday, March 7, 2013

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

Continue reading →

Sinkholes in Florida, and in Lowndes County, Georgia

The sinkhole that formed under a man’s bed and pulled him in has
made a lot of news in Florida, plus another one a few miles away.
But the news seems to neglect why those sinkholes are forming.
Could it be the same reason sinkholes are forming in Lowndes County, Georgia?
And will the Lowndes County Commission do anything about that
before we see news about somebody here falling into a sinkhole?

Will Hobson, Laura C. Morel and Jodie Tillman wrote for the Tampa Bay Times 1 March 2013,

Seffner sinkhole 911 call: ‘Bedroom floor just collapsed’,

Jeremy Bush just went to bed when he heard what sounded like a car
hitting the house. Then screams from his brother Jeffrey’s bedroom.

“Help me! Help me!”



Someone flipped the lights. Jeremy, 36, threw the door open,
revealing a sight that defied belief: The earth had opened beneath
his brother’s bedroom and was swallowing everything in it. The tip
of Jeffrey’s mattress was the only thing left, and it was sinking
into a churning sinkhole.

The Tampa Bay Times has a long series on what happened afterwards,
rescue workers who didn’t find him, the demolition of the house,
objects found, etc.
They never quite get around to saying why the sinkhole was there.
They first say

(Shelley Rossetter 2 March 2013),

Continue reading →