Category Archives: Community

The end game is …. —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on

“the qualified voters voting thereon in each separate school system proposed to be consolidated”. -jsq



Questions abound: Why is it that Lowndes County residents will not be
voting on the most important issue to face their school system since
its inception in 1950?

If I lived in the county I’d be mad that CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce
chose to leave my vote out of such a very important decision.

Quick fact: Consolidation alone will not save money & Consolidation alone
will not improve academic success, according to

the Vinson Institute report commissioned by CUEE and the Chamber.


Further Query: Why would CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce spend $50
grand to collect the signatures for the petition causing the City of
Valdosta to spend thousands of tax dollars (2 staff dedicated to task &
4 temps hired) to verify the signatures on the petition?

Continue reading →

Joe Pritchard notified of euthanasia violation March 2011


Joe Pritchard told us in May:

“We were not able to substantiate … accusations other than that … castration of pig.”

Yet he was notified in March of a euthanasia violation and missing drugs.

This PDF
contains an inspection report dated “03-18-11” from the Ga. Dept. of Ag.
Animal Protection Section.
The images contain excerpts related to a euthanasia violation. -jsq


Recordkeeping – Page 186 on 01-26-11 was

missing on the Euthanasia paperwork. Total of 36cc

unaccounted for. Violation 40-13-13.08 [11] issued.

Continue reading →

Traffic on Cat Creek Road at Nottinghill —Thomas E. Stalvey Jr. @ LCC 12 July 2011



Schoolchildren, safety, and farmland: three topics that often seem forgotten in discussions of development.
Opposing the
proposed rezoning for Notthinghill,
neighbor Thomas E. Stalvey Jr. noted
that traffic on Cat Creek Road
is already a problem, and adding a subdivision would make it worse.
He noted that it’s traffic routed down Cat Creek to Moody that
accounts for a lot of it.
He said school children stood out on the road and they were already in danger.

“If we put 49 more houses out there, it’s just going to up the risk.”

He explicitly linked road widening to development:

Continue reading →

A real education dialog @ LCDP 2 May 2011

The only real public dialog about unification or education that


I’ve heard of
was at the May 2011 Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting,
organized by LCDP Chair Gretchen Quarterman.
You can see it either of two ways:

  1. Through the LCDP 2 May 2011 LAKE blog topic,
    which has all the relevant posts, newest first.

  2. Through the YouTube video

    playlist.
    Each video has a link to the relevant blog post.




    School unification dialog at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP)

    Videos by John S. Quarterman, Jim Parker, Gretchen Quarterman, 2 May 2011.

At that LCDP meeting I pointed out
that the CUEE education committee was not scheduled to report back
until after the proposed referendum vote, and nobody had any rebuttal.

-jsq

I promise one can only imagine what it’s like —Susan Leavens

Received today on
Because of my mother. -jsq



I promise one can only imagine what it’s like to have a loved one
die in your arms from a chronic lung disease like COPD, when every
breath is a struggle and each day that passes a long and horrible death
is the inevitable, my mother moved here with me from south Florida,
her quality of life changed until her death from COPD in 2003. Biomass
affects everyone, not just in the county it’s built in.

I personally
have children which I would love to see grow with strong healthy lung
functions. Some children and adults already have asthma and other lung
disorders. I’m not quite sure of the long term effects biomass consist
of but I am quite sure were going to be the ones that suffer in the end
each and every one of us! It does raise my concern when Dr. Noll speaks
about biomass and we all might need to rethink the potential danger it
will bring with it. Previously I thought it was a good energy source,
I now think otherwise. Speak now or forever hold your peace because I
get this feeling… there sneaking in!

-Susan Leavens

Thanks to all who helped —Jerry Jennett @ VLCIA 19 July 2011



Outgoing Industrial Authority Chairman Jerry Jennett thanked all who helped him, and offered to help incoming chairman Roy Copeland.

Here’s

the video:




Thanks to all who helped —Jerry Jennett @ VLCIA 19 July 2011

Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),

Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,

Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.

Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Because of my mother —Dr. Noll @ VLCIA 19 July 2011



Dr. Noll, president of WACE, welcomed VLCIA’s new executive director Andrea Schruijer, and
then reminded the board that the honking cars outside
indicated an ongoing community assessment of biomass,
and he encouraged them to consider previously presented
materials and to prevent the biomass plant from
finding a back door to come back in.

He remarked that he had visited his mother in Germany:

One and half years ago she was in the intensive care unit for about three weeks
because she had severe lung issues.
She moved away after that
to an area where there isn’t the kind of air pollution she was
exposed to before hand,
and every single day she wakes up she feels like she’s on vacation.

Here’s

the video:




Because of my mother —Dr. Noll @ VLCIA 19 July 2011

Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),

Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,

Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.

Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

dialogue on consolidation was a forbidden zone —Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on

Videos of CUEE’s idea of a “public dialog”. -jsq


In their minds
every name signed as attending is part of their consensus, which is why
I never sign in. It is also why they keep trying to say
Sam Allen is for
consolidation even though
he chairs the group against consolidation.

I went to the June & July CUEE meetings just to see what they were
doing & to dialogue about consolidation. At both meetings dialogue on
consolidation was a forbidden zone. I keep telling you their game plan is
textbook UN Agenda 21. Debate is not allowed. They manipulate everything
to create what they misname “consensus” which means per their numbers &
statistics everyone who does not speak out against their agenda is for
their aganda including anyone who never shows up at all. In their minds
every name signed as attending is part of their consensus, which is why
I never sign in. It is also why they keep trying to say
Sam Allen is for
consolidation even though



he chairs the group against consolidation. They
made sure they got photos of him at the July meeting to further their
consensus game.

If you live in the city or the county & you want to hear
real dialogue about consolidation

Continue reading →

There are problems at the animal shelter. They have not been resolved.

I think it’s time to ask: what did they know, and when did they know it?

Let’s construct a timeline:

  • 2011-05-20 euthanasia violation
  • 2011-05-20 statement from Heather Terry
  • 2011-05-23 County Manager Joe Pritchard

    tells the Commission and the public    :



    “We were not able to substantiate … accusations other than that … castration of pig.”

    That was even though

    WCTV already reported there had been several
    euthanasia violations last year.

    Pritchard also said they (the county in its previous investigation,
    presumably the one of 2010    )
    examined the character of those testifying for
    the complaints and he said they found biases.

  • 2011-05-24 County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk

    tells the Commission and the public:



    “Whatever problems there are, they’re going to be resolved.”

  • 2011-05-24 The VDT quotes County Manager Joe Pritchard

    as saying    :



    “It’s no longer a case of an individual making a claim, as it will be evident by the physical evidence provided by the security cameras.”

    and:

    “You take that policy, coupled with the updated standard operating
    procedures, added to the technical verification and I think that
    addresses the issues. My purpose is to eliminate any problem or potential
    problem.”

  • 2011-05-31 statement by Director Linda Patelski saying two people fired for euthanasia violation of 20 May 2011

Continue reading →

To pacify the community? —Susan Leavens

Received yesterday on
Arrests for speaking in an Arizona town. -jsq

I really feel like the Lowndes County Commissioners meetings are more
to pacify the community then to actually listen to the concerns of
the citizens which I’m sure most counties are the same. I feel quite
positive matters of concern actually never leave that room, I’m pretty
certain if the room were full and more individuals showing concern for
their community maybe things could change slightly. I have gotten the
impression that they really don’t want to hear people’s opinions. I
was once under the impression that there job of commissioners where
to also hear from the residence of the county. It certainly has shown
me how transparency issues and intimidation also go hand in hand. When
you think of a member of county government it’s a position of power
and power some obviously let go to their head. But after reading the
article it appears no matter where in this country when you oppose them
you obviously could be removed in handcuffs. You’re only allowed to have
your 3 to 4 minutes to speak after interruptions and snide remarks. First
Amendment right allows us to have freedom of speech… but broken down,
it allows us our time at the podium less freedom of speech if Mr. Paulk
decided to stop us. I wonder how the rest of the commissioners feel about
his antics toward people being heard. Maybe they don’t have concerns
in the matter but you have to wonder if they feel intimidated as well
and just choose to say nothing.

-Susan Leavens