Abuse of an animal is a criminal offense. The GA Dept. of Agriculture
is a regulatory agency able only to issue fines, not pursue criminal
investigations. Why are these reports not on the desk of the sheriff of
Lowndes County for criminal investigation? Dismissing the allegations
because the people whose testimony was taken might be biased does no
service to the current or future animals that will pass through the
shelter.
“I’ve seen a lot of the animals come in the shelter and not got vet care
and sometimes that comes in the form of euthanasia,” says Susan Leavens,
an animal control officer for Lowndes County.
This led several Lowndes County Animal Shelter employees to file a
complaint with the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
It launched an investigation citing the facility for not providing
humane care.
Joe Pritchard continued in his report:
August of 2010 the Department of Agriculture called me and asked
for a meeting about issues of concern.
They expressed those issues centered around
maintenance of records …
what was classified as humane treatment.
Mr. Pritchard referred to “specific castration of a pot-bellied pig”.
He didn’t say whether he considered that inhumane treatment;
he merely discussed it after referring to things “classified as humane treatment”.
Here is the entire Lowndes County Commission Work Session from this morning,
the same day it happened.
VDT or WCTV or WALB could do this.
Or the Commission itself could.
But since they don’t, LAKE did, and now you can see them dealing
with appointmments, alcohol, and animals.
If you have concerns about anything that happened,
or anything else related to the county government, there’s
a regular meeting Tuesday evening.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Let’s leapfrog Thomasville in the 21st century equivalent of roads, rail, and airports: Internet speeds!
Here’s another point from Chris Miller at the
2011 Economic Summit,
according to the VDT story by Dawn Castro 18 May 2011,
:
“Thomasville didn’t have hi-speed internet,
so the process of moving products quickly was not possible,”
he said, “With Rose Net hi-speed broadband, it is now able to
work 25 times faster.
That one simple step boosted economic product growth,
and as we all know, the technical industry creates a
wage growth path.”
Usually silent VLCIA board member Tom Call got a board meeting agenda
item:
Mr. Jerry and I met on May the second to review the…
I was kind of educating myself as to the current operating budget
and how it applies… goes into forming next year’s budget….
There’s just a few differences from the 2011 budget to the proposed
2012 budget.
He listed a couple of items:
Line item 32: Park maintenance.
Miller Business Park is added for this year.
Below line 51: Signage.
“Improve signage at some of our entrances.”
Chairman Jerry Jennett asked board members to take it home,
redline it, and bring it back for a vote next meeting.
Diff Operating Budget —Tom Call @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Myrna Ballard (President, Chamber of Commerce),
Michael Jetter (Interim Executive Director for the Valdosta-Lowndes Conference Center and Tourism Authority),
Amanda Peacock (Valdosta Main Street Manager),
Allan Ricketts (Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority Project Manager),
Jane Shelton (Valdosta-Lowndes Airport Authority Member)
“Transforming our local economy”
“It’s the Mix that Matters”
Community leaders in the Valdosta area came together at the 2011 Economic
Summit to discuss the economic health of Valdosta-Lowndes County.
Economic Summit participants raised substantive questions for the panel
and shared ideas for moving forward during the facilitated discussion
portion of the Summit led by VSU Center for Business and Economic Research
Director, Scott Manley.
WALB then quotes the Chamber’s press release.
Dr. Cynthia R. Tori presented the VSU Center for Business and Economic
Research study, Lowndes County by the Numbers: How Do We Compare With
Peer and Aspirant Communities?
That study sounds very interesting.
Can we see a copy?
Continue reading →
Col. Ricketts reported he was on a panel at the
2011 Economic Summit which was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce,
and that he got a copy of a report by the
VSU Center for Business and Economic Research
about how the local area compares with others.
Mary Gooding said Col. Ricketts represented VLCIA very well.
If VLCIA knew how to do PR, this would have been a great
PR opportunity for them to publicize.
2011 Economic Summit @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in
the United States has declined, according to “Prison Count 2010,” a new
survey by the Pew Center on the States. As of January 2010, there were
1,404,053* persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities,
4,777* fewer than on December 31, 2008.
This marks the first year-to-year drop in the nation’s state prison
population since 1972. While the study showed an overall decline, it
revealed great variation among jurisdictions. The prison population
declined in 26* states, while increasing in 24* states and in the
federal system.
*Numbers updated as of April 1, 2010. (Report originally released March 17, 2010.)
Guess which way Georgia went?
As you can see in the map,
Georgia increased by 1.6% while Texas,
already leading in not wasting tax dollars on new prisons,
decreased by 0.7%.
Continue reading →
And now a word from the ACLU (yes, I am a card-carrying member):
As we watch the state budget crisis deepen, one of the most wasteful
and harmful policies of our state government – felony sentences for
simple drug possession – remains in place. We are spending unnecessary
millions to incarcerate people who pose no threat to public safety.
Sentencing reform is the way to bring prison spending back in line
with other priorities – like public schools and universities, social
services, and drug treatment.
That’s actually from the
ACLU of Northern California,
but the point is the same for anywhere that locks up people
for minor drug offenses, like Georgia.
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County.
Spend that tax money on schools instead.
Karen Noll reported on WACE’s facebook page that
the VSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday 19 May 2011 that
biomass will not be considered renewable for VSU’s climate commitment goal.
Why?
Because
leading medical associations have identified woody biomass
incineration as increasing risks of
“a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”,
because biomass incineration
produces more CO2, NOX, and fine particulates than existing coal plants,
and because it
“may lead to
unsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse
gas emissions”.
This comment from Jane Osborn came in last night on
County Animal Shelter Issues. A good place to ask such questions of
public officials might be at
this evening’s County Commission meeting,
5:30 PM, 327 N. Ashley Street.
Sheriff Chris Prine is often in attendance.
-jsq
is a regulatory agency able only to issue fines, not pursue criminal investigations. Why are these reports not on the desk of the sheriff of Lowndes County for criminal investigation? Dismissing the allegations because the people whose testimony was taken might be biased does no service to the current or future animals that will pass through the shelter.
