Category Archives: Community

He didn’t like it —Roger Budd III @ VCC 21 April 2011

Roger Budd III read a speech about socialism and communism and government oppression. He didn’t like not being able to build a restaurant because he hadn’t yet been able to get a building permit. Hm, I guess he wouldn’t like the city paying for making videos of its meetings available to the public, like me and my socialist buddy Dan Davis suggested.

Here’s the video:


He didn’t like it —Roger Budd III @ VCC 21 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 April 2011,
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Expense accounts and televised meetings —Nolen Cox and Dan Davis @ VCC 21 April 2011

Nolen Cox said he knows standard reporting procedures for expenses. He also doesn’t like regulations. Once again the city Attorney responded.

Dan Davis said he had similar concerns about the city’s travel policy. He added that he thought “these meetings should be televised”. That got a brief round of applause. Hm, that sounds like something I’ve suggested several times to the same council. Since Dan Davis and I couldn’t get much farther apart on most political issues, maybe televised meetings are an issue with bipartisan support!

They both talked about expenses for sales representatives. I wonder if that’s all they think elected officials are.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

The mayor’s expenses —Roy Taylor @ VCC 21 March 2011

After a student award was announced, Roy Taylor’s attorney addressed the council about the mayor’s expenses during Citizens to be Heard. Roy Taylor is visible in the audience as the camera pans. The mayor was not there; he has since explained he was spending quality time with his family.

Here’s Part 1 of 3:


The mayor’s expenses —Roy Taylor @ VCC 21 March 2011 Part 1 of 3:
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 April 2011,
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

The attorney continued with request number 2, Continue reading →

This is not representative of the people —John S. Quarterman on CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011

I didn’t intend to say anything Monday, but since Rev. Bennett named me in his introduction I thought it necessary to stand up and make it clear that I do not support CUEE’s plan for school system unification.

After some examples of things on which I agreed or disagreed with Ashley Paulk, the VDT, the Chamber of Commerce, and VLCIA, I mentioned that after an SCLC meeting Rusty Griffin told me that nobody who was not for unification would be accepted on the CUEE board.

I praised the upcoming Thursday meeting about education, but pointed out that commitee would not report back before the proposed unification vote, and the CUEE board still had only one member from the county outside Valdosta, so:

This is not diversification, this is not representative of the people, this a small pressure group, and nothing personal against you, a small pressure group that is trying to decide for the rest of us.
Once again, why I’m opposed to CUEE’s unification scheme: Continue reading →

Rev. George Bennett is a big man @ LCDP 2 May 2011

He admits in public when he’s proven wrong by new knowledge.

At the LCDP meeting 2 May 2011 Rev. Bennett praised Ashley Paulk for revealing what has been going on with the proposed biomass plant. Then he says he had years ago suggested we should get one of those. He had approached Wesley Langdale, who said:

It’s not economically feasible to do it.
So he was surprised when he discovered a group proposing to finance such a plant. And he later learned that there were many health problems with biomass plants, and he now thinks it would be wrong to build it.

So as my mother would say, Rev. George Bennett is a big man!

Here’s the video:


Rev. George Bennett is a big man @ LCDP 2 May 2011
Debate between proponents of school system unification (CUEE) and opponents,
at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), Gretchen Quarterman chair,
Videos by George Rhynes, Jim Parker, John S. Quarterman, and Gretchen Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2011.

-jsq

Apartheid —Dr. Lee Allen @ LCDP 2 May 2011

Dr. Lee Allen remarked:
We need to eliminate apartheid. There’s no guarantee we’re going to have love and justice and peace forever, but whenever apartheid raises its ugly head we’ve got to knock it down.
He went on to say
Race is something that exists in somebody’s mind.
He said he’s glad he’s brown. He also seemed to think he’d won some sort of admission when Dr. Mark George agreed he was a racist.

Seems to me one point of what Dr. George had just said is that everyone is, in practice, a racist, whether they think so, or not.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Local foods, local economy, local community

Local food is more than healthier, it’s even more than tasty. It’s also local economy and local community.

In the U.K., small local shops are being replaced by big-box supermarkets. A widespread argument for this conversion is that consumers get more choice. Peter Wilby wrote in the Guardian 3 May 2011 about why that’s not good enough:

Even the “good for consumers” defence of the big stores requires scrutiny. Supermarkets may offer mangoes and kiwi fruit as a blessed relief to generations who recall the surly greengrocer grunting “no demand for it” when asked for anything out of the ordinary. But the option to buy locally grown produce is increasingly closed off; many varieties of English fruit disappeared long ago. Supermarkets stock food not for its taste, but for its longevity and appearance. Conventional economists count numbers, assuming that a huge increase in toilet roll colours represents an unqualified gain to the consumer. They neglect more subtle dimensions of choice.

The central issue, however, is whether “what the consumer wants” should close down the argument. What people want as consumers may not be what they want as householders, community members, producers, employees or entrepreneurs. The loss of small shops drains a locality’s economic and social capital. Money spent in independent retail outlets tends to stay in the community, providing work for local lawyers and accountants, plumbers and decorators, window cleaners and builders.

He then cites U.S. research that shows local stores promote the local economy. Are we just consumers? Maybe we do other things than just buy stuff? Especially, do we do other things together? Continue reading →

Anniversary Motorcade to City Council/ Anniversary Arrest of Valdosta 15

I asked if he wanted publicity about this and he said yes. -gretchen
May 5, 20011 marks the 6th anniversary of the arrest of the Valdosta 15. It was the day that 15 of Valdosta’s finest citizens were arrested in City Council, charged with “Disrupting a Public Meeting,” and taken to the Lowndes County Jail. We were denied bail, and a telephone call. And, in some instances, medicine.

The city spent thousands of dollars on our arrests and appeals. In the end, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled

Continue reading →

We don’t talk about race and inequality —Dr. Mark George @ LCDP 2 May 2011

Dr. Mark George talked about present-day inequalities at the Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting.
I can’t go to my job and pretend I don’t notice that all the custodial staff are black women, but the vast majority of the professors are white folks.
He added that he’s all for sitting down and coming up with a plan for something to do about education.
I’m all for equality, but that means equal power. King did not want integration; King wanted desegregation. That meant equal power equal resources and both at the table as equals in negotiating. …worked for and reflected everybody.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Integration did not solve all problems —Leigh Touchton

The appended came in last night as a comment on Audience interaction about CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011. Leigh Touchton is President of the Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP and was present at the LCDP meeting, as was NAACP First Vice President Phyllis Stallworth. -jsq
In response to the person exclaiming about the situation in the sixties: What many of our members recall vividly from that period of time is how black teachers and black principals were fired or demoted, some even went to work as custodians. Our members and their families all experienced this to some degree. Right now, Valdosta City Schools probably has fewer black administrators that at any time since integration. We have taken complaints whereby black professionals were passed over for promotion or demoted or denied a position which was given to white candidates with less experience, fewer credentials, and even in one instance, an incomplete employment application. These stories are profound and leave lasting impressions which cannot be ignored. It is very impolite for the majority to tell the minority how to feel about this. Integration, as Dr. George has clearly explained, did not solve all problems.

Our members have valid reasons for feeling the way we do, we feel that the rights of all children to achieve are also interwoven with the rights of all education professionals to be treated with equality and fairness. Since we are having to fight so hard for equality and representation in Valdosta City Schools, where we have several Board members who represent minority districts, and a black Chairman, it is impossible for us to believe that becoming even more of a minority in a consolidated system will be beneficial. The struggles have been lengthy, expensive, and emotional, and they continue today.

-Leigh Touchton