Category Archives: Elections

Final qualifying for November elections

~~Four~~ Three contenders for Valdosta City Council District 2, none of them incumbent Deidra White.

Alvin Payton drew one challenger for District 4,
and Robert Yost drew two challengers for District 6.
Two out of three Valdosta School Board seats up for election are contested.
And we’re up to four contenders for Mayor of Hahira.
Plus 5 for the 4 Lake Park At Large seats,
and just 3 for the 3 Remerton seats.
-jsq

Lowndes
County Board of Elections

2808
N. Oak St.  P.O. Box 10130
Valdosta, Georgia 31604

Telephone:
(229) 671-2850, Fax: (229) 333-5199

Email:
elections@lowndescounty.com

QUALIFYING

November
5, 2013 – Municipal Election

*
Individuals qualifying on Friday, August 30^th are listed
in blue *

City
of Valdosta

City
Council District 2

Sandra
J. Tooley – 350 South St., Valdosta, GA 31601

(229)
834-0979, (229) 247-3307

ms2ly@bellsouth.net

John
Hogan – 601 Lake Park Rd., Valdosta, GA 31601

(229)
247-8294, (229) 560-0084

hogantransport@gmail.com

*Calvin
Graham, Sr. – 1701 Dedo Dr., Valdosta, GA 31601

(229)
247-6925

grah3219@bellsouth.net

Continue reading →

Qualifying through today (29 Aug 2013) for November elections

Hahira now has three contenders for Allen Cain’s former District 2 City Council
place;

he and District 4 Rose Adams are running for Mayor against incumbent Wayne Bullard.
Four contenders now for four Lake Park At Large City Council places,
and two for three in Remerton.
Incumbent Deidra White has still not qualified for Valdosta City Council
District 2, although two other people have.
Tomorrow’s the last day to qualify.
-jsq

Lowndes
County Board of Elections

2808
N. Oak St.  P.O. Box 10130
Valdosta, Georgia 31604

Telephone:
(229) 671-2850, Fax: (229) 333-5199

Email:
elections@lowndescounty.com

QUALIFYING

November
5, 2013 – Municipal Election

*
Individuals qualifying on Thursday, August 29^th are listed
in blue *

Continue reading →

Qualifying through yesterday (28 Aug 2013) for November elections

All three Valdosta City Council races are contested now!

In Hahira, two contenders and the incumbent for Mayor,
a new candidate for Hahira District 4, and two for District 2,
both vacated by former incumbents now running for Mayor.
Still not enough candidates in Lake Park and nobody in Remerton.
Received yesterday evening.
-jsq

Lowndes County Board of Elections

2808
N. Oak St.  P.O. Box 10130
Valdosta, Georgia 31604

Telephone:
(229) 671-2850, Fax: (229) 333-5199

Email:
elections@lowndescounty.com

QUALIFYING

November
5, 2013 – Municipal Election

*
Individuals qualifying on Wednesday, August 28^th are
listed in blue *

City
of Valdosta

City
Council District 2

Continue reading →

Qualifying through yesterday for November elections

Received yesterday evening. Contested mayoral election in Hahira and not in Lake Park, so far.
Also one contested Valdosta school board seat, but none for Valdosta City Council so far.
-jsq

Lowndes
County Board of Elections

2808
N. Oak St.  P.O. Box 10130
Valdosta, Georgia 31604

Telephone:
(229) 671-2850, Fax: (229) 333-5199

Email:
elections@lowndescounty.com

QUALIFYING

November
5, 2013 – Municipal Election

AUGUST
26, 2013

City
of Valdosta

City
Council District 2

Continue reading →

Anti-nuke activist Taro Yamomato wins Japanese Diet seat

An actor turned anti-nuke activist after Fukushima just won
a seat in Japan’s upper house in the national government.

Japan Times, 22 July 2013 (Tokyo time is 13 hours ahead of Georgia time),

Actor Yamamoto, ex-wrestler Inoki win,

Actor and anti-nuclear activist Taro Yamamoto and ex-wrestling star
Antonio Inoki both won seats in Sunday’s Upper House contest, early
returns showed.

Yamamoto, 38, who ran as an independent in the Tokyo constituency,
appeared set to enter the upper chamber after failing to win a seat
in the Lower House election in December.

He became widely known for his anti-nuclear power activities
following the March 2011 Fukushima meltdowns. He has also campaigned
against Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
liberalization negotiations, while calling for improved social
security.

Blogger

In the Eyes of an Étranger
reports Toro Yamamoto said about his election win:

“I will do a banzai to celebrate the occasion when I really
end up helping the victims of the nuclear disaster. A thorny path lies
ahead of me. Vested nuclear interests will no doubt try to sabotage
my efforts. My only friend in my endeavor are the voters who entrusted
their sacred votes.”

WSJ notes

five seats for Tokyo were contested Continue reading →

Solar may win today at the Georgia PSC

There’s still time to call in and make your voice heard,
(800) 282-5813.
The swing vote is
the Commissioner

for south Georgia, H. Doug Everett.
Solar power may win over Georgia Power today.

Greg Bluestein and Kristi E. Swartz wrote for the AJC yesterday,

Solar supporters see rare loss on horizon for Georgia Power,

If Georgia Power says it needs something, it usually gets it. Over
the years, state regulators have cleared the way for the utility to
land new power plants, more transmission lines and rate increases,
often without much heated debate.

Walter C. Jones
wrote for jacksonville.com yesterday,

PSC likely to require Georgia Power to double its reliance on solar power Thursday Continue reading →

A librarian on the library board! @ LCC 2013-06-25

The political appointee was replaced by a librarian,
and the marketing guy by a marketing guy,
at

the 25 June Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

5.a. Lowndes County Library Board

Back

on June 10th

Library Director Kelly Lenz brought
candidates
Jack Hartley, Linda Most, and Matt Lawrence,
who spoke, and

at the June 24th Work Session

Commissioner Joyce Evans submitted the name of Mr. Robert Jefferson,
who did not speak.

This time County Manager Joe Pritchard mumbled behind his monitor
and did not deign to name any of the candidates, referring to “a list”
that Commissioners could see but the public could not.
He did say that the openings were for the board slots previously occupied by
Kay Harris and Ray Devery.

Previous political appointee Kay Harris

failed to get the new library at Five Points approved
in

last year’s failed SPLOST VII vote
and

resigned as Library Board Chair and from that board 15 March 2013.
Here are

some related points she never seemed to discuss.
And while she and the County Commission and the Valdosta City Council
and Mayor pointed fingers about who lost SPLOST, Continue reading →

Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans @ LCDP 2013-07-02

“Hopefully” there will be four town hall meetings before
the final SPLOST lists are settled, said
Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans (District 1)
at last night’s

Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

We’re beginning to put things together for the SPLOST.

Hopefully we’ll be able to do several….
I know the mayor has stated that they were going to do
two town hall meetings and the county’s going to do
a couple of town hall meetings and then we’re going to come together
with the information that we’ve received from the community
and go and put together an overall SPLOST
for the city and the county.

So please, take time, think about it, and be involved.

We shall see.
At least it’s a small change in the old boy backroom behavior so popular among elected officials around here
that the famously reclusive commissioner said this in front of a video camera.

Here’s

the video:

Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans

July 4th BBQ, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),

Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Dennis Marks (Vice-Chair / Elections),
Amanda Hall (Vice-Chair / Membership), Richard Saeger (Vice-Chair / Qualifying), Jerrell Anderson (Secretary), James J. Parker (Treasurer),

Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 July 2013.

-jsq

The stars all lined up for the homeless –Deidra White @ LCDP 2013-07-02

The homeless formerly living under the

James Beck Overpass
now have homes and most have jobs,

said Valdosta City Council Deidra White
at last night’s

Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

White said the encampment under the overpass had been growing
for some time, and people in her district, which contains
the overpass, were increasingly concerned
yet had had little success in dealing with the situation.

So I contacted many people in the community,
homeless advocates, churches, governmental, civil,
nonprofits; anyone that I’ve ever come across who has ever
worked in any capacity helping with the homeless situation.
And in a very,almost seemingly the stars all lined up a couple
of weeks ago.
Many people came together to do something
about the specific eleven homeless persons who were living
under the James Beck Overpass.

A private citizen donated property and said
that they could stay on this property for a temporary time
until we find a permanent solution.
Members of the homeless coalition immediately
began identifying potential employers….

She referred listeners to

the recent newspaper stories
for some details, and then continued:

Continue reading →

Losing our individual freedom of choosing –Carl Johnson Jr. @ LCC 2013-05-28

A veteran said he was concerned about losing our freedoms
right here in Lowndes County because of the Commissions’
recent trash collection decisions,
in yesterday’s

Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Excerpts from what Carl Johnson Jr. said:

As I drove into town today I drove by… Brown’s produce.
Right across the way was Mr. Carter’s produce.
Both of them same business.
Why not just take Mr. Carter’s business,
and say, well, we’re going to give it all to Mr. Brown….
We think it’s in the best interests of the county.
That’s not the American way of life.
Competition in everything is the strength of America….

[Applause]

He said he didn’t know the intricacies of the law,
but he asked the Commission to reconsider.
Attorney for Lowndes County Walter Elliott looked on stone-faced.
County Manager Joe Pritchard, as usual, paid no attention to citizen speakers.

There’s more in

the video: Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange