Received yesterday. -jsq
News never reported in the Quitman FREE PRESS or in SOUTH GEORGIA NEWS MEDIA:
From the YouTube description:
Senator Emanuel Jones is demanding “all charges are dropped”Continue reading
Branson isn’t just a billionaire speaking his mind, he was also on the Global Commission on Drug Policy that studied the problem and recommended last summer that we end prohibition.Just as prohibition of alcohol failed in the United States in the 1920s, the war on drugs has failed globally. Over the past 50 years, more than $1 trillion has been spent fighting this battle, and all we have to show for it is increased drug use, overflowing jails, billions of pounds and dollars of taxpayers’ money wasted, and thriving crime syndicates. It is time for a new approach.
Too many of our leaders worldwide are ignoring policy reforms that could rapidly reduce violence and organised crime, cut down on theft, improve public health and reduce the use of illicit drugs. They are failing to act because the reforms that are needed centre on decriminalising drug use and treating it as a health problem. They are scared to take a stand that might seem “soft”.
But exploring ways to decriminalise drugs is anything but soft. It would free up crime-fighting resources to go after violent organised crime, and get more people the help they need to get off drugs. It’s time to get tough on misguided policies and end the war on drugs.
Branson does bring his business experience to bear: Continue reading
Quite a few people showed up at the Lowndes County Commission
public hearing about abandoning part of Bethany Road, speaking pro and con.
We learned many interesting reasons for abandoning that road,
which would apply to many dirt and maybe paved roads in the county,
many of which are on the county’s paving list.
More about that and an interesting view of the press in later posts.
First, here’s what we’re talking about.
Abandonment of a Portion of Bethany Road, County Engineer, Mike Fletcher, presented a request by citizens for the abandonment of a portion of Bethany Road. Mr. Fletcher explained that the Commission was being asked to make an initial determination that either the section of the county road system has been ceased to be used by the public to the extent that no substantial purpose is served by it, or that its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public interest. Mr. Fletcher added that once the initial determination was made, staff would move forward with the appropriate advertising of a public hearing at which time the Commission could make a final decision.
Here’s
video
in which County Engineer Mike Fletcher said the part of Bethany Road
to be abandoned runs from Bethany Drive down through the Stith
and Turner family properties towards Old US 41 North
as far as the Rykard property,
and that all residents would still have access out to other roads.
County Manager Joe Pritchard noted that
Continue reading The article illustrates what I learned over my 30-year career as a federal agent: Cracking down in one place doesn’t make drugsAnd that will pop the incarceration bubble, as well, according to CCA’s own 2010 report to the SEC. -jsqdisappear, it only moves the trade elsewhere. This so-called “balloon effect,” combined with the insatiable demand for drugs across the globe, means that no level of law-enforcement skill or dedication can make a significant dent.
The only way to pop the proverbial balloon is to legalize and regulate the drug trade, which would eliminate the opportunity to make enormous black-market profits. It wasn’t easy for me to come to this revelation after dedicating so many years to enforcing drug laws, but it is common sense. Law-enforcement officers don’t have to chase gangsters selling booze from town to town because we ended the failed experiment of alcohol prohibition decades ago. It is time we do the same for other drugs.
Terry Nelson
Executive Board Member
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Granbury, Texas
that those are bills in Congress to censor the Internet.
If you like blogs, YouTube, facebook, and other social media, you won’t like SOPA and PIPA if they become law, because they will enable big copyright holders such as movie studios to force websites to remove links to entire domains on suspicion of copyright violation.
What you can do: contact your members of Congress today. You can do that through one of the many online tools Or call, email, or send a paper letter directly. Free the Internet!
-jsq
Kim Isaza wrote for MDJOnline yesterday, Cobb EMC’s pursuit cools on coal-fired power plant
Cobb EMC’s interest in building the coal-fired Plant WashingtonSo can somebody come up with an 850 MW solar plant to propose by 24 Jan 2012?appears to be dead, and the company has begun soliciting bids for its future power supplies.
The electric cooperative has already spent $13.5 million toward permitting for the coal plant, which would be a new direction for the company from simply delivering electricity to also generating it.
On Jan. 24, Dean Alford, a spokesman for the Power 4 Georgians consortium of EMCs behind Plant Washington, is slated to address the Cobb EMC board, presumably in an effort to save the plant, for which his company, Allied Energy, got a no-bid development contract from P4G.
The Cobb EMC board could decide at that meeting whether to put any more money toward the project.
Many details of the 850-megawatt Plant Washington, including exactly why it is needed and any firm idea of what it will cost to build and operate, have been kept quiet, sparking critical questions from EMC members and environmental groups. It was proposed under former EMC head Dwight Brown, who is facing 34 criminal charges of theft and racketeering relating to his leadership at EMC.
-jsq
David Rodock wrote on the front page of the VDT today, Gov. suspends `Quitman Ten’ officials,
On Tuesday, Deal issued his order prior to the Brooks County Board of Education’s first meeting of 2012. Dr. Nancy Whitfield-Dennard, Elizabeth Diane Thomas and Linda Faye Troutman were notified of this suspension at approximately 4:30 p.m., according to sources.That’s a bit more context than the TV stations provided.
The VDT also says who gets to serve instead:
Following the governor’s suspension this week, Brooks County school board member Brad Shealy, who is also an assistant Southern district attorney, was appointed to serve as president of the board with board member Larry Cunningham serving as vice president. Shealy served many years as the school board president prior to Whitfield-Dennard being named president last year.That seems to be the same Brad Shealy who used to be chairman until the recent election.
The VDT adds this context: Continue reading
Jade Bulecza wrote for WALB yesterday, Governor orders Brooks Co. School Bd. suspensions
That would be the same Joe Mulholland who’s been on TV saying things like Continue readingSuperintendent Debra Folsom got the governor’s order Tuesday suspending the three board members.
“This is all new territory for us,” said Folsom. “We’re consulting our attorney to see what the next steps we will take to fill the positions.”
December 20 a review commission made up of the attorney general and two school board members from across Georgia were appointed by the governor to review the case.
“They heard evidence from the prosecution and from the accused and the conclusion of that they made a determination and forwarded that to the governor’s office whether to suspend or not to suspend the three school board members,” said South Georgia District Attorney Joe Mulholland.
December 30, the review panel unanimously made their decision.
Knoxville News editorial of 14 March 2010, Chalk two up for open government
So eventually CCA will have to surrender at least some of the records, although there is still haggling in court over which exceptions CCA can use for which records. (And there’s always the old “we didn’t keep them that long” trick.)CAA[sic] maintained it wasn’t the functional equivalent of a government agency, but the Appeals Court rejected that claim and the Supreme Court refused even to hear it.
“With all due respect to CAA[sic],” Appeals Court Judge D. Michael Swiney wrote in his opinion on Friedman’s case, “this Court is at a loss as to how operating a state prison could be considered anything less than a governmental function.”
The Tennessee Supreme Court had already ruled about government contractors:
“When a private entity’s relationship with the government is so extensive that the entity serves as the functional equivalent of a governmental agency, the accountability created by public oversight should be preserved.”I wonder if Georgia will accept a Tennessee precedent?
-jsq
Mary Carr Mayle wrote for SavannahNow 27 September 2011, Solar firm establishes energy trust
Two area doctors, co-owners of the Tabby Power Solar Co. in BullochInteresting angle, that: they’re not directly selling the power to the county; they’re using some of their income to buy bonds for the county. And they’re inviting others to do the same:County, have formed the Georgia Energy Trust Fund to direct part of their company’s proceeds to the county.
And, while it will take more than a few generations – some 350 years, in fact – Savannah dermatologist Dr. Sidney P. Smith and Brunswick pathologist Dr. Pat Godbey hope the trust fund will eventually generate enough money to pay all of Bulloch County’s budget and create a prototype other rural Georgia counties can follow.
Initially, the doctors are donating 1.5 percent of the gross receipts from their six-acre solar farm in Pembroke to the trust, which will invest in state bonds for the county. The county will then receive half of the earned interest, with the other half reinvested for the county.
Other county solar installations, both private and public, will be able to contribute to the fund, he said.Will Georgia Power (or somebody) sue? We’ll see!
And they didn’t wait for North Carolina or New Jersey to do it first:
Smith believes the Georgia Energy Trust is the first trust fund of its kind in the country.Sounds like a plan to me!“It will lead to financial independence in the counties in which it is enacted.”
-jsq