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Meetings start on time, and remember if you want to speak you have to sign up before the meeting, so come early.
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Category Archives: Lowndes County Commission
Citizens and Sheriff Prine recognized @LCC, 8 Feb 2011
The Lowndes County Commission seems to have suddenly gone from
lecturing citizens about how it’s a waste of tax money for
people to speak too often to inviting all sorts of citizen
groups to show up and speak or be recognized.
I call that a good thing.
We’ll see if this
era of good feelings lasts.
In addition to
the many students speaking about Tranqulity Trail,
at the same meeting the Chairman recognized
a Boy Scout troop
(at least I think that’s what that one was)
and
Boy Scout Troop 418
(I’m pretty sure about that one).
Also the
Chidren’s Advocacy Center
(more about that one later).
And
Sheriff Prine thanked the Commission for their support
in
searching Ocean Pond for seventeen days.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Tranquility Trail –James Wright and students @LCC, 8 Feb 2011
Valdosta City Council member James Wright and students speak
to the County Commission about
Tranquility Trail.
The students have a number of good points, such as
“It’s not about me but our community”
and
“Don’t Litter, Make Our Trail Glitter”,
and
trees have educational and recreational benefits,
and
“We need our community to come in with us…
how our community can get involved.”
James Wright wraps up with
“Development of our community and our citizens.”
There’s more. Here’s the whole thing:
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Are all these medical associations and doctors lying? –Dr. Noll
In the new
era of good feelings,
Dr. Noll asked the Lowndes County Commission
whether they thought all the medical associations
and doctors who oppose biomass plants are lying,
same as he later
asked the Valdosta City Council.
He also offered to
discuss with biomass proponent Nolen Cox,
who spoke immediately before.
Here’s
the video.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Era of good feelings at County Commission
Shutting down debate didn’t work,
so now we have the era of good feelings at the County Commission.
Here
Chairman Ashley Paulk thanks Dr. Michael Noll for a previous meeting:
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Some of us did wonder when next thing was Noll’s microphone went off. But that was apparently just a technical failure, which continued for a while during the meeting.
I commend Chairman Paulk for his recent civil and, as Commissioner Lee used to say, “adult-like manner.”
However, as County Manager Joe Pritchard reminded everyone later at the County Commission retreat, the county government is still having a bit of difficulty adjusting to all this recent transparency. Let’s help them by showing them by example on many topics that the road of respect goes both ways.
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Say no to grants and shut off debate on biomass –Nolen Cox, LCC, 8 Feb 2011
Local resident Nolen Cox says government grants are more addictive than drugs,
and “all the federal money is my tax money.”
He mentions federal debt, and lists only social programs.
Regarding grants, he’s specifically referring to a proposal to
accept a grant for NOAA weather radios, which we’ll come back to later.
His other topic is that he thinks we need more oil, more nuclear, and biomass. His recommendation: “I would stop discusssing it.” He thinks it’s like global warming, which he thinks is a lie. He sums up:
Build the plant, employ people, get on with the program.It’s interesting that these are about the best arguments biomass proponents have. Perhaps he’s not aware that shutting off the debate was tried recently and doesn’t seem to be working too well. Here’s the video.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Georgia native helps inspire Egyptian revolution: MLK in Arabic
Georgia native son Martin Luther King continues to inspire
non-violent resistance to oppression,
now in Arabic comic book form in Egypt.
Egyptian activist Dalia Ziada obtained rights to translate
The Montgomery Story from 1958 into Arabic.
She says:
When, at first, we went to print the comic book, a security officer blocked publication. So we called him and demanded a meeting. He agreed, and we read through the comic book over coffee to address his concerns. At the end, he granted permission to print and then asked: “Could I have a few extra copies for my kids?”Continue reading
“we can limit them to one area” –Joe Pritchard
On the front page of the paper VDT today County Manager Joe Pritchard
proposes further restrictions on citizens in public County Commission
meetings:
“We cannot stop anybody from taking video of a session; but we can limit them to one area; it’s distracting to us and to citizens to have somebody running around the session trying to get different angles,” said Joe Pritchard, county manager.The only person I’ve seen running around the session trying to get different angles is Paige Dukes, County Clerk. Will she now be prohibited from coming out from behind the bar to take pictures of awards and such?
Why they can’t stop anybody from taking video, according to Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1-c.:
“Visual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open meetings shall be permitted.”Some courts do put some restrictions on visual recordings, such as prohibiting pictures of jurors. But the Lowndes County Commission is not a court. It is the only elected body for the entire county, and thus the only public forum at which citizens can peacefully assemble to petition their local government for redress of county-wide grievances.
Does the Commission really want to put more restrictions on citizens in its meetings,
even though a constitutional scholar is questioning
the constitutionality of
the rules they recently passed?
Rules which limit the number of speakers in Citizens Wishing to be Heard to 10
and
Continue reading
Prior restraint –Prof. Jane Elza
This LTE appeared in the VDT today. Here is
context in case you haven’t been following this subject.
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Dear Sir,Continue readingThe County Commission has recently passed a resolution that will prohibit discussion of issues the commissioners consider closed by citizens in the “citizens will be heard” section of the Commission meetings. While apparently reasonable on its face, the restriction is designed specifically to prevent any more discussion of the Biomass plant. Commissioners have been quoted in the paper as saying they just don’t want to hear anymore about it. A law designed to prevent a citizen from discussing a particular subject is prior restraint. I taught Constitutional law at VSU for 28 years and I think this resolution is unconstitutional for that reason. One cannot separate the intent from the prohibition.
I can also argue that the restriction itself is unreasonable because
G. Robert Carter (1924-2011)
Update 13 Feb 2011: A very nice biography and tribute in the VDT today. His birth year is corrected in the title of this post.
According to the VDT today [12 Feb 2011]:
At approximately 11 a.m. Saturday morning, emergency personnel responded to the residence of G. Robert Carter, former Lowndes County Commissioner and Sheriff. Carter, who was recently hospitalized for an unnkown illness, has reportedly passed today.
Two weeks ago
he spoke as he was being honored
at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner:
speaking at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
I’ve lived long enough to appreciate the Greatest Generation, but also to appreciate the younger ones coming along to take our place.Here are videos of all the tributes to Sheriff Carter that evening. Continue reading…
I’m not totally out of business; I might be able to help you somewhere down the line. As I told Crawford, don’t wait until you get in trouble. Come to see me before you get in trouble.