This comment from George Boston Rhynes arrived just now,
on “Talk to my chairman”. -jsq
I was at
the last LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING when
Chairman Ashley Paulk shared information about the Biomass Project
extension being denied and the alleged secrecy surrounding keeping the
general public ignorant.
“Because certain people won’t share with you and I think it’s
unfair. We were approached about three weeks ago, Mr. (Joe) Pritchard
(County Manager) was, by the Industrial Authority, and we were tentatively
asked to make a move to ask that they not extend the contract.”
(Chairman Paulk!)
Chairman Paulk words prove that there is an apparent pattern and practice
The member who hardly ever speaks at board meetings makes a strong case for openness.
Tom Call
called me back about the biomass plant,
and we talked about a number of other matters.
He remarked that he was not an appointed spokesperson for the Industrial
Authority, so this is just him talking.
I don’t like to publish hearsay, but since the Industrial Authority
won’t talk, that’s what I’ve got.
According to Leigh Touchton, Ashley Paulk told her Tuesday night:
He said that Jerry Jennett took the biomass vote off the agenda at last
Industrial Authority meeting (April 19) even though Mary Gooding and
Roy Copeland wanted the vote to be taken ( a vote that was to oppose an
extension of the biomass contract since the biomass incinerator had not
met timeline benchmarks like having a buyer, etc). He said that Allan
Ricketts, Industrial Authority attorney Steve Gupton, and Jerry Jennett
went up to Atlanta to meet with Wiregrass officials and that’s when he
(Chairman Paulk) got a call telling him all this and he said he wouldn’t
keep quiet about it. He said the three men asked Wiregrass LLC officials
to rescind their letter asking VLCIA for an extension on their contract
and to substitute a new letter saying they were withdrawing their request
for extension (or not going forward to ask for extension).
This is in addition to what you can see him
on video saying during the meeting.
More after this picture of the cast of characters:
Continue reading →
Ashley Paulk agrees with my mother about
what the Industrial Authority should do.
At the Lowndes County Commission meeting last night, Chairman Paulk
discussed the biomass plant with Dr. Noll, and said:
Certain people won’t share it with you, and I don’t think it’s fair.
We were approached … almost three weeks ago by the Industrial Authority
and we were asked to … ask them not to extend the contract.
Well, it’s not our contract; we could do that, but … we didn’t.
And then last week the Tuesday of their meeting, I received a call
… on my way back fromm Atlanta and they had gone up
there to talk to Wiregrass Power,
because they’d written a letter asking for an extension.
My understanding was that they asked Wiregrass to write another letter
to remove that extension request.
These are things, I think should be public knowledge.
Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 April 2011
Video by Alex Rowell for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
He told me several weeks ago about the commission being asked to vote not to extend.
Continue reading →
It’s a
very light agenda for the Lowndes County Commission;
so light the work session was cancelled.
However, the regular session is scheduled as usual for Tuesday evening.
They’ve moved Citizens Wishing to be Heard back to the middle of the meeting.
Historically, it’s been here and it’s been there in different places
in the agenda.
I still think at the end is a fine place for it, since then
more people may stay for the entire meeting.
I posted
my other thoughts on CWTBH
back when they changed to their current policy on that.
Groundwater sampling near a landfill is an item.
The same item was on the agenda last time, but didn’t get resolved.
Water is an issue throughout the region.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION CANCELLED
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
…apparently Yost thinks your criticism of people not staying is something
he can use to good effect to nullify the need to publicly address
citizen complaints.
Well, good luck to him: it doesn’t seem to be working that way.
I think I’m an equal opportunity criticizer.
Remember
I pointed out that the council is not a law enforcement body
and gave a recent example of that.
And I pointed out that the mayor of little old Gretna
put out a proclamation saying no biomass
and the great city of Valdosta could go ahead and do that
instead of waiting for somebody else to make the decision for them.
And yes,
I criticized the protesters for not staying.
I’m not surprised various people choose to ignore part of what I said
and pick up on other parts; life’s like that.
I understand that some people don’t like to take a strong position
in public.
Clearly not everybody has to be an advocate for or against any given topic.
However, my opinion is that anybody who runs for elected office should be willing
to say in public what their opinion is.
Sure, sometimes it’s good to say “I’m thinking about it” or “I’m studying it”
or even better “I’d like to know more about X”:
that could promote a dialog.
Even “I’m working on it behind the scenes” would be a useful public statement.
But elected officials refusing to take any position is ridiculous,
and I see nothing wrong with laughing out loud at the ridiculous.
Dr. Noll posted a comment today about last night’s Valdosta City Council
meeting, and we thank him for his report:
What I found most disturbing are actually the following things that
happened at last night’s meeting:
A Mayor in absentia because he is celebrating his birthday and decided
not to attend because of a lack of agenda items for the meeting.
A mother being harassed by Mr. Taylor who makes sexist comments when
her daughter is receiving an award for an essay contest.
A City Council and ALL of its members who continue to hide behind a policy
that supposedly does not allow them to respond during meetings. As if
they would respond before or after meetings.
City Council member Yost going into a tirade about my wife’s comment in
regard to “boring” meetings, when she is referring to the experience
of our children who have been sitting through quite a few of them by
now. Such meetings are indeed “boring” to a 9 and 12 year old.
Council member Yost then goes on to “thank” all of us for staying until
the end of the meeting so that we could witness the important work
they do. Like what? The replacement of two belt press sludge pumps, the
renaming of a street? If there is an important piece of work Mr. Yost
and his colleagues could impress us with, it would be a resolution to not
sell water to a biomass plant that threatens the health of our community!
-Michael Noll
Sometimes sludge replacement parts are boring,
but if we don’t replace them and the wastewater treatment plant
overflows, it may pollute your yard or your creek.
Best we take of it ahead of time and be proactive, rather than reactive.
Let’s take care of a problem before it happens!
-gretchen
PS: Don’t forget to go to the Planning Commission on Monday.
What will you do? —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Before I started, the mayor noted that many people needed to go to an event at 7PM
(he didn’t name it, but it was the
100 Black Men Annual Dinner.)
He offered to proceed with scheduled business and re-open Citizens to be Heard at the end of the meeting.
Nobody objected.
I had already waited until nobody else seemed to want to speak.
Her church is close to the proposed biomass plant site.
Many children go to school near there, too.
She said she could feel that some of the council wanted to jump up and say something.
Children –Keisha Ferguson for Angela Manning’s church @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Leigh Touchton commented yesterday about a meeting Tuesday 19 April.
She is president of the
Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP. -jsq
Valdosta NAACP branch voted last night to oppose the private prison approved by VLCIA. We don’t need more prisons, and they do not improve economic standards in any community in which they have been located. There is a safety burden upon the community, there are human rights abuses, and the focus should be on saving the state money by rehabilitation of non-violent offenders rather than mass incarceration. When America has 5% of the world’s population but incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners, this is unacceptable. In North Carolina, private prisons have put local furniture manufacturers out of business because they cannot compete with the prison’s slave labor. These are not sustainable and it’s no mystery why most of the large Christian denominations in America oppose them.
I was at the last LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING when Chairman Ashley Paulk shared information about the Biomass Project extension being denied and the alleged secrecy surrounding keeping the general public ignorant.
“Because certain people won’t share with you and I think it’s unfair. We were approached about three weeks ago, Mr. (Joe) Pritchard (County Manager) was, by the Industrial Authority, and we were tentatively asked to make a move to ask that they not extend the contract.” (Chairman Paulk!)Chairman Paulk words prove that there is an apparent pattern and practice
