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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rev. Floyd Rose quizzed Mrs. Ruth Council whether black students
got a better education in black schools.
She said she has taught in all sorts of schools, black and white.
He clarified:
…we were told about the world, where we came from, how we got here.
Mrs. Ruth Council said CUEE needs “parents, administrators, business people,
everybody, city and county”.
Whether we unify or not, we need to improve our educational offerings
for our boys and girls.
…
Will you please come to the meeting on the seventh
and provide information that you think will benefit.
Speakers pro and con school unification assembled up front
to talk about procedures, and a listener took exception to that.
Dr. Lee Allen said the important thing was “the simple idea of what we want to do”
and then talked about the 1960s and what he didn’t want to hear about that.
He never did say what he wanted to do now.
We have complaints that some people couldn’t understand
what Dr. Mark George was saying in
the previous post of his remarks at Monday’s Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting,
so here’s another version from a different camera.
Feedback, please.
He said the Chamber of Commerce said schools were not its issue.
Dr. George pointed out that it was the Chamber and the
real estate industry that largely produced the current situation
by funelling people to the county schools.
He said the unification project started with a request from
the Industrial Authority, who said it didn’t look good when
potential industry saw there was a black school system and
a white school system.
(The timing of this is interesting, because it comes after
Brad Lofton was hired as VLCIA Executive Director,
and other people formerly associated with VLCIA say they
were never asked by any potential industry how many school
systems we have.)
Dr. George discussed many other interesting points, such as CUEE’s
terminology drift from consolidation to integration to unification.
Camera 2: Dr. Mark George about CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011 Part 1 of 2:
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.
In this second video from camera 2,
Dr. George noted
that the Valdosta school system is internally segregated.
He said both he and Rev. Rose asked to have somebody put
on the CUEE council, and that that didn’t happen.
There’s more; you can watch it for yourself.
Here’s
Part 2 of 2:
Camera 2: Dr. Mark George about CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011 Part 2 of 2:
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.
“Poorly fitted air conditioners cost New York City 130 to 180 million
dollars a year in extra energy consumption,” one of the strategists,
Capt. Wayne Porter of the Navy, said Tuesday. “They generate 370,525
extra tons of carbon dioxide.”
Suppose, he says, you fixed them. And then you got the 40 states
that waste the most electricity to match the 10 most efficient. The
likely benefits are no surprise — less foreign oil, cost savings,
job creation, decreased pollution.
Now follow that thread to
“A National Strategic Narrative,”
a paper
written by Captain Porter and Col. Mark Mykleby of the Marines, which
calls on the United States to see that it cannot continue to engage the
world primarily with military force, but must do so as a nation powered
by the strength of its educational system, social policies, international
development and diplomacy, and its commitment to sustainable practices
in energy and agriculture.
“We must recognize that security means more than defense,” they
write. After ending the 20th century as the world’s most powerful
country, “we failed to recognize that dominance, like fossil fuel,
is not a sustainable form of energy.”
Dr. Mark George pointed out that school consolidation didn’t solve
some problems last time:
In 2011 our schools were more segregated racially than they were in 1968.
He questioned why people should believe that consolidation, even if called
unification, would solve those same problems this time.
Continuing the
debate between proponents and opponents of unification of the
Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems, organized by
Gretchen Quarterman, chair of the
The Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).
Here, speaking against, is Dr. Mark George.
I’m on the CUEE board because
I believe a unified school system can better serve children
of our community, and particularly children in the city of Valdosta.
Gretchen Quarterman, chair of the
The Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
organized a debate between proponents and opponents of unification of the
Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems.
Here, speaking for, is Dr. George Bennett, on the board of
Community Unification for Educational Excellence (CUEE).
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.
