Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

The right of students to breathe clean air –Erin Hurley of SAVE @ VCC 24 March 2011

Erin Hurley provided the very model of how to give a speech:
I’m the president of Students Against Violating the Environment at VSU. I’m here representing 200+ members of SAVE, that consists of students, faculty, community members. We are deeply concerned with environmental issues and we are networking together to make this city a more humane and sustainable community for future generations.

As a student, I feel I have the right to be able to breathe clean air at the college I attend. With this biomass plant possibly being built here, the future for generations to come are in jeopardy, and we want to protect our fellow and future students’ health.

Please take into consideration the future health of this university and its community, and don’t sell grey water to the proposed biomass plant.

Here’s the video:


Erin Hurley, President of SAVE, Students Against Violating the Environment, speaking at
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

She said who she was, who she represented, how many, what they were for, what they wanted, quickly enough that attention didn’t waver, slowly and loudly enough to be heard, and briefly enough to transcribe, with pathos, logic, and politic. Even the mayor looked up at “As a student….”

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Thanks to George Rhynes for the district number label idea –Tim Carroll @ VCC 24 March 2011

A small example of following up on citizen suggestions, but who knows? maybe it’s a sign of much more to come. In the comments by council members at the end of the 24 March 2011 Valdosta City Council session, member Tim Carroll thanked George Rhynes for his suggestion to put district numbers on council members’ name plates so citizens could more easily tell which was their council member. Caroll raised his plate up so everyone could see it has a number on it, too, now. Other Council members also commented on various things.


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

George suggested the district number labels on 20 January 2011.

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Call to action for City Council not to sell water to biomass plant –Karen Noll @ VCC 24 March 2011

Karen Noll of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, asked the Valdosta City Council not to sell wastewater to the proposed Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant. She presented
“500+ signatures from community members and organizations”
asking for that. She also said
“…furthermore a response to our request each member of the council is expected before the next council meeting.”
Here’s the video.


WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, at
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Solar is better than biomass because it doesn’t pollute –Jack Pruden @ VCC 24 March 2011

Jack Pruden’s hand-lettered sign says:
Ban the burn
Go 100% solar
Gretchen asked him about that and he said:


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Angela Manning and her extended ovation @ VCC 24 March 2011

It’s Sunday, so let’s see what a local preacher thinks about the biomass plant. Mayor Fretti asked if there were any Citizens Wishing to be Heard, and a preacher said, “yes”. No, not Rev. Rose. He last spoke to the Valdosta City Council back on 10 February, and left in disgust. Besides, the Council thinks people are frightened of little old him.

This time, 24 March 2011, Angela Manning, minister of the 1500-member New Life Ministries in Valdosta near the proposed site for the Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant, read from the Valdosta City Council’s own mission statement and asked,

How do you adhere to your mission statement?
Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Biomass protesters @ VCC 24 March 2011

Black and white, young and old, conservative and liberal, college professors and unemployed: dozens of them demonstrated against biomass outside the Valdosta City Council meeting, 24 March 2011:

As Dr. George said Continue reading →

We have plenty of sunshine here –Dr. Serrán-Pagán @ VCC 24 March 2011

Dr. Cristóbal Serrán-Pagán y Fuentes reminds us we don’t need a biomass plant because:
We have plenty of sunshine here.
You’d think the Valdosta City Council would know that, since only about a month ago Mayor Fretti assisted groundbreaking for Wiregrass Solar LLC. Maybe it takes somebody from Spain to remind everyone. Spain, which is a leader in solar power in the world. Spain, which is actually north of Georgia.

Here’s the video:


Protesters outside the
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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What do you need to see to conclude this biomass plant is a bad idea? –Dr. Mark Patrick George @ VCC 24 March 2011

Dr. George gets to the point! After talking to several Valdosta City Council members, he has observed that people make up their minds regardless of evidence. So he wants to know:
What evidence would you need to see to conclude this is a bad idea?
Dr. George also gets at something even deeper that Council might consider a wakeup call:
The public outcry about this across the political spectrum, from conservative to liberal.
People against the biomass plant are not just black or white or young or old or conservative or liberal or college professors or unemployed: they are all of those things. The intransigence of elected and appointed officials is causing citizens to stand up and be heard on this and other issues around the county. This issue is serving as a catalyst for people to demand more transparent and responsive government.

Here’s the video:


Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Communities watching boards

Susan Hall Hardy says that in most places industrial authority executives don’t interact with their communities. Well, paraphrasing what Yakov Smirnoff used to say, in Lowndes County, community interact with officials!

Here is her comment from 15 March 2011 on this blog:

Not to be rude, although honesty is very often perceived that way these days, but, the industrial authority executives rarely thank their communities. In the six states I’m most familiar with, these fellows see themselves as beholden only to their employers. After all, they work with their directors, elected officials, a few bankers and city/county department heads. Rarely do they come in direct contact with the average voter, employee or homeowner, although all those people often pay a large part of their salaries and office operating expenses. Despite the public funding, these groups are usually tight lipped about how they do business and rarely provide the public with records or audits. We’ve all put up with that manner of doing business for so long we now see it as just that — the way you do business. We’d never accept that from a nonprofit organization, a charity group or most elected officials. Shame on us all.
Susan, you’re helping by reading, and you’re helping more by posting. Many local officials have noticed LAKE and this blog because they know people read it.

Anyone who wants to help still more, you, too, can go to a meeting. The Industrial Authority is a good one to attend, but I hear the Tree Commission isn’t trying as hard to enforce things, and does anybody know anything the Hospital Authority does? The Airport Authority? Continue reading →

CCA private prison in Lowndes County?

What’s Project Excel? A private prison for Lowndes County, proposed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).

Back in August 2010 when the VDT first brought this story to light, I pointed out that CCA is the same company that lobbied heavily for Arizona’s new immigration law so CCA could get more customers. And I wondered what VLCIA thought about this? Silly question: of course they’re all for it! It’s “jobs, jobs, jobs” with them.

As of 21 December 2010, apparently things were still pretty tentative when Brad Lofton gave an update to the VLCIA board, claiming the CCA private prison would bring 600 jobs to Lowndes County, Georgia:


Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Gary Minchew, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director, Allan Ricketts Program Manager,
21 December 2010
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Some public objection had surfaced by 20 January 2010, when Dr. Mark George remarked to the Valdosta City Council:

“I think we can do better than a generator that burns human waste. I think we can do better than a private prison and those are two things that we seem to be excited about as a community.”
Next, we’ll see if objections had any effect on the Industrial Authority.

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