Two weeks ago I delivered the official NAACP letter to all City Council
members (and Mayor Fretti) asking for a written response as to their
position on biomass and selling reclaimed water to the Wiregrass, LLC,
proposed incinerator.
No response. Not one.
I have heard that at least two Council members refuse to do so because
“it might be used against them.”
Citizens are entitled to hear where their elected officials stand on
these issues. At least Councilmen Vickers, Wright, and Yost have stated
publicly that they support biomass, even though black infants are already
dying in Valdosta at a rate twice as high as white infants. According
to Mr. Wright,
Our community could subsequently also “monitor” increases in respiratory
illnesses, cancer rates, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality
rates. Just ask the American Lung Association, the American Cancer
Society, and the American Heart Association.
This is incredible. A city council member who still hides behind an
EPD air permit, and who chooses to ignore the testimony of thousands of
medical professionals throughout the United States. At the same time,
we have a City Council that continues to isolate itself from its citizens
with a policy that undermines open dialogue.
The continued silence of our City Council and Mayor in regard to biomass
is mind-boggling. Haven’t they noticed the developments of the past
couple months? The regular protests? Hundreds and hundreds of signatures
and voices in opposition to biomass? Ashley Paulk’s statement? George
Bennett’s statement? Even a statement, it appears, by Wesley Langdale
who said that biomass is economically not feasible … which is something
WACE stated as far back as October 2010, supported by an article from
the Wall Street journal called “(Bio)Mass Confusion”.
Dr. Mark George once asked all City Council members the following
question: “What is it you still need from us, so that you understand
that biomass is a bad deal”? To my knowledge that question was never
answered.
Last night I shared a letter from a local physician
Pretty much everyone agrees there are problems with the two local
school systems in this county, those of Lowndes and Valdosta.
Proponents and opponents of school unification even agree on many
of the details.
They just don’t agree on the solution.
CUEE believes that unification will somehow lead to solutions to all this,
and
believe is the word they use,
because they have no evidence.
Opponents such as me
don’t see any plan to get to better education, and some think that unification
will cause problems that CUEE is not even considering,
just like integration did in 1969.
Here’s a pair of pie charts from 2008 from
Who’s losing in Winnersville?
a project unification opponent Dr. Mark George was involved in:
I didn’t intend to say anything Monday, but since
Rev. Bennett named me in his introduction
I thought it necessary to stand up and make it clear that
I do not support CUEE’s plan for school system unification.
After some examples of things on which I agreed or disagreed with
Ashley Paulk, the VDT, the Chamber of Commerce, and VLCIA,
I mentioned that after an SCLC meeting Rusty Griffin told
me that nobody who was not for unification would be accepted
on the CUEE board.
I praised
the upcoming Thursday meeting about education,
but pointed out that commitee would not report back before
the proposed unification vote,
and the CUEE board still had only one member from the county
outside Valdosta, so:
This is not diversification,
this is not representative of the people,
this a small pressure group,
and nothing personal against you,
a small pressure group that is trying to decide
for the rest of us.
Once again, why I’m opposed to CUEE’s unification scheme:
Continue reading →
So he was surprised when he discovered a group proposing to
finance such a plant.
And he later learned that there were many health problems
with biomass plants, and he now thinks it would be wrong to build it.
So as my mother would say, Rev. George Bennett is a big man!
Rev. George Bennett is a big man @ LCDP 2 May 2011
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.
Local food is more than healthier, it’s even more than tasty.
It’s also local economy and local community.
In the U.K., small local shops are being replaced by big-box supermarkets.
A widespread argument for this conversion is that consumers get
more choice.
Peter Wilby wrote in the Guardian 3 May 2011 about
why that’s not good enough:
Even the “good for consumers” defence of the big stores requires
scrutiny. Supermarkets may offer mangoes and kiwi fruit as a blessed
relief to generations who recall the surly greengrocer grunting “no
demand for it” when asked for anything out of the ordinary. But the
option to buy locally grown produce is increasingly closed off; many
varieties of English fruit disappeared long ago. Supermarkets stock food
not for its taste, but for its longevity and appearance. Conventional
economists count numbers, assuming that a huge increase in toilet roll
colours represents an unqualified gain to the consumer. They neglect
more subtle dimensions of choice.
The central issue, however, is whether “what the consumer wants” should
close down the argument. What people want as consumers may not be what
they want as householders, community members, producers, employees or
entrepreneurs. The loss of small shops drains a locality’s economic and
social capital. Money spent in independent retail outlets tends to stay
in the community, providing work for local lawyers and accountants,
plumbers and decorators, window cleaners and builders.
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.
Hm, so the ultimate big box would be
a private prison:
a literally captive audience paid for by captive tax dollars
and hirable at the lowest possible wages.
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.
In three years, a private-prison construction and management company, the
Corrections Corporation of America, has seen the value of its contracts
with the state soar from nearly $23 million in 2006 to about $700 million
three months ago – all without competitive bidding. Even in a state
accustomed to high-dollar contracts, the 31-fold increase over three
years is dramatic.
During the same period, the company’s campaign donations rose
exponentially, from $36,750 in 2006, of which $25,000 went to the state
Republican Party, to $233,500 in 2007-08 and nearly $139,000 in 2009.
The donations have gone to Democrats, Republicans and ballot measures. The
company’s largest single contribution, $100,000, went to an unsuccessful
budget-reform package pushed last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
CCA contributed to cutting funding for other services while
getting more contracts for itself.
Is that what we want in Georgia?
Cut education funding while paying private prison companies?
Is that what we want in Lowndes County?
Costs vary, but CCA receives about $63 per day per inmate, or about
$23,000 annually.
That would pay for a lot of rehabilitation and education.
How about we do that instead?
Two weeks ago I delivered the official NAACP letter to all City Council members (and Mayor Fretti) asking for a written response as to their position on biomass and selling reclaimed water to the Wiregrass, LLC, proposed incinerator.
