Category Archives: VLCIA

Talk to my chairman —VLCIA board members

Yesterday I wrote that we were left with hearsay through Ashley Paulk and people he talked to about what the Industrial Authority is up to, and I had left telephone messages with all five VLCIA board members. So far, three out of five have called me back.

Roy Copeland referred me to VLCIA Chairman Jerry Jennett for an update about the present status of the biomass plant.

He also had many good things to say about the activism in the community, including this:

Because people in the community are concerned, that makes us better. And sometimes there are good things that come out of disagreement.

This opinion is not new from him: he told me many of the same positive things about activism months ago after a VLCIA board meeting. We discussed that there were other things VLCIA does that were worth supporting.

He also said he is in favor of putting the minutes online, Continue reading →

Who’s for What at the VLCIA

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 →

NAACP boycotting Arizona —Leigh Touchton

This came in as a comment yesterday on Georgia first to copy Arizona anti-immigrant bill. -jsq

Thank you for posting this, Mr. Quarterman. The NAACP is one of the groups boycotting Arizona over its anti-Hispanic “immigration” law (which really does nothing except racially profile American citizens who happen to have brown skin.)
More on the NAACP boycott of Arizona can be found here.
http://www.blackenterprise.com/2010/05/20/naacp-joins-boycott-of-arizona/
-Leigh Touchton

A quote from that article. -jsq

“We are joining this lawsuit because the Arizona law is out of step with American values of fairness and equality,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP. “It encourages racial profiling and is unconstitutional. African Americans know all too well the insidious effects of racial profiling.”

Move on, find other avenues, other projects —Ashley Paulk

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.

There’s more in the video.

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 →

Listening and asking questions to make sure I understand —Tim Carroll

This came in as a comment Tuesday evening on Walk out into the audience. -jsq

Over the past four years, I have had a significant number of citizens contact me. Some with complaints, some with questions and yes…even some with compliments. I have never refused to meet with anyone. Some want to know what my position is on an issue. As a rule, especially on items that may come before council for a vote – I do not state a position. I choose to wait for the public hearing at which time all final arguements both for and against an item are stated and on the record.
Mrs. Noll contacted me directly this past week and we met and discussed

Continue reading →

Georgia first to copy Arizona anti-immigrant bill

Georgia passes anti-immigrant law that benefits private prison companies.

Seth Freed Wessler wrote 15 April 2011, Welcome to the Wild, Wild South: Georgia Passes SB 1070 Copycat Bill

Many worry about the financial costs of the bill. Though these are surely not the greatest concerns for immigrant communities who would be most impacted if Georgia’s bill is enacted, many business groups are anxious. A national boycott of Arizona cost the state an estimated $250 million in lost taxes, tourism and other revenue, according to the Center for American Progress.
Even before the Georgia bill passed, a group of organizations across the country threatened to wage a boycott of the state of Georgia if it enacts the legislation.

Most states that have had this bill introduced have had the good sense to get rid of it. Continue reading →

Executive Director wanted —VLCIA

Get your applications for VLCIA Executive Director in no later than today!

Found on IEDC for 18 April 2011 and also on SEDC with no date, this job posting:

Executive Director, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (Valdosta, GA)
A very exciting opportunity with a successful industrial authority with numerous assets.
Greater Valdosta is the business, cultural, educational, medical, leisure, and retail hub for thirteen South Georgia and North Florida counties and more than 1.2 million citizens. Valdosta and Lowndes County are quickly becoming the fastest growing area in Georgia and are home to Moody Air Force Base; two Regional Medical Centers; and Valdosta State University, a regional university with over 13,000 students.
Starting salary $100,000 to $125,000, DOQ.
See cb-asso.com for a complete Position Profile.
The Authority’s website is www.industrialauthority.com

Digging around on cb-asso.com finds this detailed job description. It’s four GIF images (copies here) of a VLCIA logo and three pages of a four-page flyer.

Brief excerpts: Continue reading →

Sentence reform in Georgia?

AP wrote 22 April 2011, Deal signs measure creating sentence reform panel:

Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation Friday [House Bill 265] that would create a panel to study Georgia’s criminal justice system with an eye toward overhauling the state’s tough sentencing laws.
The laws have left the state with overcrowded prisons and taxpayers with an annual corrections bill that tops $1 million.
The legislation creates a 13-member commission that would study sentencing reforms in hopes of offering alternative sentences for some drug addicts and other nonviolent offenders. The panel would have to report its findings by early 2012, in time for lawmakers to act on them in the next legislative session.

That annual bill has to be more than $1 million; maybe $1 billion.

Anyway, Georgia seems to be discovering what Texas already did some years ago: we can’t afford to lock up so many people.

The high incarceration rate comes with high costs. Georgia pays $3,800 each year to educate a child in public schools, and $18,000 every year to keep each inmate behind bars, Deal said.

What will we do with them instead?

Hall County is one of several counties that have adopted drug courts, which aim to provide alternative sentences for low-level drug offenders. At the ceremony, drug court graduation Mike Wilcoxson said the program changed his life.
“One thing drug court has done for me is give me a sense of purpose in my life, to set goals for myself, to be accountable for my actions, and to break the cycle of addiction I had,” Wilcoxson said.

That’s one solution.

And if we’re not going to lock up so many people, why do we need to build a private prison in Lowndes County?

-jsq

To Speak or Not To Speak @ VCC 21 April 2011

Can Council members answer in Citizens to Be Heard, or can’t they? One did; another says she can’t.

In Council Comments at the end of the 21 April 2011 Valdosta City Council meeting, Sonny Vickers talked about bids.

Then Deidra White said she would attend any meeting where she could hear and reply to citizens’ concerns, but she can can’t say anything about Citizens to be Heard because there’s a Council policy.

That’s interesting, considering that in the previous Valdosta City Council meeting, in Citizens to be Heard, Council Sonny Vickers responded to Dr. Mark George saying that he had already told everyone that he was for the biomass plant. Does this mean that Council supporters of the biomass plant can speak Continue reading →

Quality time —Mayor John Fretti

More from the person posting as Mayor John Fretti, this time responding to Dr. Noll’s recent post. -jsq
Update 12:40 AM 23 April 2011: Mayor Fretti confirms that the post was by him. -jsq

Perhaps this is my last post: It is in regards to Michael Noll’s most recent post. I will attempt to cut and paste the section that I would like to respond.
“What I found most disturbing are actually the following things that happened at last night’s meeting:
1) 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.”
Michael – I hope that I have always been polite and respectful