LCBOE did its homework about consolidation, 5 October 2011

Unlike consolidation proponents, the Lowndes County Board of Education did its homework, showed it to us all, and could answer questions, all demonstrating that school consolidation would not improve education, would increase expenses and taxes, and far from bringing in more industry would probably drive some away by reducing the quality of education.

Tuesday evening, going beyond the research it had already published, Dr. Troy Davis took CUEE’s own figures for how much more consolidation would require to be spent per each Valdosta City school student, and demonstrated that not only would that require raising taxes for both Valdosta and Lowndes County residents to near the state-capped maximum of 21 mils, but even then there is no way enough tax revenue would be generated to pay for all the things CUEE proposes to do after consolidation, and probably not even enough taxes to continue employing all the teachers currently employed by the two school systems. Oh, plus consolidation would lose state and federal grant money by increasing the composite school system size, so the local taxpayers would have to make up that slack, too.

Jerome Tucker, on fire as a cheerleader, spelled out his life-long Continue reading →

Perceptions on School Unification —Clinton Beeland

Well, I was wrong: there is still somebody willing to try to link school consolidation in Troup County with the Kia plant, even though there’s no evidence there’s any connection and the mayor of the town with the plant complains about the results of consolidation. The appended LTE appeared in the VDT the other day. -jsq
Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information
– Wikipedia
I have sat on the sideline for a while on the issue of consolidation. Perhaps I am still on the sideline since I am not going to tell you how to vote. Regardless of the decision on November 8th I will continue to support education in one or two systems. In any event I feel compelled to at least provide some words for consideration. Here is my perspective from the sideline.

It is very apparent that we have pride in our schools. Pride is both

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Top 10 Reasons Why Solar Energy Will Win

Greentechsolar has an interesting article 28 Sep 2011 on Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins. in which is a top 10 list for solar. Here are some excerpts:
  1. A job is a job is a job.
    With all this talk about green jobs, clean jobs, and other kinds of jobs — how about we just call it a job? A job that puts food on the table, pays the bills, keeps the kids in clothes, and affords the occasional family night out. And, if you subscribe to the belief that all is lost due to the Chinese PV manufacturing juggernaut, keep in mind that you can’t export the thousands of business development, sales, design, engineering, installation, and service jobs we’re going to need every year.
Why not just say jobs, jobs, jobs? Because solar also doesn’t pollute the air and doesn’t suck up ground water. Not just jobs: clean jobs that don’t drain our resources.
But opinion only matters if the data supports it. Solar is one of the only industries adding private sector jobs in our struggling economy — with 6.8 percent growth from August 2010 to August 2011, when overall U.S. job growth was only 0.7 percent and when fossil fuel generators actually cut jobs by 2 percent. It’s estimated the United States already has over 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar panels. That’s more than in either steel production or coal mining (not including transportation and power plant employment).
Yes, while road and bridge building projects may bring in a few temporary construction jobs, solar brings construction jobs plus all sorts of other jobs plus long-term jobs. Long-term jobs in the fastest-growing industry in the world: Continue reading →

How did we get here? —JC Cunningham

Received Friday. -jsq
Things really have not changed have they? There are still people out there who believe they can force their will on the people regardless of the circumstances. I still cannot believe that we are here. Consolidation, Unification, where did this come from? What mind first came up with this idea and what is the real motive behind it?

Eight months ago when I heard that Rusty Griffin and his merry band of followers were once again trying to force unification down peoples throats, I never thought it would catch on and would just fizzle away. Oh, how wrong.

Over the months this consolidation issue that I thought would never gain steam is now on the ballot and could possible pass this Nov. 8th.

I have seen this thing divide friends, families, co-workers and even

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What a successful Chamber of Commerce looks like

Here’s what a successful Chamber of Commerce looks like:
State Sen. Bill Montford, right, congratulates Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Gardner on the National Solar Power’s massive solar farm project.

With the excitement of a massive solar-energy farm coming to the community still fresh on their minds, Gadsden County businesses are looking ahead to the potential such a project could have on the local economy.

Monday’s announcement by National Solar Power was a discussion topic Wednesday at the “Go Gadsden” breakfast of the Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce. The invited speaker, state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, told the gathering the project’s impact will extend well beyond the county.

“This is good for Gadsden County, but it’s good for all of North Florida,” Montford said during the breakfast at the Florida Public Safety Institute in Midway. “We believe it’s just the beginning.”

I look forward to seeing Myrna Ballard in such a picture. Or Andrea Schruijer.

-jsq

October LAKE meeting: the owl at Bojangles

Last month, we said this month we would get organized. Like what we’re doing? Come help.
Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: 5:30 – 6:30 PM,
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Where: Bojangles
1725 West Hill Avenue
(Highway 84)
Valdosta, GA 31601-5147
229-242-4202
This will be a brisk meeting due to the immediately-following LCBOE Why We Oppose Consolidation meeting at LHS.

If you follow the LAKE blog, On the LAKE Front, which you can also see through the LAKE facebook page, you know what we cover, from protesters to private prisons to gardening to schools, all of which turn out to be related. What else do you want to investigate? You can be LAKE, too!

If you’re on Facebook, please sign up for the event there.

Or just come as you are.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

-jsq

Why We Oppose Consolidation —Lowndes County Schools

From their website:
Lowndes County Schools will be hosting a forum entitled Why We Oppose Consolidation on October 4, 2011 at 7:00pm in the Lowndes High Cafeteria. All community members invited to attend.
Some people have been confused by LCBOE’s image version of this meeting announcement:

The meeting starts at 7PM on the fourth of October, which is Tuesday.

They’ve also put the LCBOE resolution online in plain text. Here’s the earlier LAKE transcription from our video of Supt. Smith reading the resolution. Here are videos of that entire LCBOE meeting, including the unanimous vote to adopt the resolution.

-jsq

Consolidation has nothing to do with improving our children’s education —Etta Mims

Received Thursday. -jsq
I know that there are many “newcomers” to the area which supported consolidation until they connected the dots and realized this has nothing to do with improving our children’s education.

See also Valwood, CUEE, and the Chamber.

-jsq

You call Sheriff; Sheriff calls animal control —Susan Leavens

Received today on Stray dogs and the law @ LCC 27 Sep 2011. -jsq
If Mr. Paulk was a “normal citizen” he would know if you call the sheriff’s department for a animal problem he would know they call animal control! And it is up to the animal officer if they want to give the dog back to the owner… Officers have done it many times. It is under the discretion of the animal control officer. Poor Ashley should know what the ordinance says I mean he was the sheriff for many years as he has indicated many times and since he is the County Chairman now one would think he would know what the orinance says. This poor guy was given wrong information by the County Chairman on how to fix the problem… perhaps if the man caught the dog and brought it to the shelter he would be better off. The owner would have to show proof of rabies vaccination and pay impound fees. $25 impound fee, $12 for a voucher if the dog does not have proof of current rabies vaccination. The prices are not much but it is incontinent. If it is not sterilized (spay or neutered) it doubles on each impound… fees can rack up pretty fast $25, $50, $100 and so on. The sheriff’s office is not going to handle owner involved cases, if the dog was returned to the owner it was not a stray. Sorry Ashley Paulk you’re so wrong on this one!

Solar: Infinite and Clean —Michael Noll

In today’s VDT. -jsq
If we are to believe Fox News and the Tea Party, solar doesn’t work because the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went belly up, despite the fact that it received $535 million in subsidies. While wasting an enormous amount of tax dollars on a company with a flawed business concept should raise everyone’s eyebrows, the conclusion that the Solyndra mess means “solar doesn’t work” is mind-boggling. It’s like saying “cars don’t work” because Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009, or “T-shirts don’t work” because Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 in 1999.

Solar is one of the most attractive renewable sources of energy throughout

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