The other execution Wednesday night

Everybody knows the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis Wednesday, 21 September 2011. Fewer people know the state of Texas executed Lawrence Russell Brewer that same night. The cases are the same in one very basic way, and different in others.

One blog overstates the case. David Henson wrote for religion margins, the state killed two men; we only cared for one

Two men were executed last night by the state.

And no one said a word about one of them.

Because it wasn’t about Troy Davis. Because witnesses didn’t recant. Because the evidence was clear. Because hundreds of thousands worldwide didn’t sign a petition for him.

Because it was about a white supremacist.

Another blog is more accurate. Sam Worley wrote for Bleader 22 Sep 2011, The second execution, Continue reading

Notice regarding videoing or photographing

Through a chain of emails yesterday we received this item originating at the County Clerk’s office.

This may or may not be what the Commission voted on Tuesday. It’s not signed by any of the voting Commissioners or the County Clerk.

It says it’s a NOTICE. Is a Notice an ordinance?

It’s still not on the County’s website list of ordinances.

So many questions!

Cynics might have still other questions.

-jsq

T-SPLOST Southern Region Cost Changes

Update 6:30 PM 26 September 2011: Please see the corrected version received from Corey Hull today. -jsq

Received yesterday from Corey Hull, with this cover sheet message, responding to my request in the T-SPLOST public meeting Monday.

John,

In the attached spreadsheet you will find the each project associated with four columns: the original estimate, the updated estimate, the TIA funding (any difference from the TIA and updated cost estimate is a secondary funding source i.e. federal, state, or local), and whether that project is currently included in the constrained list.

GDOT provided the updated costs estimates (based on current GDOT bids) and in some cases those estimates were further revised by GDOT and the local governments where appropriate. All project scopes remained the same with the exception of RC11-000049 and RC11-000042 (highlighted in yellow), these project termini were changed significantly.

I hope this answers your questions, let me know if you have any more.

Corey

Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
327 W. Savannah Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31601
Visit our Facebook Site!
229.333.5277
229.300.0922 (c)
229.333.5312 (f)
chull@sgrc.us
www.sgrc.us/transportation

The spreadsheet he sent is on the LAKE website in Excel spreadsheet and HTML versions. If you want to know what the projects are, you need to look at the unconstrained and constrained project lists. More later.

-jsq

$1 of 17 GA tax dollars spent on prisons

Carrie Teegardin wrote for the AJC 4 April 2010, Georgia prison population, costs on rise
Georgia operates the fifth-largest prison system in the nation, at a cost of $1 billion a year. The job of overseeing 60,000 inmates and 150,000 felons on probation consumes 1 of every 17 state dollars.
Above owed to Farrah D. Reed, who also commented on Gov. Deal: the bad, prison slave labor competing with free labor:
Maybe if our tax dollars were spent on education and rehabilitation we wouldn’t have so many folks locked up in the first place!

-jsq

Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes

Last night was the second of the three forums the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE) approved along with its statement opposing school consolidation. George Rhynes reports there were 300 people there, and he videoed everybody who stood up and spoke.

I especially like this one, with Jerome Tucker asking:

What makes the Chamber of Commerce better qualified than professional educators?
That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

Here’s the video:


Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

Here’s a playlist of all George’s videos of that Forum:


Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

-jsq

News so good, there’s a law against it!

I’d like to thank the Commission for the award!

Louis XIV handing down an award
at Versailles
I and LAKE will wear it proudly. The VDT doesn’t have one of these. WCTV doesn’t have one; WALB doesn’t have one. Only LAKE posts news so good, there’s a law against it!

It’s now been a week since the Lowndes County Commission passed an ordinance for no stated reason, not on the agenda, and not read to the public. It’s still not on the county’s online list of ordinances. Gretchen was covering an event Friday at which she saw Commissioner Crawford Powell; she asked him to send her a copy of the ordinance. Five days later, nothing has arrived.

So, our only clues are Commissioner Raines’ remarks that it had something to do with videoing and photographing. And his remarks that he believed that the Chairman could do it on his own, but he’d like to make a motion for the Commission to approve it.

So we have to guess it had something to do with Ashley Paulk’s outburst of the previous morning, in which he flattered me by addressing me and only me by name, even though there were at least two video cameras recording the meeting. This is what he was going on about:

The County Commission wishes from this day forward that any filming be done from the media area in the back corner of the room.
He didn’t say anything about still photography, or for that matter about digital videoing, so I don’t know whether what he said had anything to do with whatever it was that Commissioner Raines moved Tuesday and the Commission approved. Nor does anybody else know.

Now a cynic might say, Continue reading

Calderón contra la Guerra de las Drogas?

Juan Carlos Hidalgo wrote for Cato 20 September 2011, Calderón Hints at Drug Legalization Again,
Mexican President Felipe Calderón seems to be experiencing a dramatic change of mind regarding his war against drug cartels. Soon after a drug gang set fire to a casino in Monterrey a few weeks ago killing 52 people, Calderón told the media that ”If [the Americans] are determined and resigned to consuming drugs, they should look for market alternatives that annul the stratospheric profits of the criminals, or establish clear points of access that are not the border with Mexico.” Many people interpreted that as a veiled reference to drug legalization.
The referenced story by Julian Miglierini 1 September 2011 for BBC News also said the Mexican president went farther: Monterrey attack: Game-changer in Mexico’s drugs war?
Hours after it took place, the president described it “as an abhorrent act of terror and savagery” and later said the authors were “true terrorists”.
When you think about the billions or trillions the U.S. and other countries spend against terrorists who cause less damage than the Mexican drug cartels, he could be indicating that priorities are misdirected.

The Cato article says Calderón has now gone further: Continue reading

Solar Lowndes County Commission?

While GSEA is promoting statewide solar businesses and lobbying the state government to do what other states have done to promote solar, local governments and businesses don’t have to wait on the state. For example, the Lowndes County Commission has opened a discussion about solar energy in response to a presentation by Bill Branham. Now that they’ve learned the Lowndes County Commission could lead by making one of their famous position statements, this time in favor of solar, or by putting solar on the roofs of their buildings (solar on the jail! imagine that), bringing in money to do so by or by applying for grants, or by making a project big enough to apply for private venture capital from the at least two firms that are looking for such projects.

If the LCC won’t do it, how about solar Valdosta fire departments, or solar Hahira tobacco barns?

-jsq

Solar works for Georgia —GSEA

Back in June, the Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) held a Solar Summit in Atlanta, in which we learned there were four certified solar installers in Georgia four years ago, and now there are forty; that oil for energy is a national security risk (Col. Dan Nolan), and that “Solar is great for diversity, independence, research, and business.” (Chuck Eaton), and that Georgia is the third top state “that would benefit from solar deployment through generating and exporting energy to other states” (Richard Polich). Sounds like a business opportunity to me!

GSEA chair Doug Beebe elaborates in a column in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on 11 September 2011, Solar energy already works in Georgia, but it can do so much more for our state’s economy,

This has been a great year for the Georgia Solar Energy Association, too. Our membership has swelled to almost 300 corporate and individual members. This number includes manufacturers, installers, integrators, consultants and advocates who want to see Georgia benefit from an industry that contributed more than $5 billion in economic activity to the U.S. gross domestic product since 2008 and now employs more than 93,000 workers nationwide.

Our annual Southern Solar Summit in Atlanta this summer sold out, filling the auditorium at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center with Georgians eager to learn what innovations are making solar power more accessible in Georgia and beyond. Another annual Solar Summit in Savannah last month doubled its attendance this year, proving that interest in solar has spread beyond metro Atlanta.

The 2011 Georgia Solar Tour will feature sites statewide. We hope that some of the participants in this year’s tour will become hosts in next year’s.

Great, huh? So what’s the problem? This: Continue reading

Pardons board rejects clemency for Troy Davis

So now it’s down to Gov. Deal.

In the VDT via AP today:

Georgia’s pardons board rejected a last-ditch clemency plea from death row inmate Troy Davis on Tuesday despite high-profile support from figures including the pope and a former FBI director for the claim that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.

Davis is scheduled to die Wednesday by injection for the killing of off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was slain while rushing to help a homeless man being attacked. It is the fourth time in four years that Davis’ execution has been scheduled by Georgia officials.

Steve Hayes, spokesman for the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said

Continue reading