Waycross animal shelter problems

A simpler kind of animal shelter problem, before and after.

Mike Morrison wrote for Jacksonville.com 4 August 2011, 14 dogs die from heatstroke at Waycross kennel; cooling fans pledged

The heat has killed dogs at the Waycross animal shelter because the kennel isn’t wired to power fans, but a city official said Wednesday that help is on the way.

Okefenokee Humane Society shelter manager Ben Hood said 14 dogs have died of heatstroke in the past three months, including a 7-month-old black Lab that died Wednesday.

“We’ve had record high temperatures this year,” Hood said, “but we don’t have any fans in the kennel because we don’t have any electricity out there.”

And on 10 August he wrote, Continue reading →

Snake Nation Road at Lowndes County Commission Monday 8:30AM, Tuesday 5:30PM

No rezonings this time, but plenty of money to be spent on this and that. The one I wonder about is
5.a. Change Order to Snake Nation Road Contract
We heard last time from Joe Pritchard that the county had received some estimates for resurfacing on Snake Nation Road, but he needed some time to organize funding before presenting details. OK, fair enough, but why is it a Change Order? Didn’t they just vote on realignment of Snake Nation Road in June? Why two months later a Change Order, which usually means have to do it right now with no competitive bids?

Here’s a backgrounder from the VDT about a sinkhole being discovered on Snake Nation Road last December. And here’s the VDT in May on costs for fixing it:

“We are purchasing the property to the north, 5.22 acres, for $40,000 to reroute the road,” said County Manager Joe Pritchard.

Rerouting the road will cost approximately $300,000 versus at least twice that amount to reinforce the hole, put in concrete supports, and fill it to prevent the road from collapsing again.

Here’s the agenda for this morning and tomorrow evening.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
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30 jail deaths since 1994 to 2009 —George Boston Rhynes

Received today on Alabama bishops criticize ALEC’s immigration law -jsq
Churches and pastors need to view this video and see about these animals. That is since we read so much information about the Animal Shelter in our area about abused animals. What about these animals and the thirty deaths that no elected official, church, human being or orgnzations seem to care about.

Did you know that Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail is leading the State of Georgia in Jail Deaths for whatever reason. Yet, no one is talking about these people many of whom are military veterans that served their nation. So where is the humanity to man?

Yes, we have had 30 jail deaths since 1994 to 2009 and not the Lowndes County Attorney has put it in a letter in so many words

Continue reading →

CUEE filed enough petitions for a referendum

Less than one percent of the registered voters in Valdosta have made the difference between CUEE’s school consolidation petition getting on the ballot and not.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website 19 August 2011: Continue reading →

Alabama bishops criticize ALEC’s immigration law

Some churches actually speak in public on what they profess to believe.

Campbell Robertson wrote for the New York Times 13 August 2011, Bishops Criticize Tough Alabama Immigration Law


Josh Anderson for the New York Times
CULLMAN, Ala. —On a sofa in the hallway of his office here, Mitchell Williams, the pastor of First United Methodist Church, announced that he was going to break the law. He is not the only church leader making such a declaration these days.

Since June, when Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, signed an immigration enforcement law called the toughest in the country by critics and supporters alike, the opposition has been vocal and unceasing.

Thousands of protesters have marched. Anxious farmers

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T-SPLOST projects as of 15 August 2011

Here’s what’s still on the agenda for T-SPLOST funding for our T-SPLOST region: Constrained Draft Project Listing, Southern Georgia Most of Lowndes County’s boondoggle road widening projects seem to have been bounced off the list. This one is still on there: $8 million to widen old US 41 North.

Some of the other projects may also be boondoggles for all I know, but at least all the ones to widen roads right to the north edge of the county and thus drive development all the way into agricultural and forest areas are gone. Here’s the list: Continue reading →

Animal issues on facebook

For those who miss their regular daily diet of animal shelter issues, Susan Leavens has started a facebook group called Georgia’s Regulatory Animal Protection Division the truth behind them.

And who knows? Maybe soon we’ll hear results of that investigation down at the sheriff’s office. Or maybe Gary Black will live up to his campaign promises. Or maybe Lowndes County will let the Humane Society train animal control officers. The more people ask for these things to happen, the more likely they will happen.

-jsq

NAACP paradigm shift

Why does it matter that the NAACP wants an end to the War on Drugs?

Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote for the Miami Herald 30 July 2011, NAACP’s paradigm shift on ending the Drug War

Here’s why this matters. Or, more to the point, why it matters more than if such a statement came from Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. The NAACP is not just the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It is also its most conservative.
Conservative as in:
…denoting a propensity toward caution and a distrust of the bold, the risky, the new. And that’s the NAACP all over.

…there has always been something determinedly middle class and cautious about the NAACP. This is the group whose then-leader, Roy Wilkins, famously detested Martin Luther King for his street theatrics.

For that group, then, to demand an end to the Drug War represents a monumental sea change.

How monumental? Continue reading →

NAACP calls for end to War on Drugs

Nafari Vanaski, wrote for Gateway newspapers 18 August 2011, NAACP calling for truce in nation’s drug war
If you grew up at the same time that I did, you’ll remember the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign that became popular in the mid-1980s and early 1990s.

It manifested itself in many ways, from the posters and talks in class to the “very special episodes” of shows such as “Blossom” and “The Facts of Life,” where a character encounters a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is pressuring him or her to try drugs. Inevitably, good prevailed and the druggie turned out to be from a broken family and needed only a good face-to-face with Nancy Reagan, the driving force behind the campaign, to overcome his addiction. (She appeared on “Diff’rent Strokes,” and considering the real-life histories of Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, she probably should have stuck around for a five-episode story arc.)

“Just Say No” was part of the larger war on drugs the Nixon administration declared in 1971. For grown-ups, that war symbolized a lot more than sappy primetime television. Especially for black adults. For them, it meant stricter laws for those found buying, selling and distributing illegal drugs.

To that end, the NAACP took an interesting step at its national convention last month. It approved a resolution to end the war on drugs because of its devastating effect on the black community.

Interesting how the headline writer watered that down: NAACP called Continue reading →

GALEO objects to redistricting time limit and district splitting

Jane Osborn submitted a press release dated yesterday from GALEO; excerpts are below. -jsq
…

From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population nearly doubled. It grew from 435,227 to 853,689. This increase accounted for 28% of the state’s total population growth. Georgia’s ten largest counties are home to over half of the Latino population, with 19% of the total Latino population residing in Gwinnett County. Other areas including Cobb County, Hall County, and Whitfield County also had significant increases in Latino population growth.

To begin with, I would like to object to the fact that we were only allowed one minute to provide testimony as reaction to the proposed Georgia Legislative maps for redistricting. I believe this was a violation of the principles set forth by the committee to ensure there was adequate time for response from community members. Obviously, the room was packed and lots of people wanted their opportunity to provide feedback and reaction to the proposed legislative maps. The one minute time limit severely limited the opportunity for that feedback and limited severely the opportunity for public reaction and analysis of the proposed maps.

…

Because of the anti-Latino environment that is clear with some elected

Continue reading →