These are the open records that me and another animal control officer sent to GDA and I also have Amanda Jordans Statement if you would like that. Please excuse some of the language in my statement she (pat smith GDA inspector) told me to write it like it was said….Here they are on the LAKE web pages.
These records include much more detail than what we’ve heard before.
After reading them, do you think installing a few cameras is adequate to deal with this situation?
-jsq
Like many of us, he wondered what the county government is thinking:To permit the establishment of the Foxborough Avenue McDonalds, the county has irreversibly established a most terrible precedence. You too can wake up one morning to find a Fast food store being built in your front yard.
I cannot comprehend how the county can possibly benefit from allowing such an establishment to be built in a quite county residential neighborhood. Is it because it provides unskilled low paying jobs? Will this McDonalds look good on a resume? It was my understanding that Valdosta and Lowndes County wanted to attract a more skilled, professional work force. The real estate on Foxborough Avenue the county permitted McDonalds to build on would have been, and is prime real estate for just such a professional enterprise….Good questions.
Here’s the video:
Residential home owners of Lowndes County take notice —Vince Schneider @ LCC 14 June 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
After Vince Schneider finished reading his letter,
Chairman Ashley Paulk handed him a paper, which was apparently
a communication from County Engineer Mike Fletcher.
Appended is the text of the letter Vince Schneider read to the Commission. Continue reading
ATLANTA, Georgia (AFP) – A controversial immigration law in the US state of Georgia has brought unintended results, forcing farmers to reluctantly turn to ex-convicts as Latin American manual workers flee.The story quotes the figure of 11,000 needed workers, and quotes some farmers about that the state’s scheme to send people on probation to work on farms: Continue readingLow-skilled, undocumented workers, who for years have formed the backbone of this southern state’s farming economy, have bolted in the lead-up to the law taking effect on July 1, fearing deportation if caught working here.
The measure’s mainly Republican supporters argue that the state needs to enforce immigration laws in the absence of effective federal action, saying schools, jails and hospitals are overburdened by illegal aliens.
But as the full cost of the immigration reform emerges in the form of an estimated millions of dollars worth of crops rotting in fields, it could alarm other states that have passed or are considering similar strict measures.
This is ridiculous.This comment came in yesterday on Proposed Lowndes County Budget published by LAKE.
- Why make it hard to obtain the budget?
- What is the “Bird Supper”?
- Why is the County Attorney $100k over budget?
- Why don’t I see those cameras listed for the Animal Shelter?
-Jessica Bryan Hughes
A federal judge on Monday blocked parts of Georgia’s law cracking down on illegal immigration from taking effect until a legal challenge is resolved.And he left other parts intact.
Judge Thomas Thrash granted a request to block parts of the law that penalize people who knowingly and willingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants while committing another crime. He also blocked provisions that authorize officers to verify the immigration status of someone who can’t provide proper identification.
Thrash wrote that under parts of the law, the state is enforcing immigration law that should be left to the federal government.
-jsq
PS: Owed to Steve Perkins.
We know it happened though because the paper reported on it.
The second budget hearing is scheduled for June 28 at 5:00pm and is on the Lowndes County web site calendar.
At the work session this morning, I asked Ms. Stephanie Black if she
could e-mail me a copy of the budget and she said yes. Ms. Paige Dukes
said that Ms. Black should not e-mail me the document, but I could look
at a paper copy. A paper copy could be provided to me for $0.25 per page.
I asked if there was an electronic copy and Ms. Dukes said that this document
was not available in an electronic form.
Given that the document is neatly typed and clearly is generated from a spread sheet, I think that it is not true that this document is unavailable in an electronic format.
I asked if I could photograph it instead and Ms. Dukes said Continue reading
VDT opined 23 June 2011, What We Think: Surviving, not thriving:
After giving people in Valdosta a hard time for not showing up at their city’s budget hearing, I have to say: mea culpa. I wasn’t there.Lowndes County Commissioners held a budget hearing Tuesday to discuss the 2011-2012 fiscal year with citizens, only to have no citizens appear. The budget will be finalized at a public hearing Tuesday, June 28, prior to the regular commission meeting.
With all of the attention paid lately to officials and their expenses, you would think that the opportunity to learn how the county spends citizens’ tax dollars would have been an opportunity not to be missed. But missed it was.
However, I would ask: how were we supposed to know about it?
Someone from LAKE has been at every regularly-scheduled Lowndes County Commission
meeting in the recent past, videoing the whole meetings,
and I must have missed the announcement
of this recent budget hearing, which is also not on the county’s website calendar.
The VDT continues:
Maybe it’s because there’s nothing new about the county’s budget. It’s the same as it has been for several years — flat.Oh, there are luxury items, they’re just not in the budget, because the county is asking we the taxpayers to pay through the proposed new T-SPLOST tax forNo increases in revenue are projected. No new positions, merit raises, cost of living increases, or significant purchases, again. Caps on assessments, the continuing lull in construction, and slow sales mean no new revenue is coming in. What is projected is enough to make ends meet, but there are no frills, no luxury items, not this year.
And Lowndes County has tacked onto the end a request for $7.5 million for a bus system. Which would you rather have? A bus system that would promote the entire county’s economy, or five lanes on New Bethel to add to Lanier County sprawl?
Fortunately, T-SPLOST does publicize its hearings, the next of which will be 6 July 2011 in Nashville, Georgia.
The VDT concludes;
But for Lowndes to thrive, to make such a possibility come alive, it needs citizens willing to participate in the process. We need creative thinking and we need leaders willing to listen to the possibilities of new ideas.Hear hear!
Stay tuned for what happens when a citizen tries to get involved in the Lowndes County budget process.
-jsq
Jane Osborn remarked yesterday:
Here is a story that was not in our local paper.Amber Eady wrote for WALB 20 June 2011, Chamber workshop helps parents prepare their child for success:
The WALB story appendes the full Chamber press release, which includes: Continue readingThe Helping Your Child Succeed lunch-n-learn workshop was held Friday, June 17.
The workshop was created to help reach parents in the workplace, and to teach parents about statistics in dropout rates, and the education system as a whole.
For more information contact Keyara Hamilton at 229-247-8100.
SanAntonio has a solar Goal to reach by 2020. New Jersey also has such a goal to reach by a similar date. We can move forward with just such a comittment from the city to attain a reasonable goal.-Karen Noll
Laura Vecsey wrote in Pennlive 16 June 2011, Harrisburg City Council looks to introduce resolution that would allow bankruptcy paperwork to be prepared:
It seems Harrisburg applied for Act 47, which is apparently a state bankruptcy protection plan last October, but now: Continue readingHarrisburg City Council member Brad Koplinski is seeking to introduce a resolution that will allow the council to prepare paper work that might become necessary should a majority of the council decide to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
Koplinski said the urgency of being prepared escalated Thursday when state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola introduced legislation that called for a state takeover of Harrisburg should the distressed city fail to adopt the Act 47 plan it was presented Monday.