“the learning curve is very steep” –Ken Klanicki

This LTE appeared in the VDT yesterday (28 Feb 2011). -jsq
Former Lowndes County commissioner Richard Lee once told me “…the learning curve is very steep for first-time commissioners.” Our new county commissioners, Richard Raines and Crawford Powell, are living proof of the veracity of that statement. In case Bill O’Reilly is reading this, here’s a few examples.

Earlier this month a grant application for the purchase of 5,000 weather emergency radios was nixed by a 2 – 1 vote. The radios could’ve been a means for citizens residing in remote areas of the county to

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The owl in Hahira: March 2011 LAKE meeting

The owl in Hahira:
Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: 5:30-6:45 PM, Tuesday 1 March 2011
Updated meeting location
Where: home of Thomas Ieracitano
414 East Main Street, Hahira
229-251-2462
That’s on US 122, just east of the Masonic Lodge.
Thomas says:
“Bring a lawn chair, laptop (I will have Mediacom wireless) and your own food and drink.”
If it rains or there are too many bugs or something, we will move to:
Down Home Pizza
103 South Webb Street, Hahira
229-794-1888

Help cover food, water, transportation, incarceration, solar energy, biomass, and regular local government meetings: you never know when news will be made!

Popular topics lately on the LAKE blog, On the LAKE Front, include Continue reading →

“We welcome solar power to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County”

After all the protesters, police, and press, representatives of VLCIA, Sterling Planet, Hannah Solar, Georgia Power, and the City of Valdosta did finally break ground for the Wiregrass Solar power plant. I asked Col. Ricketts for a shovel, but he just snorted. Here’s the groundbreaking video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Valdosta State of the City –Mayor Fretti

Here’s the text of Valdosta Mayor Fretti’s State of the City speech of yesterday. I thought they said it would be available on the web today, but if so, I’m not sure where. Pictured is Rudy the K9 dog, who is mentioned in this passage:
Now Wally was purchased with grant funds. Rudy was trained with grant funds. Our mobile command center was purchased with grant funds. Several other pieces of equipment for Police and Fire departments are purchased with grants. Now, there are those that scream and shake their fist at government to say, “Take no grants, for they are evil”.
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Peace Love & Understanding –Nick Lowe

Elvis Costello reminds us this song was written by Nick Lowe in 1974, What’s so funny about Peace Love & Understanding?
As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There’s one thing I wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?
Here Costello sings it with Bob Dylan, Zooey Deschanel, and Jenny Lewis:

-jsq

Authority should listen to other sources –John S. Quarterman

This op-ed by me appeared in the VDT today, 24 Feb 2011. On 15 Feb 2011 I spoke directly to the VLCIA board about the main points and the next day I sent them the longer version, Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare, which includes links to videos of the relevant speeches and to VLCIA’s charter. -jsq
Everyone wants jobs for those who need them and jobs for young people so they don’t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those people need to drink?

At the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Brad Lofton gave a speech which I liked, and I told him so afterwards, because it was mostly about real industry with real jobs that that the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) has brought into the area.

But it had a problem:

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VDT on VLCIA biomass “Forum” expenses

David Rodock writes in the VDT, Report on funds spent by Industrial Authority during biomass conference:
An open records request led to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) publicly releasing the detailed costs associated with hosting a panel discussion to answer questions about the Wiregrass biomass plant at the Rainwater Conference Center on Dec. 6, 2010.

The total cost for the event was $17,534.36.

LAKE posted the detailed expense documents Monday 20 Feb 2011.

The VDT article quotes Col. Allan Ricketts as saying:

“These costs included renting the center and providing refreshments. We view these costs as due diligence because they relate directly to our community. We need to make sure that a project is a good fit for our community and that it won’t do harm to our community,” said Ricketts.

“You would want to insure that you going provide the best information available – they are the most qualified professionals you can find. You’d expect to pay them and they expect to be paid for their services.”

If they were so qualified, why wasn’t the VLCIA willing to have local people who would have charged nothing sit on the panel and debate them? Perhaps it’s because so many of the paid experts’ points were so easy to refute, as we know because so many of them have since been amply refuted?

-jsq

Biomass no, solar yes –Kathryn Grant

Kathryn Grant at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:
We’re here to oppose the biomass plant…. We want people to know we support solar energy in hopes that that could be incorporated throughout the state.
Here’s the video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

“Go solar! But no to biomass” –Dr. Michael Noll

Dr. Michael Noll at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant:
We’re all for solar, go solar! But no to biomass.
Here’s the video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More Noll here.

-jsq

Georgia Power at Wiregrass Solar groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011

It was good to see Georgia Power assisting at the groundbreaking of the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, instead of just studying and demonstrating. The speaker equated solar, biomass, and nuclear. Hm, what’s that over their heads? Why, biomass doesn’t seem to be as popular as solar! I didn’t catch the speaker’s name, but he also recognized Robbie Hastings, detail manager in Valdosta. Here’s the video:


Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Georgia Power had several pages in the business section of the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT) the previous Sunday, written up on Monday as Harnessing the sun’s rays: Georgia Power kicks off 18-month solar power study, by Karah-Leigh Hancock, about what Gapower is doing instead of actually deploying solar: Continue reading →