Tag Archives: jobs

Michael Bryant: “the appalling silence”

Pastor Michael Bryant expands on
his previous letter.

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Dear Pastors and fellow laborers in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior,

I was born and raised here in Lowndes County. Today I am as disturbed as I
was in 1973 when I, along with 42 other students, four ministers and their
wives, were jailed for protesting unfair treatment of students in the
Lowndes County School System. We were arrested while standing in the
parking lot awaiting to enter the building for a meeting called by
the Lowndes County Board of Education at their office on St. Augustine
Road. The meeting was supposed to be a good faith gesture designed to
mediate an amicable solution to the picketing which had been in process for
nearly six months. After being arrested, we were moved from Big 12 in a
prison truck in the dead of night. We were to be housed in the Cook County
jail and none of our parents knew where we were. When we exited the truck,
both sides of the walk way upon which we had to walk were lined with
numerous State Troopers and other Law Enforcement officers sporting riot
gear and shotguns. On the following day they refused to feed us breakfast.
We began to complain and the judge came upstairs dressed in his robe. He
said “I want you to stop making noise, and if you don’t, I can make you
stop.”

When we complained again, the cell in which we were jailed was sprayed
down with tear gas. We had one toilet and one sink in which to clear our
eyes. These are facts that went unreported by the papers. In fact they
said we were rabble rousers. The late Ralph Harrington signed all our
bonds, and we went through a lengthy trial, represented by the late Mr. C.
B. King, Sr., of Albany, GA. At the close of the trial all charges were
dismissed and expunged from our records.

As a student then, I witnessed the appalling silence of men and women of
God who preached the hell out of people on Sundays, collected their checks,
and went home untouched by the happenings in the community. This was much
like the appalling silence of ministers who sat on the sidelines while Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., placed his life on the line for “the least of
these.”

Some years ago, Rev. Floyd Rose, two of my sisters and several other

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LBJ about Pollution



It’s a really great speech and still relevant 45 years later.
This is just a little excerpt:

In the last few decades entire new categories of waste have come to plague
and menace the American scene. These are the technological wastes–the
by-products of growth, industry, agriculture, and science. We cannot
wait for slow evolution over generations to deal with them.

Pollution is growing at a rapid rate. Some pollutants are known to be
harmful to health, while the effect of others is uncertain and unknown. In
some cases we can control pollution with a larger effort. For other
forms of pollution we still do not have effective means of control.

Pollution destroys beauty and menaces health. It cuts down on efficiency,
reduces property values and raises taxes.

The longer we wait to act, the greater the dangers and the larger the
problem.

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Phyllis Stallworth: “I am gravely concerned and disappointed”

I received this on 7 Oct for posting.

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Valdosta is an innovative city with expanding opportunities for
our growing community. Valdosta has recently celebrated 150 years of
progress. As a citizen, I have spent most of my adult life experiencing
this progress. I’ve seen economic developments through recruitment,
retention and expansions that benefit our city, with tremendous support
from our communities. I’ve seen job opportunities that improve the
livelihood of our citizens, through the recruitment of national companies
who have established their businesses in our great city.

Our school systems are innovative, and they serve as models for
other school systems in our state, with great parental involvement and
encouragement toward improvements. Our University and College systems are
some of the best in the state, with phenomenal enrollment and retention
of traditional and non-traditional students in our city and abroad.

Our religious establishments are growing from leaps and bounds with more
and more people becoming citizens of our great city, who are leaving
larger unsafe, polluted, and unproductive cities, for a safer, less
polluted and productive small town lifestyle, such as our wonderful
city provides.

The development of small businesses, through our downtown projects, have
been a great success story for our city. The innovative improvements
make our city one of the most visited in our state. We pride ourselves
as a Titletown community, through continuous progress over 150 years.

When I contemplate our shared 150 years of progress, I find it disturbing
that our Industrial Authority would make such a bad decision as to bring
a Biomass incinerator into our community. As an advocate for the welfare
of children, women, and families I am gravely concerned and disappointed
that such a project has been endorsed by leaders who were elected to
carry out the wishes of the community for the betterment of all citizens.

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Michael Noll: “enough is enough”

Here is a followup to
the VDT story in the previous post.

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Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.

My sincere thanks for letting me present my concerns at yesterday’s
meeting. It is very much appreciated.

Please understand that what I presented is based on facts. I have
worked for ten years at VSU as an educator, and my students and
colleagues know me as a straightforward person. I may ruffle some
feathers at times, but I clearly was brought up in a no-nonsense
household.

If Mr. Lofton would not continue to ignore our concerns (as he again
did at the BOE meeting), to misrepresent organizations such as the
Sierra Club (an organization I happen to support), or to keep
bringing up names of those who endorse the biomass plant (yet
conveniently overlooks a conflict of interest), I  probably would
have never brought this up. However, during these past couple weeks,
and particularly with his behavior at the BOE meeting, Mr. Lofton
has added insult to injury, and enough is enough.

To substantiate the comments I made yesterday,

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Pastor Michael Bryant: the benefits to be realized

Leigh Touchton sent me this today.

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John,

This letter is from Pastor Michael Bryant, Webb-Miller Community Church,
Hahira. He would like to publish on the LAKE blog. Dr. Manning’s response
to Brad Lofton is also for publication.

Thank you,

Leigh



Given the complexity of the issue facing us as a community with regard to
the Biomass Project, it is incumbent upon all parties involved to recognize
that while the populations ill-affected will primarily be our children and
elderly, the most vulnerable among us, the real issue is the fact that only
25 job are going to be produced. Likewise, if the facts bear out as
proclaimed by both or either of the parties involved, and I believe if an
error is made, it should be on the side of safety, the benefits to be
realized are not nearly as great as the alternative approach provided by a
solar energy plant.

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VBOE Biomass Discussion Tonight

On the agenda for tonight’s meeting of the
Valdosta Board of Education is a discussion of the
the biomass incinerator Wiregrass Power LLC
proposes to build in Lowndes County, Georgia, just outside Valdosta.
Listed in the agenda as speakers are:

  • Brad Lofton, Executive Director, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
  • Dr. Brad Bergstrom

  • Dr. Gretchen Bielmyer

I hear that you can sign up at the door to speak.

For much recent discussion of this plant involving Brad Lofton,
see
the VLCIA category in this blog.

For more context, see

the biomass category.

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“We’re moving forward with permits in hand.”

The Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
responds to

my message about the biomass incinerator Wiregrass Power LLC
proposes to build in Lowndes County, Georgia, just outside Valdosta.
he copied the VDT and the usual list.

-jsq

From: “Brad Lofton”

To: “John S. Quarterman”

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:19:12 +0000

John:

We’re moving forward with permits in hand. Have a nice day.

BL

Economic development affects the whole community

My response to
Brad Lofton’s previous mail to me
and

Sunday’s
exchange between Brad Lofton and Leigh Touchtom; I copied the VDT and the usual list.

-jsq

From: “John S. Quarterman”

To: blofton@industrialauthority.com

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:06:31 -0400

Brad,

So you can’t provide a journal citation, thus your assertion that
the stack of slides about CO2 was peer-reviewed is false.

Your assertions of environmental group support are equally dubious,
as Leigh Touchton has demonstrated. Meanwhile, you ignore plain
statements of opposition from medical groups such as the American
Lung Association.

Dr. Tom Manning is a chemist whose specialities have little to do
with renewable energy. At least three times as many VSU faculty
oppose the biomass plant, as you know from reading their LTEs in the VDT.

You say you want people helping you. OK, what are these “other
renewable energy projects”? You complain that people don’t get
involved until late, so please tell us now, so we can get involved early.

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“We’ve read this a hundred times, and we understand it perfectly.”

Sunday correspondence between Leigh Touchton and Brad Lofton
about Sierra Club support for the biomass plant.
They copied the VDT and the same people as the previous messages.

From: Leigh Touchton

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:50:57 -0400

To: blofton@industrialauthority.com

Sierra Club:
[quotes Sierra Club passage from

Brad Lofton’s previous message.]

I wish someone on the Industrial Authority would actually read the entire
Sierra Club position statement instead of cherry picking snippets they
think supports their incinerator.


http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/biomass.aspx

From: “Brad Lofton”

To: “Leigh Touchton”

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:08:46 +0000

We’ve read it ma’am and appreciate their support.

BL

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Verizon

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“we have other renewable energy projects”

The Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
responds to
my request of 26 Sep 2010 for some real clean energy jobs, and a renewable energy strategy for Georgia; he copied the VDT and the same people as the previous messages.

From: “Brad Lofton”

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:25:36 +0000

Hey John!

Thanks again for your e-mail. I refer you to my previous response, the large amount of data my staff has provided you, and all of the government (fed, local, and state) and environmental group support we enjoy. We have all permits in place, and we are moving forward enthusiastically to create green jobs in this economy! That’s good news.
You’ll be pleased to know that we have other renewable energy projects
we’re pursing as well in addition to our solar array (it may be small to you, but we’re being told that it’s currently the largest array in Georgia-not bad if you ask me). I wish people would spend half the energy assisting us recruit jobs than what they spend fighting economic development projects that will provide good jobs for this community. I want to apologize for providing you the wrong name for the VSU professor last week. Dr. Tom Manning is his name, and he is very much an active member of the VSU faculty. We also receive 1 mill of tax, not 1.5.

Have a nice day,

BL

P.S. Below is the direct quote from www.sierraclub.org not only

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