Former electoral opponents met Tuesday as FVCS held
its final meeting,
with Rusty Griffin, Vice-Chair of CUEE,
watching at the MLK Monument as
Sam Allen, President of Friends of
Valdosta Schools (FVCS) announced the dissolution of FVCS.
In addition to FVCS regulars such as JC Cunningham,
Chamber Chair Tom Gooding was there,
as were current Valdosta Mayor Sonny Vickers and
Mayor-Elect John Gayle, plus re-elected Valdosta City Council At-Large Ben Norton.
Valdosta School Superintendent Cason was there.
I didn’t see Lowndes Superintendent Smith,
although various members of
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After apologizing for setting off a flash earlier,
I recommended the county video their own meetings,
so they wouldn’t have to depend on amateurs.
Lowndes County Board of Education had an open forum about school consolidation.
and they had their own person videoing the whole thing,
and it
ended up on the web in a day or two,
which means that everyone in the county could see what was going on….
Chairman Paulk:
We get enough of that for free.
jsq:
I’ll send you a bill!
The Chairman nodded, so I’ll take that for approval of billing by LAKE.
George Rhynes complimented Ashley Paulk for having provided
information about people in jail when Paulk was Sheriff,
and noted that unfortunately that had not been the case since.
He asked if someone could point him to where he could get such
information.
Chairman Paulk reminded him that the Sheriff is a constitutional
officer, and the Commission did not direct him.
George Rhynes responded:
Everywhere I go, I hear that.
I go to Brooks County, and they inform me of the same thing.
Chairman Paulk noted:
… by state law.
They agreed on that, and George said he thought nonetheless:
Seems like somebody in the state of Georgia would know how to get that information,
if it is open.
As
previously noted,
Chairman Ashley Paulk last night told Matt Portwood
he didn’t think the Lowndes
County Commission should be meddling in school affairs.
Here’s the part the VDT didn’t quote:
And I feel like there’s somebody meddling in their affairs;
I wish they wouldn’t have.
Ashley Paulk, Lowndes County Commission chairman contributed $200
So it’s not like the public doesn’t already know Ashley Paulk’s opinion
on this subject, and it seems he was reminding us of it: he contributed money to FVCS, a group actively lobbying to prevent the school consolidation promoted by CUEE.
Chairman Paulk also noted:
We do have county residents who live in the city.
Seems like he’s confusing two excuses for the Commissioners not speaking about school consolidation:
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Alcohol, rezoning, hospital, debt, and an election!
Because Tuesday is Election Day, the Lowndes County Commission
changed its regular meeting to Monday.
Work sessions are usually Monday in the morning; today the Work Session
is at 4:30 PM, just before the Regular Session at 5:30 PM.
It’s a busy agenda, including two alcohol licenses, two rezonings, and
an appointment to the
Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County (VLCHA);
that’s the body that authorized
South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC) buying Smith Northview Hospital,
after which SGMC got the County Commission
to have we the taxpayers guarantee $100 million in bonds for expansion.
Hm, and “SGMC Revenue Certificates” is on this agenda, too.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2011, 4:30 p.m.
REGULAR SESSION, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
I was approached after the meeting and informed that the
Industrial Authority intends to invite communal leaders like
myself to brain storming sessions in the future, although I
do not know yet the design for such a forum, nor have I
received any invitations as of today. Still, if there is one
thing that has again become clear in the context of the
consolidation issue, our community desperately needs
structures that a) allow for more transparency and b) forums
in which we can take advantage of the creative energy that
exist in our community, INSTEAD of trying to shut people
out, to hide information from them, or to push through
divisive agendas.
It is my hope that the leaders of the Industrial Authority,
as well as the City Council, the Lowndes County Commission,
and the Chamber of Commerce for that matter, understand the
opportunity we have: to turn a weakness (as exposed by the
way we handled biomass, and are currently handling the
consolidation issue) into a strength … via communication
and cooperation … as is appropriate for a true community.
Update 3:45 PM 3 November 2011: Better transcript and pictures. See also what happened after the meeting.
Dr. Michael Noll, longtime opponent of the Industrial Authority’s formerly
proposed biomass plant, asked that same board at their most recent meeting:
What can we do as a community to better cooperate, to better communicate?
What can we do as a community to better cooperate? –Dr. Noll
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Dr. Noll sent an edited transcript removing some of the repetition
to clarify what he was trying to say:
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Right outside of Palms Quad there’s a free speech thing,
but, as you can see, uh…. [gestures around]
[laughter]
You know, like I said.
If someone’s violating the law here, and creating a dangerous situation
by, uh, physically disrupting the students or faculty, that’s one thing,
we deal with that….
But if it’s, even this gnat, we will allow this gnat to….
Thank you, John for that accurate description of the most bizarre meeting
that I have ever attended.
Karen Noll and Dean Poling at the door
As I was not invited I remained at the door. Dean Polling came to
the door 10 minutes late because he’d been roaming around Rainwater
conference center with a few other folks before he found out the meeting
was located here. This meeting was held on the date that the CUEE had
given when it would unveil its education plan. So many assumed it would
be at the conference center and open to the public.(LOL)
The plan put together by the unnamed education task force a sub committee
of cuee pushed Levy into having it at VSU, when VSU has clearly stated
they are taking NO side!! So CUEE’s educational plan was presented before
the vote has been taken to an invited group at a public institution that
is staying out of the whole stinking affair. This is all to strange to
not ask why and who is behind this mess?
At the end when I told Myrna Ballard about the location
and support of the two school systems,
financially and otherwise.
