Tag Archives: Law

Citizens at Lowndes County Commission 7 November 2011



Five citizens spoke up at the

7 November 2011 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Some got answers, some got excuses, and some got fingerpointing.
And one illustrated how the Commission doesn’t follow its own rules.



  • George Boston Rhynes asked about

    Open record requests and jail deaths
    and got the same excuses he’s heard elsewhere:
    nobody seems to be responsible for supplying information to the public
    about what’s going on in the Lowndes County Jail.



  • John Robinson asked about

    Contracts on the south side
    related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to
    Title III Section 3 of the HUD program
    and got a clarification from the Chairman that the county has no
    Title III projects.



  • John S. Quarterman asked the Commission to

    video meetings like the Lowndes Board of Education does    ,
    and got a slightly different excuse this time than the many previous times he’s made similar requests.



  • Matt Portwood

    asked the Commission or the individual Commissioners to state a position
    on school consolidation
    and was told they weren’t going to.
    The VDT printed that much the next morning, the morning of the election
    with the referendum on school consolidation.
    They did not print Chairman Paulk’s allusion to
    his already-known support for FVCS in opposing consolidation,
    but LAKE published a video with that on Election Day, and you can
    see it here.



  • Tony Daniels wanted to know

    How can we pursue happiness when we don’t even have a job?
    and had several recommendations for how the various local elected and
    appointed bodies could go about getting us more jobs.
    He also illustrated that the Commissions ordinance on Citizens Wishing
    to Be Heard is, as we’ve discovered on many previous occasions,
    merely guidelines at the whim of the Chairman.

Citizen participation!

-jsq

Only a vote where both city and county residents could take part would reveal the will of the people —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq

While I live in the city as was able to vote on the consolidation issue,


I feel that only a vote where both city and county residents would
be democratic. Only a vote where both interested parties could take
part would reveal the will of the people and be admissible. Although
I opposed the effort to consolidate that was recently defeated, I feel
strongly that a true vote of both city and county residence is necessary
if consolidation should reach the ballot anytime in the future. For
this reason it is paramount that the old law that allowed the city only
vote be stricken to allow the georgia constitution to prevail. The GA
constitution allows for both city and county to vote and a majority in
both in order to pass.

Please contact your legislator to support repealing the 1928 law from
the GA law books.

Thank you ALL for your commitment to community,

-Karen Noll

Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law

Received today. -jsq



From: JC Cunningham

Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:01:26 -0800 (PST)

Subject: Fw: The Repeal of Ga. Law on School Consolidation

To: [many people]

Friends,

Even though we the Citizens of Valdosta have spoken and defeated that
hostile takeover, this is not the time to let up. We all must stay a
vigilant as possible and never let anything like this happen again.

One way in which everyone in Valdosta and Lowndes can make a impact is
to write a letter to Amy Carter, Admin. Floor Leader to the Governor,
and ask for her to introduce a bill to repeal the old 1928 law that
Cuee was able to use.

Remind Amy that she has an obligation to bring this bill to the floor.
Remind her that the people

Continue reading →

The Comprehensive Plan updates Lowndes County refused to provide

LAKE has obtained the planning revision documents Lowndes County refused,
in violation of the law, to return in response to an open records request.
Here they are for all to see.



The Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning,
established by the Georgia Planning Act of 1989, require updates
to the Short Term Work Projects (STWP) list and the Report of
Accomplishments (ROA) every 5 years.
Lowndes County and the cities in Lowndes County have submitted the
documents to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs
(DCA)

An open records request to Lowndes County for the documents was not satisfied.
However other government agencies were willing to abide by the

Georgia Open Records Law ocga 50-18-70.

The documents are available for review on the
Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange website for Valdosta, Lake Park, Remerton,
Hahira and Lowndes County.

I encourage you to read carefully what our elected officials see as the
future of our community.

-gretchen

The Real Truth About School Consolidation by Supt. Smith to Lowndes County Schools

Received today. -jsq



Sent: Tue, October 25, 2011 7:55:07 AM

Subject: Letter to the Staff

Friends,

Attached is a copy a document that was sent to all Lowndes County
teachers and staff from Dr. Steve Smith.

Thanks,

Sam Allen

Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus [Valdosta City Schools]

The letter is on the LAKE website.
Here are a few excerpts:

REAL TRUTH: Continuing all of the current programs the Valdosta City
School System and the Lowndes County School System have would


require a
millage rate of approximately 24 mills. Considering state law limits us
to 21 mills, some programs will be eliminated. The decision to eliminate
such programs will be recommended by the Lowndes County Superintendent,
subject to final approval by the Lowndes County Board of Education. There
will be winners and losers in consolidation and several current successful
programs will likely have to go.

Continue reading →

You call Sheriff; Sheriff calls animal control —Susan Leavens

Received today on Stray dogs and the law @ LCC 27 Sep 2011. -jsq



If Mr. Paulk was a “normal citizen” he would know if you call the
sheriff’s department for a animal problem he would know they call animal
control! And it is up to the animal officer if they want to give the dog
back to the owner… Officers have done it many times. It is under the
discretion of the animal control officer. Poor Ashley should know what

the ordinance says I mean he was the sheriff for many years as he has
indicated many times and since he is the County Chairman now one would
think he would know what the orinance says. This poor guy was given wrong
information by the County Chairman on how to fix the problem… perhaps if
the man caught the dog and brought it to the shelter he would be better
off. The owner would have to show proof of rabies vaccination and pay
impound fees. $25 impound fee, $12 for a voucher if the dog does not
have proof of current rabies vaccination. The prices are not much but it
is incontinent. If it is not sterilized (spay or neutered) it doubles
on each impound… fees can rack up pretty fast $25, $50, $100 and so
on. The sheriff’s office is not going to handle owner involved cases,
if the dog was returned to the owner it was not a stray. Sorry Ashley
Paulk you’re so wrong on this one!

Stray dogs and the law @ LCC 27 Sep 2011



A citizen (didn’t get his name; sorry) stood up to remark on the stray dogs
that kept getting loose in his neighborhood, and how when animal control came
they just took the dogs back to their owners, who let them loose again.
Chairman Ashley Paulk had no hesitation in saying the sheriff should be called
on the owners.

Here’s

the video:




Stray dogs and the law @ LCC 27 Sep 2011

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Pardons board rejects clemency for Troy Davis

So now it’s down to Gov. Deal.

In the
VDT via AP today:



Georgia’s pardons board rejected a last-ditch clemency plea from death
row inmate Troy Davis on Tuesday despite high-profile support from figures
including the pope and

a former FBI director for the claim that he was
wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.



Davis is scheduled to die Wednesday by injection for the killing of
off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was slain while rushing to
help a homeless man being attacked. It is the fourth time in four years
that Davis’ execution has been scheduled by Georgia officials.

Steve Hayes, spokesman for the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said

Continue reading →

Student protesters greet GA Gov. Nathan Deal @ VSU 16 Sep 2011

Possibly the last thing Gov. Nathan Deal expected to find at Valdosta
State University greeted him: student protesters!

Their main question was about the impending Sept. 21st execution of

Troy Anthony Davis,
about whom Amnesty International says there is too much doubt.





Student protesters greet Governor Nathan Deal at Valdosta State University, 16 Sep 2011.

Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

The press had already noticed:

Continue reading →

Ashley Paulk’s Greatest Hits!

No, not every intemperate outburst!
We can’t be everywhere.
Just the outstanding ones from the podium as chairman in
County Commission meetings.

Ashley Paulk is code enforcement

Citizens were opposing a rezoning on Old Pine Road,



8 June 2010.
A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road
wanted to know who does code enforcement.
Chairman Paulk responded:

You’re looking at him. Me.

I locked up some of my best friends!

While he was interrogating Dr. Noll

12 January 2011
who had the temerity to come to invite the Commission to a meeting,
Ashley Paulk remarked:



“I was the sheriff sixteen years; I locked up some of my best friends;
that’s the way I operate.”

This was shortly after he said:

Continue reading →