Tag Archives: Law

Striping and citing @ LCC 2013-10-08



Catching up with the Regular Session of 8 October 2013,
why is the county going to pay

$150/month for a traffic signal
and

$2200/month for offramp lighting
(both at Exit 22, North Valdosta Road)
when they could install solar panels and batteries once and pay nothing ongoing?

They tabled
Nottinghill
like the Planning Commission did.
They voted to let
Barrington subdivision
sprawl into the county with no conditions, taking staff’s
recommendation instead of one about a fence by the Planning Commission..
They voted to rotate the mostly ceremonial
Vice Chairman position every eight months.
They decided on a price for tentants in the
Leila Ellis Building
and will get around to drawing up a lease agreement.
Commissioners finally did get that list of roads for
striping.
Fiddling changes to percentages
evidence for juvenile justice
and hardware and software for
fining people coming off of I-75.

Here’s

the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes.
See also

videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Request pipeline town hall –Tim Bland to LCC

Received yesterday. Tim Bland wrote
“This is what I emailed to all of the commissioners on Friday.”
I added a few links and pictures.
-jsq

Commissioners,



I would like to start by thanking Demarcus Marshall for attending
the meeting held by Sabal Trail at Wiregrass Tech on Wednesday. It
is nice to know that some of our elected officials are concerned
about this project.

After talking with many of the affected landowners at this meeting,
it appears that there is a general misconception about the
certainty of this proposed pipeline. The officials from Sabal
Trail, both in writing and in person, are telling landowners that
this pipeline is coming and there is little any of us can do to
prevent it. This appears to be the main reason for the high
approval rating for the initial surveys. We were told that if we
did not willingly participate in the survey, there would be little
consideration given to our input and opinions when the pipeline is
built. We were also told Continue reading →

Against rate hike and solar fee by Georgia Power

If you missed Savannah, Columbus tomorrow, then Gainesville, Athanes, and Atlanta: you can speak up against Georgia Power’s

attempt to charge you for saving them money by generating solar power.

Mary Landers wrote for SavannahNow Friday,

Ga. Power proposed rate hike, solar fee blasted,



“Unconscionable” and “theft” were two of the
words used Thursday evening to describe a residential rate hike and
fee on solar installations proposed by Georgia Power.

More than 50 people attended a meeting sponsored by Georgia Watch
and the Sierra Club at the Coastal Georgia Center to discuss the
issues.

The rate hike, proposed in July, would have average residential
customers paying almost $8 more a month. Some homeowners with solar
panels would pay a new monthly fee of about $22 by Georgia Power’s
estimations.


Video by WJCL News: Continue reading →

Press freedom is not opposed to freedom –AP

Press freedom is an essential part of liberty,
and without liberty there is no security.
It’s good to see the CEO of AP speaking up about this,
after Julian Assange, Bruce Schneier, and Benjamin Franklin.

Colleen Slevin wrote for AP yesterday,

AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a ‘false choice’,



Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free
press and national security create a “false choice” that weakens
democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government
overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders
accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said
Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American
Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department’s secret seizure
of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters
in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever
encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond
the U.S., including Continue reading →

Nukes have always been a government sponsored boondogle as cover for nuclear weapons production –John Pate



From Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace and Matsutaro Shoriki founding
the Japanese nuclear industry
to Shinzo Abe’s international nuclear salesmanship,
nuclear power has always been a whitewash for nuclear weapons,
with “peaceful” nukes

a boondoggle for big corps subsidized by taxpayers and ratepayers.
Yet the sun is rising around the world, on Japan as well as on the U.S.

U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower kicked it off with his

“Atoms for Peace”
speech at the UN, 8 December 1953,



The Atomic Energy Agency could be made responsible for the
impounding, storage, and protection of the contributed fissionable
and other materials. The ingenuity of our scientists will provide
special safe conditions under which such a bank of fissionable
material can be made essentially immune to surprise seizure.

The more important responsibility of this Atomic Energy Agency would
be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be
allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind. Experts would
be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture,
medicine, and other peaceful activities. A special purpose would be
to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of
the world. Thus the contributing powers would be dedicating some of
their strength to serve the needs rather than the fears of mankind….

Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States
does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and
the hope for peace.



And “Atoms for Peace” was part of an organized government PR campaign
(“Operation Candor”)
about Soviet nuclear weapons; see

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/atoms_for_peace.html”>Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library for sources.
Operation Candor was replaced by Operation Soothing Syrup (I am not making this up),
according to Continue reading →

Videos, AAUW Candidates’ Forum @ AAUW 2013-10-15



Water was a popular topic, as you can see in these
videos of the

Candidates’s Forum by AAUW.
Same location (VSU Continuing Education Building)
as the one

Chamber held,
but this time the audience got to ask questions.
Yes, Virginia, they do all live in their districts, and some of them have widely divergent views about what cities or school boards should do.

Local

AAUW President Diane Holliman gave a welcome, and then
Dr. Luke Fowler moderated.
Here’s

the list of qualified candidates.
Here’s

Matthew Woody’s writeup in the VDT.


Valdosta City Council District 2

John Hogan and Calvin Graham Sr. were present; Sandra J. Tooley was not.


John Hogan pointed out that a road issue could really be a drainage issue,
so it’s necessary to look at context.


Calvin Graham Sr.
said he was retired military, lived in the district, and had
been spending a lot of time volunteering.
He indicated the Continue reading →

Fracking at VSU

It’s good to see fracking reviewed in the VSU Spectator,

including that it’s

coming to Georgia
unless we stop it, and we should stop it.
It’s unfortunate the story ends with a bad idea when
there’s a much better idea already rapidly being deployed: solar power.



Stephen Cavallaro wrote yesterday for the VSU Spectator,

Fracking hits Georgia,

Fracking, the process of harvesting the environmentally unfriendly
natural gas called shale that is being pushed by the government,
plows its way through Georgia.

More like being pushed by fossil fuel companies who have bought too many
politicians.


In March, I discussed a deal backed by the government between
British-owned Centrica and American-owned Cheniere. The agreement
was that Cheniere would spread toxic chemicals across America in
order to fuel millions of British homes.

Kind of like Continue reading →

Chinese nukes in Britain

Bad news from Britain.
Let’s hope U.S. NRC doesn’t take this as a precedent.

The Telegraph, today,

Chinese companies to buy big stake in next generation of British nuclear power,



George Osborne, the Chancellor, has announced that the UK will allow
Chinese companies to take a stake in British nuclear power plants.

The decision could lead to China taking a future majority
stake—and even be allowed to own up to 100 pc—in the
development of the next generation of British nuclear power.

Mr Osborne made the announcement on Thursday the last day of a
week-long trade visit to China after a visit to Taishan nuclear
power station on the coast near Hong Kong.

Taishan is a collaboration between French energy company EDF and the
China General Nuclear Power Company.



EDF is at the heart of UK Government Continue reading →

Next Deep South Sanitation court date: 25 Nov 2013



According to Deep South Sanitation, their next court date is
Monday 25 November 2013 at 9:30 AM, presumably at the

Lowndes County Judicial Complex, 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601.
The longer you drag this out, Lowndes County, the more
good press DSS gets out of it.
DSS reports 25 new customers for the fourth quarter,

providing $125 to Lake Park Elementary School.

Oh yes, the
alleged county attorney spending our tax dollars to sue Deep South Sanitation
was the attorney for
many of the cities that sued about LOST
and just

lost before the Georgia Supreme Court,
resulting in many cities and counties

scurrying around to make rapid agreements,
including

Lowndes County
and
Valdosta.

-jsq

OK LOST status quo –Valdosta City Council @ VCC 2013-10-17

Yes we’ll take the 2002 percentages

offered by Lowndes County, voted the
the Valdosta City Council this morning at a Special Called Meeting.

The vote result is from Council Tim Carroll, who says they will revisit the percentages
after the Georgia legislature does whatever it’s going to do about LOST in January.
Here’s

the notice of the meeting on Valdosta’s website:


Notice of a Special Called City Council Meeting

Posted Date: 10/16/2013

The Valdosta City Council has scheduled a Special Called City Council Meeting for Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. at City Hall, 216 East Central Avenue, Council Chambers. The purpose of this Special Called Council Meeting is to discuss the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).

For more information, please contact Teresa S. Bolden, City Clerk, at 259-3503 or tbolden@valdostacity.com.

-jsq