Tag Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Content-neutral procedures good, economic obsolesence bad –Leigh Touchton

First citizen to speak after adoption of the new rules was Leigh Touchton, President of the local NAACP. She noted NAACP promotes equality for all and Dr. Noll is a member of NAACP (see Paulk interrogates Noll for context). She thanked the board for adopting content-neutral procedures, but said she has asked NAACP for legal review of them. Then she discussed economic obsolescence, as in when a nuisance moves into a community, property values go down.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

New Policies and Procedures: Citizens Wishing to be Heard

The Lowndes County Commission Tuesday voted in and Chairman Paulk announced new Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard


Videos by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Interestingly, since the Commission rushed through these new rules after the last meeting, there was no time to completely implement them, so the first thing the Chairman did was to set them aside for this meeting.

-jsq

“An error was made” –Luana Goodwin

This LTE appeared in the VTD 23 Jan 2011. -jsq
I wonder if there is any way for the Industrial Authority, County Commission and City Council to now do the right thing for Lowndes County. How can they save face?

Reading the scientific data makes it clear that an error was made, and clearly this data wasn’t made available to those who have been charged with finding appropriate industry for us, industry that will raise the quality of life for the citizens of Lowndes County by providing good jobs. They can be excused for an industry that provides only a few jobs. Jobs are jobs, after all. But how can we help them apologize to all of us and thank those citizens who have spent so many hours of their own time gathering information and providing a forum to educate us? I wish it were possible.

Luana Goodwin
Valdosta

Draft Resolution on Citizens Wishing to be Heard

Here’s the draft resolution on Citizens Wishing to be Heard. Previously we posted that on Tuesday’s Lowndes County Commission agenda is an item about:
5. Resolution Establishing Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard and Consideration of Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard
Today I went by the county palace (hey, they call it that, too!) and asked Paige Dukes, the County Clerk, what was in the old resolution and what’s in the new draft resolution. She said there was no old resolution, and a bit later she sent me the new draft resolution, which is in the PDF below.
From: “Paige Dukes” <paiged@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:32:35 -0500
To: “John S. Quarterman” <jsq@quarterman.org>
Subject: Resolution Draft 1.24.2011.pdf – Adobe Acrobat Professional

Resolution Draft 1.24.2011.pdf

It’s a PDF of a scan of a paper page, so I don’t have the plain text. If somebody wants to type it in and send it to me, have at it.

See you 5:30 PM tomorrow evening (Tuesday 25 Jan 2011) at 327 N. Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA 31601. They start on the dot or slightly early, and it’s a light agenda, so be on time and don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

-jsq

No Work Session Today; County Commission still meets Tuesday

No work session today; regular session still on for 5:30 PM Tuesday 25 Jan 2011. The county website has under Special Events this notice:
Work Session Meeting Cancelled (1/24/2011)

PUBLIC NOTICE
COMMISSION MEETING
WORK SESSION CANCELLED

Due to the lack of agenda items requiring additional information or discussion, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session on Monday, January 24, 2011, has been cancelled.

The regular session meeting is still scheduled for
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street
Valdosta, GA

For questions please call Paige Dukes at 229-671-2400.
This has happened several times before. Paige Dukes is the County Clerk.

See the previous post for the one unusual item on the agenda, about policies and procedures for Citizens Wishing to be Heard.

-jsq

County Commission Meetings Monday and Tuesday


left to right: Ashley Paulk (Chairman),
Joyce E. Evans (District 1),
Crawford Powell (District 3),
Richard Raines (District 2).
The next scheduled meetings of the Lowndes County Commission are:
  • 8:30 AM Monday January 24, 2011: work session
  • 5:30 PM Tuesday January 25, 2011: regular session
The agenda is posted on the county website. This meeting will probably be very brief, since it has no rezoning cases; those come every other meeting. This one is mostly contracts for consideration. However, there is this interesting item:
5. Resolution Establishing Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard and Consideration of Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard

It also has the regular item:

7. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
This item is for the regular session, not the work session, although in the work session the Chairman sometimes notes somebody is there wanting to talk and asks them to say what they want to say. Conversely, in the regular session we don’t usually hear much from this one:
8. Reports-County Manager
The county manager often gives a longer report in the work session.

By “very brief” I mean work sessions typically run about 15 minutes, with the record being something like 8 minutes. And they start on time, or a minute early. Be there or miss what you want to hear or say.

-jsq

“I don’t feel my interests were adequately represented” –Matt Flumerfelt

First-time speaker Matt Flumerfelt notes the Valdosta City Council and the Lowndes County Commission both disclaim responsibility for the Industrial Authority even though both appoint its members, and he thinks that may make VLCIA’s contract for the biomass plant challengeable on constitutional grounds. He also sent LAKE the appended article on 20 Jan 2011.

Video by John S. Quarterman of the regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 20 January 2011, for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Faith In Technology Is What Got Us Into This Mess

by Matt Flumerfelt

Many people in the Valdosta-Lowndes County community have faith that the proposed Biomass incinerator won’t harm anyone or anything, but faith in technology is what got us into our current environmental mess in the first place. Those old enough to remember the nuclear power debate will remember how many people gave assurances that nuclear power was safe, yet we see today how difficult nuclear waste is to dispose of and how much damage it has caused when things go wrong, which, human nature being what it is, they inevitably do. The recent gulf oil spill would not have happened if

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Text of letter from Russell Anderson to officials

Can you find a “veiled threat” in the appended letter? LAKE couldn’t.

Some people seem to be forming opinions of that letter without ever having read it. LAKE has published links to a PDF of it from four previous posts: “Far from Over”, “What is Fiery Roots”, Russell Anderson Responds, and “We got off on the wrong foot”. Formerly LAKE only had a PDF of a scan of a paper copy of the email of 3 Jan 2011. Per request, Russell Anderson has sent plain text, which appears below. -jsq

All,

My name is Russell Anderson. I am the Co-Director of Collectiveprogression.org and graduate of Valdosta State. I am writing to inform you of my intent to publish the below piece on our website and to our readership as well as produce a full length documentary about the community struggle against the proposed Wiregrass LLC biomass incinerator. I have you all on this email {Sterling Assets, Langdale’s, Council, Commissioners, Authority, Attorneys} and ALL of you have continued to pass the blame and buck on the building of this plant. Rather than doing the more responsible thing (pending EIS),

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“we got off on the wrong foot.” –Russell Anderson

See also his letter to LAKE. -jsq
From: Russ Anderson
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Subject: Mr. Paulk. My apologies and clarifications
To: apaulk@lowndescounty.com

Dear Commissioner Paulk,

It seems that we got off on the wrong foot. I have recently been notified that some of the content within the email I sent to you and other commissioners January 3rd 2011 regarding the biomass Plant were taken as a personal attack towards you and perceived as having “veiled threats”. I’m sorry about that and I apologize for the perceived hostility.

I was also told that in a private conversation, after the {1/11/11} commission meeting, you referred to me by name as a threat similar to the “Virginia Tech Shooter.” That is a very personal (and misinformed) attack and I would appreciate/request a retraction of that statement. Like everyone, I was absolutely appalled when that tragedy occurred as I am anytime I see senseless violence committed against anyone.

My motives are to simply attempt to help support the health of Lowndes County residents and our environment. To compare me to the person that committed this atrocious crime is slanderous and a defamation of my character. Such words and perceptions

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Russell Anderson Responds

Received this morning; see What is Fiery Roots? and Paulk interrogates Noll for backstory. -jsq
From: Russ Anderson
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:18:02 -0500
Subject: Russell Anderson responses to article about Fiery Roots and Commissioner Paulk Accusations

Dear L.A.K.E.,

My name is Russell Anderson. Thank you for taking an interest in the Wiregrass LLC Biomass incinerator issue and my affiliated organization Collectiveprogression.org. I am writing today with hopes of clarifying a few things.

First, I’m glad to see there is such an effort as L.A.K.E. in the Lowndes area. L.A.K.E appears to use strategies that could be modeled by other communities seeking a more informed population. Information sharing is critical to achieving a more just and equitable world. The objective of our organization is simply to share the narratives of community struggles, solutions, and efforts in hopes of creating better channels of communication and resource sharing between communities dealing with justice issues. Any similarities to LAKE’s efforts to “Cover the planners to connect the dots” are nothing more than pleasant coincidence.

Hopefully, as our website develops from its infancy, our mission will become more apparent in the content. We have interviewed people across the country to uncover ways that people working for justice can be more connected and,

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