Tag Archives: Lowndes County Commission

Superdistricts on Lowndes County web pages

Update: the agenda for the 3 Jan 2011 special session is posted on the county webpages.
Lowndes County staff have an update about the recent vote for adding two new superdistricts:
COMMISSION EXPANSION

On Monday, January 3, 2011, the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners held a special called meeting during which the adoption of a resolution expressing the county’s desire to move forward with the expansion of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, as previously directed by the voters of Lowndes County, was unanimously approved.

This is on the county’s front page, with links to I suppose this explains why I didn’t hear back about this same information in response to my open records request: they put it on the county web pages. That’s fine with me.

What is not included Continue reading →

Who just voted for the new Districts for Lowndes County?

Citizens, your new Lowndes County Commission:

County Commission Chairman - Ashley Paulk
Ashley Paulk, Chairman 		District 1 Commissioner - Joyce Evans
Joyce Evans, District 1 		District 2 Commissioner - Richard Raines
Richard Raines, District 2 		District 3 Commissioner - Crawford Powell
Crawford Powell, District 3

This is the Commission that as its first act held a special session to propose adding two new superdistricts.

The pictures for the two new Commissioners, Richard Raines and Crawford Powell, are from Valdosta Daily Times writeups while they were running, since the Commission’s own web pages do not yet have pictures for them.

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Which new districts did the County Commission just vote for?

The VDT and the Commission’s district maps don’t agree, and the Board of Elections doesn’t know. David Rodock writes in the VDT today that County revives expanding Lowndes commission:
During a special meeting Monday, county commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to include two additional voting districts within Lowndes County.

The two proposed voting districts would allow for greater representation at County Commission meetings by allowing for an expansion of the current available voting representatives from three to five, while keeping a non-voting commission chairman.

Last year, this expansion failed in the legislature on a technicality. If the Commission and staff don’t make the same mistake, it seems likely the legislature will approve these new districts.

But the district map the VDT published (see above) is not the same Continue reading →

VDT Elevates Biomass and Renewable Energy as Political Issues

The Valdosta Daily Times (VDT) has apparently decided biomass and real clean energy instead are political issues. As part of the VDT’s sudden turn against the VLCIA and its biomass plant, which was provoked by citizen and student activism, the VDT started a week of articles with the headline “Proposed plant said to be ‘medical atrocity'”, about Dr. William Sammons’ Monday talk about health problems of biomass and how solar is better.

The VDT then featured biomass in its reporting on the AAUW Candidate Forum: Continue reading →

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,

Continue reading →

Michael Noll: “We owe it to our children, our neighbors and friends”

Appended is an extract from the VDT’s writeup on the Lowndes County Commission meeting of 28 Sep 2010. The “area schools” was the Valdosta Board of Education meeting of the previous evening, 27 Sep 2010. Much more about that here. The list of concerns Dr. Noll presented in writing is already blogged here as Let’s Think About This!

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During the citizens to be heard portionof the meeting, Dr. Michael Noll reiterated concerns his wife, Karen, presented to the board during its last meeting regarding the proposed Wiregrass Biomass Plant.

Noll spoke about his concerns with the project and lack of straight answers he has received from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority’s (VLCIA).

Continue reading →

Bergstrom, Noll, and Gunning biomass questions from June 2009

These are the questions Dr. Michael Noll submitted to the LCC at its 9 June 2009 meeting. I invite anyone else who submitted written comments to that meeting to send them here and I’ll be happy to post them.

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TO: Lowndes Co. Commission
RE: Wiregrass LLC Biomass Electricity Plant
Date: June 9, 2009

Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.

As the county is currently considering the development of a biomass electricity plant, we wish to share some important concerns and questions with you, which we believe need to be addressed before any further action is taken.

First, the proposed biomass plant is being touted as a “Green Energy” project because it produces electricity from renewable materials. However, this wood waste and yard waste could have other uses—such as compost, landscaping mulch and forest soil amendments, which are much “greener” still and produce no pollution at all. The fact that these materials are labeled “waste” tells you something, and Reducing, Re-using, and Recycling waste should come higher on the list of green processing than incinerating it.

Continue reading →

Unanswered Concerns about the Biomass Plant

I’m quoting myself here, responding to Brad Lofton’s letter of 19 Sepember 2010.

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From: “John S. Quarterman”
To: <blofton@industrialauthority.com>, Leigh Touchton
Cc: [VDT and several elected officials; list available upon request]
Subject: Re: Brad Lofton, Executive Director Industrial Authority, doesn’t want his correpondence in the Valdosta Daily Times
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:08:17 -0400

Brad Lofton,

Leigh Touchton has forwarded me copies of the correspondence between you on behalf of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) with her and the VDT.

I must say I don’t agree with your assertion that:

“The vast majority of her concerns for our project would have been answered two years ago if she had come to any of our forums…”
Here are some examples of unanswered concerns.

Continue reading →

“I’m amazed at how someone could dare say…”

Brad Lofton responds to Leigh Touchton’s letter of 16 September 2010.

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Date: Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 7:54 AM
From: Brad Lofton <blofton@industrialauthority.com>

Good morning Kay, Sandy et al.

Our unprecedented effort of educating the public included numerous public hearings, briefings with all elected officials, the VDT Editorial Board and groups all across Valdosta. We’ve even spent a great deal of effort trying to brief the NAACP leaving messages and making numerous phone calls to Leigh Touchton that have never been returned. We’ve spent more time educating the community on this project then the sum of any other projects we’ve worked combined. I’m amazed at how someone could dare say that we’ve not informed the public. The vast majority of her concerns for our project would have been answered two years ago if she had come to any of our forums or if she would at least answer her phone when we call. Now that we’re moving into the third year of due diligence, she’s concerned all of a sudden.

Continue reading →

Hahira Farmers Market, 3 July 2010

It’s bustling in the morning at the Hahira Farmers’ Market:

This time we picked the day before, and got to the market by 8AM. Gretchen moved quite a bit of sweet corn and okra, and some squash, pickles, and jam. Our most unusual items were the pumpkins. Continue reading →