Southern Regional Commission Roundtable Meeting
-gretchen
Time Wednesday, July 6 · 10:00am – 1:00pm Location Nashville Community Center
102 N Jefferson Street
Nashville, Georgia
The original post included this:On Friday June 17th, exactly 40 years after President Richard Nixon declared a “War on Drugs,” Internet activists organizing from the social news and activism website, Reddit.com, called the White House en masse to demand an end to the War on Drugs, calling it a “trillion dollar incarceration machine” with a measurable failure to reduce drug use, or harm from drug use.
This is also the last vestige of Nixon’s fight against the civil rights and anti-war movements: And if you look at US incarceration rates, it’s been incredibly effective. . .That’s right, almost six times as many black males per capita get locked up in the U.S. than in South Africa under apartheid. The numbers are even worse for young people and especially young black males, leading to this summary:
- 4,919 Black males per 100,000 population
- 1,717 Latino males per 100,000 of population
- 717 White males per 100,000 of population.
- South Africa under Apartheid (1993) – 851 Black males per 100,000
This isn’t a War on Drugs: It’s a Race War; It’s a War on the youth, likely to protest controversial policies (a war that conveniently takes away those groups voting rights). It’s a war on the American People, paid for by the American people, for the American people’s own good.Yep. Except a majority of the American people don’t want the “war on drugs” any more. It’s time for the laws to change.
Back to the main article: Continue reading
Lowndes County wants
$10 million dollars in T-SPLOST funds to widen New Bethel Road from 2 to 5 lanes,
even though Bemiss Road (GA-125) is right next to it and also connects to GA 122.
That $10 million might save Lanier County residents about one minute getting to Lowndes County to spend their money, while promoting more sprawl of developments into Lanier County.
It would cost a lot less to put a four-way stop or a light
at Walker’s Crossing where GA-122 and GA-125 meet.
The details of this $10 million boondoggle are appended below, extracted from this 171 page PDF.
-jsq
For whatever it is worth, I do not know of any local elected officials that support the T-SPLOST in its’ current form. Chairman Paulk is right on target with his comments.
Jane Osborn pointed us at
a detailed list of T-SPLOST projects.
T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman
Ashley Paulk
gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party
(LCDP) meeting a few months ago:
He’s against it
because he doesn’t like
a law with a stick in it.
At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,
T-SPLOST Explained
Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA,
and got
a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.
VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.
-jsq
David Rodock wrote today in the VDT, Valdosta’s 2012 budget reviewed by citizens and public officials
No citizens. I don’t live in Valdosta, so I didn’t go. Apparently no Valdosta residents who have any economic concerns went, either.City officials and staff gathered Wednesday night to discuss and review the fiscal year 2012 budget. Public participation was advertised, but no citizens presented any concern at the meeting. This is the first budget hearing, with the final adoption of the budget taking place at the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 23 at 5:30 p.m.
That’s too bad, because among the items discussed was this:
And I bet the city spends significant funds air conditioning its buildings. Costs that could be offset by investment in solar panels for those same buildings. Solar panels that would limit ongoing electrical expenditures, and would also be a visible sign to residents and potential investors that Valdosta means renewable and sustainable energy business.
- Energy and fuel prices are a threat, since the private sector controls the costs. Public Works, the Valdosta Fire Department and the Valdosta Police Department use significant amounts of fuel.
According to Hanson, for every dollar spent by residents, $1.17 is spent by non-residents.And many of those non-residents would see those solar panels, which would spread the green reputation of Valdosta back to whereever they came from.
If Valdosta wants to be forward-looking, Continue reading
Here’s the VlCIA board approving minutes for some of those recent meetings,
although you can’t tell what they were for, since
they were listed on the agenda like this:
MinutesThat’s right: no indication of what the meetings were for.
- Special Called Meeting, May 17, 2011
- Executive Session, May 17, 2011
- Regular Meeting, May 17, 2011
- Special Called Meeting, May 20, 2011
- Executive Session, May 20, 2011
- Special Called Meeting, May 21, 2011
- Executive Session, May 21, 2011
- Special Called Meeting, June 7, 2011
- Executive Session, June 7, 2011
I was told outside afterwards by one board member that the special meetings were for Continue reading
According to the
Intergovernmental Contract between VLCIA and Lowndes County:
WHEREAS, the Authority and the County propose to enter into this Contract, pursuant to which the Authority will agree, among other things, to issue the Bonds, and the County will agree, among other things, to pay to the Authority amounts sufficient to pay the debt service on the Bonds.So it seems the Lowndes County Commission committed the county, that is, we the taxpayers, to pay the debt service on $15,000,000 in bonds issued by VLCIA.
Still, what did VLCIA want $15 million in bonds for when it already gets $3 million a year in its own tax millage?
WHEREAS, the Authority proposes to acquire and develop one or more parcels of land located in the County for potential economic development purposes (the “Project”);To buy land to trade to new industries as they come in. A variation on what Brad Lofton got fired for doing in Effingham County. Continue reading
Philip Caulfield wrote 25 May 2011 for the Daily News:
Getting tougher is a failed strategy.Three Arizona cops smuggled drugs and humans and laundered money for a vast narco-trafficking ring, all under the nose of the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff,” authorities said.
One of the moles, a female corrections officer, was carrying the love child of a cartel capitán, and all three were accused of leaking sheriff’s office tips to help the ring guide smugglers, drugs and cash through the area from Mexico, authorities said.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Deputy Alfredo Navarette, 37, and two corrections officers, Sylvia Najera, 25, and Marcella Hernandez, 28, were among 12 people rounded up in Tuesday’s sting.
Time to stop the cycle of criminalization that has corrupted even the office of “America’s toughest sheriff”. Legalize, regulate, and tax to end the cycle of corruption.
And no, we don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County to assist in the cycle of corruption. Spend those tax dollars on education instead.
-jsq
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined, according to “Prison Count 2010,” a new survey by the Pew Center on the States. As of January 2010, there were 1,404,053* persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 4,777* fewer than on December 31, 2008.Guess which way Georgia went? As you can see in the map, Georgia increased by 1.6% while Texas, already leading in not wasting tax dollars on new prisons, decreased by 0.7%. Continue readingThis marks the first year-to-year drop in the nation’s state prison population since 1972. While the study showed an overall decline, it revealed great variation among jurisdictions. The prison population declined in 26* states, while increasing in 24* states and in the federal system.
*Numbers updated as of April 1, 2010. (Report originally released March 17, 2010.)