Roy Copeland had a question about Project Excel,
the
private prison that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants
to build in Lowndes County,
at the
15 March 2011 VLCIA board meeting.
Q: He wanted to know if there are other communities competing for the project,
and whether they had also paid a second extension.
A: Col. Ricketts answered that there is another community competing,
but he did not know whether they had made that payment:
Regarding the
private prison that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants
to build in Lowndes County,
at the 15 March 2011 VLCIA board meeting,
Col. Ricketts gave an update,
saying CCA had made a second payment as stipulated in the purchase
and development agreement:
The story continues in later posts.
-jsq
Previously we asked if
public objections caused VLCIA to change its tune about
letting CCA build a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
OK, that was a rhetorical question: of course not!
Speaking at the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,
28 January 2011,
Brad Lofton
praised the private prison project:
“…we hope will be under construction in the next 18 months.
It will be about $150 million dollar project;
anywhere from 4 to 600 new jobs.
A lot of communities in Georgia are built around state prisons.
A hundred of those 400 will be post-secondary, nutritionalists,
physicians, nurses, vocational rehab, so we’re proud of that project.
You’ll start to hear a little bit more about that.
There will be about 300 construction jobs over about a 24 month period,
which will have a major impact on the community.”
That was part of Lofton’s famous
“jobs, jobs, jobs” speech.
Lofton is
gone now, but apparently VLCIA still plans the prison.
The story continues in later posts.
-jsq
What’s Project Excel?
A private prison for Lowndes County, proposed by
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
Back in August 2010 when the VDT first brought this story to light,
I pointed out that CCA is the same company that lobbied heavily
for Arizona’s new immigration law so CCA could get more customers.
And I wondered what VLCIA thought about this?
Silly question: of course they’re all for it!
It’s “jobs, jobs, jobs” with them.
As of 21 December 2010,
apparently things were still pretty tentative
when Brad Lofton gave an update to the VLCIA board,
claiming the CCA private prison would bring 600 jobs to Lowndes County, Georgia:
Some public objection had surfaced by 20 January 2010,
when
Dr. Mark George remarked to the Valdosta City Council:
“I think we can do better than a generator that burns human waste. I
think we can do better than a private prison and those are two things
that we seem to be excited about as a community.”
Next, we’ll see if objections had any effect on the Industrial Authority.
-jsq
And what about all that land?
In addition to a news story about
Brad Lofton moving on up to Myrtle Beach,
the Valdosta Daily Times also had an editorial yesterday (14 March),
Lofton’s leaving a void
in which they make some good points, including:
While the search is on for a new director, now is the time for the city,
county and industrial authority board to come together to make some
decisions about the organization and what the community leadership needs
and wants it to be.
Here are
a few modest suggestions along those lines, including considerations
such as water.
More from the VDT:
Some people compare LAKE to Wikileaks, so let’s go there.
Julian Assange, like
Wendell Berry,
links the civil rights movement and the environmental movement.
He
then says:
“For the Internet generation this is our challenge and this is our time.
We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state.
The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness.
Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights.”
LAKE’s
motto is:
Citizen dialog for transparent process
That makes Assange’s proposition
“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state”
sound very familiar to us.
Locally it’s more a matter of elected and appointed bodies ignoring
their chartered responsibilities to
the public good and the general welfare.
Well, many people are also tired of the permit inspection brigade,
but that’s another story.
Assange
also adds:
Dr. Noll
talks about air pollution and children.
He asks if the council thinks numerous medical associations and doctors
are lying to us.
Mayor Fretti asks if that’s a rhetorical question.
Dr. Noll indicates Rev. Rose and others seem quite disappointed
in lack of response.
Mayor Fretti falls back on process.
-jsq
NAACP reiterates charges of environmental racism,
despite claims from Brad Lofton, Executive Director of the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority,
that
“all of a sudden we haven’t heard anymore about environmental racism.”
Leigh Touchton, president of the local NAACP chapter,
presents to the Valdosta City Council
research published by
Robert D. Bullard about environmental apartheid.
-jsq
Dear Mr. Quarterman:
Mayor Fretti
welcomes a VSU advanced journalism class,
as well as David Rodock of the VDT,
while Gretchen pans around the room.
Hm, advanced journalism: maybe they’d like to video events?
-jsq
This LTE appeared in the VDT Sunday 13 February 2011. -jsq
Abraham Lincoln said, “The probability that we shall fail
in this struggle should not deter us from the support of a cause
that we believe is just.”
Such a cause for us is opposition to the biomass plant.Given its support from city and county officials more concerned
about doing the bidding of the rich and powerful than they are about
the health of children, it is likely a “done deal.”
Done by those who will profit from the deal.None of the national health organizations endorse biomass plants
as safe for children.
The American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association,
and the World Health Organization have concluded that biomass plants
pose serious threats to children.None of the deal makers, investors, or politicians who signed off
on their deal live in the community which will most be affected by
the poisonous toxins that will fill the air.
Their children don’t attend the schools, nor do they attend any
of the seven area churches.Meetings have been held on the biomass project.
Some by the Industrial Authority, WACE, the NAACP, and SCLC.
And not a single citizen has spoken in favor of it.
When I asked a council member about this, he said,
“They are afraid of you.”It is not the proponents who have anything to fear.
