Tag Archives: Valdosta

Bird Supper this Wednesday in Atlanta

On the

county’s front page:

LOWNDES COUNTY BIRD SUPPER—Tickets on sale now!



For more than 50 years, local citizens have met face to face with
members of the General Assembly during the Lowndes County Bird
Supper. Hosted by Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta on behalf
of our community’s local legislative delegation, this year’s Bird
Supper promises to be one of the best yet!



The event will be held Wednesday, February 12, 2014, at 5:00 p.m. at
the old railroad depot, downtown Atlanta. Tickets are $50.00 and
include refreshments and a quail dinner. Attendees will enjoy the
music of the Valdosta State University Faculty Jazz Ensemble, while
meeting with state officials in a business casual atmosphere.

The Lowndes County Bird Supper is our community’s chance discuss
upcoming or pending legislation with lawmakers, with an opportiunity
to explain how legislative decisions impact South Georgia. For more
information, please contact Lowndes County Clerk, Paige Dukes, at
229-671-2400, For tickets, please contact Event Coordinator, Belinda
Lovern, at 229-671-2400 or blovern@lowndescounty.com.

Colter Anstaett wrote for WALB 8 January 2014,

Valdosta Mayor looking forward to “Bird Supper” next month, Continue reading →

Dollar General, Elections, and Human Resources @ LCC 2014-02-10



Three water wells
(
Wheeler,

Brown,
and

Dollar General),
a

Board of Elections personnel request,
and a



Human Resources service contract,
plus whatever the Chairman interjects off the agenda
and whoever the County Manager has give reports.

Here’s

the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Moody Family Housing Environmental Assessment published

Spotted first by Michael G. Noll in the VDT yesterday,
the document promised by
Col. Ford
the previous evening.
A quick search finds nothing about the

Nelson Hill Wells,
and no mention of VSU or any of the professors there who have

expressed
concern and asked for access to the site to conduct an independent study.



USAF ANNOUNCES AN

ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act and Air Force regulations, the Air Force Civil
Engineer Center (AFCEC) has completed a Revised Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI), and a Finding of No
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) to evaluate the
consequences of the following stated proposed action:

The revised Proposed Action would involve the
construction of 11 housing units for senior leadership on
a 15-acre parcel on the base and 90 units on an
approximately 60-acre parcel located northwest of the
city of Valdosta, GA on Val-Del Road (the Val-Del
Parcel). This represents a reduction Continue reading →

Free speech for bloggers as journalists reaffirmed

This should have been obvious already from

the Open Government Act of 2007,
among other laws, but now a court has reaffirmed it.

Dan Levine wrote for Reuters 17 January 2014,

Blogger gets same speech protections as traditional press: U.S. court,

A blogger is entitled to the same free speech protections as a
traditional journalist and cannot be liable for defamation unless
she acted negligently, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

Crystal Cox lost a defamation trial in 2011 over a blog post she
wrote accusing a bankruptcy trustee and Obsidian Finance Group of
tax fraud. A lower court judge had found that Obsidian did not have
to prove that Cox acted negligently because Cox failed to submit
evidence of her status as a journalist.

But in the ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco said Cox deserved a new trial, regardless of the fact that
she is not a traditional reporter.



“As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment
distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is
unworkable,” 9th Circuit Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote for a unanimous
three-judge panel.

Here’s the actual ruling:

Obsidian Finance Group, LLC; Kevin D. Padrick v. Crystal Cox,
United States Cour tof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
17 January 2014, Continue reading →

Air Force has the environmental assessment for Moody Family Housing



Last night I chatted briefly with Moody’s
Col. Ford, before he spoke at the
Lake Park Chamber Annual Awards Dinner.
He said he had been able to get on the site of the proposed Moody Family
Housing about a year ago.
I mentioned the

Nelson Hill Wells
and he said they had spent a lot of time already investigating
water issues, and now the Air Force has received the environmental assessment.
Perhaps it includes the missing piece this time,
and maybe there’s a way for the public and local professors
to provide input.




Colonel Edward Ford is commander of the 23d Mission Support Group at
Moody AFB, Ga. He leads a group of more than 1,450 military and
civilian members providing support and services to a population of
28,000 active duty, retired military and family members. His group
maintains an installation with more than 830 buildings and more than
17,500 acres, including an adjacent bombing or strafing range. He is
responsible for ensuring the readiness of support forces to mobilize
and deploy to build, secure, and sustain air base operations at
austere bare base locations anywhere in the world.

The 23d Mission Support Group also retains responsibility for civil
engineering, environmental compliance, Continue reading →

Nelson Hill Wells

Seen today on

Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County:



In the Northwest and Southwest of the most westerly boundary line of
Nelson Hill Subdivision there are two well sites that had been
previously deeded to Lowndes County for Deep Wells for Lowndes
County Water Supply due to the problems at that time with the Well
at Stone Creek location. However the test bore water samples came
back with negative results due to surface water contamination
entering the aquifer from all the fractures in the fragile lime
stone basin and active sinkholes in that area, there is a sinkhole
less than half of a mile south from where the test bores were done
and it’s probably 90 feet deep. All this boarders the subject site
Moody Housing.

So let’s look on the west side of the
remainder of the Nelson Hill site,

parcel 0071 006B.
There are two cutouts, each about 50 feet square or 2500 square feet or 0.057 acre.
Trying to select those in the online tax assessors maps, we get:

No data found for Continue reading →

Recent clear cutting in north of Lowndes County



Multiple people reported clearing work at the site of the

Moody Family Housing project on Val Del Road,
with its

sinkhole next to an aquifer recharge zone,
that


not even
Moody Air Force Base can get in to inspect.
So we went out to look. There is clear cutting happening on Val Del Road (both sides) but it does not appear to be happening on the property slated for Moody Family Housing.




There has been clear cutting going on in the north of Lowndes County
for some time on large tracts near Skipper Bridge Road, Staten Road (near the
new river bridge) and on Val Del Road immediately south of the Moody Family
Housing tract.

It appears that most of those properties are owned by Natco LLC: Continue reading →

Maybe VSU should join this band of Fossil-Free Foundations

Maybe that’s what the VSU Foundation wants to tell SAVE

when they dine Monday:
VSU gets it (even if Harvard doesn’t) that fossil fuels are a bad investment and solar is where the profits, students, and investors are.

Diane Cardwell
wrote for DealBook 30 January 2014,

Foundations Band Together to Get Rid of Fossil-Fuel Investments,



Seventeen foundations controlling nearly $1.8 billion in investments
have united to commit to pulling their money out of companies that
do business in fossil fuels, the group announced on Thursday.

The move is a victory for a developing divestiture campaign that has
found success largely among small colleges and environmentally
conscious cities, but has not yet won over the wealthiest
institutions like Harvard, Brown and Swarthmore.

But the participation of the foundations, including the Russell
Family Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America and the
John Merck Fund, is the largest commitment to the effort, and stems
in part from a push among philanthropies to bring their investing in
line with their missions.

“At a minimum, our grants should not be undercut by our
investments,” Continue reading →

GA bill for solar financing

What electric utilities fear most:
bipartisan support for distributed rooftop solar financing.
You can call your legislator and support HB 874,
the Solar Power Free-Market Financing and Property Rights Act of 2014.

Dave Williams
wrote for the Atlanta Business Chronicle 28 January 2014,

Ga. Republican unveils solar bill,



Georgia property owners would be able to contract directly with
solar energy installers to finance the installation of solar panels
under legislation introduced in the General Assembly Tuesday.

The bill would let property owners lease solar panels instead of
having to buy them with cash up front, said Georgia Rep. Mike
Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, the bill’s sponsor.

“We want to make it clear Continue reading →