Tag Archives: Valdosta

Emily Macheski-Preston for Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful @ LCC 2013-06-11

As usual, an incumbent on an appointed board asked to be reappointed and was. She did show up and speak, although she said more when she was first appointed.

5.b. Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful Board

At the 10 June 2013 Work Session, County Manager Joe Pritchard noted Continue reading

French, German, and Spanish nukes unreliable in heat

Invest in nukes for hot water in rivers damaging plants and animals while there’s less water for agriculture and cities and droughts and summer heat waves cause power shortages. That’s Europe’s experience. Or we could profit by their experience and get on with reliable renewable solar and wind power.

The Guardian, 12 August 2003, Heatwave hits French power production,

France has shut down the equivalent of four nuclear power stations as the heatwave eats into the country’s electricity generating capacities. With temperatures in French rivers hitting record highs, some power plants relying on river water to cool their reactors have been forced to scale back production.

Julio Godoy wrote for OneWorld.net 28 July 2006, European Heat Wave Shows Limits of Nuclear Energy,

Continue reading

Molly Deese for Convention Center and Tourism Authority @ LCC 2013-06-10

Do we have designated positions for specific local businesses on our appointed boards? It sure looks like it, at least for Wild Adventures.

5.a. Valdosta/Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority

At the Work Session 10 June 2013 County Manager Joe Pritchard said Commissioners had a letter of resignation from Bob Montgomery from VLCCCTA, and a letter (he didn’t say from whom) recommending Molly Deese to replace Montgomery. Pritchard said Deese had been “filling in” for Montgomery at VLCCCTA. Interesting. So Wild Adventures can send someone unappointed to fill in on an appointed board?

He didn’t say who Deese is, but she is Continue reading

2 appointments, 3 public hearings, 9 considerations, and 2 bids @ LCC 2013-06-24

Who’s applying to be appointed Tuesday evening? The Commission doesn’t tell you. Come to the Work Session Monday morning and maybe you’ll be able to hear the County Manager mumble the names, if he names them. Those library board applicants from two weeks ago are finally on the agenda. Also an appointment to Parks and Rec, three liquor licenses, and many other items, but nothing about solid waste or trash.

Here’s the agenda:

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Continue reading

Now with sound! @ LCC 2013-06-10

After the soundless 10 June 2013 Lowndes County Commission Work Session, Gretchen requested, County Clerk Paige Dukes promised and a few days later delivered, sound recordings on CDs of both that meeting and the next day’s Regular Session. LAKE thanks the County Clerk for those recordings. Gretchen has integrated the county sound with the LAKE video recordings and I have updated the Work Session blog post. But what about state open records law?

Two CDs of sound recordings

These CDs demonstrate the county does make recordings of the Commission meetings, at least of sound. The County Clerk told Gretchen the recordings are erased after the Clerk is finished with them. Hm, since such recordings are records of public meetings, wouldn’t that make them public open records? And if they are, wouldn’t destroying them be illegal?

According to state law on the GA Secretary of State’s website:

Continue reading

Dr. Jesse Lyle Parrott (1918-2013)

The last several times I saw him he reminded me that his illness was terminal, but it still comes as a shock. I was one of the many babies he delivered. -jsq

Picture from the VDT; obituary via McLane Funeral Services, Jesse Lyle Parrott

the VDT; Born in Salley, SC on Dec. 23, 1918
Departed on Jun. 21, 2013 and resided in Hahira, GA.
Visitation: No Visitation
Service: Private
Cemetery: Private
Jesse Lyle Parrott, M. D.

Dr. Jesse Lyle Parrott, 94, husband of Nancy Wainer Parrott for 58 years, died peacefully at home in Hahira on Friday, June 21, 2013. He was born in Salley, SC on December 23, 1918 to the late Lily Price and Glen Peake Parrott during the historic influenza epidemic. At the age of 12 he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, was baptized and joined the Methodist Church. He attended high school in Collins, Ga during the Great Depression. He worked as a gas station attendant, a “drugstore cowboy” and in the CCC until he entered South Georgia College in Douglas, GA. Eventually he received his Bachelor of Science pre-med degree from the University of Georgia where he was also proctor of the football dormitory. Entering Medical School at the Medical College of Georgia under the Navy program he was commissioned as an intern at the naval Hospital at New Orleans and Pearl Harbor. Following completion of training, Dr. Parrott was assigned to a flotilla of landing craft as the singular medical officer. Duty was principally in the Marshall-Gilbert Islands. In 1945, Dr. Parrott moved to Hahira, GA to join the practice of his brother in law, Dr. Raymond Smith at Smith Hospital. He worked 16-18 hour days in General Practice for 40 years during which he delivered over 5,000 babies, performed thousands of surgical procedures and treated many thousands of patients. The exception to his devotion to patients was his afternoon off every Thursday during which he fished with his father in law, the late David Samuel Wainer or his best friend, H. M. Barfield and then took his bride and family out to dinner. Dr. Parrott abruptly retired from private practice due to macular degeneration. He served another 15 years as the Chief Medical Director of the South District Detoxification Facility at Smith Hospital. Dr. Parrott was President of the South Georgia Medical Society, served as mayor of Hahira from 1957-1958 and again from 1987-1993. He was a long term member of Hahira United Methodist Church serving in many roles as well as Sunday School teacher for the Adult Class. He was also a member of the Valdosta Rotary Club.

Picture by Church Street Coffee

Along with his beloved wife, Continue reading

Adjourn into trash excuses @ LCC 2013-06-11

Citizens still wanted to talk about solid waste after the Commission adjourned the Tuesday 11 June 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. Commissioners offered nothing but excuses.

Page asks for Wright to stay behind Commissioner Page asked for Mr. Wright to stay behind so he could talk to him. The Chairman adjourned; I didn’t hear or see any motion or second or vote. Aren’t those required by state law? Motion to adjourn? --Chairman Slaughter

The subsequent excuses included:

It’s not about right or wrong anymore.

Nevermind that most of the people in the room thought it was, as well as many of the citizens and voters in the county.

We have to follow the process.

Nevermind they didn’t hold Continue reading

Gladiator School cancelled; 2 other CCA prisons closed

CCA loses contracts, including for its notorious Gladiator School; GEO, too. Some states are catching on to the private prison scam.

Aviva Shen wrote for ThinkProgress 21 June 2013, Three States Dump Major Private Prison Company In One Month,

State lawmakers who embraced private prisons as a cost-cutting measure are starting to have trouble ignoring their abysmal conditions. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest and most powerful private prison company in the nation, lost four prison contracts in the past month after extensive reports of abuse, neglect, and even fraud within their operations.

Idaho cut ties with the corporation on Wednesday, which turned the state’s largest prison into a violent hellhole inmates called “Gladiator School.” Earlier this year, CCA was caught understaffing the prison and using prison gangs to control the population. The company admitted to falsifying nearly 4,800 hours of staffing records to squeeze more money out of the state for nonexistent security work. Shift logs at the prison showed the same security guards working for 2 to 3 days at a time without breaks.

Last week, Texas closed two CCA prisons, including Continue reading

If missing docs sunk San Onofre, will Doosan document-forging sink Vogtle and Summer?

If documents can doom the San Onofre nuke and maybe the NRC Chair, how about forged Doosan documents and Plant Vogtle?

Matthew L. Wald wrote yesterday for The Caucus, Tussle Over Nuclear Plant Documents May Sink N.R.C. Appointment,

The botched repair job that doomed a California nuclear plant has created a political whirlpool that may be close to claiming another victim: the chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The issue is no longer the plant itself, San Onofre, which the majority owner, Southern California Edison, announced on June 7 it would permanently close. The problem now is that Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, who is chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a longtime critic of nuclear power, has been seeking documents from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Continue reading