Tag Archives: Valdosta

Glynn County live video streaming

Local governments around here seem reluctant to post videos of their own meetings, or even to post board packet items on the web. We’ve seen examples of how to do it from Travis County, Texas and Leon County, Florida, but those are other states; maybe our Georgia local governments don’t want to look at such examples. How about Glynn County, Georgia?

Found on Glynn County’s facebook page:

Did you know…Glynn County now offers live streaming and archived videos of BOC meetings ONLINE! No cable? No problem! Join us tonight at 6:00 p.m. Glynn County, GA — Official Website — Media Center

Looks like their 24 April 2012 Work Session lasted more than two hours.

And they live-stream and archive videos of their planning commission, as well. It’s 18 April 2012 meeting lasted about 24 minutes.

Back on the Glynn County web pages, they have their proposed budget online more than a week before their budget public hearing which is a special called meeting that they will put on cable channel 99 and live stream online.

Meanwhile, they have Board of Commissioners minutes online that include Continue reading →

History should reward all research —George Boston Rhynes

Received yesterday on Georgia Governor Nathan concerning this alleged suicide. -jsq

Ms Barbara Stratton!

Thanks for the info along the lines of

"getting beyond racial bias and discussing issues honestly as friends, respect each other's opinons and not be afraid of reprisal from racial antogonists?"

History should reward all all research and to better understand or overstand the racial bias in America one only need to study what happened in our world before todays religious belief systems infected hate under the name of religion and the elites.

-George Boston Rhynes

Doing what I do because its all about us; collectively as we travel the righteous path in and among those that does not want for their neighbor; the same things that they want for themselves and their own families. It is what it is…

Valdosta confused about water uses

Is there an outdoor water restriction in Valdosta, or isn’t there? The city and the newspaper seem confused about that. Also remember much of Lowndes County gets its water indirectly from Valdosta through the county’s utility system. And that with groundwater levels at all-time lows, we need to be conserving all the time anyway, and thinking about how much and what kind of growth we want.

The City of Valdosta front page says:

In the Spotlight

The City of Valdosta has issued an outdoor water restriction suspending all outdoor water uses for 72-hours, or until further notice. Click here for more.

Yet if you click there, you get this error page:

Error The page you have requested does not exist. Please click here to go back to the home page.

Similarly, there was a VDT article on that subject, but that link also goes nowhere now.

Stephen Abel wrote for WALB yesterday, Temporary water restrictions in effect for Valdosta,

Folks in Valdosta need to think twice about washing their cars, or doing anything else that uses much water, this weekend.

“The city of Valdosta is urging all citizens to immediately cease outdoor irrigation use and all other nonessential uses of water. Now and throughout the weekend,” said Public Information Officer Sementha Mathews.

Severe vibrations in the water pumps is what put them out of commission. “The city’s water treatment plant experienced some mechanical issues this week with two of its raw water well pumps which caused the low levels in water,” said Mathews.

So, did the city fix its pumps? Or is it just confused about what to do?

WCTV posted this update, and seemed to indicate the water restrictions were still in place:

The City of Valdosta sincerely thanks the citizens who responded quickly to its request today to cease all outdoor irrigation and non-essential use of water. Currently, there are no water quality issues in the system, and the water provided by the city is safe for all purposes.

People should be conserving all the time anyway. These suggestions from the city are pretty good for a start:

Continue reading →

Surely a thorough investigation should be conducted to determine the facts. —Barbara Stratton

Received Thursday on Georgia Governor Nathan concerning this alleged suicide. -jsq

With all due respect to Mr. Rhynes, who I consider a friend, no one knows all the facts in this hanging death of an inmate and yes all prisoners should be protected even against themselves for liability and ethical reasons. However, if I had just committed and confessed a murder I personally might prefer suicide, probably because I would think I did not deserve to live if the shooting was not in self defense. Perhaps Mr. Rizer was of that opinion, and if so he should have the freedom to make his own choices. Yes, I know about the Baker Act, know all the correct answers to pass suicide prevention training, and I have the Wingman card with rules for suicide prevention in my wallet. However, I am still a believer in free will including suicide. If there were any circumstances that contributed to his ending of his life against his will then surely a thorough investigation should be conducted to determine the facts.

Continue reading →

Planning Commission agenda for Monday 2012-04-30

Here is the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC). It was faxed to Gretchen Quarterman of LAKE by GLPC chair Bill Slaughter, at her request.

Does anyone volunteer to transcribe it or OCR it?

There appear to be four cases for final action by Valdosta Mayor and Council on 10 May 2012, and three cases for final action by the Lowndes County Commission on 8 May 2012. GLPC itself is advisory: it votes on recommendations, but it does not decide.

You may wonder why we don’t just point to the official copy of the agenda on the GLPC website. That’s because that website no longer exists (try the above link; you’ll see). It’s still linked to from the City of Valdosta web page for GLPC. More on all that later.

-jsq

Someplace worse than here

Eric Stirgus wrote for the AJC 25 April 2012, PolitiFact: For the record, it’s OK to record council meetings,

Meetings of the Cumming City Council rarely make the evening news, but that changed last week with video of a woman being tossed out of the public gathering.

The woman, Nydia Tisdale, was attempting to film the council’s meeting April 17, but she was told that was not going to happen.

“We don’t allow filming inside of the City Hall here,” Mayor H. Ford Gravitt said, “unless there is a specific reason.”

Hm, what does state law say?

Title 50, Section 14 of the Georgia Open Meetings Act:

“[v]isual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open meetings shall be permitted”

Stirgus notes some irony:

In a strange bit of timing, Tisdale was tossed from the council meeting on the same day Gov. Nathan Deal signed House Bill 397, a revised state law on open meetings and records aimed at providing greater access to documents and public meetings.

The Georgia Attorney General’s Office is investigating, as well it should. The investigation shouldn’t take long, since the entire incident is on video. Meanwhile, the mayor keeps digging:

Gravitt also explained that he had concerns that allowing one camera and tripod in would embolden multiple people to bring in cameras and tripods into a meeting.

Then people might know what’s going on!

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

This gang movement —Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on People, citizens with the same rights as everyone else, being intimidated and bullied –Jeff, another in a series of opinion pieces. -jsq

Please note this comment left on the You Tube video by acon4awhile (I guess this means a conservative for a while. Could this be one of the “Blue Republicans” who have jumped parties to try to get Ron Paul nominated because the Democrats like his promise to legalize drugs and other liberal interests? Good possibility since I first linked to the Blue Republican web site from one of his posts.)

“There’s 2/3rds needed to close the debate over the slate, but just 50% + 1 to pass the slate. So where does this lead? Making people wait so long they have to leave and then vote on the slate that already passed?? I’m assuming there can be a motion to amend the slate passed once some of the original majority have to leave, adhering to a filibuster. I guess we could have been more aggressive, but could have been just as successful. We got 14/28 district and 8/22 state for Ron Paul that day.” acon4awhile in reply to acon4awhile (Show the comment) 1 day ago

This comment speaks for itself. The intent was

Continue reading →

Southern Company CEO got 62% raise in 2011

What did Southern Company (SO) do to justify a 62% raise for its CEO last year? Could it be lots of special financing for the proposed new nukes at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River?

Bill Murphy wrote for citybizlist Atlanta 16 April 2012, The Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning Got 62% Raise in 2011 – cbl

The Southern Company (NYSE: SO) Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Fanning got a 62 percent jump to $9.75 million last year, according to an SEC filing. He got $6.02 million in 2010.

Fanning, who has led the Atlanta-based energy company since December 2010, received a base annual salary of $1.06 million, shares worth $2.25 million, stock options worth $1.50 million, $2.46 million in non-equity incentive and $2.42 million representing a change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation.

-jsq

Moody detonating tomorrow

Peculiar sounds from Moody are pretty common around here, but expect more tomorrow morning.

WALB at some unspecified time, perhaps today, Lowndes Co. 'booms' may be Moody detonations. This Moody PR is dated Tuesday, CONTROLLED DETONATION AT MOODY AFB,

4/24/2012—MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga.— — The 23d Civil Engineer Squadron Explosives Ordnance Disposal team will clear practice ordnance from target areas at Grand Bay Bombing and Gunnery Range from Monday, April 23 thru Thursday, April 26 for target maintenance and regular range repairs. On Friday, April 27 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., the EOD team will safely dispose of any ordnance deemed unsafe during the clearance with 2-3 munitions detonations.

The detonations are expected to be heard throughout Valdosta and surrounding areas. They are part of a controlled reduction of unexploded munitions and will be overseen by Moody explosives ordnance specialists.

Grand Bay Bombing and Gunnery Range is used by military aircrew and ground personnel regularly for tactical and ground maneuvers and weapons training.

Should you have any questions pertaining to this topic, please feel free to contact Moody Air Force Base Public Affairs Office at 229-257-3007. Also, visit Moody's official website www.moody.af.mil for more information on Moody and to view current news releases. Information is updated daily on our Facebook page, simply search Moody Air Force Base Official.

-jsq

ALEC, bills to ditch renewable energy, and the Southern Company

Got caught promoting laws that encourage people to kill people? Double down on laws to kill people through pollution! That’s what ALEC is doing. And look who’s apparently a member of ALEC: the Southern Company, parent of Georgia Power, and proprieter of several of the largest and dirtiest coal plants in the country.

Brian Merchant wrote for Treehugger Tuesday, Two ALEC Campaigns Exposed: One Kills Renewables, One Boosts Fracking,

After major corporations like Pepsi, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble, and Coke all ditched the rightwing group, ALEC announced that it would Plant Scherer abandon its drive to enact gun and voter ID laws. The group’s decision came after a couple high profile campaigns were launched decrying ALEC’s involvement in passing the ‘stand your ground’ laws.

But the group is actually stepping up its efforts in other arenas, as I noted last week. And two new reports, one from ProPublica, the other from DeSmogBlog, outline its new aims: dismantle legislation that incentivizes renewable energy generation, and preserve loopholes that allow natural gas companies to keep the chemical cocktails in their fracking fluids secret from the public.

This is the same ALEC that promotes laws like Georgia’s HB 87 that lock up more people to benefit private prison companies like CCA, which wanted to build a private prison on Lowndes County, Georgia. Traficking in human beings is not too sordid for ALEC, so poisoning people through polution doesn’t seem surprising.

Hm, let’s look at the corporate membership of ALEC, as collected by Sourcewatch’s ALEC Exposed. Why there’s The Southern Company, parent of Georgia Power! I’m frankly a little surprised Continue reading →