You’re looking at an animal lover —Ashley Paulk @ LCC 24 May 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 May 2011.
Videos by Johh S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Those board appointments will affect all of us for some time to come.
Here are videos of all of the 24 May 2011 Lowndes County Commission meeting
except the citizens talking about the animal shelter; those will follow.
Remember, much of the discussion already happened the previous morning
in the work session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
He’s back from Afghanistan and has a new plan to fight McDonald’s.
Vince Schneider asked the County Commission for an ordinance about hours.
After quoting from the U.S. Tenth and Fourth Amendments
and talking about privacy rights,
he read similar passages from the Georgia Constitution,
and this one, from
Section II. Origin and Structure of Government:
All government, of right, originates with the people, is founded
upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the
whole. Public officers are the trustees and servants of the people and
are at all times amenable to them.
He then read a definition of ordinance,
and noted that many ordinances deal with issues of safety, health, morals,
etc.
His recommendation: for the Commission to pass an ordinance
limiting hours of operation for such type of enterprises.
That’s the county attorney visible directly past Schneider
(under the microphone).
Of course it’s the commissioners who must propose and pass any ordinance.
That will require
Continue reading →
The Chamber has put videos of its Economic Summit
along with the VSU report it commissioned up on
its website.
The videos are on vimeo, because they’re a tad lengthy.
However, they are conveniently linked in by subject.
Particularly our average weekly wage rates, which
we started becoming very concerned about around 2004.
My first human inclination was to go into denial.
I spent several months deciding whether I should even mention this
in our community or not.
But the bottom line on it is,
when you have a challenge, when you have a problem,
you can’t fix it until you come to grips with the fact that
you do have an issue that you need to deal with.
There’s part of the problem around here:
nobody wants to talk about problems.
That needs to change.
However, I don’t like her next point quite as much, which was that
they already have a plan and were presenting it.
That’s part of the reason people don’t want to speak up about problems:
because so often nobody is listening.
She did go on about Opportunity Central, though.
And the Chamber did put up videos of the whole thing on the web.
Bravo, Chamber and ReKasa!
-jsq
PS: Rekasa told me they were going to do that, and Jim Parker noted
that they had done it.
“I’ve seen a lot of the animals come in the shelter and not got vet care
and sometimes that comes in the form of euthanasia,” says Susan Leavens,
an animal control officer for Lowndes County.
This led several Lowndes County Animal Shelter employees to file a
complaint with the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
It launched an investigation citing the facility for not providing
humane care.
Joe Pritchard continued in his report:
August of 2010 the Department of Agriculture called me and asked
for a meeting about issues of concern.
They expressed those issues centered around
maintenance of records …
what was classified as humane treatment.
Mr. Pritchard referred to “specific castration of a pot-bellied pig”.
He didn’t say whether he considered that inhumane treatment;
he merely discussed it after referring to things “classified as humane treatment”.
Here is the entire Lowndes County Commission Work Session from this morning,
the same day it happened.
VDT or WCTV or WALB could do this.
Or the Commission itself could.
But since they don’t, LAKE did, and now you can see them dealing
with appointmments, alcohol, and animals.
If you have concerns about anything that happened,
or anything else related to the county government, there’s
a regular meeting Tuesday evening.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Let’s leapfrog Thomasville in the 21st century equivalent of roads, rail, and airports: Internet speeds!
Here’s another point from Chris Miller at the
2011 Economic Summit,
according to the VDT story by Dawn Castro 18 May 2011,
:
“Thomasville didn’t have hi-speed internet,
so the process of moving products quickly was not possible,”
he said, “With Rose Net hi-speed broadband, it is now able to
work 25 times faster.
That one simple step boosted economic product growth,
and as we all know, the technical industry creates a
wage growth path.”
Usually silent VLCIA board member Tom Call got a board meeting agenda
item:
Mr. Jerry and I met on May the second to review the…
I was kind of educating myself as to the current operating budget
and how it applies… goes into forming next year’s budget….
There’s just a few differences from the 2011 budget to the proposed
2012 budget.
He listed a couple of items:
Line item 32: Park maintenance.
Miller Business Park is added for this year.
Below line 51: Signage.
“Improve signage at some of our entrances.”
Chairman Jerry Jennett asked board members to take it home,
redline it, and bring it back for a vote next meeting.
Diff Operating Budget —Tom Call @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Myrna Ballard (President, Chamber of Commerce),
Michael Jetter (Interim Executive Director for the Valdosta-Lowndes Conference Center and Tourism Authority),
Amanda Peacock (Valdosta Main Street Manager),
Allan Ricketts (Valdosta-Lowndes Industrial Authority Project Manager),
Jane Shelton (Valdosta-Lowndes Airport Authority Member)
“Transforming our local economy”
“It’s the Mix that Matters”
Community leaders in the Valdosta area came together at the 2011 Economic
Summit to discuss the economic health of Valdosta-Lowndes County.
Economic Summit participants raised substantive questions for the panel
and shared ideas for moving forward during the facilitated discussion
portion of the Summit led by VSU Center for Business and Economic Research
Director, Scott Manley.
WALB then quotes the Chamber’s press release.
Dr. Cynthia R. Tori presented the VSU Center for Business and Economic
Research study, Lowndes County by the Numbers: How Do We Compare With
Peer and Aspirant Communities?
That study sounds very interesting.
Can we see a copy?
Continue reading →
Lowndes County Commission Chairman said he was the first member
of the local Humane Society
and he promised:
