Tag Archives: WACE

Public criticism —Leigh Touchton



Leigh Touchton posted a comment with a report from
last night’s Valdosta City Council meeting:

I won’t stay to the end in the future because if they are going to
make public attacks on citizens and then go into Executive session so
they don’t have to hear a rebuttal, then I don’t care to listen to their
bombast. Yost apparently thinks
your public criticism of the activists not
staying (and also the Tea Party left right after one of their members read
from the Bible about how laws and regulation are a sin–I had difficulty
keeping from laughing out loud—we’re in a recession because laws and
regulation were thrown away and banks made a video called Banks Gone
Wild…but I digress)…apparently Yost thinks your criticism of people
not staying is something he can use to good effect to nullify the need
to publicly address citizen complaints. Here’s his position, distilled:

“You won’t stay to the end, I’m offended. You called our important work
boring, I’m offended. (much redness of face, some veins popping out)
You come in here and talk to us like that then I’m not going to address
your complaints, I’m offended.”

Well I’m offended that a grown man elected to represent Valdosta acts
like that.

Let me go back and educate the gentle readers out there who haven’t

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Biomass protesters @ VCC 7 April 2011

You’ve

seen them before
and here they are again:
biomass protesters, this time outside Valdosta City Hall, 7 April 2011.


Old and young,

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When the biomass plant is cancelled —John S. Quarterman

What will happen to the spirit of activism when the biomass plant is cancelled?



I applaud the activism of

the many and varied biomass opponents!
Let me repeat my prediction: the biomass plant will never be built.
That’s no reason to stop doing what you’re doing.
You know opposition is having an effect when

VLCIA repeatedly denies it.

You might be surprised how many other people think this plant will
never be built.
Ashley Paulk told me

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Let’s see these “many” biomass opponents

So what’s the evidence that these

biomass opponents are many, as the VDT says?
We could review letters to the editors in the VDT,
but let’s look at the visual evidence LAKE has recorded.

With no pro-biomass demonstrators anywhere to be seen.
Sure, a few people show up at government meetings to speak for the
biomass plant, but by my tally they are indeed very few,
and most of them are either former employees or board members
of the Industrial Authority.
Yes, LAKE has posted videos of
them, as well:

Ken Garren,

Nolen Cox.

Crawford Powell.
Or watch the people at the microphones during the
6 December 2011 VLCIA biomass “forum”
and see what you think the ratio is.

My opinion is

the same as I posted last month:
“Black and white, young and old, conservative and liberal, college professors and unemployed”.
Come see for yourself

today outside Valdosta City Hall starting at 5PM.

-jsq

Far more citizens are concerned about the plant –VDT

In the VDT,

Friday 25 March 2011:



“THUMBS DOWN: To area officials who continue to refer
to the opponents of the biomass plant as a “fringe” group.
Far more citizens are concerned about the plant
than officials would like for the
public to believe. Thankfully, the city council allowed them to speak
at Thursday’s meeting, but the issue is not going away until their
health concerns are addressed.”

A year ago the VDT was solidly in the pro biomass camp.
Guess they didn’t like being fed misinformation,
any more than the rest of us did.


And that was before the VDT said

VLCIA illegally made up a document.

Rumor has it that

there’s going to be another demonstration
today outside Valdosta City Hall starting at 5PM.

-jsq

VDT says VLCIA illegally made up a document

Today’s editorial in the VDT is

Another Industrial Authority misstep
refers to the VDT
article
and
editorial
of Sunday, and continues:



The reporter who conducted the interview with Industrial Authority Project
Manager Allen Ricketts has been subsequently repeatedly contacted by
Ricketts for what he deems “false reporting.” According to Ricketts,
the timeline was never official and was only something the Industrial
Authority threw together to appease the Times when given an official Open
Records Request. Ricketts is apparently unaware that legally he cannot
produce a document that does not exist to comply with said request. If
he knowingly did so, as he now claims, that is a clear violation of the
Open Records Act.

Presumably that would be the “Project Critical Path time-line is attached”
that wasn’t actually attached to

documents returned for an open records request of 17 February 2011.
Hm, since VLCIA did supply such a document to the VDT,
presumably it is now a VLCIA document subject to open records request,
even though it was not what VLCIA told VDT it was.

Back to the VDT editorial:

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Fight the biomass plant, and solar is truly clean and green –Natasha Fast @ VCC 24 March 2011



Natasha Fast, co-president of
WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy,

explains why she is protesting
outside the most recent
Valdosta City Council meeting.




Natasha Fast of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy outside the

Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

She also says

she supports solar as a truly clean green renewable energy source:

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Valdostans protest biomass –VSU Spectator



Molly Duet

writes in the VSU newspaper today:

Protestors wearing respirator masks held signs reading “Biomass? No!”
in front of the Valdosta City Hall building on Thursday. Members of
the Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, the VSU student organization
Students Against Violating the Environment, and other concerned Valdosta
citizens showed up to protest the construction of the Wiregrass Power:
Biomass Electric Generating Plant.

“We already have solar power resources in place that we could be using
and I feel like money should be directed towards that,” Ivey Roubique,
vice-president of the Student Geological Society, said. “It wouldn’t
be good for the community and even though I’m in college here it
still matters.”

The Spectator article quotes from two speakers for whom LAKE
happens to have video, linked below.

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Call to action for City Council not to sell water to biomass plant –Karen Noll @ VCC 24 March 2011



Karen Noll of WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy,
asked the Valdosta City Council not to sell wastewater
to the proposed Wiregrass Power LLC biomass plant.
She presented

“500+ signatures from community members and organizations”

asking for that.
She also said

“…furthermore a response to our request each
member of the council is expected before the next council meeting.”

Here’s

the video.





WACE, Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy, at

Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 24 March 2011,

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

What Are Our Priorities? –Dr. Noll @ LCC 22 March 2011



Dr. Noll raised a number of issues about community priorities
at the Lowndes County Commission meeting of 22 March 2011
and asked what are our priorities?

The Sierra Club letter he mentions

was posted last week.
For NOAA Weather Radios

see previous posts.
Here is

the video:





Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 22 March 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.


Appended is the script Dr. Noll says he was reading.
I’ve added a few links to relevant posts.
-jsq

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