{"id":1070,"date":"2012-02-26T17:55:23","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T22:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/community-activism-had-nothing-to-do-with-biomass-plant-not-coming-here-andrea-schruijer-to-bobbi-a.html"},"modified":"2012-02-26T17:55:23","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T22:55:23","slug":"community-activism-had-nothing-to-do-with-biomass-plant-not-coming-here-andrea-schruijer-to-bobbi-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/community-activism-had-nothing-to-do-with-biomass-plant-not-coming-here-andrea-schruijer-to-bobbi-a.html","title":{"rendered":"Community activism had nothing to do with biomass plant not coming here —Andrea Schruijer to Bobbi A. Hancock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Received today. -jsq<\/p>\n

\nSubject: Meeting with Andrea<\/p>\n

\nJust a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea
\n
\n<\/a>
\nSchruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she
\nresponded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of
\n365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that extension.” So I
\nasked,” if CCA doesn’t request a
\n
\n3rd extension<\/a>, then the issue is over,
\nright?” She replied, “If there’s no response from CCA, then it is up to
\nthe board to determine how to move forward.” When I asked her why they
\nwould even consider honoring a contract extension to CCA knowing some
\nof the controversy over CCA’s business practices, she replied, “because
\nthere is a partnership between the VLCIA and CCA and we are
\ncontractually bound to a 3rd extension.”<\/p>\n

\nI pointed out that the private prison industry wasn’t interested in
\npublic safety and rehabilitation they simply wanted to make a quick
\nbuck off the lives of others. I informed her of the chronic employee
\nturnover, understaffing, high rates of violence and extreme cost
\ncutting which all have been attributed to CCA.<\/p>\n

\nI told her that Lowndes County already had its own share of air
\n
\n<\/a>
\npollution and that amount of air pollution here is directly
\nproportionate to the amount of lung and bronchial caner in our area. I
\nencouraged her to consider sustainable businesses for the future
\neconomic growth of our community, not smoke stack business. Her reply,
\n“so what you are saying is that you think the industrial should just
\nclose its doors?” I actually hadn’t thought about that but the
\nquestion did make me ponder.<\/p>\n

\nI left her with
\n
\na 91 page research report<\/a> which takes a critical look
\nat the first twenty years of CCA’s operations. I requested an email
\nresponse of her thoughts about the report and am currently awaiting the
\nresponse…<\/p>\n

\nBiomass did come up in the conversation and Mrs. Schruijer was quick to
\nassert that\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n“biomass DO NOT not come here because of community
\nactivism.” She stated, “the reason was because there was no buyer for
\nthe product” and a few other excuses I neglected to pin down.<\/p>\n

\nShe did mention wealth in our community but it seemed impossible to get
\nthe idea through to her that wealth does not always mean money. I
\nasked her, “what sense would it make if there are lots of jobs created
\nby your smoke stack industries and all the employees have great health
\ninsurance but their kids and elders are suffering from bronchial
\ndisorders and lung disease which in turn drives up your healthcare
\nexpenses.” There is cap on medical insurance you know. I have no
\nrecorded response of her reply. Seems like they would launch their own
\nrisk\/benefit analysis and KNOW the risks involved in smoke stack
\nindustries. I pointed out the ethics involved here as well.<\/p>\n

\nI was deferred to the VLCIA attorney when asked about specific
\nquestions pertaining to the
\n
\nPurchase and Development Agreement between
\nthe VLCIA and CCA<\/a>. After about 30 minutes, the meeting was pretty
\nmuch put to an end…<\/p>\n

\n-Bobbi A. Hancock\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sure, community activism had nothing to do with the biomass plant not opening.
\nHar.
\nThat explains why
\n
\nVLCIA approached the County Commission
\nabout asking the Commission not to extend the contract,
\nand why VLCIA sent a delegation up to Atlanta to ask Wiregrass Power
\nnot to extend their contract….<\/a>
\nSure it does.
\nSorry, I can’t type very well while I’m laughing.<\/p>\n

\nIt took Ashley Paulk to be a big man about biomass and to tell us all that.
\nMaybe this time somebody on the VLCIA board can be a big man or woman
\nand stand up for the community against the private prison.<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Received today. -jsq Subject: Meeting with Andrea Just a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea Schruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she responded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of 365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,120,1113,40,14,2,41,19,72,3,178],"tags":[8736,8738,2906,8817,8717,2993,8728,409,8701,8730,7,1297,6,8749],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-biomass","category-cca","category-community","category-economy","category-government","category-health-care","category-history","category-incarceration","category-transparency","category-vlcia","tag-activism","tag-biomass","tag-business-model","tag-cca","tag-community","tag-contract","tag-ethics","tag-extension","tag-georgia","tag-incarceration","tag-lowndes-county","tag-private-prison","tag-valdosta","tag-vlcia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}