\nA new radio ad from the Community Unification for Educational Excellence,\nInc (CUEE) has sparked a lot of controversy in the few days it has\n\n<\/a>\nbeen\nrunning in local media.\n
\n…\n
\nThe ad, voiced by an actor who sounds like Morgan Freeman but is\nnot, encourages Valdosta city residents to vote \u201cYes\u201d on school\nconsolidation November 8th. The commercial claims that Valdosta schools\nare \u201conce again segregated\u201d and ties the success of the vote to\nDr. Martin Luther King\u2019s vision.\n
\n\n
<\/a>\nCallers to the Chris Beckham Show, which airs from 3PM to 6PM each weekday\non WVGA 105.9 FM, were overwhelming in their condemnation of the ad.\n<\/blockquote>\nYes, that’s what Chris Beckham told me when I talked to him today.\nI’ll be on his radio show on WVGA 105.9, tomorrow, about 4PM.\n
\nYou can hear the radio ad\n\nin the Valdosta Today article.<\/a>\n
\nThe article contains this priceless quote by the real Morgan Freeman,\n\n\nalbeit in\n\na slightly different context:<\/a>\n
\nThese people are lying.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nAmong the quotes is this one by Sam Allen,\n
\nCUEE has stooped to a new low with this ad. I think it’s offensive\n\n<\/a>\nand I\nthink they feel that the citizens of Valdosta are stupid if they believe\nthis. Dr. King’s dream had nothing to do with school consolidation\nin Valdosta and it’s shameful that they are trying to put those two\nthings together.\n<\/blockquote>\nYeah, pretty much.\n
\nIt seems that CUEE has managed to alienate even a Black Crow radio host.\nFirst, some of a statement CUEE provided Black Crow:\n
\n\u201cThe goal of the Vote Yes Committee is not to inflame our citizens\n\n<\/a>\nor divide us from the important task of educating all our children. We\nstrongly encourage all our citizens to take a deep breath, lower the\nrhetoric and have a meaningful dialogue leading to the vote on November\n8th.\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\nOh, excuse me, that was the Vote Yes Committee, not CUEE.\nWhat exactly is the difference, anyway?\nDoes anybody know?\nAnd does anybody know where their money comes from?\n
\nAnyway, I’m not sure that pro-“unification” group got the reaction they wanted:\n
\nIn response to the Vote Yes statement, Chris Beckham told\nValdostaToday.com, \u201cI also hope citizens look at all of the available\n\n<\/a>\ninformation,\n\nincluding the possible financial ramifications,<\/a>\nand make an\ninformed decision. We have been having a meaningful dialogue about the\nsubject for several months on our program every day.\u201d Adding, \u201cThe\nCUEE committee \u201cinflamed” citizens when it phrased the ballot question\nin a way that Lowndes County citizens, who would be equally affected by\nconsolidation, are not allowed to have their voice heard.\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\nOr, as I put it:\n\ntaxation without representation.<\/a>\n
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