{"id":2062,"date":"2011-05-06T16:10:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T20:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/citizens-are-entitled-to-hear-where-their-elected-officials-stand-leigh-touchton.html"},"modified":"2011-05-06T16:10:01","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T20:10:01","slug":"citizens-are-entitled-to-hear-where-their-elected-officials-stand-leigh-touchton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/citizens-are-entitled-to-hear-where-their-elected-officials-stand-leigh-touchton.html","title":{"rendered":"Citizens are entitled to hear where their elected officials stand —Leigh Touchton"},"content":{"rendered":"

This comment from Leigh Touchton came in today on
\n“Because it would be monitored.<\/a> -jsq<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>
\nTwo weeks ago I delivered the official NAACP letter to all City Council
\nmembers (and Mayor Fretti) asking for a written response as to their
\nposition on biomass and selling reclaimed water to the Wiregrass, LLC,
\nproposed incinerator.<\/p>\n

\nNo response. Not one.<\/p>\n

\nI have heard that at least two Council members refuse to do so because
\n“it might be used against them.”<\/p>\n

\nCitizens are entitled to hear where their elected officials stand on
\nthese issues. At least Councilmen Vickers, Wright, and Yost have stated
\npublicly that they support biomass, even though black infants are already
\ndying in Valdosta at a rate twice as high as white infants. According
\nto Mr. Wright,\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\nhe simply doesn’t believe the health risks associated
\nwith biomass combustion.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to Mr. Yost, whose daughter has asthma and participates in
\noutdoor sports, the health risks documented by American Lung Association,
\nAmerican Cancer Society, American Heart Association are not credible,
\nnor are the other medical publications in Pediatrics journals that WACE
\ngave to him. Mr. Yost works for the Special Olympics? If I were the
\nparents whose children he makes decisions about, I would be down there
\nasking some tough questions, like since when does he put the needs of
\nbusiness to make a profit over the needs of children to breathe clean air?<\/p>\n

\nHasn’t it occurred to him that his daughter’s asthma will be exacerbated
\nif this biomass incinerator gets built? Doesn’t he know that ASTHMA
\nKILLS? As I’ve stated repeatedly, the death rate due to asthma in the
\nblack community is 2-3 times higher than in the white community. Since
\nthe Southside Community is already designated an Environmental Justice
\ncommunity by the EPA, siting another incinerator nearby is going to
\nincrease the mortality and morbidity rates for this segment of our
\npopulation, but also for others in Valdosta, LIKE MR. YOST’S DAUGHTER.<\/p>\n

\nIf I still lived in Yost’s district I would run against him. He called
\nme up 8 years ago and asked for my support when I dropped out of the
\nCity Council race (I had just learned that I was pregnant with my dear
\ndaughter) and I gave him my support then. There is no way I would ever
\nrecommend this politician to anyone in Valdosta, he obviously cannot
\nthink rationally. As a mother, I am literally sickened to see these men
\nbehave the way they are behaving. Shame on all of them. I hope the voters
\nrise up.<\/p>\n

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

This comment from Leigh Touchton came in today on “Because it would be monitored. -jsq Two weeks ago I delivered the official NAACP letter to all City Council members (and Mayor Fretti) asking for a written response as to their position on biomass and selling reclaimed water to the Wiregrass, LLC, proposed incinerator. No response. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,120,40,14,16,2,41,2951,21,22,32,23,73,3,4596,178,700],"tags":[4606,8738,2010,8721,8701,876,2057,4020,7,8863,290,2537,8700,6],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-biomass","category-community","category-economy","category-environment","category-government","category-health-care","category-naacp","category-planning","category-politics","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-safety","category-transparency","category-vcc-21-april-2011","category-vlcia","category-wace","tag-asthma","tag-biomass","tag-cancer","tag-elections","tag-georgia","tag-health","tag-james-wright","tag-leigh-touchton","tag-lowndes-county","tag-naacp","tag-robert-yost","tag-sonny-vickers","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","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=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}