{"id":2226,"date":"2011-04-05T16:55:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T20:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/vdt-says-vlcia-illegally-made-up-a-document.html"},"modified":"2013-05-28T09:32:14","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T13:32:14","slug":"vdt-says-vlcia-illegally-made-up-a-document","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/vdt-says-vlcia-illegally-made-up-a-document.html","title":{"rendered":"VDT says VLCIA illegally made up a document"},"content":{"rendered":"Today&#8217;s editorial in the VDT is\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/opinion\/x1281101888\/Another-Industrial-Authority-misstep\">\r\nAnother Industrial Authority misstep<\/a>\r\nrefers to the VDT\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/04\/biomass-plant-misses-deadlines-vdt.html\">article<\/a>\r\nand\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/04\/just-say-no-to-biomass-vdt-to-vlcia.html\">editorial<\/a>\r\nof Sunday, and continues:\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/still-no-suppliers-or-buyers-for-wiregrass-power-llc-vlcia.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5022\/5592767775_484b172058_m.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nThe reporter who conducted the interview with Industrial Authority Project\r\nManager Allen Ricketts has been subsequently repeatedly contacted by\r\nRicketts for what he deems &#8220;false reporting.&#8221; According to Ricketts,\r\nthe timeline was never official and was only something the Industrial\r\nAuthority threw together to appease the Times when given an official Open\r\nRecords Request. Ricketts is apparently unaware that legally he cannot\r\nproduce a document that does not exist to comply with said request. If\r\nhe knowingly did so, as he now claims, that is a clear violation of the\r\nOpen Records Act.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nPresumably that would be the &#8220;Project Critical Path time-line is attached&#8221;\r\nthat wasn&#8217;t actually attached to\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/still-no-suppliers-or-buyers-for-wiregrass-power-llc-vlcia.html\">\r\ndocuments returned for an open records request of 17 February 2011.<\/a>\r\nHm, since VLCIA did supply such a document to the VDT,\r\npresumably it is now a VLCIA document subject to open records request,\r\neven though it was not what VLCIA told VDT it was.\r\n<p>\r\nBack to the VDT editorial:\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/index.php\/staffboard.html\">\r\n<img style=\"float:right;border:none;\"\r\nwidth=\"62\" height=\"87\"\r\nsrc=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/images\/stories\/Allanr(2).jpg\"><\/a>\r\nThe Times refuses to print a retraction because there is nothing to\r\nretract. The timeline was provided to the newspaper in a full meeting\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/index.php\/staffboard.html\">\r\n<img style=\"float:right;border:none;\"\r\nwidth=\"62\" height=\"87\"\r\nsrc=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/images\/stories\/brad copy(1).jpg\"><\/a>\r\nwith Ricketts, Industrial Authority director Brad Lofton, board member\r\nMary Gooding, a vice president with Wiregrass, and three members of the\r\neditorial staff of the Times. At no point when repeatedly questioned\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/index.php\/staffboard.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/php\/include\/govt\/vlcia\/mary_gooding.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nabout the timeline did anyone say it was not a binding document produced\r\nand provided as part of the Economic Development Agreement. At no point\r\ndid anyone say &#8220;they made it up to make the Times happy.&#8221;\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/in-refusing-debate-vlcia-staff-are-following-orders-from-their-board.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5001\/5285076935_cec441d575_m.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nI&#8217;ve been saying for some time that\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/in-refusing-debate-vlcia-staff-are-following-orders-from-their-board.html\">\r\n&#8220;In refusing debate, VLCIA staff are following orders from their board&#8221;<\/a>.\r\nSince one of their board members was at the meeting with the VDT,\r\napparently either\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>VLCIA staff are following orders to make up fake documents\r\n<li>or VLCIA board doesn&#8217;t know its staff is making up fake documents\r\n<\/ol>\r\nIf it&#8217;s number (2), did the VLCIA board believe the fake timeline?\r\nOr did they just not care whether there was a timeline?\r\n<p>\r\nClearly, regardless of the fake timeline,\r\nthe biomass plant has slipped a deadline,\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/04\/biomass-plant-misses-deadlines-vdt.html\">\r\nthe 1 September 2010 original\r\n&#8220;commencement of construction and installation of the Project&#8221;<\/a>\r\nthat was spelled out in the Economic Development Agreement (EDA).\r\nSurely the EDA wasn&#8217;t also made up to please the VDT?\r\n<p>\r\nAdd to this deadline-slipping and timeline-fabrication these other items:\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/02\/brad-loftons-memory-fails-him-again-and-again.html\">\r\nBrad Lofton&#8217;s repeated memory failures<\/a>,\r\n<li>\r\nLofton&#8217;s\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/09\/brad-bergstrom-unnecessary-and-very-sad-.html\">\r\nreciting inaccurate history of previous events<\/a>,\r\nwhich Brad Bergstrom accurately referred to as &#8220;unnecessary and very sad,&#8221;\r\n<li>\r\nLofton&#8217;s misrepresentation and ridicule of the local NAACP&#8217;s\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/crept-up.html\">\r\nallegations of environmental racism<\/a>\r\nthat maybe the VLCIA board can&#8217;t ignore now that\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/environmental-justice-leigh-touchton-vlcia-15-march-2011.html\">\r\nthe local NAACP president has presented them directly to the board.<\/a>\r\n<li>\r\nVLCIA&#8217;s protracted misrepresentation of the Georgia Sierra Club&#8217;s position\r\nrepeatedly pointed out by Leigh Touchton until\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/we-would-appreciate-it-if-our-position-was-no-longer-misrepresented-georgia-sierra-club.html\">\r\nColleen Kiernan, Georgia Chapter Director, wrote a letter saying<\/a>\r\n&#8220;we would appreciate it if our position was no longer misrepresented,&#8221;\r\n<li>\r\nand for that matter Lofton and Ricketts\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/06\/biomass-and-carbon-dioxide.html\">\r\ntrying to pass off a stack of powerpoint slides as peer-reviewed evidence\r\nof carbon neutrality.<\/a>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIf we were to get into the chronically ignored community concerns\r\nabout health effects of biomass,\r\nsuch as those raised by\r\nWiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE),\r\nStudents Against Violating the Environment (SAVE),\r\nand others, we could compose a much longer list.\r\n<p>\r\nGiven such a track record, sceptical perceptions by\r\nmembers of the community are understandable.\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/call-to-action-for-city-council-not-to-sell-water-to-biomass-plant-karen-noll-vcc-24-march-2011.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5139\/5560265828_1420e6e735_m.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nPerhaps the Valdosta City Council should find out what&#8217;s going on\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/call-to-action-for-city-council-not-to-sell-water-to-biomass-plant-karen-noll-vcc-24-march-2011.html\">\r\nbefore it agrees to sell wastewater to a plant with a fake timeline.<\/a>\r\n<p>\r\nPerhaps the Lowndes County Commission should exercise its\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/fiduciary-responsibility-of-lcc-to-oversee-vlcia-john-s-quarterman.html\">\r\nfiduciary responsibility<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/fiduciary-responsibility-of-lcc-to-oversee-vlcia-john-s-quarterman.html\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/vOa_4lJFzo0\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nand find out what&#8217;s going on over at the\r\nappointed board for which the Commission co-guarantees $15 million in debt.\r\n<p>\r\nMaybe the Commission should revisit\r\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2010\/09\/biomass-rezoning-minutes-county-commission-9-june-2009.html\">\r\nthe various documents submitted on behalf of the biomass plant at the\r\n9 June 2009 rezoning hearing.<\/a>\r\n<p>\r\nIn any case, accusing the newspaper of record of &#8220;false reporting&#8221;\r\nafter providing it with fake information may not have been a wise move.\r\nThe VDT&#8217;s last word in that editorial:\r\n<blockquote>\r\nIf this project doesn\u2019t break ground in two months, which is appearing\r\nto be less and less likely, the Industrial Authority employees and\r\nboard members have only themselves to blame for woefully mishandling\r\nthis project and anyone who dared to question it.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\n-jsq\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today&#8217;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 &#8220;false reporting.&#8221; According to Ricketts, the timeline was never official 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