When officials act like they have something to hide, they often do....
Here's George's Open Records Request.
-jsq
February 7, 2013
George Boston Rhynes (229-251-8645)
5004 Oak Drive
Valdosta, Georgia 31605
TO: Valdosta-Lowndes County; South Georgia Regional Library
Director/Chair person along with Board Members Respectively, Georgia
News Media Outlets concerned about open government and the sunshine
brightness...
SUBJECT: An open records request on behalf of the general public
right to know...
The Supreme Court has declined to review a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
decision that struck down an Illinois law prohibiting audio recordings
without permission,
echoing last year's
First Court decision that you can record police on the job.
Let's remember it's not just police:
"Gathering information about government officials in a form that can
readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment
interest in protecting and promoting
'the free discussion of
governmental affairs.'
"
That means all elected or appointed or employed government officials, from
County Commissioners and City Councils down through sheriff and
police departments to the Animal Shelter.
Police are employees, not elected or appointed, so these rulings would appear
to apply to other governmental employees.
The Illinois and Massachusetts laws have been used to arrest people
who attempt to record on-duty police officers and other public
officials. In one of the more notorious cases, Chicago resident
Tiawanda Moore was arrested in 2010 when she attempted to use her
cell phone to record officers in a Chicago police station.
Occupy Athens, which a few weeks ago couldn't draw more than a few
people to its General Assembly, has pulled off some electoral theater
seen nation-wide:
write-in candidate Charles Darwin drew 16% of the vote against
evolution-denier Paul Broun in Congressional district 10.
Darwin, who was the original proponent of the theory of evolution
and died in 1882, got nearly 4,000 write-in votes against the
incumbent Broun, according to the
Athens Banner-Herald. Broun, a
physician, is a creationist who in September said evolution was
based on “lies straight from the pit of hell.”
And here's part of what one of Occupy Athens wrote online today:
Our county government does a lot of stuff really great...
but one of the things they don't do very well
don't advertise themselves;
not very transparent;
they don't say what a great job they're doing;
so I thought we could improve in that area.
The County Commission a couple of years ago had
two different studies commissioned
about growth and planning, and one of them was...
growth close to existing services.
The county already has an urban service area, like how far the
water line goes, how far the sewer line goes.
And that growth should be infilled, and not expand outside of that area,
because that saves resources in terms of how far you have to send the
sheriff, how far the school bus has to go.
And they also gave an average house price, what it costs in terms of
property taxes to support the services that are sent to them, to a development.
So I would say close in to existing services is the way to go.
Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) have made it clear from
the start that biomass plants have a number of issues: 1) biomass
plants bear significant health risks; 2) biomass plants waste
enormous amounts of water; 3) biomass plants are risky investments
in an increasingly competitive energy sector; and 4) biomass plants
contribute to global warming.
In the light of rising global temperatures, worsening drought
conditions, and dropping prices for solar panels, an increasing
number of people are understanding these simple truths.
The Industrial Authority has to be congratulated for the courage to
admit that energy from biomass plants is indeed more expensive than
energy from solar plants, and we have not even figured in the costs
associated with the consequences of air pollution coming from
biomass plants.
Although this point has already been made earlier, note again that
solar plants are much better alternatives, economically and
environmentally: they do not pollute our air, they do not need any
water, and a huge spill of solar energy is simply called a sunny day
... of which we have plenty here in the south.
The vocal protests in Valdosta are long gone, but the controversy
over the proposed Biomass plant lingers. This time not for concerns
of health safety, but over the land.
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to sue
Wiregrass Power LLC to end its contract.
Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar.
The proposed Biomass Plant was supposed to be a low-cost source of
efficient energy. Supporters say it would have created hundreds of
jobs. But opponents say the health risks include cancer, lung
disease and respiratory disease.
750,000 gallons of water each day
Tell me, Col. Ricketts, doesn't it feel better to be visibly on the side
of the people, instead of having to defend a bad business deal?
LAKE videoing George videoing Gretchen canvassing on Summerlin Street in Valdosta,
Canvassing, Lowndes County Commission (GretchenForLowndes.com),
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
and by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2012.
Gretchen mentioned she'd been going to County Commission meetings
for about four years now, and thought it was her turn to serve.
George asked why she was canvassing on the west side of Valdosta,
and she answered:
The thing that is important for people to know is that every
single citizen in the county gets to vote,
Whether you live in Valdosta, Hahira, Lake Park, Dasher, Remerton,
or the unincorporated areas.
Every single person who lives in Lowndes County
who is a registered voter gets to vote.
You have until October 8th to register
to vote for the November 6th election.
You can register at the Board of Elections at 2808 North Oak Street,
or there are people going around with forms you can fill in and mail
in or they will hand carry down there.
Participatory media!
Doing what traditional media could do, George Boston Rhynes
interviewed Gretchen Quarterman as she canvassed on
Summerlin Street in Valdosta Saturday.
Doing what traditional media can't do, I videoed
George videoing Gretchen, and he later videoed me
helping Gretchen canvass.
Thanks you so much for keeping us informed and it is still a
disgrace that our elected officials cannot publish their meetings to
all citizens. When will our Mayor; Council and County Commissioners
start informing all the citizens and not just a select few of
conservatives?
When will it all end? The time has come for change to take place in
Valdosta for the good of all citizens and visitors. We need and
should demand television, radio, internet and other means of
distributing information to citizens.
How sad in 2012?
George included a video
of his thoughts on elections hereabouts and elsewhere:
Words from our YOUTHS....and where are you?
Indeed George Rhynes is out there reporting the truth as he sees it,
this time along with two VSU students.
Julian Assange of Wikileaks spoke from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London today (video, text):
The next time somebody tells you that it is pointless to defend the rights we hold dear, remind them of your vigil in the dark outside the Embassy of Ecuador, and how, in the morning, the sun came up on a different world, and a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.
The British government made a stunning mistake in throwing away the worldwide goodwill just gained through the London Olympic Games, by actually beginning to storm a sovereign embassy in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that was observed throughout the Cold War. How could they be so foolish? This man, this reporter and publisher, they think is somehow more dangerous to them than the armed might of the Soviet Union was? This is as if JFK arrested MLK after John Glenn's first orbital flight (a step which JFK fortunately did not take).
It's nice to know Hahira will get a break in interest, but tax payers will still have to pay back the loan. I missed the council meeting which is unusual for me. Does the video show anything about the fact some council members voted not to raise the tap fees for new construction which would certainly help pay back the loan instead of depending so much on tax monies? Developers should not be allowed to come in and make huge profits from new construction, then take their profits and let the citizens pay the price for increased water demands. Raising the one time tap fees would have distributed some of the costs to the developers who enjoy the profits from increased demands on the infrastructure and water usage.
-Barbara Stratton
Yes, we have video of the entire Hahira City Council meeting, which will be posted soon. LAKE is always happy to accept help in taking or labeling videos.
the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
February 7, 2013
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