I was shocked at the way Commission Chairman Paulk came down on Professor Noll, President of WACE, at the county commission meeting. The tone seemed entirely over the top. At this point, the commission has expressed its opinion to support the plant. I understand the effort to get them to respond to citizens from the community, however, beyond a token, "The Lowndes County Commission expresses its disapproval of the proposed Biomass Plant," what can they do to stop it? The only real power on a county government level seems to be zoning. The VDT brought that up in its editorial. Would that be an area to bring pressure to bear?
It seems to me the two other entities that have decision making power over this thing are the VLCIA and Sterling Planet. With Sterling Planet in Atlanta, would the IA be the focus? Kudos to those who have gone to the meetings to express their resistance to the BP. Given at this point they are set in their ways, how much more of expression of displeasure at their meetings is going to help?
What do you think about this? We need to marshal a lot more public opinion to our side. Honestly, I doubt the vast majority of citizens in Valdosta-Lowndes County have any idea about this issue. I had a conversation with a young man I work with tonight that had heard something about the biomass plant, but had no clue what the issue was about. It opened the door to explain it to him. I could get his signature on a petition now.
LAKE, and its blog, On the Lake Front, have done a most excellent job in providing us with the best source of information about this topic. Thank you JSQ and GQ for your work. Let me also throw props to LT and all for the great mini-newspaper devoted to the biomass issue. These are examples of citizen journalism at its finest.
It's a pleasant plus that KH and the VDT seem with us at this point. Unfortunately, Frank Barnas seemed to give Brad Loftus and the IA free rein on that local radio program. Anyone know if Scott James has taken a position?
Let me bounce this idea off you: There is a tactic called guerilla marketing, which seems to be marketing, or the dissemination of ideas on a shoestring budget. I have experience producing brochures, flyers and tracts. These are powerful, condensed, concise, and most importantly, relatively inexpensive vehicles to convey information to people on an individual level. If we could combine these with a door to door campaign to blanket the city, followed up by a petition drive, we could probably get thousands of supporters.
The issue seems to be health considerations resulting from the poisoning of our air, land and water. If we could come up with a figure on the healthcare costs on an individual level, physically and financially, costs that will be most acutely incurred by our children and grandchildren, it would be a powerful tool in bringing people on board.
In the meantime, what do you think of a picket line at the VLCIA? The paper would probably come out, and the TV. Maybe the radio would take notice. The point is, I'm thinking we need to take battle from the halls of government to the homes of people, the citizens of Lowndes County, our neighbors.
Better to go down fighting than to lay down let them roll over you. -JJP
