Yesterday’s Valentine’s Day present from the Georgia House was
passing HR 158 with 166 yea and only 1 nay (6 not voting, and 7 excused).
Except for district 175, which just finished a Special Election,
every
Georgia House member from the Suwannee River Basin voted yea.
Thank you,
Patty Bentley,
John Corbett,
Buddy Harden,
Penny Houston,
Dominic LaRiccia,
Clay Pirkle,
Jay Powell,
Ed Rynders,
Dexter Sharper,
Jason Shaw,
Jason Spencer,
and
Sam Watson!
Many thanks to the Hahira Mayor and Council for passing
a resolution
in support of the water trail for the rivers that run less than six miles
west (the Little River) and east (the Withlacoochee River) of the
Hahira Courthouse where they met.
Left to right:
Council Patrick Warren (District 3)
Mayor Pro Tem Kenneth Davis (District 2),
Mayor Bruce Cain,
Empty Chair for City Attorney Rob Plumb,
City Manager Jonathan Sumner,
Council Terry Benjamin (District 1),
Council Mason Barfield (District 4),
City Clerk Lisa Mashburn.
I spoke briefly at their Work Session, Tuesday, January 30, 2018,
outlining the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)
and the resolution, and I invited them to upcoming WWALS outings.
Several of the Council had positive comments.
HR 158 may be scheduled for a vote in the Georgia House as soon as tomorrow.
Help dedicate state fees to their intended purposes:
please contact your Georgia House Representative
or
Georgia State Senator (follow the links for contact information)
and ask them to pass HR 158.
If you don’t know who your Georgia Representative or Senator are,
see Georgia My Voter Page.
Hahira is the most recent of
six local governments representing the majority of the population
in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia,
in five Georgia House districts and two Senate districts,
that have passed
a resolution supporting
Georgia HR 158 against state fee diversions,
with five stories and an editorial
in the biggest circulation newspaper in the Basin.
More local resolutions passed elsewhere in the state,
but that ain’t bad for the Suwannee River Basin.
Water issues strongly affect economic development, so I talked about
the new WWALS Watershed Coalition at the
16 April 2013 Board Meeting
of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.
The VDT declined to speak, so I did.
After apologizing for no okra today,
I commended the Authority for talking about the missing agenda items
and for mentioning due diligence and flood control.
WWALS board meetings are every second Wednesday of the month,
usually at the IHOP in Adel because it’s centrally located.
WWALS is communicating with Valdosta and
various organizations about
flooding and other watershed-wide issues, which in my opinion
have to do with things like too much clearcutting without
consideration for where the water goes, too much development
without consideration for what the impervious surface would do,
(to my surprise, the Executive Director and several board
members nodded along with that)
so it was good to hear them mention flood containment.
Arsenic, Outings, and Flooding: WWALS Watershed Coalition
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland, Chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton, Attorney, Tom Davis, CPA, Allan Ricketts, Project Manager,S. Meghan Duke, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Lu Williams, Operations Manager,
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 April 2013.
