Tag Archives: Scott James Matheson

Winner of the VIBE Sea Ghost 130 kayak raffle 2023-11-27

Update 2023-12-13: Raffle kayak delivered to winner Janet Martin 2023-12-12.

Monday at Banks Lake before we paddled, we drew the winner of the Vibe Sea Ghost 130. It retails for $1,300, but was used only once by Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson before he gave it to WWALS. It comes with paddle, seat, and rudder.

We raffled it for $10 donation per ticket.

Kayak, drawing, the winner

WWALS Executive Director Gretchen Quarterman had put all the tickets in a box, yes, including the online tickets, which she transcribed onto paper tickets.

WWALS Board Member Kimberly Godden Tanner took the tickets out of envelopes for the places they were donated, such as Alapaha Station Celebration, Florida Folk Festival, various outings, and the WWALS River Revue, plus two more got tickets minutes before. Continue reading →

Pictures: Langdale Park Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-10-20

WWALS cleaned up near Langdale Park Boat Ramp during the United Way Day of Caring. We ended up with trash bagged, plus 4 shower doors, a big screen tv, a kids toy float tug boat and lots of plastic and styrofoam, glass and aluminum.

Outings leader Russell Allen McBride previously scouted the Withlacoochee River upstream and down from Langdale Park Boat Ramp, and found too many deadfalls for boating, so we cleaned up on land. Thanks to Bobby McKenzie, Suzy Hall, and Gretchen Quarterman for cleaning up.

Trash, t-shirts, slough, and signs at Langdale Park Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-10-20

Thanks to Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson for cleaning up with us, and for bringing still more donuts. Also the United Way t-shirts, to add to our Rivers Alive t-shirts.

There are more pictures below.

Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-22:Pictures: Sugar Creek Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Due to bad water quality reports for Sugar Creek heard from the City of Valdosta, we are revising the cleanup from a paddle to an on-land cleanup. Please come to Sugar Creek at 9AM to hear where we will go from there.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Where: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll go to appropriate locations from there.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

At Langdale Park Boat Ramp: Caution Sewage Spill City of Valdosta –Bobby McKenzie 2023-07-21

Bring: Cleanup materials will be provided, but if you’ve got a trash picker, bring it along. Bring sturdy shoes and clothes, drinking water, and snacks.

There is no need to bring a boat. Continue reading →

Pictures: Two Mile Branch Berkley Drive Cleanup 2023-03-25

It went well, the joint WWALS and City of Valdosta cleanup of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive, on March 25, 2023.

Many good things have happened since then.

However, there is still plenty the City needs to do about trash.

Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25

Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading, neighbor Jan Powell for rustling up some participants and helping at the table, to City Engineer Ben O’Dowd, City Council Tim Carroll, and Mayor Scott James Matheson for helping, along with quite a few other volunteers.

See also facebook photosets and videos by:

Some of the things the Engineer and Mayor promised have happened. Continue reading →

Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22

Update 2023-07-21: Reroute: Sugar Creek and Troupville Withlacoochee River on-land cleanup 2023-07-22.

Update 2023-06-20: Rescheduled: Withlacoochee River Chainsaw Cleanup 2023-06-24. That one is now merged with this one on July 22, 2023.

Come help clean up behind the Valdosta YMCA and onwards to the Little River Confluence, then upstream to Troupville Boat Ramp.

Valdosta City Council Andy Gibbs will be with us, and maybe some other elected officials.

We hope the river will be much cleaner than a year ago when Council Gibbs and Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson saw logjams of trash on the river up close and personal. Since Valdosta has bought two trash traps and placed them on Sugar Creek and Two Mile Branch, and built one at their Lee Street Detention Pond on One Mile Branch, plus City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners that they need to clean up their act and strategically place trash cans like city ordinances require. Needless to say this all happened after quite a bit of urging by WWALS and many individuals.

And WWALS has done a series of chainsaw cleanups through this stretch, removing deadfalls that blocked the river.

Update 2023-06-20: A previously-scheduled chainsaw cleanup on this same river stretch, because of high water at its previous date, has been combined with this regular cleanup.

There is ample room for further improvement, but we hope to see quite a bit of improvement on the river already.

When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Saturday, July 22, 2023

Put In: Meet at the back of the Salty Snapper parking lot, 1405 Gornto Rd, Valdosta, GA 31602 and we’ll put in at the railroad tracks.

GPS: 30.861764, -83.318854

Trash a year ago, 2022-05-07

Continue reading →

WWALS Development Director Veronica Oakler on Scott James radio from Jasper, FL 2023-04-28

Live on the air now!

As soon as I mentioned we had hired a Development Director, Scott James invited Veronica Oakler on his radio show, 92.1 FM, this morning, 6-8:15 AM, live from Jasper, Florida.

Listen: talk921.com.

Veronica lives in Madison, so it was a short trip across the Withlacoochee River to Jasper.

Veronica Oakler on Scott James Radio 2023-04-28

Event: facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/754268986238088/

More about Veronica: Continue reading →

Good trash can news from Valdosta City Marshalls

Update 2023-05-14: Pictures: turtle rescue 2023-04-24.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley yesterday told WWALS that City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots. Not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley and trash cans in parking lot

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and Two Mile Branch neighbor Katherine Ball were pleased to hear this new ordinance enforcement initiative. This ordinance enforcement is one of many levels WWALS continues to advocate to fix the trash problem.

Anetra Riley also told us that something long promised by the Mayor on his radio show has finally happened: Continue reading →

Valdosta liability insurance does not cover water 2021-05-01

Apparently Valdosta city employees can’t get wet. That includes the Stormwater Division.

Policy, River

So if you see any Valdosta City employee in a creek, river, pond, or swamp, whether in a boat or in mud boots, it seems they must be off the clock.

This could explain why Valdosta has a contractor clean out stormwater pond facility clusters.

In Valdosta’s GEORGIA INTERLOCAL RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMBINED AUTOMOBILE, CRIME, LIABILITY AND PROPERTY COVERAGES MEMBER COVERAGE AGREEMENT, see especially under GENERAL EXCLUSIONS APPLICABLE TO THE PROPERTY COVERAGE SECTIONS on page 7: Continue reading →

Valdosta Creek Trash Tour 2023-03-29

Yesterday I found trash still in Valdosta creeks where previously reported, on Hightower Creek, One Mile Branch, and Two Mile Branch.

Sure, the Two Mile Branch cleanup last Saturday was fun and necessary. But Valdosta, A City Without Limits on its own facebook report said nothing about more trash traps, and nothing about enforcing its own city ordinances that require businesses to keep their property clean, to keep trash out of waterways, and to strategically place trash cans where people will use them.

Valdosta has been promising at least since 2007, sixteen years ago, to do something about this ongoing trash spill problem. The city has taken a few steps, especially since City Engineer Ben O’Dowd was hired.

Time to walk the talk, Valdosta. There is more to do.

Trash, Two Mile Branch, One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, 2023-03-29

Where Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson stood in December 2022, at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road above Hightower Creek, trash is still there, tossed by lunchers, with no trash cans nearby.

Behind the Mega Mart at Valloton Drive and Lee Street, trash continues to wash down into One Mile Branch, clearly visible from the Azalea City Trail, Valdosta’s only urban hiking trail. Despite a Click ‘n’ Fix report on March 8, 2023, the only action we’ve seen from City Marshalls was a week later, “The city is working with the property owner to correct the issues.”

And trash continues to dribble into Two Mile Branch above Ashley Street, most of a week after the last pictures I took there, with the Click ‘n’ Fix ticket closed again by City Marshalls,

Meanwhile, the Lee Street Detention Pond Trash Trap has been modified by high water, when it caught leaves and the force of the water bent the steel. The city has taken the top off the trash trap. Here’s hoping they will continue to improve this model for more use here and elsewhere. Continue reading →

Raffle kayak: Vibe Sea Ghost 130, 2023-03-10

Update 2023-11-30: Winner of the VIBE Sea Ghost 130 kayak raffle 2023-11-27.

Update 2023-11-20: The winning ticket will be drawn before we paddle on the Banks Lake Full Beaver Moon Paddle 2023-11-27.

This Vibe Sea Ghost 130 retails for $1,300, but Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson gave it to WWALS. He says he used it once.

It comes with paddle, seat, and rudder.

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman

The raffle drawing will be in November in time for holiday giving.

Tickets are $10 each or $50 for six:

You can also get tickets at any WWALS outing or event.

According to Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.