Greene County Democrat

Month: October 2022

  • Newswire: Leader of Equatorial Guinea pursues 43rd year in power, in poll deemed neither free or fair

    Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea

    Oct. 17, 2022 (GIN) – Equatorial Guinea holds regular elections, but the voting is neither free nor fair. That is how Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization, has described the conditions of the upcoming poll.
     
    Now the country with the world’s longest-standing leader is about to set a new record.
     
    President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea plans to run for office again this November, extending a 43-year tenure that began when he took power in a coup in 1979.
     
    Under the 80 year old Obiang, a country with every reason to be wealthy has instead been scarred by corruption, poverty, and repression. Instead of prosperity to share with the population, the nation’s vast oil revenues are funding lavish lifestyles for the small elite surrounding the president, while a large proportion of the population continues to live in poverty, says Human Rights Watch.
     
    Term violations such as those committed by Obiang among others point up one of the weaknesses of the African Union, notes Paul Nantulya of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. The AU, officially launched on July 9, 2002 in Durban, South Africa, marked its 20th anniversary this year and there is no dearth of criticism of the Union from scholars, analysts and journalists. 
     
    African leaders seem ever more unwilling to lower the boom on undemocratic and repressive national figures as apparent in the lineup of flawed heads of state at the head of the AU over the years. They include Hailemariam Dessalegn of Ethiopia in 2013, Robert Mugabe in 2015, Idriss Deby of Chad in 2016, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania in 2014, Alpha Conde of Guinea in 2017, Paul Kagame of Rwanda in 2018 and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt, in  2019.
     
    Alioune Tine, president of the Dakar, Senegal-based African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights commented upon the AU’s election of Obiang in 2011: “Neither the African Union nor Africans deserve a leader whose regime is notorious for abuses, corruption and a total disregard for the welfare of its people.” Tine is founder of the think tank AfrikaJom Center and a former Amnesty International Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
     
    Some of the criticism of the AU is about poor governance, implementation problems and rising security issues,” observes Patricia Agupusi of American University. “It seems, too, that citizens of member states lack trust in the AU.
     
    “Most of these criticisms are fair,” she acknowledged, “given that the AU was expected to carry Africa in to the future through the ideals of African renaissance and Pan Africanism. The mission statement spoke of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.
     
    “Based on my previously published research, the commitment of African leaders remains the most pressing obstacle to African renaissance and development.”
     
    Meanwhile, Anacleto Micha Nlang, co-founder of the banned rights group “Guinea is also Ours” remains behind bars since his detention over two weeks ago after he assisted opposition activists when their party headquarters were besieged by police, his lawyer and wife told the AFP new service this week.
     
    In addition to Mr. Micha’s arrest, police arrested hip-hop artist Leoncio Prisco Eco Mba, known as “Adjoguening”, Luis Nzo Ondo, Pablo Angüe Angono and Claudio Nzé Ntutumu. 
     
    Amnesty International added their voice to the condemnation of Equatorial Guinea for “trampling on human rights… Authorities must immediately stop arbitrarily and indiscriminately arresting young men in their fight against alleged gang crime,” they declared.
     
    “Security forces have initiated a wave of repression meant to silence dissent in the country ahead of local, parliamentary and presidential elections in Equatorial Guinea” said Andrea Ngombet from the Sassoufit Collective. “Anacleto, nor any other citizen does not deserve this type of treatment”. 

  • Newswire: Rev. Charles Sherrod, Civil Rights Leader in Albany, GA dies at 85

    Charles Sherrod

    Albany, Georgia….Rev. Charles Melvin Sherrod, whose grassroots organizing of unregistered Black voters sent shock waves through the segregated South, and kickstarted the Albany Movement, has died. He was 85. 
        Sherrod, whose death was confirmed by his family, died of natural causes at his home in Albany on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at 3:45 p.m.  
        “He was a great husband, a great father and great servant to his community,” said his wife of 56 years, Shirley Miller Sherrod. “His life serves as a shining example of service to one’s fellow man.” 
         Sherrod played a transformative role in Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s, co-founding SNCC, and inspiring Blacks in Southwest Georgia to straighten their backs and stand up for their rights.  
         Born January 2, 1937, in rural Surry, Virginia, Sherrod moved with his grandmother and siblings to nearby Petersburg where he became president of his high school student body. He earned both his undergraduate and divinity degree at Virginia Union University in Richmond before engaging in sit-ins at segregated churches and department store lunch counters. 
         In April 1960, he traveled to Shaw University in Raleigh where he co-founded with others the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The following February, the organization dispatched him and three other SNCC workers to Rock Hill, South Carolina where he chose jail over bail and spent 30 days on the chain gang. It was a strategy he would employ again and again throughout his civil rights career.   
        In October 1961, Sherrod, headed to Albany as SNCC’s first field secretary to help register Blacks to vote. His mastery at organizing mass meetings and empowering Black youth to stand up for their rights, mobilized parents and the status-quo to get off the sidelines. The result was ‘The Albany Movement’ that garnered national and international attention and attracted scores of demonstrators, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  
         His civil rights work was not restricted to Albany. He helped bus demonstrators from Southwest Georgia to the 1963 March on Washington and ensured strong attendance in support of the Mississippi Freedom Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  
         Meanwhile, back in Southwest Georgia, Sherrod remained fully invested, spearheading voter registration efforts in surrounding counties, including the racially hostile Baker County. In the summer of 1965, he met the love of his life, Shirley Miller, the daughter of a Black farmer gunned down in his own pasture, by a white farmer whom an all-white jury refused to indict for his murder.  
          After completing his master’s in divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1966, Sherrod broke ranks with SNCC over its ouster of whites. He cofounded, alternatively, the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, continuing with his wife their voter registration work.  
         In July 1968, Sherrod traveled to Israel with seven others to explore the idea of creating a community-held farm to serve as a safe haven for Black farmers thrown off their land during the Movement. Ultimately serving as the leader, Sherrod took the reins, secured the needed capital and acquired the 5,735-acre New Communities, Inc. in neighboring Lee County.  
         From 1969 to 1985, he served at the helm of what became the nation’s largest Black-owned farm and first community land trust. That is, until drought and discriminatory loan practices brought about its loss.  
         Still, Sherrod stayed the course. He served as one of Albany’s first Black city commissioners from 1976 to 1990, ran unsuccessfully as a state senator in 1996, taught on faculty at Albany State University and served as chaplain at the Georgia State Prison in Homerville.  
         However, he never allowed himself to forget about the loss of New Communities. In 1999, acting on behalf of the nonprofit, he and Shirley joined other Black farmers in a class action lawsuit, suing the United States Department of Agriculture with discriminatory loan practices. What they recovered in an out-of-court settlement cleared the way for the nonprofit to acquire the 1,638-acre Cypress Pond plantation near Albany. This former antebellum plantation, where the enslaved toiled and which is now managed by descendants of the enslaved, serves as a legacy to him.  
         In addition to his wife Shirley, Sherrod is survived by two adult children, Russia Sherrod of Albany, Georgia and Kenyatta (Mikhiela) Sherrod of Marietta, Georgia, and five granddaughters, Kourtney (Charles, III) Sherrod Corbin of Auburn, Al, Mia Sherrod of Dallas, Tx, Kiera Sherrod of Marietta, Simone Sherrod of Marietta and Khloe Sherrod of Albany, Ga.  
    In lieu of flowers, the family asks that tax-deductible donations in Rev. Sherrod’s name be made toThe Charles Sherrod Community Development Corporation. Gifts can be mailed to the following address: C/O The Sherrod Institute,1216 Dawson Rd # 108, Albany, GA 31707.

  • Newswire: Popular Democratic strategist implores Black voters ‘You make the difference’

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Karen Finney

    The 2022 midterm elections are just a few weeks away, and both sides of the aisle have long acknowledged it’s the most consequential in years.


    Also, Republicans need just a net gain of one seat to turn control of the Senate, where polling suggests that at least ten contests are tossups. “When you think about what’s at stake, it’s very clear in terms of the GOP candidates who emerged,” longtime Democratic Strategist Karen Finney said during an appearance on the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s live morning news program, Let It Be Known.

    Finney, a CNN political commentator, served as senior advisor to Stacey Abrams during the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race. She also served as senior advisor for communications and political outreach and senior spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016.
    Finney also counts as the first and only African American spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, where she helped lead the DNC’s communications and media strategy for Howard Dean’s “50 State Strategy,” re-branding the Democratic Party, and the successful 2006 Congressional elections and DNC communications efforts during 2008 presidential campaign.
    “We turned out in record numbers in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, and not only defeated Trump, but we also took back the House and the Senate,” Finney insisted.
    “Democrats have been working hard to keep their promises, the promises made to voters and the things voters said they wanted.” She also mentioned the progress Democrats have made under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
    Finney wondered why Biden’s approval ratings have sunk despite keeping his campaign promises and moving the needle forward, particularly for Black America.
“We’ve got the infrastructure bill passed. We got COVID Relief done,” Finney stated.
“So, we got vaccines. We’re getting kids back in school, getting people back to work. We got our first Black female Supreme Court Justice, so promises are being kept.”
Finney said messaging is paramount and agreed it hadn’t been a strength for Democrats.
    “There’s more that needs to get done, and the thing standing in our way is we got to elect more Democrats,” she insisted. “I think it’s vital that we remind voters, particularly Black voters, that they have the power and the opportunity to help make sure we take control of the Senate.
    “In that way, we can keep getting done the things that voters have told us they want. Things like lowering the cost of prescription drugs and protecting Obamacare, passing criminal justice reform, codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade, and protecting our voting rights once and for all.”
    Finney added that part of her mission is to ensure Black voters know they’re different in these all-important elections. “We have to help turnout and give Democrats the clear majority in the Senate so that we can continue to do the things that we all came out in record numbers and voted for in 2020,” she stated.
    “I think part of the message that’s also important and things we have to talk about is that Democrats and President Biden had been working hard to keep their promises, and there’s more to do, and we need more Democrats in the Senate.”

  • Newswire:USDA provides payments of nearly $800 million in loan assistance to help keep farmers farming

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that distressed borrowers with qualifying USDA farm loans have already received nearly $800 million in assistance, as part of the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers provided through Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
    The IRA also rescinded Section 2005 of the American Rescue Plan, which provided full debt forgiveness to BIPOC farmers. These benefits were challenged by white farmers who filed lawsuits in Federal District Courts around the nation. These lawsuits succeeded in getting injunctions to halt the program. The relief for distressed farmers in the IRA was an alternative means of assisting farmers in financial distress due to the pandemic and inflationary cost increases.
    The IRA directed USDA to expedite assistance to distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (USDA) whose operations face financial risk.
    Today’s announcement kicks off a process to provide assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers using several complementary approaches, with the goal of keeping them farming, removing obstacles that currently prevent many of these borrowers from returning to farming, and improving the way that USDA approaches borrowing and servicing. Through this assistance, USDA is focused on generating long-term stability and success for distressed borrowers.
    “Through no fault of their own, our nation’s farmers and ranchers have faced incredibly tough circumstances over the last few years,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The funding included in today’s announcement helps keep our farmers farming and provides a fresh start for producers in challenging positions.”
    `Work has already started to bring some relief to distressed farmers. As of today, over 13,000 borrowers have already benefited from the resources provided under the Inflation Reduction Act as follows:
    Approximately 11,000 delinquent direct and guaranteed borrowers had their accounts brought current. USDA also paid the next scheduled annual installment for these direct loan borrowers giving them peace of mind in the near term.
    Approximately 2,100 borrowers who had their farms foreclosed on and still had remaining debt have had this debt resolved in order to cease debt collections and garnishment relieving that burden that has made getting a fresh start more difficult.
    In addition to the automatic assistance already provided, USDA has also outlined steps to administer up to an additional $500 million in payments to benefit the following distressed borrowers:
    USDA will administer $66 million in separate automatic payments, using COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, to support up to 7,000 direct loan borrowers who used FSA’s disaster-set-aside option during the pandemic to move their scheduled payments to the end of their loans.

    USDA is also initiating two case-by-case processes to provide additional assistance to farm loan borrowers. Under the first new process, FSA will review and assist with delinquencies from 1,600 complex cases, including cases in which borrowers are facing bankruptcy or foreclosure. The second new process will add a new option using existing direct loan servicing criteria to intervene more quickly and help an estimated 14,000 financially distressed borrowers who request assistance to avoid even becoming delinquent.
    More details on each of the categories of assistance are available at the factsheet on the USDA website.

    ` Similar to other USDA assistance, all of these payments will be reported as income and borrowers are encouraged to consult their tax advisors. USDA also has resources and partnerships with cooperators who can provide additional assistance and help borrowers navigate the process.

    The announcement today is only the first step in USDA’s efforts to provide assistance to distressed farm loan borrowers and respond to farmers and to improve the loan servicing efforts at USDA by adding more tools and relaxing unnecessary restrictions. Additional announcements and investments in assistance will be made as USDA institutes these additional changes and improvements.
    This effort will ultimately also include adding more tools and relaxing unnecessary restrictions through assistance made possible by Congress through the IRA. Further assistance and changes to the approach will be made in subsequent phases.

  • Newswire:Black leaders rebuke Tuberville stance on reparations, crime

    By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press

    As far as Jeremy Ellis is concerned, Republican Tommy Tuberville should know or learn more about the long history and struggles of the Black Alabama residents he represents in the U.S. Senate.
    Tuberville told people Saturday at an election rally in Nevada that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”
    His remarks — seen by many as racist and stereotyping Black Americans as people committing crimes — cut deeply for some, especially in and around Africatown, a community in Mobile, Alabama, that was founded by descendants of Africans who were illegally smuggled into the United States in 1860 aboard a schooner called the Clotilda.
    The 2019 discovery of the vessel in the muddy waters near Mobile offers the best argument for reparations of some type to the descendants of the enslaved people who survived the long and arduous Atlantic crossing.
    “I think that Sen. Tuberville’s comments were misinformed, ignorant in nature and an embarrassment for the state of Alabama,” said Ellis, who now lives in Marietta, Georgia, and is president of the Clotilda Descendants Association.
    Before running for the U.S. Senate, Tuberville spent four decades in coaching, including 11 years as the head coach at Auburn University, which is about a three-hour drive northeast of Mobile.
    Ellis graduated in 2003 from Auburn’s engineering school and said he attended all of the football team’s home games while at Auburn. Ellis also said he served as a student assistant for the team under Tuberville.
    “I think it would suit Sen. Tuberville to visit Africatown,” Ellis said. “It’s an area he is extremely familiar with since he recruited a number of his players there when he was head football coach.”
    Tuberville’s remarks are ugly.
    Tuberville’s remarks about the Democratic Party’s response to perceived rising crime across the nation come just weeks before the Nov. 8 general election, as Republicans seek to regain control of Congress.
    “They’re not soft on crime,” Tuberville said of Democrats. “They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have.”
    The first-term senator has not publicly responded to backlash from his words, which have revived the national debate about reparations.

    In April 2021, a House panel approved legislation that would create a commission to study the issue of reparations. President Joe Biden’s White House said earlier that he backs studying reparation s for Black Americans.
    “When they illegally brought my ancestors to the Mobile, Alabama, area a crime was committed,” Ellis told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “And now that we have the actual artifacts, evidence of the crime, I think this is a clear and perfect case study.”
    Tuberville’s statements “are the words of a man who is trying to lead a desperation effort to discredit and discount the fact that reparations are owed,” said Darron Patterson, past president of the Clotilda Descendants Association and Ellis’ cousin.
    Patterson, who lives in Mobile and says his great-great-grandfather was a slave aboard the Clotilda, criticized Tuberville’s assertions.
    “Are you saying the descendants of slaves are the only ones doing crime in this country?” Patterson said. “We’ve got people in Washington that really don’t understand what their job is. We sent you there to do the job. The job is to have America’s best interest at heart. How in the world is America’s best interest at heart when you make a statement that Democrats are for crime and the ones doing the crimes are the ones hollering for reparations?”
    Patterson said he plans to meet next week with Tuberville.
    Tuberville’s message was directed at the base of MAGA Republicans seeking office and supporters of former President Donald Trump, an ally of Tuberville, according to Ron Daniels, convener of the National African American Reparations Commission.
    The remarks present “an Emancipation Proclamation moment” for Biden, a Democrat, to embrace the federal study on reparations and say, “‘I stand on the side of racial justice and racial healing,’” Daniels said.
    But Frederick Gooding Jr., an African American studies and honors college professor at Texas Christian University, believes Tuberville was simply “testing the waters.”
    “I think this is quite strategic,” Gooding said. “Let’s see where it goes. He’s in a small town in Nevada. We’re a couple years away from the next major national election. He’s leveraging time, pulling some of the rhetoric out piecemeal and in small dosages. Being a successful football coach for so long, strategy literally is his game.”
    But what Tuberville said about reparations and crime “doesn’t make any sense,” Gooding added.
    “The idea that ‘they want to take over what you got, then control what you have’ stokes fearmongering,” Gooding said. “Then he throws in reparations. Reparations has to do with repairing the human crimes that were committed.”

  • Greene County Deltas sponsors Annual Cancer Awareness Walk

    Shown are some participants of the DST Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

    The Greene County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. held its Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, Saturday, October 8, 2022 in Eutaw. Approximately 40 participants gathered at the Robert H. Young Community Center in the rear gym area. The event began with prayers and special tributes. Bouquets of balloons were released in honor of all affected by cancer. Materials and tokens promoting Breast Cancer awareness and treatment were available to all. Healthy refreshments were also shared. The event was a project of the Physical and Mental Health Committee of the Greene County Chapter, where Courtney Mason-Hollie and Schiquetta Burrell serve as Committee Co-Chairpersons. Dr. Florence Williams is Chapter President.

  • Alabama New South Alliance endorses straight Democratic ticket for November 8th election

    ANSC presents a floral bouquet salute to longtime, dedicated member Mrs. Beulah Toney of Huntsville, Madison County, AL.  Shown L to R:  Attorney Faya Rose Toure, Richard Arrington, Former Mayor of Birmingham, Mrs. Toney, Sylvia Fitts, Mrs. Toney’s daughter, Attorney Everett Wess, ANSC 1st Vice- President and Mrs. Debra Foster, ANSC State President.
    Yolanda Flowers Governor
    Will Boyd US Senator

    Pamela J. Laffitte Secretary of State
    Anita L. Kelly Alabama Supreme Court
    Wendell Major Attorney General

    The Alabama New South Alliance (ANSA) and its sister organization the Alabama New South Coalition held their fall convention at the Maggie Street Dream Center in Montgomery. The political endorsement group heard from several statewide and multi-county district candidates and voted to endorse the straight Democratic ticket for the November 8th election. Local chapters will need to make endorsements for local county races.

    The group also reviewed the ten amendments to the Alabama Constitution, which are on the upcoming November ballot, and made recommendations for the statewide membership to follow.

    Several statewide candidates on the Democratic ticket came to explain their reasons for running and answer questions. Anita Kelly, candidate for Place 5 on the Alabama Supreme Court said,” I have had 18 years’ experience as a judge in Montgomery and my Republican opponent has none. He was the lawyer for the Republican Party in Birmingham and was a delegate to the RNC for Trump in 2016 and 2020.” Kelly urged voters to go to her website and that of her opponent and see who had the best record for Alabama.

    Kelly pointed out that all nine of Alabama’s Supreme Court Justices, who are elected statewide, are white Republicans, two are women and seven are men, none are Black, in a state that has a 27% Black population.” I am hoping to be elected to influence the Alabama Supreme Court in a positive way for all Alabamians,” said Kelly. She also indicated that she had very limited financial support and had not been able to purchase TV time. The lack of financial support from the state and national Democratic party was a similar lament that all the statewide Democratic candidates expressed.

    Pamela Lafitte of Mobile, who is running for Secretary of State said she wanted to restore early and curbside voting that had been taken away as part of her efforts to expand voting rights. The Secretary of State’s main role is in running elections and maintaining statewide records. Lafitte indicated that she too was underfunded and wanted more support from the state and national parties.

    Will Boyd, candidate for U. S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by Senator Richard Shelby gave short remarks and said he was optimistic, going into the final stretch of the election, that he and other Democratic candidates could win in November. He said,” We must have a great turnout of Black voters across the state, including 324,000 who did not vote in the last election, the 300,000 new voters, who have registered since the 2020 election, and the support of ‘Doug Jones white voters, who have a more progressive view of state politics.” Boyd said his campaign was trying to motivate these voters with limited finances.

    Congresswoman Terri Sewell, running for re-election in the 7th Congressional District, Lin Veasey running as the Democratic candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, Curtis Travis, running for House District 72,including Greene and Hale counties, also came to speak to the ANSA Convention.

    Dr. Richard Arrington, former Mayor of Birmingham, and first President of ANSC was the luncheon speaker. He gave a resounding defense of voting as the most powerful non-violent strategy that Black people must make positive change and move society in a progressive direction. He said, “A strong Black vote can put starch in the backs of politicians, even him and create the conditions to elect a Black man to the White House.”

    He said, “We can’t stop working. We can’t stop fighting. Slavery is dead but it is not yet buried. We might have to pass the plate and dig the grave, because his kinfolks won’t bury him.”

    On the ten amendments to be on the Statewide ballot, ANSC recommends voting No on Amendment One, which would limit the power of judges to fix bail for a dozen crimes in addition to capital murder and lead to long waits in jail for Black people charged with lesser offenses like burglary.

    On Amendment 2, which would allow use of public funds from state and local government for expansion of WIFI and broadband, ANSC recommends Yes.

    On Amendment 3 and 4, which deal with additional limitations on the Governor commuting death sentences and disallow the Legislature from changing election laws within six months of an election, ANSC recommends a NO vote.

    On Amendments 5-10, ANSC recommends a YES vote. These amendments deal with taxation and local matters. Amendment 10 would accept the recompiled 1901 Alabama Constitution, and removal of racially discriminatory language. There are some concerns that the recompiled Constitution does not strengthen the right to public education in the state, in ways that it should, but ANSC felt that this could be remedied by additional clarifying amendments in future years.

  • Greene County Commission adjusts budget for landfill closing, equipment purchase and election expenditures

    The Greene County Commission held its monthly meeting, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, since Monday October 10 was observed as National Indigenous Peoples Day. Recommendations for 2022 budget amendments were key items on the agenda.  CFO Macaroy Underwood reported that three areas of the budget needed additional resources to cover expenditures.  The Primary Election and run-off required additional funds totaling $74,663.76 from the General Fund Account.  These costs included salaries and benefits, fees, training services, election supplies, postage and advertising.

    Equipment for the Highway Department required an additional $717,140.76, supported by $595,985.05 transferred from Bond Funds and a $121,155.71 from a CD cashed-in. This cost was to support road and construction equipment for the Highway Department.

        The third area was the cost of closing the county’s Solid Waste Landfill.  According to County Engineer Willie Branch, the landfill had been out-of-use for approximately 14 years and the county had run out of extensions to affect the closing.  According to CFO Underwood, the landfill closure would cost $452,934.52 for construction labor, equipment and materials. Once the landfill is closed, the county must monitor it (for health and safety reasons) for the next 30 years.  Following extensive discussion of the available funding sources necessary for this project, the commission approved applying $260,000 from the rent received from Greenetrack, which Underwood noted, had not been allocated in the budget.  The remaining $192,934.52 needed would come from the county’s Bingo Fund.

    The Commission approved the following board appointments. Dr. Karen Roberson Lewis was appointed by Commissioner Tennyson Smith, (District 2) to the Greene County Health System Board; Jonathan Woodruff was re-appointed by Commissioner Corey Cockrell (District 3) to the E-911 Board; Commissioner LaPortia Brown (District 1) re-appointed Sheila Daniels to the DHR Board. The appointment for District 3 Library Board was tabled.
    In other business, the Commission acted on the following.
    *Approved ADECA funds reimbursement for Vulcan Construction Materials.
    *Approved advertising for two Solid Waste worker positions.
    *Approved advertising for Assistant Engineer with EIT positions.
    *Approved accepting annual bids with the County reserving the right to purchase off any allowable lower national, state or ACCA bid.
    *Approved resuming sticker program (garbage pickup) and only picking up from customers with current stickers.
    *Approved bid from Eaves Construction for Solid Waste Landfill closing.
    *Approved Weather Preparedness Tax Holiday for February 24-26, 2023.

  • Newswire : GMO’s that promote poverty and dependency gain a foothold in Kenya

    Oct. 10, 2022 (GIN) – Kenya has officially entered into the cultivation and use of Genetically Modified Organisms – known as GMOs – that have been banned in 26 countries.
     This month, Kenyan authorities announced plans to lift the country’s ban on genetically modified crops, in part to deal with a record drought that is causing hunger across the Horn of Africa. The move is opposed by those concerned about potentially harmful effects on health, the environment and small farms.
     Supporters maintain that lifting the ban will improve food security.
     The decision by the Cabinet, chaired by President William Ruto at State House, was made in accordance with the recommendation of the Task Force to Review Matters Relating to Genetically Modified Foods and Food Safety. The meeting was convened to consider the progress made in the response to the ongoing drought in the country.
     Speaking earlier this week, Kenyan President William Ruto said lifting the ban on GMOs is part of the government’s response to the drought ravaging the country.
     But critics counter that some GM crops can have negative impact on non-target organisms and on soil and water ecosystems. For example, the expansion of GM herbicide-tolerant corn and soy which are joined with herbicides, destroyed much of the habitat of the monarch butterfly in North America.
     Kenya prohibited cultivation of genetically modified crops and the importing of food crops and animal feeds produced through biotechnology innovation since 2012. The government’s move paves the way for the importation of GMO products, which the government says will help boost food security.
     GMOs have their defenders – mostly seed and chemical companies who claim that genetically engineered crops are good for the environment by reducing pesticide use and increasing crop yields.
     However, research indicates that GM crop technology can result in a net increase in herbicide use and can foster the growth of herbicide resistant weeds. In addition, there is concern that the use of GM crops may negatively impact the agriculture ecosystem.
     Countries that ban GMOs include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Turkey, among others
     Also gaining a foothold in Africa is Bayer Malawi, whose presence in Malawi originates from the late 1950s when the company was mainly known for its pharmaceutical products such as aspirin, and as a distributor for Farmer’s Organization and Shell Chemicals.
     “Today Bayer Malawi Ltd provides a full agricultural production service package to enable farmers to acquire not only high-quality seed but also quality crop protection solutions to combat plant diseases, insect pests and weeds.” (from the Bayer website)
     Last August, agricultural students at the University of Ghana held a teach-in to urge youth to support the adoption of GMO technology to help improve farm productivity and ensure food security. They held a debate competition but with few students willing to argue against GMO seeds, the pro-GMO seeds group was the hands-down winner.
     Meanwhile, in an article titled: “Twelve reasons for Africa to reject GMO crops,” Kenyan born Zachary Makanya writing for the newsletter GRAIN pointed out a growing list of organizations, networks and lobby groups with close ties to the GM industry, working to promote GM agriculture on the continent.
     While seed and chemical companies like Monsanto claim that genetically engineered crops  would be good for the environment by reducing pesticide use and increasing crop yields, the past 20 years have shown that they do nothing of the sort, Makanya said. Not only have GMO crops not improved yields, they have vastly increased the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and “probably carcinogenic to humans, according to the World Health Organization..
     Moreover, most GMOs have not been engineered to improve yields or make food healthier, but to be herbicide resistant. Corn, soybeans and other crops have been genetically engineered to withstand blasts of glyphosate. It kills all the weeds in the field, but the GMO crops survive.
     At least12 African countries are carrying out research on GM crops, including Egypt, Uganda, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Cameroon, and a long list of GM crops are in the pipeline for introduction in various African countries.
     Finally, a group of African environmentalists, in an article titled “GMOs promote poverty and dependency in Africa” they pointed out in Grain magazine: “The obsession in promoting GM crops in Africa diverts attention and resources away from a plurality of genuine and localized solutions and flies in the face of the recommendations of independent science

  • Vice President Harris announces slate of actions
    to help Black and minority-owned small businesses

    Vice President Harris speaking at small business forum

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Vice President Kamala Harris used her time at Freedman’s Bank Forum to announce new public and private-sector efforts to advance racial equity.
    Harris said the administration recognizes the continued difficulty that Black-owned businesses have in finding funding. She acknowledged that they routinely are the first to suffer during an economic downturn.
    Among a slate of new actions by the Biden-Harris administration, the vice president announced that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would propose a rule this fall to expand its lender base by lifting the moratorium on new Small Business Lending Companies.
    The action would allow new lenders to apply for a license to offer SBA-backed 7(a) small business loans.
    Also, the Minority Business Development Agency (MDBA) will issue a $100 million notice of funding opportunity to provide technical assistance grants for entrepreneurship technical assistance providers to help businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals launch, scale, and connect with growth capital.
    Harris said to facilitate greater availability of small-balance mortgages, and HUD would issue requests to solicit specific and actionable feedback on the barriers that prevent the origination of these mortgages and recommendations for increasing the volume of small-mortgage loans in federal programs.
    The White House said these and a host of other new policy steps follow two recent announcements by the administration of billions of dollars in investments for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs).
    The actions aim to deliver capital and resources to underserved small businesses and the community lenders who serve them, Harris stated. “Small businesses are the engines of our economy and the path to economic prosperity for countless Americans in underserved communities,” the vice president asserted.
    “Community lenders – including CDFIs, MDIs, and others – are vital to unlocking the full economic potential of these communities, turning previously sidelined talent into a source of economic growth and shared prosperity for all.”
    Earlier, Janet Yellen, the U.S. Department of Treasury secretary, said the White House sought to use the Freedman’s Bank Forum to shine a spotlight on how the administration’s pandemic relief efforts supported Black – and minority-owned businesses.
    The forum, launched in 2015, seeks to develop strategies to help stamp out and overcome systemic racism in the financial industry. “Unfortunately, for too long, the small business ecosystem in underserved communities has struggled to keep up with better-funded businesses and entrepreneurs in more prosperous communities,” Harris stated.
    “Entrepreneurs of color regularly report being turned away by traditional financial institutions for loans at higher rates than their white counterparts. And the community lenders committed to filling that gap similarly report that shortfalls in capital and technical capacity limit their ability to invest in the communities that need them the most.”