Thursday, May 25, 2006
Georgia has become a serious matter and could reveal whats-up with the needle behind the
hay stack of our elected officials.
THEY ARE: Mayor John J. Fretti, Council member James Wright, District 1, Willie T. Head, Jr., District 2, Joseph “Sonny” Vickers, District 3, Aalvin Patyton, Jr., District 4, David J. Summer, District 5, Robert Yost, District 6, and John Eunice, At Large,
All council menbers voted on May 25, 2006, to call a committee to address and resolve the renaming of Barber Park. THIS IS WHAT WAS REQUESTED WHEN FIFTEEN LOCAL CITIZENS WERE ARRESTED ON MAY 5, 2005, AND HELD IN THE LOWNDES COUNTY JAIL FOR OVER 24 HOURS WITHOUT BAIL FOR DISRUPTING A PUBLIC MEETING.
It is obvious that the ISSUE of Barber Park will be around for a long, long, long time in the future. It just prove that Rev. Joseph Lowery words was correct. That Valdosta, and LOwndes County Georgia will be the focal point in the 21st Century for CIVIL RIGHTS because elected officials refusal to voluntarily make the necessary changes.
And WE the concerned citizens of Valdosta, and Lowndes County cannot and willnot accept the recently removed Valdosta City Charter of 1860, mentality. That read: Paragraph 100: Section XI, “the Mayor and Council, they shall pass all proper and necessary laws and ordinances for the control of slaves and free persons of color in said town and suppress and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.”
Fifteen law abiding citizens have already been arrested over the Barber Park issue.
They were held in the Lowndes County Jail for over twentyfour hours without bail for disrupting a public meeting (Valdosta City Council Meeting on May 5, 2005). Lets look at the elected officials we voted into office to represent US!
http://www.valdostacity.com/CityCouncil/index.cfm?Fuseaction=MeetTheMayor
http://www.valdostacity.com/CityCouncil/index.cfm?Fuseaction=MeetTheCouncil
The Georgia State Court ruled the arrest on May 5, 2005 unconstitutional. Mayor Fretti, and then council members appealed this decision to the Georgia Supreme Court and on April 25, this court ruled the arrest unconstitutional.
May 25, 2006, George Boston Rhynes Presdident of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch (NAACP) gave a copy of this presentation to the Mayor,and each Valdosta City Council Member on May 25th, 2006. He said: This is why the name MUST and WILL eventually be changed!
1st arrest: The times opinion column on Renaming Barber Park (Rev. Rose & Willie Head of Quitman Jailed)
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349182532
1. 1st Arrest Rev. Floyd Rose and Willie Headhttp://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1114409879
2. George Rhynes address the Mayor and Council on renaming Barber Park: http://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1107915885
3. Valdosta Daily Times listed the Valdosta 15, under the CRIME REPORT ONLY.
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349235532
4. Court Rules arrest of fifteen freedom fighters unconstitutional (VDT)http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_121215519.html
5. George Rhynes says Valdosta Daily Times omitted the major facts from Valdosta City Council Meeting to keep people in the WHITE.
http://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1115686764
I am Brother George Boston Rhynes, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP, A concerned citizen and brother of humanity! I received this e-mal from Rev. Floy E. Rose today (May 24, 2006).He is the president of the Peoples Tribunal located in Valdosta, and Lowndes County Georgia. And since this issue of renaming Barber Park will go before the Mayor and City Council tomorrow (May 25, 2006). I believe these points need to be shared with other people of conscious across our beloved nation.
My Dear xxxxxx
Rev. Floyd E. Rose, author of e-mail received by George Boston Rhynes!
"VALOSTA CITY COUNCIL MEETING"
COMENTS:
Councilman Joseph "Sonny" Vickers from District 3, and "Barber Park," is located in this district.
COUNCILMAN VICKERS MADE THE MOTION, (FORM A COMMITTEE) IT WAS SECOND BY COUNCILMAN WILLIE HEAD.....
And then you called me and we talked about forming a committee and ah, we talked about that this morning for about thirty minutes and I told you that I still though WE had some reservations about it and wasn’t sure. And I thought about it for the rest of the afternoon and gave it a lot of thought. And Ah, it is your district and, and, you Ah, have your ear to the ground I know. You are one of the hardest working councilmen up here, and I know that you spend a lot of time meeting with your constituents. And Ah, I am, ah, prepared to follow your recommendation and Ah, I am in favor of forming a committee.The above information was recorded on a RadioShack Tape Recorder serial number 214540929909A05 and transcribed by an unprofessional person. Moreover, in no way is it intended to cast any negative shadows on any one person. But rather intended to inform and educate the public of what transpired at Valdosta City Council held on May 25, 2006 concerning a most serious issue of renaming "Barber Park" to Ossie Davis.
Hopefully, renaming the park will remove the WHITECLOUD of denial, segregation, separate and unequal treatment over a park that is in a community that is 97 persent People of Color. {George Boston Rhynes}
TO: Mayor and Council
JUNE 2006, THE MAJORITY MAKES NO DIFFERENCE ON VALDOSTA CITY CUNCIL IN VALDOSTA GA
Barber Park Issue In Valdosta Georgia 2005, 2006, .....
The renaming of Barber Park in Valdosta, Geor
THEY ARE: Mayor John J. Fretti, Council member James Wright, District 1, Willie T. Head, Jr., District 2, Joseph “Sonny” Vickers, District 3, Aalvin Patyton, Jr., District 4, David J. Summer, District 5, Robert Yost, District 6, and John Eunice, At Large,
All council menbers voted on May 25, 2006, to call a committee to address and resolve the renaming of Barber Park. THIS IS WHAT WAS REQUESTED WHEN FIFTEEN LOCAL CITIZENS WERE ARRESTED ON MAY 5, 2005, AND HELD IN THE LOWNDES COUNTY JAIL FOR OVER 24 HOURS WITHOUT BAIL FOR DISRUPTING A PUBLIC MEETING.
It is obvious that the ISSUE of Barber Park will be around for a long, long, long time in the future. It just prove that Rev. Joseph Lowery words was correct. That Valdosta, and LOwndes County Georgia will be the focal point in the 21st Century for CIVIL RIGHTS because elected officials refusal to voluntarily make the necessary changes.
And WE the concerned citizens of Valdosta, and Lowndes County cannot and willnot accept the recently removed Valdosta City Charter of 1860, mentality. That read: Paragraph 100: Section XI, “the Mayor and Council, they shall pass all proper and necessary laws and ordinances for the control of slaves and free persons of color in said town and suppress and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.”
Fifteen law abiding citizens have already been arrested over the Barber Park issue.
They were held in the Lowndes County Jail for over twentyfour hours without bail for disrupting a public meeting (Valdosta City Council Meeting on May 5, 2005). Lets look at the elected officials we voted into office to represent US!
http://www.valdostacity.com/CityCouncil/index.cfm?Fuseaction=MeetTheMayor
http://www.valdostacity.com/CityCouncil/index.cfm?Fuseaction=MeetTheCouncil
The Georgia State Court ruled the arrest on May 5, 2005 unconstitutional. Mayor Fretti, and then council members appealed this decision to the Georgia Supreme Court and on April 25, this court ruled the arrest unconstitutional.
May 25, 2006, George Boston Rhynes Presdident of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch (NAACP) gave a copy of this presentation to the Mayor,and each Valdosta City Council Member on May 25th, 2006. He said: This is why the name MUST and WILL eventually be changed!
Mr. Mayor, and Council. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP is in support of renaming Barber Park to Ossie Davis because:
No self-loving, respected people want images in their community. That reminds them and their children of segregation, lynching, wire fences, covered artesian wells, swimming pools, and signs that read for whites only.
People of conscious from all nationalities, suffered, bled, and died. For America to live up to its creed, “That all men and women are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Mr. Mayor, and Council, there are no public parks, streets, monuments, statures, etc., in white-gated communities in Valdosta or elsewhere honoring Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Jack Johnson, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Minister Louis Farrakhan or John Brown a white abolitionary. Jews would never permit any park, stature, or monument in their community. That reminds their children of the Holocaust.
But on the Court House grounds is a stature that compliments streets in this city. Some say, that it is about heritage. But in our Archives is the history of these street names. Three blocks south of us. Is a seven (7) block-street, named in honor of Rev. Martin L. King Jr., an international Nobel Peace Prize Winner and world I-Con. That says to the carriers of the moral flame. This is how Valdosta shows appreciation, honor, and respect to certain people in this Metropolitan Metropolis.
Little towns like Quitman, Thomasville, and Homerville have thoroughfares, and State Highways named in Dr. Kings Honor. The Valdosta Daily Times reported on April 6, 2006, that Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s actions with the Capitol Hill Police were an embarrassment to the State of Georgia. I believe this issue surrounding Barber Park will have a devastating impact----on whether or not businesses will want to locate here.
There are monuments, and other historical landmarks named in honor of less honored people than OSSIE DAVIS. Valdosta was practically built by people like OSSIE DAVIS under less than ideal conditions. This alone should arouse your consciousness----to do the right thing. Regardless of individual feelings. History records, that Blacks suffered, bled, and died, just to drink water from a public water fountain, use restrooms on the highway, register to vote, eat in a public restaurant, swim in swimming pools across the nation, and assemble in groups of more than five. Blacks, fought to own land, fought for the right to be killed in every war of this great nation and NOT be referred to as three-fifths of a human being.
Renaming Barber Park is featherweight in comparison to our struggle. Jesus said, if the blind leads the blind---then both shall fall into the ditch and for us to want for our neighbors, that which WE want for ourselves and our own children.
In conclusion: I have no doubts, that men and women of conscious will eventually rename not only Barber Park. And say that it is a moral disgrace that out of twenty-three City, and County governmental department heads. There is less than five Black department heads. Out of nine schools only one (1) is named after an African American. Twelve (12) known deaths have occurred in or surrounding the Lowndes County Jail.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->II. <!--[endif]-->But no elected official have requested any type of investigation for whatever reason. I have no doubts about change. My real concern is how much it will cost the tax paying public. END, END, END,
INFORMATIONAL LINKS: (Barber Park)1st arrest: The times opinion column on Renaming Barber Park (Rev. Rose & Willie Head of Quitman Jailed)
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349182532
1. 1st Arrest Rev. Floyd Rose and Willie Headhttp://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1114409879
2. George Rhynes address the Mayor and Council on renaming Barber Park: http://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1107915885
3. Valdosta Daily Times listed the Valdosta 15, under the CRIME REPORT ONLY.
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349235532
4. Court Rules arrest of fifteen freedom fighters unconstitutional (VDT)http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_121215519.html
5. George Rhynes says Valdosta Daily Times omitted the major facts from Valdosta City Council Meeting to keep people in the WHITE.
http://members.hostedscripts.com/board.cgi?user=philadelphia&a=read&read=1115686764
6. Local State Court Ruled arrest was unconstitutionalhttp://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_351111202<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[endif]-->
7. Fifteen arrested Valdosta Daily Timeshttp://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349233002<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
8. Rev Floyd Rose meets with the Peoples Agenda in Atlantahttp://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349221332
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
9. The Valdosta Daily Times says Valdosta City Council should revisit Barber Park Issuehttp://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349191502
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
10, The times opinion column on Renaming Barber Park (Rev. Rose & Willie Head of Quitman Jailed)
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349182532
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_349182532
"IT DON'T MATTER TO US"
I am Brother George Boston Rhynes, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP, A concerned citizen and brother of humanity! I received this e-mal from Rev. Floy E. Rose today (May 24, 2006).He is the president of the Peoples Tribunal located in Valdosta, and Lowndes County Georgia. And since this issue of renaming Barber Park will go before the Mayor and City Council tomorrow (May 25, 2006). I believe these points need to be shared with other people of conscious across our beloved nation.
The original intent of this e-mail was sent to a friend of the minister who had some questions concerning more important things than renaming a park. However, when I read Rev. Rose response. I called and ask permission to share its content. I thank him for this priviledge, and I am thankful for our form of government. {GBR}
My Dear xxxxxx
I know how you feel. Others have felt the same way, and have said as much. If we were only talking about renaming Barber Park, perhaps we would agree that our time and energy could be better spent. However, this is not just about the renaming of a park. It’s about cutting the ties of the park to its shameful, segregated past, and renaming it for Ossie Davis, an internationally acclaimed playwright, author and actor from South Georgia. It’s about a vision; a vision of a 34.4 acre site with an African American Museum and Cultural Arts Center, complete with a library and conference center, including smaller rooms which would house the artifacts of local African American men and women, who have made significant contributions to the development of this community; an amphitheater named for Ossie Davis’ wife and co-star of 56 years. It’s about the nature trails named for Harriet Tubman, symbolic of the Underground Railroad, etc. I am. Personally committed to raising a $100,000 for this project, should the Mayor and Council vote to change the name.
Let me be clear. We all know that if Barber Park was in a neighborhood where ninety-seven percent of the population was Jewish, and ninety-nine percent of the people who were using that park were Jewish, in a district where its representative was Jewish, in a city that was fifty-two percent Jewish, and where eighty percent of the children in public schools were Jewish, they would NEVER allow it to be named for a man who, even unwittingly, supported the mistreatment of Jews. Why should we accept less?
There are those who would say that it really doesn’t matter what you call it. During the 1950’s, I heard the same thing about the back of the bus. “After all”, they said, “the back of the bus will get there the same time that the front of the bus will.” It never matters with us, and it always matters with them. Symbols are not important to us, but they are always important to them.
Until 2004, a plaque hung on the outer wall of City Council chambers which read, “The Mayor and Council shall make all proper and necessary laws for the control of slaves and free persons of color,” and it didn’t matter to us. It was reluctantly removed only after George Rhynes vehemently protested. 
J. L. Newbern had a picture of a smiling Gorilla on the front of the desk in its entrance with the words written beneath it, “smile, it’s the first impression you make,” or something to that effect, and it didn’t matter to us.
J. L. Newbern had a picture of a smiling Gorilla on the front of the desk in its entrance with the words written beneath it, “smile, it’s the first impression you make,” or something to that effect, and it didn’t matter to us.Forrest street, which runs the length of our community, is named for Nathan B. Forrest, the co-founder and first grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, and it doesn’t matter to us.
Lee street, which also runs the length of our community, was named for Robert E. Lee, a Confederate General, who tried to keep us in slavery, and it doesn’t matter to us. There’s a statue of a Confederate soldier on the Courthouse grounds, where justice is suppose to be blind, with the words inscribed on its base, “Lest we forget the principles for which they fought, and died,” and it doesn’t matter to us.The Chief of the Fire Department is black, but unlike other major department heads, he cannot hire and fire, and it doesn’t matter to us. There are nine public schools in Valdosta, where eighty percent of the children are black, and only one, J. L. Lomax is named for an African American, and it doesn’t matter to us. And no school in Lowndes County is named for an African American, and it doesn’t matter to us.
Fifteen Christians, including two whites and thirteen blacks were arrested, taken to the Lowndes County Jail, denied bail, charged with “disrupting a public meeting,” a charge under a statute which was later ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court, and those arrested included a minister, a 68 year old grandmother, the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and former President of the NAACP, and wife of an attorney in the Volloton/Langdale law firm, a senior deacon, a registered nurse, two college students, a house wife, a college professor, and retired high school teacher. The minister was separated from the other men, and placed in solitary confinement. The women were placed in a holding cell where, when one of them had to use the toilet, the others had to shield her from the view of men, and it doesn’t matter to us. Their bonds ranged from $1000.00 to $2500 for a misdemeanor, and not a single black leader called to see what happened because it didn’t matter to us.During the days of segregation we went to the back of the bus, ate in segregated restaurants, when they were available. We drove across the country, bought gas from service stations but couldn’t use their restrooms. We slept in our cars on the side of the road until the police noticed us and ordered us to move on. We had to find a patch of woods to relieve ourselves, and it didn’t matter to us until Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Roy Wilkins, James Former, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis and others raised our consciousness.
Lee street, which also runs the length of our community, was named for Robert E. Lee, a Confederate General, who tried to keep us in slavery, and it doesn’t matter to us. There’s a statue of a Confederate soldier on the Courthouse grounds, where justice is suppose to be blind, with the words inscribed on its base, “Lest we forget the principles for which they fought, and died,” and it doesn’t matter to us.The Chief of the Fire Department is black, but unlike other major department heads, he cannot hire and fire, and it doesn’t matter to us. There are nine public schools in Valdosta, where eighty percent of the children are black, and only one, J. L. Lomax is named for an African American, and it doesn’t matter to us. And no school in Lowndes County is named for an African American, and it doesn’t matter to us.
Fifteen Christians, including two whites and thirteen blacks were arrested, taken to the Lowndes County Jail, denied bail, charged with “disrupting a public meeting,” a charge under a statute which was later ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court, and those arrested included a minister, a 68 year old grandmother, the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and former President of the NAACP, and wife of an attorney in the Volloton/Langdale law firm, a senior deacon, a registered nurse, two college students, a house wife, a college professor, and retired high school teacher. The minister was separated from the other men, and placed in solitary confinement. The women were placed in a holding cell where, when one of them had to use the toilet, the others had to shield her from the view of men, and it doesn’t matter to us. Their bonds ranged from $1000.00 to $2500 for a misdemeanor, and not a single black leader called to see what happened because it didn’t matter to us.During the days of segregation we went to the back of the bus, ate in segregated restaurants, when they were available. We drove across the country, bought gas from service stations but couldn’t use their restrooms. We slept in our cars on the side of the road until the police noticed us and ordered us to move on. We had to find a patch of woods to relieve ourselves, and it didn’t matter to us until Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Roy Wilkins, James Former, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis and others raised our consciousness.
The Valdosta City School Board seems to have acquiesced to Judge Ellerbee, and children with disabilities are being arrested and shipped off to Juvenile detention centers, in violation of federal law, and it doesn’t matter to us.
Contrary to what you may have heard, I am first and foremost a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I take my calling seriously. I never propose to speak for anybody but myself, and for only those whose views are identical to mine on any subject at any time, just as they speak for me when my views are identical to theirs on any subject at any time. To be a disciple of Jesus means to me that I must be willing to sacrifice so that others don’t have to sacrifice.
I must be willing to suffer so that others won’t have to suffer. I must be willing to go to jail, so that others might be set free, and I must be willing to die, if need be, so that others might live. My religion can be summed up in one sentence: “I want to treat others as I wish to be treated.”
I must be willing to suffer so that others won’t have to suffer. I must be willing to go to jail, so that others might be set free, and I must be willing to die, if need be, so that others might live. My religion can be summed up in one sentence: “I want to treat others as I wish to be treated.”
In the end, as I have said to my family, I might lose my property, my money, my freedom, and even my life, but I will never lose my integrity. And integrity means that I never have to ask any one of three questions: (1) What do others think? (2) What will others do? (3) What will happen to me if?
I have been here before, and if I have learned anything it is the truth of what Mahatma Gandhi said, “First they will ignore you. Then they will laugh at you. Then they will criticize you. Then they will ostracize you. Then they will fight you. And then you will win….”
I am happy to sponsor a student for BUGS (Bringing Up Grades Successfully). Our check for $120.00 is in the mail.Rev. Floyd E. Rose, author of e-mail received by George Boston Rhynes!
"VALOSTA CITY COUNCIL MEETING"
May 25, 2006, on the renaming of "Barber Park" (The Community had been informed that the issue would come up for a vote) However, the Mayor turned this issue over to councilman Vickers who presented a "MEMORANDUM" (Following council members comments to the motion)
Councilman Joseph "Sonny" Vickers from District 3, and "Barber Park," is located in this district.
HIS WORDS ON THE ISSUE: I think I need to address an issue this perception and I can understand the perception that I was going to have a vote on Ossie Davis name tonight. I spoke to the mayor in the hallway at the last meeting night. And I said to him that I was going to have the issue on the agenda. What it was that I was going to recommend work I had no idea whatsoever. But I can assure you for the last several days I have constantly worked this issue trying to find a format that I could bring to the council that might be successful.
I had several thoughts and as I run them by council members got input from them. Ah, I worked the phone last night until about 10:30. I worked, I have a job. I was on the phone again today trying to work the phone trying to get enough votes that we could have a successful resolution to this issue.
When I was elected to City Councilman I use to come to city council as a community activists. And after I got elected Mack Cason said to me its different sitting on this side than sitting on the other side. I have to try to put something together. I have one vote and I don’t bring things to council an issue that I am trying a resolve to just to get a vote on it. I had to work this issue, and I appreciate the council members, the mayor and council members for engaging me. Every one of you all I talked to several different times on this issue.
As I got the format together and I sent it out and sent it back to me and I sent it back and they sent it back to me. And that is how I got what I got now. If I had brought the issue just Ossie Davis name I doubt very seriously it would have passed. Why? We heard out in the community all the council members we heard a lot of people tell us to leave the park along.
Today, I got five calls out of my district that was on my answering machine and I left them on my answering machine and they are still on the answering machine. Come from the Hightower Subdivision. Say, leave the park along. You know, this is the thing I’ve heard. Next thing I heard a lot of name it for a local person. And I heard for Ossie Davis, and we have heard other names so listening at what I have heard out in the community. And what I heard from council members. This is what I was able to put together to bring and hopefully to get it passed.
If I had time, I would have come by and talked to you (Rev. Floyd Rose), about it. But I just didn’t have the time to come by and talk to you, and that’s the reason that I didn’t.
Go back to my rule and the problem that I heard in the community and the problems I heard with council members. This is my problem; it wasn’t about renaming Barber Park to me. That wasn’t my problem my problem was that the base issue for changing the name was because when I was a young man I couldn’t go there. That was the basic reason for changing it. To me it didn’t bother me. I had been going to the park for thirty-five years. And this is what the community seemed to be more gravitated to that didn’t matter to you OK.
And Brother Rose, if you remember in January of last or late December I went by your place for something. But a young lady was there from Atlanta Georgia. And we got into this conversation and we had just received the first letter from you telling us of your intent of bringing this. And I said to you, Brother Rose don’t go down this race road with this. Use another approach, I didn’t say don’t bring it. I just asked you to use another approach.
So you didn’t and when this got here somebody had to take this up. I couldn’t take it up because I just didn’t believe in, in, in, the bases of that which premise in that you brought it in. I just didn’t believe that I didn’t feel like that and I can understand you make like feel like I didn’t. And being over in my district I’m the one that I think council look for some lead and I, I just have some problem with it not about changing the name but the reason. And this is some other council members have expressed this.
If you remember when this issue first came up it came up as Russell Woods. And the gentlemen and I don’t remember who it was and I don’t remember how it originated but they made the specification. And they came in and talked about what Russell had did and what have you and it was well received. But I just want to let you know as far as I aim concerned that’s the problem that I have had with this.
So I just didn’t, haven’t had the appetite to pick this issue up because of that. And you and I. You know I have said this to you and I have a lot of respect for you. One thing I really feel that sometimes you mean well you and I disagree at the method. But I know that you mean well at what you are trying to do.
So saying that and listening at council members and the community that they wanted to leave it local name and other names so I got something together. I believe try and get broad support on council and move forward on this issue. And I tried to make at putting it together and with you all input. I tried to ah, address it and frame it where hopefully that everybody will feel comfortably with it. So this is why I went this way with it. END, END, END,
COUNCILMAN VICKERS MADE THE MOTION, (FORM A COMMITTEE) IT WAS SECOND BY COUNCILMAN WILLIE HEAD.....COMMENTS/DISCUSSIOIN ON THE MOTION
BY COUNCILMAN JAMES WRIGHT FROM DISTRICT 1.
BY COUNCILMAN JAMES WRIGHT FROM DISTRICT 1.
I want to point out, a couple of things that I felt, I need to say. `Ah, number one (1),
I know there has been a lot of discussion like Ah, Councilman Vickers eluted to on this issue. Ah, its been talked about for a while, and I agree, with the pastor (Pastor Dobson who spoke previously), that it needs to come to a head.
Ah, but I know that there are some issues and some discussions. That have been going on that I have not been privy to. I know that there have been meeting ah, going on and drawings. That have been shown. I don’t know anything about those meetings. I don’t know anything about those drawings.
So it’s hard for me to say NOW less go ahead and put it to a vote. Ah, the issue of Barber Park is one that I don’t think is going to go away anytime soon. I think the proposal put forth by ah, Councilman Vickers is a way to solicit input and get people involved with this. And deal with it once and for all. Because it is a way of dealing with this issue and us finally voting on it. So I can support this because it will be a vote on it once and for all, and we will be dealing with this issue with the community input.”
COMMENTS/DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION BY WILLIE T. HEAD JR., FROM DISTRICT 2:
When Councilman Vickers approached me Ah, with his idea Ah, course. I was immediately taken back to I guess a year or so ago. Whenever this issue was at I guess at one of its high points. And I ah, ah, made a motion to formulate a committee and ah. That died for lack of a second, and ah, of course when I got home my wife said I told you so. And I, I try to listen to her most of the time.
But more importantly ah, some efforts I made later to Ah, Ah, to try to push for the formulation of a committee, and many peoples in the Tribunal and some on this side of the isle Ah, was aware of that effort. Ah, and Ah, that failed, Ah, And sometime I think Ah, a lots of things get in the way, and, and, and, sometimes we don’t want to humble ourselves down and say less do, ah what best for the community.
But when he approached me with the idea. Ah, I embraced it, Ah, because this is something that in my mind eating away at the core of this community. Whatever side of the issue you might be on. And it inhibits our progress as a community because folks look at us. And right now we are known kind of as the premier city of South Georgia and folks are looking for us to go places, and when we have to deal with things that sometimes seems ugly. It inhibits our progress and so I embrace your recommendations Councilman Vickers and hope that it passes.
COMMENTS/DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION
BY DAVID SUMNER FROM DISTRICT 5:
BY DAVID SUMNER FROM DISTRICT 5:
a. You know sometimes maybe I think, we just don’t seem to get the message out. And I heard this afternoon a couple of statements that I just, I just sometimes wonder, and I want to clarify a couple of those things. Ah, the comments was made about the MLK corroder about the street being so small and that it was not an honorable thing that we had done.
I think that we are in the process NOW of doing the MLK Project, and what is the amount that we are spending on that project for redevelopment on that street. And it’s greater than the monument to Dr. King.
VALDOSTA CITY MANAGER LARRY HANSEN RESPONDS:<!--[endif]--> I think the project budget is now about 1.5 million dollars. And it’s in the final design stages now by Jackson and Persons and associates. {LH}
And I doubt there is other communities of our size that have spent that kind of money. To do the type job that we are wanting to do. And I do want to say that we went to Washington a couple of weeks ago. And members of this council, we embraced and we went up there together to ask for funding for this project. And that project was unanimously supported by a pervious council whose racial makeup is different than today. And that project was overwhelmingly accepted by this council and we are moving forward on it.
There are also some parks since I have been on this council that have been named. The Mildred Hunter Center, Ralph Harrington Park and the James H. Rainwater Center. So there are some parks named after African Americans in our community.
I do want to say that----Sonny I think that you have worked very hard on this councilman. You have worked very hard on this, and it is your district. And that you have the opportunity to speak with a lot of people in your community. And Ah, I have enjoyed serving with you for the many years and I always found that you are a reasonable person. And that I know that this is probably been one of the most difficult Ah, things that you had to deal with and you have approached it very professional.
And I appreciate you keeping us informed, and I, I, tell you that I certainly recommend this proposal and I think that we need to. I’m, I’m, not sure that it is the best thing for us to keep chipping away at the past but less embrace and less move forward together for a better day. And I think this is a great recommendation.
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COMMENTS/DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION
BY COUNCILMAN JOHN EUNICE FROM THE AT LARGE DISTRICT:
Well I just want to say pretty much as everybody else has. Ah, Councilman Vickers you and I have over the past five or six days probably talked over an hour on the phone. We have gone back and forth debating the issue and as you know I got a lot of respect for you and the time you have served council. And the dignity that you served with. And ah, when you first called me I said I had some reservations about renaming the park and I still do.
BY COUNCILMAN JOHN EUNICE FROM THE AT LARGE DISTRICT:
Well I just want to say pretty much as everybody else has. Ah, Councilman Vickers you and I have over the past five or six days probably talked over an hour on the phone. We have gone back and forth debating the issue and as you know I got a lot of respect for you and the time you have served council. And the dignity that you served with. And ah, when you first called me I said I had some reservations about renaming the park and I still do.
Hopefully, renaming the park will remove the WHITECLOUD of denial, segregation, separate and unequal treatment over a park that is in a community that is 97 persent People of Color. {George Boston Rhynes}
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Joseph "Sonny" Vickers, City Council member
SUBJECT: Proposal for Committee on Barber Park
DATE: May 23, 2006
DATE: May 23, 2006
The following is a proposal for consideration concerning the appointment of a committee to address the name of Barber Park.
Background: For the past 18 months a small group of citizens have requested Mayor and Council rename Barber Park. The group has submitted several names during this time. There has been little interest in the subject from the x community as a whole. The request came during a 1.5 million dollar renovation of the park. The Mayor and Council has previously placed the item on the agenda on two occasions for a vote. On one occasion, a motion to appoint a committee died for lack of a second. On the other occasion a motion to rename the park failed by a vote of 3-2 with two members absent.
History: The City purchased the property now known as Barber Park from Ola
Barber Pittman in 1974 for $109,000 of which $40,000 was provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Mr. E.R. Barber purchased the property in 1920 from O.E. Hightower for $6,820. On December 5, 1973, the Valdosta Mayor and Council voted unanimously to name the property to be acquired from Ola Barber Pittman as E.R. Barber Park. The City of Valdosta has owned the property since 1974 and during this 32 years the property has been open and available to all citizens. Prior to 1974 the property was private as far back as deeds can determine and thus its use would have been determined by the private property owner(s).
Intent: The intent of this proposal is to determine interest in revisiting the issue of
the name of Barber Park,
the name of Barber Park,
Proposal: The Mayor and Council will appoint a committee to develop a recommendation concerning the name of Barber Park to include whether the park should be renamed and if so, a recommendation as to a name.
- Each member of Mayor and Council will appoint one representative from the district they represent to the committee. A member may not appoint himself. This will result in an eight person committee. Mayor and Council will not be directly involved in the deliberation or recommendation of the committee.
Citizens appointed to the committee should be open- minded and agree to participate actively on the committee.
The members will serve as the voting members of the committee and will elect its own chairperson. The chairman may only vote in the event of a tie.
The committee will be provided a written format by which interested persons will submit opinions as to renaming and/or names for consideration. To be considered any opinion or nomination must be in writing in the format prescribed by the committee. Public input will be received in writing only and will be submitted to the Associate City Clerk, who will gather and provide the written comments to the committee. All comments or nominations must be signed and submitted by a Valdosta city resident. Duplicate submissions will not be accepted nor will multiple copies of the same submittal.
The committee will study the issue, determine what recommendation, if any, is to be made, and provide a written report to the Mayor and Council within 12 weeks of their appointment.
Mayor and Council will have the discretion to provide any guidelines deemed appropriate and necessary to the committee.
City staff will provide administrative support such as meeting notices, agendas, minutes, meeting locations, etc.
Any final action or final decision will be solely at the discretion of Mayor and Council.
Mayor and Council agrees, that in consideration for appointing a committee and voting on a recommendation, that no further action will be considered related to the name of Barber Park for a minimum of five years.
However, we must remind ourselves of the Valdosta City Charter of the 1860. It was displayed near the Municipal Courtroom for over 20 years. Paragraph 100, (Section XI), “The Mayor and Council shall pass all proper and necessary laws or ordinances for the control of slaves, and free persons of color in said town and suppress, and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.” This too was met with opposition but I was removed to a location not reported in the local news media outlets.
Brooks County Court House still flying the OLD GEORGIA FLAG on the internet Why?
Rev. Martin L. King Jr., lived as he wanted other to live and contribute to building a better community, state, nation, and world. For his good deeds he was murdered by sub-human beings whom he loved beyond measure.....
JUNE 2006, THE MAJORITY MAKES NO DIFFERENCE ON VALDOSTA CITY CUNCIL IN VALDOSTA GA
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