The Putnam County Mess

"The state is the community of all people living in that state. We are the state. This applies at least to a democracy. In order to organize a functioning society, the state needs public goods. Schools, universities, public transport, utilities etc. In this context, it is interesting to see what is going on with privatization. Privatization originates from the latin word, "privare," which means "to deprive." In the process of privatization, public goods are bought by private investors. Sometimes they even receive them as a present. This is nothing else than depriving society of public goods. You can sum it up as follows: Society is deprived of a certain good, that the private investor is interested in for reasons of profit. -Herman Scheer German Bundestag"

For months, Putnam County residents have been alarmed about the attempt to privatize the Landfill Operations of the Putnam County Sanitation Department. The deal will sale off 340 acres to a private Waste Management Company, who in turn would pay a leasing fee to the County for usage. This issue was of little importance to my Putnam County family, until we discovered the Palatka Wastewater and Treatment Plant was dumping leachate water directly into sewers in our neighborhood. The need for answers or simple information became preeminent.

The question of why County Landfill Workers, were dumping this leachate water in manholes in North Palatka was only silenced when County Officials stated it was "perfectly legal."The interests of Putnam County Commissioners in the safety of their citizens and the environment seemed to be taking a backseat to the larger issue, which exposed the bids for privatization of public Putnam County Landfills.

Putnam County Commissioners were accepting bids for the privatization of their public landfills to specifically avoid a mandate by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to remediate the County landfills which have been contaminating local groundwater sources. Putnam County Officials are also seeking to avoid US EPA sanctions on their landfill methane gas emissions. The current County landfills do not satisfy US EPA requirements and are without the Leachate collection system and liners like most modern Landfill systems.

To remediate the cost of modernizing the County Landfills, County Administrators are accepting bids to sell 340 of the County's 1,200 acre landfill. Which, ultimately is a gamble to avoid EPA penalties and to push the costs of updating the system to a third party. The costs to update the landfill is estimated by the County to be over $120 million dollars.

Now, what third party, would agree to such a precarious situation, given the price tag and pressure from the Federal government? The bid was between two private companies: Republic Services, and Advanced Disposal Services. Currently, Republic Services is projected to win the contract bid. According to Palatka Daily News, Putnam County will receive:
 1. $25 million in purchasing and permitting fee within the next 12 years.
2. $2.4 million in host fees
3. $5.5 million for closure financial assurance fees.

Somehow, through this contract, this will entitle the County to $178 to $204 million to be paid by Republic Services. However, what does Republic Services, a $19 billion dollar company and the third largest waste management company in the US, have to gain? Only time will tell. But questions like, will leachate dumping in my mother's neighborhood stop or why should the county sell its valuable, taxpayer-provided land to a private, profit-making enterprise, remain?

On, May 6, 2014, at 5pm, Putnam County Commissioners at the County Commission Chambers on Crill Avenue in Palatka, will publicly accept Republic Services. Putnam County residents will once again have another reason to hold their noses while traveling through town!

-by Cowan Amaye-Obu "The Putnam County Mess."

Sources

1. Palatka Daliy News 

http://palatkadailynews.com/view/full_story/24990949/article-Landfill-panel-signs-off-on-memo-to-commission?instance=article_results

 http://www.palatkadailynews.com/view/full_story/24652767/article-Landfill-questions-await-answers?instance=article_results

2. Putnam County PPT http://www.putnam-fl.com/bocc/images/stories/pdfs/landfill_privatization_powerpoint_updated.pdf

3. http://www.dontdumponputnam.com

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfills_in_the_United_States

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Services

6. http://www.republicservices.com/corporate/home.aspx

7. http://www.advanceddisposal.com/about-advanced-disposal.aspx

Inform Yourself: Documentary Series- Environmental

Inform Yourself: Documentary Series
           This week's theme is our environment. The High Priority Party will form our Environmental Policy based on information and not political stances. The issue of the best energy sources (coal, oil, solar, wind, hydro, or nuclear.), global warming/climate change, pollution, conservation, and the most important, water is gathering passionate charges for immediate action. This year alone has seen multiple oil spills in the Great Lake Regions, the Gulf of Mexico (again), the Mississippi River, the Puget Sound in Washington State, and I am sure I have missed a few. These spills should be the wake up call for everyone for two reasons: if we fail to protect our precious water sources, there will be scarce fresh drinking water sources for the future generations. Second, we need to finally address our dependence on big Coal, and Big Oil... With that said, take out your notebooks and study this week's films. Remember to subscribe to Netflix, as all our feature films will be uploaded onsite. This educational exercise should not be an expensive one!

1. First, Last Call at the Oasis (2011) is a documentary on the world's water crisis. It will help viewers become aware of what is at hand now and in the future in terms of water.

Our second feature, Pandora's Promise (2013), maybe the more important of the two at the moment. Faced with misleading information and propaganda about where we get our energy, Big Oil & Coal, has won both in terms of rewards and contracts. Our environment has suffered because of this and so, it is High Time, to re-evaluate our commitment to oil, coal, and gas as our Climate changes and our waterways are polluted. Much is at stake and nothing less than the truth is needed. Here, the High Party finds historical & current evidence to support Nuclear Power.

On a lighter note, a third movie, which is not a documentary, but a Russian-English film, attempts to shed light on the use of propaganda to sway the public. Watch the film, Branded (2012), and help yourself identify the hidden forces controlling your world.

Thank you for viewing!

-Cowan Amaye-Obu

Say No, to the "No-Zero Grading Policy!"

As a former Orange County Public School (OCPS) teacher, corrupt educational practices consciously reduced my passion and pushed me out of the teaching profession. One major issue, which I found alarmingly destructive was often disguised as productive and  “good for the students,the No-Zero Grading Policy.

Grades not only reflect how well a student is performing, but determine how effective a teacher and to a greater extent, a school is. The No Zero Policy, is a school-wide grading policy where students no longer receive grades lower than 50%. For example, a student who completes 30% of their work, and is due a 30% in the marking period, would be manually given a 50% at report card time. While a student, who receives a 55% or 65%, does not receive any special additional points or waivers of grade performance. In the short term, this policy helps students performing poorly, improve their grades through make up assignments at a drastically faster pace. In the long run, this policy produces a fictitious school-wide reflection of how well a student body is scholastically performing. Eventually, this leads to lower tests scores on Standardize tests and even a substandard curriculum which is used to constantly adjust to the abilities of the students.

In Orange County Public Schools, the biggest racket is the grading policy. Schools who institute the No Zero Policy are routinely graded and compared to schools who do not institute the No Zero Policy. Thus, giving an fictitious air of superiority to schools with A grades, and consequences to schools with D or F grades, most likely not instituting the No Zero Grading Policy. However, studies show, these school do not perform any better on State Standardized Tests. The difference is the willingness of school officials to cave into pressure from State and District Officials, who pressure the Principals, who in turn force teachers to turn in their grades with nothing less than a 50% or be reprimanded.

As a Senior Intern in 2008, I sat in a Teacher faculty meeting where the Principal handed down this new policy. And I never imagined that the “No Zero Policy” would spread from that middle school cafeteria to each of the five different schools that I taught. The policy remains fraudulent, an enabler of poor performance in students, and the primary reason, meeting education standards will continue to dwindle in the state of Florida.

Say No, to the “No-Zero Policy.”

Written by Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu former Howard Middle School Teacher, OCPS Charter School Teacher

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/TTR-MET-Rothstein.pdf

The High Priority Party: Looking For City Chapter Leaders & Members in Florida

"Are you in support of The High Priority Party themes?"

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to assemble and elect qualified persons to determine public issues under the democratic processes of the United States (103.095). In addition to The High Party themes, we intend to file with the Department of Elections, local chapters to administer High Party meetings, compose High Party constitutions, and elect/remove Executives, Officers, and Members. Each Member must be registered to vote (to be amended by request of persons with privilege revoked).

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to produce an elector registered to vote in the political party, in which he or she has so designated, and has a fundamental right to fully and meaningfully participate in the business and affairs of The High Party, without any monetary encumbrance.
The constitution, bylaws, rules, regulations, and other documents must reflect this fundamental right and provide for and contain reasonable provisions that prescribe to membership, parliamentary or townhouse practices, notification of meetings, election of officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Public Relations Fellow, and Guard), remove its officers, make High Party Nominations when required by law, conduct campaigns for party nominees, raise and expend Party Funds, select delegates to its state or national convention, and if applicable select presidential electors (103.095).

It is the full intention of The High Priority Party to fully organize the people. Leave your name and contact information, if you are interested in joining, funding, or supporting the themes of the High Party. For emails send to TheHighPriorityParty@gmail.com. Thank you!

-Mr. Cowan F. Amaye-Obu
"The struggle of the people today is real. Let us the people begin to address and solve our issues."

Inform Yourself: Documentaries Series

Knowledge is power. The High Priority Party is not a left or right leaning political association. The High Party bases it issues, views, and political stances based on information. Anyone who makes a decision to support or argue against a viewpoint, based on the source of its political party is foolish, and blindly indoctrinated to follow, whether a point is right or wrong. We shall not be marching robots, but alive living- breathing, bleeding, Stewarts of our communities. We will struggle to pull our fellow marching robot patriotic Americans from throwing our national experiment off the edge of the cliff. If we do not inform ourselves, if we do not track the public actions of our elected officials, if we continue to lie to ourselves about the heavy Corporate pressures on our democratic system, this great American experiment will cease to exist.

Inform Yourself will be our blog documentary series, where we will present informative films about issues in our communities. Viewers can use a number of viewer choices including Netflix, itunes, or Amazon Prime. We recommend a monthly subscription to Netflix, as most of our documentaries are featured on Netflix to reduce costs. Remember not to be forced into purchasing these films. Some will be available at local libraries and so, this educational exercise should not be an expensive one. This week's choices are Inequality for All (2013) and The Big Fix (2012).

Inequality for All (2013)
A documentary that follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap.

The Big Fix (2012)
A documentary that examines the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.


Feel free to leave your comments about each of the films. Express what you liked or did not liked. No work of art is without flaw. And watch with as many people as possible. Thank you.

"The struggle is real."
-Cowan F. Amaye-Obu

Al Franken's Petition Against Citizens United

Citizen United vs. Federal Election Commission (2010) is a U.S. Constitutional law case, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment, prohibited the government from restricting political contributions by corporations, associations and Labor Unions.

Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization, headed by David Bossie. The group has 21 feature film documentaries with strong conservative propaganda, used to influence and endorse conservative ideas. The Citizens United documentary on Hillary Clinton (Hillary: The Movie), led to the Supreme Court case for violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The decision to overturn provisions in the Campaign Reform Act, will allow corporations the ability to provide independent contributions.

The following sites will help viewers learn more about this issue:

Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission
Citizens United
Huffington Post Various Articles

Please visit US Senator Al Franken of Minnesota and sign his petition to overturn or revisit this
awful decision made by the Supreme Court.

"The struggle is real..."
-Cowan Amaye-Obu


 

April 2 Rally Postponed

Please be informed, the rally originally planned for the afternoon of April 2nd, has been
postponed. A request from the Orange County permit is being processed and organizers will revisit
the call for protest after its completion. Thank you for all your support and again stay aware of
the high priorities.

Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu