Scottsboro City Council Meeting

May 2-4 First Monday Trade Days Weekend

Word Field Fly-In is this weekend, May 2nd 2009, Flagship DC3 at a past Scottsboro Air Show.
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Tonight's City Council Pledge of Allegiance was lead by the Local Boy Scout Troop 220.

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1) Approval to repair roof of Goose Pond Civic Center. 2) Approval of $5,000 appropriation to Women's Business Council with stipulation that funding must be acquired for the matching grant amount before funds issued. 3) Approval of Mr. Kennamer to transfer property ownership of Sumner Cemetery to City of Scottsboro per previous agreement with owners. 4) Approval to extend Charter Communication's Franchise to operate in city for a period of 1 year. 5) Ordinance approved to change City Council procedures for holding Committee meetings after the 3rd Monday work sessions. 6) Bid Opening for 113 feet access road extension in front of Police Annex. Bids were rejected due to incomplete plans. Project is to be rebid. 7) TVA Agreement to remove fallen trees in City Park approved.

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Citizen Comments to City Council: Appreciation expressed for the storm cleanup and placement of defibrillators in public buildings. Suggestion was made to install a microwave relay to change lights upon approach by Emergency Vehicles at dangerous intersections.

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Mr. Parsons, Tourism Director for the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce made presentation concerning National Tourism Week. The Mayor declared the period of May 9-17 as National Tourism Week for Scottsboro. Mr. Parson stated that there are 547 jobs in Jackson County related to Tourism. He also stated Tourism brings in $12.2 Million in Jackson County annually.

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The Mayor mentioned this weekend is the Fly-in at Word Field. This year the event will be a 1 day only event, Saturday May 2nd.

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This weekend is a First Monday Trade Days Weekend.

Positives and Negatives

TULIP TREE BLOOM

DANDOLINE SEED POD

THE DANDOLINE FLOWER

The positive and negative images of the lowly weed and the mighty tree in my garden.

Clematis Art from My Garden

NEGATIVE WHITE CLEMATIS

NEGATIVE PURPLE CLEMATIS

SOLARIZED WHITE CLEMATIS

SOLARIZED PURPLE CLEMATIS

THE BEAUTIFUL CLEMATIS IN MY GARDEN

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All about the beautiful and lovely Clematis, the queen of vines (great site). http://www.clematis.com/html-docs/homepage.html

Discussion Group Issues--Municipal Bonds and Aquatic Weeds

Bond derivatives and swapping has been an expensive endeavor for some small southern towns. (Fair use photo usage for non profit news reporting.) 

 

Bond issues, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/us/08bond.html?_r=1&em

There are some questions which must be answered concerning Scottsboro's financial transactions related to refinancing of bonds and bond deals. Has Scottsboro participated in bond swaps or derivatives of the sort discussed in the New York Times article?

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An inquiry has been forwarded to the Mayor and City Attorney concerning this question.

 

 

Fair use rights for non-profit news and discussion. Photo by Alabama Department of conservation.

 

 

Aquatic Nuisance Species such as Hydrilla is an issue for local, state and federal government.

 

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Aquatic Weed Issues. A request for assistance has been sent to Governor Riley concerning Aquatic Nuisance Weeds in the Tennessee River, specifically the Roseberry/Dry Creek area and the proposed plans of a local citizen's group, the Roseberry Rescue Group.

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A reply has been received. The Alabama Department of Conservation will be looking into this issue as instructed by Governor Riley.

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It appears political manipulation by high level members of the Democrat Party are creating problems concerning this issue. This situation is typical of Alabama political action or a failure of action due to political faction bickering.

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The Alabama Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force was created in 2005 by Governor Riley, a Republican. The Appropriations for projects such as Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force are controlled by Democrats. Political faction bickering is preventing a resolution to these problems at the state level.

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The TVA is a corporate entity of the United States. It is funded solely by the sale of electrical power to the various local electrical power providers within the TVA service area.

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The environmental stewardship of Guntersville Lake is in part the responsibility of the U.S Government thru the TVA and in part the State of Alabama thru the Alabama Department of Conservation. These agencies along with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management as authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have regulatory responsibility on the Alabama portion of the Tennessee River, its reservoirs and tributaries.

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The use of herbicides in this large body of water will require a permit under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

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The City of Scottsboro has not acquired the professional opinions of federal or state biologists in this project.

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The City of Scottsboro has approved appropriations with stipulations of other funding and review of the private applicator's guarantee of the aquatic weed project.

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Scottsboro local news media has presented very one sided stories about this project in support of the Roseberry Rescue Group. They have not presented the negative side of the Roseberry Rescue Groups proposals. Scottsboro's local news media has been presented with information concerning the negative issues of proposed application of Floridone to the Roseberry and Dry Creek areas of Guntersville Reservoir. However, they have not covered the legal, political and environmental issues concerning private citizens applying herbicide poisons to Guntersville Reservoir in violation of applicable laws.

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There is a front page article in today's Scottsboro Daily Sentinel concerning the aquatic weed issue.

Poisoning of Our Waters

Fair use photo by Science Daily for non-profit news reporting - Credit: Photo by Pieter Johnson, courtesy of Oregon State University http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110425153633.htm

 

Frogs with multiple legs, containing both male and female sex organs are being found. Some scientists believe these malformations are due to endocrine disruptors present in our water supply. Others factors causing deformed species are the results of parasites. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110802-frogs-deformed-parasites-animals-environment-mutants/ Fish are also being found with both male and female sex organs and unusual tumors.

Fair use rights for photo, non-profit news reporting - credits

http://www.thepettreehouse.com/2014/07/meet-donald-duckling-born-with-4-legs.html

This duckling has 4 legs. The presence of pollutants in our drinking water is causing high cancer rates locally and results in mutations.

Photo of Lake Guntersville at Goosepond, G.Morgan                               

The question, what do we want, clean, beautiful waterways with fresh, safe drinking water - or polluted waterways which are not healthy?

Fair use rights for non-profit news reporting - photo by Alabama Department of Conservation

 

Clogged lakes from exotic aquatic nuisance species which proliferate from excessive nitrate, phosphorus and sewage pollution?

            Fair use rights for non-profit news reporting - 123RF photo

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Do we want filthy, polluted waterways which are the source of our drinking water? Questions and serious concerns which each of us must evaluate.

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Tonight, April 21, 2009, on "Front Line," PBS, there will be a program on the pollution of our drinking water and fisheries across our nation. This show will concentrate on the effects of endocrine disruptors on animal and human physiology. In most cases it only takes a minuscule PPB or PPM, parts per billion or parts per million, to disrupt endocrine systems. Wiki has a good article on Endocrine Disruptors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor PBS trailer on the "Front Line" expose: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/

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The source of our drinking water in Scottsboro is the Tennessee River. The river is polluted from sources in Jackson County as well as sources up stream in Tennessee. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has published this list of polluted streams and advisories. If you will notice their are many polluted areas upstream from Jackson County. Chlordane, Mercury and PCB are just a few of the pollutants listed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. http://www.tnfish.org/ContaminantsInFishAdvisories_TWRA/FishFleshConsumptionAdvisories_TWRA.htm

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There is considerable scientific evidence concerning the link of plastics and their by-products to various cancers. Video links concerning plastics and breast cancer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUSsbFN70KA&feature=related About plastics, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvzTr1VOK90&feature=related

National Weather Service Huntsville says Gravity Wave, Maybe-Maybe Not

Extra-tropical cyclone produced strong winds Monday April 13, 2009 in North Alabama. The storm produced strong winds from the west in Birmingham. They were on the southern edge of the storm. Scottsboro was on the northern edge of the storm. Our winds came out of the east as a result of being on the northern edge of the storm.

A sketch of the gravity wave that is claimed to cause the damage Monday morning April 13, 2009.
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Meteorologist Mike Coyne of the National Weather Service office in Huntsville states a "Gravity Wave struck our area in the early hours of Monday morning on April 13, 2009. "It's a once in every 5 year phenomena..." Mr. Coyne stated refering to the so called "gravity wave" event. The Daily Sentinel article: http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=1ecbb44372814803

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We have never had high sustained winds of this magnitude. If you live within 2 miles of the base of Sand Mountain you realize that easterly and southeasterly flow of strong winds occur much more frequently than once every 5 years, particularly when strong thunderstorms are to our east. However, these thunderstorms do not last for 3 hours with 50-60 mph sustained winds and 80 mph gusts reported. We all hope and prey that Monday mornings event is not a once in a 5 year event.
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About "gravity waves:" http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/64/
This is an excellent You-Tube video demonstrating the undulating motion of a gravity wave. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXnkzeCU3bE
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I think the "gravity wave" labeling of the Monday morning event is an excuse by the Huntsville National Weather Service for failing to issue a warning as a result of an extra-tropical cyclone slightly to our south. An extra tropical cyclone is a strong low pressure cell. (We experianced an inland Hurricane.) Birmingham experianced the same storm except their winds were from the west. Our winds were from the east and southeast since we were on the northern edge of the counter clockwise rotating cyclonic storm.
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About extra-tropical cyclones: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wstorm.htm This is the weather event we experianced. We also experianced the failure of a bureaucratic national weather service who will make excuses rather than resolve problems of a scientific nature. Their reliance on set bureaucratic protocols does not facilitate scientific discovery and scientific forecasting for unusual weather events.