|
|
Post by sometimeman on Feb 24, 2008 9:05:54 GMT -4
Thank you Gene for offering to put the info on the web-yes by all means do it!
Them telling you they couldn't give data on a CD because you would have to have the same program as theirs is a bunch of crock.
Request to be allowed to copy files on to the CD yourself or take your computer guy with you.
The AG office has helped in cases where counties refused to release data in electronic format.
Data from the Tax Accessors office when put in tables and accessed with dbase or ms access is a wonderful thing!
A few mouse clicks and whamo all taxpayers are sorted from least -to- greatest.
Who are the top ten taxpayers of Union County?
Who is in the bottom group?
Or, sort by "owner" Then have a look. There are some eye opening shocking information available.
The law says they have to give it to you in electronic format!
Any data file--Thats ANY data file- can be copied in "coma-delimited-format". This will work with any program.
Go get it! If they give you trouble, Contact the State Attorney Generals office.
When you get it--then get rid of their lying, stealing A$$'es!
By the way I am non partisan and 100% in support of transparency in government at all levels.
The sh*t being pulled by Dick Chaney and George Bush is nothing short of treason!
|
|
ghosthunter
Greenhorn
I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOST!!
Posts: 13 
|
Post by ghosthunter on Feb 24, 2008 14:26:49 GMT -4
Yesterday at 9:19pm, ghosthunter wrote:
I swear the intelligence running through this political site is like a train wreck with no survivors !!
You guys need to thank God there's no IQ test people have to take to retain their right to vote or Justin would be dead in the water.
Ghosthunter, I think you're in the wrong thread. We're working on solutions here, not insults. I would love to hear your suggestions if you have any.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I apologize to all, I speak out of frustration, it seems from all accounts news paper etc. that the splost vote was representative of a record amount of registered voter turn out.
56% of the citizens in this county care enough to make an effort to cast their vote, of that 56% , 80% voted for splost, 20% voted against, yet I hear the 44% of non voters that could have made that difference complaining about the results.
How can we seriously work for change in the way our county government is conducted when almost half the population in our small town doesn't care enough to get involved or stand up for their beliefs.
44% of the people in this community doesn't care enough to vote for their chosen candidate, that's enough to make a difference for a candidate to win or lose a race, this same 44% won't care enough to cast their vote for president again this year much less for our next commissioner they will allow that 56% that do vote to make their choice for them yet again then complain about the out come !!
|
|
|
|
Post by unionindividual on Feb 24, 2008 14:43:05 GMT -4
Ghosthunter,
DO not be frustrated over a SPLOST vote, or the amount of people that voted in it. The majority of people voted yes for this SPLOST. We have established this by how the vote turned out. But do not for one second think that all of those people support Lamar Paris, because that assumption is wrong. I work around people all of the time, and there are several who voted yes to that referendum but have stated they will not be voting for Lamar Paris.
|
|
|
|
Post by thesosbee on Feb 24, 2008 14:49:47 GMT -4
Yep, just look at how many people the SPLOST was promised to benefit. And how much the legal organ worked to push it. But then remember that even Harold Cook got over 30% of the vote in 2004, when Lamar was about twice as popular as he is now. Now, I don't think Lamar is unpopular enough for Harold to beat him, it would take another scandal to sweep Harold back in, but somebody could beat Lamar. We should not put down anyone brave enough to step up and run, even as the lazy 44% stay in their recliners .
|
|
|
|
Post by queenbee on Feb 25, 2008 10:52:33 GMT -4
Bubba and Sometimer, I am very proud of you.
And Bubba you made me laugh. Which isn't easy to do, thanks.
|
|
|
|
Post by Joy on Feb 25, 2008 18:44:32 GMT -4
On getting information from the commissioners office, you go to the Commissioners office and fill out a open record request for the information you need, If I remember correctly, they have up to three working days to get it ready, there is a charge per copy. The last time I requested some information, I asked for it on a C. D. they told me that the program that they used would not work with out me having the same program, at this time I do not remember what program they use. If elected I will find out if County information could be put on a web site, and if so do it. Thank you Gene Nelson Thanks, Gene, for the information about getting records from the courthouse, and thank you for agreeing to provide more information online. |
|
|
|
Post by Joy on Feb 25, 2008 19:30:49 GMT -4
Bubba, I broke up your comments to make them easier to reply to.  Joy;; Your posts are a breath of fresh air. I admit to being partisan, can't speak for others but have my opinions there. I omitted the other quotes and left the one directed at me and also your final thoughts. how much of the electorate must come together and demand it? What percentage of the voters? Answer--I believe the 2 questions above can be lumped together. Good ideas from a minority can and have taken hold among an electorate and have become policy and laws before, so I see no reason why it couldn't happen again. As with any idea or movement, word must reach the electorate and the only source to reach them in union County is the local paper and the paper only prints for those it agrees with. I agree that a challenge in this process is the local paper, or at least one of them. I'm not sure how to overcome this hurdle. I know that more and more people do have access to the internet and get lots of information that way. We could post flyers around town directing people to a website for information. Of course, with the economy as it is, people will be cutting back on things that are not necessities, such as internet service. We could print pamphlets with information, but we would have to find businesses that would display them for us and we'd have to find some way to foot the bill for the printing. If we keep this a non-partisan project, one for solutions and answers, perhaps we can still utilize the local media. If we wanted to buy ad space in the paper, could they turn us away? Is the Sentinel still publishing? I had heard they were cutting back on their circulation. (I only check it online.) It's true that it would take a committed group of people to keep it going. Perhaps we need to see who would be willing to step forward? I will, for one. And, I've very recently discovered how true your last statement is. It seems that there are people who like to read this forum and then try to find out the names of who is posting information they don't like. Instead of taking it as constructive criticism and trying to find a solution, they want to witch-hunt. Very sad. But, it's not going to work. I think the budget will be used as an argument against this work, if there will be an argument from whomever is elected. But, I think that could be worked around if the commissioner wants this to happen. We can't let that argument stop us. I'm a realist too. Well, actually, I'm a cynical idealist -- I hope for the best, but realize it probably won't happen! lol We need people who can look at a situation from both sides. People who can think about what might go wrong or what stumbling blocks we'll have. If we know the potential problems ahead of time, we can plan for it. That's the best part of a process -- saying "Okay, this makes sense to me, but what is someone else going to think?" By being able to do this, we make our work stronger and we can bring more people into the fold. I think finding out which candidates will commit to transparent government will help us see who is worthy of being our elected officials. If an official is against transparent government, then that seems like a red flag. I know we're not going to get 100% of the population on board with transparent government. I know that a large portion aren't going to care. But, we can influence some, and maybe they'll be a dedicated and vocal few. I would rather have a dedicated few than a uncommitted mass. |
|
|
|
Post by Joy on Feb 25, 2008 19:37:12 GMT -4
Thank you Gene for offering to put the info on the web-yes by all means do it! Them telling you they couldn't give data on a CD because you would have to have the same program as theirs is a bunch of crock. Request to be allowed to copy files on to the CD yourself or take your computer guy with you. The AG office has helped in cases where counties refused to release data in electronic format. Data from the Tax Accessors office when put in tables and accessed with dbase or ms access is a wonderful thing! A few mouse clicks and whamo all taxpayers are sorted from least -to- greatest. Who are the top ten taxpayers of Union County? Who is in the bottom group? Or, sort by "owner" Then have a look. There are some eye opening shocking information available. The law says they have to give it to you in electronic format! Any data file--Thats ANY data file- can be copied in "coma-delimited-format". This will work with any program. Go get it! If they give you trouble, Contact the State Attorney Generals office. When you get it--then get rid of their lying, stealing A$$'es! By the way I am non partisan and 100% in support of transparency in government at all levels. The sh*t being pulled by Dick Chaney and George Bush is nothing short of treason! I think you hit the nail on the head about the information on CD. Data is useless if you can't move it from one system/program to another. Are they trying to say that if they switched to a new program, they would have to re-enter everything by hand because they can't transfer data? "coma-delimited-format" -- we need to remember that phrase.  I wonder how much they charge for the data on CD? What program do they use for this data? Can anyone find this out for us? |
|
|
|
Post by Joy on Feb 25, 2008 19:47:40 GMT -4
I apologize to all, I speak out of frustration, it seems from all accounts news paper etc. that the splost vote was representative of a record amount of registered voter turn out. 56% of the citizens in this county care enough to make an effort to cast their vote, of that 56% , 80% voted for splost, 20% voted against, yet I hear the 44% of non voters that could have made that difference complaining about the results. How can we seriously work for change in the way our county government is conducted when almost half the population in our small town doesn't care enough to get involved or stand up for their beliefs. 44% of the people in this community doesn't care enough to vote for their chosen candidate, that's enough to make a difference for a candidate to win or lose a race, this same 44% won't care enough to cast their vote for president again this year much less for our next commissioner they will allow that 56% that do vote to make their choice for them yet again then complain about the out come !! It's okay, ghosthunter. The SPLOST vote was representative of fear. People were afraid their taxes would go up if they didn't vote for it. Volunteer firefighters were afraid the new trucks they just got (the first new ones since the 1980's for some if not all the stations) would either have to go back or that the stations would have to raise the $100,000+ for each of them. Fear won that vote. So, how do we dispel fear? Truth! People say that truth is a varied thing. That there are shades of gray to truth. Well, they're wrong. Truth is clear, transparent, if you will. (Y'all thought I was going off-topic in my own thread didn't you?) We don't have to wake up the 44% of the voting public that didn't vote this time. We just have to educate the 56% that will vote. Don't give up. Don't lose hope. |
|
|
|
Post by shortcircuit on Feb 25, 2008 20:10:35 GMT -4
Thanks for your comments Joy, I agree with everything you said in the above post.
|
|
|
|
Post by Joy on Feb 25, 2008 20:37:32 GMT -4
Thanks, shortcircuit! I also wanted to mention that will all the slams and attacks on forum members and forum owners in the local newspaper, it's just making people who didn't even know about these boards want to find out about them! Let's hope he doesn't figure that out.  We've got great ideas here and people really wanting solutions. Let's keep up the good work! |
|
|
|
Post by lightening on Feb 25, 2008 22:15:27 GMT -4
You are a very smart person Joy!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by oscarwho on Feb 26, 2008 17:43:56 GMT -4
I really like the idea of open and honest government . No more locked doors and secrete meetings . No more shady deals benefiting a select few . Open doors and the camera recording all deals , its your money and you have a right to know where it goes . Way to go Joy . Thank you .
|
|
|
|
Post by sometimeman on Feb 26, 2008 17:51:06 GMT -4
Laws require transparency in government. Limore circumvents the law.
The Judicial Branch provides no checks or balances and instead says "the ballot box can handle it"
|
|
|
|
Post by queenbee on Feb 27, 2008 14:00:13 GMT -4
This same topic "Transparency in Government" was on the other forum, November 2007.
You might incorportate some of that information into this topic.
|
|
