Farmville Protest Wrap-Up (with video)

(Editor’s note: The song at the beginning is sung by Barry Carter. chairman of the Occoneechee-Saponi Indian tribe of Virginia, and accompanied on drums.)

Scenes from Farmville, VA protest on March 7, 2009

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^{Visit this blog if you are unable to see the video.}

Photoblog: Farmville Private ‘Immigrant’ Prison Protest

I am posting several more photos from yesterday’s protest in Farmville. The private prison being built to incarcerate so-called ‘immigrants’ is a bad idea also because  the level of detainees (prisoners) has fallen precipitously since November. Layoffs recently had to do with the decline in ‘immigrant’ detainees.

In November, a person being held at Piedmont Regional Jail was allowed to die rather that receiving medical care for a bacterial infection. Illustrative of the mindset is the questionable observation by the jail’s Superintendent when talking about the death:  “…people die in captivity.”

A big unanswered question is the role of the Chief Medical Officer of the jail in all these accusations. He has not made a statement that I can find. ICE is currently investigating the death.

Questions for tomorrow and many more days to come, I am afraid. Let’s get to the beautiful photos of people celebrating their pride and asking their government to not build this prison. The photos speak for themselves.

(click to enlarge)

Large Protest March in Farmville Today

(You might think that this wasn’t very large, but by local standards, it was. I mention below the strained look on more than a few faces.)

It was a great day to go for a walk in the bright Spring sunshine.

Protesting in front of the Prince Edward County Courthouse on Saturday.

It was also a great day for a civil rights struggle in Farmville to be addressed, and that’s what we did. 150-200 people gathered, young and old, tall and small, to protest the building of a private immigrant detention center (prison) in Farmville. This protest almost didn’t materialize when Farmville made it very difficult to get a permit for the protest. At the urging of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union, Farmville recently changed their clearly unconstitutional requirements for a protest permit. A representative of the group The People United asked for a protest event permit, and was initially told by the Farmville Police Department Chief that the group would need to see the Town Manager or Town Council. The problem with that was that the Police Chief was the person to whom someone applies for a permit, even though Chief Dunnavant had said that wasn’t the case.

Local area politicians have taken money from private prison companies, so the hope was this would also send a message to those who would make it easier to train private prison guards by allowing the developer or operator of the facility to train them at a facility owned by the people of the Commonwealth, through their government. No donations from any company should drive the legislative agenda in Virginia.

This was the first time since the 1950′s that Farmville had seen a protest like this, or any public protest at all possibly. During the 1950′s, there were protests surrounding Massive Resistance, and earlier, the Davis -vs- Prince Edward County suit from (I believe) 1951-52. There were plenty of surprised looks, and looks that didn’t seem so friendly today while we walked the route of the protest. I wonder what they were thinking.

A great point was being made in the speeches today that proceeded the march: Indigenous people of North America are the target of widespread harassment and jail, after their ancestors had lived right in this area for thousands of years. Barry Carter, my friend from Virginia Organizing Project, spoke eloquently about the frame in which so-called ‘immigrants’ are in, and the preferred frame we should all recognize: ‘Native Americans’ are exactly who we are talking about, not the pejorative terms ‘illegals’ or ‘illegal immigrants’. When I look at the whole argument while keeping this in mind, I can better understand the dynamic and range of this problem.

The Farmville Police blocked traffic for us today, and everything generally went off without incident. No counter-protesters, no yelling at the protesters went on; just lots of interested and interesting looks, and lots of fun and pride in talking back and making our opinions known.

A few of the photos I took are in this article and I will most likely put up another story as a photoblog to include more of them.

This felt really good.

One of Saturday's signs at the protest march.

Protesting in downtown Farmville on Saturday.

Geo Group Contributions 2004-2008

Campaign Contributions from Geo Group:

$28,607 Kilgore for Governor – Jerry
$6,000 Colgan for Senate – Charles
$5,000 Howell for Delegate – William
$5,000 Kaine Inaugural Committee 2006
$5,000 Moving Virginia Forward
$3,500 Dominion Leadership Trust
$3,000 McDonnell for Attorney General – Bob
$3,000 Stolle for Senate – Kenneth
$2,000 Ruff for Senate – Frank
$1,500 Putney for Delegate – Lacey
$1,000 Abbitt for Delegate – Watkins
$1,000 Cox for Delegate – Kirkland
$1,000 Hamilton for Delegate – Phillip
$1,000 Hogan for Delegate – Clarke
$500 Carrico for Delegate – Charles
$500 Chichester for Senate – John
$500 Kilgore for Delegate – Terry
$500 Marshall for Delegate – Danny
$500 Norment for Senate – Thomas
$500 Sherwood for Delegate – Beverly

Source: VPAP.org

These Legislators Like Private Immigrant Prisons and Inhumane Treatment

They must, because they voted 22-0 to pass along a bill that permits employees of private prisons to train at a Commonwealth-funded training facility in Lynchburg. I have written about this before, in terms of the sponsor of this bill, Watkins Abbitt.

You will notice that none of the legislators live in this area, and will not be needlessly bothered by the typically inhumane treatment in our prisons, private or not.

The bill, HB2624, benefits the Geo Group, a company who specializes in private prison administration. Lack of medical care at their facilities has caused 2 riots in the last 70 days, (one facility) in Reeve County, Texas.

Clay Athey (R-18 )
William Barlow (D-64)
Danny Bowling (D-3)
Bill Carrico (R-5)
Ben Cline (R-24)
Todd Gilbert (R-15)
Morgan Griffith (R-8 )
Charniele Herring (D-46)
Bill Janis (R-56)
Terry Kilgore (R-1)
Lynwood Lewis (D-100)
Scott Lingamfelter (R-31)
Don Merricks (R-16)
Paula Miller (D-87)
Dave Nutter (R-7)
Charles Poindexter (R-9)
David Poisson (D-32)
Jim Scott (D-53)
Beverly Sherwood (R-29)
Jim Shuler (D-12)
Roslyn Tyler (D-75)
Tom Wright (R-61)

It doesn’t matter to me who is on this list, Democrat or Republican. This is a bad idea, and one that will allow this private immigration prison to go forward in Farmville. Shame on them, every one of them.

Who Takes Campaign Contributions from Payday Lending Companies?

I am coming at this from the viewpoint that if an organization or person gives money to a candidate, they think their interests will be looked after. The popular version of this is that corporations and lobbyists give more money, so they are the ones listened to when it comes to any legislation concerning their businesses or industries.

Payday lending is no different. I was frankly surprised at who had taken money from the huge and small payday lenders alike. Democrats and Republicans. Even Independents. I just wonder what the interest is for the companies when the atmosphere here in Virginia is one of change one way or another.

There seems to be two schools of thought among the bills introduced this year. One is to modify the law to provide so-called safeguards to protect people from getting in over their heads with payday loans. The other is to cap the interest rate charged on such loans to a maximum of 36%. Richmond Sunlight

The safeguards, which have been tried in other states to no avail, include a database to determine if someone has too many loans out, or as a percentage of their monthly income. Also to check if they are habitual users of payday lending.

Doesn’t this needlessly add another layer of bureaucracy to our government to look out for the same people the payday lending companies say they are safeguarding (or would with new rules)? Why create a layer of so-called protection that costs all of us more to run the government? We as a society should do a better job of taking care to bring everyone along, at least at a survival level. These loans are shackles, and they do not help anyone other than the large companies that own them.

I am firmly for an interest-rate cap of 36%. If that law is good for every other lending company in Virginia, it should be good enough for these companies.

So without any further examination of my views, here are the lists and graphs of legislators who took money from payday lenders in the 2007 cycle. (data courtesy of VPAP)

(DISCLAIMER: This data was collected from a list of financial institutions. Not all companies are labeled as to whether they do engage in payday lending. The companies listed here are known to be payday lenders. See the VPAP and Richmond Sunlight links for more information about bills in the current legislature.)

Fig. 1: Number of individuals listed as taking Payday Loan money (By party)

Democrats – 60

Republicans – 79

Independents – 3

fig. 2: Total Donations to PACs/Candidates from Payday Lenders (by party)

Democrats – $273,746

Republicans – $217,500

Independents – $6,250

fig 3: Legislators/PACs who took money from Payday Lenders (top ten)

Fig. 4 – Payday Lender Companies that gave money to legislators and/or PACs

Fig. 5 – PAC Donations From Payday Lenders (By Party)

Fig. 6 – Candidate Donations from Payday Lenders (By Party)

I Was Polled on Uranium Mining

Our Mission

“Our Primary Objective Is To Be More Than A Provider Of Research Services – We Want To Be Strategic Partners With Our Clients.”

– Jan van Lohuizen, Ph.D. President (Voter Consumer Research)

Last Sunday, I was polled by telephone on the subject of uranium mining in Virginia. Coles Hill, which is loaded with 110 million pounds of uranium, has been proposed by Virginia Uranium to site a mine. It is located in Pittsylvania County, near the North Carolina border, and with Danville as its neighbor.

The mine proposal has generated a lot of discussion and interest from a widely divergent group of people. I first read about it in the local paper in an AP dispatch, last September. Uranium mining is illegal in Virginia, and to change that, some action will need to be taken on the questions of safety, environmental concerns, and impact on the area.

So, on to the poll. First, my wife answered the phone, and they wanted to talk to a male. That would be me. Here is a list of what was asked as much as I can remember:

Have I heard of the uranium project? Yes.

Do you know (mumble) Coles? No.

Are you familiar with Tim Kaine? Yes.

Did you vote for Tim Kaine? Yes.

Are you familiar with Frank Ruff? Yes.

Did you vote for Frank Ruff? No.

Are you familiar with Watkins Abbitt? Yes.

Did you vote for Watkins Abbitt? No.

Would you be in favor of the uranium mining if the GA undertook a study to make sure it was done correctly? No.

Why? Because I would not feel confident that the GA could handle all the complex issues involved.

Would you mind telling us what party you are in? No, I don’t mind. I am a Democrat.

Thank you.

I finished by asking who they are, and she told me VCR (Voter Consumer Research). So far I have not found anything to complain about with VCR. Their website is sparse, but informative.

I also am not in favor of uranium mining in Virginia, because the mine would be under Federal regulations. I do not trust the MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration)right now, not at all.

Did you get this poll or a similar one? Was it done only in this area, or statewide? please leave any details of your polling contacts in the comments.