Dear SLEAT members and interested parties:

Because of technical difficulties trying out our equipment for next Wednesday’s Forum at the Ballard Community Center, I did not get around to preparing a formal agenda and our meeting was rather unstructured. James Holland will present a video with commentary to introduce the issues.

water quality
protecting the marshes’ nursery function
prodding public officials to do their jobs
addressing major polluters instead of the little man
promoting a healthy environment
prodding legislators with letters and calls to produce effective marsh protection legislation, including inviolate wetland buffers

In attendance were Lisa Norton, Mimi Waite, James Holland, Janice Browning and Jimmy Ann Abner and Hannah Smith. Daniel Parshley was suddenly swamped by end of month paper work, but we are counting on him to make a short presentation at the forum.

We also agreed that I would go down to the paper on Monday and place an ad of some considerable size in the first four pages, giving the particulars of the forum. That’s as much to alert the media as the public. In addition, we agreed that we would highlight a limited number of projects, focusing on getting our public officials to do their damned jobs to

protect water quality
protect the marshes as a productive nursery of fish and wildlife
prohibit pollution on the part of industry and moneyed interests
impress on governmental bodies that they too have an obligation to follow the law.
promote an effective marsh buffer bill to the legislators with phone calls and emails

It was agreed that we would purchase a significant ad in the Brunswick News to be located in the first four pages in order to alert the media, as much as the public to our March 4th event.

Mimi is going to create a flyer/hand-out highlighting our objectives and the legislative intent that’s already on the books, including addresses of the persons to contact.
Lisa will have the flyers printed up for distribution at the forum
Janice and Jimmy Ann will be at the door to greet people and collect signatures and addresses and distribute more of the surveys that people seemed keen to fill out at the IPC.

After Mimi and Janice and Jimmy departed, we brain-stormed with Lisa and decided that the attendees at our forum should be encouraged to phone the County Commissioners and let them know their dissatisfaction with how laws are not being followed, including the evidence of the devastation on highway 17. Then we decided that, as a follow up, we should plan and announce an event/march in honor of Earth Day in April when we skewer the Director of the DNR, Judson Turner, who stripped away what little marsh protection we had. We can issue a state-wide invitation, perhaps even sponsor a walk-a-thon, with permits from the police and the whole nine yards.

I promised to write up a summary of our meeting and expect that, whatever I’ve left out, participants will respond with corrections/additions.

Respectfully submitted,

Hannah, your temporary secretary

P.S. I have looked up the process for registering a corporation in the state of Georgia. The SoS has the forms on line and required but a check for $100 to be followed by taking out an ad in the newspaper of record to announce the formation. The main difference between an LLC and a corporation (profit or charitable) seems to be that the latter required the principals to have a street address where they can be contacted. LLCs, as we know, can live in P.O. boxes.

P.P.S. The articles of incorporation were sent off to the Secretary of State on March 31, 2015 and the first of two notices has been published in The Brunswick News.