A local woman was escorted out of the Evans Government Building auditorium by sheriff’s deputies during the Columbia County Board of Commissioners regular meeting, Tuesday night, while playing the violin.
Marlena Bergeron went before the board to speak against Columbia County libraries’ guidelines, as she has done several times as a participant in the public comments portion of the BOC’s meetings.
Bergeron denounced what she called “discriminatory, vague policies” that “violate the constitution,” and implied that updated guidelines for how books are placed in libraries, put into effect a year ago, were the result “back channel discrimination.”
After ending her comments, Bergeron began playing “Star-Spangled Banner” on the violin. Two deputies then escorted her out of the auditorium, with roughly three minutes to spare of the five allotted to public commenters. This yielded reactions from among the audience, including shouts of “It’s the Constitution!” and “Now we know where y’all stand!”
Bergeron was one of three citizens who spoke against library guidelines, the other two being Karin Parham and Howard Johnson, also recurring commenters, piggybacking on previous speakers’ comments regarding the proposed data center in White Oak Park.
Alan Wyatt was the night’s first public participant, giving detailed remarks decrying the proposed data center, more particularly “the lack of adequate time for public response, the excessive secrecy around… the land, purchase for the rezoning and a complete disregard for our own Vision 2035,” and urging the commissioners to reverse their vote in May to rezone over 1,900 acres of land in Appling for data center development.
The commissioners had already prepared for comments about the data center, with all four present, starting with Chairman Doug Duncan, reading detailed addresses several concerns regarding the project.
As to whether the BOC will consider reversing the rezoning, Duncan said, “The answer is no.” He went on to explain, however, that several weeks ago the Commissioners had directed county staff to start work on a “new zoning classification that would apply to any requests for data centers,” that would be its own zoning “much like commercial that will outline exactly what can and cannot be done on data centers” in Columbia County.
Two controversial items, the Solar Farm along Columbia Road and the proposed boat storage facility along Ridge Road were both unanimously voted down.
After Warren Kritko, developer with CTEC Solar, who submitted the rezoning request at Columbia Road to build the solar farm, told the BOC that the company has taken the public’s concerns into consideration, and two county residents, both of whom attended the last Planning Commission meeting, reiterated their concerns about property values and the potential for chemical waste, District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch made the motion to disapprove the rezoning. District 3 Commissioner Michael Carraway seconded, and all the commissioners voted in favor. Couch also made the motion to disapprove the rezoning at Ridge Road. The motion carried went without discussion.
More details on Tuesday night’s meeting to come.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
