LCHS students hold a peaceful walk-in to show support for the principal

Feature News, News

LUMPKIN CO., GA

Several students at Lumpkin County High School held a peaceful walk-in on Wednesday, to show their support for the LCHS principal, Billy Kirk.

Students at LCHS give cheer on orator in support of principal

The Lumpkin County Board of Education announced to employees on Monday, March 11, that Kirk had resigned without revealing the cause of his resignation. Once this news went public, LCHS students, parents, and staff began sending emails, letters, and phone calls to the Board of Education advocating for Kirk to be reinstated. Other Lumpkin County residents have even begun a petition titled, “Prevent Principal Billy Kirk From Leaving,” which has collected almost 400 signatures in the few hours since it has gone live.

Students at LCHS give cheer on orator in support of principal

Students at LCHS decided to hold a peaceful walk-out to show their support for Kirk. LCHS officials required that students host a walk-in, held in the LCHS gym, for the safety of the students. According to LCSS Chief Financial Officer, Shannon Christian, “We are allowing the students to hold a peaceful protest in the gym, but it is the desire of the principal for no press to be in attendance.” Although all press was denied access to the event, Fetch Your News was able to obtain a video and images of the event.

There were a number of students who spoke out, in support of Kirk, and the crowd erupted when one orator stated, “There are a lot of people at this school who look up to Mr. Kirk as a father figure.”

Lumpkin County Sheriff, Stacy Jarrard, stationed himself outside the LCHS entrance to further ensure the safety of any student that may have decided against going to the gym. Jarrard also told the press, “Let it go on the record that it is not the decision of LCSO to deny media access to this event.”

 

LCHS students plan walk-out to support their principal

Community, News

LUMPKIN CO., GA
Lumpkin County High School students are planning a walk-out at 12:30pm on Wednesday, March 13, to protest the resignation of the LCHS principal, Billy Kirk, according to the #weneedbilly social media page.
It was announced on Monday, March 11 that Kirk had resigned. School officials are remaining quiet in regards to the reason for Kirk’s resignation. Angry students are planning to walk out of the school, in a peaceful protest against the Board of Education’s decision.

This is an ongoing story; please follow Fetch Your News for updated information.

The Music Modernization Act Will Provide a Needed Update to Copyright Laws

State & National

ICYMI: The Music Modernization Act Will Provide a Needed Update to Copyright Laws

WASHINGTON—This op ed by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in The Hill on January 11, 2018.

I spent my northeast Georgia youth replaying tracks from “Bat Out of Hell” and “Hotel California.” And, of course, staples from Steely Dan. I welcomed the evolution from the 8-track to cassette to CD, but the LP and 45 vinyl predate even me. So, I was stunned to learn, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee—which has jurisdiction over intellectual property rights—that some of the copyright law governing music licensing was actually designed to regulate the player piano and has endured more than a century without meaningful update.

An overview of the music licensing landscape reveals that the status quo isn’t serving industry stakeholders, so the question becomes one of sustainability. Can music lovers count on a robust pipeline of tunes to carry them into the future? Absent substantive changes to the system that has disenfranchised creators, songwriters, publishers and even digital providers have their doubts. But efforts to unify these creators, digital streaming services and other key players around a path forward have faltered until recently. Very recently.

This December, countless hours of collaboration and cooperation came to fruition in a compromise that would be the most substantial update to copyright law since 1998. Today, our jeans pockets are more likely to be lined with iPhones than lint balls, yet the laws that currently regulate how tech giants like Spotify pay songwriters were cemented before the concept of digital streaming was born. The Music Modernization Act (MMA) would literally usher copyright laws into the 21st century.

The bill tackles four dimensions of music licensing. First, the bill addresses the fact that digital music companies regularly fail to pay songwriters and copyright owners properly for interactive streaming services. The trouble often arises from inefficiencies and information gaps.

Tech companies like Amazon Music, Spotify, and Google Play frequently file bulk Notice of Intentions (NOIs) with the Copyright Office that allow them to obtain a license for music for which they can’t locate ownership information. Since this process became available in 2016, some estimated 45 million NOIs have been filed with the Copyright Office.

This “bulk NOI” shortcut has taken millions of dollars in income out of the pockets of songwriters who rely on streaming services to find the proper owners of music and issue those owners prompt and appropriate payment. It’s also left tech companies legally exposed when they use music without knowing or paying its owners.

The MMA renovates the NOI process so that music creators get paid and digital companies reduce their liability and increase operational efficiencies. The legislation would establish a Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) that would accurately compensate songwriters for the mechanical royalties they earn through interactive streaming. In exchange, the collective would afford digital providers—which would fund the collective—with blanket usage licenses for songs.

The MLC would accomplish this by providing the digital services with efficient access to the information they need in order to know which songwriters to pay for which songs. Though songwriters have never had a seat at the music licensing table, both publishers and songwriters would sit on the board of the MLC to ensure it operates transparently.

The MMA also provides songwriters a chance to get fair-market mechanical royalty rates (the rate paid for the reproduction and distribution of a song) in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceedings that set those rates every five years. As it stands, songwriters can’t set prices for their own work. Instead, CRB judges determine royalty rates based on an outdated test that has depressed rates for decades. The MMA changes the standard the board uses to a “willing buyer/willing seller” consideration. In other words, the CRB would set the rates to reflect the market value of the corresponding use of a song.

Finally, the bill improves the process through which performance royalty rates (the rate paid to song writers when their music is played for an audience) are set for BMI and ASCAP, the two largest performance rights organizations. Currently, ASCAP and BMI cases are each assigned to a respective judge. The MMA would implement a rotation of the judges who decide ASCAP and BMI cases and would enable the rate court judges to consider relevant market-based evidence when determining performance rates for songwriters. Again, this change moves the industry toward a fairer, freer market for music licensing, and that benefits music creators, music providers and music lovers alike.

The MMA is unprecedented not only for what it sets out to do, but for who has signed on. The Digital Media Association (DiMA)—representing Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify and YouTube—and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)—representing U.S. music publishers and songwriters—both support the bill.

Songwriters groups including ASCAP, BMI, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Songwriters of North America and others have also welcomed this legislation as a compromise that benefits a cross-spectrum of stakeholders.

So, too, have labels and artists, as reflected in the support of the Recording Industry Association of America, American Association of Independent Music, American Federation of Musicians, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, SoundExchange and the Grammys.

Knowing that today’s music ecosystem suffers under heavy-handed government intervention and defunct copyright policy, I’m grateful that my colleagues Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) look past partisanship toward solutions that will take music licensing from the dark ages into the digital age.

The agreement that creators and digital providers have struck also testifies to the leadership of Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who made copyright reform a priority for the House Judiciary Committee. As we look forward to a markup of the Music Modernization Act in the coming weeks, the question is not whether we have a viable resolution to an industry stalemate but whether we have the resolve to see that agreement through. I believe we do.

Rep. Doug Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th District since 2013. He is the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a member of the Judiciary and Rules Committees.

GMFTO 2/23/16 State Rep Rick Jasperse

Videos

BKP talks with State Representative Rick Jasperse about the Campus Safety Act and its role in protecting students.

GMFTO – State Senator Josh McKoon on the Pastor Protection Act, AKA The Politician Protection Act

Politics

Who does the Pastor Protection Act protect; the Pastors or the Politicians?  The 9th District Representative, Kevin Tanner of Dawsonville sponsored the bill for Speaker David Ralston. The bill unanimously passed the Georgia State House. The bill now moves to the senate. We spoke Friday on Good Morning from the Office to State Senator Josh McKoon. Senator McKoon told BKP what he thinks about the bill and other religious freedom bills which he feels need to be brought up during the session. McKoon describes the bill in our interview as a political stunt and wants people to recognize that Democrats voted for the bill.

FYN also asked the senator about the assault on Freedom of Speech, SB127 and HB 370.  BKP suggests that perhaps Speaker Ralston call Senator McKoon and invite him to lunch.

GMFTO – Senator Josh McKoon 2/12/16

Politics

Senator Josh McKoon sits with BKP to talk House Bill 757 Pastor Protection Act and the State Ethics Committee investigation into the assault on Freedom of Speech, SB127 and HB 370.

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