The star witness for the Sheriff, Mr Jenkins told the court that Pete Mercer took him to Woodbine to sign papers, a charge Pete Mercer denies. One of these two committed PERJURY.
Why were they not charged?
Perjury is a bigger charge than criminal trespass.
But Pete Mercer did admit that he was TOLD to bring Mr. Jenkins to the waterfront.
Who told Pete Mercer to bring Mr. Jenkins to the waterfront? and Why?
Mr. Sheriff stop the lies and tell the truth.
"The people of this County do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created." ***The views expressed on this blog are the opinions of the individual that wrote them.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Is The Sheriff's Son Still Getting Paid By The Sheriff's Office?
Sources are saying that the Sheriff's son is still being paid by the Sheriff's Office. I believe now that the federal government is getting involved maybe we will get all the information Uncle Bill has been hiding from us.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Putting Two and Two Together
OK here's the deal. Doc Jenkins can remain on the island past 2010 with Congressional approval. Now, how many of you knew that Senator Saxby Chambliss was coming to town 3 weeks ago? It was not made public until he had come and gone. And where did he go? That's right, Cumberland Island.
This snip is from the T&G:
Chambliss' visit to Cumberland Island National Seashore was particularly important and encompassed two agendas: to experience its history and to get a firsthand look at effects of the controversial 2004 legislation he proposed which called for a transportation plan on the island.
I find it hard to believe just out of the blue the Senator comes to St. Mary's. Did he come here just before he voted for the plan? No, he did not.
I will be calling Mr. Saxby Chambliss' office to find out if there is any truth to what I am telling you.
Stay tuned.
This snip is from the T&G:
Chambliss' visit to Cumberland Island National Seashore was particularly important and encompassed two agendas: to experience its history and to get a firsthand look at effects of the controversial 2004 legislation he proposed which called for a transportation plan on the island.
I find it hard to believe just out of the blue the Senator comes to St. Mary's. Did he come here just before he voted for the plan? No, he did not.
I will be calling Mr. Saxby Chambliss' office to find out if there is any truth to what I am telling you.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Charlene Sears Is A Lair
From Sandy's Blog
Section of an email sent to Nancy N from Charlene Sears:
I apologize for the previous commissions’ shortcomings on budgetary responsibility. The previous commission used contingency monies (Fund Balance) to balance the budget for the last few years. This gave the community a false sense of what was going on with finances. The community saw no increases so they (as a whole) did not question the county’s financials. Now in 2007 there is not much money left to balance the budget in the Fund Balance so we have little recourse. I also disagreed with the commission hiring 32 people last year when for the last several years they knew they did not have the money to hire new people. I want an independent audit done and I don’t know who on the commission will support it with me. I am going to bring it up in the near future. I so hope that our new county manager will take the helm and get some of the unprofessional antics out of Camden County government.
Charlene Sears Camden County Commissioner – District 4
The unprofessional antics out of Camden County government. Is she resigning? After all how professional is it to do background check on citizens who complain about her. She really does not understand that she is not the solution to the problem, she is part of the problem. She actually thinks that she read the law differently to fit her agenda not this county.
Ms. Sears actions speak louder than words. Your words are meaningless to those who know you well.
You don't have to apologize for the past boards disregard for the people, but you should apologize for your criminal and unethical acts as both a Sheriff Office employee and a Commissioner.
Section of an email sent to Nancy N from Charlene Sears:
I apologize for the previous commissions’ shortcomings on budgetary responsibility. The previous commission used contingency monies (Fund Balance) to balance the budget for the last few years. This gave the community a false sense of what was going on with finances. The community saw no increases so they (as a whole) did not question the county’s financials. Now in 2007 there is not much money left to balance the budget in the Fund Balance so we have little recourse. I also disagreed with the commission hiring 32 people last year when for the last several years they knew they did not have the money to hire new people. I want an independent audit done and I don’t know who on the commission will support it with me. I am going to bring it up in the near future. I so hope that our new county manager will take the helm and get some of the unprofessional antics out of Camden County government.
Charlene Sears Camden County Commissioner – District 4
The unprofessional antics out of Camden County government. Is she resigning? After all how professional is it to do background check on citizens who complain about her. She really does not understand that she is not the solution to the problem, she is part of the problem. She actually thinks that she read the law differently to fit her agenda not this county.
Ms. Sears actions speak louder than words. Your words are meaningless to those who know you well.
You don't have to apologize for the past boards disregard for the people, but you should apologize for your criminal and unethical acts as both a Sheriff Office employee and a Commissioner.
Illegal Use of Inmates
From the Augusta Chronicle :
In what has become a recurring problem in Georgia, several sheriffs in recent years have been accused of improperly using their inmates' labor.
Among the cases:
Jenkins County Sheriff Bobby Womack was accused of using inmates as personal laborers in a story published in The Augusta Chronicle in May. An investigation by the newspaper showed that the sheriff worked inmates at his lumber company, his rental properties and his home in a practice dating back as far as 1990. Facing possible suspension by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Mr. Womack resigned in July, citing health reasons. He remains under investigation by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Coffee County Sheriff Rob Smith is under investigation by the State Ethics Commission over allegations that he used inmates to work on his campaign signs. The controversy was sparked by a photo showing inmates putting signs together, which appeared in The Douglas Enterprise on March 28.
Last year, the GBI investigated allegations that Early County Sheriff Jimmie Murkerson allowed inmates to work on private property, but a grand jury declined to indict him. An Early County grand jury presentment issued in June 2003 said that inmates worked, among other places, at a paint and body shop and installed vinyl siding on a building owned by Sheriff Murkerson. The jury recommended that, in the future, inmates have written permission from a judge before they do work outside the jail.
Among the array of charges against former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey were allegations that he provided inmates to fix up homes for political supporters of his wife, former Atlanta City Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey was indicted on 19 counts in 2002, including plotting the murder of his elected successor, Derwin Brown, violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corruptions Organizations Act and illegal use of inmates. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 1991, a Camden County inmate took a deputy's personal vehicle he was washing and, while drinking, got into a wreck that injured two Marines. The GBI began a corruption investigation of Sheriff Bill Smith on allegations of illegal use of inmate labor, violation of the oath of office, theft, falsification of documents and failing to collect outstanding bonds. Sheriff Smith was indicted in 1992, but the state Attorney General's Office later dismissed the case, citing a technicality: The grand jury wasn't recharged or sworn in again after a recess. Sheriff Smith, who called the indictment "politically motivated," remains in office.
I don't need to say any more, but you know I will.
In what has become a recurring problem in Georgia, several sheriffs in recent years have been accused of improperly using their inmates' labor.
Among the cases:
Jenkins County Sheriff Bobby Womack was accused of using inmates as personal laborers in a story published in The Augusta Chronicle in May. An investigation by the newspaper showed that the sheriff worked inmates at his lumber company, his rental properties and his home in a practice dating back as far as 1990. Facing possible suspension by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Mr. Womack resigned in July, citing health reasons. He remains under investigation by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Coffee County Sheriff Rob Smith is under investigation by the State Ethics Commission over allegations that he used inmates to work on his campaign signs. The controversy was sparked by a photo showing inmates putting signs together, which appeared in The Douglas Enterprise on March 28.
Last year, the GBI investigated allegations that Early County Sheriff Jimmie Murkerson allowed inmates to work on private property, but a grand jury declined to indict him. An Early County grand jury presentment issued in June 2003 said that inmates worked, among other places, at a paint and body shop and installed vinyl siding on a building owned by Sheriff Murkerson. The jury recommended that, in the future, inmates have written permission from a judge before they do work outside the jail.
Among the array of charges against former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey were allegations that he provided inmates to fix up homes for political supporters of his wife, former Atlanta City Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey was indicted on 19 counts in 2002, including plotting the murder of his elected successor, Derwin Brown, violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corruptions Organizations Act and illegal use of inmates. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 1991, a Camden County inmate took a deputy's personal vehicle he was washing and, while drinking, got into a wreck that injured two Marines. The GBI began a corruption investigation of Sheriff Bill Smith on allegations of illegal use of inmate labor, violation of the oath of office, theft, falsification of documents and failing to collect outstanding bonds. Sheriff Smith was indicted in 1992, but the state Attorney General's Office later dismissed the case, citing a technicality: The grand jury wasn't recharged or sworn in again after a recess. Sheriff Smith, who called the indictment "politically motivated," remains in office.
I don't need to say any more, but you know I will.
Political Hail Storm To Hit Camden County
This week we all learned the Sheriff does not care about the people of Camden County. He thinks we are dumb, stupid and ignorant. He thinks since he has won election after election that he will win again. I don't think so. I believe the people of this county were never able to get information the way they do today. If it was not for people like Sandy Feller and many others in this county we would have never known about any of the trusty incidents.
I have been informed that Gordon Jackson will appear before Judge Frey at 2:00PM tomorrow. You all come out and show your support for Gordon. It is my understanding Lt. Terrel sent a fax out to the local media and the Atlanta Journal Constitution that said Gordon had been arrested for criminal trespass. When actually he was just served with papers to appear.
Well Mr. Terrel thank you for finally doing your job. It is my understanding that not only will the local media and Jacksonville media be there, but the Atlanta Journal will also be there at the court house and that a well know reporter from a national news cast will be there. So all members of the Sheriff's office you need to practice your "no comments" statements. And remember a no comment response means you are lying.
MR. SHERIFF YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL COME OUT AN TELL WHAT THESE TRUSTY'S WERE DOING ON THE ISLAND.
WE ALL KNOW, BUT WE LIKE TO HEAR IT FROM YOU.
AND PLEASE DON'T LIE, WE DID NOT BUY THE FAMILY EMERGENCY LAST TIME AND WE WON'T THIS TIME.
STOP THE LIES.
I have been informed that Gordon Jackson will appear before Judge Frey at 2:00PM tomorrow. You all come out and show your support for Gordon. It is my understanding Lt. Terrel sent a fax out to the local media and the Atlanta Journal Constitution that said Gordon had been arrested for criminal trespass. When actually he was just served with papers to appear.
Well Mr. Terrel thank you for finally doing your job. It is my understanding that not only will the local media and Jacksonville media be there, but the Atlanta Journal will also be there at the court house and that a well know reporter from a national news cast will be there. So all members of the Sheriff's office you need to practice your "no comments" statements. And remember a no comment response means you are lying.
MR. SHERIFF YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL COME OUT AN TELL WHAT THESE TRUSTY'S WERE DOING ON THE ISLAND.
WE ALL KNOW, BUT WE LIKE TO HEAR IT FROM YOU.
AND PLEASE DON'T LIE, WE DID NOT BUY THE FAMILY EMERGENCY LAST TIME AND WE WON'T THIS TIME.
STOP THE LIES.
Ex Trusty Tells All
Yesterday, I sat down and talked to an ex trusty who did his time and is now a free man. He did not want me to use his name as he was afraid of what uncle Bill would do(his words not mine).
He said the jail has 3 trusty crews one stays in Woodbine and they do work at the Commander's new home. Still not sure who the Commander is. One crews does exactly what the Sheriff's Office says all trusty's do. Work around the towns for the government. And then there is the island crew. The crew that goes out to Cumberland Island everyday. The crew leader is Pete Mercer. He takes them to the island every day in that unmarked boat.
This ex trusty also confirmed that the prisoner involved in the jet ski incident does have, or did when he was there, a private cell with a big comfy bed and yes CABLE T.V. All the comforts of home.
So I think Pete Mercer might be able to tell us some more about what is going on with this trusty program.
It was also brought to my attention last night that the good Dr. Chua was spotted in downtown St. Mary's. He has made trusty status while being charged with murder. Can the Sheriff explain that one.
He said the jail has 3 trusty crews one stays in Woodbine and they do work at the Commander's new home. Still not sure who the Commander is. One crews does exactly what the Sheriff's Office says all trusty's do. Work around the towns for the government. And then there is the island crew. The crew that goes out to Cumberland Island everyday. The crew leader is Pete Mercer. He takes them to the island every day in that unmarked boat.
This ex trusty also confirmed that the prisoner involved in the jet ski incident does have, or did when he was there, a private cell with a big comfy bed and yes CABLE T.V. All the comforts of home.
So I think Pete Mercer might be able to tell us some more about what is going on with this trusty program.
It was also brought to my attention last night that the good Dr. Chua was spotted in downtown St. Mary's. He has made trusty status while being charged with murder. Can the Sheriff explain that one.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Vistit The Police Complaint Center
www.policeabuse.org
I have been in contact once again with my buddies in Washington. If we can get enough people to complain about Sheriff Smith, They will come and do an independent investigation of OUR Sheriff's Office.
Gordon Jackson Times reporter has been charge with criminal trespass.
Sheriff Smith's second political arrest this month.
Who will be next?
Cover your butt, I have.
I have been in contact once again with my buddies in Washington. If we can get enough people to complain about Sheriff Smith, They will come and do an independent investigation of OUR Sheriff's Office.
Gordon Jackson Times reporter has been charge with criminal trespass.
Sheriff Smith's second political arrest this month.
Who will be next?
Cover your butt, I have.
Not The First Time Smith Has Help Jenkins
From Sandy Feller's Blog:
Funny you should mention that….a source I consider reliable broght that to my attention late yesterday just before I took off for a class in Brunswick.
Here’s the story, or, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”
Local attorney Jim Stein, Jenkin’s soon-to-be ex-wife’s attorney, was trying to serve divorce papers on Dr. Jenkins, a friend of Comandante Big Willie’s. Naturally, he first tried to get the Commandante’s forces to do it. No luck. Big Willie claimed he would not know the guy if he walked in the door and, moreover, his men just could not find the good doctor.
That left Stein with the option of hiring a private eye / process server to track him down.
To thwart that effort, Big Willie, El Supremo, ordered Commodore C.D.Westerling of the unmarked, special riverine ops fleet, to transport the Doc to Cumberland Island, where he was kept in hiding. Commodore Westerling (still serving today) would then make daily sorties to the island to bring the Doc home- cooked meals and other necessities. Fear not - I’m sure that this too was done at no cost to the taxpayers, even though it was in flagrant contravention of El Comandante’s sworn, constitutional duties.
Viva El Willie Grande, Viva!! Yehaw!!Muerte a los “damned outsiders!!
From the Times Union Today
The Florida Times-Union
June 26, 2007Camden talks inmate labor again
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
KINGSLAND - The use of inmate labor is becoming an issue again in Camden County, amid unanswered questions about why jail trusties are working on a construction project on private property on Cumberland Island. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Last year, officials with the Sheriff's Office were forced to defend the value of inmate labor in the community after two attempted escapes and a personal watercraft accident that left an unsupervised trusty hospitalized.
Deputies told the Camden County Commission that inmate labor saved taxpayers by providing services local governments would otherwise have to hire employees to do.
They also urged county officials to hire more deputies to oversee work details performed outside the county jail.
But, in the wake of reports that inmates have been working on private property on Cumberland Island National Seashore for nearly three months, at least one elected official is questioning whether there should be more control over where inmate labor is performed.
"I think it's clear anyone connected with the government should not be doing work on private property," said David Rainer, a Camden County commissioner. "There should be a clear policy. Maybe it's something the commission needs to do."
District Attorney Stephen Kelley was out of town on vacation and could not be reached to comment about whether his office plans to investigate the use of inmates for the building project.
Sheriff Bill Smith and other sheriff's officials have declined to answer any questions about their involvement with the construction project or why deputies are bringing inmates to the island on a boat with no hull identification number. Boats are required to have such identification under Georgia law.
An official with Atlanta-based Shepherd Center, a nonprofit organization created to help people with spinal injuries, has said the inmates are helping to build a handicap-accessible two-bedroom home on the island. The home will be used as a place for people with spinal injuries to stay for up to one week.
Jerre Brumbelow, superintendent of Cumberland Island National Seashore, said he gave approval for the project after construction had already begun, as long as a building permit would be approved by the county. No such permit has been filed, according to county officials.
Brumbelow also said the structure could be used only by patients at the Shepherd Center until 2010, when Ben Jenkins, the resident living on the property, has to move. That was part of an agreement made when the island was established as a national seashore in 1972.
After 2010, Brumbelow said his plans are to take over the building and use it to house National Park Service employees with disabilities.
Despite the questions surrounding the role of inmates and the project itself, Preston Rhodes, the County Commission chairman, said he was withholding his opinion until he learns more about the role of inmate labor on the island.
"I have not been able to substantiate any information," he said. "It's not appropriate for me to comment on that."
Steve Berry, another commissioner, declined comment, saying he wanted more time to look into it.
Commissioner Charlene Sears, who is also a Sheriff's Office employee, defended the trusty program as a community service to local charities and governments. As an elected official, Sears said there is little she can do because the only control commissioners have over the sheriff is control over his budget.
"We don't have a lot of say-so in how the sheriff runs the department," Sears said.
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com,
(912) 729-3672
TRSP Review: Once again our Commissioners will not demand answers. Charlene Sears is nothing more than a puppet on a string. Charlene, please tell us why the Sheriff is trying to commit fraud against the Federal Government. You work in the same building as Smith, you know what those inmates were doing there and you took an oath to the people of this county. I have already proven that you broke your campaign promises, now are you going to break that oath you took. You are covering up for the criminal acts that our Sheriff is dealing in. I have been in touch with the Governor's Office to get Smith removed from the commission the Governor appointed him to. I warned the Governor when he did that and once again I was right.
For the Governor:
You better check and make sure our generous Sheriff has not used any money from this commission to build this house.
Funny you should mention that….a source I consider reliable broght that to my attention late yesterday just before I took off for a class in Brunswick.
Here’s the story, or, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”
Local attorney Jim Stein, Jenkin’s soon-to-be ex-wife’s attorney, was trying to serve divorce papers on Dr. Jenkins, a friend of Comandante Big Willie’s. Naturally, he first tried to get the Commandante’s forces to do it. No luck. Big Willie claimed he would not know the guy if he walked in the door and, moreover, his men just could not find the good doctor.
That left Stein with the option of hiring a private eye / process server to track him down.
To thwart that effort, Big Willie, El Supremo, ordered Commodore C.D.Westerling of the unmarked, special riverine ops fleet, to transport the Doc to Cumberland Island, where he was kept in hiding. Commodore Westerling (still serving today) would then make daily sorties to the island to bring the Doc home- cooked meals and other necessities. Fear not - I’m sure that this too was done at no cost to the taxpayers, even though it was in flagrant contravention of El Comandante’s sworn, constitutional duties.
Viva El Willie Grande, Viva!! Yehaw!!Muerte a los “damned outsiders!!
From the Times Union Today
The Florida Times-Union
June 26, 2007Camden talks inmate labor again
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
KINGSLAND - The use of inmate labor is becoming an issue again in Camden County, amid unanswered questions about why jail trusties are working on a construction project on private property on Cumberland Island. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Last year, officials with the Sheriff's Office were forced to defend the value of inmate labor in the community after two attempted escapes and a personal watercraft accident that left an unsupervised trusty hospitalized.
Deputies told the Camden County Commission that inmate labor saved taxpayers by providing services local governments would otherwise have to hire employees to do.
They also urged county officials to hire more deputies to oversee work details performed outside the county jail.
But, in the wake of reports that inmates have been working on private property on Cumberland Island National Seashore for nearly three months, at least one elected official is questioning whether there should be more control over where inmate labor is performed.
"I think it's clear anyone connected with the government should not be doing work on private property," said David Rainer, a Camden County commissioner. "There should be a clear policy. Maybe it's something the commission needs to do."
District Attorney Stephen Kelley was out of town on vacation and could not be reached to comment about whether his office plans to investigate the use of inmates for the building project.
Sheriff Bill Smith and other sheriff's officials have declined to answer any questions about their involvement with the construction project or why deputies are bringing inmates to the island on a boat with no hull identification number. Boats are required to have such identification under Georgia law.
An official with Atlanta-based Shepherd Center, a nonprofit organization created to help people with spinal injuries, has said the inmates are helping to build a handicap-accessible two-bedroom home on the island. The home will be used as a place for people with spinal injuries to stay for up to one week.
Jerre Brumbelow, superintendent of Cumberland Island National Seashore, said he gave approval for the project after construction had already begun, as long as a building permit would be approved by the county. No such permit has been filed, according to county officials.
Brumbelow also said the structure could be used only by patients at the Shepherd Center until 2010, when Ben Jenkins, the resident living on the property, has to move. That was part of an agreement made when the island was established as a national seashore in 1972.
After 2010, Brumbelow said his plans are to take over the building and use it to house National Park Service employees with disabilities.
Despite the questions surrounding the role of inmates and the project itself, Preston Rhodes, the County Commission chairman, said he was withholding his opinion until he learns more about the role of inmate labor on the island.
"I have not been able to substantiate any information," he said. "It's not appropriate for me to comment on that."
Steve Berry, another commissioner, declined comment, saying he wanted more time to look into it.
Commissioner Charlene Sears, who is also a Sheriff's Office employee, defended the trusty program as a community service to local charities and governments. As an elected official, Sears said there is little she can do because the only control commissioners have over the sheriff is control over his budget.
"We don't have a lot of say-so in how the sheriff runs the department," Sears said.
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com,
(912) 729-3672
TRSP Review: Once again our Commissioners will not demand answers. Charlene Sears is nothing more than a puppet on a string. Charlene, please tell us why the Sheriff is trying to commit fraud against the Federal Government. You work in the same building as Smith, you know what those inmates were doing there and you took an oath to the people of this county. I have already proven that you broke your campaign promises, now are you going to break that oath you took. You are covering up for the criminal acts that our Sheriff is dealing in. I have been in touch with the Governor's Office to get Smith removed from the commission the Governor appointed him to. I warned the Governor when he did that and once again I was right.
For the Governor:
You better check and make sure our generous Sheriff has not used any money from this commission to build this house.
What is the Sheriff Trying To Cover Up?
Why won't he tell the people what he is doing? Where is Charlene Sears? She should tell us if she really respects the people of Camden County. Come on Charlene stand up to your boss and demand answers. Covering up an attempt to commit fraud against the Federal Government is a crime also, If you know something you better tell or you could be standing with the defendants.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sheriff Says "No Comment"
(Read post below first)
Once again our Sheriff thinks we don't deserve to know what is going on in our jail. He has been caught red handed using trusty's illegally for the use of building a private home. I have pointed out in the past of things like this happening, but you did not believe me. I told you that a man they call "commander" at the jail was using trusty's to build his home in Woodbine. Now this, but this time I think they had plans of committing fraud on Federal Government. Will our Sheriff be charged with a crime? Probably not. But it was for this reason I said Bill Smith should not be on any commission for the Governor, And I was right. Put the facts together people. This Mr. Jenkins wants to stay on the island and the only way to do that is to donate the land to a cause. His cause brain and spinal cord injuries. The same cause that got Smith put on Governor Sonny Purdue's Commission on Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries. Now Bill Smith loans out trusty's for this project that has not had one permit pull for the job. Why is Bill Smith helping Mr. Jenkins commit fraud on the federal government?
Once again our Sheriff thinks we don't deserve to know what is going on in our jail. He has been caught red handed using trusty's illegally for the use of building a private home. I have pointed out in the past of things like this happening, but you did not believe me. I told you that a man they call "commander" at the jail was using trusty's to build his home in Woodbine. Now this, but this time I think they had plans of committing fraud on Federal Government. Will our Sheriff be charged with a crime? Probably not. But it was for this reason I said Bill Smith should not be on any commission for the Governor, And I was right. Put the facts together people. This Mr. Jenkins wants to stay on the island and the only way to do that is to donate the land to a cause. His cause brain and spinal cord injuries. The same cause that got Smith put on Governor Sonny Purdue's Commission on Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries. Now Bill Smith loans out trusty's for this project that has not had one permit pull for the job. Why is Bill Smith helping Mr. Jenkins commit fraud on the federal government?
Sheriff Must Resign
The Florida Times-Union
June 24, 2007Cumberland Island project draws questions over labor
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
CUMBERLAND ISLAND, Ga., - Inmate labor from the Camden County Jail is being used to build a structure on Cumberland Island without a building permit, and without an explanation from the Sheriff's Office about why jail trusties are working at the site. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Construction began in March without National Park Service knowledge or permission, as required by the agency.
The project comes in the wake of several instances of questionable use of inmate labor. County officials have criticized the Sheriff's Office in recent months for lax oversight of trusties outside the jail.
Jerre Brumbelow, superintendent of the national seashore, said he learned about three months ago that inmates from the county jail were building a structure on a tract on the west-central side of the island occupied by retired physician Ben Jenkins.
A Times-Union reporter and photographer recently visited the site and saw at least one trusty in jail clothes working outside.
Sheriff Bill Smith has declined to comment on the use of inmate labor. His chief spokesman, Lt. William Terrell, reiterated that neither the sheriff nor any others in the Sheriff's Office would comment.
Brumbelow said Jenkins told him he was building an addition to his house. Brumbelow acknowledged he gave his permission about two months ago for the project to continue. "But he didn't have it [permission] when he started."
Brumbelow said he also told Jenkins he had to get a Camden County building permit. But a permit still hasn't been filed with the county.
The project continues, but perhaps not for long. Brumbelow told the Times-Union that the National Park Service plans to investigate the matter.
Loretta Hylton, director of the county's planning and building department, said she plans to discuss the issue with the county attorney.
The project is on federal property, where Jenkins has temporary permission to live.
"I have to make sure there's nothing the county has exempted them from," Hylton said. "I really don't know anything. I'm trying to find out."
Hylton said people building without a permit in the county are typically issued a stop-work order until they pay a double fee for a permit as a penalty for not applying for the appropriate paperwork.
Jenkins could not be reached for comment because he has no listed phone number and his property has a "private road" sign posted.
Brumbelow said he decided to allow construction to continue because the structure includes handicap access and the building could eventually be used by the National Park Service. Jenkins is required to move off the island in 2010, after his retained rights agreement to live on the island expires.
Retained rights agreements were signed by every property owner on the island after it was designated a national seashore in 1972.
The agreement
Basically, the agreements stipulate how long individual residents can live on their property before the federal government takes possession. Each owner, however, was paid for the property in full at the time of the agreement.
Brumbelow said he believes Jenkins thought he could remain on the island after 2010, if he built the structure and donated it to the Shepherd Center, an Atlanta-based medical facility specializing in treatment of people with spinal cord injuries.
"I believe that was his original intention [in building the structure]," Brumbelow said. "Doc [Jenkins] seems to think someone in Congress will wave a magic wand and allow him to stay. There is no legal basis for this."
James Shepherd, founder and chairman of the Shepherd Center, explained his organization's role in the project.
Shepherd said Jenkins offered to donate some of the land he is living on to build an addition to his home that would be used by patients with disabilities to stay on the island. In return, Jenkins offered to act as caretaker of the facility, but would not treat any of the visitors.
Shepherd estimated it would cost about $60,000 through donations to the nonprofit organization to build a two-bedroom addition, a great room and kitchen for visitors.
Patients would stay at the clinic about six months, mostly during the spring and fall when weather is comfortable for patients.
Shepherd said he was unaware that no building permit had been issued or that the property will revert to the federal government in 2010.
If his patients won't be able to use the building after 2010, Shepherd said he is happy to learn that Brumbelow plans to let handicapped Park Service employees use the structure.
Unanswered questions
Brumbelow said he tried to question Sheriff Smith about the project but received little insight.
Brumbelow cited recent publicity about problems with the trusty program at the county jail - including several escapes by inmates last year and an accident that hospitalized an inmate who crashed into a dock on a personal watercraft owned by the Sheriff's Office.
"I think he's taken such a beating over the trusties he doesn't want to talk about this," Brumbelow said.
When asked about their role with the project, Terrell declined to answer any questions about what jail inmates were doing on Cumberland Island.
He said Smith would not comment about the project and would not explain why trusties were being used to build an addition to a home on private property.
Terrell also had no comment when asked why inmates were being brought to the island on a boat with no hull identification number or any other markings.
According to Georgia law, a vessel's number "must be painted or permanently attached on the forward half of each side of the vessel in the position where it may be easily seen," along with a validation decal "on both sides of the bow before the registration number."
Brumbelow said he authorized a National Park Service barge to haul building materials from St. Marys to Cumberland Island, even though the project had not been approved by the county.
Brumbelow said Art Frederick, deputy regional director for the National Park Service, told him Friday he plans to send the chief ranger to Cumberland Island to investigate whether anything illegal is happening on the island regarding the construction project.
"The property is owned by the park," Frederick said. "If they're digging a post hole, they need to get compliance."
Hal Wright, an environmental attorney in Atlanta, said his concern with the building project is what will happen to Cumberland Island if Jenkins is allowed to remain on the island after 2010.
He said allowing a clinic to operate on the island after the property is supposed to be vacated could set a dangerous precedent.
Brumbelow, however, said he has no intention of allowing anyone who will be required to move from the island in 2010 to stay there.
Park officials are already developing a plan to determine what to do with structures on four or five tracts after residents are required to leave.
"I want them to leave in 2010," he said.
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com, (912) 729-3672
June 24, 2007Cumberland Island project draws questions over labor
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
CUMBERLAND ISLAND, Ga., - Inmate labor from the Camden County Jail is being used to build a structure on Cumberland Island without a building permit, and without an explanation from the Sheriff's Office about why jail trusties are working at the site. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Construction began in March without National Park Service knowledge or permission, as required by the agency.
The project comes in the wake of several instances of questionable use of inmate labor. County officials have criticized the Sheriff's Office in recent months for lax oversight of trusties outside the jail.
Jerre Brumbelow, superintendent of the national seashore, said he learned about three months ago that inmates from the county jail were building a structure on a tract on the west-central side of the island occupied by retired physician Ben Jenkins.
A Times-Union reporter and photographer recently visited the site and saw at least one trusty in jail clothes working outside.
Sheriff Bill Smith has declined to comment on the use of inmate labor. His chief spokesman, Lt. William Terrell, reiterated that neither the sheriff nor any others in the Sheriff's Office would comment.
Brumbelow said Jenkins told him he was building an addition to his house. Brumbelow acknowledged he gave his permission about two months ago for the project to continue. "But he didn't have it [permission] when he started."
Brumbelow said he also told Jenkins he had to get a Camden County building permit. But a permit still hasn't been filed with the county.
The project continues, but perhaps not for long. Brumbelow told the Times-Union that the National Park Service plans to investigate the matter.
Loretta Hylton, director of the county's planning and building department, said she plans to discuss the issue with the county attorney.
The project is on federal property, where Jenkins has temporary permission to live.
"I have to make sure there's nothing the county has exempted them from," Hylton said. "I really don't know anything. I'm trying to find out."
Hylton said people building without a permit in the county are typically issued a stop-work order until they pay a double fee for a permit as a penalty for not applying for the appropriate paperwork.
Jenkins could not be reached for comment because he has no listed phone number and his property has a "private road" sign posted.
Brumbelow said he decided to allow construction to continue because the structure includes handicap access and the building could eventually be used by the National Park Service. Jenkins is required to move off the island in 2010, after his retained rights agreement to live on the island expires.
Retained rights agreements were signed by every property owner on the island after it was designated a national seashore in 1972.
The agreement
Basically, the agreements stipulate how long individual residents can live on their property before the federal government takes possession. Each owner, however, was paid for the property in full at the time of the agreement.
Brumbelow said he believes Jenkins thought he could remain on the island after 2010, if he built the structure and donated it to the Shepherd Center, an Atlanta-based medical facility specializing in treatment of people with spinal cord injuries.
"I believe that was his original intention [in building the structure]," Brumbelow said. "Doc [Jenkins] seems to think someone in Congress will wave a magic wand and allow him to stay. There is no legal basis for this."
James Shepherd, founder and chairman of the Shepherd Center, explained his organization's role in the project.
Shepherd said Jenkins offered to donate some of the land he is living on to build an addition to his home that would be used by patients with disabilities to stay on the island. In return, Jenkins offered to act as caretaker of the facility, but would not treat any of the visitors.
Shepherd estimated it would cost about $60,000 through donations to the nonprofit organization to build a two-bedroom addition, a great room and kitchen for visitors.
Patients would stay at the clinic about six months, mostly during the spring and fall when weather is comfortable for patients.
Shepherd said he was unaware that no building permit had been issued or that the property will revert to the federal government in 2010.
If his patients won't be able to use the building after 2010, Shepherd said he is happy to learn that Brumbelow plans to let handicapped Park Service employees use the structure.
Unanswered questions
Brumbelow said he tried to question Sheriff Smith about the project but received little insight.
Brumbelow cited recent publicity about problems with the trusty program at the county jail - including several escapes by inmates last year and an accident that hospitalized an inmate who crashed into a dock on a personal watercraft owned by the Sheriff's Office.
"I think he's taken such a beating over the trusties he doesn't want to talk about this," Brumbelow said.
When asked about their role with the project, Terrell declined to answer any questions about what jail inmates were doing on Cumberland Island.
He said Smith would not comment about the project and would not explain why trusties were being used to build an addition to a home on private property.
Terrell also had no comment when asked why inmates were being brought to the island on a boat with no hull identification number or any other markings.
According to Georgia law, a vessel's number "must be painted or permanently attached on the forward half of each side of the vessel in the position where it may be easily seen," along with a validation decal "on both sides of the bow before the registration number."
Brumbelow said he authorized a National Park Service barge to haul building materials from St. Marys to Cumberland Island, even though the project had not been approved by the county.
Brumbelow said Art Frederick, deputy regional director for the National Park Service, told him Friday he plans to send the chief ranger to Cumberland Island to investigate whether anything illegal is happening on the island regarding the construction project.
"The property is owned by the park," Frederick said. "If they're digging a post hole, they need to get compliance."
Hal Wright, an environmental attorney in Atlanta, said his concern with the building project is what will happen to Cumberland Island if Jenkins is allowed to remain on the island after 2010.
He said allowing a clinic to operate on the island after the property is supposed to be vacated could set a dangerous precedent.
Brumbelow, however, said he has no intention of allowing anyone who will be required to move from the island in 2010 to stay there.
Park officials are already developing a plan to determine what to do with structures on four or five tracts after residents are required to leave.
"I want them to leave in 2010," he said.
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com, (912) 729-3672
Friday, June 22, 2007
Now Is The Time
Since government as we know it is a disaster here in Camden County, I believe it is time for an open government. Open government is just that OPEN. There are no backroom deals, as a matter of fact there is no executive session. After all, these people are doing our business. Don't you think it's funny when they say no comment. The county is being sued Mr. commissioner what do you think? "No Comment". You see these people think that they are being sued, but it is actually us (the people) being sued, yet we can't know the details. Why? Because they elected probably screwed up ands are trying to hide it. Yes it is fully within the law not to have executive session. That is the choice of the elected. The law states that they may use executive session and in only three or four cases were the law requires the use of executive session. None of which applies to the normal operation of the county.
I am pushing for all of Camden County to lead the way for the rest of the state. This is the only way to ensure that everyone is treated equally.
I will post more on open government so keep checking back.
Mr. Berry if you really have changed and want to really be on the peoples side then you must push for this as well. I will email you more on this later.
I am pushing for all of Camden County to lead the way for the rest of the state. This is the only way to ensure that everyone is treated equally.
I will post more on open government so keep checking back.
Mr. Berry if you really have changed and want to really be on the peoples side then you must push for this as well. I will email you more on this later.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
2 Issues
First,
The post below is a worse case scenario. It has not happened yet!!!! Hopefully we can get rid of censorship in our government schools, so it won't happen. It very well could happen and you can't tell your elected this at an open meeting as required by law. So, just so everyone knows it has NOT happened. Yet!!!!!!!!
Second,
The school board has nothing to do with the football field. This is the COUNTY as someone has pointed out in the post 3 or 4 down check it out.
The post below is a worse case scenario. It has not happened yet!!!! Hopefully we can get rid of censorship in our government schools, so it won't happen. It very well could happen and you can't tell your elected this at an open meeting as required by law. So, just so everyone knows it has NOT happened. Yet!!!!!!!!
Second,
The school board has nothing to do with the football field. This is the COUNTY as someone has pointed out in the post 3 or 4 down check it out.
Is The Board Of Education Protecting Child Predators?
They could be!!!!!!!!
We would never know since they now only allow this kind of talk in executive session. If you or another parent or teachers wants to address the board on this issue, You can not do it in open session. In order to address the board (because this is personally attacking an employee) you will have to go in to executive session. Once in executive session the board can not talk about it outside of that session. No notes or minutes are taken in executive session. So how does the board report this without breaking the law. THEY CAN'T. The y can not tell the parents or other teachers. Why? Because the law states that they can not talk about what happens in executive session.
The new rules put in to the agenda make it easier for teachers and administrators to get away with things like this. Has this happened to us in our schools? Your guess is as good as mine. We will never know.
A child molester could be your child's teacher and you would never know, until it was to late.
Open our schools they are public for a reason.
A child molester could be your child's teacher and you would never know, until it was to late.
Open our schools they are public for a reason.
We would never know since they now only allow this kind of talk in executive session. If you or another parent or teachers wants to address the board on this issue, You can not do it in open session. In order to address the board (because this is personally attacking an employee) you will have to go in to executive session. Once in executive session the board can not talk about it outside of that session. No notes or minutes are taken in executive session. So how does the board report this without breaking the law. THEY CAN'T. The y can not tell the parents or other teachers. Why? Because the law states that they can not talk about what happens in executive session.
The new rules put in to the agenda make it easier for teachers and administrators to get away with things like this. Has this happened to us in our schools? Your guess is as good as mine. We will never know.
A child molester could be your child's teacher and you would never know, until it was to late.
Open our schools they are public for a reason.
A child molester could be your child's teacher and you would never know, until it was to late.
Open our schools they are public for a reason.
Is Too Much Being Spent On Football
Two letters from the T&G ask this question.
Also read the post right after this one. I posted last year.
From the T&G:
Football field money should have been spent on education
Dear Editor,
Well, Camden County is abuzz with questions about where the tax money is being wasted and I just read in the news about $727,000 that was spent for an artificial playing turf for the high school football stadium.Somehow, the fact that a few other schools in the state also have this new turf and that players are less likely to sprain their ankles is little consolation as the county commissioners consider whether to fire employees or raise taxes to cover the budget. At least it does serve some academic purpose assuming that graduation ceremonies are still held in the stadium.
It seems that spending that sum of money on upgrading the science or math programs would serve us better in the long run, in spite of the fact that the turf no longer needs watering. I sure would rather have read headlines touting the fact that a huge sum of money had been spent to further academic achievement for all our students - not just the football team, band members and cheerleaders who use the stadium.
Janice Kirkland
St. Marys
And
Way too much money spent on new football field
Dear Editor,
How wonderful for Camden to have a state-of-the-art football field. Our players are hard working, goal-oriented young people and we are proud of them.I would like to write a few lines about balance, though. What are we doing for the other young people who are not football players? Do our teens have a safe supervised place to go during their leisure time? Are our senior citizens well taken care of? Do all of our families have health insurance? The list can be much longer, but you understand.
We have many nonprofit organizations that are working hard to help Camden families get the shelter, food, and clothing they need. Do they have state-of-the-art equipment?
Pat Chiarelli
St. Marys
TRSP Review:
Surely folks these people are not using taxpayer money. I attend most BOE meetings and stay on the Camden County schools website as much as I can and I have not heard of this being approved by the BOE. Is this the Q-back club funding this? Does anyone know?
Remember the post below!!!!!
Also read the post right after this one. I posted last year.
From the T&G:
Football field money should have been spent on education
Dear Editor,
Well, Camden County is abuzz with questions about where the tax money is being wasted and I just read in the news about $727,000 that was spent for an artificial playing turf for the high school football stadium.Somehow, the fact that a few other schools in the state also have this new turf and that players are less likely to sprain their ankles is little consolation as the county commissioners consider whether to fire employees or raise taxes to cover the budget. At least it does serve some academic purpose assuming that graduation ceremonies are still held in the stadium.
It seems that spending that sum of money on upgrading the science or math programs would serve us better in the long run, in spite of the fact that the turf no longer needs watering. I sure would rather have read headlines touting the fact that a huge sum of money had been spent to further academic achievement for all our students - not just the football team, band members and cheerleaders who use the stadium.
Janice Kirkland
St. Marys
And
Way too much money spent on new football field
Dear Editor,
How wonderful for Camden to have a state-of-the-art football field. Our players are hard working, goal-oriented young people and we are proud of them.I would like to write a few lines about balance, though. What are we doing for the other young people who are not football players? Do our teens have a safe supervised place to go during their leisure time? Are our senior citizens well taken care of? Do all of our families have health insurance? The list can be much longer, but you understand.
We have many nonprofit organizations that are working hard to help Camden families get the shelter, food, and clothing they need. Do they have state-of-the-art equipment?
Pat Chiarelli
St. Marys
TRSP Review:
Surely folks these people are not using taxpayer money. I attend most BOE meetings and stay on the Camden County schools website as much as I can and I have not heard of this being approved by the BOE. Is this the Q-back club funding this? Does anyone know?
Remember the post below!!!!!
Is Valdosta just like Camden
Valdosta's excellence comes with price tag
Georgia high school football program sets bar high to live up to ‘Winnersville, USA'
By Steve WiebergUSA TODAY
VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Friday night lights shine a little brighter here.
Literally.
High above the new Sprinturf playing surface and armchair seating for its season ticketholders — and beyond the new locker rooms, press box and football museum that also came with the $7.5 million renovation of Cleveland Field at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium — Valdosta High School installed the same high-performance lights used a couple of hundred miles to the south at Daytona International Speedway.
They spotlight a high school football program that, even among the nation's elite, stands out. Valdosta has won a national-record 816 games in 92 years, giving the south Georgia city of 45,000 its identity as “Winnersville, USA.”
So cherished are season tickets that they're handed down in wills and parceled out in divorce settlements, and so hopeful are fathers of siring future Wildcats that they've toted newborn sons from the hospital in cat-pawed Valdosta helmets.
Feeding this football juggernaut is a more than $300,000 budget that dwarfs those for nearly all of the nation's top high school programs, as determined by 22 years of USA TODAY rankings. If Valdosta plays deep into the playoffs, its spending balloons past $400,000.
The Wildcats' 1,500-member booster organization, the Touchdown Club, kicks in another $85,000-$90,000 a year, says former president and longtime board member David Waller. The club outfits coach Rick Darlington in a four-wheel-drive pickup and underwrote a recent $100,000 overhaul of the weight room.
Total annual investment in football: close to a half-million dollars.
“There's really nothing about this place that's common,” says Darlington, hired from Apopka, Fla., after a national search and six games into his second season at Valdosta. “I've heard us called the Yankees of high school football.”
Indeed, “Valdosta has kind of set the bar,” says Charles Turner, president of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association and recently retired as AD at Athens' Cedar Shoals High. “Hey, they've been nationally ranked and had great teams for years. Everybody else, I think, is trying to catch up to them.”
Expensive as it may be.
Valdosta takes the “Winnersville” nickname, adopted in the early 1970s, to heart. Its teams have won 23 state championships and claimed six mythical national titles since 1940, and the Wildcats are a composite No. 2 in final USA TODAY rankings since 1982 (they finished No. 1 in 1984 and '86). In Darlington's first season, they rose from a 1-3 start to Georgia's Class AAAAA championship game, falling there to Camden County.
They're rebuilding this year, starting just one senior on the offensive line and a freshman, Michael Turner, at quarterback for the first time since future University of Georgia captain Buck Belue stepped into the lineup in 1974. Valdosta takes a 3-3 record into Friday's Winnersville Classic showdown with crosstown Lowndes County.
To put the school's financial commitment to football in perspective, consider what neighboring Valdosta State spends on a college program that made last year's NCAA Division II playoffs and is ranked 10th in the nation this season.
The Blazers' total is more than $900,000, athletics director Herb Reinhard says. But remove coaches' salaries, which aren't part of the high school's football budget, and scholarship and recruiting expenses, and their operating outlay is a little more than $320,000. Or about 25% less than the $419,291 that Valdosta High spent in 2003.
Attendance for Valdosta State home games averaged 6,744 last year and dipped to 4,295 in two games this season. The Wildcats' high school games averaged about 7,500 a year ago and 7,364 through five games this season.
Darlington shakes his head. “This whole deal,” he says, “is more like a college situation than a high school” one.
He has his own Thursday evening television show, available across south Georgia and northern Florida via the local UPN affiliate during the season. Arriving from Apopka in central Florida in February 2003, Darlington brought three of his assistants, and “I could have brought as many as I wanted,” he says. “I could have brought my whole staff.”
Like the major programs in college and some others at the high school level, Valdosta pads its home schedule by paying opponents to come to Cleveland Field — three last season, four this season, at $8,000 a pop — and still turns a $30,000 profit a game.
There's Darlington's $36,000 Dodge Ram pickup, with hemi, courtesy of the Touchdown Club. Registration and insurance thrown in.
There's more than $7,000 in bonuses from the booster club spread among Darlington's assistants, varsity down through middle school.
There's last year's renovation of the weight room, yet another booster project. And a new sales tax-funded, $800,000 indoor facility on the way.
There's even an informal arrangement with Nike under which the school buys shoes and other gear and Nike kicks in some free shoes and shirts and pants for the coaches. Reebok tried to match the terms but couldn't, says Terry Daniel, who oversees the school's athletics budgets.
“I mean, what are we lacking?” Darlington says from his cramped, cinder-block-walled office, one of the program's few unremarkable facilities. “We've got great tradition. We've got a great stadium. We've got great coaches. We've got great equipment. We're very blessed. I've been on the other end of it. I've been at a place where if I needed a chin strap I had to go raise the money.”
With such community passion and financial investment come serious expectations. Valdosta fired Darlington's predecessor, Mike O'Brien, despite a 70-20-1 record and 1998 state championship in seven years. The Wildcats were 8-3-1 and lost in overtime in the second round of the playoffs in 2002, his final season.
Valdosta City Schools superintendent Sam Allen says, “Sometimes, the public perception is, ‘You're putting all your resources and all your energy toward athletics.' ” Phoned and e-mailed complaints about football's largesse crop up regularly, and anonymously, in a “Rant & Rave” column on the opinion page of The Valdosta Daily Times.
Darlington, who also is the school's athletics director, doesn't teach a class. While he's paid $87,500 a year, average teacher pay in the Valdosta City Schools system ranks among the bottom third in the state, according to the most recently available Georgia Public Education Report Card. It was $41,923 in 2001-02, coming in 120th among 180 school systems in the state.
The average administrators' pay in Valdosta was $67,064, ranking 145th.
Yet football costs the school district nothing. Revenue from the sport last year was just a little less than $469,000, most in gate receipts. The profit was $49,619, which helps offset a deficit of almost $70,000 run up by the school's 15 other varsity sports.
The stadium face lift was financed by a special 1% sales tax earmarked for capital improvements in education. The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax is split with the Lowndes County school district and generates about $644,000 a month for Valdosta's schools alone.
That money is spread well beyond Valdosta athletics. Almost $5 million went into the 750-seat fine arts center, more than $6 million into the replacement of an elementary school.
Allen, in his seventh year as superintendent, says he went to the same pains and relative expense ($70,000-plus salary) to hire a new fine arts director as he did to bring in Darlington.
“I can say,” says Ingrid Hall, Valdosta High's assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, “that since I've been here, there has been a consciousness to find a balance (between athletics and academics). I don't see where we compromise.”
The issue is more than one school's capacity to wade into such deep financial waters, however. There's the ripple effect — the pressure placed on competing schools to wade in, as well.
Major colleges have a less-than-affectionate nickname for the cascade in athletics spending: the “arms race.”
“It puts athletes whose schools can't reach as far in a position where they don't have access to some of those things,” says Ralph Swearngin, executive director of the Georgia High School Association. “What we are trying to communicate to our superintendents and principals is that we've got to keep a semblance of order. We've got to make sure the tail doesn't wag the dog.”
Dennis Payne, the association's administrator for football, traveled the state for 30 years as a game official. He worked a Friday night or two in Valdosta, taking in the spectacle and span of the Wildcats program.
With that, he says, comes some understanding of Valdosta's inclination to spend for excellence.
“When people move to Georgia,” he says, “they look at where they'd like their kids to go to school and those kinds of things pop up. ‘Since I'm coming into this state and my son's going to play football, I want him to play for Valdosta.' So they'll move to Valdosta.”
How many famous Valdosta Football Players Can You Name?
None.
I guess they spend millions a year for a good reason.
Maybe if they cared as much about education as they do football we wouldn't have so many stupid people in this world.
Notice I said as much not any more.
I just want to bring education up equal with football, Because I love football as much as any other person, but it should not be put in front of education.
Georgia high school football program sets bar high to live up to ‘Winnersville, USA'
By Steve WiebergUSA TODAY
VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Friday night lights shine a little brighter here.
Literally.
High above the new Sprinturf playing surface and armchair seating for its season ticketholders — and beyond the new locker rooms, press box and football museum that also came with the $7.5 million renovation of Cleveland Field at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium — Valdosta High School installed the same high-performance lights used a couple of hundred miles to the south at Daytona International Speedway.
They spotlight a high school football program that, even among the nation's elite, stands out. Valdosta has won a national-record 816 games in 92 years, giving the south Georgia city of 45,000 its identity as “Winnersville, USA.”
So cherished are season tickets that they're handed down in wills and parceled out in divorce settlements, and so hopeful are fathers of siring future Wildcats that they've toted newborn sons from the hospital in cat-pawed Valdosta helmets.
Feeding this football juggernaut is a more than $300,000 budget that dwarfs those for nearly all of the nation's top high school programs, as determined by 22 years of USA TODAY rankings. If Valdosta plays deep into the playoffs, its spending balloons past $400,000.
The Wildcats' 1,500-member booster organization, the Touchdown Club, kicks in another $85,000-$90,000 a year, says former president and longtime board member David Waller. The club outfits coach Rick Darlington in a four-wheel-drive pickup and underwrote a recent $100,000 overhaul of the weight room.
Total annual investment in football: close to a half-million dollars.
“There's really nothing about this place that's common,” says Darlington, hired from Apopka, Fla., after a national search and six games into his second season at Valdosta. “I've heard us called the Yankees of high school football.”
Indeed, “Valdosta has kind of set the bar,” says Charles Turner, president of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association and recently retired as AD at Athens' Cedar Shoals High. “Hey, they've been nationally ranked and had great teams for years. Everybody else, I think, is trying to catch up to them.”
Expensive as it may be.
Valdosta takes the “Winnersville” nickname, adopted in the early 1970s, to heart. Its teams have won 23 state championships and claimed six mythical national titles since 1940, and the Wildcats are a composite No. 2 in final USA TODAY rankings since 1982 (they finished No. 1 in 1984 and '86). In Darlington's first season, they rose from a 1-3 start to Georgia's Class AAAAA championship game, falling there to Camden County.
They're rebuilding this year, starting just one senior on the offensive line and a freshman, Michael Turner, at quarterback for the first time since future University of Georgia captain Buck Belue stepped into the lineup in 1974. Valdosta takes a 3-3 record into Friday's Winnersville Classic showdown with crosstown Lowndes County.
To put the school's financial commitment to football in perspective, consider what neighboring Valdosta State spends on a college program that made last year's NCAA Division II playoffs and is ranked 10th in the nation this season.
The Blazers' total is more than $900,000, athletics director Herb Reinhard says. But remove coaches' salaries, which aren't part of the high school's football budget, and scholarship and recruiting expenses, and their operating outlay is a little more than $320,000. Or about 25% less than the $419,291 that Valdosta High spent in 2003.
Attendance for Valdosta State home games averaged 6,744 last year and dipped to 4,295 in two games this season. The Wildcats' high school games averaged about 7,500 a year ago and 7,364 through five games this season.
Darlington shakes his head. “This whole deal,” he says, “is more like a college situation than a high school” one.
He has his own Thursday evening television show, available across south Georgia and northern Florida via the local UPN affiliate during the season. Arriving from Apopka in central Florida in February 2003, Darlington brought three of his assistants, and “I could have brought as many as I wanted,” he says. “I could have brought my whole staff.”
Like the major programs in college and some others at the high school level, Valdosta pads its home schedule by paying opponents to come to Cleveland Field — three last season, four this season, at $8,000 a pop — and still turns a $30,000 profit a game.
There's Darlington's $36,000 Dodge Ram pickup, with hemi, courtesy of the Touchdown Club. Registration and insurance thrown in.
There's more than $7,000 in bonuses from the booster club spread among Darlington's assistants, varsity down through middle school.
There's last year's renovation of the weight room, yet another booster project. And a new sales tax-funded, $800,000 indoor facility on the way.
There's even an informal arrangement with Nike under which the school buys shoes and other gear and Nike kicks in some free shoes and shirts and pants for the coaches. Reebok tried to match the terms but couldn't, says Terry Daniel, who oversees the school's athletics budgets.
“I mean, what are we lacking?” Darlington says from his cramped, cinder-block-walled office, one of the program's few unremarkable facilities. “We've got great tradition. We've got a great stadium. We've got great coaches. We've got great equipment. We're very blessed. I've been on the other end of it. I've been at a place where if I needed a chin strap I had to go raise the money.”
With such community passion and financial investment come serious expectations. Valdosta fired Darlington's predecessor, Mike O'Brien, despite a 70-20-1 record and 1998 state championship in seven years. The Wildcats were 8-3-1 and lost in overtime in the second round of the playoffs in 2002, his final season.
Valdosta City Schools superintendent Sam Allen says, “Sometimes, the public perception is, ‘You're putting all your resources and all your energy toward athletics.' ” Phoned and e-mailed complaints about football's largesse crop up regularly, and anonymously, in a “Rant & Rave” column on the opinion page of The Valdosta Daily Times.
Darlington, who also is the school's athletics director, doesn't teach a class. While he's paid $87,500 a year, average teacher pay in the Valdosta City Schools system ranks among the bottom third in the state, according to the most recently available Georgia Public Education Report Card. It was $41,923 in 2001-02, coming in 120th among 180 school systems in the state.
The average administrators' pay in Valdosta was $67,064, ranking 145th.
Yet football costs the school district nothing. Revenue from the sport last year was just a little less than $469,000, most in gate receipts. The profit was $49,619, which helps offset a deficit of almost $70,000 run up by the school's 15 other varsity sports.
The stadium face lift was financed by a special 1% sales tax earmarked for capital improvements in education. The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax is split with the Lowndes County school district and generates about $644,000 a month for Valdosta's schools alone.
That money is spread well beyond Valdosta athletics. Almost $5 million went into the 750-seat fine arts center, more than $6 million into the replacement of an elementary school.
Allen, in his seventh year as superintendent, says he went to the same pains and relative expense ($70,000-plus salary) to hire a new fine arts director as he did to bring in Darlington.
“I can say,” says Ingrid Hall, Valdosta High's assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, “that since I've been here, there has been a consciousness to find a balance (between athletics and academics). I don't see where we compromise.”
The issue is more than one school's capacity to wade into such deep financial waters, however. There's the ripple effect — the pressure placed on competing schools to wade in, as well.
Major colleges have a less-than-affectionate nickname for the cascade in athletics spending: the “arms race.”
“It puts athletes whose schools can't reach as far in a position where they don't have access to some of those things,” says Ralph Swearngin, executive director of the Georgia High School Association. “What we are trying to communicate to our superintendents and principals is that we've got to keep a semblance of order. We've got to make sure the tail doesn't wag the dog.”
Dennis Payne, the association's administrator for football, traveled the state for 30 years as a game official. He worked a Friday night or two in Valdosta, taking in the spectacle and span of the Wildcats program.
With that, he says, comes some understanding of Valdosta's inclination to spend for excellence.
“When people move to Georgia,” he says, “they look at where they'd like their kids to go to school and those kinds of things pop up. ‘Since I'm coming into this state and my son's going to play football, I want him to play for Valdosta.' So they'll move to Valdosta.”
How many famous Valdosta Football Players Can You Name?
None.
I guess they spend millions a year for a good reason.
Maybe if they cared as much about education as they do football we wouldn't have so many stupid people in this world.
Notice I said as much not any more.
I just want to bring education up equal with football, Because I love football as much as any other person, but it should not be put in front of education.
The TAD Could Have Passed
If we had open government in Camden County, We would have known all the promises and deals that were going to be made. The reason this failed is because our elected felt like they could just ask for a blank check and we would give that to them. Well, they were wrong. The days of blank checks is over. It is time for our County Commissioners to enact an open government in Camden County. Call your County Commissioner and tell them you want open government. The people have spoken and now is the time for the elected to listen.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Is Robert Southwell A Political Prisoner
Critic of the Sheriff, Mr Southwell was arrested yesterday by the Camden County Sheriff's Office.
Here is the press release from the Sheriff's Office:
Woodbine Man Arrested For Aggravated Assault
Media Contact:Lt. William Terrell
Public Information Officer(912) 510-5100wterrell@co.camden.ga.us
June 14, 2007
A Woodbine man was arrested early yesterday on one count of aggravated assault after he allegedly discharged a firearm at an acquaintance and made threats to kill her, law enforcement officers and himself.
The incident began in the early morning hours of June 13, 2007 when deputies first received notification from a concerned citizen that Robert Jackson Southwell, 52, was threatening the lives and safety of Camden County Sheriff’s Office employees. Investigators also learned that Southwell may have discharged a firearm at a female acquaintance at his residence on Parker Street.
Deputies did not initially enter Southwell’s residence because the situation was too volatile. After locating and interviewing the acquaintance, earlier today deputies obtained an arrest warrant and arrested Southwell at his home without incident.
During the interview, the victim stated that Southwell discharged the firearm so close that she could feel the muzzle blast. Seven weapons including shotguns, a lever action rifle, a handgun, a BB gun and a pellet gun were removed from the residence for safekeeping. Deputies also took a cell phone into evidence that contained threatening messages from Southwell.
TRSP Review: Notice that the charge is aggravated assault, yet the press release leads off with the threat against the employees of the Camden County Sheriff's Office, and than after investigators did their thing they found that he may have shot a gun close to this female. Now if someone is going to shoot a gun that close to me I would have said that first.
Remember Mr. Southwell questioned the ethics of Sheriff Smith. Also, Sheriff Smith's attorney wrote a letter to the editor threatening to sue Mr. Southwell.
Is there any family member of Mr. Southwell that could shed some light on this issue?
Please email me any info you may have.
After all we can not trust a man that would lie about a stupid yard sign. (see two posts down, to be fair he may not have lied about the signs, it could be Ms. Blankenship lying. You decide)
Here is the press release from the Sheriff's Office:
Woodbine Man Arrested For Aggravated Assault
Media Contact:Lt. William Terrell
Public Information Officer(912) 510-5100wterrell@co.camden.ga.us
June 14, 2007
A Woodbine man was arrested early yesterday on one count of aggravated assault after he allegedly discharged a firearm at an acquaintance and made threats to kill her, law enforcement officers and himself.
The incident began in the early morning hours of June 13, 2007 when deputies first received notification from a concerned citizen that Robert Jackson Southwell, 52, was threatening the lives and safety of Camden County Sheriff’s Office employees. Investigators also learned that Southwell may have discharged a firearm at a female acquaintance at his residence on Parker Street.
Deputies did not initially enter Southwell’s residence because the situation was too volatile. After locating and interviewing the acquaintance, earlier today deputies obtained an arrest warrant and arrested Southwell at his home without incident.
During the interview, the victim stated that Southwell discharged the firearm so close that she could feel the muzzle blast. Seven weapons including shotguns, a lever action rifle, a handgun, a BB gun and a pellet gun were removed from the residence for safekeeping. Deputies also took a cell phone into evidence that contained threatening messages from Southwell.
TRSP Review: Notice that the charge is aggravated assault, yet the press release leads off with the threat against the employees of the Camden County Sheriff's Office, and than after investigators did their thing they found that he may have shot a gun close to this female. Now if someone is going to shoot a gun that close to me I would have said that first.
Remember Mr. Southwell questioned the ethics of Sheriff Smith. Also, Sheriff Smith's attorney wrote a letter to the editor threatening to sue Mr. Southwell.
Is there any family member of Mr. Southwell that could shed some light on this issue?
Please email me any info you may have.
After all we can not trust a man that would lie about a stupid yard sign. (see two posts down, to be fair he may not have lied about the signs, it could be Ms. Blankenship lying. You decide)
Sears Continues To Break Promises
When Charlene Sears was running for her position she stated that she would not vote on issues related to the Sheriff's Office. Well she lied. Following in the footsteps of her boss(lying see post after this one) she continues to vote on issues related to the Sheriff's Office. This is from the minutes of May 15, 2007 meeting of the Board of Commissioners:
M. Consideration of Approval of Resolution to Provide a Continuing
Budget for the Camden County Board of Commissioners for the
Fiscal Year 2006-2007 for the Jail.
Mr. Fender stated that the total operations budget for housing prisoners outside of
Camden County is approximately seven hundred and eighteen thousand dollars
($718,000) through June 30, 2007.
Commissioner Berry asked where the money would come from to continue the budget for
the jail.
Mr. Fender stated that he has estimated this amount through the end of the year and it
would be taken from the fund balance.
Commissioner Berry asked how they are seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000.00)
off and how do they expect the Board of Commissioners to pay this amount of money.
He explained that he has not seen anything done to decrease the number of prisoners
being housed. He stated that the Sheriff’s Department is being unrealistic and needs to
live within their budget.
Chairman Rhodes asked if the fund balance was being recommended as a solution. He
stated that the jail cannot shut down and they need to work on fixing the budget problem.
Commissioner Berry asked when do we say enough. He stated that he would not support
this and they should be forced to fix their own problem.
Commissioner Rainer stated that they cannot save $800,000 in three (3) months and this
is a bigger issue. He explained that they need to manage their budget as approved and
they cannot continue to go up as they have without a tax increase.
Commissioner Berry stated that they should have their budget cut seven hundred
thousand dollars ($700,000.00) next year.
Commissioner Rainer stated that they cannot shut down services but they need help
controlling their budget.
Commissioner Sears stated that a majority of the costs are medical and jail expenses. She
explained that they have no authority to make judges release prisoners.
Commissioner Sears made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Rainer to Approve the
Resolution to Provide a Continuing Budget for the Camden County Board of
Commissioners for the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 for the Jail.
So Voted:
Chairman Rhodes - Aye
Vice-Chair Zell – Aye
Commissioner Rainer – Aye
Commissioner Berry – Nay
Commissioner Sears – Aye
The motion carried 4-1.
Ms. Sears I believe you owe the people of Camden County an explanation on why you are voting on issues involving the Sheriff's Office. You lied and broke your promises.
Remember this comment from December:
Anonymous said...
Mr. Rogers, I find it extremely interesting that you feel so inclined to pass judgement on those who seek only to assist in problem areas whether it be in education, band or politics. You are no beneficial member of society. You take and take but never give back. Look at your history and where you came from. New York, New Jersey, and so on and on. What happens to make you move so much...is the heat getting to you so you have to move on? Or the creditors coming down on you? Before you sweep around others doors you should take a hard look at what is around your own door. I understand one door you visited was the courtroom of Kingsland Police Department.I also think it is comical that you use a dog photo in your profile. It is not far from the truth. I have seen you and was not that impressed to say the least.
1:21 PM
This was Charlene Sears. The great and honorable Charlene Sears. Ms. Sears I have not done anything worse then your choice for County Manager. In fact she has graced the court house doors many more times than me. But I know you are just doing this to help the people of this county. We had fine representation in district 4 before you came along. I know you check this blog so please explain yourself right here.
M. Consideration of Approval of Resolution to Provide a Continuing
Budget for the Camden County Board of Commissioners for the
Fiscal Year 2006-2007 for the Jail.
Mr. Fender stated that the total operations budget for housing prisoners outside of
Camden County is approximately seven hundred and eighteen thousand dollars
($718,000) through June 30, 2007.
Commissioner Berry asked where the money would come from to continue the budget for
the jail.
Mr. Fender stated that he has estimated this amount through the end of the year and it
would be taken from the fund balance.
Commissioner Berry asked how they are seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000.00)
off and how do they expect the Board of Commissioners to pay this amount of money.
He explained that he has not seen anything done to decrease the number of prisoners
being housed. He stated that the Sheriff’s Department is being unrealistic and needs to
live within their budget.
Chairman Rhodes asked if the fund balance was being recommended as a solution. He
stated that the jail cannot shut down and they need to work on fixing the budget problem.
Commissioner Berry asked when do we say enough. He stated that he would not support
this and they should be forced to fix their own problem.
Commissioner Rainer stated that they cannot save $800,000 in three (3) months and this
is a bigger issue. He explained that they need to manage their budget as approved and
they cannot continue to go up as they have without a tax increase.
Commissioner Berry stated that they should have their budget cut seven hundred
thousand dollars ($700,000.00) next year.
Commissioner Rainer stated that they cannot shut down services but they need help
controlling their budget.
Commissioner Sears stated that a majority of the costs are medical and jail expenses. She
explained that they have no authority to make judges release prisoners.
Commissioner Sears made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Rainer to Approve the
Resolution to Provide a Continuing Budget for the Camden County Board of
Commissioners for the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 for the Jail.
So Voted:
Chairman Rhodes - Aye
Vice-Chair Zell – Aye
Commissioner Rainer – Aye
Commissioner Berry – Nay
Commissioner Sears – Aye
The motion carried 4-1.
Ms. Sears I believe you owe the people of Camden County an explanation on why you are voting on issues involving the Sheriff's Office. You lied and broke your promises.
Remember this comment from December:
Anonymous said...
Mr. Rogers, I find it extremely interesting that you feel so inclined to pass judgement on those who seek only to assist in problem areas whether it be in education, band or politics. You are no beneficial member of society. You take and take but never give back. Look at your history and where you came from. New York, New Jersey, and so on and on. What happens to make you move so much...is the heat getting to you so you have to move on? Or the creditors coming down on you? Before you sweep around others doors you should take a hard look at what is around your own door. I understand one door you visited was the courtroom of Kingsland Police Department.I also think it is comical that you use a dog photo in your profile. It is not far from the truth. I have seen you and was not that impressed to say the least.
1:21 PM
This was Charlene Sears. The great and honorable Charlene Sears. Ms. Sears I have not done anything worse then your choice for County Manager. In fact she has graced the court house doors many more times than me. But I know you are just doing this to help the people of this county. We had fine representation in district 4 before you came along. I know you check this blog so please explain yourself right here.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sheriff, Caught In A Lie?
The Florida Times-Union
June 12, 2007
Sheriff says he didn't OK re-election signs
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
WAVERLY - Primary elections for county offices aren't scheduled until July 15, 2008, but there are signs - red, white and blue ones - indicating Camden County Sheriff Bill Smith is running for re-election.
Multicolored signs that read: "Experience matters, Bill Smith Sheriff" have been popping up in the Waverly area in north Camden County, including in front of a business on U.S. 17 and houses on Horse Stamp Church Road.
Smith, however, said he hasn't decided if he'll run.
"I have not made an indication to a living soul I'm going to run," Smith said. "I have nothing to do with these signs."
An employee at Dalton Signs, the Kingsland company that printed Smith's campaign signs when he ran for re-election in 2004, said they printed a batch of stickers for Smith about a month ago. No new campaign signs have been printed for the sheriff, the worker at Dalton Signs said.
Debbie Blankenship of Waverly said the two Bill Smith for Sheriff campaign signs in front of her husband's business on U.S. 17, Puppy Love Kennels, were given to her about a month ago. Blankenship said she talked to Smith in a telephone conversation before she got her signs and he told her he planned to run for re-election next year.
When she asked how she could show her support, Blankenship said Smith suggested she place some campaign signs on her property. Blankenship said her daughter picked up the signs from someone who had some left over from a previous campaign for Smith, but she wasn't sure who that person was.
Those signs are in violation of the county's sign ordinance, which restricts the erection of political signs to no more than "60 days prior to the elections to which such signs are applicable." The county's ordinance also requires all political signs be removed "within 30 days following the general election."
But Smith refused to take responsibility for the apparent violation of the county's ordinance.
"That's her property," Smith said. "That's between her and the county" if she is in violation of county sign laws.
Officials with the county's planning and zoning department said people with a political sign on their property in violation of the county ordinance will be asked to remove the signs. They will be cited if they ignore the order.
Tommy Gregory, the only person to formally announce his candidacy for the county's top law enforcement job, said the signs clarify who will be his likely opponent in the primary elections.
"I'm not complaining," Gregory said. "The signs are out. It's nice to know he's running."
Gregory said he first saw Smith's re-election signs May 4, the day after he announced his candidacy for sheriff.
The only campaign materials Gregory said he has printed are some clear printed proofs that can go on the rear windows of vehicles.
"We do have some door-to-door literature that's being printed, but we haven't received those yet," he said.
Gregory declined to criticize Smith supporters for their early display of support by posting the signs in violation of the county's ordinance for political signs.
He said he will wait until he can legally place signs 11 months from now, unless the county has no plans to enforce its ordinance for political signs.
"If they're not going to enforce it, I'm going to print them [campaign signs] as soon as possible," he said. "If I don't do it, I'm definitely going to lose."
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com,
(912) 729-3672
This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061207/geo_176397379.shtml.
TRSP Review: Smith or Blankenship is lying. Which one, I am willing to guess it is SLICK WILLIE. Nice try Sheriff.
We will beat Bill in '08. This proves he knows this time will not be a cake walk and that people are not going to take this crap anymore.
Vote NO on June 19th.
June 12, 2007
Sheriff says he didn't OK re-election signs
By Gordon Jackson, The Times-Union
WAVERLY - Primary elections for county offices aren't scheduled until July 15, 2008, but there are signs - red, white and blue ones - indicating Camden County Sheriff Bill Smith is running for re-election.
Multicolored signs that read: "Experience matters, Bill Smith Sheriff" have been popping up in the Waverly area in north Camden County, including in front of a business on U.S. 17 and houses on Horse Stamp Church Road.
Smith, however, said he hasn't decided if he'll run.
"I have not made an indication to a living soul I'm going to run," Smith said. "I have nothing to do with these signs."
An employee at Dalton Signs, the Kingsland company that printed Smith's campaign signs when he ran for re-election in 2004, said they printed a batch of stickers for Smith about a month ago. No new campaign signs have been printed for the sheriff, the worker at Dalton Signs said.
Debbie Blankenship of Waverly said the two Bill Smith for Sheriff campaign signs in front of her husband's business on U.S. 17, Puppy Love Kennels, were given to her about a month ago. Blankenship said she talked to Smith in a telephone conversation before she got her signs and he told her he planned to run for re-election next year.
When she asked how she could show her support, Blankenship said Smith suggested she place some campaign signs on her property. Blankenship said her daughter picked up the signs from someone who had some left over from a previous campaign for Smith, but she wasn't sure who that person was.
Those signs are in violation of the county's sign ordinance, which restricts the erection of political signs to no more than "60 days prior to the elections to which such signs are applicable." The county's ordinance also requires all political signs be removed "within 30 days following the general election."
But Smith refused to take responsibility for the apparent violation of the county's ordinance.
"That's her property," Smith said. "That's between her and the county" if she is in violation of county sign laws.
Officials with the county's planning and zoning department said people with a political sign on their property in violation of the county ordinance will be asked to remove the signs. They will be cited if they ignore the order.
Tommy Gregory, the only person to formally announce his candidacy for the county's top law enforcement job, said the signs clarify who will be his likely opponent in the primary elections.
"I'm not complaining," Gregory said. "The signs are out. It's nice to know he's running."
Gregory said he first saw Smith's re-election signs May 4, the day after he announced his candidacy for sheriff.
The only campaign materials Gregory said he has printed are some clear printed proofs that can go on the rear windows of vehicles.
"We do have some door-to-door literature that's being printed, but we haven't received those yet," he said.
Gregory declined to criticize Smith supporters for their early display of support by posting the signs in violation of the county's ordinance for political signs.
He said he will wait until he can legally place signs 11 months from now, unless the county has no plans to enforce its ordinance for political signs.
"If they're not going to enforce it, I'm going to print them [campaign signs] as soon as possible," he said. "If I don't do it, I'm definitely going to lose."
gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com,
(912) 729-3672
This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061207/geo_176397379.shtml.
TRSP Review: Smith or Blankenship is lying. Which one, I am willing to guess it is SLICK WILLIE. Nice try Sheriff.
We will beat Bill in '08. This proves he knows this time will not be a cake walk and that people are not going to take this crap anymore.
Vote NO on June 19th.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
School Board Meeting Tonight
I am assuming it is at 7:00 PM as usual. But I can't confirm that as the agenda is not posted yet. Although you are required to sign up to speak before the meeting, I don't know how you are supposed to comment without knowing what is on the agenda.
This is just like communism. Speak only when spoken too. And we elected these people, Do they understand that?
COME OUT TONIGHT AS I WILL ONCE AGAIN SPEAK ABOUT THE BOE TAKING AWAY YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
This is just like communism. Speak only when spoken too. And we elected these people, Do they understand that?
COME OUT TONIGHT AS I WILL ONCE AGAIN SPEAK ABOUT THE BOE TAKING AWAY YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
Friday, June 08, 2007
How Dumb Are Our Elected Officials?
With the TAD vote right around the corner I have to ask how many of the people who voted for this vote actually know what they were voting on? I have to say none of them. That is why they went to Atlanta, to find out more information according to Larry Johnson. Why did they wait until a month before the vote to find more info? They should have had all the facts on the table before taking a single vote to approve the public vote. They had no clue to what they were voting on. And it is not just the City's fault, the commissioners and BOE did the same thing. I can bet you none of them knew what they were voting on. Except maybe the school board. Remember when this vote happen in November Tricia Smith was on the board, her husband is the Land Mar attorney, so I am sure she knows what this vote was about. How much does Charlie Smith stand to make if this vote is approved? That is the question you all should ask yourselves. If we had an OPEN GOVERNMENT here we would be able to follow the money, but this whole deal was done outside of the public eye, and that is why I will not vote for it.
Should Penny Woodard Get A Raise?
That is the questioned raised today by the Tribune and Georgian. The simple answer is YES. Now let me tell you how I got there. She did not apply for the job she was appointed by 5 very stupid people who are running this county into the ground. If they do not pay her for the job that she is doing, She can sue the county. It is call equal pay for equal work. You can not make someone do someone Else's job and not pay them for it. That is illegal. It was once again the Commissioners that screw up and the rest of us must pay the price. I didn't agree with making her the interim manager, but that is what they did. So she should get something for that. If they don't pay her for the job she is doing then the County can not call itself an equal opportunity employer, because there is no equality in what they are doing.
In 5 months this Commission has done nothing good for Camden County. In fact they have drained our accounts and continue to want to give more money to the big business man, yet sucking dry the poor citizen.
Vote No June 19th.
In 5 months this Commission has done nothing good for Camden County. In fact they have drained our accounts and continue to want to give more money to the big business man, yet sucking dry the poor citizen.
Vote No June 19th.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The Letter That Ended The Debate
On Friday it will be 3 weeks since my letter to the editor, challenging the Sheriff's supporters to tell us some good that has not been reported. In those 3 weeks we have not heard a word from anyone at the Sheriff's Office or his supporters. So now I guess we can all agree that there is more bad news than good coming from the Sheriff's Office. I gave them a chance to defend themselves and they remained silent. And they still wonder why we don't trust them.
Here is the letter from the Tribune and Georgian:
Sheriff's supporters are spinning the truth
Dear Editor, I would like to respond to the letters of Roger and Mary Ann Seman ("Abuse of sheriff's office misses the good," April 27) and Lt. William Terrell ("Sheriff's office defends handling of trustys," April 20).First, I would like to say I agree with Roger and Mary Ann. We don't hear enough good or positive things from the (Camden County) sheriff's office. I totally agree, but yet I challenge you as the campaign managers of (Sheriff) Bill Smith to find some positives that this paper has not published.
Maybe the reason we are not hearing any positives is that there are no positives coming from that office. I believe this paper has published both the good and the bad. Did Bill adopt a little orphan African baby that no one has told us about? Would you prefer the Tribune & Georgian not publish the problems with the trusty program? Would that make your hero look better?Second, Mr. Terrell, you wrote your letter that questioned the irresponsible journalism of the Tribune & Georgian, because you were once a journalist and know how it is supposed to be done. Maybe you should go back to being a journalist because you surely are not a good public information officer.Now, let me tell you why. You said in your letter, and this is a quote word for word: "Most people have no idea how much Sheriff (Bill) Smith and the sheriff's office do for the people of Camden County. I am constantly amazed by the disparity between what this department really does in our community and what gets the media attention."I ask, whose job is it to tell us how much Bill does for us? Oh, I think it would be you. Why are you amazed by the disparity between what this department really does in our community and what gets the media attention? Are you not the person who puts out the info? Are you telling me the paper is not reporting everything you tell them to report?
Everything I read in the paper I also see on the sheriff's Web site, except the problems with the trustys and the ethics violations, but all the good is on the sheriff's site. If you look at the sheriff's Web site, you will not see anything on the trusty stealing or the sheriff's ethics violations.So I will ask, who is not telling the people everything? It would be you, Sir. If you want Lt. Terrell's clouded version of Camden County, then read the gospel according to Walker, but if you want the real news, read the Tribune & Georgian.Rick RogersKingsland
Here is the letter from the Tribune and Georgian:
Sheriff's supporters are spinning the truth
Dear Editor, I would like to respond to the letters of Roger and Mary Ann Seman ("Abuse of sheriff's office misses the good," April 27) and Lt. William Terrell ("Sheriff's office defends handling of trustys," April 20).First, I would like to say I agree with Roger and Mary Ann. We don't hear enough good or positive things from the (Camden County) sheriff's office. I totally agree, but yet I challenge you as the campaign managers of (Sheriff) Bill Smith to find some positives that this paper has not published.
Maybe the reason we are not hearing any positives is that there are no positives coming from that office. I believe this paper has published both the good and the bad. Did Bill adopt a little orphan African baby that no one has told us about? Would you prefer the Tribune & Georgian not publish the problems with the trusty program? Would that make your hero look better?Second, Mr. Terrell, you wrote your letter that questioned the irresponsible journalism of the Tribune & Georgian, because you were once a journalist and know how it is supposed to be done. Maybe you should go back to being a journalist because you surely are not a good public information officer.Now, let me tell you why. You said in your letter, and this is a quote word for word: "Most people have no idea how much Sheriff (Bill) Smith and the sheriff's office do for the people of Camden County. I am constantly amazed by the disparity between what this department really does in our community and what gets the media attention."I ask, whose job is it to tell us how much Bill does for us? Oh, I think it would be you. Why are you amazed by the disparity between what this department really does in our community and what gets the media attention? Are you not the person who puts out the info? Are you telling me the paper is not reporting everything you tell them to report?
Everything I read in the paper I also see on the sheriff's Web site, except the problems with the trustys and the ethics violations, but all the good is on the sheriff's site. If you look at the sheriff's Web site, you will not see anything on the trusty stealing or the sheriff's ethics violations.So I will ask, who is not telling the people everything? It would be you, Sir. If you want Lt. Terrell's clouded version of Camden County, then read the gospel according to Walker, but if you want the real news, read the Tribune & Georgian.Rick RogersKingsland
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Cancel The Vote
Now that half of the government agency that led the charge on the TAD are against it, Why are we still holding the vote? This is going to cost the taxpayer of St. Mary's thousands of dollars. If this does not pass it, the cost of the vote will be charge to you the people of St. Mary's.
CALL OR E-MAIL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND TELL THEM TO CANCEL THE VOTE.
CALL OR E-MAIL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND TELL THEM TO CANCEL THE VOTE.
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Tide Has Turned
Now half of the the St. Mary's City Council are against the TAD which they all supported in the beginning.
No one I have talked to is for this TAD. Now even the people who got the ball rolling on the TAD are against.
The elected could save the taxpayers a lot of money and cancel this vote.
Elections are not free, they cost money. Why are we wasting money to vote on something that no one wants.
CANCEL THE VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one I have talked to is for this TAD. Now even the people who got the ball rolling on the TAD are against.
The elected could save the taxpayers a lot of money and cancel this vote.
Elections are not free, they cost money. Why are we wasting money to vote on something that no one wants.
CANCEL THE VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, June 01, 2007
The Elected Are Now Flip-Flopping On TAD
Sandy Feller(http://www.camdenganews.com/blog/?p=232#comments) is reporting that Councilman Blount is now against the TAD. 18 days out of the election and now he changes his mind. Hummm, I wonder why? How many others are going to change their minds? How many ill informed citizens are still going to vote yes? I think in light of Blount changing his mind I think we should cancel the vote.
MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT THE ELECTED ARE GETTING KICK BACKS FROM THIS LAND-MAR DEAL.
Who is Land-Mar?
Have you ever heard of DUKE ENERGY. Duke Energy or Duke Power, is the largest Utility company in America.
Have you heard of Morgan Stanley, They are one of the largest investment company in America.
These two companies own Land-Mar.
DO YOU STILL THINK THEY NEED OUR 20 MILLION IN HELP?
I don't
That is why on June 19th, I WILL VOTE NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT THE ELECTED ARE GETTING KICK BACKS FROM THIS LAND-MAR DEAL.
Who is Land-Mar?
Have you ever heard of DUKE ENERGY. Duke Energy or Duke Power, is the largest Utility company in America.
Have you heard of Morgan Stanley, They are one of the largest investment company in America.
These two companies own Land-Mar.
DO YOU STILL THINK THEY NEED OUR 20 MILLION IN HELP?
I don't
That is why on June 19th, I WILL VOTE NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The Parents Have Declared War
