Sheriff Says Ticketing Writing Down Due To A Few Burglaries

From the Tribune and Georgian:

Traffic ticket drop off will not affect county finances
By Emily Goodson
Camden County Probate Court records show a sharp drop-off in the number of traffic tickets being written by Camden sheriff's deputies over the past few months. The reason for the decline, however, is a matter of debate. The probate records, called bond receipts, show that the court received 1,051 sheriff's office tickets in July 2006, compared to only 805 in July 2007. The court saw 1,073 sheriff's office tickets in August 2006 and only 124 in August 2007. Sheriff Bill Smith said Thursday that the department is trying to conserve money by pulling deputies off Interstate 95. "Gas is $3 a gallon, or thereabouts," he said. "It's very expensive to operate a vehicle out there." Lt. William Terrell, the public information officer for the department, also said in a written statement that a recent increase in burglaries on the north end of the county prompted sheriff's office administrators to assign more deputies to that area. "Deputies simply do not have the time or the resources to write as many tickets," he said. The ticket shortage means less money flowing into the county's general fund, though Finance Director Mike Fender said the decrease in tickets written should not affect Camden's finances. "It's not going to impact us," he said. "We anticipated it." Commissioner Steve Berry said that Smith has reduced the number of tickets his department writes in an attempt to punish the county for cutting his department's budget from a proposed $8.3 million to only $7 million. "I think it's just another example of Bill Smith's foolishness," Berry said. "You have to wonder: Is there any traffic enforcement going on in the unincorporated areas of the county?" Berry said the same thing happened three years ago when a different county commission decided to cut Smith's budget, adding that he does not believe Smith is trying to simply conserve resources. "I don't believe a word the sheriff's department says," he said. "They are notorious for providing false and misleading information." Vice Chairman Katherine Nisi Zell said she has noticed a decreased police presence on I-95 but declined to comment on the reason for the reduction in the number of sheriff's office tickets received by the Probate Court. Commissioner David Rainer said he had not heard of the decrease until Thursday and would have to research the issue further before commenting. "I have not looked at it," he said. "This may happen over a long period of time, I don't know." Commission Chairman Preston Rhodes was out of town and unavailable for comment. Commissioner Charlene Sears was unable to be reached before press time Thursday.

TRSP Review:
This didn't get much press, I am surprised Lt. Terrell hasn't complained about it. No one is talking about it at all. 124 tickets in August, saving gas, he claims. I say not. I say he knows exactly what he is doing, but it is going to end up to bite him in the end. This is the Sheriff not doing his job. Remember, August is when they feared no one would get paid, if they are not on 95, are they working? If they are not on 95 writing tickets, exactly what do they do in a day? Sure there are calls out in the county, but there has always been calls out in the county and we always saw at least one county officer on 95.

Why are we getting comments from the commissioners office, they have nothing to due with the Sheriff, if the Sheriff quit sending out officers would the Commissioners do something then? Doubtful, remember most of them don't want to double cross the Sheriff, and the other one just talks about what the Sheriff does wrong, but doesn't act upon what he says. Heck, none of them can even answer an email, so how can we expect them to represent us.

Clean The Slate In 2008

Trustee Drives Drunk (Just click on the pic to enlarge.)

There Are Sane Parents In Camden County

From the T&G:

Childcare a struggle over school break
Dear Editor,
I would like to tell you about my perfect son. He, at the young age of 5, has already won awards for being the most respectful kid in his pre-k class, and the most respectful kid on his flag football team. His big blue eyes, almost white blond hair and sweet dimples can make even the grumpiest of grumps smile. And yet, over the past three weeks I have yelled at (him), pointed to a time-out chair and actually took away his scooter for hours on end.I have struggled this holiday break to pay for a $20 per day camp (which my son hated), leaving him with his poppy (when he could handle the energy of my angel) and taking him to work with both myself and my husband. This three-week break has almost cost me my job due to a secret shopper stopping in on Dec. 28, 2007 (no day camp even if he would go) and e-mailing my boss that my son was playing outside my office. And, let's be clear, I rent storage space, I do not do brain surgery, no one gets hurt if my boy is riding his scooter around two acres of concrete on a Friday afternoon. But, that's not the point, is it? Customers want a child-free environment when going to a place of business (unless it's a daycare or school).
So where were Camden County's children during this break? Did you have to take three weeks of vacation? Did you pay the neighbor girl? Did you pay for day camp at $20-$30 per day? Did you sneak them to work with you or did you leave them home alone? How many children do you think just spent three weeks at home (well trained in 911 I am sure) with a Game Boy, computer or remote control and vegged out completely?My son cried as he left the house for school today. After three weeks of being shuffled from here to there and back again it was like the first day of kindergarten all over again. He was afraid and nervous and his tummy hurt. With a big hug and kiss my husband put him on the bus and reminded him that today was gym day for his class. He smiled, Daddy smiled and I sang "Oh Happy Day."What would it take to get a revote? How many signatures do I need? 3,000? I will knock on 3,000 doors. Please help me to make a change. Parents, let's stand together and ask for a change. If we all come together we can make next holiday a safer, happier, shorter vacation for my little angel bear and yours, too!

Moriah Morris
Kingsland


TRSP Review: Ms. Morris, I agree totally and will help anyway possible. That was the longest Christmas break ever.

What do you the readers think?

Open Records Request Received

As I thought they could not come up with any evidence that any such request was made to the DOJ. But for $192.00 they will look harder.

Here is The Sheriff's response:

Dear Mr. Rogers,
The following is in response to your Open Records request, received by the Camden County Sheriff's Office on January 10, 2008.
An initial search has been conducted but the information you requested was not located. If you desire a further more detailed search, a search and retrieval fee will be charged at the rate of the lowest paid employee that is able to conduct the search. That rate would be $12.00/hr. at approximately 16 hours. You may mail a check or money order made payable to the Camden County Sheriff's Office for $192.00. If it takes less time than estimated, the difference will be refunded to you. If the information is located it will be made available for review at the Sheriff's Office. If you have any further questions you may contact me at 912-510-5100.
Sincerely,
Capt. Wesley Walker
Commander HQ Operations

TRSP Review:
You said you requested permission and now you want to charge me to find what you said you had?

Sheriff Says He Got Permission Again!

Once again folks the Sheriff does it again.

This week I was watching Camden T.V. when I saw the Sheriff's Report come on. The first thing Terrell says is that Bill asked and received permission to use the drug money for scholarships. Well we have heard that before have we not. Remember he said he got permission from Janet Reno to use the drug money to fund Celebrate Recovery. Which is not a valid reason to use the money that is why he said he had permission. So of course I asked to see that permission, and was told no such thing existed, that the money was used in accordance with the guidelines for using this money. The man even told that lie to Dr. Rick Warren. A sworn man of God, Yes Bill lied to a preacher. Bill told Dr. Warren that he had permission and Dr. Warren posted that on his website.
http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/CelebrateRecovery/CR+Stories/Confiscated_drug_money_helps_Georgia_community_overcome_addictions.htm Here is a snip of the article:
But Smith had a plan to make it happen by using a portion of millions of dollars in drug money that Camden County law enforcement officials confiscate from traffickers along I-95. By law, officials can use these millions of dollars for drug education, fighting drug abuse, or buying equipment necessary to combat drugs or trafficking. During Attorney General Janet Reno’s tenure, her office approved using the money to send the pastors, lay leaders, and other community leaders to California for Celebrate Recovery training.
Since that first group from Camden took part in the 2001 training, every year between 30 and 50 Camden County law enforcement officials, pastors, and laity travel to Saddleback for program orientation so they, too, can lead Celebrate Recovery groups.

No they did not Bill lied about that.
Here is his response:

So I asked to see a copy of this permission he got to fund these scholarships.

Here is that email:

Dear Mr. Walker,

This week, I was watching Camden T.V. when the Sheriff's Report with William Terrell came on. The first words out of his mouth was "back in 2001 the Sheriff asked and got permission to use the Federal Seized Assets Fund to set up scholarships in the name of fallen deputies. With that statement being said I request that you send me a copy of the letter where Sheriff Smith requested the permission, and the letter from the DOJ that gave him that permission.

I wish for you to send me these items in electronic format, either in a PDF or word format. Doing this will save me and the taxpayers of the county valuable resources that can be applied elsewhere. After all, we all should do are part to save this county money.

Thank you,

Who Is Candace Jones?

From Athens online

Appearently Candace Jones thinks OUR soldiers are torturing prisoners.

Our drug fund money is paying for this womans education.

Thank you Bill Smith.

Bill do you think OUR military people are torturing prisoners?

Is that what they teach at the Citidal?

What those people did at Abu Ghraib is nothing compared to the beheading of Nick Berg.

You be the judge:

It's Torture 101 at UGA
Speech communication class

University of Georgia student Candace Jones participates in a sensory deprivation exercise as students Ryan Wolfe and Sabra Stratford read torture facts last week at the Tate Student Center.Kelly Lambert / Staff
By Rebecca Quigley rebecca.quigley@onlineathens.com Story updated at 11:12 PM on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
A pair of messengers in black prisoner hoods silently cruised the University of Georgia Tate Plaza on Tuesday, beckoning students to experience what happens to prisoners at overseas detention centers.
The men handed out fliers advertising "Torture 101" - an exhibit in the Tate Center Gallery that UGA speech communication students created as part of a final project for their "Rhetoric of Torture" course.
"From a practical standpoint, I wanted (the class) to put together some kind of public project that would be educational," said the class' instructor Marita Gronnvoll, a fourth-year graduate student.
The seven-part exhibit included a "sensory deprivation" station where participants could experience a mild form of torture where a prisoner is blindfolded and forced to listen to abrasive heavy metal music through a set of earphones.
Visitors also watched student-made videos of man-on-the-street interviews about U.S. interrogation methods and a mock instructional video about how to carry out extraordinary rendition in secret.
The class focused the demonstration on the 2004 tortures at the U.S. detention center in Abu Ghraib because more details and images have been made public about the torture there than any other interrogation center, Gronnvoll said.
Speech communication graduate students Jon Hoffman and Rebecca Kuehl stopped by to check out their peers' work.
"I feel like I'm a relatively observant news watcher but to see it all in one place is disturbing," Hoffman said.
While some types of interrogation might be appropriate, "there's just gotta be a line you draw," Hoffman said.
Kuehl was amazed at the man-on-the-street video in which an interviewer asked people hanging out on College Avenue about U.S. military officers torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in 2004.
Interviewers asked: What is Abu Ghraib?; What is the Bush administration's position on torture?; What is extraordinary rendition?
Many of the people in the video couldn't answer any of the questions and one man jokingly said that "extraordinary rendition" is a cover band's version of a Led Zeppelin song.
The interviews made Kuehl realize how people don't know much about what's in the news and aren't outraged at the human rights violations going on around the world, she said.
"I am disappointed in the American people," Kuehl said.
But at the beginning of the semester, even many students in the class had the same response as the people in the street interviews, said senior Caroline Little.
As the most powerful nation in the world, people look to the U.S. to set "a good example in the world," Little said.
Some people responded to the students' demonstration as leftist or biased but "it's important to stimulate their thoughts about (torture) ... it's about holding officials responsible," she said. "We were trying to make it as factual as possible."
Even though other countries allow extreme forms of torture, U.S. officials have been hypocritical because they claim not to sanction torture as a form of interrogation while allowing it to happen, Little said.
"We're setting a bad example," she said.
Gronnvoll hopes that visitors left the exhibit with the understanding that torture is neither a liberal or a conservative issue, but a human rights issue, she said.
"As citizens we have a responsibility to ask ourselves how far we are willing to allow our representatives to go under the guise of protecting us," Gronnvoll wrote in an e-mail.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 042507
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