Why Hire A Part Time Attorney When You Can Get A Full Time Attorney With More Experience?

The County Legislative Body will meet on Monday and part of what they will do is hire a new County Attorney to replace Mrs Henson.

There is only one person who has applied for the job that is willing to make it his full time focus and has  the experience without the political obligations to serve the county.

Attorneys who are too closely involved in the political and family intricacies of personal enhancement will not be able to serve the county with fairness and professionalism. This is especially true when the attorney has a very checkered history of legal problems of their own.

It is my understanding that Assistant DA Dunnavant, will if chosen, retire from the DA's office and devote his full attention to the duties of County Attorney. This would be a great improvement over a part time county attorney who is unable to attend many meetings and require the hiring of additional attorneys to help from time to time.

I can only hope for the county's sake that the Legislative Body will do the right thing and ignore the heavy lobbying that has been done and appoint the best attorney for the county not the most connected.

What's Happening With The "Investigation" into the 9-1-1 office.

It's been over two months now since charges of inappropriate conduct, abuse by an authority figure, sexual harassment by an authority figure, sexual misconduct and the creation of a hostile work enviroment had been created.  People have claimed they were fired for refusing sexual advances and for not helping to cover up misconduct by others.

When I raised this question at the E 9-1-1 Board Meeting I was told after a long silence that the matter was under investigation. In the room at the time were representatives from the local media but there has been nothing in the local media about the issue. I'm sure this would not be a matter that anyone would not want fully covered and the facts exposed for the good of all involved. I understand that the attorney assigned the task to investigate has completed his assignment but still no word of any findings.

Can't Address The Election Commission With Out Being On The Agenda?

When the Chairman of the Election Commission demanded that I request to be on the agenda prior to being allowed to speak at a meeting I questioned what the procedure for getting on the agenda was. Mr. Rackley then yelled that I knew the procedures. I had better know what the procedures are because there are no written guidelines for getting on the agenda that are maintained by the Election Commission or the Election Office.

When I asked about the procedures I was told that they follow "Robert's Rules Of Order" when I asked what edition they didn't know.  So if you want to speak or ask a question at an Election Commission Meeting chaired by Mr. Rackley it seems you must be a mind reader with a full knowledge of every edition of "Robert's Rules of Order".

The thing that sort of bothers me is that it seems you only have to be on the agenda if your name is Allen Barrett. Previous meetings have been open for questions and comments from the public. Oh, well guess I should have learned that you can't ask questions if they are hard ones or embarrassing to someone in a "power position".

School Board Takes A Giant Step Backward

Amazing, that one of the first things the new School Board does is take the public out of the meeting and moves their procedures back fifteen years.

Why has the policy of allowing public input at the end of the meeting being changed? It took an arrest and a two day trial to get the Board to allow input from the public and now they seem to be stepping backward. Why is it so hard for some people to realize that being elected to an office does not mean they become elevated above the public but are to serve the public.

School Board or County Commission or City Council means that the person is representing those who elected them, not that they are now above the public

If a person is required to request to speak five days in advance of the meeting when will the agenda for the meeting be published and made available to the public? What happens when new business that isn't on the agenda is brought up.  I fear this is just one more step toward eliminating public involvement and the School Board once again becoming isolated from those who pay the bills.