Monday, March 16, 2009

The corruption of a county and the demoralization of its police department

Let’s face it; DeKalb County is just plain corrupt. It all started or at least it started surfacing with Vernon Jones. When Vernon took office, he left a job as a telecommunications manager making about 38 thousand dollars a year and living in a condominium valued at 54 thousand dollars.

Not long after his election, he was involved in a very controversial land deal in Lithonia. He bought 54 acres of prime real estate adjoining land set aside for green space. He paid $550,000.00 for the land. Vernon said the land, which was a farm, reminded him of his youth and the land was his paradise, promising to never sale.

In four (4) short years, Vernon sold the land to a church with no assets for $770,000.00. In just one year later, the church turned around and sold the land to another church for $917,000.00. The land Vernon said he would never sale is now on the market for over 2 million dollars, being advertised as a great place for development.

Then comes in Vernon’s security detail that included a sergeant making over one hundred thousand dollars a year with overtime. The sergeant probably violated federal and state laws by running vehicle tag numbers related to his domestic problems. Another person, then a lieutenant, was caught running tag numbers. There was a Grand Jury investigation. Eventually Chief Eddie Moody was forced to resign for refusing to lie during the Grand Jury hearing. Others were only transferred and some promoted.

Louis Graham was brought in as Chief of Police by Vernon. Graham’s first item on his agenda was to use the power of the police department for his own personal use. He created a task force to prove the innocence of convicted serial child killer; Wayne Williams. After untold thousand of man hours and dollars, Wayne Williams is still a convicted serial child killer.

Derwin Brown, a police captain defeats Sidney Dorsey for Sheriff of DeKalb County in a fair and legal election. Sidney Dorsey adds Third World politics to it the mix and has Sheriff elect Brown gunned down in his driveway. Dorsey is convicted of murder and admits his role.

Louis Graham’s Assistant Chief of Police, Ray Flemister is heard on audio tape deliberately holding back white officers from being promoted simply based on their skin color. Both Graham and Flemister are forced to resign and the county settles civil lawsuits out of court.

Vernon Jones convenes a team for a nationwide search for a Police Chief. Vernon ignores the recommendations and hires Terrell Bolton who was fired as Chief of Police of Dallas Texas. Bolton arrives on the scene, spends millions of dollars on unneeded recreational vehicles, forces into retirement or demotes the command staff, brings in his friends and friends of friends as a regime.

During Bolton’s short time as chief, Recorders Court is rocked by a scandal where 90 to 120 million dollars are unaccounted for. That’s right, 90 to 120 million dollars! Clerks in the court are caught taking bribes for dismissing traffic violations. The manager of the court was moved to Bolton’s office. No one is held accountable with an investigation that was in name only. The Chief Recorders Court judge was appointed by Vernon.

The Tax Commissioners Office apparently made deals with developers who then made deals with property buyers, who would not have to pay property taxes for years. This has cost the county and cities within the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. Again, no one is held accountable nor is there a known criminal investigation.

Three people who work for Sheriff Tom Brown were indicted for stealing $350,000.00 related to civil court proceeds.

Personnel within the State Court and probation department are arrested for taking bribes to have cases dismissed or as reported, having murderers placed on probation. The FBI is called in, but how far will this investigation go?

Everyday, every minute, DeKalb County police officers place their lives on the line to enforce the laws of the county and state. While enforcing theses laws, officers die in the line of duty, most recently Stepnowski, Barker and Bryant. The officers are rewarded by seeing their felony cases dismissed by the accused being the highest bidder. All those dangerous traffic stops are made in vein, with money handed under the table. We see the favoritism given others, and the advancement of the corrupt.

Vernon Jones and Terrell Bolton placed key people in place who are either or have become corrupted, either monetarily or morally. To this day, these same people are in place.

It is with high hopes and anticipation Burrell Ellis will be the person to make a difference. Mr. Ellis should take his time to clean out the police department, because it is the most important. People’s life’s and safety are at stake. But don’t take too much time.

The investigation into the Recorders Court is just as important. The amount of money missing is just incomprehensible.

If Burrell Ellis fails to bring this county under control, then all hope just may be lost.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very well put. That about sums it up.

Anonymous said...

Amen, although I have been retired for seven years and only had to suffer through approx two years of VERN it seemed much longer. It would be great if the FBI would thoroughly investigate all aspects of Dekalb Co during VERN'S term. Both the Citizens of Dekalb Co and employees deserve a thorough investigation. Thanks for spelling out the events that are known and who knows what may be hidden.

Anonymous said...

AMEN...!!!!Guess we just have to keep our faith and let the good finally rise..............Thanks to all who support us, to those that work hard and keep their heads held high and the operator of this blog.....

Anonymous said...

Once again, thanks for being brave enough to say what others won't.

What a terrible history we have been through. However, through recent changes, current investigations, and forth coming investigations, we have hope of a better DeKalb.

Keep holding those feet to the fire! Those responsible should be held accountible.

Anonymous said...

I met Vernon at the capitol when he was snooping around about dekalb...I had bad feelings then about him....and even a darker day when he was elected to be CEO then re-elected. For the first time in a very, very long time I'm proud to put the uniform on again and stand straight and tall and hold my head up with dignity and pride. I"ve been here long enough that Dick Hand hired me for those who remember those days. So I have been along for the ride for awhile but with Bill O'Brien at the helm now I will say this, It may take awhile but things will change if it becomes official and if so, even the criminals will see a different department on the streets to where Dekalb will be a place that you don't want to mess around with or do the wrong things. Good things come to those who wait. I've been waiting long enough. It's time to brush the dust off my badge and take back the honor, diginity and pride for which I once believed in Dekalb County.(at least for the emergency services) But we have to take out the trash first. Bill...good luck and I've got your back anytime!!

Anonymous said...

Well said, I know part of Recorders Court problems is lousy software, and refusing to spend the money to fix it. Three hundred grand to pay the company to fix it, (if they can) or buy a new software package capable of handling the load of the busy Recorders Court. I have no idea if corruption is involved, but two court employees were fired for "fixing" cases last year. Perhaps if DeKalb police did not issue so many tickets, then the computer software might be able to keep up with the load!

Anonymous said...

Bolton preparing for a "lengthy legal battle" sets off the same emotion in me as Bailed Out AIG Managers who are responsible for nearly driving their company into the ground getting large bonuses.

Bolton has had two years of good pay, loads of time off, luxury cars to drive, trips, and now he wants MORE after lousing up DKPD and leaving DeKalb with the gift of high crime???

OUTRAGEOUS!!

Anonymous said...

You forgot when Human Resources Director Joe Stone and then Vernon henchman, now current Chif of Staff for Larry Johnson, er, the Board of Commissioners, were busted on a tape conversation making reverse racist comments.
The tape went public and was a huge embarassment for teh county.

Joe Stone was never reprimanded. Very surprisd Burrell Ellis hasn't canned Joe Stone. If you've dealt with Joe Stone, he is a mean, miserable S.O.B.


http://www.legalassistantblog.com/node/5900
Affidavits: DeKalb hid truth...
Posted in by admin on Tue, 2006-01-24 04:55
DeKalb County officials deliberately withheld information and gave misleading testimony in a racially charged discrimination lawsuit over hiring at the county parks department, a court motion filed Monday alleges.

Top county officials, including Joe Stone, the head of DeKalb's human resources department, prevented plaintiffs' lawyers from obtaining information about the racial hiring and makeup of the county work force, even though the data were readily available, the court motion said.

The motion was filed by four current and former DeKalb employees who claimed DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones was trying to replace white managers in the parks department with African-Americans.

The motion is buttressed by affidavits from the director and deputy director of the county Information Systems department, who allege that they told county officials the racial information was available but that officials nevertheless orchestrated a scheme to withhold and hide the data.

The motion includes the transcript of a recorded conversation that plaintiffs' lawyers contend reveals Stone and assistant county manager Morris Williams discussing Jones' "plan to eliminate white employees from DeKalb."

The motion asks a federal judge in Atlanta to impose "severe sanctions" against the county for its officials' conduct and to hold a hearing about the new allegations.

DeKalb County spokesman Burke Brennan referred questions about the lawsuit to Rob Remar, an attorney at the Rogers & Hardin law firm in Atlanta. Remar could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Williams did not return a phone call message Monday. Stone could not be reached for comment.

J. Tom Morgan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs and DeKalb's former district attorney, declined comment Monday.

The motion comes in a lawsuit that was filed in 2004. Three of the plaintiffs are white employees. The fourth, an African-American employee, said he was fired because he refused to be a part of the discriminatory scheme.

Jones has strongly denied the allegations. The county has motions pending in U.S. District Court in Atlanta that request the suit be dismissed.

Monday's court motion contends county employees gave false or misleading pre­trial testimony, misled the court during a pretrial hearing, concealed documents, intentionally drove up litigation costs and gave false or misleading responses to Open Records Act requests.

"These actions were willful," the motion said. "Defendants' conduct cannot and should not be condoned."

The motion asks U.S. District Court Judge Bill Duffey to strike DeKalb's defenses in the lawsuit. If Duffey were to impose such a severe punishment, all to be left decided in the case would be how much in damages the county has to pay the plaintiffs and how much in attorneys fees should be paid to their lawyers.

The court motion notes that in the fall of 2004 Morgan's firm filed an Open Records Act request with the county seeking documents and electronic records of the employment histories, salaries and pay grades for county employees.

Three weeks later, the motion said, a DeKalb county attorney answered Morgan's request and said the requested documents: did not exist; were prohibitively difficult and expensive to retrieve; or could not be retrieved without the county writing a new computer program.

Morgan responded on Oct. 1, 2004, by saying he believed the information existed in the county's "PeopleSoft software" and could be retrieved by punching in five to 25 keystrokes.

This letter prompted a meeting in which Stone, a defendant in the case, told a county attorney that the records requested were unavailable, "plain and simple," the motion said.

But DeKalb information systems director Michael Amato and Shae Robinson, the deputy director, recently provided newly sworn testimony to the plantiffs' lawyers that says they attended that meeting and soon learned that the information sought could be easily accessed in the county's PeopleSoft system. After they notified Stone and others about it, Amato and Robinson said, they were instructed not to talk to Morgan about it.

In his sworn affidavit, Amato notes that even though he still holds the title of information systems director, he was relieved of all his job duties last November. In her affidavit, Robinson said she approached Morgan in December seeking his legal representation.

Earlier this month, Amato also turned over to Morgan a recorded conversation he had been holding onto since March 25, 2003. On that day, Amato said, either Stone or Williams apparently inadvertently called Amato's county office phone number while they were having a conversation. Their conversation wound up being recorded on Amato's voice mail system, the motion said.

A transcript of the conversation, attached to Monday's court motion, indicates that Stone told Williams he was angry that DeKalb Fire Chief David Foster was trying to promote four white firemen to be battalion chiefs.

Foster "wants to pick 'em from a population that is solid snow white already," Stone purportedly says in the conversation, according to the court motion. "Now he got to cut that [expletive] out with Vernon."

Anonymous said...

WSB TV
ATLANTA -- Channel 2 uncovers a controversial audio tape of a conversation between top ranking DeKalb County managers, who appear to be discussing promotion decisions based on race. The tape is part of a federal lawsuit, in which the judge has said he finds the tape troubling. Channel 2’s Dale Cardwell investigates.

There are now two federal lawsuits alledging the DeKalb County administration is trying to achieve a racial agenda in its hiring and promotions. The county flatly denies the allegations. But a former top ranking official says he found himself in the middle of it.

“Immediately when I heard it, it was shocking to say the least.”

As a department head in DeKalb County government, Mike Amato thought he’d heard it all – until one day he caught a conversation accidentally left on his voice mail.

“It was two of the top administrators in DeKalb County, making what appeared to me, racial comments, about a concerted effort to hire people, preferred people in the fire department,” says Amato.

According to court records, the words belong to the Assistant County Administrator, Morris Williams and Head of Personnel, Joe Stone.

Audio tape:

Williams: “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Stone: “No, no, no, hold on. The thing is, that’s what got David Foster’s (expletive) up there. He tried to promote to Battalion Chief, but he wants to pick ‘em from a population that’s solid snow white already. Now, he’s got to cut that (expletive) out with Vernon.”

David Foster is DeKalb County’s Fire Chief. According to the tape, he’d sent a list of names to the Head of Personnel, Mr. Stone, for the purpose of promoting them to Battalion Chief. Stone tells Williams promoting four whites was insubordination, because DeKalb’s CEO, Vernon Jones, had just told Foster not to.

Audio tape:

Stone: “We just can’t do it, I don’t know what we’re going to have to do, but this ain’t the answer. He told (Fire Chief) David Foster not to, we don’t promote anybody until you figure out how you can fix this problem.”

And Stone seems to suggest, Jones proposed a solution. He apparently told the Chief to go find blacks, in other departments, who had not even applied for the DeKalb County jobs. And, according to the tape, one of them used the “n” word.

Audio tape:

Stone: “Vernon told him, David said but, but if I try to bring somebody…man I got (“n” word), I’m going to town, who are from College Park and different fire stations who are Battalion Chiefs.”

Williams: “You don’t want to do that.”

Stone: “But he, but that’s what he said.”

Dale Cardwell asked Mike Amato what he thought when he heard the tape.

“I was shocked, upset, hurt – that this type of behavior was going on in DeKalb County.”

Amato believes he got the voice mail because Stone had dialed his number on an unrelated matter, just before Williams walked in. No matter how the call was recorded, the firefighters union calls it evidence.

“Yeah, it confirms my suspicion, that there was something going on and that people were not promoted to that rank because of these comments,” says Joe Trimble with DeKalb Professional Firefighters.

Fire Chief David Foster has declined our request for an interview. And so has his boss, CEO Vernon Jones. But the tape seems to say, there’s a price to be paid, if Chief Foster didn’t follow Jones’ plan to find black applicants.

Audio tape:

Stone: “Vernon said, ‘Let me tell you something, David. You said you can’t do it. I ain’t buying that number one. Number two, Patton said he had 72 hours to cross some kind of river. Some of the guys said we can’t do it. You know what Patton said? You know that I have don of a (expletive) like you lined up wanting your jobs to get across that (expletive) river. Well, that’s what I’m telling you. Now you tell me you can’t do it?”

All of the DeKalb County administrators named in this story have declined interviews, but CEO Vernon Jones gave us this statement:

“DeKalb County does not discriminate.” Jones goes on to say, “…I don’t know how many ways I can say it, I have not, will not, and shall not condone racism in DeKalb County’s hiring practices.”

Anonymous said...

Suit Alleges Racial Purge in DeKalb
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 25, 2004

Four current and former DeKalb County government employees claim in a federal lawsuit that DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones worked to replace white managers in the parks department with African-Americans.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, claims Jones and other county officials said they wanted a "darker administration" to reflect "the new DeKalb County."

Speaking for the county government, Jones' executive assistant, Richard Stogner, called the lawsuit frivolous.

"The accusation that Vernon Jones is racially motivated isn't supported by the facts," said Stogner, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. "I'm white. The fire chief he appointed is white, and three other director-level and department-manager-level appointees are white. If his goal is to discriminate against white people, he isn't very good at it."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Herbert Lowe, an African-American manager in the parks department, and three white managers in the department. The plaintiffs claim that Lowe was asked to "dig up dirt" on the white managers so they could be fired or forced to quit.

Seeking a Black Image
The lawsuit says Jones and other county officials told Lowe they wanted to replace the white managers because of their race, and that Jones asked Lowe to "do what was necessary for the team." Lowe refused, the suit says, and was fired in February.

The lawsuit claims the white managers were denied pay raises, were excluded from department meetings and were told they could no longer have contact with the media because officials wanted to present a "black administration" to the public.

The three white managers were eventually demoted or lost their jobs, according to the lawsuit. The white plaintiffs are Michael Bryant and John Drake, who still work for the parks department, and Becky Kelley, former parks department director, who is now the director of the parks and historic sites division of the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Chris Anulewicz, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Lowe was now unemployed.

"I think that he believed that what was going on was illegal and morally wrong and he just couldn't be a part of it," Anulewicz said.

The lawyer did not make Lowe or the other plaintiffs available for interviews. Attempts by the Journal-Constitution to reach them were unsuccessful Tuesday.

The other county officials named as defendants in the lawsuit are: Marilyn Boyd Drew, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Morris Williams, assistant county administrator, and Joe Stone, director of human resources.

Jones was out of town Tuesday, and county officials said he could not be reached for comment.

Stogner said the county's hiring record shows the lawsuit is without merit. He said Jones had appointed 16 people to director-level jobs over the past three years and that nine of them were white.

Anulewicz said the case against DeKalb was strong because of Lowe's testimony.

"It is rare that you have direct evidence of discrimination. Here we have that direct evidence of Herb Lowe. I think they thought Herb Lowe was going to be a team player, he was going to do what they asked him to do. . . . When he refused to do that, that threw a monkey wrench in their plans," the lawyer said.

Fear of Big Judgment
Anulewicz said his legal team, which includes former state Attorney General Michael Bowers and former DeKalb District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, was seeking documents from the county to back up the allegations.

County Commissioner Elaine Boyer, a critic of Jones, said she worries about possible financial fallout of the lawsuit, given that Bowers won a similar case involving racial discrimination in the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System.

"Think about how successful Mike Bowers was in that Fulton County lawsuit. We're in big trouble," Boyer said.

In the Fulton County case, a federal jury in January 2002 awarded $25 million to eight white librarians to compensate them for discrimination. A federal judge reduced the award to $16.8 million.

Anonymous said...

In deed our county, citizens and beloved PD have been through much. I hope that change is on the horizion. However, our downfall was the work of many and our resurection the same and Ellis is not the messaiah.

Anonymous said...

Think about the collective power of this blog, and the massive amount of information people can offer ANONYMOUSLY.

Anyone who acted unethically in DeKalb should be more than worried.

Anonymous said...

You guys do a great job! It's a testament to your dedication that you continue to put on the uniform and risk your lives doing the very best job you can with management and political leadership working against you so.

I was travelling I-20 east last night and witnessed a couple of you running radar near Evans Mill Rd. I'm sure you stayed busy all night!....Anyway, one officer attempted to stop a vehicle travelling in the left lane, and that's where they stopped, IN THE LEFT LANE!...thankfully it's a long straight stretch of road.
I can only imagine what that officer was saying under his breath...lol

It's incredibly dangerous out there. You guys keep safe, and keep up the good work!! It WILL get better for you.

Anonymous said...

I remember Chief Hand...so where is he today?

found him HERE

and HERE is a little more on him.

Anonymous said...

On January 30th, Ann Kimbrough, former Chief of Staff under Vernon Jones and CEO want-a-be, will be seen walking through the halls of a DeKalb County building again. Yes, we know that depression, fear, and panic will break out among DeKalb County employees as soon as she is spotted. That’s why we are giving everybody advance notice. But fear not fellow DeKalb County employees; Burrell Ellis has not given her job back to her.

Ann Kimbrough has to appear before DeKalb County Magistrate Court Judge Winston Bethel relative to a civil suit that was filed against her back in January. Kimbrough is being sued by Bubbling Creek Company, a company that supplies promotional items to political want-a-bees.

Ann Kimbrough’s December 2008 Campaign Disclosure revealed her campaign was $8,000 in debt and only had $161 cash on hand. She raised nearly $100,000.00 and ended up in debt.

We have always wonder how she got away with listing Lee Brown as a contributor on her campaign disclosure but not listing how much he gave her. For those of you who want to dig a little deeper into this take a look at Kimbrough’s June 200 8 amended campaign disclosure.

Anonymous said...

Good commentary, however lets remember Burrell Ellis is not god. I like Burrell and trust his abilities and admire his love for Dekalb, but we cannot expect him to wave a magic wand to make all of this go away.

The problems lie with everyone. First, the citizens for making piss poor voting decisions based off attractiveness, color, gender, sexuality, etc. These same citizens will sit back and bitch about what is going on but yet will not hold these elected officials who work for them accountable. They are also the first to ask why taxes are high, services are dimished and so on.

Secondly, DKPD rank and file who continue to allow the abuse of power to go on without saying anything. Just like we get mad with people who don't get involved when it comes to helping solve a crime, ditto can be said for the police. The blog has been a great place to vent and discuss issues, but its time to take it to the next step. How many of you are contacting the media with potential story leads? How about coming together and getting a lawyer to help you sue people who are obviously doing wrong? Has the GBI or FBI been notified? You are on the inside and its time for you to start blowing the whistle.

Thirdly, I see that everyone is bitching about Recorders Court but has anyone lobbied the Dekalb Delegation to abolish it or change its operations. I personally don't even consider Recorders Court to be a REAL court anyway. Isn't state court supposed to hear state crimes??? OOPS, I forgot just like Municipal Courts, Recorders is there to collect that revenue. If you are that fed up with your traffic tickets being fixed or lost, then why the hell do I continue to see you all on 20, 285 and 85. Are you being forced to do it or would you rather do that than real police work?

I feel your frustration and pain but at times, I think many of you are willing participants.

Anonymous said...

That was an excellent article but you left out a big one. You forgot about the $20 MILLION that was over spent on contracts. The best part about this is that the majority of citizens in DeKalb didn't even raise an eyebrow. So with the mess in Recorders Court and overpayment of suspicious contracts you're missing atleast $100 million dollars. How funny is that!!!!! But hey all we need to do to fix it is cancel merit raises for all employees and park all the cars. Yep that'll fix it. NOT!

Anonymous said...

So Ann Kimbrough, who was Vernon’s Chief of Staff, received campaign contributions from Lee Brown? Ann Kimbrough is the candidate for CEO that Vernon, Bolton, Don Frank and other police command staff so desperately wanted to win. This is the same Lee Brown who owns the Brown Group, which was awarded a lucrative contract to help fix the police department. This was an absolute joke and they received thousands of dollars for NOTHING. The same Lee Brown who lives in Houston TX AND he is the former police chief of Houston. Didn’t DeKalb County spend thousands of dollars sending police supervisors to Houston TX for no apparent reason? This is the same Lee Brown that Bolton just had to go visit the day after Barker and Bryant were murdered!
This is all just one big coincidence huh? You know if given enough information there is one thing that cops are good at, and that is connecting the dots. If we could get the AJC to stop printing stories about new mashed potato recipes and investigate something that is serious and important they may sell more papers.

Anonymous said...

Didn't realize Lee Brown was a campaign contributor to Kimbrough. Lots of back scratching going on between DeKalb and Lee P. Brown.

After DeKalb gave Brown so many cush-contracts (oh, but wait..no wrong doing on Vernon's part...right!), he turns around and gives Kimbrough an unknown amount of money to Kimbrough?

And this isn't being investigated??

Anonymous said...

Well the fact that Joe Stone is still employed and Morris Williams was hired back doesnt say alot for the character of CEO Ellis. These are two obvious racist individuals who should be ran out of DeKalb County Government. I can only imagine where they would be right now if they were white and had been talking about blacks. What a SHAME and DISGRACE.

Anonymous said...

Good posts guys! Affirmative action ran amok in DeKalb before and through the Vernon admin. If you are allowed to walk through the 6th floor Ponce CEO's office or 5th floor Maloof Commissioners you will notice a lack of white employees. This is not unusual in the county, I have seen 200 employee county departments with not one white female or any white nor black males. I am not trying to be sexist or racist, but I believe county departments operate more efficiently with a diverse employee base of whites, blacks, male and female. There are a lot of simmering racial discrimination issues of whites especially males within the county. Let us hope the new administration can defuse the issues and offer equal employment opportunities to all DeKalb employees. PS, Many thanks to DeKalb Traffic Engineering, Animal Control and Sanitation employees in assisting cleaning up the mess at Kinsington and Camp Road when the telephone poles were brought down yesterday. The contractor also did a superb job, but when I needed some help from Traffic Engineering at 5 PM today when everyone was walking out the door, TE came through, thanks David and Keith!

nootkabear said...

Anonymous said...
I remember Chief Hand...so where is he today?

I remember Dick Hand as well. He was accused of sexual harassment or something wasn't he?

I never formed an opinion either way, he lived across the street from my Mama's best friend.

Good to see where he went, over the years, I have often wondered what happened after he moved.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Morris Williams, Vernon's former thug henchman, still being employed, that's purely a Larry Johnson hire. Ellis would never have allowed Morris to stay on, but Larry as head of the BOC, with his cabal of May, Stokes and Barnes Sutton, was able to hire Morris w/o CEO approval.

Larry Johnson is bad news. He has a massive ego for a little guy, sort of DeKalb's own Victor Hill. He desperately wants to be CEO, and is trying to make CEO Ellis' tenure as hard as possible. If Johnson is a Vernon groupie, and if he ever does become CEO, he'll bring back the days of turmoil and politics back to the PD. Bolton would still be chief if Johnson had his way.

Anonymous said...

Let see David Corn murder, The Presidential Hotel scandal which Burgess claims he knew nothing about. Maloof having the county buy his office new furniture just before he retires. He turns around leaves office and personally buys the furniture as used at a discount.

Ever wonder why you answer so many alarm calls. Well Tom Brown's brother owns an alarm company that was started just after Tom Brown became Public Safety director. Always check the politician political campaign contribution disclosures. It goes on and on. Corruption in Dekalb is not new.It is just politics and the privileged incompetence of government.

Don't look for any eye opening investigation. Those are only reserved for those who don't have the right connections.

Anonymous said...

I vote this blog BEST BLOG in DeKalb. It allows the DKPD, County employees and citizens to come together and talk in a forum like never before. This blog has gone beyond the ups and downs of Bolton, and now serves a greater purpose.

Citizens, if you haven't already, get your friends and family active on this blog. With the serious issues our county faces and rising crime in our area it can only help to have everyone connected.

Anonymous said...

"Attitude is the reflection of leadership"

Denzel Washington in the movie Remember the Titans.

Rates a second post

Anonymous said...

Aint a damn thing change!

The lines are long to pay or even get a court hearing - 30 minutes the line has NOT move and you only have 3 people working at the window?

Ellis is a joke as a CEO of DeKalb County.

I am tempt to run one day because DeKalb County is acting like it is in the 19th Century.

By the way I dont understand WHY they cant process tickets faster. Kroger at Chamblee Tucker Rd process groceries faster and even restock faster than a traffic ticket fine?

Honestly the Recorder Court has outgrown it current location and it is either needs a new home.

All that $ could be use for stuff in DeKalb County.

Unknown said...

So why is it that when someone's house is robbed, that the Dekalb police wont even try and dust for prints?? That seems like a simple task to me. No wonder people dont like the police, they are either over stepping their bounds of authority, or not doing anything at all, here is your rating, ZERO stars