According to sources, huge cuts are coming to the library system soon. Lost funding will mean reduced hours and reduced staff. It’s not clear yet which supporting entity is cutting, could be county, school systems, or cities – we’d guess schools considering their recent announcements about budget trouble.

It’ll just add fuel to the fire to get a separate property tax for the library system. If Bebe is reelected that’s going to be one of her goals for the next term. No reduction in county taxes and an additional tax paid directly to the library just like the separate tax paid to support schools.

That separate library tax would be fine IF the county and schools would cut their property tax proportionally, stop collecting the amounts they have been giving to the library system. Otherwise it’s another deal where they push things people want to support out on a limb of extra taxes while keeping the crap nobody would vote for in the general budget. Dade County is about to adopt a system like that for its portion of the two-county library system, and Walker will do the same if Bebe Heiskell gets another term.

When it’s all said and done, we’ll have a beautiful new empty library to look through the windows of.

Don’t forget, qualification to run for office in Walker County begins this morning at 9. We don’t need to see any uncontested races this year.

Qualification for state offices (state legislature) must be done in Atlanta. For info about local qualification, see yesterday’s Daily Update.

This is the final week of May, which means the once-per-week garbage schedule should be done soon.

So far we’ve heard from virtually nobody who likes the “experiment” schedule better than the old. Garbage falls out of the new cans because they’re over-filled, city employees are spending time collecting spilled trash (which is good of them), and over half the city still doesn’t have a new larger can.

According to Councilman Davis, the city never intended to give every citizen a larger can during May, only as their old cans were replaced; The plan seems sort of destined to fail, if the larger cans are necessary for making it work and the city knew at least half the town wouldn’t have them during the trial.

Expect the council to decide in June about resuming permanent twice-weekly pickup and a new higher fee for all city garbage residents. That’s the only other option they’ve presented, and the current option hasn’t worked at all.

Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Tilapia to be raised at pioneering Rossville facility”

GA Republicans have decided to add several ballot measures to their July ballot, including one about gambling, one defining personhood for the unborn, and one about ethics rules in the legislature.

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The next time someone tells you how much better things are under Bebe Heiskell, show them these statistics. Between ’99 and ’09, poverty in Walker County grew from 12.5% to 19.7% of residents. Poverty in LaFayette went from 20.9% to 26.9%. That’s a much steeper increase than the state as a whole.

You can also tell them between 1999 and 2009, poverty for CHILDREN in LaFayette went from 33.9% to 41.1%.

Is Bebe responsible for the economic situation? Well that’s up to her. If she’s going to take credit for the local economy, she has to own these numbers too. If she doesn’t want her name put on these declines, then she shouldn’t claim responsibility for any growth.

All figures taken from 2009 and 2010 census statistics.

If you’re going to run for office this summer (as an R anyway), qualification is this week. 9 AM Wednesday-Noon Friday. There will be a public forum with an element of debate 6:30 Thursday night in Chickamauga.

Qualification must be done at Walker Republican Party headquarters at 8566 N. Hwy 27 in Rock Spring.

Republican candidates for the following offices can qualify at the times and locations above by paying the respective fee by bank certified check or cashier’s check:

Walker County Sole Commissioner $2,290.00
Walker County Sheriff $2,275.00
Judge, Probate Court $1,900.00
Clerk, Superior Court $1,900.00
Tax Commissioner $1,900.00
Judge, Magistrate Court $1,900.00
Walker County Coroner $836.00
Board of Education, Posts 1, 4 and 5 $36.00
Walker County Surveyor $20.00

Republican candidates with additional questions can contact Nathan Smith, Chairman of the Walker County Republican Party, at 423-364-2964 or natsmith9@gmail.com for more information or to schedule an appointment.

There will also be a candidate forum/debate on Tuesday June 19th at the Civic Center, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

(All info provided by the Walker County Republican Party. No we don’t know when or where Democrat Party qualification is, they haven’t bothered contacting us with it.)

Yesterday Rock Spring resident Doug Grammer announced plans to run for Walker County Probate Judge.

Information about last Wednesday’s termination of LaFayette Police Chief Tommy Freeman has been trickling in.

City Manager Etheridge says “the official reason was a loss of trust from the council and myself and his ability to manage the department” but we know that’s just the beginning of the reasons for it.

According to the Walker Co Messenger, an investigation of the chief done by the City Manager found rampant abuse, at least nine different incidents where specific officers were mistreated, use of inappropriate language, laziness, and retribution against officers who didn’t support him. In other words, verification of every single thing the Underground has said about Freeman for the last two years, and then some.

(By the way: good job Messenger for finally jumping in this issue after ignoring it for the last five years. Too controversial to touch two weeks ago is your headline this week; if you want to stop bleeding readers you should stop leaving all the best stuff for bloggers to cover. Tommy Freeman’s behavior has been the worst-kept secret in town for years.)

Etheridge reprimanded Freeman for his behavior and poor management style, but it’s not clear if the chief would actually have been fired if not for his response to the reprimand: “‘On Monday in apparent retaliation to your staff you removed television and internet access from most of the po-lice department offices,’ the termination letter continued. ‘Your efforts to reassign individual officers with a meet-ing set for this Friday for your sergeants and lieutenants also spread concerns of demotions and firings.'”

A meeting scheduled for last Friday where a lot of officers would have seen their careers ruined by Freeman never happened, because Freeman’s own career ended on Wednesday.

Also from The Times Free Press:

“Mayor Neal Florence said the council wasn’t aware of any turmoil between Freeman and other employees before the March meeting. But he admitted there was at least one complaint by a former employee against Freeman two years ago that didn’t raise city officials’ concerns.

“Another employee who resigned in November 2010 sent letters to Arnold and the City Council after he left. He claimed Freeman was verbally and mentally abusive and that his behavior had demoralized the department, making it difficult for police to do their jobs. ..Florence said the council didn’t look into the allegations at the time because Vaughn already had resigned. ‘It wasn’t a concern at the time,’ Florence said.

Neal Florence needs to go about fourteen years ago.. If he doesn’t retire under his own power next year as he’s told people he will, the citizens of LaFayette need to retire him. Let him go play golf with Tommy. He had every opportunity to know, and when the complaint letters came in he got them to Freeman instead of acting on them – or gave them to Johnnie Arnold who passed them to Freeman. It’s a real slap in the face, and has been all along, that he’s done so little in the twenty-plus years he’s been mayor.

Also the Times Free Press obtained Freeman’s employee record from Griffin, GA and found problems with it.. Why couldn’t the city have done that in 2007?

Several City Council planning meetings scheduled for last weekend have been moved to the first weekend of June. We’re told the meetings had been planned long before the Freeman firing became an issue, but no doubt the council will begin discussing his placement during those conferences.

The Walker County Sheriff’s Office employee arrested last week for stealing from the evidence room has now been identified as 39-year-old Scott Davis. According to media reports, Davis has been helping himself to guns no longer needed for evidence. He’s now facing 11 charges of theft.

According to people close to the case, Mr. Davis’ wife suspected him of cheating on her. She snooped around and found the guns, along with prescription drugs from the jail, in his possession. She told another officer she knew, he told Sheriff Wilson, and Wilson called the GBI. Steve then went back to sleep.

As usual, it all comes down to accountability. Davis wasn’t accountable to anybody, nobody was keeping an eye on him, and if not for a problem keeping his pants zipped, would likely have never been caught.

Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Unemployment rates fall in Tennessee, Georgia“

Will Bebe try to take credit for this?

Only 6.9% of Walker County residents still qualify for unemployment benefits. Don’t be fooled by the way this is presented, and remember it’s the core of Bebe’s reelection strategy.

Heiskell doesn’t have a coherent plan for economic growth or attracting new businesses. Any new serious jobs in the county are likely in spite of her, not because of her – she could just as well take credit for the sun rising in the sky, or the price of gasoline. And many of the county’s new jobs pay much less than the ones we’ve lost. Is Walker County better off now than it was five years ago? Or ten? Maybe if you live in Chickamauga, but in LaFayette the answer is definitely “no.”

Meanwhile, Bebe’s supporters (and even her own secretary) can’t come up with reasons to vote for her beyond “because we told you to.”

James Benson was sentenced to life Thursday, after pleading guilty to January’s double murder at Hutcheson. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years, when he’s 89 years old.

From CatWalkChatt, 05/17/12:

“In court today, Benson explained how he shot the two women, which is required when a defendant pleads guilty. District attorney Herbert ‘Buzz’ Franklin said Benson offered no apology and showed no remorse during his explanation. At least eight family members were present at today’s proceedings, he said.

“Franklin said he is satisfied with the outcome of the case. ‘The families have been through a great deal of stress,’ Franklin said. ‘They have suffered through the loss of family members and experienced health-related problems as a result of this case.'”

Apologies, once again, for the late post.

As the LU reported Tuesday night, LaFayette Public Safety Director Tommy Freeman was fired early Wednesday.

Freeman joined Public Safety (combined fire/police department) in 2007 after the death of long-term chief Dino Richardson. He was officially chosen by a committee, but in reality the decision was made by former City Manager Johnnie Arnold, who was himself fired last year. Freeman apparently never got the fire training he was required to have, turned a blind eye to an arson epidemic, intimidated, demoted, and attempted to fire several senior officers, and verbally abused many of his employees.

The abuse came to a head last month when Freeman terminated fireman Johnny Stephens, Jr. and attempted the same with patrol officer Denny Reyes. Their statements to the council brought new attention on the Director’s behavior, and apparently led to an investigation of the chief that culminated Monday during a closed-door “executive session” meeting of the city council.

According to several within the city, City Manager Frank Etheridge presented Freeman with two options early Wednesday morning: resign or be fired. it’s not clear which he chose, but by noon he was unemployed and assistant chief Bengie Clift was named interim director.

From CatWalkChatt.com, 05/16/12:

“‘Chief Freeman is no longer an employee of the city,’ said city manager Frank Etheridge. Etheridge hinted that the decision had been pending between himself and the city council for some time, and had been spurred in part thanks to the vocal public outcry against Freeman, which came to a head during the March 20 called meeting that upheld the termination of city firefighter Johnny Stephens.

“‘We had a difference of management styles and at this point we’re moving forward,’ said Etheridge. ‘We’re going to miss his skills, but we’re going to take a different path.'”

The ironic thing is he would probably still have his job if he hadn’t fired Stephens and Reyes. Their terminations led to a LOT of attention being put on him and his behavior, which is why he was fired. Let that be a lesson to you: sometimes bullying backfires.

..Although he still gets his retirement so he didn’t lose much.

Now the council has to decide who will replace him permanently. They will be having two planning meetings, on Friday and Saturday, and will probably be looking at options for how to choose a successor; it would be very surprising to see anyone named since (per our understanding) the job has to be posted publicly before it can be filled.

More on that topic later.

The Underground will step up and say “thank you” to the City Manager and council for making a right decision about this, and taking care of the problem finally. This sends a good message to the employees and citizens of LaFayette that things are different, and hopefully now they will be.

WQCH Radio, 05/16/12: “A WALKER COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE IS UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE GBI. SHERIFF STEVE WILSON CALLED-IN THE STATE AGENCY TO LOOK INTO ALLEGATIONS THAT ITEMS COLLECTED IN LOCAL CRIME INVESTIGATIONS WERE NOT DISPOSED-OF IN THE MANNER REQUIRED BY LAW. THE EMPLOYEE WAS NOT IDENTIFIED BUT SHERIFF WILSON SAID THE PERSON IS ON PAID LEAVE UNTIL THE INVESTIGATION IS CONCLUDED. IF EVIDENCE OF UNLAWFUL CONDUCT IS UNCOVERED BY THE GBI, THEY WILL TURN THE EVIDENCE OVER TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FOR POSSIBLE PROSECUTION.”

The only surprising thing about this? Sheriff Wilson decided to do something about it. He’s tolerated dead bodies in the woods, cops beating their wives, and deputies having sexual contact with underage girls – but he called in the GBI for somebody mishandling evidence. So the question has to be asked: what did this unnamed employee do to piss Steve Wilson off?

In other Sheriff’s Department news…

Chattanooga Times Free Press, 05/16/12: “The Walker County Sheriff’s Office has ruled the death of a man found with his feet bound and a pillow case over his head as a suicide.”

Steve Wilson says “it was unusual.”

..no comment.