This fouled-up flag was spotted last Sunday, April 15th, flying in LaFayette Cemetery.

The official military standard for a United States flag is thirteen equal-width stripes alternating between red and white, beginning and ending with red. This rag has only twelve stripes, one is too large, the bottom stripe is too small, and the last stripe is white.

This hardly qualifies as a US flag at all.

Yet it was put on display at LaFayette Cemetery, final resting place of more than a few veterans and a good number of men who gave up their lives fighting for what the flag represents. A misprint flag is unacceptable in any place, but outright disgraceful flying near the graves of dead soldiers.

It’s unclear when the flag was first hung on the cemetery gazebo. It might have been there a day, might have been there six months. We also don’t know who provided it. Being on the gazebo, the flag likely came from the city, but items are often placed in the cemetery by organizations like the Boy Scouts, Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the Confederacy, and others. Items are also sometimes placed by individual family members. (We’d like to think the scouts, DAR, or the Sons would recognize a bad flag and refuse to hang it.)

But regardless of where the flag came from initially, in the cemetery it becomes a responsibility of the city, and should have been replaced immediately. That’s why the Underground e-mailed LaFayette City Manager Frank Etheridge on Monday April 16th to inquire about it and let him know of the problem:

“Mr. Etheridge-

“As you may be aware, this flag was spotted on the LaF. cemetery gazebo on Sunday. The stripes are printed incorrectly, and it’s disgraceful for the many buried there who gave their lives for what the flag represents.

“Was this flag placed by the city, or some other group? Will the city be replacing it?

“We will be posting an article about this with your response on Thursday. Thanks for your prompt reply and action.”

Etheridge never responded. But by Tuesday night the flag was taken down. It may have been removed by the city; since he didn’t answer our inquiry we don’t know. The flag photo was posted on Facebook late Sunday, and several concerned citizens contacted LU saying they would be removing it if the city didn’t take prompt action, so it might very well have been swiped by an individual.

This article is posted in hopes of avoiding the same embarrassment happening again. Any civic group, individual, or government agency should inspect their flags before putting them out. A majority of US flags are still manufactured in this country, but some are made overseas (namely in China) and some of the foreign manufacturers aren’t concerned about quality or accuracy. If you insist on buying and flying a cheaper foreign-made flag, at least make sure it’s a real flag and not a misprint mess.

It’s no secret that LaFayette has struggled for years under poor leadership. Lack of vision, lack of ethics, and derisive attitudes have done much damage to the Queen City, and are the main reason this Web site exists.

In January the city had opportunity to wipe the slate clean and head in a better direction. Dysfunctional City Manager Johnnie Arnold was fired last fall, and the city elected two new people (plus a returning figure) to its council. New leaders made promises of transparency and reform, and have taken a few steps to remove the rot – but one recent incident highlights how little has been done, and how far the city still is from being properly run.

As previously covered, LaFayette Firefighter Johnny Stephens, Jr. was fired on March 8th after ignoring direct orders from his supervisors three days earlier. He was asked by LPD Chief Tommy Freeman (shown above) and Assistant Chief Bengie Clift to install an outdated police radio in a Public Works pickup truck, per the request of newly appointed Public Works Director Mark White. Stephens had installed several radios in the past, but this time refused to do it because his own pay had been cut and the department was paying another employee extra to do the same job.

A special council meeting was held on March 20th to review Stephens’ firing and consider his request to be reinstated. Mr. Stephens, who represented himself, admitted he had a bad attitude due to his cut pay and never installed the radio – but also said he never told the chief “no,” just repeatedly asked “why” it was his job to do the installation.

“Basically I just wanted a reasoning why – why was it in the scope of my job description ..I feel like I was taken advantage of for my knowledge of working on cars.” -Terminated Firefighter Johnny Stephens, Jr.

Stephens blamed his actions on the hostile atmosphere at LaFayette Public Safety and Chief Tommy Freeman’s continual abusive behavior towards employees. Many in the standing-room-only crowd stood to echo those concerns, saying that Freeman’s employees walk on eggshells, living every day in fear of being verbally assaulted by the chief or fired for minor offenses. (Freeman’s unacceptable behavior and incompetence have been covered here on multiple occasions.) The chief of course denied yelling at Stephens or any other employee, accusing the witnesses of trying to get back at him for unpopular decisions.

This blog posts contains quoted strong language and profanity, beyond that indicated by the title. Reader discretion advised.

From The Chattanooga Times Free Press, 03/17/2012 :

“A LaFayette, Ga., firefighter who was fired last week for refusing to obey an order while on duty is appealing the decision to the City Council, authorities said.

“LaFayette Public Safety Director Tommy Freeman said he wrote up Johnny Stephens Jr. for insubordination two weeks ago. He said the firefighter refused to install a radio in a pickup truck after being told twice by his supervisors.

“‘He was given a lawful, legal order to carry out an assignment, and he refused to do it,’ Freeman said.”

Johnny Stephens Jr. has been a LaFayette city employee for fourteen years, working as a building inspector, fire marshal, and firefighter. But that career came to an end earlier this month after he refused to install a radio in a pickup truck – something well beyond the normal job of a firefighter. According to unverified reports, the truck needing a radio isn’t a city vehicle, but the personal vehicle of newly appointed Public Works Director Mark White. (Why does White need a radio in his personal vehicle, and why was Stephens the one expected to install it?)

“Freeman recommended to LaFayette City Manager Frank Etheridge that Stephens — a four-year [sic] employee — be fired.”

According to our sources within LaFayette Public Safety, Stephens actually wasn’t fired by Etheridge, but told over the phone by Assistant Chief Bengie Clift that he was being let go. Etheridge may have finalized the decision, but it was initially done by Clift after Freeman came bursting into the detectives’ office area and screamed “I want papers drawn up on Jr Stephens. I’m terminating his ass!”

That quote would be hard to believe, except it exactly fits into Freeman’s past behavior, his habit of cursing people in public, and his apathy towards experienced employees who fail to fall in line behind his incompetence.

These photos were taken today, March 15th, at the Walker County Road Barn in Chickamauga:

The man in orange is a Walker County Jail inmate, checked out to do work for the county. The vital work he’s doing for Walker County is washing and detailing the personal vehicle of a woman named Betty Keys. Keys is a member of the county Animal Control board and (more importantly) manager of Bebe Heiskell’s reelection campaign. She’s also paid to be a secretary for the county but nobody can figure out what her responsibilities are since she’s never been observed doing real work.

According to sources, Keys used to pay inmates from Walker State Prison $10 to wash her vehicle, but the warden there caught her and stopped the practice. So now she’s using county inmates instead. No word on whether or not this unidentified prisoner was paid or otherwise compensated for his service.

Legally, checked-out prisoners (even ones paid under the table) can only do services that benefit the public, such as washing or repairing government-owned vehicles, doing maintenance work on public property, mowing grass in parks, picking up trash on the right-of-way, etc. Any use of a prisoner to work on private property or perform services for individuals is considered an abuse of the inmates’ civil rights and a violation of state law. Using a prisoner to assist with a reelection campaign (as this might be defined) could also violate federal elections law.

Walker County Government ethics in action. The kind of behavior we can continue to expect as long as Walker County has a sole commissioner, and as long as that Sole Commissioner is Bebe Heiskell.

Previous problems with checked out Walker County inmates: Trustworthy?

Have a photo of unethical behavior in the city or county? We’re always happy to see them and share the best. E-mail the Underground, anonymity guaranteed, to photos@cityoflafayettega.com.

In February 2001, Robert Crawford passed away after a long battle with cancer. His family mourned the loss, as all of us must do when a loved one dies. But one year later, February 15, 2002, that painful experience became an unbelievable nightmare when the Crawford family found out they hadn’t been given Robert’s cremated remains and his body (along with hundreds of others) had likely been abandoned at Tri-State Crematory.

Robert’s sister Teri, a nurse and military reservist, did more than mourn for the way her brother was treated – she quit her civilian job and volunteered to help with recovery in Noble. For a while she coordinated DNA collection from families hoping to identify relatives, but was pushed out after voicing concern about the way county and state leaders were running the recovery operation and subsequent investigation. In 2010 she wrote a book about her experience titled “Legal Deception.”

Like all family members connected to crematory victims, Crawford has nothing nice to say about Tri-State operator Brent Marsh. She also doesn’t mince words blaming Brent’s parents, Clara and Ray – wealthy, well-connected crematory founders/owners – for the Noble nightmare. And unlike the mainstream media, Teri Crawford doesn’t hesitate in blaming local officials for their own roles in covering up the disaster and keeping victim families from getting justice.