Okay, a racial pop quiz...

[Yonivore]

Is this racism or not?


Sheriff posts snipers after firings (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/04/sheriff.firings.ap/index.html)

JONESBORO, Georgia (AP) -- On his first day on the job, the new sheriff called 27 employees into his office, stripped them of their badges, fired them, and had rooftop snipers stand guard as they were escorted out the door.

The move Monday by Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill provoked an angry reaction and prompted a judge to order him to rehire the employees.

"It appears ... that employees of the Sheriff were terminated without cause" and in violation of the county's civil service rules, Judge Stephen Boswell wrote in granting a 30-day restraining order.

Hill, 39, defended the firings and said the new sheriff has the right to shake up the department in whatever way he feels necessary. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he fired the employees to "maintain the integrity of the department."

"A lot of people are under the impression that the sheriff's office is under civil service laws," he said. "But my research shows the employees work at the pleasure of the sheriff."

The firings had a racial overtone. Hill was among a spate of black candidates elected last year in the county once dominated by rural whites. The county seat was the setting for the fictional plantation Tara in "Gone With The Wind."

The fired employees included four of the highest-ranking officers, all of them white. Hill told the newspaper their replacements would be black.

Another of the newly elected black officials, Eldrin Bell, called the move illegal and filed for the restraining order granted by the judge. Bell is the new county commission chairman and former Atlanta police chief.

Hill said the manner in which he fired the workers -- including taking some deputies home in vans normally used to transport prisoners because the deputies were barred from using county cars -- was necessary.

He cited the assassination of Sheriff Derwin Brown in neighboring DeKalb County in 2000. Brown was gunned down in the driveway of his home three days before he was to be sworn in. Former sheriff Sidney Dorsey was found guilty of plotting to kill him and sentenced to life in prison.

"Derwin Brown sent out letters to 25 to 30 people letting them know they would not be reappointed when he took office," Hill said.

The sheriff's department employs 345 workers.

[Hook Dem]

Will it never end? :rolleyes

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Yeah, it is.

[Yonivore]

Yeah, it is.
Then, where's Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the ACLU and the Rainbow Coalition and the Demoncrats all decrying this Sheriff's actions?

[Clandestino]

it will be interesting to see what happens...but if the judges are white in his county he is screwed anyway...

[Yonivore]

it will be interesting to see what happens...but if the judges are white in his county he is screwed anyway...
Actually, it was a black commissioner that called him on the carpet and filed the complaint...

[Hook Dem]

Here is a good example of someone who ran for office just to get revenge instead of dispensing justice for all. And some wonder why racism never ends. This is one example of why!

[JoeChalupa]

What goes around comes around.


And damnit Yonivore will you grow up and stop using "demoncrat"!!

[JoeChalupa]

Racism will never end as long as there are humans alive.


And yes, I can see where you could call this racism.

Where is Pat Roberts and Jerry Falwell!!

[Yonivore]

What goes around comes around.
Surely, you're kidding!

And damnit Yonivore will you grow up and stop using "demoncrat"!!
No. And, I've explained why...having nothing to do with maturity. But, thanks for asking. Grow a thicker skin or shut the fuck up...or, just keep whining about it. Frankly, I don't care which.

[Useruser666]

If he fired them for being white then it is wrong.

[Yonivore]

Racism will never end as long as there are humans alive.
That's defeatist.

And yes, I can see where you could call this racism.
Call?

Where is Pat Roberts and Jerry Falwell!!
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware they were who the media normally sought opinions from on matters racial...Sharpton, Jackson, et. al., on the other hand...

[Yonivore]

If he fired them for being white then it is wrong.
Especially since he emphatically stated he would replace them with blacks...without mentioning qualifications.

[JoeChalupa]

Surely, you're kidding!

No. And, I've explained why...having nothing to do with maturity. But, thanks for asking. Grow a thicker skin or shut the fuck up...or, just keep whining about it. Frankly, I don't care which.

Frankly Yonivore, I don't give damn. Why don't you shut the fuck up and go make me a pork chop sammich.
You are one to talk about whining when you do a lot of it yourself.
Go on and think of yourself as Mr. Knowitall you repugnant wannabe.
:lol

[JoeChalupa]

That's defeatist.

Call?

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware they were who the media normally sought opinions from on matters racial...Sharpton, Jackson, et. al., on the other hand...

It is not being defeatist, it is being realistic.

Since when did Pat Roberts or Jerry Falwell need the help of the media to open their pie holes?

[Yonivore]

It is not being defeatist, it is being realistic.
I think there'll be a day without racism as soon as people like Jackson, Sharpton, and the Liberal Left quit baiting racists, extorting companies, and demanding preferential treatment of one race over another...

Since when did Pat Roberts or Jerry Falwell need the help of the media to open their pie holes?
For that matter, since when did the so-called black leader, I mentioned, need the help of the media to open their pie holes? My reference was more about the MEDIA that tends to beat a path to the doors of Jackson, Sharpton, etc...whenever a racial issue arises.

[Yonivore]

Frankly Yonivore, I don't give damn. Why don't you shut the fuck up and go make me a pork chop sammich.
You are one to talk about whining when you do a lot of it yourself.
Go on and think of yourself as Mr. Knowitall you repugnant wannabe.
:lol
Wow! I sense a lot of hostility there, Joe. And, get your own fucking sammich you lazy neverwillbe. :o) But, I've seen your pic, maybe you should lay off the other white meat just a little...eh?

[Duff McCartney]

No. And, I've explained why...having nothing to do with maturity.

Na na na boo boo...you can't hurt me.

[Yonivore]

Na na na boo boo...you can't hurt me.
Exactly!

[CrazyOne]

Na na na boo boo...you can't hurt me.
:rollin :rollin :rollin

I love it when the political discourse devolves to these kind of statements...

Thanks for giving me a good laugh on the way out of work, Duff... I needed that.

[Guru of Nothing]

Then, where's Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the ACLU and the Rainbow Coalition and the Demoncrats all decrying this Sheriff's actions?

Anyone else see the irony?

[MannyIsGod]

Sounds like racism to me. Why don't you call up the ACLU, they attack discrimination of all kinds, don't act like they are one sided.

[MannyIsGod]

More than meets the eye to this one, maybe that's why the ACLU hasn't been brought in?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050106/ts_latimes/aheavyhandlaysdownthelaw

A Heavy Hand Lays Down the Law

2 hours, 52 minutes ago

Add to My Yahoo! Top Stories - Los Angeles Times

By Ellen Barry Times Staff Writer

JONESBORO, Ga. — If anyone doubted that there was a new sheriff in town, Victor Hill made it clear the day he took office.

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He fired 27 employees, stripping them of their guns and escorting them under guard out the building, where prisoner vans were on hand to drive them home. Armed men were stationed on the roof, he said, "just in case someone got emotional."

The mass firing has infuriated many in Clayton County, the spot south of Atlanta where Margaret Mitchell set her novel "Gone With the Wind." Hill is the first African American to be elected sheriff in the county, reflecting a demographic swing as blacks arrived in large numbers.

Anyone hoping for a smooth transition was sorely disappointed. Three days into Hill's term, the white-haired men gathered at the Bonanza Barber Shop could talk of nothing but the new sheriff, and they did not talk kindly.

"He ain't got no sense," said Terry Smithson, the barber, who is white.

Dave Walker, a customer, agreed. "This is going to have a long-term effect," he said. "You better believe it."

Changes have rushed into Clayton County, which was an all-white agricultural suburb in the 1970s. By 1990, 27% of its residents were black; now, that proportion has climbed to 51%. November's elections brought landmark victories for black candidates, including the first black district attorney and the first black chairman of the county commission

Hill, a stylish man with a pencil mustache, has never shied from clashing with the county's old guard. As his swearing-in approached, county authorities attempted to strip powers from the Sheriff's Department, a move he called "blatantly politically motivated, and blatantly discriminatory" in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

When the time came to resign from the Clayton County Police Department, Hill, 39, did it with an unusual gesture — instead of resigning in person to Chief Darrell Partain, he left a letter on the seat of his police vehicle, parked in Partain's reserved spot.

He had particular friction with his predecessor, Sheriff Stanley Tuggle. After a bruising race for sheriff, Hill said, Tuggle left personnel files missing or shredded and computers infected with viruses.

"A few individuals in the old guard made it very, very difficult," he said. (Tuggle did not respond to a request for comment.)

Hill said firing the 27 employees would increase the department's effectiveness. The only thing unusual about his actions, he said, were the safety precautions he took.

"That's 30 individuals with a weapon," he said. "They may fire it at you."

Hill said he was haunted by the case of Derwin Brown, who was shot to death in his driveway in December 2000 after being elected sheriff of DeKalb County. Before he was killed, Brown had announced plans to fire 25 to 30 employees, Hill said. Brown's political rival, Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, was convicted of the crime in 2002.

Terry Norris, who trained new sheriff's deputies this winter as they prepared to take office, said he was shocked at Hill's approach.

"The termination is almost unbelievable," said Norris, executive vice president of the Georgia Sheriffs' Assn. "The tactics used were certainly unnecessary. I do not agree that he needed snipers. That was his decision. I'm not sure I can make sense of it."

The employees packed an emotional citizens' meeting Tuesday night, complaining of inhumane treatment. Harlan S. Miller, an attorney representing them, said "the obvious common denominator" among the 27 was "political retaliation and patronage." Although such house-cleanings were once commonplace, Miller said, the law now protects civil servants.



On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge ordered Hill to rehire the employees pending a hearing Jan. 14. Hill has complied, but maintains he has the authority to fire the employees at will.

Tuesday brought another twist when Tuggle's brother was arrested on charges of making harassing phone calls to Hill's office.

Kim Smith, an African American lieutenant who was among the employees fired, said he worried that the dispute could sour race relations in Clayton County.

"This puts a real negative spin on the county going from all white to all black," said Smith, 41. "People are going to think black sheriffs are not smart enough."

Other black officials have voiced the same worries, saying the relationship between newcomers and old-timers was still delicate. Wole Ralph, a newly elected county commissioner, said he ran on a platform of "connectivity."

"People have been excited about the changing times in Clayton County," said Ralph, 27. "I think this puts a real damper on that."

But in a black-owned barbershop on Tara Boulevard, Pete Ellis, 44, saw the dispute as another chapter in the fading of the "good-old-boy network."

Ellis, an airline inspector, moved to Clayton County from Miami three years ago. Asked if Hill had acted too harshly, Ellis gave a slow smile.

"There's a new sheriff in town," he said, "and he's cleaning house."

This isn't a very simple situation, that's the only thing that's for sure right now.

[Useruser666]

More than meets the eye to this one, maybe that's why the ACLU hasn't been brought in?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050106/ts_latimes/aheavyhandlaysdownthelaw


This isn't a very simple situation, that's the only thing that's for sure right now.

Sounds as messy as our PGA village and city council.

[Yonivore]

I notice the LA Slime didn't mention this little tid-bit from the article I posted:


"The fired employees included four of the highest-ranking officers, all of them white. Hill told the newspaper their replacements would be black."

Racism...pure and simple. I believe it was the Slime that drummed up the Rodney King debacle.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

And the AP didn't mention the stuff Manny put in bold, so what?

[MannyIsGod]

Sure dude, when you look at one item taken out of context and spin it, it's racism. I'll hold out my judgement on that. It look rather foolish right now, but I'm not ready to call it racisist.

[bigzak25]

hopefully the shit don't hit the fan and there are no serious acts of violence....

don't spew the bullshit that the actions aren't racially motivated though.......it's fuckin obvious.....but that does not necessarily mean that it wasn't the right thing to do....there may have been alot of corrupt shit going on.

however, it is disgusting that "the new sheriff in town" has openly said he will replace with all black cops. corrupt men come in all colors.

[ChumpDumper]

Hey, why were all those guys white in the first place?

[Hook Dem]

Hey, why were all those guys white in the first place?
Uh....they were born that way? :lol

[Guru of Nothing]

I like your sig picture Hook, but it would be SO MUCH better if there were a keyboard under each paw.