QUESTIONS????
12-18-09
As 2009 ends we have the following questions:
1. When are the defeated and disgraced ex-councilman Johnnie Leashore and Ruthless Crenshaw going to repay the $100,000.00 they stole from the Water Board by taking salaries they were not entitled to (according to the State Examiners of Public Accounts)?
2. When will someone send us information either confirming or disproving that 105.3 hate radio announcer Leashore is guilty of stealing government cheese and/or shooting into his girlfriend's house? We have read both of these allegations recently on the Selma Times Journal blog, but we do not know if they are true or if it is another Leashore who did these acts. If anyone has information about this and dates when these acts happened, please email us with the information.
3. Why is Collins Pettway, former Mayor Perkins' brother in law, still the Attorney for the Selma Water Works and Sewer Board? One of the reasons Mayor Evans was appointed Superintendent and Council President Allen and Councilman Tucker were appointed to the Board was to get an attorney who was supportive of Mayor Evans---not keep his enemies in positions of influence!
4. Why are all of the Perkins appointees still running the day to day operations of city government? This has been our biggest disappointment with Mayor Evans in his first year in office. He has continued to let these people who did everything possible to keep him from becoming Mayor run the city government departments. As we talk to people who have been long time supporters of Mayor Evans and who continue to support him, this has also been their biggest disappointment with Mayor Evans. It is past time that he put his supporters in these positions. Our question is, IF HE IS GOING TO LET THE SAME PEOPLE RUN CITY GOVERNMENT, WHY DID HE RUN FOR MAYOR IN THE FIRST PLACE?
5. What was Congressman Artur Davis thinking when he put $450,000 in the recently passed PORK BILL for Rose's Voting Rights Museum? Can someone tell us why the government should spend $10 MILLION on a Voting Rights Interpretative Center and at the same time give $450,000 to a Voting Rights Museum less than 100 yards from the government's Interpretative Center? Of course, Davis is running for Governor and his opponent Ron Sparks is making inroads into the black vote, which will make up almost 50% of the vote in the Democrat Primary next June. Neither of these two men inspires us. Davis is our congressman. Since he has been in Congress, Selma has become worse off than before he was elected. As for Sparks, we can thank him for giving us Synethia Perkins (Baby Sister) Pettway to be a member of our local Board of Registrars.
6. Why did Rose resign as President of the Voting Rights Museum the day after Davis announced his $450,000 gift to the museum? Because the Museum (read Rose) has broken the law by not filing the required Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service for the past three years!!! Davis found out about this, made one call, and Rose publicly resigned. Does anyone think she won't still be in charge of the Museum AND YOUR $450,000 IN TAX DOLLARS-THANKS TO DAVIS!!
7. Why doesn't the Selma City Council assume its appointment powers under the State Law and replace most of the city department heads? We have the tail wagging the dog in this situation. State Law gives the appointment powers to the City Council-not to the Mayor. It also permits the Council to give the appointment powers to the Mayor, which the previous council did. But rightly, the powers belong to the Council not the Mayor. It is time for President Allen to exercise some leadership and lead the Council in assuming the powers given to it by state law. Once the Council has its powers again, it should clean house in city government. Those Council members-and there are 6 or 7 of them-who support Mayor Evans have, in our opinion, got to "save him from himself" and rid him of his enemies and surround him with competent friends and supporters.....and the sooner the better!
8. Since City Attorney Jimmy Nunn is going to run for District Judge, when will he resign as City Attorney? We say the sooner the better. Nunn would be our choice as the first Perkins appointee to go although Val Jones, Charlotte Griffith, Daryl Moore, and Roosevelt Goolsby are close seconds. And in our view, Chief Riley is also on shaky ground with some of his recent promotions-passing over people who made the highest grades and promoting those who made lower grades.
As the year comes to a close, we hope and pray that 2010 will be a better year for our city and our city government- and that when 2011 comes, the same incompetent people won't be running the day to day operations of city government.
