[TPC] - A Write-up by Guest Columnist, Samuel Hay

*ed. note: Sam Hay, III is a multi-generational Newtonian who has been a writer and pressman for almost his entire life - well over 50 years. Truly one of the Living Legends of the home county, we're always proud to have his contributions. Thanks, as always, for reading. - MBM 

DAY OF THE TAMALE

- A write-up by Samuel Hay, Guest Columnist 

My personal choice for dinner tonight. Living in New Orleans, food was just remarkable. Fortunately I learned how to cook a lot of it. We have holiday meals that usually are Cajun and Creole or with a big steel and mortar smoker in the back yard, ribs and BBQ. 


But one of the most memorable things about my days in New Orleans was a guy who sold tamales on the street corner out of a little push cart like an ice cream cart. His name was Manuel. While I was there he expanded to supplying some local restaurants not the least of which was Augies Delago. (Meaning on the water) Augies was a three story building on the lakefront which served appetizers and booze. There was always live music. There were always sailboats from around the world that would sail into Lake Pontchartrain and tie up just to get some New Orleans time and Augies was the place.I met people there from all over the world.Unfortunately years later Augies burned down and the City Marina off West Esplanade is located there now. 


Cindy was going to bring catfish today but she had to leave town for Nashville so we are looking forward to that next Sunday. 


In the meantime we whipped up some Manuel style tamales. And sauce. Always using ground beef instead of chicken or pork. AND you gotta know we steam them in real corn husks! So it was a good day!


The end of the story, back in New Orleans visiting friends and attending our 12th Mardi Gras, we are on the interstate and get passed by this tractor trailer truck which has painted on the side of it, "MANUELS TAMALES"! I would have to say our old pal made it big.

[TPC] - Guest Post by Samuel Hay in re Keith Ellis

The following is a guest post written by Samuel Hay with express permission to be posted here. As always, we appreciate you reading `MM 

NEWTON’S SO CALLED COMMISSION CHAIRMAN

KEITH ELLIS

With malice and forethought, Ellis presented libelous and slanderous documents to the Board in order to destroy the company which had subcontracted the landscape work for Newton County, Ga, without the first complaint ever, in order that an alleged hand picked new sub could take over the work. It is paramount to note the new sub could not perform the work and turned in invoices which were approved by Ellis and paid, fraudulently as the work was not performed as specified in the contract with the new sub.

Ellis’ own administrative assistants thoroughly researched the smut sheet and returned to him with written confirmation, I have a dated copy, all the so called facts on the smut sheet were false. This is why Hay filed an action to see the public records. This is why open records are so important.

Two days later Ellis himself delivers the smut sheet to the Board of Commissioners as being accurate although he had in hand the truth which he failed to disclose.

Keith Ellis is solely responsible for the lawsuits which have followed his acts and actions and cost the taxpayers of Newton County hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This malice and forethought, being outside the scope of his office, disallows Ellis any legal representation by the taxpayers of Newton County, Georgia and requires he repay the citizens for any and all legal fees already spent, incurred by his negligence.

Therefore, we the citizens of Newton County, Georgia, do offer to Chairman Ellis the opportunity to resign, no later than December 1, 2015. In the event he does not, we will set meetings with the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to have Ellis removed from office immediately.

Copies to the local press and Catie Beck 11 alive news.

-33-

[tpc] - Guest Post by Samuel Hay, III - Hey, What's The Problem?

The Piedmont Chronicles   

~ est. 2010 ~

[State of GA]
[Newton Co.]

*Ed. Note: The following is a post by multi-generational Newtonian, Sam Hay, and his .02 vis-a-vis all things Newton Co. It's a big, hot mess, friends, and Mr. Hay raises many, many valid points. Lord help us - it really is that bad. And the powers that be seem more interested in rearranging the deck chairs on the proverbial Titanic. My word! But remember, you beautiful, awe-inspiring readers, the problem has been going on for generations now in the home county. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we won't fix this epic clusterfuck overnight. But we've got to truly start in earnest. The time is now. We need a kick-ass, Rock Star edition of The Board, and come the first week in January of '17, I think we just might have it. Per usual, I remain optimistic. And as always, thanks for reading!

Hey, what's the problem? 
A guest post by Samuel Hay, III 

~ special to The Chronicles ~ 

JDA. Newton County owes millions in taxes collected and spent illegally according to the JDA, Multi County Authority Contract/Agreement.

Water supplies are going to be at a critical level withing the next two weeks. How could that be, you ask? Well the short answer is that Tommy Craig fought to keep the Thomas Hydro Drinking Water Plant off the table and the Commissioners agreed. Spend $250 million on a Bear Creek Reservoir that would have had no water instead of getting $53 million in free equipment from General Electric for a plant that could have produced 100 million gallons per day at $1.75 per thousand gallons instead of the $4.75 per thousand gallons from the Bear Creek Reservoir, if it had ever even produced a drop. And 25 years later General Electric would have given the plant to Newton County. Dont believe me, I had the contract in my hand!

Having found out, finally, the Library Board had a bid to replace the HVAC unit for less than $200,000.00. and they had a grant already in hand for around $100,000,00 BUT NOOOOO, someone on the Board was pressing to spend a million dollars to replace the unit with the same type of outdated, inefficient unit. So the County Commissioners, without an independent bid, HOCKED THE NEW ADMINISTRATION BUILDING BECAUSE THEY DIDNT HAVE THE MILLION DOLLARS.

GAZEBO...the County, who owns the town square, turned it over to the City to "MAINTAIN" and now the City wants to build a dinky looking Gazebo on the square which will completely ruin the view and the long loved and recognized landmark. IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIX IT. The Commissioners can stop this ridiculous project by voting "NO".

Election coming up. Do you know why so many people prefer to get bused to the polls rather than getting an absentee ballot? Because if they get an absentee ballot they cant get their pint of whiskey or their twenty dollar bill. I would like to point out that the Secretary of State investigated this problem some years ago because the local authorities turned their heads. They came up with the evidence and two named suspects to be indicted and imprisoned. The only problem was that the State or the Fed didnt do the prosecuting. They left it to the local District Attorney. Well, that was pretty stupid because the local District Attorney was one of the people who was guilty of BUYING VOTES!

Tommy Craig is still pulling a lot of strings. Ezell Brown keeps him fed by continuing to use his legal services when we are spending over a million dollars with another firm to attempt to straighten out the mess he made over the years already. And JC Henderson and Keith Ellis are bound, tied and gagged by TC to do his bidding. This is just crazy.

The powers that be, namely the above mentioned, have placed Newton County in a position of financial disaster trying to make the landfill look worse than it really was so the people/commissioners could more easily be convinced to give up the grandfathered in expansion permit for a REGIONAL LANDFILL. This impending disaster will continue to raise its evil head as long as JC Henderson, Tommy Craig and Keith Ellis are walking the streets. There must be one hell of a payoff at the end of the rainbow for these people to throw an entire county full of good people under the bus. That financial disaster is overdue repairs, Federal and State violations of toxic materials flowing into the Yellow River that could lead to millions in penalties, Lack of funding to make the necessary repairs. And I have to note, there seems to be not one single entry on the proposed SPLOST list for funding to fix these long overdue problems! WE WILL HAVE TO VOTE NO ON SPLOST FOR THIS AND MANY OTHER REASONS. How the people could even consider putting JC Henderson back in office after he supported TRASH MOUNTAIN is beyond me. His district MUST come up with a viable, capable, honest candidate to replace JC HENDERSON.

Why is Keith Ellis clear cutting so much timber belonging to the citizens of Newton County? If he cut everything we own it would be a drop in the bucket as far as paying bills is concerned. Most people believe there is an ulterior motive. I can quickly name several possible ulterior motives.

Newton County probably owns more surplus property than any other county in Georgia, per capita. Why? Well each story has a different angle but we need all this property back on the tax roles and we need that tax money NOW. We are broke. The first thing that needs to go is the GAITHER PLANTATION AND THE LAND FOR THE DEFUNCT BEAR CREEK RESERVOIR....that is after giving back to the Emmett Denby family their homestead. He has nothing to show for a lifetime of hard work. It took every penny of what the County paid him for his land in legal fees. Tommy Craig punished that family because they wouldnt bow down to him. You know, they say that some people, when they die, just go straight to hell.

Newton County has so much debt it is technically bankrupt. You dont have to file any court docs to be bankrupt. You just have to have so much debt without the assets to be able to pay it back. We, folks, are BANKRUPT. Instead of focusing strictly on the most severe problem we face, JC HENDERSON and a few others still want to add more and more pork to the budget and to SPLOST. These people have no business sense nor do they care about how much debt the people are loaded down with. WHAT IF we default and the banks start coming here and foreclosing on your homes and property? They can do that you know. The County is just a small stepping stone between their full faith and credit of taxation and the banks owing your home and property.

Since the little JDA owes over A BILLION DOLLARS with no way to repay it if their only renter moves on, IT IS WAY PAST TIME THEY GET REELED IN. Enough Said. That Board who thinks they are financial geniuses are going to take such a hit, there may be criminal charges filed against them for their lack of management capabilities. I think it may even be too late to hire in a professional to straighten it all out. Do you realize the Board itself has been making all these decisions on their own without outside help in the areas of sales, acquisition, negotiation, financing, world class legal advice, and a whole lot more. These guys get up in the morning and go to work.Then they meet up and talk about the JDA! Incredible, not a single one works primarily for the JDA or has the experience to keep from being conned by world class negotiators.
You just dont send a boy to do a man's job!

I can go on but I need to take a break from all this to keep my brain from exploding.

A Letter to the Editor by Samuel Hay: Fixing Newton & the Role of the Local, Traditional Press

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Samuel Hay 

For quite sometime now, two years or so, the citizens of Newton County, Georgia have waited for results from the ‘forensic audit’ to be used to prosecute any persons who were shown to have acted questionably, irresponsibly and possibly criminally.

The citizens of Newton County, Georgia spent nearly $300,000 to have this information analyzed and put down as evidence for the prosecution of any individuals who may be guilty of any crimes related to their connection with the government of Newton County, Georgia.

So far nothing has happened or if it has, good or bad, it has been kept a secret. Quite simply, this information could have been turned over to a Grand Jury when it was received as they are the sole determiners of whether to bring charges or not to bring charges.

This newspaper, “The Covington News”, has been negligent, derelict and irresponsible in not reporting on this issue at all over the past years. The subject of “When is something going to happen” circulates daily around the County. The conversations also elude to such comments as, “Since that newspaper is the Legal Organ, why don’t they feel a sense of responsibility to report important news about the County, of vast importance to the citizens?” “Is the lack of investigation and discovery and publication of these issues a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours deal?”

More than just talk these days is a move to have the three elected officials who select the Legal Organ, give it up to the other local publication, “The Newton Citizen.” Three votes decides this issue. It has been questioned for years already why The Covington News has always had ‘control’ of the legals and additionally why The Covington News does little to report on issues with any depth whatsoever concerning the local government. 

The people want to know who is keeping the forensic audit from reaching a Grand Jury. They also want to know who is responsible for not moving ahead on prosecutions. Is it the Newton County District Attorney or is it the Board of Commissioners, or someone else? From almost any standpoint this appears to be a case of ‘selective prosecution’. 

- LOCAL ADVERTISER -

Travis Moore

Hometown Realty Consultants

8230 Hazelbrand Road, Suite A

Covington, GA 30014

Direct: 678-544-4004

Office: 770-786-7979

People have commented on Tommy Craig’s legal liability insurance stating it is only for a million dollars and he created over $20 million in debt and we are still finding things he did wrong that are being added to that total. The question becomes, “Why don’t we go after him and that million dollars and if that is all we get, its better than nothing?”

It seems the citizens are facing a number of problems here. This newspaper is in the mix to report the facts on these delays. In the event it is not done, and done right away, the citizens are going to be asking for the legals to be given to their competition. Something that should have been done long ago. A few people are beginning to talk about finding candidates to qualify against these officials if they don’t start to take these issues seriously.

The Covington News has claimed they don’t have to abide by the laws that have changed over the years because they are grandfathered in. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each new appointment yearly is a new contract. The Covington News has allegedly refused to have an independent audit of their circulation for years and out previous County Attorney and the three officials who make the appointment have gone along with that story. Again, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. I have been in that situation on both sides. I don’t play games. Here is what goes on; An official informs the current Legal Organ that if they ‘play ball’ ie; lay off the tough stuff, they will continue to be the Legal Organ. On the other side, an official informs the competing newspaper, if you ‘play ball’ then we will do everything we can to get your newspaper the legals. Both newspapers are conned into not investigation the ‘tough stuff’ and this has caused more grief to our community that anything I know of over the years. Sheer protectionism. Its going to stop. Whatever it takes.

### 

"William" Keith Ellis - A Closer Look

Hello, friends, and welcome back to TPC. 

So our old pal William Keith Ellis is running in the GOP primary for BOC 5 in this current election cycle (early voting started yesterday, by the way). 

Right off the bat, many have been pointing out that he's really been pushing his first name in this race rather than his middle name that he's always used in a presumed attempt to run from his political past. After his unceremonious single term as BOC Chair in which the home county embarked on a true jubilation when he, as an absolute persona non grata, announced he would not be running again, most thought we'd seen the end of his political career. 

But, not the case. 

So, since he is running, it seemed incumbent upon me to do this post. 

Here are some of TPC's "greatest hits" regarding the old feller: 

One of my personal favorites happened late in Keith's disastrous tenure, when he bizarrely claimed that two of the BOC Commissioners at the time were trying to blackmail him. 

Here's a guest post about Ellis that was penned by Samuel Hay III (back when we were still friendly) that really hit the nail on the head, I thought. 

One that was particularly galling to me had to do w/ one of the mitigation properties the county had previously bought for the was-never-gonna-happen Bear Creek Reservoir that had both Keith's as well WTC's fingerprints all over it. 

Presiding over a six seven hour BOC meeting when he'd developed a reputation for regularly presiding over three, four & five hour meetings (the People's time was way too valuable for that)


And also for your reading pleasure are some of Keith's "greatest hits" from other news outlets: 

What's behind the BOCs vote of no confidence

Four Newton County commissioners vote ‘no-confidence’ in chairman

Commissioner Henderson gets $4,500 interest-free loan from county

Legality of Henderson's check questionable

Yeah, a no confidence vote is always a bad sign.

And the the infamous "loan" to JC was particularly ill received by many at the time. 

More than anything, during Keith's entire tenure of January 2013 - January 2017, it just seemed as if everything was chaos. Everything was bad. 

*******

In my honest & heartfelt opinion, the last thing we need in the home county is a return of "William" Keith Ellis in any elected position. Been there, done that. 

***Also - in my opinion, a vote for William Keith Ellis is a vote to bring back William Thomas "Tommy" Craig, Esq. as county attorney*** 

Again, been there, done that. 

Until next time, 

MBM 

[TPC] - Wednesday Night Check-in: Talkin' Trash Edition

- TPC -

The Piedmont Chronicles   

~ est. 2010 ~

[State of GA]
[Newton Co.]

[ Updated - see below] - 

Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to The Chronicles. Hope all is well.

The big item of discussion pertaining to Newton Co. as of late has revolved around trash. Back at the first of the year word hit that the county Solid Waste Authority (SWA) had come up with a solution to solve the trash woes of the home county and a way to solve the approx. $2 million bleeding per year that we've been seeing. That solution was to close the convenience centers and go with mandatory curbside pick up. A Request For Proposal (RFP) was done last year by the SWA to this effect and the accepted bid was tendered by Advanced Disposal. Upon further review, it was obvious that this was not the way to go for Newton (more on that later).

As the first full week of the new year turned into the second week it started to look like this was going to be a done deal; however, the proverbial #NewtonCounty12 kicked into gear and things went from there.

It is in this writer's estimation that the tide was turned by the tireless efforts of many people; however, it was two of the home county's most well known activists - the River Lady and the one and only Samuel Hay, who really led the charge. But the articulation of the case against this was laid out by another activist, Ms. Ann Neuhierl. Here's her letter to the editor to the Covington News from several days ago: 

It has become apparent that the RFP(Q) for Solid Waste RFQP#16-06A was written to prevent the local companies now serving Newton County from being awarded any/all of the contracts for Solid Waste Management. Taken a while to figure this out, but the recent announcement of a “pending contract” (is this an “intent to award”?) has brought this to light. I’ve seen many RFPs written in a “preferential” way. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The RFP(Q) also doesn’t appear to have been well-advertised. Local haulers have stated they knew nothing about it. Again, just because you are only required to announce in one publication doesn’t mean you should. It’s not even on our County Website.

In this “voluntary” system, will the local companies be prohibited through their “district sub-contract(s)” with ADS from charging their current rates independently and running their current routes? If this is the case, the Centers will be much cheaper and heavily used, again, and the roads will suffer. My cul-de-sac currently has three waste-disposal trucks each week. There are more than three companies servicing the rest of my neighborhood.

Why do we need to increase costs by contracting with ADS or anyone else to set up routes and haulers? Why would those of us who already have curbside pick-up for $14/month want to pay more for the same service? AND when you have a “monopoly” the price doesn’t go down, does it? What time frame will the “agreed upon” fees be held to? How would this cost be controlled? Curbside should be managed by the SWA. If we don’t have the staff, hire it!

Why are we awarding curbside pickup to a company associated others set on bringing a Trash Mountain to our county? DAS also has a horrible environmental record. Are we not interested in working on cleaning up our environmental issues?

Why isn’t recycling part of the RFP(Q) and pending contract(s)? This is key to cleaning up our county. If we included recycling, we could close the centers and stop the financial losses and the road wear associated. What happened to all the talk about following other counties' lead(s) in becoming a zero-landfill county?

Will ADS have the same or a different rate as others for tonnage disposal at our landfill?

Why was a quorum avoided for the Private SWA/BOC meeting Tuesday with ADS and the local haulers? Why are meetings like this being held before any citizen input on the SWA intentions?

The reason so many fought so hard for a SWA was to stop the Trash Mountain and clean up and reduce our landfill. I think SWA members, for the most part, want to head in this direction. Unfortunately, some of the current plans have what could be called “Unintended Consequences” that will not be good for the county...

As it turns out, this RFP was not just for curbside pickup. It was also for operation and control of the landfill, and that, dear readers, seems to be the rub. Once you see that actual RFP, you can tell that this was done by design. A back door way to take over the landfill, or so it seems.

Fortunately for us, cooler, calmer and smarter heads have prevailed, at least for the moment. At the SWA/Newton Co. BOC meeting on Monday the 23rd, Mr. Ronnie Johnston, Mayor of Covington and SWA member, seemed to save the day, according to multiple reports. First, he insisted that citizen comments be added before any vote was taken, and he, seemingly, was the driving force behind making sure that this questionable bill of goods did not turn into a bill of lading. And say what you will about Mr. Mayor, and I've said a few choice words about him over the years, you can't deny the fact that he's got his finger on the pulse of things way more that a lot of folks in position of power around these parts. Simply put - this was bullshit; and he, along with several other folks, at least gave us a chance to steer clear of it. Kudos, also, to Commissioners Cowan and  Edwards. Doesn't it feel nice to have faith and confidence in our BOC? It's been a long time since we could say that, no?

And there's a myriad of other things: 

- possibly putting multiple existing going concerns out of business
- the questionable legalities of a state political subdivision trying to enforce mandatory trash pick up (municipalities are basically like corporations, counties are not)
- the recurring feeling that there may be foxes in the hen house as it relates to these issues within Newton County 
- And what about the logistics of mandatory collection? Hwy 36 would turn into a damn disaster on pickup days!

A solution is out there. Like several others, I think you have to maintain at least some of the convenience centers. Maybe 5, perhaps 7. Mandatory collection? No way!

More to come later... 

Thanks for reading. Til next time.

UPDATE 1.27.16 - I forgot to mention that the local haulers who would have been adversely effected by this change were instrumental in keeping this from becoming a done deal.

-MBM

Stanton Springs/JDA 1st Report: Some Definite Concerns

[State of GA]
[Newton Co.]

(Covington * 12/18/17) -

The long and winding story of the Stanton Springs development & the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton & Walton counties (JDA) goes back almost 20 years to the late 1990s. The original vision was a grandiose plan of creating a four-county authority and purchasing 1500 acres of land right next to I-20 in an area where those four counties converged to create, as an AJC article mentioned in 1999, high-tech companies with high-wage jobs. Having four different taxing jurisdictions coming together could spread the cost and risk and would help make a reality of a dream that maybe couldn't have come together otherwise.

It sounded pretty good. But...

The problems with this project, which has officially put hundreds of thousands of taxpayers throughout these four counties on the hook for over $1.2 billion* and has been described as a boondoggle by many, began almost immediately.

The aforementioned land was owned by a timber trust and was at the time offered for approx. $3.7 million ($2400/acre) based on information at the time. Two different appraisals ordered during this period put the value somewhere between $2.8 million & approx $5 million. So the asking price actually seemed to be fairly reasonable. So what did the property end up selling for? $7.5 million according to our information. So, to recap, the land was offered for $3.7 million, appraised for somewhere between approx three to five million, but then sold for almost twice the asking price. Why the inflated sales price? And who profited from this? So, a major money concern right there at the beginning.

Also, the original bond offering at the time - the one that friend-of-the-program Samuel Hay tried to stop in court  - was for $9 million. There were many grumblings and concerns with all of this at the time. Money, it was said, was needed for consultants, attorney fees & operating expenditures.

Fast forward a few years and the JDA ended up selling a parcel of land, described as parcel # C1590001C in the Walton Co. tax records, to JC Flex, LLC. This entity, a subsidiary of the TPA Realty Group that has had the exclusive listing rights of Stanton Springs, bought the land for approx $1.6 million in 2005. But then in 2012, the Authority bought that parcel back for $2.9 million. A gain of approx $1.3 million. This is the parcel where the Baxter Baxalta Shire facility was actually built, so in order to be eligible for the tax abatements, the land had to be owned by the Authority, which, as mentioned, it originally was, but was sold and bought back for reasons that no one has been able to explain to this publication. Again, this seemingly unnecessary flip cost the Authority - and by extension, the taxpayers of the four counties - approx. $1.3 million 

But really, in the grand scheme of things, this would all almost seem like chump change. Let's not forget that the JDA issued $1.137 BILLION in bonds in 2012 for the construction of the Baxter Baxalta Shire facility, or the $85 million in "phantom bonds" that the authority issued last year. And remember when Mort Ewing resigned from the JDA in 2015? He said in the newspapers at the time that he felt like he needed to do that in order to "protect [his] assets."

Strange.

One common thread in my discussions with folks both on and off the record is that the Stanton Springs project has had many problems and issues. Even its biggest cheerleaders will tell you that major mistakes have been made. And it seems to be a consensus view by many that you can lay most  of the blame at the feet of William Thomas Craig, Esq. Craig was involved with the project from its conception, and served as the attorney for the Authority, as we understand it, for the entirety of its existence up until a couple of years ago. "Hell...we figured Tommy knew what he was doing," was a line from one person when explaining a mistake that was made several years back pertaining to a particular situation. So I guess Craig can add the JDA to the Newton Co. BOC & others as those who have made him their "whipping boy." At this point it seems to be getting pretty convenient and is happening more frequently - just blame it all on Tommy Craig. Well, just like with Newton Co., I think there's a lot of other blame to go around. And, yes, it does seem pretty convenient to just blame it all on Tommy Craig. Too convenient almost. Is that just the way it is? Or is it by design?

Another emerging theme I've encountered is that some folks think it's time to just let the past be the past. That the time has come where we should just accept the fact that perhaps things weren't done as they should've been, but now we need to look forward to the future with a common goal and a shared vision. That we just need to hang in and that all of this will be worth it once everything comes to fruition.

I'm of the opinion that more attention needs to be given to Stanton Springs and the JDA than ever before. Look for future write-ups on this topic.

Until next time.

- MBM


*updated corrected figure

Sunday Night Check-in - On the C-town Beat: Mayor's Race; Knight Retiring; SHIII; Odds & Ends

By MB McCart, Editor

Hey, guys, how goes it? Good, I hope.

So another week in the books of the #COV. In terms of local news, a lot of coverage & ink from the other press outlets in town have been dedicated to the "Accused Killer Parents" trial. Following that story - and even going as far to watch in on FB Live - is something that has no appeal for me. Thinking about that poor baby, though...it's just awful. Hopefully Justice will be done.

Mayor's Race 

After almost three weeks of speculation & hearing that something was imminent, it seems confirmed that former Covington City Manager, Steve Horton, has publicly declared his intent to run for Mayor of Covington this fall. 

I know a good number of folks who really think a lot of Horton, but I know a fair number of folks that don't. Not unlike your semi-esteemed Editor, and possibly some of you reading this, it oftentimes seems as if many of us out here have a duality of emotion directed in our direction - having fans & non-fans.

Horton, by most accounts, did at least a fair job as City Manager, filling the large shoes left by his predecessor, Frank Turner Sr.

I was recently sent Mr. Horton's contact info & hope to have at least a preliminary chat & corresponding story soon. Personally, I really don't know Steve, but the few times I've met him it seemed as if he was a stand-up guy. I'm looking forward to learning more about him.

That puts our list of declared mayoral candidates now at two - Horton & the Preacherman, Tim Walden.

I recently spoke with our current Mayor, Ronnie Johnston, & according to him he still hasn't made up his mind if he'll run for another term or not, though this writer feels fairly confident he'll probably end up qualifying for this race when the time comes, speaking of the aforementioned phenomenon of having a fair number of both supporters & detractors.

At this point, if all three qualify, it's definitely a 2-man race between Horton & Johnston. Who has the most goodwill? Who has the most...'badwill'? We shall see; however, don't be surprised to see at least one more person throw their hat in the ring, likely a west-ward entrant.

Current City Manager Leigh Anne Knight Retiring 

So that was the deal with the new contract & severance package. It's what I figured...

I thank Ms. Knight for her service to the city.

The selection of the person to take over this position will be a very important one. We'll keep an eye on it.

The Cherokee Scotsman, Samuel Hay III 

Against better judgement, I decided to take a swipe at my old friend on the book of faces the other night, in essence asking - in a bit of a snarky way - what he'd been up to since he'd blocked me back in March. Based on the screenshots, he sniped back. Hell, I'd been disappointed if he hadn't.

Poor ole Sammy, I kinda hate to see him piss away his legacy like this, but let's face it - he's gotten old, and mean, bitter. I'm too busy to play Cowboys & Indians w/ him, if I had the inclination to do so anyway. Hope he finds whatever it is he needs to find. I'm going to get you back on some of the AME prayer lists, Sam. We're all pulling for you!

But seriously - call me anytime, pal! And really, I'd prefer to see you in person sometime soon. If you thought I ripped your head off that night in front of Amici a while back, I'll raise the bar this next time, I assure you.

Odds & Ends

I ran into an old friend recently who had some direct knowledge of the whole Rec Commission situation (within the actual department) & was someone I'd spoken with a few times about it the last year & a half. We were both just like - "well, hell...is what it is." A few hundred grand down the drain. Everybody knew of the issues & problems for years. The Rec Commissions investigation back in 2017 presented compelling evidence. Later, the county itself found that the firing was with cause. But, we see how things turned out. What can you say? It's Newton Co. 

This past week I saw Tommy Craig twice in as many days. I drove by him standing in front of his law office on College Ave one day; he drove by me as I was standing & smoking on the corner of College & Elm the next day. We waved both times, and while the last several times I'd seen him a while back & he looked pretty rough (dealing with some pretty serious health issues, you know) the sonuvabitch looked healthier than a horse, probably in better looking shape than I've seen him in five years. How 'bout that? 

Got the law office looking good & not like it was starting to fall apart; making big bucks from the Sheriff & seemingly in good health. Wm T "Tommy Craig," folks - NOT going gentle into the good night...

Well, alright, until next time. 

Thanks for reading, 

MB McCart 

The Sunday Edition - 6 May '18: NCSO refusing ORR for Body Cam footage; Low Rent Housing Coming to the COV? Odds & Ends

Your Source for the REAL Story

The Piedmont Chronicles

COVERING THE GLORIOUS GEORGIA PIEDMONT

| Covington, GA | Newton Co. |

The Sunday Edition: 6 May 2018

Welcome back to The Chronicles, Good People. We're so glad you could join us on this beautiful Sunday, and we sure hope everything is marvelous out there. And I just love those new boots of yours. I bet those are made for walking!

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

Another week in the book of the glory & dissonance that is the home city, county & surrounding areas.

So we see that Sheriff Brown of the NCSO (Newton County Sheriff's Office) is refusing to abide by The Covington News' ORR for the body-cam footage of the JC Henderson incident from a while back. This has caused quite the stir. The public reason is that the investigation is still ongoing. As some of you may remember the initial incident caused quite the stir as well when allegedly JC Henderson, BOC 4 Commissioner, though living in the municipal limits of Covington, purportedly called the Sheriff to have them come to his house after an apparent incident regarding one of his sons & an unnamed assailant. This was the same son, as we understand it, that some months ago may have, according to JC & the police report that was made public record, gotten a "hold of some bad crack" when he stole a van while allegedly intoxicated. 

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Low Income Housing Coming to the COV? 

There's been a lot of chatter on the street about an impeding explosion of low rent housing coming to our fair city. For weeks now, many have been wringing their hands about a possibility of this at the Town Center project over on Alcovy Rd. There's a developer's schematic that shows upwards of 399 units though my sources tell me the city has not signed off on this & it's likely to be more like 200 units, and they will be more in the realm of "high dollar," however, apparently the zoning creation of this overlay was possibly mishandled & the city may be open to litigation. You've got to be real careful with real property in the government domain. It's one of the things that governmental entities can get sued over due to an "improper taking." 

That's why it's vital for proper & smart zoning ordinances to be enacted (if you're even going to have zoning - for years I've always said just get rid of zones, ordinances, etc. Of course, I'm the same guy that wants to do away with probably 80% of traffic laws & probably 50% of all laws...). And you need everybody on the same page - staff, planning commission & the city council. And that's not something we've always seen here in the home city, is it? But the key thing is being consistent. We'll touch on that in just a bit.

Personally, I think the Alcovy Village Town Center situation is going to be okay; however, the real problem may be a few miles away...

Word on the street, confirmed by multiple sources, is there is a major apartment complex looking to buy a good sized parcel from Freddie Neely to build behind his liquor store. Some may remember that Mr. Neely was the one who sold the large tract of land for the Mosque that will soon be located in western Newton County.

The big problem is this. Remember that consistency I mentioned? This corridor where Nitro 2 Go is located has already violated that consistency. Randy Vinson, years before, had helped craft a very forward-thinking set of ordinances for this commercial corridor going all the way up to I-20 at exit 93. As everything got developed by the interstate - the hotels, the wal-mart, and especially with the outparcels on either side of the road, and very much especially with Kaufman Tire - these ordinances, which did cause financial hardships, were adhered to. Consistency. Everything's good.

However, when it came time to build Nitro, all of that went out the window. As more than one person involved told me, and one in particular - "it's a miracle that we (city of Covington) didn't get sued."

So wouldn't it be something if that little act of inconsistency begins a chain of events that does adversely affect our beloved home city.

Government, lawyers & land deals. Ain't that America? And who usually suffers the most? The good, regular folks...

Egad! 

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And another local story. From our good friend Samuel Hay: 

NECESSARY 911 UPGRADES DELAYED BY POLITICAL "MEDDLING"

"First and foremost,1/ Lloyd Kerr, chief proponent for the 'delay'' knows about as much about 911 electronics and its operation as I know about Venus. 

2/ Then you take the legal position on the 2017 SPLOST which states very clearly "UPGRADE" to the existing system. No other than Harris who initially installed the system has the ability to do the upgrade. Motorola, who is the only other source that is being considered at this time would have to come in with a complete new installation. 

3/ How can that save the taxpayers money? There are only a limited amount of funds available to bring the system up to what is needed.

4/ We have recommendations from people we know who are experts in the field of what is needed that I believe are way more capable of making decisions of this nature than Kerr and Commissioner Nancy Schulz and the Chairman. Given the knowledge and expertise of Mike Smith, 911 Center Director, Chief Stacy Cotton along with the dedicated professionals such as the 6-3 vote of the 911 Board tells me everything I need to know. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE "NEWS" ARTICLE...."BOC Chairman Marcello Banes polled the commissioners for their thoughts on the issue. District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards and District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan agreed with allowing the sole source proposal to go forward. District 2 Commissioner Lanier Sims and District 3 Commissioner Nancy Schulz agreed with Kerr to pursue an RFP for the project. With District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson absent, Banes casts the deciding vote, electing to take Kerr’s recommendation and support an RFP.

The county told The News there is no guaranteeing the RFP would save taxpayers the $100,000 or so it is costing." ARE WE REALLY WILLING TO PAY A "CONSULTANT" $100,000.00 TO TELL US WE ARE GOING TO SPEND MORE MONEY TO INSTALL A COMPLETELY NEW SYSTEM RATHER THAN UPGRADE THE CURRENT SYSTEM? I can tell you that and all it will cost the taxpayers is a cup of coffee. Instead of defining the FRP as its initial concept of an attempt to get bids to 'see' what the outcome will be, I would have to redefine it as "FANTASY ROLE PLAYING" by LLOYD KERR! I wouldnt agree with Kerr if he told me the sky was blue. 

Im going with people I trust after dealing with them in the past. Police Chiefs Stacey Cotton, Jason Cripps and David Harvey joined Piedmont Newton EMS Director Carli Cuendet, county fire Chief Michael Conner and Covington City Manager Leigh Anne Knight in voting to recommend the sole source procurement to the BOC. To be specific, my friends, Cotton, Cripps, and Smith, Edwards and Cowan." 

Odds & Ends 

- Justify overcomes the mud & a 136-yr curse to take The Kentucky Derby

- the statewide races are really heating up as we get closer to the May 22nd primary. A lot of moving parts. Over the next couple of weeks TPC will be rolling out multiple write-ups covering the following races: Democratic primary for Governor - the battle of the two Staceys: Democratic races for GA 4 & 10; and the Republican primaries for Governor, Lt. Governor & Secretary of State. We'll also be putting out a few editorial endorsements.

- next week will start up another local advertising campaign to be followed up by two more over the next few weeks. We're very excited.

Alright, gang, hope everyone has a great rest of their day & we'll be seeing you very soon. 

- MB McCart