Alternative news and discussion for Scottsboro, Jackson County Alabama and the Tennessee River Valley as I see it. Responsible comments to articles welcome. As always, "Watch for Snakes," particularly those wearing suits.
JAMES MADISON QUOTE - 1822
"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."
Earliest known photo of First Monday, original proof photo owned by Garry Morgan, prior Asheville Post Card Company.
First Monday April 1931, Scottsboro Defendants Trial, photograph and attribution owned by Garry Morgan (auction purchase), Fair Use for non-profit news and commentary.
First Monday Trade Days mid-1950s from Ford Times 1956 - Fair Use for non-profit news reporting and commentary.
Jackson County Courthouse south side, photo by G. Morgan
Monday's session of the Jackson county commission was a long one. I left after agenda item 11 to cover the important agenda at the city council meeting. There were 18 agenda items on Monday's commission meeting.
AGENDA
VIDEO Part 1 Agenda items 1 - 2
Jim Helm's proposal regarding the county park store, boats, gas etc. Agenda item 1.
The management of Scottsboro's property continues to be a problem. This is a boat similar to the one sold for $3000.00, a 1979 Marinette Cabin Cruiser. Fair Use photo for non-profit news reporting and commentary, unknown contributor. Blog article about the boat issue and Scottsboro property mismanagement. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-boat-and-mayor-of-scottsboro-deep.html
Why is this important? The City Council is responsible for property management and management of the budget and finances of the City of Scottsboro. This responsibility is codified in the laws of the State of Alabama. The mayor may have erred in any number of issues, including the inappropriate sale of Scottsboro City Property, such as the above boat, or for that matter the renovation of the ball field. However, the City Council is the responsible authority for property and money. You cannot delegate the legal responsibility for those areas the city council is responsible.
City Official's disclosed to me yesterday evening that the District Attorney found no criminality regarding the disposition and sale of Scottsboro's Cabin Cruiser although the law was not followed.
Scottsboro Ball fields, Scottsboro Recreation; photo from the City of Scottsboro dot com (Government Source) - Fair Use for non-profit news reporting and commentary.
Ball Field Failed Planning
Agenda Item 2 - Ball Field "renovation dollars" to cost tax payers $2.396 million, $1.3 million more that originally stated. The Bond issue was for $3 million dollars and included the ball field project, the swimming pool project, the Fire Station renovation and an addition to the Heritage center.
Poor planning and mismanagement by the City Council and the unnecessary demolition of the entire field structure and infrastructure is the root cause of the mismanagement.
The City Council is responsible for budget and property, there is no scapegoat for the City Council's responsibility in this failure. Early on in the planning phase of this project the City Council erred by placing responsibility on the previous mayor and a small committee to make decisions which were under the entire councils purview.
Discussions with an elected official on this matter reveals that there may have been an intentional effort to completely demolish the ballfield and its' infrastructure to raise costs of "renovation" of this project. However, at this point intent cannot be proven.
Many thanks to Mr. Wallingsford and Mr. Smith for having the courage to tell it like it is regarding this unfortunate problem regarding the mismanagement of our financial assets.
Essentially, the ball field project is not a renovation, it is a complete building of a ball field from ground up.
Next Mismanagement Item
Agenda Item 3 - Another unnecessary cost to the taxpayers of Scottsboro is the mismanagement of the Streetscape Renovation of the Downtown Square. The southside of the square will have traffic and parking diverted because of the 2 large park areas which have been inserted into the current square area at the southeast and southwest corners. It is estimated this unneeded work will cost tax payers approximately $200,000 in unnecessary renovation costs, possibly more
All Rights Reserved for writings, video, photographs and art by Garry L. Morgan.
U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Rule: "Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, nonprofit educational purposes and research. Link: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Total "In the Boro" Pageviews
Scottsboro Police Department Web Site
""The police are the public, the public are the police. The police are the only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties that are incumbent on every citizen in the interest to community welfare and existence." - Sir Robert Peel, 1829 https://www.scottsboropd.org/
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Click on image to learn more.
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
"I can say with confidence that the federal government needs a major overhaul. Don’t get me wrong, most public servants in government are highly educated and dedicated professionals who are committed to “the greater good.” At the same time, the government has become a bloated bureaucracy that is based on past conditions and in too many cases, federal programs and policies can’t demonstrate that they are generating real results that benefit the American people."
.
David Walker President and CEO The Peter G. Peterson Foundation http://www.pgpf.org/ ; former, recently served for 10 years, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
.
NPR's story on David Walker: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124460237
"public intelligence"
"What is Public Intelligence? Public Intelligence is an international, collaborative research project aimed at aggregating the collective work of independent researchers around the globe who wish to defend the public’s right to access information." http://publicintelligence.net/
A Nuclear Engineer's Report on the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant
Danger Zone: Aging Nuclear Reactors
Incident at Browns Ferry (PBS 1977)
History of nuclear power safety issues which the 1975 Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant fire brought forward. This video has been censored by the nuclear industry. The trillion dollar multinational nuclear death industry prefers to keep you the citizen in the dark and feed you crap.
Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio and others. Click on image for a tour. Left click & hold mouse to move image.
Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team/Mothers Against Tennessee River Radiation http://www.matrr.org/
"TVA at the Crossroads" a SACE Film.
"America is at an energy crossroads and the Tennessee Valley Authority has a choice to make: Will it cling to old coal power because of its historic significance or will it retire its oldest, dirtiest and least efficient plants and lead America into a clean energy future?" TVA At The Crossroads from SACE.
****************************I'm GARRY MORGAN, a Christian, U.S. Army (AMEDD) retired, Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Specialist (U.S.Army, Retired DOD-DRRI-DEOMI) a citizen of Scottsboro Alabama, a Baylor University grad-Go Bears, a political activist and a political Independent as I believe political parties divide the citizenry whom they are suppose to represent. We must learn the lessons of our history or we will surely repeat our mistakes. I think the greatest problem facing our nation is the massive national and personal debt.
