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."
UPDATE - JULY 5, 2018 Interview of Mrs Linda Bray regarding Conflicts of Interest involving private investigations services conducted regarding city employees and Mrs. Bray being a sitting member of the Scottsboro City Personnel Board. (3:33 in the video) This documentation was provided by Mrs. Bray from the Scottsboro City Attorney. Mrs Bray is a candidate for an appointment to the Scottsboro City Council. Two members of the City Council have indicated to me they will select Mrs Bray for the appointment. (Click on image for an expanded view.) Both articles may be viewed at https://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/Alabama%20Private%20Investigators%20Board
This Personnel Board Hearing is an administrative procedure regarding former Rec Com employee Ms. Debra "Dee" Diane Wolf. Ms. Wolf was arrested on February 15, 2016 for alleged theft of cash from the Rec Com. Link - http://whnt.com/2016/02/16/scottsboro-city-employee-charged-with-theft/ The Personnel Board Hearing is to determine if Ms. Wolf will remain on Administrative Leave with pay, face administrative leave without pay or termination. Administrative procedures rules are not the same as a court of law. Her criminal case outcome will be determined at a later date. It is important to remember that an individual is innocent until proven guilty in a Court of Law.
VIDEO
CONCERNS & OBSERVATIONS There is a question regarding some members of this personnel board's qualifications and conflicts of interest in serving on this board. The meeting WAS NOT called to order, Mr. Perry Guffey is the Personnel Board President. I began recording at 5PM when the attorney from Lanier-Ford began presenting documents to the personnel board. Prior to the meeting two events occurred. 1) Mrs. Bray, the unlicensed private investigator - personnel board member, which Mayor Potter hired to follow the Personnel Director around in a retaliation - harassing action; allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation in a Federal EEOC complaint have been filed and a separate civil law suit is pending, filed by another employee relating to harassment and retaliation. Mrs. Bray was heard to say, "should he be here videoing?" My reply, "this is a public meeting." 2) Mrs Dixson, Personnel Director, asked Mr. Guffey if she could help him with something; Mr. Guffey's reply, "I wasn't talking to you." Mrs. Dixson replied, "I thought you were asking me a question." In my opinion, Mr. Guffey's reply to Mrs. Dixson was rude and disrespectful. Guffey's comment is not surprising considering the expressed conduct of some males in city government positions toward women.
Postponement of the hearing - Mr. Guffey entered into a discussion with Mrs. Bray about postponement of the hearing, Mrs. Dixson was called forward. Mr. Guffey asked Mrs. Wolf if she would like for the board to suspend the proceedings until her attorney could be present, she stated "yes." Without a vote or consultation with the board Mr. Guffey declared, (quotes from video) "The board does not feel it would be right for you to attend this meeting without your attorney here, and the city won't have an attorney here, there are certain things they know that we don't know and there are things I'm sure that you don't know, we are going to suspend this meeting tonight 'til a later day, until she can have her attorney here..."
Previous articles on this blog relating to this incident: http://arklite.blogspot.com/2016/02/deep-throat-informants-part-6-city-of.html Articles on this blog relating to sexual harassment, retaliation and the involvement of Ms. Linda Bray, Personnel Board member and an unlicensed private investigator hired by Mayor Potter in a discriminatory - retaliatory action against the Personnel Director and another. (Pending Federal EEOC and local Circuit Court case action pending.) This series of blog articles also involves Council Member Keith Smith and his involvement in protecting Mayor Potter and attacks on the Scottsboro Personnel Director, as relayed to me by Scottsboro Merchants, and myself for my blog articles. This is discussed here due to the appearance of a serious conflict involving a member of the Scottsboro Personnel Board. http://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/Surveillance
UPDATE: PERSONNEL BOARD HEARING FOR TERMINATION APRIL 7, 2016 PART 1 MRS. WOLF SELECTED A CLOSED HEARING
PART 2 RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Scottsboro Personnel Board recommended termination. Mrs. Wolf may elect to appeal a decision from the personnel board to the city council.
Scottsboro political officials refuse to accept the fact they are not following the law regarding demolition and repair on private property - abatement of public nuisances. Code of Alabama reference 11-53B-1 thru 16. Elected Officials attempt to place blame on the individual presenting the problem to the city council.
Mayor states, "We have abated 26 buildings in the past 2 years and we have done at least a half dozen in this exact same way..." So the Mayor is admitting that he has cost the taxpayers a substantial amount of money for not following the law? Smith states, "...We went to her, she didn't have anything to do with it...(reference Gross property demolition on E. Willow St.)" "We went to her," does that include the accidental mowing and lawn care of private property and charging half price for demolition? Mr. Wallingsford states, "...remain focused, lets not get distracted, we have things to get done...," which apparently does not involve following the laws of the state regarding demolition and repair of private property. Then, there are the dilapidated unsafe structures surrounding the square where some roofs are collapsing and leaking. Will the city make repairs for property around the square at half cost? Surely the city wants to be fair in its application of policy and police powers!?
House demolished by the City of Scottsboro due to being an unsafe structure located at approximately 602 E. Willow St., Scottsboro, Al. (Google Earth photo 2014, Fair-Use rights for non-profit news reporting)
UPDATE - March 22, 2016 - Cost List of Demolition of Homes in Alabama and across the nation are listed. For this area the cost are listed for a similar structure's cost runs from $5500 - $7500.00. That does not include leveling the property, reseeding and mowing for half a year. Cost estimates do not consider disposal of asbestos containing shingles or other hazardous materials such as lead pipe. Utilizing the demolition list estimates, this property's demolition and reconditioning would be near $12,000 for this area.
Misapplication of Public Policy and Law by Scottsboro City Officials - Abatement of Public Nuisances on Private Property by Demolition or Repair, not in accordance with the laws of the State of Alabama Regarding 11-53B MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY TO REPAIR OR DEMOLISH UNSAFE STRUCTURES. Which may be found at http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama/1975/coatoc.htm
Results of the Public Nuisance, Unsafe Structure file inspection regarding the Gross property located at approximately 602 E. Willow St., Scottsboro, Al..
1) When viewing the file
the appropriate Alabama Code citation was misstated, 11-53A was utilized in part,
that is improper according to the City Attorney as the City of Scottsboro is
not a Class 5, 6 or 8 municipality. It is a class 7 in accordance with the 1970
census which the law is based on.
2) There was no itemized
list of the property demolition cost, i.e. man hours spent, fuel used, hauling
cost to land fill, equipment usage, etc.
3) There was no fixation
of cost per resolution of the City Council/governing body as required by law -
COA 11-53B-5.
4) There was a city cash
register receipt of $3,150.00 but no indication of a check copy.
5) As stated in the City
Council meeting the Mayor sent Councilman Smith to Mrs. Margaret Gross in secret, mother
of the property owner, and a public official as appointed by Mr. Smith to the Electric Power Board, at Hardees, where they eat breakfast together,
outside of the legal process, and offered city equipment, manpower, and
resources to her for the demolition of an unsafe house on her property, the
demolition increased the property's value.
6) The house which was
demolished was an old structure with what appeared to be asbestos containing
shingles, there was no test to determine if asbestos was present in the
structure. It is my opinion that some public officials within the City of Scottsboro are attempting to cover up this possible ethics violation and misapplication of public policy and law.
MY THOUGHTS - What a deal, if you're a city official's friend plus public official, you get your unsafe house demolished, hazardous materials disposed, lot cleared, leveled, reseeded and maintained for $3150.00, thus increasing the private citizens property value many times over. Such honest political leaders we have, NOT. Does the city apply this special treatment fairly to everyone as the mayor claims? My inquiries reveal the answer to be NO. This abuse of taxpayer resources may be an ethics violation, reference - "Section 36-25-5 "d) No person shall solicit a public official or public employee to use or cause to be used equipment, facilities, time, materials, human labor, or other public property for such person's private benefit or business benefit, which would materially affect his or her financial interest, except as otherwise provided by law."
All of this came to light when I received a call about a Scottsboro Mowing Crew at the property of Mrs. Gross's daughter on East Willow Street. This resulted in me asking questions about the property and why was city equipment being utilized for the benefit of private citizens. The City council President stated this was all unintentional, as Mrs. Gross said, "I guess this was an accident." referring to the mowing crew taking care of the private property.
BOTTOM LINE - The City of Scottsboro should not be involved in the demolition, repair, or mowing of private property. Repair or demolition of private property is the responsibility of the property owner. If repair or demolition becomes necessary to protect the public from a public nuisance then the work should be contracted out and the city utilize the law to recover costs.
The excuse according to the Mayor, "We do this all of the time is an example of non-accountable political official's excuses. It is my observations the Mayor is not being truthful. Council Member Keith Smith's personal attack on me for bringing this issue forward is a further example of non-accountable political officials, it is Smith who met in secret with Mrs Gross to broker the deal in conjunction with the mayor to purposefully increase the property value of the Gross property. The statement of Smith, "She (meaning Margaret Gross, public official and mother of property owner) didn't come to us we went to her," is remarkable. It demonstrates the extent some political officials in Scottsboro will go to deceive the public and benefit friends and the wealthy while having a lack luster attitude toward the poor and average citizens in Scottsboro, Alabama.
My reporting to the City Council of inappropriate application of law and possible ethics violations has resulted in harassment and false accusations from Council Member Keith Smith when bringing these issues forward. Harassment appears to be an unprofessional, unethical policy practice of city officials. This misconduct trend has carried forth into the application of management policy as it has been applied to the employees of the City of Scottsboro, Alabama. This is indicative of a wider problem involving non-professional conduct and misbehavior of elected and appointed city officials which includes sexual discrimination, retaliatory conduct and harassment.
Jackson County Health Care Authority, Highlands Medical Center Woods Cove Rd., Scottsboro, Al. (photo by G.Morgan)
Local Government Wage Theft??
Shh, we have secrets in our local government, including the Jackson County Health Care Authority - they have allegedly failed to pay wages to their employees as required by law. A suit has been filed alleging violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act in Federal Court - Reference: Williamson et al v. Jackson County Health Care Authority, a jury trial has been requested by the plaintiffs in the case. In the latest activity in the case, a Motion to Dismiss by the Health Care Authority was denied. However, the case was moved closer to the involved parties, the Northeastern District of Alabama. " The above styled civil action has been randomly reassigned to the Honorable Abdul K. Kallon. Please use case number 5:15-cv-1979-AKK" https://dockets.justia.com/docket/alabama/alndce/2:2015cv01979/157038
Case Presentation
Document 10
November 25, 2015 00:00 ORDER SETTING PRETRIAL CONFERENCE AND TRIAL: Rule 26 Meeting Report due by 1/29/2016; see scheduling order on the court's web page for formatting. Final Pretrial Conference set for 5/25/2017, at 11:00 AM; Jury Trial set for 7/10/2017, at 9:00 AM, both at the Hugo L Black US Courthouse, Birmingham, AL before Judge Abdul K Kallon. Signed by Judge Abdul K Kallon on 11/25/2015. (YMB) (Entered: 11/25/2015)November 23, 2015 00:00
Document: 9 ORDER re: motion to dismiss the case without prejudice or transfer it to the Northeastern Division - The undersigned has reviewed the record and agrees with the parties that this case should be designated as a Northeastern Division case. Accordingly, Defendants motion to dismiss is DENIED, and its motion to transfer is GRANTED. The Clerk is DIRECTED to reassign this case to the Northeastern Division and randomly reassign this action to another judge. The above styled civil action has been randomly reassigned to the Honorable Abdul K. Kallon. Please use case number 5:15-cv-1979-AKK on all subsequent pleadings. Signed by Magistrate Judge John H England, III on 11/23/2015. (KEK) (Entered: 11/23/2015)
Document 8
RESPONSE to Motion re 6 MOTION to Dismiss or Transfer to Northeastern Division filed by Robert Laubinger, Kelly Williamson, Lonnie Williamson. (McGinley, Rachel) (Entered: 11/23/2015)
Document 7
Corporate Disclosure Statement by Jackson County Health Care Authority. filed by Jackson County Health Care Authority (Lackey, Gary) (Entered: 11/18/2015)
Document 6
MOTION to Dismiss or Transfer to Northeastern Division by Jackson County Health Care Authority. (Lackey, Gary) (Entered: 11/18/2015)
Other documents refer to summons and filing fees etc. and original case filing which will be presented later.
Facebook has permanently suspended my account, CENSORED, for telling the truth about Donald Trump's criminal history and disclosing facts about racial discrimination in Scottsboro and our nation. Garry Morgan : 03/15/2025
Copyright Info
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
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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."
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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).
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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.
