The Circuit Court Grand Jury for Greene County issued charges against Mayor elect, Latasha Johnson, for a September 30, 2019 incident. The charges were signed by Gregory S. Griggers District Attorney for the 17th Judicial Circuit.
She is charged with using her position as a Eutaw City Council member, “To obtain personal gain for herself, to wit: instructed Tyler Sellers not to tow her automobile, after identifying herself as a Eutaw City Councilwoman and informing Tyler Sellers that if he towed her vehicle that it would cause problems for him with the Eutaw City Council, which resulted in a personal gain for the said Latasha Johnson in the amount of $100, in violation of Section 36-25-5(a) and Section 36-25-27(a)(1) of the Code of Alabama, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.”
Count II of the indictment accuses Johnson of “making a false statement” to Brian Barker, an investigator with the Alabama Ethics Commission, on or about May 26, 2020, concerning her knowledge of Tyler Sellers and his family, which allowed Johnson to take possession of her vehicle, rather than allow Sellers to tow it.
Latasha Johnson was arrested on October 27, 2020 and brought to the Greene County Jail. She was released on a $10,000 bond the same day.
Attorney Hank Sanders of Selma, who represents Johnson said, “My client is innocent. She will have her day in court and will be able to prove her innocence. She will continue to go about her work duties and her mayoral duties. This has come as a complete surprise just days after her election as Mayor of Eutaw and before she could take office.”
Latasha Johnson was elected Mayor of Eutaw in the Runoff Municipal Elections of October 6, 2020 by a vote of 718 (57.7%) to 526 (42.3%) for incumbent Mayor Raymond Steele. She and the newly elected City Council members plan to take office in a ceremony scheduled for Noon on Monday, November 2, 2020 at the Thomas Gilmore Courthouse Square.
Notice Retiring Eutaw Police Chief, Derick Coleman will be recognized for his work at a program scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2020 at 12:00 noon on the Thomas Gilmore Courthouse Square in Eutaw, sponsored by the Greene County First Responders Support Group
As of October 28, 2020 at 11:10 AM (according to Alabama Political Reporter) Alabama had 187,706 confirmed cases of coronavirus, (13,178 more than last week) with 2,911 deaths (106 more than last week) Greene County had 436 confirmed cases, (7 more cases than last week), with 16 deaths Sumter Co. had 477 cases with 21 deaths Hale Co. had 780 cases with 30 deaths
Phillis Belcher of the Greene County Industrial Development Authority addresses ADEM at the October 22, 2020 meeting.
By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher
On October 22, 2020, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) held a public hearing on permitting the closure, treatment and management of a coal ash pond, at the Alabama Power Company Steamplant in Forkland, which adjoins the Black Warrior River. Alabama Power Company has submitted a plan to ADEM to treat the current open coal ash pond at its Steamplant, reduce its size from over 559 acres to 268 acres, by pulling out water and concentrating the ash residue, place a thirty foot deep, two foot wide wall, around the pond anchored to its chalk material base, place a plastic cap on the pond and continue to monitor 30 wells on the perimeter of the pond for contamination.
Alabama Power Company stopped using coal as a fuel at its Forkland electricity generating facility about five years ago. The facility now uses natural gas to fuel its turbines. The company has a residue of coal ash stored in a 500 acre pond near the Black Warrior River. The EPA has required plants like the Forkland Steamplant to come up with a plan to deal with its coal ash residues, to prevent contamination of the nearby river or subterrain water sources.
A permit to treat, concentrate and cap the coal ash residues has been presented to ADEM by Alabama Power Company. The company did not present an alternative plan of excavating the coal ash and moving it to an inland secure landfill. The ADEM Public Hearing in Eutaw, at Carver School gymnasium, last week, was to solicit public comment on the permit application. Most of the witnesses testified in support of the Alabama Power Company’s plan and permit, including: Woody Collins, Mayor-elect of Demopolis, Jason Williams, Marengo County Commission, Seth Hammett, Energy Institute of Alabama, Chris Arnold, Alabama Coal Cooperative, Blake Hartwick, Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, Jo Ellen Martin, Marengo County Development Authority and Phillis Belcher, Greene County Industrial Development Authority. These witnesses basically said they agreed with Alabama Power’s permitting application, which they felt to be economically and environmentally sound. Most extolled their positive “community relationship and communications” with the company. Residents of the area testified and questioned the safety of the project. John Jay and his wife said they had a camphouse south of the plant and that the area frequent floods and materials are discharged into the river. They warned of earthquakes in the area and said that the plant was adversely affecting overflowing wells on their property. Ms. Shamicka Gray of Forkland worried that the project would contaminate the water system which was the only source of water for her and her elderly mother. Keith Johnston, Director of the Alabama Office of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Birmingham opposed the permit saying it does not satisfy requirements in Federal and state requirements. He argued that Alabama Power Company created this problem itself by disposing of the coal ash wastes in the easiest possible place that allowed leakage and contamination of the adjacent river. Johnston observed that electric generating companies in other Southern states: Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and coastal Carolinas were disposing of their similar coal ash wastes by excavating them and moving them to safer lined landfills away from wetlands, rivers and water sources. He indicated that contaminants like arsenic, boron, calcium, chloride, cobalt, lithium and other substances were leaking from the ash pond into groundwater sources. He asked the ADEM officials, “Would you ever permit a permanent, unlined, waste disposal site on a wetland like this one, close to a river? So why are you going to permit one without a long-term maintenance plan for the Forkland, Alabama area. Nelson Brooks with Black Warrior Waterkeepers, an environmental watch-dog group that monitors the river flowing by the plant site said he did not support the permit. He said the Forkland Steamplant was built in the 1950’s on a wetland in a bow of the Black Warrior River. The land under the coal ash pond has many streams and tributaries flowing under it. Brooks argued that the site was not suitable for a coal ash containment pond and that the materials should be excavated and moved to a safer location. “It may cost more to do this now, than cap the pond, but there will be great costs in the future if the plan fails and contaminants leak into the river and adjacent steams.” Brooks concluded by saying,” It is improper to permit this coal ash pond because it is too close to the Black Warrior River. ADEM and Alabama Power Company should reconsider this plan.” At the end of the public hearing, Collin Sibley, ADEM Hearing Officer said the official record on this permit would remain open, at ADEM’s Headquarters Office in Montgomery, until 5:00 PM on October 29, 2020, for additional oral or written comments.
At the Greene County Commission’s call meeting, held Thursday, October 22, 2020, the commission approved salary adjustments for the Enterprise Fund employees in the Highway and Solid Waste Departments. The commission approved a 3% salary adjustment for the County Engineer, Willie Branch, and 5% salary adjustment for the Highway and Solid Waste Department employees. Approximately 26 county employees will benefit from the salary adjustments. These adjustments represent a $49,872 increase for FY 2021 Enterprise Fund budget. The county’s Enterprise Fund, separate from the General Fund, is derived from garbage pick-up fees as well as road tax fees and can only be used for expenditures in the Highway and Solid Waste Departments. The commission held an executive session prior to addressing the single agenda item of the call meeting. Chairman Allen Turner reported that no decisions were made in the executive session
The four municipal governments in Greene County have scheduled their inauguration ceremonies for Tuesday, November 2, 2020. City of Eutaw will hold its ceremony at 12 noon on the Judge Rolanda Wedgeworth in the center of town. Judge Lillie Jones Osborne will officiate. Town of Forkland will hold its ceremony at 5:00p.m. at the Town Hall. Judge Lillie Jones Osborne will officiate. Town of Union will hold its ceremony at 6:00 p.m. at the Union Fire Station Hall. The city clerk, Ms. Marilyn Sanford will officiate. Town of Boligee will hold its ceremony at 5:00 p.m. at its Paramount School site. Judge Rolanda Wedgeworth will officiate.
The Eutaw Police Department lost three officers in the month of October, including Chief Derick Coleman, who resigns as of Oct. 30, 2020. According to Mayor-Elect Latosha Johnson, the city council will consider selecting a new chief of police, assistant chief and another officer at its organizational meeting following the city official’s inauguration ceremony scheduled for 12 noon, Monday, November 2. The names of the perspective appointees were not released.
Oct. 26, 2020 (GIN) – For many, the memories of rogue Nigerian soldiers firing live ammunition at hundreds of peaceful protesters in Lagos, killing at least 12 people, will be hard to forget.
Now, some of Nigeria’s prize-winning authors have turned acid-tipped pens against the government of Muhammadu Buhari for failing to rein in an elite police unit whose sullied record of unprovoked raids, arbitrary beatings, arrests and extortion, especially against young people, has sparked a movement that brought out thousands nationwide.
Renowned novelist and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was among the writers who shared an outpouring of grief and fury after the wanton shooting of young Nigerians trapped in a cul-de-sac while calling for an end to the harassment and killings by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
“SARS is random, vicious, vilely extortionist,” Chimamanda wrote in a recent article. “SARS officers raid bars or arbitrarily arrest young men for such crimes as wearing their hair in dreads, having tattoos, holding a nice phone or a laptop, driving a nice car. Then they demand large amounts of money as “bail.”
Toyin Falola, distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas, added: “Oct. 20, 2020 will go down in Nigerian history as the day the whole world saw images of the green-and-white striped flag stained with the red blood of protesters bludgeoned by the forces of the state… The abuses of President Buhari’s government are no longer being kept in the dark.”
Chidozie Uzoezie, a Lagos-based freelance writer, penned: “SARS, founded in 1992 to fight crimes, has metamorphosed into a hydra-headed plague, brutalizing and killing poor and voiceless Nigerians while protecting the rich… The Nigerian Police Force has been reduced from being law enforcement agents to mere trigger-happy tools in the hands of irresponsible governments and desperate politicians. In short, a menace.”
Finally, over 100 noted Nigerian writers signed an open letter published in African Arguments: “We denounce in the strongest terms the tyrannical and shameful persecution of innocent Nigerians by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the continued harassment of peaceful protesters.
“As Chinua Achebe said, ‘We cannot trample on the humanity of others without devaluing our own.’ We ask that the government of Nigeria, under President Buhari, take concrete measures, beyond the flippant rhetoric of years gone by, and immediately reform the Nigerian Police Force as a whole.
“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters protesting on the streets of Nigeria, and ask that every right-thinking member of the global community raise their voice and support the agitation for justice for the victims of police brutality in Nigeria, the immediate termination of such inexcusable conduct by all units of the police and a sincere and tangible reform of the police in Nigeria.”
More than 56 people have died since demonstrations began in Nigeria more than two weeks ago. w/pix of SARS protest
Archbishop Wilton Gregory greets parishoners after mass in Washington, D. C.
By: NBC News Pope Francis on Sunday elevated Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Wilton Gregory, to cardinal, making him the first African American appointed to the red-hat conclave. The 72-year-old Gregory, who led the Roman Catholic Church’s response to an internal sexual abuse scandal in the early 2000s, was one of 13 new cardinals named by Pope Francis during his noontime prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. The cardinal nominees will be installed during a ceremony on Nov. 28. “With a very grateful and humble heart, I thank Pope Francis for this appointment which will allow me to work more closely with him in caring for Christ’s Church,” cardinal-elect Gregory said in a statement following the news from the Holy See. In naming the selections, the pope elevated several archbishops from developing countries, including Cuba, the Congo and Guatemala. Nine of the new cardinals are younger than 80, a requirement to be allowed to vote on a successor to the pontiff. The pope said the new crop of cardinals have all shown dedication to “the missionary vocation of the Church that continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all men and women of the earth.” The new appointments will expand the College of Cardinal’s from 120 to 128 electors, who hail from 68 countries. The elevation of Gregory to cardinal will make him the highest-ranking African American prelate in the nation. The historical appointment came two years after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral letter condemning what it called an accumulation of “episodes of violence and animosity with racial and xenophobic overtones” and imploring the Catholic church to practice what it preaches in regards to racial equality. In June, Francis denounced the “sin of racism” and identified George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25, as the victim of a “tragic” killing. “We cannot close our eyes to any form of racism or exclusion while pretending to defend the sacredness of every human life,” the pope said at the time. Gregory, who was born and raised in Chicago, was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago in May 1973, according to his biography on the Archdiocese of Washington website. He served as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, from 1994 to December 2004, when Pope John Paul II appointed him archbishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Gregory was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2001 and under his leadership, the bishops implemented the “Charter of Protection of Children and Young People” that laid out five principles for responding to a sex abuse crisis involving Catholic clergy and conceded they had been remiss in protecting children from pedophile priests. Earlier this year, Gregory issued a statement rebuking a visit by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., for a photo op. “I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,” Gregory said. His statement came just days after protesters outside the White House were tear-gassed and forcibly removed so Trump could walk to a vandalized St John’s Episcopal Church and pose for photos holding a Bible. “St. Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth,” Gregory’s statement added. “He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.”
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
The lines are long, but Black voters are demonstrating their will to vote. In Texas, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Indiana, African Americans’ resiliency and resolve have never been as severely tested. They have gone to great lengths to overcome voter suppression, discouragement, misinformation, gerrymandering, and so many other obstacles to participate in America’s elections. In Fort Bend County, Texas, a check-in machine glitch shut down at least four precincts, and a court ruling that significantly limited ballot locations didn’t stop many African Americans from traveling long distances and overcoming even longer wait times to vote. In Georgia, NPR Reported that the clogged polling locations in metro Atlanta reflected an underlying pattern: the number of places to vote has shrunk statewide, with little recourse. “Although the reduction in polling places has taken place across racial lines, it has primarily caused long lines in nonwhite neighborhoods where voter registration has surged and more residents cast ballots in person on Election Day. The pruning of polling places started long before the pandemic, which has discouraged people from voting in person,” the report noted. In Virginia, a glitch shut down polls and forced officials to push back deadlines to cast early votes. Also, General Registrar Donna Patterson told reporters that the long lines in Virginia Beach had been like that each day since early voting began about one month ago. Add to that number the 55,000 mail-in ballots the registrar received to that point. In North Carolina, about 163,000 votes were cast in person across North Carolina on Saturday, bringing the total to 828,456 in the state — more than double the number of people in North Carolina who went to the polls at this time in the 2016 election. “Texas has been under siege confronting voter suppression from multiple fronts from our Governor Greg Abbott to the state higher courts,” noted Sonny Messiah Jiles, the publisher, and CEO of The Houston Defender Media Group, DefenderNetwork.com. “It is unbelievable or ridiculous for a county with 2.4 million registered voters to have one location to drop off mail-in ballots,” Jiles remarked. “Despite their efforts, the Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, a smart young millennial, has been strategic and innovative with drive-thru voting, doubling the early voting locations and the historical move of 24-hour voting. But aside from voting access, we need to beware not to be bamboozled listening to the polls and just go and vote like our life depends on it, because it does.” Numerous voter suppression tactics have been used in Texas and throughout the nation, added Patrick Washington, CEO, and co-publisher of the Dallas Weekly. “Like the late-night ruling, from a 5th Circuit Court via a three judge panel, all of whom appointed by President Trump to uphold Governor Abbot’s mandate to limit one ballot drop box for millions of voters in Dallas county,” Washington observed. However, he continued: “Despite this deliberate, detrimental move, the night before early voting in Texas, I am pleased to see that the very voters that may have been affected in Dallas counties came to the polls big. “I witnessed many volunteers at the Martin Luther King Center assisting the elderly with remaining comfortable with chairs and water during the long wait and assisting first-time voters by explaining the sample ballots. To know that ballot records are being broken in counties all over Texas doesn’t shock me. Unfortunately, a lot of tragic events due to racism and police brutality have occurred during Trump’s time in office. “People are tired. People can’t see family and friends like they used to. In some cases, people are unemployed, angry, scared or maybe all of the above. So, in any case, people have the time to exercise their civic duty and vote.” Even in states like Indiana, voter suppression efforts haven’t stopped Black people from lining up at the polls. “Indiana has some incredibly restrictive voter laws, and currently we only have one early voting site in all of Indianapolis,” stated Robert Shegog, CEO at the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper and Indiana Minority Business Magazine. “A few more will open Oct. 24, but significantly more are needed given the size of the city. However, it is very refreshing to see so many people voting early. This has been a trend in Indianapolis for over ten years now, and the numbers keep increasing,” Shegog noted. The Indianapolis Recorder reported that there were 13,206 votes cast through the first nine days of early voting – or nearly 10,000 more in the same period in 2008 and 5,000 more than in 2016.
