Greene County Democrat

Author: greenecodemocratcom

  • Legislative delegation meets with community on proposed changes in Amendment 743 Future of electronic bingo in Greene County uncertain due to Supreme Court ruling

    Artis .jpg

    Persons leading community meeting on bingo, Sunday night at the National Guard Armory; L to R.State Representative Artis J. McCampbell, Spiver W. Gordon, Leo Branch, Chair Greene County School Board, Sarah Duncan, Rev. James Carter, Finest Miles and State Senator Bobby Singleton.

    The past week has been a difficult one for the future of electronic bingo in Greene County. On Thursday, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions seizing electronic bingo machines and cash from Victoryland in 2003. The Court continued to assert that “bingo” was a game played on paper cards and that none of the Constitutional Amendments, including Greene County’s Amendment 743, protected electronic gaming machines as legal in Alabama. On Sunday at the Eutaw National Guard Armory, over 150 local residents came out to hear State Senator Bobby Singleton and State Representative Artis McCampbell explain their bill to change Amendment 743. The four electronic bingo establishments in the county, Sheriff Benison, County Commissioners, School Board members, other public officials and citizens were present to understand and discuss the bill.
    On Tuesday, in the Alabama State Senate, Senator Harri Anne Smith of the Wiregrass area contested Singleton’s bill, which had been passed out of committee, on the floor.  Her action blocked the bill.
    Senator Singleton withheld his bill and contested all other local bills pending in the State Senate, in the same way that Smith contested his bill.

    Impact of Alabama Supreme Court decision

    Attorney General Luther Strange hailed the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision Thursday against VictoryLand as a resounding victory for the rule of law and the definitive word that electronic bingo is illegal in Alabama.
    “The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling is abundantly clear that electronic bingo is illegal and repeated court challenges to the contrary will not change that fact,” said Attorney General Strange. “I cannot say it any better than the court itself.”
    The Alabama Supreme Court ruling observed: “Today’s decision is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the more than six years’
    worth of attempts to defy the Alabama Constitution’s ban on “lotteries.” It is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the ongoing saga of attempts to defy the clear and repeated holdings of this Court beginning in 2009 that electronic machines like those at
    issue here are not the “bingo” referenced in local bingo amendments.     It is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the failure of some local law-enforcement officials in this State to enforce the anti-gambling laws of this State they are sworn to uphold, thereby
    necessitating the exercise and performance by the attorney general of the authority and duty vested in him by law, as the chief law-enforcement officer of this State, to enforce the criminal laws of this State.
    And finally, it is the latest, and hopefully last, instance in
    which it is necessary to expend public funds to seek appellate review of the meaning of a simple term — “bingo” – which, as reviewed above, has been declared over and over and over again by this Court. There is no longer any room for uncertainty, nor justification for continuing dispute, as to the meaning of that term. And certainly the need for any further expenditure of judicial resources, including the resources of this Court, to examine this issue is at an end. All that is left is for the law of this State to be enforced.”
    Attorney General Strange added, “I consider the work of my office in bringing the issue of electronic gambling to the courts for final judgement to now be complete. It is now up to the Governor, ALEA, and local authorities to ensure that the law is properly enforced.
    “I am proud of the work of the many local law enforcement jurisdictions who have performed their duty to enforce our laws and I am equally proud of my legal team in bringing this case and the question of electronic bingo to a successful conclusion.”
    There is a similar suit pending in Greene County about machines seized in raids on bingo facilities in Greene County. Greene County’s Amendment 743 specifically allows “electronic forms of bingo” while legislation in other parts of the state do not explicitly permit electronic machines, which the Supreme Court, AG Strange and other consider illegal gambling slot machines.
    It is unclear if Attorney General Strange plans to raid bingo again or leave it up to local law enforcement while he pursues his own political career, which may include a run for Governor.

    Sunday’s Community Meeting on Electronic Bingo

    Senator Singleton came to the meeting in Greene County to discuss his local legislative bill, which makes changes in the Greene County Constitutional Amendment 743 on bingo. He said that the bill was developed in consultation with Republican leaders of the Senate,
    in particular Dale Marsh, to clarify the status and legality of electronic bingo. “ We need 21 votes to pass this bill and there are only 6 Democratic Senators, so we need help,” said Singleton.
    The bill would allow gaming on any machine authorized for use in Indian casinos by regulations of the National Indian Gaming Commission. “Since these machines are legal at Indian casinos, they should be legal in Greene County,” said Singleton. He also indicated that several legislators were very protective of the Indians and did want him to use their definition to justify our use of electronic bingo machines that are approved in the Indian casinos.
    The bill requires that gaming be done at only one facility in Greene County, which is licensed for pari-mutuel betting on horses and greyhound dogs. This facility is Greenetrack. If these changes pass, the other three bingo facilities, permitted by the Sheriff, will be closed.
    There was much discussion on the employment and services that would be lost if these other three facilities were forced to close.
    The bill provides for a state and local gross receipts tax on the revenues generated by electronic bingo, which are estimated to be $50 million a year after winnings paid out to participants. The State of Alabama would receive a 4% tax while the local tax would be 8.5% or possibly more. The local tax would go to benefit the County Commission, School Board, Hospital, E 911, fire associations and others.
    There is a second tax on the portion of revenues that go to gaming machine providers. The Sheriff and the Eutaw Police Department would divide these funds.
    Local observers pointed out that these tax provisions would provide Greene County residents with reliable information on the funds flowing through these gaming establishments. At present, the amount of money generated by these facilities is not publically known. “Without transparency on the total amount of funds handled by these gaming entities, there is no way to know how generous they really are in helping agencies and charities in the county,” said Carol Zippert, Greene County School Board member.
    Val Goodson, speaking for the Center for Rural Development, the charity benefiting from Green Charity Bingo said in last year (2015) the facility had $17 million in gross revenues and paid only $402,000 to the charity.
    A five member Greene County Gaming Commission would be named to take over the responsibilities for regulating and administering bingo from the Sheriff, who is designated under the current amendment. Sheriff Jonathan Benison attended the meeting and spoke in strong defense of his work for the past six years in regulating bingo. He echoed the comments of many others that he was not aware of Singleton’s bill and it should have been discussed with Greene County leaders and residents before it was proposed in Montgomery.
    In closing out the meeting Singleton said, “This bingo bill may be our last best hope to save bingo in this county before the Attorney General or someone else comes against us. This is the main reason we made this proposal. We want to help Greene County save and benefit from bingo.”

  • School board retains Dr. James H. Carter as Superintendent

    Dr. Carter

    Superintendent Dr. James H. Carter, Sr.

     

    At its monthly meeting held March 31, 2016, the Greene County Board of Education terminated its superintendent’s search and entered into a two year agreement retaining Dr. James H. Carter, Sr. as Superintendent of Schools.  The new contract goes into effect June 1, 2016.
    Dr. Carter initially came on board with the Greene County School Board in June 2015 as a consultant through the Alabama State Department of Education. He has been serving as Interim Superintendent of the Greene County Schools since September 2015.
    The board commenced its superintendent’s search last June 2015 and when Dr. Carter was asked to serve as the interim superintendent the search was put on hold in August until the following Spring of 2016.
    In less than a year’s time, Dr. Carter has introduced various programs and initiatives to boost the academic and cultural exposure for students. These include developing academic partnerships with the University of Alabama, University of West Alabama and Shelton Community College; adding additional career-tech courses and opening a Performing Arts Program.
    He has also been successful in securing qualified administrators and instructional personnel for the system.  Currently he is directing significant improvements and updates to the structures at the former Peter J. Kirksey Vocational School. At the March board meeting, Interim Superintendent Carter gave the following report:
    * Carver Middle School and Eutaw Primary School will be the sites for the Summer Feeding Program.
    * Summer school will be held the first week in June to the first week in July.  Lunches will be provided for those students enrolled.
    * A two week Academic Academy will also be available for students at each of the schools during the first two week in June.
    * Plans are to explore more academic and athletic scholarships for students.
    * Develop more academic plans for special needs students.* Devise strategies to enhance the menus in the Child Nutrition Program.
    * Allow Dress-Up Day for students and faculty twice a month.
    * Devise action plan to assist students in scoring above 20 on the ACT.
    * Expand course offering at Career Center.
    * Board must sign up as Charter School Authorizer by August 1, 2016.
    * Planning for Virtual School Pilot.
    * Advance Ed will review school system documents regarding accreditation April 17-19.
    * Principals, coaches and bus drivers should be certified in CPR.
    * Planning mentoring and induction program for new teachers.
    * Board work session with TCU scheduled for April 11, 2016.
    * Board is pursuing consolidation of Carver Middle School and Paramount Jr. High. Board will hold community meetings throughout the county to discuss this proposal.
    * Greene County High School graduation set for May 20, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium.
    In other business the board approved the following Personnel Items as recommended by the superintendent:
    * Employment of the following teachers at Eutaw Primary School at a rate of $25.00/hr for After School Tutorial Sessions – Funding Source: Title VI (March 1, 2016 thru March 31, 2016): Lashawn Henley; Keshia Williams; Charlease Smith; Brenda Washington.
    * Employment of the following teachers at Paramount Jr. High School at a rate of $25.00/hr for After School Tutorial Sessions – Funding Source: Title VI (March 1, 2016 thru March 31, 2016): Shante Morton; Sukova Hicks; Felicia Smith; Mona Duncan; Brenda Grant; Tameshia Abrams; Lonia Dancy-Brown.
    * Employment of the following teachers at Carver Middle School at a rate of $25.00/hr for After school tutorial sessions – Funding Source: Title VI (March 1, 2016 thru March 31, 2016): Vanessa Bryant; Joseph Polk.
    * Employment of the following teacher at Greene County High School at a rate of $25.00/hr for After School Tutorial Sessions – Funding Source: Title VI (March 1, 2016 thru March 31, 2016): Tonia Sparks.
    Employment of the following bus drivers at a rate of $15.00/hr for After School Tutorial Sessions – Funding Source: Title VI (March 1, 2016 thru March 31, 2016): Ayanna Crawford; Felicia Davis; Jammie Davis; Brendan Gaines; Jaida Goree; Joe Webb.
    Under Administrative Services, the board approved the following recommendations of the Interim Superintendent:
    * School Calendar for 2016-2017 School Year.
    * Development of a school district teacher evaluation instrument commencing with the school year 2016-2017.
    * Reorganization of the administration at Greene County High School.
    * Permission to repair roof at Peter J. Kirksey Vocational Center.
    * Permission to modify Peter J. Kirksey into a bus shop as funds come available.
    * Payment of all bills, claims and payroll.
    Bank reconciliations as submitted by Mr. Leon dowe, CSFO.
    Designate Greene County High School as a storm shelter open to the community.
    The following Instructional Items recommended by the Interim Superintendent were approved by the board:
    * Requirement for all students to take Algebra I & II, Chemistry, and Biology prior to graduation commencing with the 2016-2017 incoming Freshmen students.
    * A 9th Grade Academy at Greene County High commencing with the 2016-2017 school year.
    * Cursive writing course for grades K-2.
    * Financial independence course for grades 6-12 (Banking Course) and develop an agreement with Citizens Trust Bank and Merchants & Farmers Bank to provide support.
    * Course that will encourage students to participate in voting process and to teach them more about local, state and U.S. government.
    * Revision of the Information Guide for Students and Parents.

  • Leaked UN report faults sanitation at Haiti bases at time of cholera outbreak

    By: Joe Sandler Clarke and Ed Pilkington, Guardian

    UN Peacekeepers in Haiti

    UN Peacekeepers in Haiti

    The United Nations uncovered serious sanitation failures in its Haiti peacekeeping mission just a month after a deadly cholera outbreak erupted in the country, killing thousands, a leaked report has revealed. The UN has consistently refused to accept that it is responsible for compensating victims of the disaster. But the report, which was commissioned a month into the cholera crisis in November 2010, found a series of alarming problems in several UN peacekeeping bases including sewage being dumped in the open as well as a lack of toilets and soap.
    The authors of the review alerted the UN leadership that the failure to dispose of sewage safely at a time when the cholera epidemic was raging “will potentially damage the reputation of the mission”.
    They also warned that the way the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti (Minustah) had managed waste disposal “and the poor oversight of contractors carrying out this work has left the mission vulnerable to allegations of disease propagation and environmental contamination”.
    The existence of the internal UN review, which has been seen by the Guardian, will add to pressure on the world body to face up to the role it played as the source of the cholera epidemic. The UN is currently facing a lawsuit from 1,500 Haitians who blame the world organisation for negligently allowing peacekeepers from Nepal to carry the disease into the country, months after Haiti was devastated by an earthquake.
    Until the epidemic started in October 2010, Haiti had been free of cholera for at least 150 years. Mounting evidence suggests that the Asian strain of cholera was unwittingly imported by the peacekeepers from Nepal when they were relocated to Haiti to help with emergency work in the aftermath of the earthquake.
    In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the UN failed to screen peacekeepers from Nepal for cholera, where the disease is common, and that a private contractor hired by the UN failed to ensure sanitary conditions and adequate infrastructure at the UN military camp in Mirebalais. They allege that this led to sewage and other waste being pumped straight into the Meille river, a tributary of Haiti’s biggest river, the Artibonite.
    Despite clear evidence, the UN continues to refuse to accept any responsibility for the disaster, claiming immunity from any claims for compensation. The former head of Minustah, Edmond Mulet, has repeatedly stated that UN peacekeepers were not responsible for the outbreak.
    The UN’s controversial position looks increasingly awkward now that the world body’s own internal review exposing dire sanitation problems at its camps has come to light. In the leaked report, UN researchers led by the former chief of special support services at the department of field support, Melva Crouch, gave their immediate assessment of the state of sanitation in the peacekeeping bases in Haiti just weeks after the epidemic broke out.
    In the most devastating finding, Crouch’s team found that a month after the cholera outbreak, more than one in 10 of the UN camps were still disposing of sewage – known as “black water” – “directly into local environment”. In addition, more than seven in 10 of the camps disposed of their “grey water” – that is water from showers and kitchens – into the “local environment”.
    Some camps were found to have open drains with “grey water” running right through them, while several camps flooded due to “inadequate drainage after rains”. “Most disposal sites” where private contractors were paid by the UN to take away the sewage and dirty water from the camps were found to be “too close to water sources and/or population centres and without adequate fencing”.
    To add insult to injury, the leaked review, titled the Minustah Environmental Health Assessment Report, notes that the UN mission owned five self-contained waste-water treatment plants that were on site in Haiti and could have been used to make sure the peacekeepers’ camps were sanitary and safe. Two of them were found to be faulty, and as for the other three “the mission had intended to install these plants in the current financial year, however due to competing priorities none of them have yet been installed”.
    A study by Médecins sans Frontières published this month in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases found that the official count of about 9,000 deaths from Haiti’s cholera epidemic is likely to be a gross understatement. The researchers pointed out that most of the official fatalities were recorded through hospitals and medical centers, thus ignoring thousands of deaths that occurred in rural areas miles away from any formal medical provision.
    In March, the Guardian revealed that the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, had been personally chastised by UN’s own human rights experts for the organisation’s failure to compensate Haitian victims of the cholera outbreak.
    In a letter addressed to Ban, five special rapporteurs said the UN’s handling of the cholera epidemic “undermines the reputation of the United Nations, calls into question the ethical framework within which its peace-keeping forces operate, and challenges the credibility of the organization as an entity that respects human rights”.
    The leaked report reveals the relatively tiny amount of money the UN could have spent to clean up its camps and prevent sewage disposal into the river. The officials estimated that an investment of just $3.15m would have covered most of the sanitation issues they had identified.
    Now that cholera has taken hold in Haiti, a program to eradicate the disease is estimated to cost well over $2bn.

  • Follow the money: Minority vendors raise questions about government advertising spending

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA News Wire
    Contributing Writer)

    NNPA President Ben Chavis addresses Capitol Hill press conference

    NNPA President Ben Chavis addresses Capitol Hill
    press conference (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)

    The federal government spends about $1 billion on advertising services, but history continues to show that small businesses and local and minority-owned media companies are mostly left out. On Wednesday, March 23, as part of its ongoing series on Supplier Diversity, the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities hosted a roundtable discussion on diversity and government advertising practices. Moderated by Thomas Reed, the director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities, the event also included commentary from James Winston, the president of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Melody Spann Cooper, Steve Roberts, Sherman Kizart, and other experts from the broadcasting industry who examined the federal government’s interaction with diverse communities and how current advertising practices reach those same communities.
    “We wanted to have a more laser-like focus on federal advertising. The congressional research service has found in recent years the federal government spends close to $1 billion annually on advertising services,” Reed said in opening the roundtable discussion.
    “The focus of the meeting is an examination of how, where, and in many instances, why this money, these dollars, are being spent and how we might begin to expand the pool of vendors who assist the government and getting out the message,” he said.
    While public documents reveal who is spending the money, they don’t always reveal who is on the receiving end of those contracts, Reed added. “Experience tells us that local media, small companies, women and minority-owned media are not well-represented,” he said.
    The meeting was viewed as a critical beginning step in minority-owned media being considered when the federal government and its agencies seek to advertise.
    Earlier this month, leaders from the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the National Association of Hispanic Publications – which combined publish more than 600 newspapers to over 30 million readers – were joined by D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton in calling for an examination of government advertising practices.
    It’s widely understood that government advertising covers a variety of subjects, Reed said, noting public service announcements, federal job openings, competition for federal contracts, and even the sale of surplus government property.
    He said federal agencies use numerous platforms to educate the public about their core services including using television, radio, and now, increasingly, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. However, the lack of advertising by federal agencies in Black media can be felt in radio as well, Winston said.
    “We find ourselves very challenged to maintain the success of our existing stations. Your success depends on getting advertising dollars and, in 2012, the Congressional Research Service did a report that at the time showed that the federal government agencies were spending about $500 million a year on commercial advertising,” Winston said. “That number is now closer to $1 billion and the report showed that the largest commercial advertiser in the federal government is the Department of Defense. And, so we’ve found that a great deal of money is being spent but there’s very little information about where that money is going.”
    Winston added: “The agencies pretty much do the same thing, they all have major contracts with one huge advertising agency, usually a ‘Madison Avenue’ advertising agency.”
    Kenyata Wesley, who represented the Department of Defense during the discussion, said she attended to help explain the procurement process and to help minority media members to better navigate the acquisition process.“We do have a very robust media program, about $300 million spent in the media community,” Wesley said. “Hopefully, we can walk away with solutions.”
    Chanel Bankston-Carter, the director for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said her agency is committed to working with veteran-owned and small businesses, and they’re looking at opportunities for procurement. She said the roundtable is “Truly an opportunity to share ideas, strategies and come together to develop a partnership that will benefit the small business community.”
    “My sole purpose is to work on procurement opportunities for the small business community,” Bankston-Carter said, noting that the Veterans Affairs is the only federal agency that has a verification program. “There are times advertising has opportunities to be more diverse and we do have a lot of opportunity for marketing and advertising and we do use that. So, I would just love to say that we are open.”
    During the conference, Reed reiterated the purpose of the sit down.“It’s not to indict, but to gain a better understanding of the process, why federal advertising dollars are not more broadly spent and how women and minority-owned media companies can improve government advertising to underserved communities,” he said.
    The conference was held just two weeks after Norton joined the call for more accountability in government advertising spending with minority-owned publications. “I’m requesting a report from an objective arm of the federal government, the GAO. We’re asking them to conduct a study of the federal agencies whose outreach is to people of color,” said Norton on Friday, March 11.
    “We don’t want our federal agencies to forego their mandate and responsibilities. There is a mandate to engage small businesses. We want to discuss if that is, in fact, taking place. There’s no more authentic or trusted way to do so than to engage the Black and Hispanic Press.”Norton and the accompanying Black and Latino publishers said no one can accurately pinpoint a dollar figure of what the federal government spends.“We have no sense of the numbers,” Norton said. “If you don’t even know what they do, you can’t know what they spend. We want to know how much they spend and with which press. We don’t even know if they have a strategy.”

  • Racial split defines MD.’s hotly contested Democratic Senate primary

    By Rachel Weiner and Scott Clement , Washington Post

    Edwards and Van Hollend

    Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen

    Maryland’s Democratic Senate race remains very much up for grabs three weeks before the primary, with voters sharply divided along racial lines, according to a new poll from The Washington Post and the University of Maryland. The rare open Senate seat, being vacated by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D) after 30 years, has sparked a heated and expensive battle between Reps. Donna F. Edwards and Chris Van Hollen. Edwards is trying to appeal to voters by emphasizing her inspiring personal story as a black single mother with an activist history. Her rival has responded with a bunch of endorsements from public office¬holders and a relentless focus on his legislative record.
    Faced with that choice, African American and white voters appear deeply split. Among all likely Democratic primary voters, Edwards leads Van Hollen by a statistically insignificant 44 percent to 40 percent. But likely black voters favor Edwards by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. More than twice as many white voters support Van Hollen as back Edwards.
    While Edwards also leads among women, that split has racial underpinnings as well, according to the survey, which was conducted in partnership with U-Md.’s Center for American Politics and Citizenship. Van Hollen leads by 23 percentage points among white women. But that preference is quickly erased by Edwards’s 51-point lead with black women, many of whom seem drawn by her argument that she is best suited to understand their needs and fight for those needs in an overwhelmingly white, mostly male U.S. Senate.
    “Women get short¬changed a lot,” said Edwards supporter Jacqui Battle, 59, a black mother of two in Prince George’s County. “It means a lot that she’s where she is, at the level she is, in her career.”
    Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) and several other black elected officials from Edwards’s home county have endorsed Van Hollen — an advantage he touts at every opportunity. But Edwards still leads in Prince George’s by 59 points. (Van Hollen is nearly as highly favored in his home of Montgomery County.)
    And despite extensive television ad campaigns and scores of visits and appearances, neither candidate holds a clear advantage in the Baltimore area, encompassing both the largely African American city and the whiter surrounding suburbs.
    Both Edwards and Van Hollen frequently invoke Mikulski, a revered figure both nationally and locally, and the first female Democrat elected to the Senate in her own right.
    Edwards notes that she, too, would make history as Maryland’s first black senator and the second female black senator. Van Hollen argues that he, like Mikulski, is a constituent-oriented and savvy politician.

  • Alabama legislators consider impeachment of Gov. Bentley

    By: Ed Cason, AL.com

    Gov. Robert Bentley

    Gov. Robert Bentley

    State Rep. Ed Henry, following through on plans he announced last week, outlined articles of impeachment he will introduce against Gov. Robert Bentley. The governor said he would vigorously defend himself against a move he called a “political attack.”
    Henry, a Republican from Hartselle, was joined at a news conference today by Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, minority leader in the House, and Reps. Mike Ball, R-Madison and David Standridge, R-Hayden. The five-page resolution charges Bentley with willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency and offenses of moral turpitude.
    “We’re looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama through actions and lies that have caused us to have some doubt about his leadership,” Henry said. “And as such, the only course the people of Alabama have to address this issue is through the impeachment process.”
    Henry said he would not seek a vote on the resolution today but hoped for a vote next week.If the House approves the resolution, it would refer the charges to the Senate, which would hold a trial on whether to remove the governor from office.
    Bentley has come under fire after the release of audio tapes of his sexually suggestive comments to former senior political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who resigned last week.
    The governor says he has no plans to resign and has done nothing to warrant removal from office. Bentley released a statement this afternoon saying he would vigorously defend himself and there are no grounds for impeachment. He called today’s press confererence “political grandstanding.”
    “There is a lot of work to do before I end my term in office in 2019,” Bentley said. “I have laid out a strategic plan for success, and I will continue to focus my efforts on making Alabama a great state.”That is what the people of Alabama overwhelmingly elected and re-elected me to do. I will continue to work hard for them every day.”
    It’s unclear how much support there is for the impeachment resolution and whether it has time to be resolved with 12 meeting days left in the legislative session.
    Rep. Mac McCutcheon, chairman of the Rules Committee, told the Associated Press that Henry’s impeachment resolution would be accompanied by a resolution establishing an investigatory commission, which would examine if there are grounds for impeachment.
    Rep. Ford, minority leader in the House, said the impeachment resolution was not a partisan issue. “This is not about the governor’s personal conduct. This is about the allegations against him, including that he obstructed justice within the Alabama state law enforcement agency,” Ford said.
    “We believe there is enough probable cause to warrant asking the state Senate to try this case, and if guilty, remove the governor from office.”
    Former state Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier has accused Bentley of telling him to lie to the attorney general’s office about the status of an investigation. Collier made allegations about Bentley on the same day the governor fired him. The governor said he has not told any employees or cabinet members to lie.
    At today’s news conference, Ball said the impeachment resolution was an effort to use one of the checks and balances of governments to resolve a “crisis of confidence.

  • Supreme Court blocks challenge to ‘one person, one vote’ in key voting rights case

    Written By Desire Thompson, NBC News

    The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that districts will continue to use total population instead of voter population to determine legislative redistricting in Texas, maintaining fair voting rights for the state’s large Latino population. According to NBC News, the decision was made Monday after Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger argued that only eligible voters should be counted, which can harm large urban communities consisting of non-voters and children, but benefit large districts with conservative and rural voters.
    The ruling, signed with an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was supported by Justices John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas concurred but drew their own notes on the ‘one person, one vote’ law.
    “In a concurring opinion, one of the Supreme Court’s conservatives, Justice Alito, said Monday’s decision holds only that states are not required to count total population. The ruling does not bar states from instead counting the voting population, which he called “an important and sensitive question that we can consider if and when” such a case comes before the court.”
    The historic “one person, one vote” view has been seen as a clear way to treat voters equally across districts. If the argument was supported, large states like Texas, New York, California, New Jersey, Arizona and Nevada would have seen the largest changes in voting rights.
    The ruling is also a win for liberals who have supported total population voting. Ginsburg explained that those not eligible to vote need representation and the 14th amendment is permitted as a foundation for drawing districts.
    “Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates—children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system—and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies,” Ginsburg wrote, “By ensuring that each representative is subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total population apportionment promotes equitable and effective representation.”
    “Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 States and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries,” Ginsburg wrote. “Appellants have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population.”

  • Grand Jury returns 29 true bills with 59 cases continued

    The Grand Jury of Greene County, Alabama, met for spring term and went into session on March 28, 2016, ending the session March 29, 2016. The Grand Jury considered various criminal charges against various defendants returning with 29 true bills, some of which were multiple count indictments, resulting in 22 felonies and 7 misdemeanors. There were 59 cases continued and 8 no bills were returned. No further recommendations were presented.
    Indictments included the following.
    – Walter Lee Beck, Jr. was indicted for unlawful possession of marijuana.
    – Harper Dewayne Colvin was indicted for the September 4, 2015 shooting, causing the death of another person, to-wit Layton LaJeffery Cochran, shooting Cochran with a handgun and discharging firearm into an occupied vehicle.
    – David Edwards was indicted on Criminal Trespass I.
    – Anthony Lamar Gary was indicted for Criminal Trespass III and breaking and entering a vehicle.
    – Robert Earl Moore was indicted for certain person forbidden to possess pistol.
    – Rufus Peebles was indicted for theft of property.
    – Billy Wayne Sanders was indicted for Arson II.
    – Jayson Gabriel Shows was indicted for possession of a controlled substance, Criminal Mischief III and Theft of Property III.
    – Eric Washington was indicted for attempted murder on June 30, 2015, Kidnapping II, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle and promoting prison contraband.
    – Labryant Kumane Whitehead was indicted for Hindering Prosecution I.
    – Jose Luis Anguiano was indicted for trafficking – cocaine.
    – Dominic Fowler was indicted for possession of marijuana and attempt to elude.
    – Isaac Pinedo was indicted for trafficking – methamphetamine.
    – Juan Manuel Salazar was indicted for trafficking – cocaine.
    – Alvin Merrill Boatley was indicted for trafficking -methamphetamine, and for certain person forbidden to possess pistol and possession of drug paraphernalia.
    – Jonquise Deanthony Brewingtion was indicted for carrying a pistol without license and possession of marijuana.
    Aaron Braggs was indicted for certain person forbidden to possess pistol.
    – Tymon Leotis Davis was indicted for hindering prosecution.

  • Electronic Bingo Amendment passes out of committee with small changes

    Senator Bobby Singleton contacted the Democrat this week to advise that Senate Bill 340, which amends and changes electronic bingo in Greene County, had been approved in the Senate Tourism Committee and was scheduled for a vote on the floor of the full Senate on next Tuesday, April 5, 2016.
    Singleton said State Representative Artis McCampbell was moving the bill in the House of Representatives for passage by the full body.
    Singleton said that he and McCampbell had made some small changes in SB 340 based on discussions with legislators and other community leaders who contacted them about the bill.
    “We changed the section on the composition of the new Greene County Gaming Commission. There will still be five members. One selected by the Governor and the remaining four by the Legislative delegation. We removed the one to be appointed by the 7th District Congressperson. This means that three or four will be from Greene County,” said Singleton.
    “We met with Senator Sanders and he explained the court ordered settlement agreed between the Sheriff and the County Commission. We have adjusted the percentages for the Greene County Commission to be compatible with this court order,” said Singleton.
    We did not make any other changes in the bill, which still provides for electronic bingo only at a racetrack facility licensed for pari-mutuel wagering in the county. Only Greenetrack qualifies under this definition. The other facilities licensed by the Sheriff would have to close under the current language in SB 340.
    Singleton says, “We really designed this bill to support Greene County residents and owners. We are concerned that some of these facilities have out-of-town owners who drain money out of the county. They do not provide living wages and fringe benefits to their employees. We are looking at the quality of the Greenetrack facility – not the quantity of other facilities which have not benefited Greene County.
    Former Greene County Commissioner William “Nick” Underwood, who is an attorney associated with the River’s Edge Bingo operation writes a letter to the editor this week (see page 4) wherein he disputes Singleton and McCampbell’s rationale for SB 340.

  • Celebration of Hank Sanders’ 1,500th Senate Sketches column held in Selma

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    Shown above: Dr. Carol P. Zippert and John Zippert Co-Publishers of Greene County Democrat with Senator Hank Sanders displaying the 1st and 1,500th  Senate Sketches

    On Saturday March 19, 2016 more than a hundred community leaders from around the state of Alabama convened at the Bridge Crossing Theater in Selma to celebrate the writing and publication of the 1,500th Senate Sketches column written by State Senator Hank Sanders.
    Senator Sanders has been writing sketches for fifteen hundred consecutive weeks starting on April 29, 1987. The Greene County Democrat, weekly newspaper published on Wednesdays in Eutaw, Alabama, has printed each Senate Sketches column, in its entirety since the beginning 29 years ago. Each Sketches column has a prologue section which deals with an issue in the Legislature, a community concern, a trip that the Senator took, events in his life and family and other timely and meaningful topics. There is also a “Daily Diary” section, which lists events and people that Senator Sanders has interacted with during the past week. Each column ends with an “Epilogue”, which consists of a short reminder of the lessons learned from the prologue and daily diary sections.
    Senate Sketches is now also circulated on the Internet, published in other newspapers, read on the radio and distributed in other ways but the Greene County Democrat remains the only publication that has printed all 1,500 columns in full.
    The celebration included a reading by a number of people of their favorite Sketches column, special presentations including songs, plaques, poems and comments, and a response by Senator Sanders himself.
    Scott Douglas of the Greater Birmingham Ministries read Sketches # 1437, “An Open Letter to Mr. Charles Barkley”. In this column, Sanders takes the basketball legend to task for statements he made that slavery was not very bad for Black people and its impact is exaggerated.
    Alphonzo Morton III, a science teacher at Greene County High School and adult adviser to the Twenty-first Century Youth Leadership Movement, read Sketches # 905 “Men and Boys” which speaks to the differences, responsibilities and obligations of men as contrasted to boys.
    Sharon Wheeler and her mother, Carolyn Wheeler commented on Sketches #1323 which was a memorial to Kirk Wheeler their father and husband. Sanders delivered these remarks at Wheeler’s funeral.
    Faya Rose Toure (Sanders) did a rap about Senate Sketches, sang some songs, helped some community people to put on a skit as part of the program. Faya Rose was instrumental in planning the celebratory program.
    Carol P. Zippert, Co-Publisher of the Greene County Democrat was Mistress of Ceremonies and John Zippert, Co-Publisher of the Democrat said, “we are pleased and proud to be friends of Senator Sanders and to have published every word of every Senate Sketches column for three decades. I especially enjoy the Daily Diary section which lists the many activities that Senator Sanders is involved in each week.”
    Dave White, a reporter formerly with the Birmingham News praised Sketches, “for its writing and using the newspaper column format to provide very clear ideas in a very clear writing style. He also indicated the great discipline, consistency and perseverance to write a weekly newspaper column for three decades.
    State Senator Vivian Figures of Mobile presented Senator Sanders with a plaque from his Alabama Senate colleagues recognizing the achievement of 1,500 columns. Alabama New South Coalition and other groups presented plaques and acknowledgements to the Senator.
    In his remarks at the conclusion of the program Senator Sanders thanked the many people who help him type, proof read and distribute the Senate Sketches column each week. He said he was thankful and impressed at hearing people read the words of their favorite column to him. “It was a great and powerful experience,” he said.
    The groups in Selma, including the National Voting Rights Museum, Center for Non-Violence, Truth and Reconciliation and the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, compiled a book of the best-loved Senate Sketches, which they sold for $20.00 at the program. If you are interested in purchasing a book, contact the Center for Non-Violence, 8 Mulberry Road, Selma, AL 36703; phone 334/526-4533. Proceeds will go to support on-going community work in Selma and the Alabama Black Belt.