Greene County Democrat

Category: Community

  • Louis Harper re-elected as mayor of Boligee

    Boligee Mayor Louis Harper was re-elected as Mayor of Boligee with 119 votes defeating Marvin E. Oliver who received 26 votes. The Boligee City Council consist of District 1: Halee Vogt, Teresa Mack, who were unopposed. In District 2: Michael D. Gibson, Sr., Hattie Samuel and Earnestine Wade were elected with the most votes in their district. Eddie Mae Brown and James E. Morrow were defeated in the election.
    Mayor Harper would like to thank the City of Boligee citizens for allowing him an opportunity to serve them a second term and the support shown to him. “We will move Boligee forward”, stated Harper.
    City Council Meetings are held every 2nd Monday at 5:30. All are welcome.

  • Joe Lee Powell, Alphonzo Morton Jr, LaJeffrey Carpenter absent Mayor Edwards last City of Eutaw Council meeting not held due to lack of quorum

    The regular Eutaw City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 25, 2016, at 6:00 PM was not held due to a lack of a quorum. The Mayor and three council-members must be present to have an official meeting. This was to be Ms. Edwards last regular meeting before the newly elected city officials take office on November 7, 2016.
    “The three City Council members – Joe Lee Powell, Alphonzo Morton Jr. and LaJeffrey Carpenter – did not inform me that they were going to be absent. Ms. Shelia Smith was present and Reginald Spencer called and said he would be late.
    “ I feel those three council-members deliberately skipped the meeting to delay progress on the improvements to our water system. They knew the important business that was on the agenda for the meeting,” said Mayor Hattie Edwards.
    Mayor Edwards advised that she was planning to continue with firing the three police officers: Lonnie Glenn, Robert Clayton and Rodriquez Jones, who she deemed to be insubordinate and unwilling to abide by city policies. The police had a closed hearing with the City Council on October 18. Edwards said, “ I am moving ahead with these firings because it is my duty and responsibility to do so. If the next Mayor and Council wants to reinstate those police officers that is up to them. It is my responsibility to act when city employees do not abide by our policies and treat the Mayor disrespectfully.”
    When reached by the Democrat, Alphonzo Morton Jr. said, “I did not go to the City Council meeting because I support the police and I did not want to go.” Councilman Joe Lee Powell said, “ I had another obligation and could not attend.” When asked if he had informed the Mayor of his absence, he said that he had not but he was familiar with other times that other members of the Council had been absent without reporting to the Mayor.Efforts to reach LaJeffrey Carpenter were unsuccessful.
    Mayor Hattie Edwards said that the $3.1 million loan and grant with USDA Rural Development was being held up because the City Council had not agreed and accepted an offer of interim financing from Co-Bank, which was willing to provide these funds, at a favorable interest rate.
    “I have done everything to put this project in place and I am sad to see that things will be delayed because we were unable to have a quorum for our meeting. I have asked Councilwomen Smith to poll the Council to see if they are willing to hold a special meeting to approve this interim financing agreement before our terms have ended,” said Edwards.
    Mayor Edwards also provided the Democrat with a copy of a procedures report from Principal & Associates CPA firm on the financial status of the City of Eutaw, as of September 30, 2016. The report shows the bank balances in 19 bank accounts maintained by the City of Eutaw showing $895,861.68 as of that date.
    The CPA report indicates that the City of Eutaw has paid all outstanding bonds and warrants. The City has no outstanding long-term debt as of September 30, 2016. There is one major outstanding bill of $15,667 owed to Waste Management for garbage collection at the end of the fiscal year, which the report calls a normal obligation.
    Employee tax returns to IRS were reviewed and found to be over paid. The City has requested a refund from IRS.
    The billing for the City Water Department is three months behind (August-October 2016) with an estimate of $147,176 in uncollected revenues. The CPA firm recommends hiring additional staff to read the water meters because those readings are needed to process up-to-date billings for water and other city services.

  • Rising sea levels threatening Ghana’s coastal villages

    coastal-village-of-fuvemeh

    Oct. 24, 2016 (GIN) – Fuvemeh, one of Ghana’s coastal villages, is vanishing because of coastal erosion.

    Waves have taken whole parts of the village with them into the sea. What was once a thriving fishing community was three miles from the coast a few years back. Now the waves are just a few feet away.

    “This used to be a very beautiful village – a lot of coconut trees, sea turtles, sea gulls, dolphins, sharks and whatnot,” recalled local resident Frank Kofigah. “It’s been horrible. As a result of climate change we are suffering.”

    The only school in the area and a temporary replacement have also been washed away by the waves, resident Bright Agbeko told the Ghanaian news site MyJoyOnLine.

    Fuvemeh was once a thriving community of 2,500 people, supported by fishing and coconut plantations that are now completely underwater. But in the past two decades, climate change and industrial activity — such as sand mining and the construction of dams and deep-sea ports, which trap sediments and prevent them from reaching the coastline — have accelerated coastal erosion here, observed Matteo Faggoto of Foreign Policy magazine..   “Gradually but inexorably, the ocean has swallowed up hundreds of feet of coastline, drowning the coconut plantations and eventually sweeping away houses,” Faggoto said.

    Thousands of communities along the western coast of sub-Saharan Africa, from Mauritania to Cameroon, are at risk of being washed away.  Sea levels around the world are expected to rise by more than two-and-a-half feet by the end of the century, but they are expected to rise faster than the global average in West Africa, according to the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

    Kwasi Appeaning Addo, a professor in the University of Ghana’s department of marine and fisheries sciences, shared his fears. “In West Africa, infrastructure and economic activities are centered along the coastal region, so as sea levels continue to rise, it threatens our very existence and source of income. We are sitting on a time bomb.”

    Residents of Fuvemeh have been appealing to government for a sea defense wall to protect the coastal belt as they not ready to relocate as suggested by the Municipal Assembly and Member of Parliament Clemence Kofi Humado. He warned that should residents continue to live in the affected areas ,their lives may be endangered.

    “If we can’t find a balance between our insatiable appetite for modernity and allowing nature to replenish itself,” said Fredua Agyeman of Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, “we will always run into problems, no matter the advancements in modern science or engineering.”

    Local climate activists include the Ghana Youth Environmental Movement, on Facebook. w/pix of Fuvemeh

     

  • Donald Trump still sure he’s ‘the least racist person you’ve ever met’

     

    Elise Foley Immigration & Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post

     

    dump-trump

    Demonstrators with a ‘Dump Trump’ sign

    GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump ― the man who accused America’s first Black president of lying about his birthplace and called for banning Muslims from the country ― insisted Thursday that not only is he not a racist, but he’s actually “the least racist person you’ve ever met.”

    Trump made the comment just before a rally in the swing state of Ohio. “Nineteen days out from the election, you’ve been labeled a racist, you’ve been called a sexist, how …” reporter Colleen Marshall, of Columbus’ WCMH-TV, began to ask.

    At that point, Trump turned and started to walk away, saying, “Thank you very much.” But he stopped a moment later when she asked how he responded to those criticisms. “I am the least racist person you’ve ever met,” Trump said.

    Trump abruptly ended a second interview with local media on Thursday when asked about the allegations of sexual assault against him. “I know nothing about that,” he told Columbus’ 10TV and again walked away from the reporter.

    It’s impossible to really know what goes on in another person’s mind, but Trump has publicly demonstrated plenty of racist thinking ― enough to attract white nationalists, many of whom support his campaign.

    He launched his bid for president by saying Mexico was sending rapists and criminals across the border.

    He has stuck by his assertion that the Central Park Five, a group of four black men and one Latino man, were guilty of a notoriously violent rape in 1989, even though they’ve long since been exonerated. His pitch to black voters implies that all African-Americans live in abject poverty in “inner cities” riddled with crime. He supports stop-and-frisk policing despite its known problems with racial targeting.

    He called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., only to amend it to a ban on people from certain countries, which still seemed to cover the Middle East. And the list goes on.

    The charges of sexism also go on. Accusations of sexual assault specifically have multiplied in recent weeks after The Washington Post published a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent. More than a dozen women have come forward since and said he assaulted them. He has denied those allegations.

    Trump has also made a habit of judging women by their attractiveness. Among many, many examples, he has mocked his accusers for their looks, insulted Republican primary opponent Carly Fiorina’s appearance, and allegedly sought to have female workers fired if they weren’t, in his view, pretty enough.

    At Wednesday’s presidential debate, Trump called Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman.” Yet even then, he denied that he harbored any sexism. “Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” Trump said. “Nobody.” The audience in the room laughed.

  • Emmett Till sign In Mississippi vandalized by dozens of bullets

    By: Zeba BlayVoices Culture Writer, The Huffington Post

     

    emmett-till-sign

    Emmett Till sign with bullet holes

        A memorial sign dedicated to commemorating the murder of Emmett Till has been vandalized in Money, Mississippi. The sign, marking the spot where Till’s body was discovered in August 1955, had been riddled with at least 50 bullet holes.

    At only 14, Till fell victim to racist violence when he was kidnapped, tortured and killed by an angry white mob for apparently whistling at a white woman. The disfigured body of the Chicago-born teen was found three days later floating in the Tallahatchie River.

    J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, the two white men charged with killing Till in 1955, were acquitted of the crime, though they later bragged about kidnapping and murdering the teen. Till’s death and the lack of justice against his murderers became a catalyst for the civil rights movement throughout the United States in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

    In 2007, eight signs marking key locations in the last days of Till’s life were erected by the Emmett Till Memorial Commission. By 2013, as revealed in a 2013 tweet by writer Christopher Hooks, the sign marking the location Till’s body was found had been shot at dozens of times.  More recently, on Oct. 15, a North Carolina man named Kevin Wilson Jr. posted an updated photo of the memorial sign, now riddled with at least 50 bullet holes, on Facebook.

    There doesn’t seem to be any leads on the identities of the vandals, though efforts are already being made to fix the sign. According to the New York Daily News, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center is attempting to raise $15,000 to replace the damaged sign. Until then, it stands as a reminder that the racism that killed Till still lives on today.

    It was not the first time that this particular sign has been vandalized since it was erected in 2007. The Emmett Till Memorial Commission put up eight site markers at important locations, including near the Mississippi river where Emmett’s body was found after he was kidnapped, tortured and killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives down South.

    As the Daily News notes, officials have said that replacing and restoring the sign every time someone damages it or steals it goes beyond their financial capabilities. However, after news spread across social media, donations came pouring in, raising the amount to go toward replacing the sign to a whopping $19,200 as of 3 p.m. EDT on Monday. More than 400 people have contributed to the effort so far. In Greene County, Alabama, signs naming Highway 14 as “Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Drive have attracted similar bullet hole attacks by vandals.

  • Oprah on Hillary Clinton: ‘You don’t have to like her’

    oprah-et-hillary_276072_largeby the grio |

     Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Rodham Clinton

     

    Oprah Winfrey endorsed Hillary Clinton in June, but she hasn’t spoken out much on the Democratic candidate’s behalf. But in an interview set to air next Thursday, she explained to the American public that there is really only one choice.

    “The reason why I haven’t been vocal, other than saying I’m with her, is because I didn’t know what to say that could actually pierce through all the noise and the chaos and the disgusting vitriol that’s going on and actually be heard,” Winfrey told the Dallas-based pastor T.D. Jakes in the hour-long interview.

    “But there really is no choice, people. All the people sitting around talking about they can’t decide. This is what I what I wanna say — wait a minute,” she said as Jakes tried to interrupt. “I hear this all the time. You get into conversations — and there’s not a person in this room who hasn’t been in this same conversation — where people say, ‘I just don’t know if I like her.’”

    But, she insisted, that is the wrong question to be asking. “She’s not coming over to your house! You don’t have to like her,” she said. “You don’t have to like her. Do you like this country? Do you like this country? You better get out there and vote. Do you like the country? Do you like freedom and liberty? Do you like this country? OK. Do you like democracy or do you want a demagogue?”

  • Delta Chapter sponsors 6th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

    detla

    The Greene County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. held its 6th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, Saturday, October 1, 2016 on the old courthouse square in Eutaw. All participants and interested citizens received various materials on breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer survivors and their families, as well as individuals currently struggling with the disease, were also recognized and celebrated.
    The annual walk is also held to encourage the community to adopt more healthy lifestyles, including healthy food choices, regular physical exercise and medical exams.
    Dr. Dana Todd serves as chairperson of the DST Chapter’s Physical & Mental Health Committee. Andrea Perry is Chapter President.

  • School Board approves Black History to be taught across the curriculum

    The Greene County Board of Education, at its monthly meeting held Monday, October,17, 2016, approved a recommendation by Superintendent James Carter to develop a system policy directing that Black History is infused across the curriculum. The instructional item approved authorized the superintendent to “implement a discipline base Black History Course that will be taught across the curriculum and across all content areas.”
    It was noted that Black History begins before Africans were forced to the Americas and enslaved.
    Dr. Carter explained that the Black History contents will correspond to the specific courses taught. “All African Americans are part of the American dream and reality and have a right to know the difference between historical facts, myths, factual and real information,” he said. Carter stated that the Black History infusion will also incorporate a multicultural and multiethnic learning process.
    The Black History infusion across curriculum is intended to be initiated in the Spring semester.
    The board also approved formulation of system policies allowing students to be disciplined who create safety issues at school sponsored activities as well as off school campus. Superintendent Carter will work with the system’s policy committee regarding development of all new policies.
    On the recommendation of Superintendent Carter, the board approved registering with the State Board of Education as a Public Charter School Authorizer. This will position the Greene County Board to have some input regarding any group seeking to start a charter school in this county.

    The following instructional items were also approved:
    * Develop plans and organize the Learning Academy at Peter J. Kirksey to become a virtual school for the Greene County School District.
    * Provide students with instruction on how to conduct themselves when stopped by a police officer.
    * Give surplus textbooks to students to help with reading comprehension.
    * Provide books to parents who are pregnant as an effort to promote reading to unborn babies. This program will be called the Unborn Initiative.
    * Organize a peer mentoring program for grades 6 – 12.
    In other business the board approved the following Personnel Items:
    * Retirement of Ms. Brenda Grant, Elementary Teacher at Robert Brown Middle School, effective November 30, 2016.
    * Employment of Ms. Jacqueline Edwards as Part-time Custodian at Robert Brown Middle School; Ms. Tiffany Linebarger from Long-term Sub to a regular teacher at Robert Brown Middle School.
    Adding the following to the current Bus Driver Substitute List 2016-2017: Eddie Coats and Wenonah Peebles.
    The board also approved the following:
    * Agreement between Greene County Board of Education and Greene County Park & Recreation for use of Carver Middle School’s gymnasium during current Basketball Season.
    * Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
    *Bank reconciliations as submitted by Mr. Leon Dowe, CSFO.

    In his report to the board, Superintendent Carter presented the following initiatives:
    * Organize a system-wide Friends and Classmates Day.
    * Teach the 2016 Election Process and the importance of voting.
    * Get to Know Your Students Day for teachers and school personnel.
    * Enhance career and technical education programs designed to coincide with technical schools and the workplace.
    * Graduate 75% to 80% of students who will be college or career ready.
    * Identify middle school students who are ready to advance to a more challenging curriculum.
    * Enhance the STEM program to include Welding (seeking to hire a welding instructor).
    * Pre AP Courses will be offered to Middle School students.
    * Provide cameras for all classrooms for safety and accountability.
    * November 11 is Veterans Day – A salute to all Veterans on this National Holiday. School is out.

  • Gov. Bentley to name Alabama Advisory Council on Gaming to set the course for lottery, electronic bingo in state

    greenetrackOn October 3, 2016, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley issued Executive Order 24 creating the Alabama Advisory Council on Gaming.
    This group is tasked with “assessing the current state and local laws on gambling, as well as the taxes generated therefrom, and to evaluate the best practices in other states, including tax revenue structures and the enabling and implementing regulations and law, as well as comparing Alabama state laws to applicable Federal gaming laws.”
    The Council is to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature by January 31, 2017, prior to the next legislative session.
    The Governor’s action comes after he and Attorney General Luther Strange sent a series of letters at the end of September 2016 urging local Sheriffs and District Attorneys around the state to enforce the laws prohibiting electronic bingo in their jurisdictions. This letter was sent to Greene County Sheriff Benison and D.A. Greg Griggers.Governor Bentley and Luther Strange sent a more specific and pointed letter to the Sheriffs and D. A.’s for Macon and Lowndes County, listing specific electronic bingo facilities, like Victoryland, which recently opened in these counties and requesting that they be closed based on Alabama law and Supreme Court decisions.
    The law enforcement officials in Macon and Lowndes responded to this letter saying that they did not have the capacity or desire to move against electronic bingo facilities in their jurisdictions.
    In his Executive Order creating the Gaming Advisory Council, the Governor indicates that gaming in Alabama has been the subject of dispute and controversy and that the State of Alabama needs a fresh perspective and a clear path forward as it relates to gaming and games of chance.
    Efforts by the Governor to pass an Alabama State Lottery in this summer’s special legislative session met with defeat because of different gaming interests, including electronic bingo in counties with local Constitutional Amendments. Indian casinos in Alabama and casinos in other states, were not satisfied or protected by the legislation. The proceeds of the state lottery would have been used primarily to support Medicaid in the General Fund and possibly scholarships and pre-K educational programs.
    The Governor’s proposed Advisory Council on Gaming will have at least 11 members appointed as follows:

    • five (5) appointed by the Governor;
    • two members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House, one Republican and one Democrat;
    • two members of the Alabama Senate, appointed by the President Pro Temp, one Democrat and one Republican;
    • one representative of the Alabama District Attorneys Association, appointed by the Governor;
    • one representative of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, appointed by the Governor;
    • and additional appointments as the Governor deems necessary.

    In the two weeks since his announcement of the Council, the Governor has not publically announced the appointment of any members.
    The Greene County Democrat contacted Luther “Nat” Winn, CEO of Greenetrack for a statement of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Gaming. “ I hope Governor Bentley is serious and sincere about seeking a way forward for gaming in the state and not just trying to divert attention from the issue. He seems to be moving slowly in naming the Council. They have a lot of work to do in preparing recommendations for the upcoming legislative session, which begins in February 2017,” said Winn.
    “We intend to continue operating in Greene County under Constitutional Amendment 743, because the voters of Greene County authorized electronic bingo. We know that Luther Strange has appealed our latest case to the Alabama Supreme Court, but we feel we are on sound legal and constitutional grounds to operate electronic bingo in the county.
    “We feel the people of Greene County will support us and rally to our defense if the Supreme Court decides against the jobs, contributions and progress provided by gaming in Greene County,” said Winn.

  • Community awaits Eutaw decision on hearing held for police officers

    On Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016, Eutaw Mayor Hattie Edwards and the City Council held a closed personnel hearing reportedly for three Eutaw police officers who had been placed on administrative leave. At the close of the hearing, the outcome was not announced. It is expected that at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting on Tuesday, October 25, the public will be be given more information regarding the hearing and subsequent decisions.
    In an attempt to ascertain who has hiring and firing authority in city government, the Greene County Democrat staff researched recent municipal cases on this issue which resulted in Supreme Court decisions.
    The Alabama Supreme Court has issued various case rulings confirming that, in Alabama, mayors alone have the power to hire and fire municipal employees. In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Fairfield Mayor Kenneth Coachman, who had sued five members of the city council after they voted in favor of an ordinance that would have stripped the mayor of appointing authority. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Dan King ruled that, according to state law, the authority rested with the mayor. The Supreme Court upheld King’s decision.
    In similar cases steaming from the 2009 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court issued rulings against the city councils of Fairhope and Daphne when they passed ordinances removing their mayors’ power over personnel matters and giving it to themselves. The Supreme Court forced the city councils to undo the ordinances.
    At press time, the Democrat was unable to reach the city attorney to corroborate the process and procedures involved in hiring and firing practices in Eutaw Municipal Government.