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COLUMBUS, Ga. — From the Sheriff’s Office receiving an additional $1.5M to cover expenses, to the city ironically celebrating their ‘tourism success’ on the site of a recent double-shooting, to city council taking no action to hold the mayor accountable for his unilateral appointment of a police chief, here’s all the muck that’s fit to print from the Columbus, Georgia area, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.
SHERIFF COUNTRYMAN BREAKS DOWN FINANCIAL ISSUES AT COUNTY JAIL; GETS $1.5 MILLION
This story was originally published on May 15, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office has been working their tails off, and doing so has caused them to overspend their budget by a whopping $1.5 million.
The expenses actually appear to not only be entirely justifiable, but are in the best interest of the city and the Sheriff’s scope of work.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of the expenses are simply due to the rising costs of utilities bills and materials felt by everyone due to inflation.
During the council meeting held on May 9, 2023, an update was provided on the Sheriff’s Office. That update included a staggering — though very justifiable — need for an additional $1.5 million to cover the year’s expenses.
Whenever a city office exceeds their allocated budget and requires additional funds, they are required to come before city council to make the request pursuant to Ordinance No. 13-39.
Those expenses included hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased utility bills, materials, gas for vehicles, and overtime for personnel.
Explore the full story to see the breakdown of why MSCO needed an additional $1.5 million added to their budget this fiscal year.
IRONIC: COLUMBUS HELD ‘TOURISM’ EVENT AT SITE OF RECENT DOUBLE-SHOOTING
This story was originally published on May 16, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — If irony could kill, the Fountain City’s tone-deaf approach to its own safety and development would already be long-dead.
As it turns out, subsidized governmental funding from taxpayers’ dollars combined with small-town incestuous self-congratulations provide enough metaphorical life support to keep just about any delusional dream alive — no matter how detrimental it actually is to the welfare of a literal city.
This past Friday on May 12, The Columbus Convention & Visitors Board of Commissioners — better known by their deceptive pseudonym of VisitColumbusGA — just celebrated their ‘tourism success’ on the site of a recent double-shooting.
If that isn’t the literal definition of irony, we don’t know what is.
The event, which consisted of giving away free hot dogs to locals who already live here, was held in and around the splash pad on Bay Avenue, directly in front of Banks Food Hall.
However, two women were shot in front of Banks Food Hall — the same exact location that VisitColumbusGA was trying to activate as a ‘tourist attraction.’
In the early-morning hours of May 7, two women were shot in front of the Bay Avenue food court establishment. Police were called to the scene when they found that a third person had crashed their car trying to drive the two wounded gunshot victims to the hospital.
The irony of VisitColumbusGA holding an event on the site of a very recent double-shooting is insane.
Explore the full story to see how a toxic culture of self-congratulatory idiots continues to ignore reality as our city continues to decay.
COLUMBUS ON-TRACK FOR 259 PEOPLE SHOT & 70 HOMICIDES THIS YEAR, PROJECTIONS SHOW
This story was originally published on May 17, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Later is one of the most abused drugs on the planet.” — Dr. Henry Cloud.
Violent crime, shootings, and unnecessary death continue to ravage the Fountain City as city officials finally begin to realize that our city’s crime epidemic requires their full attention.
However, their actions may need to be expedited before it’s too late, as our city is now on-track to experience a record-setting 259 people shot and 70 homicides this year, based on current projections.
Note: The following text uses mathematics to illustrate the grizzly reality of human beings being shot and killed at staggering rates in our own city. In no way, shape, or form should the objectivity of the numbers involved nor the language required to articulate these abhorrent realities be misunderstood as a lack of care or compassion for the lives we are writing about. This stuff is very real, and we need you to understand that we don’t take it lightly. We do it to show you the truth so that you as the reader may come to better understand and appreciate the harsh reality of our city’s gruesome crime rates.
Explore the full story to see how current projections show our city is on-track for a huge increase in violent crime this year if we don’t prevent it right now.
NO ACTION FROM COUNCIL ON MAYOR’S OVERREACH; PUBLIC AWAITS ACCOUNTABILITY
This story was originally published on May 18, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The structure of the government must furnish the proper checks and balances between the different departments.” — Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Federalist Papers No. 51, February 8, 1788.
It’s been nearly two weeks since Mayor Skip Henderson overstepped his legal authority by unilaterally appointing a new police chief for our city.
According to city council members themselves, they are not happy with the mayor’s tyrannical overreach and utter disregard for the law.
However, in the typical aMaZiNg Columbus manner, not one city councilor has done a single thing about it.
Not one city councilor has found the courage to speak up about the issue, let alone to demand the accountability their constituents deserve.
Not one city councilor has felt the need to uphold the checks and balances of our representative form of government.
Not one city councilor has felt the need to do their job as an elected legislator.
Instead, councilors remain more concerned with the keeping up of appearances as if they were still in high school, remaining too afraid to call out a wrong — even if it means allowing the sanctity of their own representative government to be apathetically disregarded.
That’s the sort of apathetic behavior we’d expect from children — not from those we have elected to lead our city.
Explore the full story to see how councilors remain too concerned with appearances to actually speak up and do their jobs as our elected legislators.
ICYMI: DOCUMENT REVEALS THREE COLUMBUS MAYORS KNEW OF GOV'T CENTER NEGLECT
This story was originally published on January 19, 2023 and republished on May 19, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — A technical document produced by the Columbus Consolidated Government shows it knew the downtown government center wasn’t being maintained since at least 2007.
Despite the 2007 document showing a known lack of maintenance for the past 16 years, three different mayoral administrations have continued to blame the building’s ‘old age’ for its decrepit condition.
Now, taxpayers are left to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to fund the replacement of buildings their local government knowingly failed to maintain for no less than 16 years; a third of the 50-year-old building’s entire existence.
Explore the full story to see the document yourself, along with a detailed timeline of the history of CCG’s blatant negligence of the building through their own direct quotes.
CITY FACES LEGAL LIABILITY FOR NAMING POLICE CHIEF WITHOUT COUNCIL’S VOTE
This story was originally published on May 20, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Though the mayor may say he has appointed a new chief of police, the law says otherwise — and failing to follow it causes a tremendous legal liability for the city.
On May 5, Mayor Skip Henderson made a press release announcing he ‘appointed’ a new chief of police for the city. The problem, however, is that he does not have the power to do that without first receiving a majority vote of approval from city council.
No such vote took place, and city councilors are not happy about it, either.
Without that vote, there technically is no chief of police for our city at all — which is exactly the situation that the Columbus Consolidated Government now finds itself in.
Since officials have failed to follow procedure to actually appoint a chief of police, Mathis technically isn’t the chief at all and therefore has no legal authority to act on behalf of the office of Chief of Police.
Since Stoney Mathis has been taking legal action as the city’s top cop without the city actually appointing him as the chief of police, any action Mathis takes while acting in his role could be easily overturned if challenged in court.
The Potential Fallout
Though it might seem like a mere technicality to some, the legal results of the mayor’s unilateral overreach are in fact quite serious — and they could lead to disastrous results.
For example: any piece of paper that has crossed Mathis’ desk while he is acting as the chief of police is technically invalid — and when it comes to the law, technically that’s all that matters. That includes legally-binding memorandums, orders, and other official documents that deal with the department’s legal authority to conduct certain operations.
In an absolute worst case scenario, it could lead to criminal defendants having the right to declare a mistrial on their cases and thus allow them to walk free, putting them right back on the street — because when it comes to the law, the technicalities are all that matter.
If an operation was ‘approved’ by a person acting as the chief of police who actually had no legal authority to do so, then there is a potential for any evidence collected to be deemed inadmissible in court under the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights; the search and seizure would would have been unlawful and thus would not be permitted to fly in court. That could result in a mistrial, or it could result in outright dismissal of the case with prejudice.
Either way, It’s quite the legal conundrum for the city.
This isn’t conjecture, either. It’s the law.
Explore the full story to see how every action Mathis takes as chief could easily be challenged in court, leaving a huge legal liability for the city.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Columbus City Council is scheduled to hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, May 23 at 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of the C. E. “Red” McDaniel City Services Center located at 3111 Citizens Way, Columbus, GA 31906.
A Look At Personal Safety
As the Columbus Police Department continues to unify under its new leadership model, violent crime is still likely to exist at higher levels than we would all like — even in what have previously been thought of as the “safer parts” of our city.
We at the Muckraker want to encourage our readers and their loved ones to remain hyper-vigilant as they go about their daily lives.
Based on lifetimes of experience and the combined professional careers of us at the Muckraker and our associates, here are what we consider to be the most important ways Columbusites can make themselves “hard targets” to avoid becoming a crime victim:
Back Our Blue
In closing, we at the Muckraker would like to thank the outstanding men and women of the Columbus Police Department who continue to shell out for the safety and well-being of our city each and every day, despite the abhorrent temporary conditions they are currently forced to work within.
“All police officers are entitled to outstanding leadership.”
Our city cannot thank you enough for what you do for us.
If you’re out and about throughout the week and see one of our city’s brave and valiant police officers, be sure to thank them. We’d bet it would mean an awful lot to them.
Residents are strongly encouraged to express their concerns and condolences for the brave men and women of the Columbus Police Department by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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© 2023 Muscogee Muckraker. All rights reserved.
Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see all the muck that’s fit to print as it breaks throughout the coming week.
