Residents may voice their concerns regarding the Mayor’s appeasement of extortionary tantrums by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Then man your ships, and May the Fourth be with you!” — General Dodonna, upon assaulting the Death Star (modified).

As violent crime continues to rise throughout the Fountain City while our police force remains without an interim chief, one city councilor seems to have flat-out had enough. 

City Councilor Walker Garrett (District 8) has decided to bravely speak up on the truth behind what is preventing our city’s officers from having the leadership they require — and the overwhelming majority of council seems to stand behind Garrett’s perspective. 

Just under one month ago, former police chief Freddie Blackmon signed a severance agreement with the City of Columbus and was relieved of all duties on April 6.

That same day, Mayor Skip Henderson said there would be an interim chief named “almost immediately.” The following day, Henderson very quickly walked back his words to “in a day or two.”

Four weeks later, the department still remains without an interim chief as the department is left to descend in chaos. While one assistant chief has been on a tyrannical power trip in hopes of ironically being made the department’s interim chief, the other assistant chief has been left to be the adult in the room, cleaning up after the other and actually leading officers to combat our city’s crime.

According to Garrett, a supermajority of no less than seven council members has continuously pleaded with Mayor Henderson to appoint an interim chief from within the department to put the house back in order. 

Every time, Henderson has fed them the same excuse: that he is “in the final process with two candidates” from outside the department, though Henderson has continuously refused to take action to appoint anyone at all. 

“We’ve asked him more than three times and we’re told 2-3 more days until we’ll have an interim,” Garrett said, referring to several conversations council members have had with Mayor Henderson on the importance of immediately naming an interim chief. 

“I’ve even pleaded with him to promote from within the department and let the national search be for the final permanent chief,” Garrett continued. “He (Mayor Henderson) simply says he’s ‘in the final processes with two candidates’ but no action has taken place. What week are we on now without having an interim? Three weeks? Four weeks?”

The reason Henderson refuses to appoint an interim chief while lying to everyone’s face about it — why he is denying our city’s cops the proper command structure the department requires — is because of how Henderson is choosing to react to the childish and tyrannical bullying of one of the department’s assistant chiefs of police. 

Immediately after Blackmon signed his severance agreement, Assistant Chief of Administration Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick immediately began making extortionary threats to sue the city if she was not “promoted” to be the interim chief. 

As a result, Garrett says Henderson has been too afraid to take any action to appoint anyone at all in fear of being sued — despite the fact that no such lawsuit would even be possible. 

What Fitzpatrick’s antics fail to realize is that the position she seeks to extort her way into is not a promoted one, but rather an appointed one; officials can nominate whoever they deem appropriate. No one is being “promoted” ahead of anyone, since it is an appointed position. Fitzpatrick’s claim of being passed over for “promotion” due to “discrimination” has absolutely no legal standing whatsoever.

Nonetheless, Henderson has continued to cower behind the threat as he appears weaker and weaker to our city’s residents who end up suffering as a result. 

As corroborated through several credible and independent sources close to the Muckraker, the overwhelming majority of city council members strongly agree with Garrett’s perspective. Garrett isn’t merely speaking out as some rogue agent, but rather as the first councilor to speak up publicly about it to represent what he believes is in the best interest of his constituents and the city as a whole.

In the words of us at the Muckraker: Perhaps Mayor Henderson should consider growing a spine, speaking up, and running our city instead of allowing one disgruntled assistant chief to run him at our expense.

Stay with the Muckraker as this story continues to develop in the coming days and weeks ahead. 

In the meantime, keep your head on a swivel, stay safe, and thank a police officer. They deserve your support. 

Residents may voice their concerns regarding the Mayor’s appeasement of extortionary tantrums 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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