Are we on the right path as a city? What are your thoughts as the reader? Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — From a city councilor receiving honors upon his retirement as a new councilor is sworn-in, to our city’s police force still not having an interim chief as the mayor appeases his own bullying, to a well-needed recap of the former chief’s severance agreement, 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.
FOUR WEEKEND SHOOTINGS & HIGH SPEED CHASE LEAVE 3 DEAD, 2 OTHERS SHOT
This story was originally published on April 24, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Fountain City suffered a violent and lawless weekend resulting in the deaths of at least three people with an additional two people shot.
No less than two people are dead from gunshot wounds, two others were shot, and one innocent bystander was killed by a fleeing vehicle in a high-speed car chase.
As the Columbus Police Department remains without an interim chief at the indecisive mercy of Mayor Henderson, our city largely continues to go underpoliced.
Explore the full story for our interactive map with the details.
COL. JOHN HOUSE: A LOOK AT HIS CAREER OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP
This story was originally published on April 25, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Columbus city councilor and beloved community leader John House is expected to offer his resignation from city council this Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
House says he has made the difficult decision to leave public office so that he may best care for his wife, Marilyn, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
In celebration of House’s lifetime of servant leadership for Columbus and our nation, we at the Muckraker decided to rake up some of the outstanding examples that House has set for us all to follow.
Explore the full story for a look at the incredible career and legacy of Colonel John House, Columbus City Councilor, District 10 At-Large.
JOHN HOUSE RECEIVES HONORS; TYSON BEGLY MADE NEW COUNCILOR
This story was originally published on April 26, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — After a lifelong career of public service ranging from the U.S. Army’s field artillery to the city’s council chambers, district 10 at-large city councilor Colonel John House has retired from public life to best care for his beloved and wonderful wife, Marilyn — though our city and community members wouldn’t let him leave that easily without first rightfully honoring his and Marilyn’s decades of servant leadership.
After John & Marilyn were both presented with military honors from Ft. Benning along with several parting gifts and a resolution from city council, House nominated a man he believed would best serve the people of Columbus to fill his seat: Tyson Begly.
After a vote by city council, Begly was sworn-in as his wife Rebekah held the Bible and became Columbus’ newly-appointed interim city councilor for district 10 at-large.
Explore the full story for the details of the rare and historic event, along with the heartfelt words shared by House’s colleagues and members of our community.
THREE WEEKS AGO, MAYOR SAID CPD WOULD HAVE INTERIM CHIEF IN ‘A DAY OR TWO’
This story was originally published on April 27, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Three weeks have now passed since former police chief Freddie Blackmon accepted a severance offering from the city — though the department still remains without an interim despite the mayor’s empty words.
Back on April 6, in the immediate aftermath of Blackmon’s departure from CPD, Mayor Skip Henderson assured the public in a video interview that an interim chief would be appointed “almost immediately.”
The extremely short timeframe Henderson originally announced made it obvious that he already had a candidate in mind.
However, the very next day on April 7, Henderson began to walk back his words. Henderson had then extended his timeframe to “a day or two,” which should have seen an interim chief appointed by no later than that Monday on April 10.
When Monday came and went with no interim Chief appointed, it became obvious to many that something had changed.
That something, as it turns out, were extortionary threats of an erroneous lawsuit from one of the department’s Assistant Chiefs of Police, Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick.
Explore the full story to see how the mayor’s soft approach to public safety may have the city running him instead of the other way around.
COLUMBUS STARTS HOTLINE TO REPORT ILLEGAL DUMPING; TREATS SYMPTOM, NOT CAUSE
This story was originally published on April 28, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — If you haven’t noticed, there has been a recent problem of an increase in illegal dumping and piles of strewn debris throughout the Fountain City.
The Columbus Consolidated Government under the charge of City Manager Isaiah Hugley now believes it has found a rubbish solution — though the pun is intended.
Back in 2021, the city’s trash collection became literally non-existent for thousands upon thousands of residents. Their household garbage would sit curbside for weeks as it rotted in front of their homes.
Though sporadic pick-up began to occasionally occur, the problem persisted for years.
At the time, Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin blamed the problem on — and we could not make this up if we tried — a shortage of criminal inmates available to perform the city’s trash collection detail.
“It was just a perfect storm that created this,” Goodwin said in a 2021 interview with WTVM. “And so, as a result, we had to do something because we were four weeks behind in that pickup.”
The third-world level of filth resulted in thousands of residents paying taxes for services their local government was not delivering. Naturally, many of those residents began doing whatever they needed to in order to get that trash away from their homes.
And so the illegal dumping began — all as a result of a government shortcoming.
While we at the Muckraker are in no way condoning the illegal dumping of trash anywhere throughout the city nor anyplace else, it is absolutely vital to understand the objective cause behind the problem at hand — and that objective cause is in fact the reality that the Columbus Consolidated Government failed to pick up the trash for so long that it changed the behavior of residents to compensate for it.
Once that dumping started as a result of CCG’s failure — not the citizens — a change in status quo and cultural norms occurred.
Explore the full story to see how the city’s actions continue to treat the symptom instead of the cause, along with a look at how the city can likely eliminate the majority of the problem altogether.
PAY ATTENTION: HERE'S A RECAP OF CHIEF BLACKMON'S SIGNED SEVERANCE AGREEMENT
This story was originally published on April 29, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The severance agreement signed by former police chief Freddie Blackmon became legally-binding and enforceable ten days ago on April 19, 2023.
Explore the full story for a detailed recap of some of the key terms within the fully-executed agreement, beyond the monetary payout of the severance package.
Stay tuned on this.
THE WEEK AHEAD
As yet another week begins without our city’s police force having an appointed interim police chief, we would expect Mayor Henderson to address the reasons why.
Given the evidence surrounding the situation, it is abundantly clear that Henderson has avoided the appointment of an interim from within the department’s leadership based on the hostile bullying and extortionary threats received from Asst. Chief Dent-Fitzpatrick. There is no hiding this fact.
If the mayor does not cease his establishment of the precedent he is allowing to be set, the same scenario will almost certainly continue to rear its ugly head time and time again in the future, to his own detriment and that of the city as a whole — and we’re pretty sure he is already aware of this, though he does seem to be avoiding the reality of it as he continues to pretend that no one notices.
It is for this reason that we would expect to hear some news on the appointment of a new interim Chief of the Columbus Police department in the coming week, though we cannot be certain. That decision rests with the mayor alone; he and only he can predict what actions he takes, and he and only he will be responsible for the consequences thereof.
Perhaps the mayor should check the date and JustiFicatioN of Freddie Blackmon’s latest memorandum written under department letterhead and compare it to the effective date of the terms of his severance agreement. Doing so might yield more information to his office than it does on its face.
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.
-30-
© 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.
