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COLUMBUS, Ga. — This week was a somber one in the Fountain City, as the Columbus Police Department lost one of their own.
Officer John Marr, a seven-year veteran of the department’s patrol unit, served our city honorably and with distinction. Marr was found unresponsive on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 and was later pronounced deceased. Marr’s body was then sent to the state medical examiner’s office.
We at the Muckraker strongly encourage our readers 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.
Peering into the depths of our stories published this week may shed more light on why that is.
HENDERSON REFUSES TO ADMIT CHIEF’S FAILURES; LEAVES US TO BLEED FROM GUNSHOT ASSAILERS
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The good military leader will dominate the events which surround him; once he lets events get the better of him he will lose the confidence of his men, and when that happens he ceases to be of value as a leader.” — Field Marshal Viscount “Monty” Montgomery of Alamein, The Art of Leadership, 1958
In what has been revealed to be an obvious ploy to protect his own public image, mayor Skip Henderson continues to avoid admitting the well-documented failures of police chief Freddie Blackmon as shown in a recent video interview conducted by WTVM.
In January and February alone, Columbus has already suffered enough homicides to exceed the national average of 6.9 per hundred-thousand residents for an entire year. Statistically, if our city continues to experience homicides at this rate, we are on-track to suffer 78 homicides for 2023, if not more.
Henderson’s pattern of dodging, denial, and deflection has now been exhibited several times throughout the past few weeks as he refuses to admit the undeniable failures of police chief Freddie Blackmon.
The refusals have developed a pattern that makes it extremely obvious that Henderson is more concerned with the maintenance of his own public image than he is with taking the appropriate actions required to secure our city’s public safety — though his plan for “public relations preservation” has already begun to severely backfire.
Explore the full story to see how Henderson’s kinesthetics and speech in a recent WTVM interview have told us more about the political division surrounding Chief Blackmon’s failed leadership than anything else ever has before.
GAS STATION CLOSURE BLAMED ON VIOLENCE; IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY PRE-PLANNED CONSTRUCTION
COLUMBUS, Ga. — A local gas station’s recent closure and demolition has been publicly blamed on the city’s rising violent crime, though it doesn’t take much to see why some residents are now raising questions about the bizarre pattern of events surrounding the suspicious closure of the local business.
Just four days after the Chevron gas station at the corner of Farr Road and Old Cusseta Road was announced to have been demolished due to the city’s rise in violent crime, a pre-planned highway development project was conveniently approved to break ground on the very same patch of the ground the local business previously stood.
According to an article by WTVM published on March 2, 2023, the Chevron gas station owner had boarded up his store’s windows last year in 2022 after three separate shootings all occurred in the immediate area in a single weekend.
In a follow-up article also by WTVM published on March 6, 2023, a highway construction project ten years in the making was announced to finally be getting underway to install a new highway exit off I-185. The project conveniently is taking place on the very same piece of land the recently-demolished gas station formerly stood on.
The highway development project was initially planned in 2012 under the administration of then-mayor Teresa Tomlinson.
During that same time frame, Tomlinson’s radical progressive policies also set the conditions for the violent and tumultuous reality our city is now enduring.
Explore the full story to see how a ten-year long chain of events paint a pretty good picture of the connections between construction development and our city’s rise of violent crime.
WHY MAYOR HENDERSON’S PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN FAILS WHILE OUR CITY BLEEDS
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” — Abraham Lincoln.
As of March 7, 2023, no less than fourteen people have been shot to death in our city since Jan. 1, 2023. That is a period of just 66 days.
With a population of 205,617 people, our city has already experienced a homicide rate of 6.809 per hundred-thousand residents (called per cent mille, or pcm). The national average homicide rate for an entire year is 6.9 pcm; we have reached that in just 66 days.
The 66-day period from Jan. 1 through March 8 accounts for 18.08% of the year. Should our city continue to suffer homicide at our current rate, we are statistically on-track to endure a total of 78 homicides throughout the rest of 2023 at a rate of 38 pcm.
For context: a homicide rate of 38 pcm is more than 5.5 times the national average. If Columbus was a country, the homicide rate we are currently suffering would now rank us the seventh deadliest on earth, right behind Lesotho at number 6 (43.6 pcm) and Jamaica at number five (56.4 pcm).
Just over one year ago, in December 2021, mayor Skip Henderson published a video describing his plan for combatting our city’s egregious rates of violent crime. The video came on the heels of our city suffering its worst homicide rate in recent memory, with a disturbing 70 record homicides at a rate of more than 34 per hundred-thousand residents.
Henderson’s video was of grave concern even at the time, as residents and public safety officers heavily criticized the lack of probable methods through which Henderson planned on securing our city.
As the head of our city’s public safety department, that burden ultimately lies completely on Henderson’s shoulders — though Henderson blamed anything and everyone but himself, continuing to take no action while effectively saying ‘it’s not my fault and there’s nothing I can do.’
Let us be perfectly clear while grabbing the good Mayor’s attention for a brief interlude before we dive into the breakdown of his utterly-failed plan for public safety:
If parents are lacking in their accountability of their children: It is still your responsibility to ensure the safety of the public.
If there are 1,800 gang members in Columbus, which is just under 1% of the entire population: It is still your responsibility to ensure the safety of the public.
If the police department cannot retain its officers, ironically because of your own neglect, pandering, and spineless inaction: It is still your responsibility to ensure the safety of the public.
If the city is experiencing a homicide rate exceeding that of third-world nations: It is still your responsibility to ensure the safety of the public.
Explore the full story to see a detailed break-down of what Henderson said in his 2021 video, along with a detailed explanation of the technical reasons behind why Henderson has quite obviously continued to fail in his responsibilities.
ICYMI: A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR TO OUR CITY OFFICIALS
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands: for it being but a delegated power from the people, they who have it cannot pass it over to others.” — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, published anonymously in 1689.
In an article originally published on Feb. 25, our editor directly addressed our city officials on the implications of the Columbus Police Department’s severe lack of leadership.
This week, our editor wished to reiterate their words to those same city officials.
Explore the full story to hear what our editor believes needs to be said again, whether city officials like it or not.
OUR CITY IS BROKEN: THOUGH FIX IT, WE MIGHT
COLUMBUS, Ga. — In light of the horrific recent events that continue to unfold for our city’s heroes in the Columbus Police Department, we have felt so moved as to pen a poem memorializing their continued displays of relentless heroism each and every day.
Explore the full story to read the heartfelt and moving poem and to share in our experience of support for the valiant men and women of the Columbus Police Department.
MAYOR HENDERSON SKIPPED RECEPTION OF FALLEN CPD OFFICER
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow.” — Gen. Colin Powell.
In a disgraceful display of leadership failure, our city’s head of public safety — Mayor Skip Henderson — chose not to stand alongside other city officials and members of the Columbus Police Department as they received the body of a fallen officer.
Explore the full story to view the event’s somber details and see how you can show your support for the brave men and women of CPD.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Our city council will be meeting this coming Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will be held on the second floor of the C. E. “Red” McDaniel City Services Center located at 3111 Citizens Way, Columbus, GA 31906.
Toward the beginning of the meeting, as shown on Item #6 of the meeting’s published agenda, police chief Freddie Blackmon is scheduled to present the council with his strategic plan for how he intends to run the department.
Residents are strongly encouraged to attend the public meeting in support of our city’s police officers. They are also highly encouraged to arrive early to secure their seats within the building.
While the decision to attend is purely your own, we at the Muckraker as well as many of our confidential sources and affiliates would be quite pleased to see the council chambers packed to the gills with residents who support the competent future of our police department and the immediate securing of our city’s public safety.
A Look At Personal Safety
As violent crime continues to skyrocket 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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