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COLUMBUS, Ga. — Look around you. The violent state of our dearest Fountain City has destroyed countless lives while shootings, murder, poverty, and drugs continue to turn our city into the next Detroit. Have you noticed that this all occurred while race-based division continues to tear our city apart?
Explore this week’s stories to shed some light on all the muck that’s fit to print, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.
FIVE PEOPLE WERE SHOT IN COLUMBUS LAST WEEKEND IN FOUR SEPARATE SHOOTINGS
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Fountain City suffered another string of shootings as violence rocked the area last weekend from March 17-19, 2023.
No less than five people were reported shot in four separate shootings. These numbers may be even higher; it is important to remember that these numbers only include shootings that were reported and investigated by the police.
The violence comes as the Columbus Police Department remains without effective leadership after officers have resigned in droves citing police chief Freddie Blackmon’s extremely poor leadership as the reason for their resignations.
The shootings occurred as follows:
The Columbus Police Department’s staffing has withered away to a vacancy rate of roughly 41%, leaving the department missing nearly half of the officers it requires to keep our city safe. The CPD’s staffing saw a 112% increase in resignations during Blackmon’s first year as chief, which is 6.22 times higher than the national average for that same year.
Explore the full story to see our interactive map of each shooting’s details as our city’s violent crime continues to skyrocket.
LOCAL NAACP HEAD INCITES THE OVERTHROWING OF CITY GOV’T IN EXTREMIST EMAIL
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.
Late last week, NAACP president Wane Hailes sent an extremist and racist email to other local political activists. The email disseminated information inciting others to overthrow the rule of law and constitutional form of government in Columbus if city council members do not vote how he wants them to along his preferred racial lines.
The Muckraker has obtained a copy of Hailes’ email in -full. Due to the extremist and race-based nature of Hailes’ message, we have made the ethical and responsible decision not to amplify the extremist message and instructions contained in Hailes’ email.
The email has also been reviewed by key officials who are looking into the serious and extremist nature of Hailes’ message.
The specific wording of Hailes’ email appears to blatantly violate several Georgia state laws. Should Hailes’ incitement result in anything more than words, Hailes could likely be held criminally liable for the incitement of an insurrection, as well as several other serious offenses.
If charged, the act of Incitement to Insurrection alone carries a sentence of up to ten years in Georgia. The additional charges for other associated crimes would add additional jail time that could cumulatively amount to decades behind bars.
Explore the full story to see the slew of laws Hailes may have violated and what could happen.
HOW RACIAL DIVISION IS BEING PURPOSEFULLY USED TO DESTROY COLUMBUS
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “By the next two elections, there will be a black mayor and a black council.” — City Manager Isaiah Hugley, in the most racist statement a city officer could make, stated publicly at the Great Beallwood Baptist Church, Feb. 24, 2023.
The statement made by Hugley disgustingly placed the color of people’s skin as the qualifier for who — according to him — will be in office, regardless of the constitutionally democratic elections required by our city, state, and nation.
What Hugley stated is the manifestation of coordinated political efforts to illegally pursue — let’s say that again: illegally — pursue the totalitarian selection of our city’s elected officials based on the color of their skin.
This isn’t only an illegal thing for Hugley to openly state as an appointed city officer. It is a disgustingly unethical one that violates the Code of Ethics of our City Charter.
Look around you. Look at the state of our city.
Look. At. It.
Hard.
Have you noticed the extreme increase of murder taking place throughout our city at rates more than five- and a-half times the rest of the country?
What about the extreme increase of drug overdose deaths in Muscogee County which have doubled from 2020-2022?
How about our city’s poverty level which is now twice the national average?
For the most vulnerable Columbusites, these realities are impossible to ignore.
For the less vulnerable, they are just now beginning to witness their realities first-hand as shootings, murder, and violent crime continue to spread to the most affluent parts of our city.
Have you noticed?
Have you questioned why?
Explore the full story to see how the selfish ambitions of a few racist people continue to prey upon the lifeblood of our city for their own personal gain.
WHY THIS EXTREMIST’S PLOT TO ROBOCALL COLUMBUS CITY COUNCILORS IS STUPIDLY ILLEGAL
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” — Albert Einstein.
In an email that also contained enough key language to likely charge the writer with several other serious crimes, local racial extremist Wane Hailes published his plot to enact an illegal robocall scheme funded by ‘donations’ from the public.
Contributing to Hailes’ plot in any way could land anyone who donates or supports his efforts as an accomplice to a crime.
The plot sought to have a telecommunications company make a series of 2,000 robocalls to harass our city’s elected officials using undue political pressure.
Hailes also went on to state that his goal was to “force council to vote” along his own preferred racial lines; that is, Hailes’ stated objective was to force black city councilors to vote in-line with what Hailes himself dictates all black people must vote for.
Besides the obviously-racist and despicable nature of Hailes’ plot, he likely incriminated himself under Georgia state law.
By stating his malicious intent in writing to purposefully harass city councilors, Hailes’ words do not meet the requirements of constitutionally protected free speech under Georgia state law.
Instead, Hailes’ malicious intent and written admission to purposefully harass elected officials through repeated messages meets the criteria for Harassing Communications; a crime in which each individual instance of the harassing communication carries its own additional charge.
Explore the full story to see why supporting his efforts could land you as an accomplice to his criminal plot.
BLACKMON PULLS RACE CARD IN LAUGHABLE INTERVIEW WHILE ADMITTING HIS OWN FAILURES
COLUMBUS, Ga. — In a laughable interview with WTVM, Chief Blackmon said ‘race’ must be the reason for his severance, though he simultaneously admitted his years of failure.
Throughout the entire line of questioning, Blackmon said things like ‘micromanagement is necessary’ as he further vindicated the objective measures of his leadership failures.
The exclusive-yet-embarrassing interview Blackmon provided to WTVM comes after Blackmon was offered a severance package on March 15, 2023. The offer was made after Blackmon delivered a grossly-incompetent and incohesive ‘strategic plan’ to city council the day prior on March 14.
The 47-page ‘plan’ Blackmon presented consisted of simply turning the recommendations provided by Jensen Hughes into a three-column table of bulleted lists. It provided no lines of effort nor any sort of an actual cohesive strategic approach. A consultant needed to be hired to help Blackmon organize and publish his plan, though Blackmon struggled to brief his own rudimentary slides during his presentation nonetheless.
In response to Blackmon’s disaster of a ‘strategic plan,’ we at the Muckraker independently developed an actual strategic approach for the department.
The fact that anyone could say that race is a factor here isn’t only disgusting, but downright laughable.
Explore the full story to see how Blackmon’s insane statements ironically displayed his incompetence as he pulled the race card anyway.
HEY CHIEF: JUST TAKE THE SEVERANCE PACKAGE AND BE THE HERO YOU WANTED TO BE
COLUMBUS, Ga. — After years of strategic failure resulting in the degradation of the entire police department and subsequently extreme rates of violent gang-related crime, Police Chief Freddie Blackmon was offered the opportunity to gracefully bow out with a $250,000 lump-sum severance package.
That’s a very generous offering. Very.
Despite his well-documented leadership failures and balking at the city’s quarter-million dollar offer — which also includes healthcare and pension — Blackmon now appears to be setting himself up to be the villain his younger self would have vehemently disliked.
There is no greater burden of leadership than having to recognize when you need to get out of the way. Fighting it — especially by playing the race card — is the exact opposite of honorable. Trying to hold on to power is a very good way to show the world why you shouldn’t have it.
Explore the full story to see how Blackmon can be the hero he always wanted to be by just taking his severance and letting his officers do their jobs.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Columbus city council is scheduled to hold a regular meeting this coming Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 5:30 p.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.
Residents are strongly encouraged to attend.
While many are anticipating a potential vote by city council on the termination of police chief Freddie Blackmon, no such agenda item appears listed as of the date of this article’s publication — though that may be subject to change at council’s discretion.
As stated within his severance proposal from the city, Blackmon has until April 5, 2023 to either accept or refuse the offer. Should he choose not to accept it, the offer is almost certain to be withdrawn completely.
Either way, unless Blackmon openly refuses the offer, there is not likely to be any such vote by city council until after Blackmon’s review period ends on April 5.
Nonetheless, in what appears to be a severe conflict of interest, Blackmon approved a 500-person protest to take place outside of the city council meeting to ‘support the chief of police.’ Blackmon’s signature block appears on the bottom of the standardized form the department uses to approve protests. The blatant conflict of interest in Blackmon approving a protest for himself does not make it immediately clear how his personal liability may be called into question should the protest turn violent or otherwise go awry.
Residents should note that the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for the safety and security of government buildings, including the Citizens Service Center and its City Council Chambers.
According to sources close to the Muckraker, Blackmon did not contact the MCSO to coordinate security for the event after he approved the protest in his own name. Blackmon’s wreckless actions and lack of interagency communications and coordination have already served to further strain the already-tense relationship between the two agencies.
According to the same sources, Sheriff Greg Countryman has taken the necessary steps to ensure the physical security of the meeting and the protest despite Blackmon’s negligence and lack of professional decorum.
Residents are encouraged to attend the meeting just as they otherwise would have at their own discretion. and should not be dissuaded by the scheduled protest.
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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© 2023 Muscogee Muckraker. All rights reserved.
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