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COLUMBUS, Ga. — From the city manager trying to block budget requests for our city’s law enforcement and courts, to CCG itself admitting the mayor did not have the power to appoint a police chief without council’s vote, to a local firefighter saving the day and becoming a bona fide hometown hero, 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.
HUGLEY TRIED TO BLOCK LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNDS; COUNCILORS QUICKLY PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE
This story was originally published on May 22, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — City councilors recently voted to provide much-needed funding for our city’s law enforcement and judicial system to prioritize fighting our city’s outrageously-dangerous crime rates.
City manager Isaiah Hugley, however, made it clear he absolutely did not want to make that a priority.
Instead, Hugley wanted to have his cake and eat it too by keeping the rest of the budget proposal intact without having to find the additional funds needed to secure the physical safety of the city against violent repeat-offenders and criminal gangs.
Hugley, who is ironically responsible for not including the much-needed funding in the budget proposal in the first place, chose instead to scold council members for having to pull the much-needed funding from the city’s well-funded reserves — even though Hugley himself is the one who failed to include the funding in the budget in the first place.
In response, several city councilors spoke up to put Hugley in his place — and some of them really didn’t hold back at all.
Explore the full story to see how several city councilors stepped up to put Hugley in his place as the overpaid and underperforming employee that he is.
HERE’S THE OATH SWORN BY CITY COUNCILORS TO UPHOLD OUR LAWS
This story was originally published on May 23, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.” — George Washington, in a letter to Charles Thruston, August 10, 1794.
Before we dive in, it is important that the reader first understands the significance and brief story behind the quote from George Washington printed above.
The quote from Washington is from a letter he wrote in reply to Charles M. Thruston, a delegate from Frederick County, Virginia. Thruston had first written to Washington to warn him of small factions of the neighboring Kentucky government that were censoring and withholding information from the public in hopes of nefariously achieving political ends to undermine their newly-formed representative government and return to the monarchical control of Great Britain.
Washington responded to Thruston’s warning by reminding him that “truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light,” empowering Thruston to take the action required to expose the truth to the public. Washington knew the public would make good use of it to secure the sanctity of their own government — and he was ultimately right.
So, too, will be the future of our city of Columbus, Georgia — if and only if our elected officials honor their oaths and take such pains to bring uncensored truth to light.
In recent months, there have been several instances of our city councilors appearing to the public to be idly standing by while other officials — both elected and appointed — are permitted to make a mockery of our City Charter and our representative form of government.
According to sources close to the Muckraker, these actions have been outwardly permitted to persist — entirely unchallenged — out of city councilors’ fear of taking action; fear of how some members of the public may perceive them if they were to take the appropriate actions to uphold our city’s laws.
However, what some councilors may not be considering is how their inaction ironically causes the very effect they are trying to avoid: a negative perception of council’s weakness by its constituents, ultimately resulting in the public disdain they are fearful of in the first place.
Should council discover the irony of this reality, they may come to actually embrace the responsibilities they are empowered to uphold instead of shying away from them — and there is nothing more their constituents would value from their elected officials than that.
Those responsibilities which council members are empowered to uphold are enumerated in their oaths of office. Their constituents don’t merely legally require that their oaths are upheld, but they need them to be as a People: both for their own good and for the good of our government.
The future of our city depends upon it.
Explore the full story to see the full oath sworn by our city councilors, along with what its wording actually means.
BUSTED: COLUMBUS GOV’T DELETED COMMENTS AND CENSORED UNWANTED SPEECH
This story was originally published on December 19, 2022 and was republished on May 24, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” — Benjamin Franklin, Letter from Silence Dogood No. 8, Printed in The New England Courant, July 9, 1722.
In what has become a pattern of behavior, the Columbus Consolidated Government deleted the Muckraker’s comments on one of its social media pages and then went on to block us from commenting in the future.
The Law
Governmental entities are prohibited by federal law from deleting or hiding legitimate comments from their social media pages, as their pages are considered a “designated public forum.” They are also barred from blocking or banning users. The right of the public to comment on governmental pages has most famously been affirmed in the landmark case of Davison v. Randall, as well as in the case of Knight v. Trump.
The First Offense
Nonetheless, several subordinate branches of the Columbus Consolidated Government have now done exactly that. When social media comments were critical of the Columbus Consolidated Government’s preferred narrative, the governmental pages have simply deleted them.
In early October of this year, the Columbus Consolidated Government’s Convention & Visitors Board of Commissioners — better known as “VisitColumbusGa” — deleted comments made by the Muckraker on one of their Facebook posts. In response, the Muckraker privately sent out an email blast reminding both their staff and attorneys that VisitColumbusGa is in fact a governmental agency and is thereby prohibited from deleting our comments. The deletion stopped.
The Pattern of Behavior
Now, in what has become a pattern of behavior, the Columbus Civic Center recently deleted our comments and went so far as to ban us from commenting on their posts in the future.
We recorded the entire exchange, struck back, and won. Here’s what happened.
Explore the full story to see how CCG already has a demonstrated track record of illegally censoring speech in violation of federal law, along with the photographic evidence they can’t avoid.
CCG CONFIRMS: MAYOR LACKED AUTHORITY TO APPOINT POLICE CHIEF WITHOUT COUNCIL’S VOTE
This story was originally published on May 25, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Columbus Consolidated Government just confirmed that Mayor Henderson has indeed overstepped his legal authority by unilaterally appointing a chief of police without first receiving a vote of approval from City Council.
In an email thread with CCG, we asked point blank what section of the City Charter provides the Mayor with the authority to appoint a chief of police.
The answer we received from CCG cited the exact scenario we previously published: that pursuant to Section 4-201, paragraph 15, the Mayor can only appoint a chief of police if City Council has given their approval through a majority vote of six council members.
In CCG’s own words, as shown through their own provided citations of the city’s Code of Ordinances in the email chain below, CCG is well aware that Mayor Henderson did not have the legal authority to unilaterally appoint a chief of police — for any length of tenure — without first receiving an approving vote from City Council.
Without the approval of City Council, no appointment of a chief of police can be made. Since no vote was ever recorded, there technically is no current police chief for our city, creating a massive legal liability for any action taken by Stoney Mathis on behalf of the office.
Despite city council members’ known frustration with the Mayor’s tyrannical overreach, no member of City Council has taken any public action to correct the matter nor to hold the Mayor accountable.
Explore the full story to see the entire email thread for yourself in CCG’s own words, proving our city currently does not have a legally-appointed police chief.
QUITTING TIME: COLUMBUS EMPLOYMENT RATE DECLINED FOR 23 YEARS
This story was originally published on January 31, 2023 and republished on May 26, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The number of gainfully-employed people in the Columbus metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has fallen for the past 23 years, according to data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as compiled by FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data.
The Columbus MSA is the area defined by the U.S. Census Bureau to be economically anchored to the Columbus area. Throughout this article, use of the term Columbus refers to the MSA as a whole.
We analyzed 23 years of tabulated monthly Columbus employment data from the BLS and cross-referenced it with the MSA’s total population to determine true rates of employment. We then performed the same calculations for the nation as a whole to produce a relative baseline. We then compared the Columbus employment rate to that national baseline.
Explore the full story to see the aMaZiNg data for yourself.
HOMETOWN HERO: OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTER RESCUED TRAPPED WOMAN; TURNS OUT SHE WAS SHERIFF’S MOTHER-IN-LAW
This story was originally published on May 27, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ga. — An off-duty firefighter of Columbus Fire & EMS was awarded a medal and commendation from the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, May 26.
While out with his family on a drive on May 19, Ramirez was flagged down by a panicked woman on the side of the road near Prospect AME Church off Ga. Hwy. 219 in Harris County. Though he did not have to stop, Ramirez chose to anyway.
The woman who flagged down Ramirez explained that her mother was placing flowers on a grave when a large headstone fell down and trapped her by the leg. The woman was not able to lift the heavy stone and her mother remained pinned to the ground underneath its weight.
Ramirez immediately jumped into action and ran to the scene to help rescue the trapped woman.
Thankfully, Ramirez was able to lift the cumbersome headstone by himself and free the elderly woman. Ramirez then began examining the leg and foot of the 87-year-old woman, searching for any injuries she may have sustained.
As it turned out, the woman who flagged Ramirez down on the side of the road was none other than the wife of Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman. The trapped woman Ramirez was thankfully able to rescue was her mother.
By a sheer stroke of coincidence, Ramirez had saved Sheriff Countryman’s mother-in-law, simply because he had the right integrity, in the right place, at the right time.
Explore the full story for the details and see how Ramirez’s heroic actions earned him a medal and commendation from the MCSO.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Columbus City Council is scheduled to hold a consent agenda/work session meeting on Tuesday, May 30 at 9:00 a.m. on the second floor of the C. E. “Red” McDaniel City Services Center located at 3111 Citizens Way, Columbus, GA 31906.
Additionally, Mayor Henderson will be holding a Town Hall Meeting entitled “Let’s Talk Columbus” on Wednesday, May 31 at 5:00 p.m. The open meeting will be held at the City Services Center located at 3111 Citizens Way, Columbus, GA 31906. City leaders and department directors will be present to answer questions from the general public and to hear ideas about city services and operations. This is an opportunity to have an open dialogue with our elected and appointed leaders. The meeting is open to the public.
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.
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