2009, blah blah.

So. Clayton County here, four years ago, hired its first black sheriff. On his first day he fired 34 deputies, mostly white, and posted snipers on the roof in case they tried anything. He went on to: buy military surplus equipment including a tracked armored personnel carrier (a tank); use department funds to take a vacation in Africa; lost four or five lawsuits that cost the county several million in legal fees (and since some were civil suits he declared personal bankruptcy the other day), and several other cases are pending; paid deputies overtime while they went and sang at a private choir function; tried numerous times to usurp the county police which is separate from the sheriff’s department; refused to allow county police into the jail to interview witnesses; refused to speak to the media after he realized how bad he looked; and once he lost the election but before the new guy took office, he began spending money like mad off his county supplied credit card in Vegas, which had to be cancelled for him. An investigation is pending.

So it’s been a hell of a four years. When we elected the new guy he promised no drama on his first day in office. That was yesterday, when he fired 14 deputies.

These deputies claim is was due to their connection to the last sheriff, which might be enough reason. So two of them are on the news calling foul. The new sheriff, however, answered with documents. One of those was arrested for battery within a week of having been hired and is prevented by federal law from carrying a sidearm. The other was hired without even having applied for the job according to records, and hasn’t passed the state peace officer testing which is supposedly necessary. New-Sheriff says all 14 are ‘outcasts, thugs, and rejects from other agencies.’ He also mentioned, but didn’t give details about, a fair amount of missing equipment, stating that the buzzword for the year will be ‘accountability’.

I’d like to see the full list of course, but I feel confident that the new guy is off to a pretty strong start. Now if the new DA and new school board can do this well, we’re in good shape for the first time in a while.