Cherokee Ethics Violations/Leighton Memories

ETHICS VIOLATIONS REACH MONTGOMERY

By C. R.

Several citizens present at the Cherokee City Council have formally filed ethics complaints against multiple city council members. The ethics violations occurred during the July 14 council meeting. After being advised by City Attorney Becky Narmore that it was illegal to vote on matters involving a family member, Councilman Glover and Councilwomen Mason still voted on matters that related to their family and violated Alabama Law. The complainants state they have evidence to prove the violations occurred and will testify against the council members. Other ethics complaints will be filed for other violations committed during other council meetings.

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Memories of Leighton: The Tale of a 1960’s First Generation Corvair & a Future Colbert County Sheriff Candidate

by Lecia Ford

(The name of the car thief in this story has been changed to John Smith. Lecia's account of a memory from her youth was inspired by C. R.'s commentary Second Chances.)

In the 1960’s a father for a daughter, that should have been a boy, purchased a 1962 (the year of her birth) First Generation Corvair, green in color, with push button gears on the dashboard. The daughter, daddy’s pick of the litter, so they say, would learn how to drive in a cow pasture in the Green Machine. She would show out in front of the cousins and visitors on holidays. They would all line up to take the next ride around ‘town’.

When the Green Machine would pull up to the gate, (a loading shoot that was used for cattle) “next in line” she would say and they would pile in the little Green Machine. Around and around they would go, from the front to the back of 20 acres. Dodging cow patties, and sinkholes, the passengers would ‘whoop and holler’, and dread the time their country ride would end.

Summer was a fun time in the 60’s. Neighbors were relatives and relatives were friends, friends were loved ones. Everyone would gather for food, fun, fellowship…all in the middle of the 20-acre plot, and there would always be the Green Machine. The Green Machine was one fun ‘toy’, although it was the main transportation for this father to travel to work and back every day, it was a ‘toy’.

It happened on Main Street, Leighton, Alabama, where it was safe to leave your car windows down, your screen door unlocked for the evening breeze to gently cool the sweat off your brow. A safe place to raise your children, to be taught right from wrong, and if you disobeyed, you were corrected; by whatever means it had to be. Granted, we were never beaten, we may have thought we were, and before it happened we were always told, ‘this is going to hurt me more than you’, a quote that you never really grasp until you have children of your own. Only one day in the late 60’s would it prove to be a mistake, a mistake that would never be forgotten...

Two young men, one of which went by the name John Smith, would walk right up to the Green Machine and drive away, unknown to the father who was busy working providing for his family. The father went home that afternoon; the disappointment on his face could only be read by one, the pick of the litter.

It broke his heart to have to tell her that the Green Machine was gone, but he did it. When the Green Machine was recovered, it had been submerged in Gnat Pond, on Sixth Street, and painted with a can of spray paint, RED…

The father would not file charges against the two, ‘they were just being boys, maybe they will learn a lesson, give ‘em another chance’… (Leighton, A Place for Second Chances). The sentence for one of the young men? The Green Machine had to be sanded and the original green restored. The color was back, but the glory was gone. The Green Machine would never run another day…

I find it strange, I suppose, that a ‘future political candidate’ would never apologize for an act such as this, and considered his ‘punishment’ stupid, silly, and embarrassing--after all, it was ‘just for fun’. And proclaim…

" If elected, I will be a 24 hour sheriff-working harder than any other. I will fight drugs, solve property crimes, help get your possessions back, and serve the public for your safety." John states, "As Colbert County Sheriff, I will fight diligently to keep illegal drugs off our streets and out of the hands of our children. Drugs are a poison that ruins the lives of thousands of young people every day. We must work together to rid our county of this evil and give our children a safe learning environment that allows them to reach their potential."

“I am not afraid to stand up for you!”

And John Smith was not afraid to take a vehicle in broad daylight, paint it and submerge in a pond...

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Facebook page of Christopher Lee Sutherland, arrested yesterday in Tuscumbia for possession of child pornography: Link

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Our sincerest sympathies to Brad Holmes and his family in the passing of his father Keith Alan Holmes. Our prayers are with them at this time.

Shoalanda