Muskrat Musings/Tim Staggs has Cojones

Late last night news broke on the conviction of Alabama House Speaker Michael Hubbard on 12 Felony Ethics Charges. Attorney General Luther Strange (whose office prosecuted Hubbard) said in a statement --"This should send a clear message that in Alabama we hold public officials accountable for their actions."

With the local mayoral election heating up in Tuscumbia, maybe the candidates should adopt "accountability" as their new slogan. Would you vote for a mayoral candidate who would hold city employees and officials accountable for their actions or non-actions? I sure would!!!

Case in point, who is accountable for Spring Park? The recent unearthing of the old Spring Park Fountain left engineers scratching their heads. Majority of the 150+ light heads (sockets) were shot and/or badly patched together. Now that's not a shock since the fountain hasn't worked properly for years. What's puzzling is why the broken light heads were never replaced? If the light heads were replaced timely and consistently then would there be a need for a complete fountain overhaul?!? Bad management is costing the city a lot of money! 

Also a couple of years ago Tuscumbia needed to replace the two man-made waterfall pumps that had been in service for 6-7 years. The newly installed pumps burned out in less than 6 months. Apparently the new pumps were installed incorrectly. Once again more money down the drain due to incompetence. 

Both mayoral candidates would be smart to learn from the current mayor's failures and faults. Our present mayor (Shoemaker) would rather look the other way and thrust blame for present park issues on muskrats and other scapegoats. And don't be shocked when Shoemaker approves that the Depot Museum be named after his right hand man and park director, Joel Kendrick. This type of buddy-favor system is what got Michael Hubbard convicted on ethic violations. (You scratch my back and I'll scratch your back.) 

Speaking of ethic violations ... Can a city employee use a city vehicle with city gasoline to transport family members? Can a city employee transfer city lawnmowers to the scrap metal recycling yard then turn around and buy the lawnmower back for personal use? Can a city employee use city maintenance labor to repair personal property? Whoever is elected as the new mayor better have a big mop because there's a big mess in Tuscumbia!

The Tuscumbia Muskrat

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We've recently received two communications via Facebook which were unanswerable due to the senders' settings. One concerned the Matthew Tidwell plea bargain, and we will address that tomorrow. The second concerned one of our regular critics who has apparently just come out of the closet. We can assure our reader that any criticism we have focused on this young man had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. We've never met the man, had no idea he was gay, and have never made any criticism in any of our blogs which relate to anyone's sexual preference.

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Timothey Wylie Staggs, soon to be 84, is looking at what may be for him a life sentence if convicted of human trafficking charges. He obviously needs a good attorney. We understand he has hired two good attorneys--John Saylor and Rodney Slusher; however, both these Florence lawyers specialize in civil litigation, not criminal.

Now Staggs is seeking to have his 300K cash bail reduced. This motion comes after the Attorney General's office produced evidence that Staggs was planning to skip the country for a more peaceful life in the Philippines. We don't know if Staggs' request has been ruled on yet, but as one of our favorite readers said, "Pass the popcorn."