Gimme Shelter...

From a faithful reader:

The Colbert shelter has some very major problems and there is evidence of a pattern of negligent behavior on the part of most of the staff, and efforts to cover it up from the media.  Friday is the next board meeting.  It will be held at 10 a.m. at the conference room outside Mayor Bradford's office in the Muscle Shoals City Hall.  Prior to Richie's surprise resignation, they planned to discuss the director's position and qualifications.  I suspect they were considering simply promoting Richie.

The board consists of the three Colbert mayors, plus Emmitt Jimmar as commissioner, and one community member.  I know one of the mayors personally, and I believe he reads your blog quite regularly.  The other is politically astute enough that he probably checks in daily, and the third will hear about it from others.  My concern is that they know the media attention will not go away until they do the right thing for the animals.  The right thing would be to clean house entirely and do a wide, external search for a new director, one who is not in the good ol' boy system and instead is there because of a compassion for animals.

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Are you listening, Mr.s Mayor? Mr. Jimmar? Yes, we know the travel incident you covered up for the last director. Tax payers don't want their money spent that way. You know what Spike Lee said...

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Hershel Graham will be sentenced in two days...at least we're keeping our fingers crossed. The petition was sent in today, but you can still contact Judge Terry Dempsey at this email addy:

Teresa.Seal@Alacourt.gov

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Discussion of threats continue concerning the Mitch Campbell shooting. We've blogged that we have not seen any; that does not mean they were not out there. The Justice for Mitch page states that it won't tolerate such threats; what about personal family pages?

People often say things in grief that they wouldn't say otherwise...and do things. Again, that's why friends and family are never on a jury. Assuming there was something off about last Saturday's shooting, the Campbell family is about to learn just how slow justice can be.

A source in the sheriff's department has told us deputies believed Campbell closed a gate to his drive to keep them out. That doesn't jive with anything else we've heard, and isn't necessarily true. If true, it only raises more questions.

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The Campbell death discussion and a recent online discussion on a faux military figure have both produced some interesting language. Are people today incapable of stating an opinion without uttering a curse or obscenity with it? Hint: when you do this, it doesn't make the recipient any more eager to hear your side of whatever problem you think you have.



Shoalanda

Other Social Media?

Travis Clemmons has stated in the TimesDaily that family and friends of Mitchell Campbell have made threats on Facebook and "other social media." We've glanced at the Facebook pages and haven't seen any threats.

We have seen name calling--that won't make the ABI take you any more seriously. We have seen suggestions that Mr. Campbell's friends fire a clip in the air in front of their homes--a great way to get someone else accidentally shot. We have seen suggestions that the shooter needs to be raped in prison--while not an actual threat, that seems to be a universal favorite of some--see the Hydrick brothers. We have seen the number of shots listed as six by the Campbell family while the preliminary autopsy says three--an exaggeration but no threat.

We do wonder to what other social media Mr. Clemmons is referring. He does know MySpace is dead, doesn't he? Rhetoric like that just makes one feel more sympathy for the Campbells. So far, neither side is winning in the public relations race.

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Florence attorney Hank Sherrod held his first news conference today in connection with the shooting. We're not sure where this will be going as far as a civil case, but we do think any depositions should be filmed. We'd buy a ticket to see that movie.



Shoalanda

Why Did Mitch Campbell Die?

We once heard of a man in Madison County who had the chance to purchase a beautiful home on a large lot in an unincorporated area. The man snapped up the bargain home and quickly moved in. It was only a matter of days before heat and humidity brought the smell of a local pig farm to this man's new prize. He immediately contacted the local health department. They laughed.

Yes, many things are legal in the county that aren't legal in the cities. That's why many choose to live in a rural setting. Firing a gun is one of these hobbies that's not illegal in the county...or Central Heights.

Why did Mitch Campbell die? So far we've heard only the family's side. There's always two sides to every story. We do know the neighbor with whom Campbell had words earlier Saturday called the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office. The deputies went in prepared for a gun/hostage situation. The family says they couldn't have been more wrong.

We understand that law enforcement in such a situation has only a split second to respond or possibly lose their lives. They responded with five, perhaps six, shots. The ABI investigation may take weeks. Even then, the report will never state what was going through Mitch Campbell's mind when he first saw the deputies. No such report can ever be complete. The neighbor who made the call has much to answer for.

Our sympathies to the Campbell family. You can read more on the shooting here:

Deputy Kills Central Resident

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Yesterday we blogged on Lowery Davis, the most recently announced candidate for Lauderdale County Sheriff. One of our readers has been very vocal in announcing the photo we ran was not of Mr. Davis, but of a Deputy Boone.

If this is the case, we would appreciate Mr. Davis forwarding us a photo, as well as Mr. Martin; however, here is a screen shot from the sheriff's office page that identifies this gentleman as Mr. Davis:

We still think Bo is cuter than any announced candidates.

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A friend recently mentioned this old adage. We think it's worth repeating: You can choose your friends; you can't choose your family.



Shoalanda