Misrepresented Sales Tax Defeated                                                                                   September 12, 2008

Thanks to the voters of Garland County who used facts presented here and elsewhere to make an informed choice, we are not now straddled with a perpetual tax that the politicians can use as they please.  We feel strongly that the public voted properly in spite of, or perhaps because of, the deception, withholding of facts, and outright untruths fed to us.  However, we cannot celebrate while we still have a high crime rate, a "revolving door" jail, and poorly paid public servants.  We must all work together to solve these problems.

We have been told by members of the Garland Good Government Group that they intend to provide a forum for public input.  We would like to join them in their efforts so please e-mail us with your thoughts on where a new jail should be located, how big, how lavish, and how it should be operated.  Give us your ideas on public safety including PIT (prevention, intervention, and treatment) programs.  Please share whatever expertise or recommendations concerning public safety issues you may have and also join the Garland Good Government Group at their future meetings.

Your humble correspondent feels that the county should NOT share any taxes with the city and, in fact, should not allow the current "tax and spend" city politicians to have any influence in its design, construction, or operation.  Irrespective of what we were told, state laws provide for counties to own and operate jails and provide funding methods that do not require sharing of taxes.

We have left posted the unbelievable information about the "Jail Tax" election on the "Commentary" page and the Digital Radio Expert submission on the "News" page.  We note that topical information and Jail Tax News is at www.jailtax.com concerning the new radios for our police and sheriffs departments.  To be fully informed, you really need to click on "Digital Radio Concerns" at the top of the page and view the videos listed there.  Also check out www.spacityvoice.com for interesting articles.

Local Newspaper Becomes Biased and Officially Adopts City Leaders Positions                 August 30, 2008

Yesterday's stories regarding the petition drive allowing the public a vote to reduce the A&P tax appeared to be somewhat slanted but today's Sentinel Record editorial should leave no doubt in anyone's mind that our local print media has totally ceased being an unbiased, responsible journalistic organization.  We are cutting the newspaper a bit of slack here because many locals tell us that this paper has always been biased.  When the newspaper refused to publish our "letters to the editor" we thought to ourselves that this was somehow not right.  When the same newspaper refused to print our paid advertisements even though we provided documented proof of their accuracy, we knew this was not right.  Today's editorial should send a strong message to the public as to the painfully apparent lack of objectivity of this paper.

Some of today's comments disguised as corrections contain elements of truth but even that truth stops short of telling the complete story.  For example, the A&P tax was, indeed, once voted on by citizens of Hot Springs.  However, it should have been noted that the A&P tax was created and later increased by the Arkansas legislature with no vote allowed by the public.  The only time our citizens received a "right to vote" on this issue resulted from a lawsuit which the city lost and then had no choice but to allow that single vote.  The legislation authorizing the A&P tax has no sunset clause, no periodic review or provisions for the public to vote, and no legally required reporting or accountability.  Various groups have attempted to amend the law but the Arkansas Municipal League successfully lobbied committees and killed most of these attempts.  Those bills that actually survived committees were fought by the Municipal League and lost by floor votes in the legislature.  The Municipal League has already announced that they plan to add another cent to the A&P tax during the next legislative session.  Most likely, the item will be initially disguised as new taxes for public parks.  Perhaps you should speak to your state representatives and senators about this.

But back to the objectivity of our newspaper.  Do you recall how numerous persons were trying to tell the public how the Mid-America Science Museum vote was not really about the museum at all?  In fact, the promoters (which appeared to include the newspaper) went a step further and promoted the issue as being "For the Kids."  They also asked that all polling places be closed except for a location with no listed phone number or postal address.  On top of this, they made it yet another "Special Election" so that a larger percentage of those people voting would be their allies and those who they had convinced the issue was really about the museum or the "kids."  This apparent deception worked because the issue passed by a margin of 3 to 1.  Okay, surprise, surprise, yesterday's news article finally quoted the city attorney as saying that the petition to allow the people their right to vote may be rejected because the funds may be encumbered (by the election).

This was the message that many of us unsuccessfully tried to get to the people.  THE ELECTION WAS ALL ABOUT ENCUMBERING THE A&P TAX SO THAT THE PEOPLE COULD NOT EVEN PETITION FOR THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE ON THE ISSUE.  The election was never about the museum or about the "kids."  Why else would the A&P encumber $50 million to $60 million for a project costing less than $1 million?  Why else would the A&P exaggerate the need, the cost, and the urgency?  Why else would the A&P not use some of the $3 million plus they already had on hand for this minor project?  The good 'ol boys should be careful because the apparent schemes are beginning to become unraveled and much more obvious.  Even you 'objective' folks at the newspaper may want to reconsider who you are getting in bed with.  Yep, that includes the highly paid A&P executives who you allow to demonstrate their professionalism by using words like "crap" in your news articles.

Politicians and Leaders Deceiving Public?                                                                          August 6, 2008

Have you heard the slick radio commercials or have you ladies gotten a copy of the really slick postcards asking, "Do you want a safer Garland County?"  Most of us already know that our city and county leaders are in favor of the so-called, "public safety" tax because they are the ones who will spend the millions generated from the new tax.

Now sit yourself down and get a grip before you read further.  Okay, we hope you are ready for this.  The group behind the current media and mail advertising are the same people who will benefit from the tax.  All of the membership are current or former elected officials or they are currently on the payroll of the city or county.  "Not possible," you say?  Check with the Arkansas Ethics Commission and you will find the following information:

Name of Ballot Question Committee:  Committee for a Safer Garland County

Committee Officers and Directors: 

Co-chairman - Michael Wright (president of Lodge #26, Garland County Sheriff's Department)

Co-chairman - Joseph T. Williams (president of Lodge #1, Hot Springs Fraternal Order of Police)

Treasurer - Paul Bosson (former Garland County prosecuting attorney, now a member of Civil Service Comm.)

Secretary - Larry Williams (current Garland County Judge)

Member - Larry Sanders (Garland County Sheriff)

Member - Ray Owen (JP, member of Garland County Quorum Court, chair of county finance committee)

Member - Bobby Southard (Police Chief, City of Hot Springs)

Member - Jason Lawrence (Courts Director paid by city of Hot Springs and Garland County)

Click here to see the Arkansas Ethics Commission Forms with the above data

The primary question you likely have is WHY?  Why would public officials and employees disguise themselves by using a committee name instead of using their own names?  Have you ever heard the term, "follow the money?"  The county's existing half-cent sales tax produced $7.561 million for 2007.  At current rates of increases provided by the state, this amount will equate to over $302 million over the 20 year jail bond term.  This means that even if you add the $34 million jail to all of the other proposed purchases (communications equipment, resource officers, fire-stations, etc.) there is still approximately $250 million left that is unallocated, sometimes known as "PORK."  What could be worse that we aren't being told?  The extra pork they are asking for now becomes 100 percent "PORK" at the end of 20 years because the tax never ends.  You also are not being told that both the city board and county quorum court refused to allow an amendment which would prevent the city and county from reducing their existing contributions to "public safety" expenses.  This effectively allows them to free up the millions currently being spent for "public safety" to use as they see fit.  The city directors can already taste that new city hall.  County leaders have already announced that they will use some of it for "raises for everyone." 

How To Tell When Your Politicians and Leaders are "Out of Control"                                 July 24, 2008

Have you ever thought your city or county leaders had totally lost control and forgotten why they were elected or hired? We have noticed some disturbing trends that seem to be worsening rather than getting better and decided it was time to list some of the tell-tale signs to watch for. Most citizens of our area will likely already recognize many of the following indicators.

You know, logic would tell us that all of these things surely could not have happened. Perhaps it was just a really bad dream. Boy, it sure did seem realistic there for awhile though, didn’t it?

City Board Members Exceed Authority Yet Again                                                                      July 17, 2008

Today, one of your editors again witnessed a horrible injustice which again involved our city board members.  The owners of the Toy Store downtown were inundated by the Central Avenue flood and went through a difficult and expensive struggle just to get back in business.  They spent thousands of dollars in their effort including over $6,000 for a new awning which was ripped by wind during the storm.  It appears that the Hot Springs Historical Commission had told the owners that the awning did not meet the commission's current criteria but two city directors told the owners not to worry because this would be overturned on appeal.  Mr. Tom Daniel admitted at the meeting to being one of the city directors who told this to the toy store owners.  Apparently, the other director was Mr. Carroll Weatherford since he was the only other city director at the meeting and both directors sat in front of the audience.  Once it was pointed out that the Historical Commission could not reverse itself without unanimous consent of the commission (which failed by voice vote), Mr. Daniel proceeded to express his disappointment with the commission.  Following his rather loud berating of the commissioners, the commission chairman pointed out that if he (Mr. Daniels) had not given incorrect information to the toy store owner, there would likely be no violations and there would be no meeting today or need to consider rehearing the application for the non-compliant awning. Dozens of downtown merchants were in attendance to show their support for the toy store owners.  Unfortunately, the commission could not re-hear the case without a unanimous vote of the commission and one of the members refused to vote to allow this.

This is yet another example of city directors improperly misusing or abusing their authority.  Most citizens know of numerous cases where our current directors have overruled the city staff, planning commission, and others who abide by the rules or applicable laws.  There is simply no justification for directors to tell people to ignore city ordinances, laws, or findings of our various commissions.  Apparently, these two directors thought that they would have no problem in, once again, overruling a commission.  The directors apparently did not know that the appeal process for overriding this particular commission is through the courts.  It is unfortunate that their lack of knowledge did not keep them from giving incorrect and improper advice.  Hopefully, the owner of the store who relied on the director's advice as being accurate will file suit to recover the cost of their, now useless, $6,000 awning plus thousands more in legal expenses.

Based on numerous disastrous experiences perpetrated by city directors including the one witnessed today, we would strongly advise all businesses in our city to not trust any advice given by our current directors.  We also recommend that they help remove these directors from office so they don't continue such harmful and expensive practices.

First-Hand Commentary on June Bond Election                                                                      April 8, 2008

As some of our readers have already noted, last night's city board meeting proved to be yet another meeting where the primary issues were already decided.  It is most unfortunate when important agenda items have already been decided based on inaccurate or misleading information.  For this reason, several individuals subjected themselves to the anticipated rudeness, name-calling, and put-downs from our city leaders and the "good-old-boy" spokesmen who are always allowed to speak last without rebuttal whether or not they signed up to do so as regular citizens are required to do.  The city board voted unanimously to have a special election on June 10th to approve allowing a $1.2 million bond issue for life-safety (fire alarm), heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) improvements.

The problem is that nowhere near that amount is needed for those specific improvements.  We attended the most recent A&P Commission meetings, a Mid America Science Museum board meeting, city workshops, and city agenda meetings to see if we could find out why the costs were so inflated.  No itemized list of the costs were ever provided at any meeting and, with one minor exception, we were not allowed to speak.  At the joint meeting of the A&P and museum boards, the president of an engineering firm hired by the A&P stated that the proposed funds included replacing inefficient T-12 type lamps with efficient T-8 lamps even though this work was done a couple of years ago.  The A&P director and the local newspaper continue to address non-existent safety issues.  The HVAC equipment was purported to all be 30 years old and the justification for so hastily making such inflated expenditures appeared to be based only on flippant statements such as, "it could fail at any time" and "interest rates could go up."

Since there was so much  missing information and misinformation prevalent, we decided to perform our own investigation.  This consisted of examining the actual HVAC equipment and copying the nameplate data, capacities, etc. plus analyzing the condition of each piece of HVAC related equipment.  During the field investigation, we discovered that the air conditioning chillers, cooling tower, and VFD equipment are only 8 years old and are working perfectly.  We then interviewed the museum maintenance staff, several HVAC experts, HVAC equipment manufacturers, and HVAC sales personnel.  In view of the fact that no itemized expenditure list existed, we developed our own.  This list (click here to view) indicates that if the museum replaced everything they could wish for, only $165,500 would be needed.  The list was provided as a handout to the city board prior to their vote.  We also pointed out that we had representatives of HVAC equipment manufacturers and financing experts in the audience who could answer any questions relative to  equipment needs and costs.   It was ironic to have the museum operating board chairman state, "I'm an architect .... it must have been several years since you have checked prices on such equipment."  The fact is that it had only been a matter of minutes since HVAC manufacturer's representatives had provided us with the price of an entire state-of-the-art HVAC system for a new facility much larger than the museum.  The cost for the total system was less than half the cost figures being used for only partial replacements at the museum.

We fully expected the information provided to the city board to be ignored and were not surprised by their unanimous vote to allow the A&P their requested election.  No board member can now say, "I wish you would have told us."  Our conscience is clear because we presented the facts and even challenged the board to not take our word for it but simply postpone their votes until they could find out the facts for themselves.  We've been here before, having this same board ignore logical requests.  We'll likely be here again for so long as we continue to be represented by these elected officials.

Who or What is CodeRed?                                                                                                          April 1, 2008

Thanks to one of our readers for the following information as to Who or What is CodeRed, the group with which the City of Hot Springs is apparently determined to contract with to provide an early warning system and other call-up notifications.  As always, we simply post the information so the public can do their own research and determine whether or not this is a company the city should consider doing business with.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0523025/0523025.shtm

FTC Seeks End to Telemarketer’s Practices
Automated Calling System Leaves Millions Of People Hanging
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/01/broadcastteam.shtm

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, for the Federal Trade Commission,
Plaintiff
v.
THE BROADCAST TEAM, INC., ROBERT J. TUTTLE and MARK S. EDWARDS, Defendants
(United States District Court Middle District of Florida Orlando Division) Case 6:05-cv-01920-PCF-JGG; FTC File No. 052-3025

Florida Dept of State records
http://www.sunbiz.org/corinam.html

THE BROADCAST TEAM
Officer/Director Detail
Name & Address

EDWARDS, MARK
2 BLACKHOUSE CT

ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

TUTTLE, ROBERT J
425 PINE BLUFF TRAIL
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK, INC.

Registered Agent Name & Address
SKOW, JAMES
9 SUNSHINE BLVD
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174 US

Title D
TUTTLE, ROBERT J
9 SUNSHINE BLVD
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

Title D
EDWARDS, MARK
9 SUNSHINE BLVD
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

Title P
POE, ROBERT
9 SUNSHINE BLVD
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

Title VP
DIGIACOMO, DAVID
9 SUNSHINE BLVD
ORMOND BEACH FL 32174

Emergency Communications Network Expands Staff
http://opensourcepbx.tmcnet.com/news/2004/may/1039347.htm

ORMOND BEACH, Fla., May 6 2004 /PR Newswire/ -- Emergency Communications Network (ECN), operator of the CodeRED emergency notification network, today announced promotions for key staff and the hiring of an experienced Florida city manager who will assist with outreach and sales.
Among the changes:

* David DiGiacomo has been promoted to Vice President of Operations from Executive Director of ECN. In this new position, DiGiacomo will oversee the customer relations management team and assist in setting the organizational vision, strategy and overall business planning. DiGiacomo has been with ECN since the company was formed.

* Michael Staley has been promoted to Director, Strategic Alliance Programs from Business Alliance Manager. In addition to his work developing alliances with complementary solutions and working with their management and customers, Staley has been tasked with developing additional and third party sales channels for CodeRED. Staley joined ECN last year.

* Howard Tipton will consult with ECN on outreach and sales to state and local government officials and key staff, such as city managers and fire and police chiefs. Tipton has served as city manager in Orlando and Daytona Beach, Florida and is active in the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

"We're now positioned for major growth in the short-term," said Bob Poe, president of Emergency Communications Network. "There's no other notification system out there that works as effectively as CodeRED. CodeRED has proven itself, and we're reaching out to municipalities and private companies to assist with their emergency preparedness."

CodeRED is a patented, real-time Internet-based message delivery system that can make over 60,000 recorded phone calls per hour into a geographic area based on the specifics of the situation. CodeRED was designed to provide immediate access to timely information, including boil water alerts, weather emergencies, local criminal activity, and homeland security issues. For instance:

* CodeRED was called into service in several mid-Atlantic states to alert residents before and after Hurricane Isabel struck last fall;

* Flagler County, Florida captured an armed and dangerous registered sex offender on the prowl in a suburban neighborhood after alerting residents using CodeRED; and

* Hernando County, Florida officials found an abducted 14-year old girl after she vanished from Bible study class using CodeRED, and Sheriff Richard Nugent credits CodeRED as working "faster than the Amber Alert."

ECN counts among its clients municipalities from around the country, as well as the national lost-child advocacy organization A Child Is Missing. "Our current clients are the best advocates for CodeRED," DiGiacomo said.

Contact: Stephen Gaskill, Emergency Communications Network, 954-764-6415, or cell, 202-257-9298.
Emergency Communications Network

CONTACT: Stephen Gaskill, Emergency Communications Network,+1-954-764-6415, or cell, +1-202-257-9298


Web site: http://www.coderedweb.com/

Publication: PR Newswire
Publication Date: 06-MAR-03
Format: Online - approximately 476 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author:

Article Excerpt
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- ORMOND BEACH, Fla., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Bob Poe, former Chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, has joined Emergency Communications Network (ECN) of Ormond Beach, Florida as president, the company officially announced today.

"I'm excited at the opportunity to build ECN and establish the company as the leader in emergency notification systems," Poe said. "The ability to contact people quickly with critical public safety information is a necessity in...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.

Other Related "Enterprises"

http://www.sunbiz.org

Registered Agent Name Entity Name Entity Number
TUTTLE, ROBERT J BRADENTON TEAMSTERS BUILDING CORPORATION, INC. 714002
TUTTLE, ROBERT J PRIME PROPERTIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUSIA COUNTY, LLC L03000030504
TUTTLE, ROBERT J E-RADIO COMMUNICATIONS, INC. P00000084302
TUTTLE, ROBERT J TWILIGHT GROOVES, INC. P00000090078

Registered Agent Name Entity Name Entity Number Name translated
SKOW, JAMES GATO PROPERTIES OF VOLUSIA, LLC L02000003668 - CAT
SKOW, JAMES MONO PROPERTIES, LLC L03000024231 - MONKEY
SKOW, JAMES PUERCO PROPERTIES, LLC L03000028906 - PIG SKOW, JAMES PERRO PROPERTIES, LLC L03000028907 - DOG
SKOW, JAMES JTMX LLC L04000046478
SKOW, JAMES PREMIER PROPERTIES OF VOLUSIA, LLC L05000012958
SKOW, JAMES REUNION PROPERTIES, LLC L05000047786
SKOW, JAMES THE BROADCAST TEAM LOUISVILLE, LLC L05000059343
SKOW, JAMES HECTOR, LLC L05000064536
SKOW, JAMES MARKET ABILITY, LLC L07000045709
SKOW, JAMES WEBER FINANCIAL LLC L07000049026
SKOW, JAMES VOLO LLC L07000118861
SKOW, JAMES EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK WEST, LLC M07000007167
SKOW, JAMES FLORIDA CONTINUING EDUCATION SERVICES, INC. P04000126011
SKOW, JAMES CALL TO SANTA, INC. P05000075554
SKOW, JAMES EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK, INC. P99000055670
SKOW, JAMES TELEPHONY RESOURCES, INC. P99000058533
SKOW, JAMES THE BROADCAST TEAM, INC. V45009
SKOW, JAMES MARKET ABILITY, INC. V45010

What Do You Do About a Cancer in Your Town?                                                                                           February 9, 2008

Have you ever lived in a city where the elected officials refused to allow the public to speak at public meetings - a town comprised of leaders who freely admit that they once allowed "public comment sections" at public meetings but stopped that practice because a citizen used the forum to criticize and "embarrass" an elected official?

Have you ever lived in a city where the elected officials totally ignored the wishes of hundreds of citizens and placed a two-lane "bottleneck" in the only north-south highway through town so their friends could have parking in front of their businesses? How about adding a crowning touch to this fiasco by not bothering to even contact the police, sheriff, fire, or EMS as to whether this action might constitute a safety hazard. Oh, also ignore any attempts by the state highway department to "dissuade" the city from taking such detrimental action.

Have you ever lived in a city where the elected officials refused to allow the public a voice or a vote before putting the citizens in debt for 25 years and $14 million for a project the people didn’t want? How about directors who simply vote to change the word "tax" to "fee" on numerous documents so they could legally avoid allowing the people a voice or a vote? Add these actions to the fact that the city is already taxed more per resident than any other city over 30,000 in population in the entire state.

Have you ever lived in a city where the elected officials regularly overrode the advice of their own staff, planning commission, etc. so that their friends could place unsightly businesses in residential neighborhoods? Oh, except for the city manager who tells the directors what to do instead of the normally reversed roles.

Have you ever lived in a city that was ranked by the FBI and state statistics in the top ten "highest crime cities" in the country yet the city leaders dismiss these facts by saying something must be wrong with the figures rather than properly fund and staff programs to combat the problem?

Have you ever lived in a city where the elected officials overrode the strong recommendations of their staff, planning department, building inspectors, code compliance experts, fire marshal, etc. because a developer would give them $50,000 to backdate a certificate which allowed the developer to obtain federal funds, tax credits, etc? Does that not smell like federal fraud to anyone?

Well, if you ever find yourself living in such a town, what would you do about it? Would you complain?  Remember, the public is not allowed to comment at public meetings except within very narrow guidelines.  If you are lucky enough to qualify to speak, you are limited to 3 minutes regardless of how important your issues are and there is a strong possibility that you will be berated, yelled at, contradicted, embarrassed, or even thrown out of the public meeting.

How about this idea? Form a group where you invite knowledgeable experts to inform the public as to what is really happening in the town. How about also providing an "open mike" session at every meeting so the public can speak? How about doing investigations from public records and providing surveys to determine what the public would like their elected representatives to do if they ever decide to represent the people instead of only themselves or their friends? How about providing a website like www.GGGGNews.com so people can know what is being done?

If you see any similarities in these scenarios and the city of Hot Springs, congratulations. You are informed and intelligent enough to recognize the problems that comprise the cancer growing within our fine city. You also likely know that the Garland Good Government Group (GGGG) was formed to help provide our citizens a voice and a vote on important issues.

The GGGG has observed the growing cancers within our city for almost a year and have been somewhat successful in informing the public and restoring the people’s voice and "right to vote." Unfortunately, too many issues have gone unresolved but not for lack of trying. At a recent meeting, one GGGG member posed a very astute question, "Why do we keep putting out brush fires when we know who is setting the fires?" That profound question was the beginning of much soul searching, more investigations, a public survey (available at www.GGGGNews.com), and an eventual decision to solve the problem at its source, the city board.

As you likely know, the GGGG took the very bold step of beginning a recall of the mayor and a director. These two were selected because they were the top two recommended by the public survey. The rational was to not recall board members who must stand for reelection in November simply because their terms will soon end. This does not necessarily mean that we will not add other board members to the recall effort in the future.

With minor exception, our decision has met with overwhelming and surprising support. We obtained approximately half the needed signatures for the director on our recall petition with only a handful of volunteers working a few hours on Super Tuesday. We must admit that it is quite discouraging to see people who either do not understand, care, or want to get involved in helping to correct our problems. However, the latter can be somewhat understood because we have witnessed city directors using city departments to carry out intimidating tactics aimed at those few who dare to complain or question them. What is most discouraging is to have the hard work and dedication of our members be rewarded by our own local newspaper criticizing and working against our efforts while local radio stations refuse to rent us a booth at the home show or allow us to fund a program on their station.

We are not the ones who caused the cancer within our city. We are the ones who are now finally saying, "let us rid ourselves of this problem and restore the life and vitality to our fine city. What do you do about a cancer in your town? You remove it.

More Spins Than a Coney Island Carrousel (commentary by Ted Burhenn)                                               February 4, 2008

In regard to the February 1, 2008 press release about the recall of Director Weatherford and Mayor Mike Bush, it is amazing to read the spin that City Director Kent Myers and Director Weatherford placed on the issue.  They want the public to believe that this is only about the Baptist Hotel and only because of its Black Heritage.  Sorry guys, that dog won’t hunt.

The Baptist Hotel was chosen as a backdrop for the icon as a sample of how far out of control our city government has gotten.  The owner of the Baptist Hotel needed a certificate of occupancy dated December 31, 2006 but had not and still has not met the required repairs to obtain that certificate legitimately. Without that certificate, he stood to lose millions in Federal Tax Credits/Grants.  Against the advice of the city’s own code department and fire department, the board of directors not only gave him a certificate, but backdated it to allow him to cash in from the government (click here to view the documents). If you or I did that, it would be called conspiracy to commit federal fraud.  The difference between the Baptist and the other historic buildings is that the owners of the other buildings didn’t know who to make the check out to or maybe how much.

 The only work on the Baptist since that time is the fire escape on the back of the building for all the people who don’t live there.  It does however offer the children a place to play and the homeless a way into the building.  Even the security fence in front of the building is now a hazard.  There were options; other investors have been interested in the building and it could have been restored by now.  So Mr. Weatherford, it would not have been torn down.  Of course what do I know, I don’t have a State General Contractor’s License nor have I been cited numerous times for operating without one.  Maybe that is something that you learned in Japan.

Now for the Rest of the Story.  A recent survey conducted by the Garland Good Government Group showed that the vast majority of the citizens responding to a poll placed the removal of several Directors as one of the most important items to improve the Community.  It an attempt to act as a conduit for these citizens, GGGG voted to take on the task.  Although any issue requires a positive vote of 75% of the voting members present, it was unanimous that we start with Mayor Mike Bush and Director Carroll Weatherford as it was felt that we can’t wait for the next election.

The reasoning for the recall varies, from possible conspiracy to commit federal fraud, multiple personal bankruptcies by directors, arrogance to the public during meetings, catering to special interest groups in things like the bottleneck & Hi-Lo Terrace, awarding contracts to directors without competitive bidding, multiple trips for directors and staff to Japan, increased taxes (or fees if that makes Myers feel better) and a  lack of personal financial responsibly to a run-a-way budget of  over $2,600 per person ( at least 2.5 times greater than Little Rock. 

Strange how Mr. Myers, in excerpts of his State of the City report, took credit for Highway 70 West, Carpenter Dam Road, rejuvenation of Bath House Row and the repair of “malfunction junction”.  Careful, if you pat yourself on the back too much you can spin yourself into a pretzel. Perhaps we should take the time to thank the little people like the Highway Department and Commission, County Judge Larry Williams, National Park Director Jose Fernandez, the investors at Magic Springs and the directors of the health care facilities.    Sorry if I missed some but it is the countless many that should be credited with the successes.  It is the very few that should bear the responsibility of the disasters.