Trojan Horse

Last year voters, the wee people, approved the referendum on HB 581 establishing a floating homestead tax exemption. In DeKalb it was a bit of a landslide garnering 52% approval. None of these voters are elected DeKalb officials or hired bureaucrats. So these folks, elected and hired, would really, really like to opt out. Which is allowed. 

But...

Opting out kicks in some procedure changes around sales taxes, of which we have a few here in DeKalb. It is really painful as the EHOST is conjoined with a SPLOST and when combined with other local sales taxes, exceeds the 2% limit that opting out would incur.

Oh, the humanity!

The county's lobbyist, yes, they have a lobbyist, is down at the gold dome trying to get a legislative loophole put in place. Nothing will deter them from getting their hands on more of your money.

Water? Really?

Our new CEO is on a talking tour touting the need for water rate increases. The presentation starts out with the gloomy description of an ancient water system, recent water main breaks, and boil water advisories. Think Chamblee-Dunwoody at the Knoll. 

OK.

What's that got to do with anything, or more to the point, with that one particular something? You know, the consent decree that DeKalb will NOT meet and that will likely cost $100M in fines? Is a federal judge going to look favorably on a Water Crisis Tour when the decree covers SEWAGE? Ya think? And the CEO isn't alone calling for a water rate increase as she is being joined with local current and former politicians. 

There's a lot wrong with this.

There is the aforementioned diversion, obfuscation of the real issue: sewage. Have these politicians learned nothing from their recent spanking? We want straight talk and transparency. This leads directly to the most important issue: we need a sewage rate increase far, far more than a water increase, if we need an increase at all. Even if this is the case, this is a service, and it seems reasonable that those not using the service should not bear the burden of repairing the broken system. As it so happens, there are folks in DeKalb, even here in Dunwoody, that are not on the DeKalb sewer system. And let us not forget DeKalb's horrific history with managing these services (water and sewer) and the incredible incompetence of their billing. 

Is a rate increase the best way to handle this?

This requires asking some questions, yet to be asked, including, what would it cost to operate our water and sewer systems if they were [magically] brought up where they need to be? Is the current revenue, at the current rates, sufficient to operate such a system? If the answers are yes, then there should be no increase. If the answer is "more than sufficient," then there should be a rate decrease (don't hold your breath). If the answer is no (which will be every politician's knee-jerk response) then the rate should be increased to cover these new, ideally optimal, operating costs. 

Then we deal with how to get these systems to where they need to be: a one-time assessment.

One time assessment-one time investment. Like replacing your roof. You bite the bullet, get it done, and don't worry about it for the life of the roof. Fix the water system. Fix the sewer system. Don't bother us again until we're back in this situation, and don't expect us to pay out the nose every month from now til eternity. And yes, we will get back in this situation, because no matter what gets done, DeKalb will NOT maintain these systems. Anyone who thinks they will has been at the mushrooms.

DeKalb Water Billing...

...is still not right. Notice that the billing for August 2024 is based on a meter reading from December 2023. Are we still playing catchup? 

Hating On Democracy

DeKalb County has something called a "Charter Review Commission" that is looking into changes to how we, the people might be governed. For the most part the proposed changes are adjustments, mostly reasonable and non-structural. It is interesting to note that the CEO or a commissioner vacates their position if they qualify to run for any office other than the President of the United States, but it IS a draft. It does add some powers to the commissioners but retains the structural integrity of our county government. Most importantly we, the people, will elect the CEO who will be the person running the county. How democratic.

Someone doesn't like that and wants to ditch the CEO that we elect in favor of a county manager appointed by commissioners. This would remake the county government to mimic the school district and the new, faux-cities like Dunwoody because that's working so well---not. It would also add another degree of separation between the electorate and operations undermining local control and democracy itself.

Here's A Shocker

A local government, DeKalb County in this case, touts a commitment to transparency but when pressure was applied and the financial system was audited the report itself was so heavily redacted that you would have to change toner cartridges half way through printing it out. The excuses were offensive. Odious. Concerns of system vulnerability? Really? Isn't this a fairly recent acquisition from a highly respected company? Then they wanted to lessen the possibility of the operating system being sabotaged from without. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot! The relativism is a typical politician's ploy. Just how susceptible is this to outside attack? What are the attack vectors? How in the name of all sanity is information in a financial report PDF going to facilitate compromising firewalls, gaining access to an internal system and gaining admin control? And how much, exactly, precisely, measurably, do these redactions reduce specific vulnerabilities? And finally, when is someone going to fire the fool who came up with and/or approved these statements?

They are slinging bullshit and expecting the public to like it. So far it seems to be working.

Virus Affects The Brain

It seems that someone's brain has "cratered"...

The Best Sanitizer

Not Lysol. Not Purell. Not bleach. It's sunshine. In politics it is not just the best, it is often the only option. 

In DeKalb we are in a unique limbo. Voters approved a strong measure to establish an ethics commission to help eradicate long standing corruption in local government. With so many politicians imprisoned and indicted the need is clear but by the same token the corruption is deeply entrenched with no intention of going quietly. The legal limbo surrounding appointments offers the a chance to gut the commission effectively ensuring that past political hijinks continue unabated. That there weapon of choice is a lie, the labeling of the commission lead as "judge, jury and executioner," suggests that before sanitizing we will need a good hard scrubbing at the ballot box.

Water Woes

DeKalb County simply cannot get its act together with regards to wet work. The CEO refuses to follow consolidation recommendations intended to improve the outrageous billing fiasco preferring instead to work on intra-bureacracy communications. Perchance the alternative would work but might cost jobs.

Then we have the effluent side of the equation. DeKalb has not exactly been good stewards of the stinky pipes routinely overflowing raw sewerage throughout the county. New developments always require storm water retention and increasingly other waste retention facilities are required, at the developers' cost. About as attractive to new development as the overflows are to current inhabitants.

But this is where it gets interesting because the potable and the unpalatable do in fact intersect. Oddly enough on your water bill. We all know this. Well all but a very few--those folks who are on a septic system. Yep, that's right, there are operational, well maintained septic systems in DeKalb County. There are even some in DaVille. And there are some folk on the County Commission who would like the county to encourage folks, by lowering tap-on fees,  to abandon their own system and tie into county sewer. Perhaps they think this is "fair" but it isn't to the homeowner, who thru their purchase price, paid the original developer the thousands required to hook up when the subdivision was built. Maybe they think the only problem with the county system is there isn't enough stuff running thru the pipes. Doesn't sound logical, but we are talking politicians here and logic beyond a bumpersticker or a hashtag won't fit in their little heads either.

Now you may know someone who actually has a home on septic. You may have heard them talk about their water bill: "Bill came yesterday...four-fifty this month...a bit higher than usual" and it may lead you to wonder what they mean by four-fifty. That would be $4.50 and not $450 which is closer to YOUR water bill. That's right, if you're on septic you're not paying the bill for a failed sewage system that overflows raw fecal matter into creeks, rivers and homes and if you do not insist on dumping drinking water on the ground to green up your grass, you will get by on less than a tenner per month.

Yes there is a downside. Only an idiot would plant shrubs and trees on the septic drain field. Thankfully, even with re-branding, Dunwoody is still a city that smarts. And if the field is in your back yard (you know who you are) there goes your dreams of a back yard pool. Well, maybe an above ground pool. And some will tell you that septic systems do not support garbage disposals. Jury is out on that one, but really, do you have to grind and flush potato peels and eggshells? And coffee grounds? Seriously? Get a Keurig, dude, and waste the whole thing. But there is a maintenance cost. You need to pump the tank every so often, maybe 5-7 years and it will cost a few hundred dollars. That might drive your overall bill up towards a Jackson. And if you don't pump it out you will be looking at a new drain field, but with newer technology (you know your system is over 30 years old) it will be more efficacious and smaller. Technology marches on. Even down there. And government, with its bureaucrats and politicians, remains the same. Even up here.

Usage Billing

Remember the early days of Cellular Phone service? No, not the days of Moto Bag Phones, but that period in time when every text message you sent, every message you received cost you around seven cents. Remember that? There were even laws passed to ban unsolicited messages sent to your phone.

And you want to know something? Not a single cell phone provider had any problem counting the number of text messages or sending you a bill that matched up. Not. A. One. Then it got more complicated as competition forced plans with blocks of "free" messages before per message charges applied. This was counting AND separating charges by the number of that count. Sounds like something a fifth grader could do, doesn't it?

Well maybe DeKalb County should hire some fifth graders to work in and run their water billing department because they sure as hell cannot get it right. And this isn't some brain fart of competence due to a retirement bubble of baby boomers. This is systemic and longstanding. This is cultural. It is a culture of anti-meritocracy where factors totally unrelated to supporting the department mission push aside factors that might lead to a competent operation. Not efficient. Not optimized. Just competent.

And it has not been tolerated, it has been fostered and will continue to be fostered as rooting out incompetence must, perforce, roll back decades of preferential treatment, cronyism and set asides. It is political suicide and when the county is run by someone who openly admits his political infection can only be cured by formaldehyde we can rest assured this problem will grow. As hard as it is to believe he can and will make it worse. He will not replace the incompetents any more than Trump will put down the tweeter. He will grow government attempting to "augment" the barnacles of incompetence with enough who are capable enough to mask the heritage of failure covering up for those who installed it and excusing those who commit it.

In DeKalb County it is humanly possible to do better but not with the humans we have available.

Guest Post : The Mitzvah And The Mensch

The relates to a recent event in Dunwoody. It is presented in its entirety [changed only for anonymity] but without further comment or context.

Last June/July, before I got sick, one really hot day, I took bottles of water down to the trash pickup crew.

Today, I figured out if I took my time, I could get down to the street using my walker, then fold the walker up, place it on top of the empty cans and roll back up the driveway slowly.

I had done round 1 with the recycling can and the mail when the trash truck came down the street. They were at the [end of the cul de sac] when I folded up the walker to start back up the hill. The truck stopped a second time in front of our house. The same crew from the summer. They stopped the truck, and one of the guys off the back insisted on pulling the empty can up the driveway for me. I shook his hand and then the driver rolled down the window and told me "God bless."

It is a very simple thing, but it's made me cry.

There are still people out there who just want to do something good.

Sharing is caring, so I wanted you two to know.

Fait Accompli

Fran's Tax Freeze is under assault from a peculiar foe--he and his comrades under the Gold Dome misspoke when crafting a Tax Increase for all of DeKalb. They wanted to increase sales tax for all manner of things, including a whimsical county center parked between the jail and the mulch piles but also added language that real lawyers have determined will remove Fran's Tax Freeze. This was an act either of stupidity or incompetence, or both, and is pretty much what we expect from same-ole-same-ole politics in Georgia.

What is interesting are quoted statements from a county commish:

"At this point, even if the project list was[sic] perfect, bringing this SPLOST forward for a vote in November is irresponsible. To go forward would mean a devastating tax increase on 10 years of property value growth that has been shielded."

There is so much to mine from this shaft. The ten years applies only to those properties that have not been maintained or improved such that pulling a permit was required (and done). Yes, we're going to call a roof replacement maintenance even when the owner upgrades to those trendy architectural shingles.  Or perhaps pushing a growing portion of property valuation off the books (shielding??) was ill conceived in the first place.

What is really interesting is the implication that if a tax referendum is on the ballot it will pass. Perhaps it will. And here's one to roll around in yer noggin: maybe this is what the citizens want. Or maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, those who vote on this referendum will be informed voters making an informed decision.

Or maybe the politicos under the Gold Dome and down in Decatur were confident they could craft ballot propaganda all but guaranteeing a new tax but are pretty sure it goes down in flames if passage kills a sweetheart deal with homeowners who tend to turn out at the polls.

No matter. They'll have to wait until next year to push the new tax thru.

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming For Broken News

That a part of DeKalb County government that does a pretty good job pretty much anywhere else is an Epic FAIL here is nothing new and usually not very noteworthy. Equally unsurprising is that the water main under Chamblee Dunwoody between the two ends of Harris Circle has failed. Again. As it does every 8-9 to months.

Saturday after Friday's April Fool's repair

In order to effect this temporary repair it is necessary to close a valve near Roberts and to relieve pressure by opening fire hydrants down stream of the repair. See?

Pressure relief valve

It is also not uncommon to relieve pressure on the repair for several hours. It is significantly less common to continue the water waste for a day. So uncommon that one of The Other Dunwoody approached the fine ladies and gentlemen of Fire Station 12 on Roberts to inform them of the open hydrant and lowered pressure as that might be of concern given their line of business. It was also suggested there might be a reason for Water Works to leave the hydrant flowing so they indicated they would check on the situation.

As of Saturday afternoon the hydrant looks like this

It just keeps pouring down the storm drains

DeKalb Dumps On Dunwoody

You cannot live in daVille without putting up with a daily traffic grind now exacerbated by construction. Almost any construction requires utility marking which is usually done by a private utility locating service. You've probably seen the trucks in your neighborhood. Of late they've been canvassing the Linear Park, Spalding to Roberts and south on Roberts.

Unlike other utilities who farm out the location services, DeKalb County, the jobs works program, has decided to mark their pipes themselves.

On Roberts

Man With The Marker

Take note of the spare spray can on the cart paying particular attention to color. While this was on Roberts we find at the linear park the lines are marked.

Marked Near Dunwoody Road

But what's that? Over to the right. See, in the brush? That looks like a...

Isn't Easy Being Blue

...spray paint can...

Only The Best For Painting Grass

...indeed! That is exactly what it is! And it has a striking resemblance to the one in the second picture.

Now no one, at least not in The Other Dunwoody, is saying the individual pictured above discarded this or any other blue spray paint can, or even that these cans (there are at least two) have anything to do with DeKalb County Watershed. But you, dear reader, are one of the Smart Folk and TOD will rely on you to come to your own conclusions.

Lacking Qualifications

This is pulled from the muck bucket labeled "You Cannot Make This Up" often known as "DeKalb County." DeKalb has become such an odious crock that even some who shat in it can no longer abide the stench even though Dad pointed at some of them saying "you did that, didn't you?"

Dad was mad. And that led to further investigation such that the bad little shats said they'd clean the crock. So they established a DeKalb Audit Oversight Committee. Not cleaning the whole crock, but at least skimming the floaters.

But as smart betters would wager it devolved into Good Ole DeKalb Politics. One of the appointers to this committee, Senator Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, appointed Harmel Codi to a five year gig on the Audit Committee. But... After the deadline for making the appointment but before the first Committee meeting Butler had an epiphany--what polite folks call "got her panties in a wad"--and decided that Codi had undergone a sudden and tragic transformation making Codi unacceptable. Butler rescinded the appointment.

What is interesting is not that Codi has been outspoken in support of Lee May moving on but that Butler claims Codi does not possess the minimum qualifications for the position. This leaves even the casual observer wondering what qualifications Codi has permanently misplaced. Certainly Butler is not now saying that Butler herself was unqualified to qualify an appointee to the Committee, right? Wouldn't that be political suicide? Perhaps in most places, but not in DeKalb where open admissions of incompetence by elected officials is little more than stating the obvious. After all it only takes an appropriate level of melanin, the right kind of mouthiness and an affinity for cameras to get elected in DeKalb. 

Set Our Urkel Free!

The superficial facts have not changed. We have a successful young and ambitious black politician with an Ivy League education whose peers have declared a felon sending him to jail. Depending on sentencing and appeals his next stop may well be prison where he will very likely encounter the kinds of black men he aspired not to be. And we applauded him for those aspirations. We still do.

Many will say it is a shame that he is going to prison. But it isn't. He clearly deserves punishment, the same and to the same degree as would any other. What is a shame is that he has thrown away a prized education, all his hard work, his career, his esteem in the community and has done such damage to his wife and children. Add to this his violation of public trust and abuse of power. Should he go to prison? Certainly. Should we feel sorry? Not for him.

Urkel To Go Free

Most pundits agree that jury selection determines the outcome and the trial itself is "just playing the game." Given that we may as well drop the case, re-instate Burrell Ellis and send Lee May back to the private sector.

This case is a done deal and the AJC report on jury selection makes this clear.

It is impossible to find anyone with the mental capabilities to even find the courthouse let alone sit on a jury who does not have some familiarity with the case so it comes as no surprise that selection looks into "what do you know, when did you know it and what do you think about it?" It is incumbent on the court to find jurors who, in spite of prior knowledge, can assess the case on the facts presented in court and to some degree this is the point of this case's voir dire. But there are disturbing aspects to the variations in "degree."

One prospect reportedly stated "Corruption is endemic in DeKalb County, which I think comes from the top down."

"Thank you for your time. Dismissed."  As expected since this person clearly has made up his mind.

A little less clearly prejudiced is the prospect who said "I find it disturbing and significant that there's a trial against the defendant, so there must be something there in order for that to occur. Something's going on here." This individual did not say "and I think he is guilty" but simply said that we would not be here if there was nothing to be presented to the court. Nor is it clear this individual is incapable of differentiating between what is believed versus what is proven in court. Dismissed nonetheless.

It gets worse.

On prospect said "I heard what was on the news, and looking at the gentleman, he just doesn't look like someone who would be guilty." He just doesn't look guilty. This person is making a pretty clear statement that he comes to this court predisposed to set our Urkel free. So, dismissed for prejudice in favour of the defendant, right? Hell no. Ordered to return for further questioning--still in contention for jury duty. But consider this: suppose instead of saying "just doesn't look" he actually said "looks." That juror would have been back at home in less than an hour--thank you for your service.

Whether this is right or wrong, just or unjust, Burrell Ellis is going to get another jury pre-disposed to  acquittal and that is exactly what will happen. Let's just cut to the chase, drop the case and quit paying for two CEO's when we'll never get even one that is worth having. 

Breaking The Ice

The litany of malfeasance in DeKalb County government seems to never end. Federal prosectors issuing subpoenas and indictments, even reaching a plea agreement with a former Commissioner about to cool her jets at Club Fed. Smaller fry are left for the local DA to prosecute and he seems willing to do so. Cops on the take. Intrigue around checks cashed at a liquor store (where else would you cash a check?) and allegations of forgery. Urkel is about to be re-tried. Courts are even handing down significant fines for just plain bad behaviour.

And now J. Tom Morgan is on the case describing what little has been made public (and that is a lot) as "the tip of the iceberg." Probably so. Most folks expect him to uncover a lot of dirt with very little digging. Some folks are hoping this becomes the tipping point, where the state legislature is forced to confront the failings of a unique form of government and reform it. This comes up a  lot and while the CEO form of government may have issues it is not the root cause of all our problems.

The strong CEO form of government may well have played into problems involving Vernon Jones and Erkel but it was not a factor in the malfeasance admitted by Boyer or the broken commitment (to clean house on day one) of her successor. There is something else at play.

The job of CEO and County Commissioner are elected positions so we should not be too surprised when we end up with politicians in those roles. But do they have to be of the kind whose ambitions out run their integrity by such an enormous margin? Cannot any single one of them, just once, say what they will do and then go out and do it? Apparently not. It seems that getting elected in DeKalb requires saying what sounds good and then doing whatever the hell you want. It IS what politicians do, but does it have to be every time, with every single one of them?

It's not just the raw materials we have at hand. The real problem with "ditch the CEO form of government" is that it doesn't go far enough. DeKalb County needs to be dissolved. The western portions of the county should be absorbed into Fulton County, the north east into Gwinnett and the remaining portions into Rockdale. Fulton will get almost full coverage ITP and a better balance of conservative vs liberal representation and if that is problematic there would be a critical mass to re-create Milton. Both Gwinnett and Rockdale will have communities more aligned with their ex-urban nature as well as expanding their non-residential tax bases. This is not something that our County Commission or CEO would endorse but the Legislature should be called upon to do just this to pull us out of this misery. 

Fractured Fairy Tale

It starts as most do...

Once upon a time, long, loonnggg ago, there was an honest elected official in DeKalb County, Georgia...

Well  you know how that story ends...

Ebony And Ivory

DeKalb just keeps on keepin' on.

We've recently closed out the first round of James vs Ellis without even a TKO. Urkel was given an OJ pass because some on the jury thought he was just too damn good lookin' and his kids are cute. When someone is found not guilty due to mental defect it is supposed to be mental defect on the part of the defendant, not the jury.

Of course there were pundits punditting that this was racial as the jury was all black (jury of your peers remember) though mostly women without additional peerage. There was also some discomfort in some circles over two extremely successful and ivy league educated black men going for each other's throats. Others, mostly in north DeKalb, dismissed it (privately) as just another example of inherent tribalism that cannot be driven out by western culture or education. These folks binge-watch Zulu, shake their heads and mutter "See, I told you."

Just as those folks were writing this off as another black-on-black crime, albeit white collar, the whole Elaine Boyer fuel-air bomb ignited, leveling the landscape. She copped a plea with the Feds (to keep her pension), tucked tail and went into hiding leaving a p-card-less chief of staff to handle "constituent services" which until that time had consisted mostly of fine dining--on a county p-card. Of course the suspicion of malfeasance went beyond Mizz Elaine and there is also an ethics complaint filed against the currently-on-the-payroll (should Snow White take on Mizz Boyer's role she has promised to send all the current dwarves to work in some other gold mine) chief of staff. Given the expenses disclosed by the AJC that all kinda makes sense, unless you're a salesman accustomed to a company Amex that you can use to take any ole bidness contact to the Pink Pony.

Anyway it is at this point things get really crazy.

Lee May, Urkel wannabe, replaces Issac Blyters, who is black but past his use-by date, with John Ernst, who is white, as Chair of the DeKalb Ethics Board. Who even knew we have one? While it may not have been planned, having a white in charge of this board is most fortuitous especially when almost all elected and perfunctory positions with the government are held by blacks. Think of it this way: should a white man be in the position of investigating an ethics complaint against a black official the race card will be played on first lead. Deliberate or blind luck they have been dealt the Ace of Race and in DeKalb politics that suit is always trump.

But this turns out to be white on rice.

In a media interview regarding the job at hand, Ernst made the rather unfortunate comparison between DeKalb's potential ethics violators and termites. Insects of the destructive white kind: "sometimes when there's termites in the building, the homeowner doesn't care how they get out. If they leave, they leave."

Not so fast there Johnny. If you're eradicating termites by burning down the building some of us would like to get our loved ones and prized possessions out before you channel your inner Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. There also seems to be an issue with the fact that while there are blacks suffering from ethics complaints there was no mention of black termites, which are rare if not extinct. Apparently the former Commissioner's chief of staff considered this a directed attack of some sort and retaliated with an ethics complaint against the Chair of the Ethics Board. This is what the IT developers working on the CAD-to-CAD interface describe as a recursive call to the shit() function.

For deeper understanding we again refer to the movies, in this case The Quiet Man, wherein a certain Sean Thornton returns to clean up that wee cabin and make it habitable again. Noble goal but it ran afoul of the incumbent man-about-town, the not-so-good Will Danaher, who did not take kindly to the prodigal son's intrusion. The movie is noted for one of the silver screen's longest fights that ends, as most good fights should, in a bar. And that is precisely the inspiration we need.

At the very next Snow Jam we will get these unnecessary combatants down to the Dunwoody Tavern and get them all tankarded up. Then we take them out back and challenge them to write their names in the snow. The one with the biggest letters wins. All they win is the admiration of the community but we win some peace and quiet.

In closing, should anyone of Asian origin find themselves offended by references to yellow snow TOD apologizes in advance with the hope that no offense is taken where none is intended. We should all be so lucky.

Mr. Watson, Come Here

Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you.

The first intelligible words spoken over the telephone. Too bad that there are not many intelligible words regarding our very own Mr. Watson--County Commissioner Stan Watson. Bell's utterance was reportedly about spilled battery acid but the feds are calling after Stan because he seems to have spent some quality time with some unsavory characters who now find themselves in federal court facing corruption charges. The allegations (they are just allegations--for now) implicate our Commissioner in a payola scheme.

But Stan has long been estranged from exemplary behavior. He is one of the most egregious (ab)users of County P-Cards currently in office though he faces some severe competition. Stan is known for using his P-Card to fund his private cell phone service all the while retaining his County-funded cell phone. Perhaps he uses that for a "burner phone." Or perhaps he thought using his personal phone meant that his personal phone records would remain personal in spite of his "I use it for county bidness" rationalization. Turns out that line of reasoning isn't to be confused with logic. He became entangled in the AJC's investigation of P-Card (ab)use drawing their attention not just because of the overall amount P-Card spending but also because of his rather large phone bills. The AJC logic of "if the public pays then it is public record" prevailed making his call detail records subject to open record requests.

Oooops.

Ultimately he handed them over to the AJC, but he self-redacted calls related to the federal case underway in South Carolina. This is probably because he had previously denied, on the record, having any unsavory relations with the defendants in that case. Or...well...maybe.

It gets better.

He used a non-so-black marker to redact the incriminating call records made all the more incriminating because he felt so compelled to obscure them. Not only did he miss a few entries the marker he used did not effectively blot out those embarrassing stains and the AJC was able to recover the call information.

We don't need to call for "Watson" nor do we need a lot of words to describe what is going on in this county. We only need one.

Hubris