PUT IN SIMPLEST TERMS, the hiring of new schools superintendent Joshua Murfree is a fraud. It is a fraud on the part of those members of the school board who voted that Dr. Murfree was “the best qualified candidate available”, when in fact he was not. It was not the truth. There were other candidates available who were “qualified” for the position. An unqualified candidate, by definition – cannot be more qualified than a qualified candidate.
I UNDERSTAND THAT THE School Board chose the candidate first, then ran afoul of the pesky “requirement” that an unqualified candidate can only be hired if he were the “best qualified candidate available”. In English, that phrase suggests someone from a pool of lacking candidates but who comes closest to meeting the criteria – not the person whom the majority of board members personally likes the best. And there’s the fraud. The School Board knew that Dr. Murfree wasn’t the “best qualified candidate available” when they voted. The entire affair is a travesty and they full well know it.
I MADE SOME CALLS and did some checking and sadly, “being best qualified candidate” isn’t any requirement for temporary certification for schools superintendent. If you have the required degree and pass the test you are approved. As for the big picture, I wish I had a $600-a-month car allowance when my school district was several million in the hole. The guy lives in Albany, and should drive his own car to and from work. That is openly wasting taxpayer dollars.
BECAUSE HE DOESN’T HAVE a certificate on record, Murfree needed the board to vote that he was the “best-qualified applicant available” in order to start the process of him receiving a waiver permit. Ranked 34th out of 37 applicants by the Georgia School Boards Association on criteria the Dougherty County School Board compiled, Murfree has two years to fulfill the PSC’s requirements.
A VETERAN IS SOMEONE who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount of “up to and including my life.” That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
ALBANY IS NOT THE most corrupt place I’ve ever lived, but because processes and laws are disregarded, ethics is non-existent, money is misspent, it’s become quite corrupt and dangerous over the past four years. It reminds me of Detroit, New Orleans, and Chicago, except smaller and worse. We are desperate for city leadership!
I’M STILL LEARNING MY way around. But from what I can see Albany can be a beautiful city & it has a lot of potential. Before moving down here I got the impression that Albany was a mini-Atlanta, but it’s a long way from it. Don’t get me wrong, Atlanta has its issues also. But I did expect a little more when I got here. I hear about the crime here but I’ve actually had no problems crime-wise. Other than housing, it’ very expensive here, but I guess that’s another story.
GIVE IT TIME. I moved away a few years ago, but I was born and raised in Albany. Still have family there. I hate Albany! High crime rate, rampant drugs, gangs, poor school system, bad/crooked/lying government, lots of racial issues. Just wait!
SANFORD BISHOP STOOD UP and gave a rousing applause to Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, for his attacks on the people of Arizona for the legislation that protects them from illegal immigrants from crossing the border. Way to go Sanford. You continue to prove to everyone what a statesman you really are.
ROTATE THE POLITICIANS … ALL of ‘em.
THE UNPAID DAYS OFF are going to hurt all of us, not just those who work in the Dougherty County courthouse. I am a county employee and with the cost of my insurance going up to almost $400 a month, and then one unpaid day a month, that adds up to a huge hole in my wallet. We work for the county citizens and we provide services to these wonderful people, but now the services that the citizens have come to expect are going to be cut. Morale is low in every department and there are many who are looking for new jobs and part-time jobs to help pay the bills now. There are millions of dollars of surplus, now is the time to use it. And what about making Phoebe pay something to the county. They are a county hospital, right?
IT’S TOO LATE FOR a change at the polls. You will be outvoted in Dougherty County. Your vote will not count and politicians know it. Only option is to move and they don’t care if you do.
WHY ARE WE NOT cutting out some of these free rent programs.
OUR COUNTY GOVERNMENT HAS denied us pay raises for years when our city equivalent has been given raise after raise. All that money going out year after year to hire consultants.
THE FURLOUGHS IN DOUGHERTY County are sad. We went through shut down days at Cooper Tire. But on the other side, cut off cable, cell phones, stop going out to eat, and be thankful you have a JOB.
WHY WOULD ANYONE stay with Dougherty County? Wait until good employees leave for a job that cares about them and you have to pay the cost of training new people. County employees are lined up to leave, putting the burden on the services that you expect.
THE TEACHERS NEED TO advertise for babysitting on those days we have to find a babysitter for a day here and a day there to watch our kids. It’s a way to make up SOME of the money they are taking away from you. We can give millions to the Haiti victims (and other foreign countries/immigrants), but can’t seem to find enough money to keep our teachers in the classroom where they belong?
GET RID OF ALL the “officials” in the school system and keep the teachers.
I’LL MAKE SURE I stop by Gail’s Lingerie and Toys when I get to Albany and say a final farewell. You think that Albany has a problem with prostitution and crime … see what happens when these shops close down and the deviant freaks have no other ways of getting the edge off. Make no common sense … the Bible belt mentality.
OH, MY GOD, ALL the Albany City Commission has to worry about is sex toy shops?
Our unemployment is just about the lowest ever and here goes Albany wanting to make it worse. Sex shops pay taxes and have employees who live and spend money here. GROW UP. Money is money; it’s all green. What they need to worry about is this place going under. I work in a place where we have people who move everyday because of Albany going down.
WHAT ALBANY NEEDS IS successful businesses and this does nothing but attempt to eliminate more of them. Don’t they pay taxes? Don’t they have employees who spend their wages in the local economy?
WHY NOT STRIP CLUBS and peep shows? It’s not like people are going to be forced to go to them. Albany obviously wants adult stores and they clearly get enough business to keep three of them afloat, one for more than a decade.
WHAT ALBANY DOESN’T NEED is the morality police attacking businesses because they don’t approve of the merchandise. If you don’t like them, then don’t go in or, even better, pool up your money and buy them out. Maybe you and your buddies from church can turn the place into something different.
IF THERE’S A LINK to crime and prostitution associated with those establishments, shouldn’t that then also include the bus station? Bars and clubs? Recording studios? Restaurants? Car washes and detailing shops? Grocery stores? Criminals and prostitutes frequent these places, too.
YOU WANT TO PUNISH a business that for 14 years has had no problems only because something COULD happen? This is nothing but a witch hunt. I wish someone would put the same effort into firing the city manager.
HOW CAN BROAD AVENUE not be a major thoroughfare? Could they at least grandfather Gail’s?
THE CITY’S EFFORT TO put more restrictions on lingerie and sex toy shops is just unfair to the business no matter what kind of business it is. I think the city is making a huge mistake if they keep this up by picking on businesses and causing them to move out of town. They did this to strip clubs years ago and now adult stores. Revenue is revenue. Just be glad you are bringing some in and not drive it away. Albany is hurting for revenue right now and the City Commission is driving it out of town by picking on businesses. This is messed up. Stop it, already! Also, quit with the stupid sign thing, too, because that just caused all those businesses to move into Lee County. Now they have all the money and we look like a ghost town.
WE NEED TO KEEP what few businesses we do have here. Albany has got to get more business-friendly.
GAIL’S SHOULD NOT BE closed down by the city. Businesses are already struggling and enough people are unemployed. Her business has never caused any problems, so leave her along!
SURE, LET’S PUT ALL of these businesses right on the main streets of Albany! Maybe they will fill up the old falling-down buildings on Slappey.
SOUNDS LIKE WE HAVE to close all business in low-income areas because of the crime that happens in those areas. Lingerie and sex toy shops are not causing crime. If the police where able to catch people at these business committing the crimes, then I would say they have grounds. But this is just discrimination, which Albany is known for.
I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY have six-day post office delivery … I find it wasteful and unnecessary.
CUTTING POST OFFICE DELIVERY back to five days will save $30-billion by 2020 and also put thousands of workers out of jobs. Since the anticipated debt by 2020 is $238 billion, saving $30-billion still leaves the USPS in the hole by $208 billion. Whatever they are going to do to save the other $208 billion, they could do now without cutting back service. Jobs will be lost over the next 10 years through attrition, which is where the biggest savings will come from. A short-term solution now will only contribute to making the USPS irrelevant in the future and doesn’t help them that much in the long run. Getting rid of wasteful layers of management will save money in the short term. Before getting rid of workers, the USPS should get rid of the people who watch the workers. More cooperation between unions and management would also make the USPS more efficient in the short and long term.
THE POSTAL SERVICE ISN’T about service anymore. The debt wouldn’t be as much of a problem if the service were respected and valued as part of our way of life. Becoming profitable just led to overpaid management levels overly impressed with their buying power and self importance. DPS machines that replaced the “face” of the service and aren’t held to the same accuracy standards. Management promoted for reasons having nothing to do with their ability to promote cooperation, service, or innovate.
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