Post by Cyberman on Sept 29, 2012 10:04:28 GMT -5
Having relocated and becoming a property owner in Lanier county in the past year or so, and with the upcoming Sheriff's election and all the whining and local mud slinging in said election I have performed some research on the internet and discovered this letter.
What follows is a letter I found on a local TV News website.
I believe all Lanier county voters should read the following letter and then make their own personal decision on who to vote for in the Sheriff's election.
*start of file*
Lanier County Commission Attempts To Limit Sheriff's Delivery of Law Enforcement Services
On Tuesday, May 31, while the Lanier County Sheriff’s Office was busy transporting in prisoners from 3 jails in the region for Superior Court, assisting in investigation of last week’s murder and the largest federal drug case in southeast Georgia in Lanier County’s history, preparing for pleas and trials on several high profile criminal cases, a letter was received from the Lanier County Board of Commissioners informing the Sheriff that the Commissioners had decided how to severely limit the scope of law enforcement and other services Sheriff Norton will be allowed to provide to Lanier County citizens by refusing to adequately and properly fund the Sheriff's Office’s payroll and necessary expenses. The Commissioners have ignored the historical data from Lanier County as well as studies provided by professionals from the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, including current and projected “Jails Needs Analysis” and “Agency Staffing Analysis.” The Commissioners have chosen instead to prevent Sheriff Norton from carrying out the duties and obligations the constitutional office of Sheriff required by State law to provide to our citizens by refusing to provide him with adequate and necessary budget funding to perform them.
In the letter, the Commissioners reduced the Sheriff’s payroll funding to an amount sufficient to fund a staff of deputies at pre-2005 levels, leaving only enough deputies to operate an emergency-response 8 to 5 day shift with no Investigators; no Drug Agents; no Federal Task Force Investigators; no jail transport officers, and no office staff. The salaries the Commissioners authorized will cover only the Sheriff and 1 other deputy per day, and only one 8 hour shift. The Commissioners has refused to issue purchase orders or pay vendors for the goods or services, including fuel, the Sheriff’s office needs to perform its duties. The Sheriff’s Office has been informed the Commissioners have notified the Sheriff’s vendors that they will not pay for goods or services requested by the Sheriff.
As a result of the Commissioners’ action, Lanier County citizens will no longer have the Sheriff's Office that they voted to have in the 2008 election. There was no referendum or vote of no-confidence in the Sheriff, only an arbitrary and uninformed determination by the Commissioners of what is best for the county. The Commissioners’ action will result in 1 deputy being stationed at the Sheriff's Office to respond to emergencies only. No incoming phone calls to the office can be answered, no civil or criminal papers can be served, traffic laws cannot be enforced, no patrol or prisoner transports can be conducted, no new arrests can be made because the prisoners cannot be transported or housed, and all ongoing criminal and narcotics investigations and activities must be suspended.
In September 2010, the Commissioners , Chaired by Alex Lee, sued the Sheriff in an attempt to obtain a court order requiring him not to exceed the inadequate and underfunded budget the Commissioners established for the sheriff’s office for fiscal year 2011. The Sheriff filed a counterclaim, asserting that the Sheriff’s budget adopted by the Commissioners is not adequate to enable him to perform his duties under Georgia law. The Commissioners cut the Sheriff's 2010-2011 Budget request by nearly 60%, adopting a “lump sum” budget. The Commissioners would not inform the Sheriff what personnel, service, equipment, or other budget items they had reduced or eliminated from his Budget request. The Sheriff had requested a budget which he felt was necessary to perform his duties required by Georgia law and provide the level of law enforcement, protection and court services that the citizens of Lanier County indicated they expect from their Sheriff in the 2008 election. At this time, Sheriff Norton has not exceeded his FY 2010-2011. Budget request and is still well within his FY 2010-2011 Budget request before it was arbitrarily and recklessly slashed by the Commissioners.
Sources familiar with this ongoing controversy say that the Commissioners are pursuing a vendetta against the Sheriff on behalf of a local banker Larry Lee, whose son, Alex Lee, is Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, and whose brother-in-law Harold Simpson, is also a Commissioner. Larry Lee has pursued efforts to oust the Sheriff since a 2007 incident where the Sheriff turned over documents he received to the FBI which allegedly implicated Lee in irregularities related to his duties as an officer of the Farmers and Merchants Bank. The Bank has been the subject of an FDIC audit, and has received, among other sanctions, an FDIC "Cease and Desist" order in May, 2009, a serious sanction concerning bank operations. (See online at: www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/2009-05-10.pdf
After learning Sheriff Norton had delivered the documents in question to the FBI, Lee and persons from his staff visited Sheriff Norton at his office twice to demand the return of the documents, and disclosure of the informant who had provided them. On both occasions Sheriff Norton refused their demand, and asked both Alex and Larry and the others to leave his office and not return. Lee threatened to run Sheriff Norton out of Lanier County and the Sheriff’s office.
Unable to control Sheriff Norton for his own advantage, Lee clearly has pursued his threat and remove Sheriff Norton from office. He has launched a series of attacks against Sheriff Norton, which include:
1. Larry Lee hired former Attorney General Michael Bowers and his law firm, who used private investigators to attempt to discredit the Sheriff, or accuse him of misconduct during the investigation of Judge Blitch. They found nothing.
2. Larry Lee’s son, Commissioners Chairman Alex Lee, provided out-dated and inaccurate mapping to a group who alleged the Sheriff was not eligible for office because he was not a resident of Lanier County. The investigation determined there was no evidence to support this claim.
3. Larry Lee supported his employee, Darrell Watson, as his candidate to oppose Sheriff Norton in the 2008 election. During the investigation of Judge Blitch, Darrell Watson was recorded on tape by Lee’s own investigators communicating with the Judge about an upcoming case and was charged with two (2) federal indictments. (See online at: www.justice.gov/usao/gam/press_releases/2008/06_19_2008.html
4. During the 2008 election, Alex Lee, Harold Simpson, and others filed an Ethics Complaint against Sheriff Norton. The Secretary of State Ethics Board’s investigation found no evidence to support the allegations.
When asked about the chain of events Sheriff Norton offered the following comment:
"I have weathered all attacks brought against me in the past because I knew that if you are trying to do your job, and you work hard at it, you will make about as many enemies as you do friends. I ran an honest race and was re-elected by the citizens of this county who recognized hard work and determination. I was not elected by the Board of Commissioners. I was re-elected by the citizens of Lanier County to continue providing them the level of law enforcement services I provided during my first term, now it’s beyond me how the Commissioners can be so arrogant as to think that they are the ones who will decide what's best for all us ‘little people’.
“Under Georgia Law, including court decisions, the Board of Commissioners’ actions are unconstitutional, and the only winners are the attorneys that must be paid by the Lanier County taxpayers. These acts of aggression by the Lanier County Commissioners prevent me as Sheriff, and an independently elected Georgia Constitutional Officer, from carrying out the duties I swore an oath to perform. And they are obstructing me from providing the law enforcement services I believe are needed and necessary for Lanier County. The Sheriff decides what is needed and necessary based on input from all the citizens and previous years as Sheriff, not just the privileged few.
“For the first time in decades everyone in Lanier County has access to their Sheriff and the services of the best trained and best equipped staff they have ever had. When my deputies respond, we don't pick and choose sides based on personalities, the tax value of the house, amount of property owned, who can hide the most assets or person the call comes from. If the citizens don't want an educated, trained staff and up-to-date Sheriff's Office to deal with our modern-day criminal issues and problems -- If they want it to go back to the way it was before my election, with no patrol, very limited and sometimes no investigations, no 24 hour coverage, no cooperating or working with local, State and Federal agencies, no long-term action taken against problems in our community that has plagued us for decades -- then vote me out and I’ll go fishing ,and Lanier County will become like Jennings, Florida or some other county the Commissioners wants to compare Lanier County with to justify the inadequate budget funding they appropriate for the protection of our citizens. I had rather be voted out of office for doing my job rather than for failing to do it. I will not sit idly by while a few who consider themselves ‘big fish in small pond’ try to run me out of the sheriff’s office, using high powered, out-of-town, attorneys who are only taking our taxpayers’ money out of the county. That is not safe for our citizens, their families, children, and businesses. It puts everyone who lives in or passes through Lanier County at risk, and eventually someone will have to pay the price imposed on them by the few who want to control everything in the county for their own benefit.
Please refer all inquiries to my attorney,
William S. Stone
BOONE & STONE
P. O. Drawer 70
Blakely, Georgia 39823
TEL 229/723-3045
FAX 229/723-4834
Email billstone@stonelaw.com
*end of file*
What follows is a letter I found on a local TV News website.
I believe all Lanier county voters should read the following letter and then make their own personal decision on who to vote for in the Sheriff's election.
*start of file*
Lanier County Commission Attempts To Limit Sheriff's Delivery of Law Enforcement Services
On Tuesday, May 31, while the Lanier County Sheriff’s Office was busy transporting in prisoners from 3 jails in the region for Superior Court, assisting in investigation of last week’s murder and the largest federal drug case in southeast Georgia in Lanier County’s history, preparing for pleas and trials on several high profile criminal cases, a letter was received from the Lanier County Board of Commissioners informing the Sheriff that the Commissioners had decided how to severely limit the scope of law enforcement and other services Sheriff Norton will be allowed to provide to Lanier County citizens by refusing to adequately and properly fund the Sheriff's Office’s payroll and necessary expenses. The Commissioners have ignored the historical data from Lanier County as well as studies provided by professionals from the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, including current and projected “Jails Needs Analysis” and “Agency Staffing Analysis.” The Commissioners have chosen instead to prevent Sheriff Norton from carrying out the duties and obligations the constitutional office of Sheriff required by State law to provide to our citizens by refusing to provide him with adequate and necessary budget funding to perform them.
In the letter, the Commissioners reduced the Sheriff’s payroll funding to an amount sufficient to fund a staff of deputies at pre-2005 levels, leaving only enough deputies to operate an emergency-response 8 to 5 day shift with no Investigators; no Drug Agents; no Federal Task Force Investigators; no jail transport officers, and no office staff. The salaries the Commissioners authorized will cover only the Sheriff and 1 other deputy per day, and only one 8 hour shift. The Commissioners has refused to issue purchase orders or pay vendors for the goods or services, including fuel, the Sheriff’s office needs to perform its duties. The Sheriff’s Office has been informed the Commissioners have notified the Sheriff’s vendors that they will not pay for goods or services requested by the Sheriff.
As a result of the Commissioners’ action, Lanier County citizens will no longer have the Sheriff's Office that they voted to have in the 2008 election. There was no referendum or vote of no-confidence in the Sheriff, only an arbitrary and uninformed determination by the Commissioners of what is best for the county. The Commissioners’ action will result in 1 deputy being stationed at the Sheriff's Office to respond to emergencies only. No incoming phone calls to the office can be answered, no civil or criminal papers can be served, traffic laws cannot be enforced, no patrol or prisoner transports can be conducted, no new arrests can be made because the prisoners cannot be transported or housed, and all ongoing criminal and narcotics investigations and activities must be suspended.
In September 2010, the Commissioners , Chaired by Alex Lee, sued the Sheriff in an attempt to obtain a court order requiring him not to exceed the inadequate and underfunded budget the Commissioners established for the sheriff’s office for fiscal year 2011. The Sheriff filed a counterclaim, asserting that the Sheriff’s budget adopted by the Commissioners is not adequate to enable him to perform his duties under Georgia law. The Commissioners cut the Sheriff's 2010-2011 Budget request by nearly 60%, adopting a “lump sum” budget. The Commissioners would not inform the Sheriff what personnel, service, equipment, or other budget items they had reduced or eliminated from his Budget request. The Sheriff had requested a budget which he felt was necessary to perform his duties required by Georgia law and provide the level of law enforcement, protection and court services that the citizens of Lanier County indicated they expect from their Sheriff in the 2008 election. At this time, Sheriff Norton has not exceeded his FY 2010-2011. Budget request and is still well within his FY 2010-2011 Budget request before it was arbitrarily and recklessly slashed by the Commissioners.
Sources familiar with this ongoing controversy say that the Commissioners are pursuing a vendetta against the Sheriff on behalf of a local banker Larry Lee, whose son, Alex Lee, is Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, and whose brother-in-law Harold Simpson, is also a Commissioner. Larry Lee has pursued efforts to oust the Sheriff since a 2007 incident where the Sheriff turned over documents he received to the FBI which allegedly implicated Lee in irregularities related to his duties as an officer of the Farmers and Merchants Bank. The Bank has been the subject of an FDIC audit, and has received, among other sanctions, an FDIC "Cease and Desist" order in May, 2009, a serious sanction concerning bank operations. (See online at: www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/2009-05-10.pdf
After learning Sheriff Norton had delivered the documents in question to the FBI, Lee and persons from his staff visited Sheriff Norton at his office twice to demand the return of the documents, and disclosure of the informant who had provided them. On both occasions Sheriff Norton refused their demand, and asked both Alex and Larry and the others to leave his office and not return. Lee threatened to run Sheriff Norton out of Lanier County and the Sheriff’s office.
Unable to control Sheriff Norton for his own advantage, Lee clearly has pursued his threat and remove Sheriff Norton from office. He has launched a series of attacks against Sheriff Norton, which include:
1. Larry Lee hired former Attorney General Michael Bowers and his law firm, who used private investigators to attempt to discredit the Sheriff, or accuse him of misconduct during the investigation of Judge Blitch. They found nothing.
2. Larry Lee’s son, Commissioners Chairman Alex Lee, provided out-dated and inaccurate mapping to a group who alleged the Sheriff was not eligible for office because he was not a resident of Lanier County. The investigation determined there was no evidence to support this claim.
3. Larry Lee supported his employee, Darrell Watson, as his candidate to oppose Sheriff Norton in the 2008 election. During the investigation of Judge Blitch, Darrell Watson was recorded on tape by Lee’s own investigators communicating with the Judge about an upcoming case and was charged with two (2) federal indictments. (See online at: www.justice.gov/usao/gam/press_releases/2008/06_19_2008.html
4. During the 2008 election, Alex Lee, Harold Simpson, and others filed an Ethics Complaint against Sheriff Norton. The Secretary of State Ethics Board’s investigation found no evidence to support the allegations.
When asked about the chain of events Sheriff Norton offered the following comment:
"I have weathered all attacks brought against me in the past because I knew that if you are trying to do your job, and you work hard at it, you will make about as many enemies as you do friends. I ran an honest race and was re-elected by the citizens of this county who recognized hard work and determination. I was not elected by the Board of Commissioners. I was re-elected by the citizens of Lanier County to continue providing them the level of law enforcement services I provided during my first term, now it’s beyond me how the Commissioners can be so arrogant as to think that they are the ones who will decide what's best for all us ‘little people’.
“Under Georgia Law, including court decisions, the Board of Commissioners’ actions are unconstitutional, and the only winners are the attorneys that must be paid by the Lanier County taxpayers. These acts of aggression by the Lanier County Commissioners prevent me as Sheriff, and an independently elected Georgia Constitutional Officer, from carrying out the duties I swore an oath to perform. And they are obstructing me from providing the law enforcement services I believe are needed and necessary for Lanier County. The Sheriff decides what is needed and necessary based on input from all the citizens and previous years as Sheriff, not just the privileged few.
“For the first time in decades everyone in Lanier County has access to their Sheriff and the services of the best trained and best equipped staff they have ever had. When my deputies respond, we don't pick and choose sides based on personalities, the tax value of the house, amount of property owned, who can hide the most assets or person the call comes from. If the citizens don't want an educated, trained staff and up-to-date Sheriff's Office to deal with our modern-day criminal issues and problems -- If they want it to go back to the way it was before my election, with no patrol, very limited and sometimes no investigations, no 24 hour coverage, no cooperating or working with local, State and Federal agencies, no long-term action taken against problems in our community that has plagued us for decades -- then vote me out and I’ll go fishing ,and Lanier County will become like Jennings, Florida or some other county the Commissioners wants to compare Lanier County with to justify the inadequate budget funding they appropriate for the protection of our citizens. I had rather be voted out of office for doing my job rather than for failing to do it. I will not sit idly by while a few who consider themselves ‘big fish in small pond’ try to run me out of the sheriff’s office, using high powered, out-of-town, attorneys who are only taking our taxpayers’ money out of the county. That is not safe for our citizens, their families, children, and businesses. It puts everyone who lives in or passes through Lanier County at risk, and eventually someone will have to pay the price imposed on them by the few who want to control everything in the county for their own benefit.
Please refer all inquiries to my attorney,
William S. Stone
BOONE & STONE
P. O. Drawer 70
Blakely, Georgia 39823
TEL 229/723-3045
FAX 229/723-4834
Email billstone@stonelaw.com
*end of file*
