Fresh Loaf

AJC Political Insider Jim Galloway posted a video this morning I suspect Mayor Shirley Franklin doesn’t want you to watch.

The video shows five men and women severely wounded while on duty as Atlanta police officers. Each claims the city is denying them medical benefits they need, and to which they are entitled.

Why do I assume Mayor Franklin doesn’t want you to watch it?

Simple.

Because she’s spent the last week dodging questions about the video’s subject matter.

During the same week, however, Franklin has somehow found the time to launch an administrative, legal and public relations assault against APD union leader Sgt. Scott Kreher, the man who presented the video the city council.

Admittedly, Kreher made himself an easy target.

While speaking to city council last week about Atlanta’s alleged poor treatment of police officers severely wounded while on duty, Kreher said he’s so frustrated with Mayor Franklin’s intransigence that he feels like hitting her on the head with a baseball bat.

It was an ugly figure of speech for which Kreher apologized. But Franklin won’t move on.

She has evidently decided to use Kreher’s slip-up to once-and-for-all silence Kreher; one of her most persistent and (until last week) effective critics.

First, Franklin told Fox 5 she interprets Kreher’s statement as a literal physical threat meant to intimidate her and her family, even though it clearly an ugly metaphor for extreme frustration. Franklin says she wants a local, state and, FEDERAL investigation into Kreher’s comment.

Strange. When Atlanta residents express their fear of actual crimes, the mayor mocks them with cherry-picked stats. Hurt Franklin’s feelings, however, and she’ll summon federal help.

But wait. There’s more.

On Saturday, Franklin’s APD toady Chief Richard Pennington suspended Kreher from active-duty pending a psychological examination. Using a mental health bureaucracy and the stigma of mental illness to destroy a political opponent is a time-honored political tactic — in Russia.

Why is Franklin bending over backward to destroy Kreher? My guess is that she’s desperately hoping you won’t pay attention to his message.

So watch the video.

And if you still feel like blaming someone for drawing attention away from the important issue of benefits for wounded cops, go ahead and blame Kreher or Franklin if you’d like.

But remember, Kreher distracted us by accident. Franklin is doing it on purpose.

Bookmark It

You can spend all day wagging your finger at Atlanta Police Union chief Sgt. Scott Kreher for his inappropriate comment last week. You know, the one he said at City Hall about wanting to hit Mayor Shirley Franklin in the head with a baseball bat?

You can debate whether Kreher’s frustration over delayed compensation claims to five injured Atlanta police officers forgives such an outburst by a 17-year veteran of the force.

But to do all that does nothing to address the problem that Kreher says has festered in City Hall, one that’s reportedly led to back-and-forth legal challenges and injured officers allegedly being stonewalled for medical treatment.

What this issue needs is a little bit of sunlight. Let’s take a quick look at the contracts the city’s signed — and re-signed — with NovaPro Risk Solutions, the San Diego-based company that’s handled employees’ compensation claims since 2004, back when it was known as Ward North America Inc.

Just so, you know, we’re up to speed when this issue comes back up for discussion.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Jonathan Redding, who along with three other gunmen is suspected of killing Standard bartender John Henderson, was indicted today for Henderson’s murder, the AJC reports.

Redding, who is 17 and remains jailed without bond, is believed to be a member of the Mechanicsville street gang 30 Deep.

According to the AJC story:

Police are asking the public to help identify the three other suspected gang members who participated in the Standard shooting and other crimes, said Yvette Brown, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County district attorney’s office. The only description available is for three teenage males.

A $50,000 reward is being offered for info leading to the arrests of the three suspects.

Redding is not believed to have fired the fatal shot at Henderson, 27, during a January armed robbery of the popular Memorial Drive restaurant and bar. But under state law, Redding doesn’t have to have directly killed Henderson to be guilty of his murder.

According to Georgia’s felony murder statute, a defendant is guilty of murder as long as the homicide occured during the commission of another felony (in this case, armed robbery). Felony murder carries a mandatory life sentence.

Bookmark It

A couple weeks ago, I said Mayor Shirley Franklin owes an apology to Atlanta Police Department Sergeant and union chief Scott Kreher for some nasty and factually incorrect comments she made about him.

Well, yesterday Kreher told the city council he gets so frustrated with Franklin sometimes he wants to beat her head with a baseball bat.

So, about that apology, um, nevermind.

Kreher’s comment was inexcusable.

Bookmark It

Holla!

From the Atlanta Police Department:

The Atlanta Police Department Special Enforcement Section with the assistance of other APD Units served a warrant yesterday in Southwest Atlanta. As a result of the warrant several people were arrested and numerous items were seized. Among the items were 4 firearms, 3 flat panel televisions, ammunition, bolt cutters, 1 purse, 2 designer shirts and 10 pair of designer blue jeans. A news conference will be held today at 10:00am on the 2nd floor of City Hall East to provide further details.

If you recall, Fox 5 reported a suspected link between some of the “blue-jean bandit” robberies and the 30 Deep Gang. Jonathan Redding, the teen who was arrested in connection with the John Henderson murder, was suspected to be a 30 Deep member.

UPDATE: The AJC’s Mike Morris has more details:

Two adults and three juveniles, ranging in age from 14 to 25, were arrested, and police said four of the suspects are known members of the “30 Deep” gang that was recently connected to the Jan. 7 killing of Grant Park bartender John Henderson.

However, police said Friday that they had not been able to connect any of those arrested Thursday night to Henderson’s slaying.

Bookmark It

“I requested the air unit for assistance but I was advised they were furloughed tonight.”

Those chilling words are from the police incident report written by APD Officer Nicholas F. Parete after Monday’s robbery and shooting of Georgia Tech student Patrick Whaley outside his apartment near campus. A Georgia Tech police officer spotted the suspects, but lost track of them when they ditched their stolen car and ran behind houses near the campus.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that ultimately it is the level of crime that is important, not the number of police officers.”

And those chilling words are from a February 12, 2009 AJC opinion column written by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Bookmark It

MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN OWES APD SGT. AND POLICE UNION LEADER SCOTT KREHER AN APOLOGY: He's waiting. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Shirley Franklin owes Atlanta police union head Sgt. Scott Kreher a public apology.

Speaking at the Atlanta Press Club in January, Mayor Franklin announced her intention to grow the Atlanta Police Department from 1,633 officers to 2,000 officers by the end of 2009.

Franklin has been promising for years to grow the force to 2,000 officers.

But APD isn’t growing. It’s shrinking.

In October 2007, the city claimed to have 1,833 police officers. By January, the force was down to just 1,633 officers. And the city’s police union says the police force’s attrition rate is accelerating.

If Mayor Franklin couldn’t grow the force to 2,000 officers during her first seven years in office, it was implausible and laughable of her to suggest she might pull it off in her final year.

The Mayor’s suggestion was so laughably implausible, in fact, Atlanta police union chief Sgt. Scott Kreher laughed and called it implausible when the AJC asked him what he thought.

Kreher’s laughter so irritated the notoriously thin-skinned Mayor, she published a bizarre open letter calling his comments “divisive.” Furthermore, she suggested his criticism could undermine efforts to rally the city residents behind growing the police force — a slimy, roundabout way of insinuating Kreher’s attitude is a threat to public safety.

So who was right, Franklin or Kreher?

(more…)

Bookmark It

Last week, ABC reported on Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) and other local citizens using the Internet to fight crime.

If you haven’t noticed ATAC’s emergence since February, or don’t remember the Grant Park burglary suspects caught last year after they showed up on YouTube, the ABC piece is a good-n-quick primer showing how neighborhood watch-style activities are migrating online.

Bookmark It

Number of cities in the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing index: 20

Number of cities in the report that showed monthly and annual home price declines: 20

Amount, in percentage, home prices dropped nationally since January 2008, their largest decline: 19

Amount, in percentage, metro Atlanta home prices dropped since January 2008: 14.5

Amount, in percentage, that Phoenix home prices dropped: 35

Percentage of Atlanta’s population affected by property crimes and violent crime, respectively: 6.6, 1.6

Percentage of Phoenix’s population affected by property crimes and violent crime, respectively: 5.9, .74

Percentage increase in the average home price in Inman Park in early 2009 vs. early 2008, according to Trulia.com: 20

Percentage decrease in the average home price in Old Fourth Ward, over the same time period: 28

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Standard & Poor’s, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Trulia.com

Bookmark It

1. AJC plans to cut staff by 30 percent (As we later reported, nearly 90 editorial staffers will be bought out or laid off. That sucks.)

2. Atlanta to New Orleans rail line in danger … because of Alabama? (At least this story has a happy ending.)

3. Atlanta City Council OKs Decatur Belt deal— with a catch (Marietta Street residents protect their neighborhood from destruction, and the newest Beltline plan is a win-win)

4. Examining the Sweet 16: Nova v. Duke is can’t miss basketball (Needless to say, we rooted for the Tar Heels.)

5. Georgia slips in ’safest state’ rankings to no. 39 (The Peach State dropped seven spots, to be exact — the largest plummet in the country. Oops.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

A recent email to residents from an Atlanta Police Department zone commander underscores the difficulties the department and Atlantans face when it comes to crime — but it also stresses the need to remain aware and vigilant.

In a Tuesday morning email to neighborhood groups, Major Khirus Williams says Monday night saw a rise in robberies and carjackings. Williams says that recent furloughs have reduced the number of street patrols and that criminals are “becoming more brazen.” In the email, he offers tips residents can use to stay safe and reduce the likelihood of crime.

Needless to say, some of them are pretty depressing. But “more with less” and all that.

Please read this e-mail and alert our citizens that we had robberies and multiple car jackings throughout the City of Atlanta (metro wide) last night, including your area.

Please, let us all keep our exterior lights on to illuminate the area. This makes the area unpopular for criminals!

Also, please have your family, friends, and neighbors to blow their horn when arriving. This allows us to watch for them until they arrive, inside, safely. Open the window dressings and hi-light them with a flash-light. Thus, the criminal element would be aware that someone is watching!

(more…)

Bookmark It

The state Senate passed legislation today that would allow Atlanta residents to decide if they want to pay extra for more police officers and firefighters.

State Sen. Kasim Reed, a Democrat from Atlanta who’s also a front-runner in the mayor’s race, sponsored the bill.

Dave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

Legislation asking Atlanta voters to tax themselves to pay for additional police and fire protection cleared an important hurdle in the General Assembly Thursday.

The Senate voted 30-23 to hold a referendum in the city in November on a plan to raise property taxes to hire more police officers and firefighters.

…

Reed said the legislation is modeled after a bill the General Assembly adopted allowing a sales tax referendum in Atlanta to pay for water and sewer improvements, which won approval from 71 percent of city voters. He said the property tax increase would expire after four years unless reauthorized in a subsequent referendum.

The bill now moves to the House. If approved, Reed says the owner of a $250,000 home would pay an additional $6 a month on their property taxes. The senator received some guff from his colleagues, who said Mayor Shirley Franklin and the City Council could resolve the dispute over raising taxes vs. cutting public safety themselves. But Reed says the problem can’t wait for a new administration in City Hall.

Bookmark It

"Cap'n" Ken Womack

Last summer, when several homes on her Ormewood Park street were hit by burglars – some more than once – Donna Williamson decided she wasn’t going to wait her turn to get robbed.

She posted a meeting notice for anyone interested in finding ways to deal with the crime wave. Then, a few days prior to the July 2 meeting, a woman was abducted from the nearby East Atlanta Village at gunpoint and forced to withdraw money from an ATM before being released. For Williamson, that was the last straw.

“I said at the meeting I didn’t want people to simply sit there and moan and bitch about what someone else should do about the problem,” she recalls. “We need to do it for ourselves.”

The result was Safe Atlanta For Everyone, a group of about 50 East Atlanta and Ormewood residents who walk their nearby streets to keep an eye out for suspicious cars and hand out occasional flyers listing safety tips.

If SAFE sounds reminiscent of a neighborhood watch from a bygone era when neighbors actually bothered to learn each other’s names, that’s intentional. But technology has brought improvements. These neighbors also Twitter and blog and use an arsenal of virtual tools to keep each other informed – often in real time – of the latest crimes and suspicious behavior in their community. Instead of waiting for the criminals to come to them, they post mugshots online, swap “be on the lookout” notices by e-mail and even track the whereabouts of shady characters so folks down the block can see them coming.

(more…)

Bookmark It

The killing of John Henderson sparked Atlanta resident awareness about crime.

Kyle Keyser is a founder of Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grassroots citizen group that raises awareness about the city’s growing crime problem. In an open letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin and City Council that Keyser asked CL to publish, he says the community is fully engaged, but residents’ trust in their elected officials is slipping. On Feb. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m., ATAC will hold its second monthly rally at the corner of Martin Luther King and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevards.

An Open Letter to the Mayor and Council of Atlanta:

Lately, it seems, when you can’t fight crime with police officers you fight it with numbers.

“Things are better today,” you insist, and you reach back over the years to compare crime rates. Never mind the property crime increase here or another senseless murder there. You act as if this is all in our heads, perhaps being exacerbated by neighbors – and neighborhoods – too quick to react.

Madam Mayor & Council members – with all due respect – stop patronizing us. We are not children who are scared of the dark for no other reason than its darkness. Criminals are lurking in our streets and perpetrating horrible crimes on all sides of Atlanta. Maybe they are not killing or assaulting us as much as they did in your comparison years but they are breaking into our homes and our cars, they are robbing us of hard-earned possessions, and they are stealing our privacy, our peace, and our sense of safety with alarming frequency.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Pink flamingos have descended on this East Atlanta home.

Grassroots, community-based crime-fighting is the de rigeur cause in Atlanta these days, and rightfully so.

Concerned city dwellers, including armed robbery victim Kyle Keyser, are banding together to try to reverse a disarming spike in brazen crimes — and they’re doing so in BIG numbers. Keyser’s Facebook group, Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks, has more than 6,000 members. Whoa.

Another grassroots group, Pink Flamingos Against Crime (its founding members include CL staffer Jason Hatcher, who recently witnessed a scary crime on his street), is urging intowners to plant plastic birds in their yards as an act of civil disobedience.

The birds are intended to send a message to folks like Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Police Chief Richard Pennington that citizens are pissed about increasing crime rates and peeved about police-force cutbacks.

The group will be hawking pink flamingos outside Joe’s Coffee in East Atlanta, 510 Flat Shoals Ave., from 5-8 p.m. tonight.

(Photo by Johnny Hollywood)

Bookmark It

The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance hosts a special meeting tonight at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer to address the city’s crime problem. Atlanta City Councilmembers Kwanza Hall and Anne Fauver and Major Khirus Williams of the Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 5 will attend. The public is welcome.

Full release and additional details are after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Number of people who gathered at The Standard Jan. 8 to memorialize slain bartender John Henderson: 200

Number of Facebook members for Atlantans Together Against Crime four days after Henderson was killed: 750

Number of members as of last week: 5,558

Estimated attendance at the group’s first anti-crime rally last week in Little Five Points: 175

Estimated attendance at a town hall meeting on neighborhood crime hosted last week by Council President Lisa Borders: 300

Percent reduction in police man-hours due to city-wide furloughs: 10

Number of restaurants that participated in a benefit last Wednesday to add to the reward to find Henderson’s killers: 79

Estimated amount the “dine-out” benefit raised toward the reward, in dollars: 50,000

Total dollar amount of the reward, as of Friday: 72,000

Sources: Atlantans Together Against Crime, AJC, Crime Stoppers Atlanta

Bookmark It

State Sen. Kasim Reed

State Sen. Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta, just announced he will introduce a bill to allow Atlanta residents to decide for themselves whether to raise property taxes to help fund police and firefighter salaries.

We’d heard that Reed, a leading candidate for Atlanta mayor, had been thinking of a way to get out front on the contentious issue of police cutbacks during an apparent upsurge in violent crime around the city. Reed is a close associate of Shirley Franklin who ran her two successful campaigns, so it’s no big surprise that Reed’s proposed solution to the city’s cop-funding problem is a tax increase; that’s what Franklin wanted to do last summer, but was shot down by the council.

I haven’t seen Reed’s bill yet, so I don’t know the details, but I’m already puzzled by a couple of figures. His press release says:

Sen. Kasim Reed will introduce legislation giving the citizens of Atlanta a choice to levy a 1 mill property tax that will generate more than $21 million dollars solely for police officer and fire fighter’s salaries

But last summer, when the city was facing a $40 million shortfall, Franklin proposed only a .43 mill increase. In other words – and keep in mind I’m no tax expert – it seems that a 1-mill tax hike would generate far more than $21 million. (That is, unless property values have fallen more dramatically than I’d thought, but that’s another story…)

But then again, Reed doesn’t say that the tax would bring in only $21 million; rather, he says that $21 million of the proceeds would be used for police and firefighter salaries. It could be that he expects additional proceeds to flow into the city’s general fund.

He’s holding a press conference at 2 p.m. I should learn the details then.

UPDATE: The Senate Press Office says Senators Nan Orrock, Vincent Fort, and Horacena Tate, all Democrats who represent Atlanta, have signed on as co-sponsors of Reed’s legislation.

Bookmark It

Earlier this month, John Henderson was killed during an early-morning robbery at The Standard Food and Spirits on Memorial Drive. Today and tonight, more than 60 Atlanta restaurants are participating in a “dine-out” benefit to raise funds for the reward that would lead to the arrest of individuals involved in his slaying.

For a full list of participating restuarants — and a map their locations — check out Atlantans Together Against Crime’s website.

Bookmark It

Apollo Holmes

It’s been a year since celebrity fitness trainer Darius Miller was beaten into a coma while trying to stop a group of men from filming Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughters outside a Peachtree Street nightclub. Now, a month after the investigation hit an unexpected hurdle, authorities might never discover what really happened that night.

The answer to the mystery might have died Christmas Day with Apollo Holmes.

Holmes, the sole suspect identified in the investigation into the attack, was indicted in October on charges of criminal intent to commit murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery. Even before his indictment, he’d long refused to divulge the names of the other men allegedly involved in the assault, according to his defense attorney, Bruce Harvey.

In the end, Holmes’ unwillingness to snitch could be viewed as a literal example of an oft-repeated street dictum: death before dishonor.

“[Investigators] wanted him to testify or cooperate,” Harvey says. “There was a lot of pressure on him to give up the other people, and he didn’t want to do that. He was taking the heat by himself. He was getting all the publicity. He was the one that had to shoulder the burden.”

On Christmas Day — within hours of the one-year anniversary of the attack on Miller — Holmes killed himself in his Cobb County home.

While the timing of Holmes’ suicide suggests personal guilt played a role in his death, Harvey claims otherwise. “I want to dispel that as vigorously as possible,” he says.

The case against Holmes, Harvey says, was far from open-and-shut. What’s more, a review of the court file reveals several discrepancies in the evidence, from the nature of the injury that put Miller into a coma to the varying levels of culpability among the film crew that crossed paths with Miller, the mayor’s daughters and their friends.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Nearly 175 people gathered in Little Five Points last night to rally and raise awareness about the city’s  crime problem. Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grassroots citizen group, organized the event. The group plans to stage rallies in different Atlanta neighborhoods on the last Monday of every month.

Grayson of Mostly Media has video of last night’s event.

Bookmark It

Did anyone else catch the AJC’s astonishing Q&A with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington yesterday?

Mayor Franklin and Police Chief Richard Pennington at a 2007 public meeting to discuss crime.

If so, you would you know Pennington doesn’t think there’s a problem with crime in Atlanta. He thinks there’s a problem with the PERCEPTION of crime in Atlanta.

Q: What do you attribute [the public outcry] to?

A: These community groups work closely together. When they hear about one crime, they e-mail their neighbors and then you get a barrage of e-mails. I think they just respond to what they hear. And a lot of times, perception to them is reality.

Did you catch that Atlanta? Stop e-mailing your friends and neighbors about crime and everything will be fine. The murders of Adair Freeman and John Henderson can’t scare you if you don’t know about them.

Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks is rallying in Little Five Points from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight. The group was founded hours after Henderson was gunned down at the Standard.

I was planning to attend, but now that Pennington’s explained to me that the real problem is my attitude, I may just stay home and watch Ellen.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

Fleming Daniels, a.k.a. Ill

In news that would never have seen the light of day had disgraced NFL star Adam “Pacman” Jones not been named in a lawsuit, it appears the former Dallas Cowboy had been covering the attorney fees for the Black Mafia Family’s third-in-command, Fleming “Ill” Daniels.

In fact, Pacman allegedly picked up the tab for legal representation in a whopping 18 cases involving his friends and family.

Daniels, who was a major player in BMF co-leader Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory’s $270 million cocaine ring, is under indictment in Fulton County for the 2004 shooting death of Rashannibal “Prince” Drummond, who was gunned down in the parking lot of Midtown’s now-defunct Velvet Room.

According to the AJC, the high-priced attorney who was representing Daniels on the murder charge, Manny Arora, is suing Pacman for failing to pay more than $10,000 in fees the lawyer had been promised in exchange for representing Pacman’s friends and family, including Daniels.

Documents filed in Fulton County Superior Court show that Arora removed himself from Daniels’ case last year and was replaced with a public defender.

Bookmark It

1. AJC is losing $1 million per week (The big question: Can Anne Cox Chambers’ billions save Atlanta’s daily?)

2. Clearing up confusion over Standard murder (Dissecting a robbery gone horribly awry.)

3. Shooting outside East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern is eerily familiar (Notice the absence of high-profile violent crime following the shooting death of a would-be robber at the hands of his victim.)

4. Shirley snaps back at cop union head (Crime seems to have everyone — herroner included — on edge.)

5. First Person: Jennifer Graves, wife, mother, swinger (Make love — not armed robberies.)

Bookmark It

Jamarcus Usher, on his MySpace page

Late Wednesday night, two bar patrons leaving East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern were approached by 29-year-old Jamarcus Usher. After the couple climbed into their vehicle, Usher reached for his waistband. Fearing that Usher was a threat, one of the bar patrons knocked him to the ground back a few feet with the door of his pickup truck, then shot and killed him after Usher raised his weapon.

Eerily, Usher’s MySpace page lists his occupation as “staying alive.”

Another bit of strangeness: Usher died in almost the exact spot where, eight years ago, another robbery suspect was shot and killed.

It’s not yet clear if this week’s shooting has anything to do with the climate of fear that has descended on Atlanta following a recent spate of violent crime, including the shooting death of John Henderson. Henderson, a bartender at the Standard in nearby Grant Park, was killed Jan. 7 by armed robbers who broke into the Memorial Drive restaurant.

It seems to me that Atlanta — and East Atlanta Village in particular — has been through this before.

(more…)

Bookmark It