That the guy who got stuffed in the trunk in Fayetteville cares that our crime is lower than Clayton County?

I think it was Barry Babb who mentioned the need for increased patrols or as he put it, more people on the street. Now that is a solid recommendation for improvement.

I think you need to talk more about who you think has the best solution as a sheriff candidate. If you focus on that, the rest of it will take care of itself.

Leave the crucifixion of Simmons to Tom, he has nothing else to do.

I do think, and I'm very cynical.

I think we all should care that our crime is lower than clayton and fulton. We should care enough to keep it that way.!!

I think we all want the same thing: a safe place to live. We have a difference in opinion on how to keep this a nice place to live.

Maybe we are all wasting our time trying to keep Fayette nice. Maybe we should all move to the next "best place to live". There will always be places to live that are better and there will always be places to live that are worse as well. I guess we will all have to pick the lesser of all of the evils.

I think it was both Babb, and Mindar who talked about increasing patrols.

The pavillion is the problem child for Fayetteville police. Not the Sheriff's dept. So trying to scare people by saying that crime is increasing there is disingenuous at best.

As Hack would say cheers.

First of all - when you compare crime rates of Fayette County with those of Detroit - you are comparing apples to oranges. It is simply a totally different area than we live in - in so many different ways.

Don't even start with you allegations of all the actions of Simmons that you consider to be illegal! First of all - unless you were in said yard and witnessed this alleged trespassing with your own eyes - then you would have something credible to say. I do hope he has followed all of the rules regarding such things - because should he not - the good ole' boys, such as yourself - are looking for any little thing to start slinging mud. Grow up! Listen to the man and what his plans are for our county and try to have an open mind. My fear is that you are simply basing your opinion on the color of his skin and are trying to find any little thing to get others to jump on your bandwagon.

As I have stated before- you are living in Denial if you think there is no corruption in our sheriff's department - including the Drug Task Force. I wish I could go into the specifics, but part of what I am referring to is part of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice at this point and time. I hope very soon - you will see the truth about some of our finest and realize that if you speak out regarding things, simply because that's what someone told you or because you have so much faith in our local government - that when all is said and done - you have no choice but to look like an ignorant fool.

Remember the so-called investigation toward the end of 2006 with the drug funds and 'no longer there' Lt.Col.Jordan? How could some of us forget. Boy did that get swept under the rug!

As far as the ongoing investigation, I too hope soon other people will find out the truth about some of our 'finest'.

you are going to bust the BUBBLE of all these wonderful bloggers

They have been told before that there was more to come.

Maybe they have their own little Detroit right under their own noses.

I hate to burst the bubbles of good people who are clearly in the dark when it comes to our county and what really goes on behind the scenes. I look forward to the day when the investigation that I have a personal interest in is resolved and I can tell everyone and anyone the injustice I have personally witnessed. It reminds me of places far worse than Detroit - that's for sure.

I support you 100%. I am in the same boat you are and looking forward to the day of justice.

Don't shoot the messenger.

If the private property owner took the the sign down, then the sign was not wanted. This has happened several times and either last week or the week before one property owner was angy enough to write about it.

If private property owners are taking Simmons signs down then someone, a volunteer or simmons is trespassing when they put the said signs up.

There is no mystery here.

You could "go into specifics" but you don't. Doesn't sound like much. I'm waiting......

Maybe all of us will move on to the "next best place to live" and we won't be able to hear your story...

I totally agree with you that signs should be put in the yard by either the owner or per their request. We are 100% in agreement on that topic. I do have one political sign in my yard and I asked for one and when I got it, it went right beside my mailbox.

If that was the main message you were trying to relay - here's a newsflash: what I took from your blog was that once again, Simmons was being held solely responsible for everything that happened in his previous town - Detroit and on top of that, comparisons were being made between Detroit and Fayetteville. From what I read and see on the news, Detroit is not the safest place to be and like most large cities, there is a lot of crime, I will give you that. From what I've read about Mr. Simmons - correct me if I'm wrong - but I am under the impression that he was not the head honcho there anyway!

I would just like to see people look at his experience, his qualifications and education and judge him based on those things. Comparing Detroit and Fayetteville would be like comparing Miami and Newnan!

I think we both want a safe place to live.

1. I didn't put up the numbers comparing Detroit and Fayette County.

Yes, I'm saying that anyone who puts a sign on someone elses property without permission is wrong.

Do you also feel it is wrong for people to throw newspapers, telephone books, etc. into your driveway without your permission or by request?

I agree about the campaign signs, but I don't throw all that on the candidate when it's generally the most fervent supporters who are the biggest zealots and offenders of doing that.

Good to hear from you.

If you scroll up to my original post to justcurious I said or volunteers. Yes, the volunteers are hurting the people they are trying to help.

Not to worry, I think Tom1939 has really under-estimated our intelligence. What I have gathered that it is mostly Sky who responds to his unfounded-facts and wayward accusations towards Mr. Simmons. I think if you would continue to state facts maybe the skanky guy will go away. Let's just say continuing your own investigations on the candidates you want elected and commenting on that will be the best way to get your message across and maybe Sky will get it. If not, then there are agenda’s here that can not be changed. I know Tom1939 is on his own personal agenda and it aint a good one. Keep the faith.

It has been accepted and publicly admitted by Simmons and his campaign that on the Detroit PD there had been a very bad situation for a very long time. Yet, Simmons holds out that as a high ranking police executive he played no role and bares no responsibility in making the Detroit PD the bad situation it had become.

Early in this campaign Simmons had stated that bad things from his past on Detroit PD might surface during his run for sheriff. What things?

Simmons campaign has also said any attempt to connect him to the corrupt situation of Detroit's PD was an attempt of "guilt by association." This recognizes there was a bad situation on the Detroit PD that Simmons felt he had to begin distancing himself from. Yet, while distancing himself from the Detroit PD, Simmons still attempts to use his professional experience gained while on the Detroit PD as the basis of his unique qualifications for the office of sheriff.

The central issue becomes this. How can someone be associated with a situation that they, Simmons and his supporters, admit were corrupt and Simmons not be affected by the corruption?

Can someone associate and accept the benefits of a corrupt system but still deny that they played no role in creating, supporting and continuing the corrupt environment?

Each member of a system that they know is corrupt, by joining with, supporting and accepting the benefits from the system of corruption, by way of accepting higher pay, promotions, etc, are, in fact, responsible for the corruption ... even if they were never explicitly charged with or investigated for corruption like their associates.

Wasn't their motivation for joining up with the system of corruption to receive certain professional and financial benefits that the system of corrupt ensured they would receive from partnering with the corruption!

Did Simmons and is Simmons' continuing to reap the benefits of the corrupt system on the Detroit PD today? In what way is Simmons still accepting and experiencing the benefits of official corruption by the high ranking executives of the Detroit PD?

Therefore, can someone swin in a sea of filth, a sea of corruption, and emerge out of that sea clean and unaffected by the corruption that had been a part of their professional career for decades? Are we not affected by the things we decide to associate with, when we know, as an adult, that what we are associating with is corrupt?

Are these issues valid in this election?

Can someone associate and accept the benefits of a corrupt system but still deny that they played no role in creating, supporting and continuing the corrupt environment?

Hmmmmm. Richard Nixon; Iran-Contra

Trying to convict on facts not in evidence is useless. Where are your facts? This smear campaign is making everyone take a closer look at the candidates and their experience and qualifications. Thanks

The Detroit PD executive corruption was enforced by this method. All police executives who joined and accepted benefits from Democratic Mayor Coleman Young's political patronage system had to sign an "undated letter of resignation," which was kept in the file cabinet of $2.6 million drug fund thief, Detroit Police Chief Hart.

This created the system of Quid Pro Quo - Something for Something. When and if a Detroit police executive decided he/she no longer desired to stay part of the Coleman Young partronage system, Chief Hart took out their undated resignation letter and dated it.

The Detroit police executive had to give back the benefits of the patronage system, the political "spoils system," since they no longer wanted to Give something to Get something. This meant that executive lost his or her rank, future pension amount, and possibly chased off the force after decades on the job.

There was a court challenge to this system by decreased Detroit police executive, Reggie Turner, I believe that was his name. When Chief Hart called Commander Turner to his office to pick up his booklet of $300 a piece Coleman Young campaign slush fund tickets Turner refused them. Turner's resignation letter was dated and he was kicked back down to the rank of Lieutenant.

Commander Turner filed a lawsuit ... he lost the suit ... Wayne County Circuit Court ruled that "he (the Mayor) who appoints can disappoint using any criteria he determines for making the appointment or making the disappointment."

Police executives from headquarters were ordered to warn the mayor's niece, married to a drug dealing family, the Curry brothers, and an associate of another drug dealer "White Boy Rick", when her drug dealing associates were about to be raided.

This requires you to make an educated guess. If that Detroit police executive refused the order to call and tip off the mayor's niece, what do you think would have been done with the "undated resignation letter" of that police executive?

So you are saying that someone in police headquarters was setting up the undercover drug cops ...???

I still like my analogy of a herd of pigs in a muddy field.

You will never find one in the herd that is squeaky clean.

To continue your analogy. For that pig to emerge from the muddy field of corruption and claim, while all the pigs around me got muddy from corruption ... no mud, no corruption, reached me. This defies common-sense and logic.

Then, for that pig, who had made a home, grown fat and wealthy, profiting greatly from the muddy field of corruption over decades, to say "Because I am clean, I am the only one that is most qualified to clean up the muddy field of law enforcement corruption on the sheriffs department. Is this a reasonable expectation based on past history?

I propose that given enough time a person's true nature will reach the surface. As the Republican Abe Lincoln said of elections, "you can fool some of the people some of the time ... but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."

Unless, of course, the people want to be fooled.

I readily agree that the crime statistics from 2006 are old. I used them simply to be transparent and let anyone wanting to do their own assessment of the number draw their own conclusion.

The reason I did not use the most recent numbers is simple. The numbers from 2006 concerning Fayette County and its neighbors is simple. Until they are complied by either the GBI or FBI, to get the most accurate numbers you would have to call/contact the following cities/counties individually: Fayette County, Fulton County, Coweta County, Spalding County, Clayton County, Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone, Jonesboro, Morrow, Forest Park, Riverdale, Lake City, College Park, East Point, Hapeville, Atlanta, Chattahoocie Hills, Milton, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Fairburn, Union City, Palmetto, and last but not least Griffin.

So its easier to just use the 2006 statistics.

Now I could simply go to last years numbers for un-incorporated Fayette County and use them to extrapolate numbers for 2008, but that complicates the message I wanted to send--Fayette's Crime Rate is not as bad as Mr. Simmons' is suggesting.

I will also conceed that comparing Fayette County to Detroit is like comparing apples to oranges--but then that is the point of this whole tiresome exercise. Detroit and Fayette have nothing in common and neither does Dave Simmons' 12 year old Detroit Law Enforcement Experience.

Alright Sky - be honest - does the fact that Simmons is a black man running for sheriff's office that's been held by a white male for decades in a town south of the Mason-Dixon line have anything to do with your opinion of him?

I'm not putting you down if that is the reason or part of the reason - we each are entitled to our own opinions. I am just really curious if that is the case here - because if it is - then there probably isn't a thing anyone could say that would change your opinion.

By the way - who do you support for sheriff in our upcoming election?

Some are not worth the time, those on the know that don’t know.
How can someone be as passionate as to whom not to vote for and not know who they support?
Yet want to know “who do you support for sheriff in our upcoming election?”

Are you asking me or are you asking GiveMeABreak whose post this is under?

1. After reading the reports in Detroit Free Press and all of the links on the U.S. Justice dept.s web site I believe what Tom1939 is saying is true.

2. I would be more impressed with Simmons if I saw crime statistics that said he managed any precinct and crime was actually reduced in that area. Theories and opinions are like something else, we all have them. Theories about fighting crime sound great on paper. Detroits crime has always been off of the charts. That is not impressive. I don't think his theories or ideas about fighting crime have ever worked.

To top it all off he has been retired for 12+yrs. We need someone with current experience who still has energy behind their game.

3. Simmons comes from a police dept. that has been investigated by the Justice dept. as often as LA PD, and NYC PD. That isn't good no matter how you spin it. Each investigation lead to another investigation. If we were talking about just one incident it would not concern me.....but he was surrounded by; and trained in an environment where corruption was accepted as a way of doing buisness.

After Tom1939 brought up some questions about a cheating scandal involving McKinnon, Simmons quickly took down that letter of endorsement. Why? If they were all as innocent as you try to portray why take down that letter? Why did he try to distance himself from McKinnon if everything was above reproach?

Which brings me again to my analogy: Have you ever driven by a farmers field and seen a herd of pigs in the middle of that field....have you ever seen one pig in the middle of that herd that was squeaky clean?? Have you? Because I have not. When you roll around in a muddy field with pigs everyone gets dirty.

I'm not concerned with his race, I'm concerned about his character which was developed in Detroit PD. So far based on what I have seen just in this election it has affected his character. Starting with his scare tactics in letters to the paper. Then his volunteers putting signs in the right of way and on peoples private property. I think it shows a low personal code of ethics, or character if you can't follow simple laws and ordinances.

I still have not decided who I will vote for. All I have done so far is eliminated one.

I don't think either of us will change our opinions. We do agree on one thing: we both want this county to continue to be a nice place to live.

First of all - you stated that Detroit has been investigated by the Department of Justice. Hello? Have you not been listening to me - at this very moment Fayette County is being investigated by the Department of Justice.
Secondly - my comment regarding the pigs all getting at least a little bit of mud on them - in my opinion - the Justice Center on into the Sheriff's Department has a few muddy spots, as well.

Yikes....

It is 1,317!!!!!