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Thursday, May 8, 2008
Where snits, tension abound
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you want to get a cross-section of the people in any community, stop by the local diner.
It’s where I landed Wednesday in Snellville, the town where “Everybody’s Somebody,” and where the City Council is competing with Lithonia officials and the Clayton County school board for a special title: “The most dysfunctional governing body in metro Atlanta.”
The Snellville Diner sits in a plaza, sharing anchor duties with Big Lots and Provino’s Restaurant. I was walking into the eatery when I spotted Theron Carman. He was picking up dry cleaning. An Atlanta native, he’s lived within the city limits of the ‘Ville 22 years. He’s seen the mayoral reigns of Emmett Clower [26 years] and Brett Harrell, who served one four-year term in early 2000.
Carman says he’s never seen anything like the current bunch. Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer and a five-member City Council can’t seem to do anything but fuss, belittle each other and call names. In Snellville, politics is personal. A bloodsport. Ugly and disgraceful, too.
“It’s hard to figure out unless you’re at all the meetings,” Carman said. “It’s a totally divided group. It seems like the city leaders got along better years ago, even under Clower.”
That would be Emmett Clower. Every person I talked to Wednesday mentioned him, if not by name, by his profession. He’s a photographer. The Badie Tour stopped by his studio to chat Wednesday, but no one was in.
Maybe next time.
Clower’s political demise and Harrell’s rise were supposed to usher in a new era and vision for Snellville. The town would move into the 21st century, establish an identity, urbanize. Transition hasn’t been easy. Locals I talked to Wednesday talked about a battle between camps - supporters of the old guard and newcomers who support a vision begun under Harrell and continued by Oberholtzer.
And because of that rift, we have Checkgate.
Councilwoman Kelly Kautz wants an investigation into a $31,000-plus check that was written without the board’s consent. The check went to the Gwinnett Municipal Association. Apparently no one authorized it. But here’s the rub: The check was issued on Oct. 11, 2007, with the stamped signatures of the city clerk and the mayor. It makes for great headlines, but why bring this up now?
Then there’s the defamation lawsuit: Councilman Robert Jenkins vs. his predecessor, Joe Anderson. Jenkins has asked the state appeals court to hear his complaint that Anderson falsely accused him of bribery and stalked him in an attempt to keep him out of office. The lawsuit was filed last year.
Finally, there’s the vacant city manager’s position. Jim Brooks had been hired as interim city manager, but the mayor didn’t want to extend Brooks’ contract. Oberholtzer has been filling in, so to speak, but he says he doesn’t actually tell city workers what to do. Mayor Pro Tem Warren Auld sought the opinion of state Attorney General Thurbert Baker. Baker ruled that the mayor cannot legally fill the vacant city manager’s spot. Big deal, Oberholtzer said in so many words.
So what do we have here in Snellville, where everybody’s somebody?
“The Mickey Mouse club,” said Jack Kujawa, who lives outside the city limits. I shared a diner booth with him and Jackie, his wife of 50 years. They compared town antics to Lithonia and the Clayton County school board.
Besides the old guard-new guard battles, Kujawa thinks another issue has caused a town rift: Sunday liquor sales. In November 2004, voters in a nonbinding referendum condoned the sale of liquor in restaurants on Sunday.
But in a 3-2 vote, the council adopted an amended law that cuts off alcohol sales at midnight and bans them on Sundays. Then-Mayor Pro Tem Chad Smith and then-council member Bruce Garraway, along with current board member Warren Auld, voted for the revised ordinance that disregarded the results of the referendum.
“That was a big thing,” said Kujawa, who doesn’t imbibe. Despite the craziness of this depraved circus, residents I talked to on and off the record hold hope that a change is going to come, that egos, pettiness and vindictiveness will subside.
For the sake of the town.
“It has to,” Carman said.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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