Last year, sending volts through an inmate was an every-other-day affair at the Chatham County jail. From the Savannah Morning News:
Tasers were used on inmates at the Chatham County jail more than 190 times in 2014, according to records produced by the sheriff's office…
The newspaper began a probe after the New Years Day death of Savannah artist Matthew Ajibade at the jail. Ajibade was apparently in a restraining chair when he died. A Taser was used on Ajibade, but a coronor has ruled the death a homicide by blunt force trauma. Again, from the Morning News:
"Less than lethal force may only be used to gain control over a non-compliant and/or aggressive subject, and is never applied maliciously or as punishment," the memo reads.
Eleven deputies have already been fired. Another has quit.
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What will $1 million buy these days? In Cobb County, that's the price for peace of mind and compliance with Georgia's new gun law, which says concealed weaponry can't be barred from government buildings unless other protections are in place. From the Marietta Daily Journal:
Expenses are meant to increase the safety of county employees and visitors, said Sam Heaton, the county's public safety director.
"House Bill 60 removed some of the restrictions as far as where people can and cannot carry weapons," Heaton said. "As we started checking the law and started checking around at other government buildings we were one of the ones that had no system in place that would allow us to (restrict) weapons in the facility," Heaton said.
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Then again, $1 million can still buy the moon and stars. From the Florida Times-Union:
Commission Chairman Jimmy Starline calls it the first.
The commissioners voted unanimously last week to pay $960,000 for a two-year option to buy the Union Carbide property at the east end of Harrietts Bluff Road. That site suits a spaceport because vehicles launched from there do not need to pass over inhabited land areas.
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Jeb Bush will be in Atlanta for an evening June 29 fundraiser. But instead of raising cash for his Super PAC, he'll be raising cash for his official campaign fund. Bush heads to Europe this week for the now-standard presidential candidate credential-boosting foreign trip. He formally announces what we've already known for a while June 15.
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More than 100 people showed up Sunday at Manuel's Tavern for the "Bern Up" Georgia organizing meeting in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The Vermont Independent has launched a long-shot bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination with an aim to outflank front-runner Hillary Clinton on the left with calls for universal health coverage and new measures to fight income inequality.
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Speaking of unlikely scenarios, Paul and Maxine Troop of Johns Creek send word that they're the Georgia coordinators for the Draft Joe Biden for President movement.
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Sunday's premium and dead-tree editions
of the AJC offers some insight into how Georgia is preparing for a Supreme Court ruling that could legalize same-sex marriage.
Fulton County Commissioners passed a resolution 5-0 on Wednesday to develop a list of judges to officiate same-sex marriages. The county plans to set aside space in its government building for weddings, if need be. ...
Atlanta-based Delta is ready to implement a strategy for its Georgia employees. The international carrier has already made changes for employees in other states where gay marriage became legal and would follow the same course here, said spokeswoman Ashley Black.
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Also from Sunday's editions was a story from one of your Insiders with this tidbit on a pair of upcoming judicial retirements:
He could yet have another chance, as Court of Appeals Chief Judge Herbert Phipps is set to turn 75 by 2017, when he'll face a decision to step down or lose his lucrative state retirement benefits.
Deal has had less influence on the state's highest court with but one appointment — Keith Blackwell — in June 2012. But two of the court's six other judges, Chief Justice Hugh Thompson and Presiding Justice Harris Hines, will turn 75 in 2018 and will be forced to make the same decision as Phipps. A court spokeswoman said both plan to retire by then.
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A long-running fight over U.S. poultry exports was settled Friday, in what Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson said was a win for Georgia poultry farmers. From The Hill:
U.S. exports are expected to start heading to South Africa by the end of the year.
The deal, worked out over the past two days in Paris, also seals an agreement on remaining sanitary issues related to poultry, pork and beef.
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Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's sexual abuse-hush money scandal has a Georgia tie -- but an expired one.
Randy Evans of McKenna Long & Aldridge (soon to be Dentons), Gov. Nathan Deal's attorney and a longtime Georgia GOP mover and shaker, had been Hastert's attorney in the past. But we're told he is not representing Hastert in this case -- nor is anyone from McKenna. Click here for the backstory from Tom Crawford at the Georgia Report.
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Possibly you read the weekend post on state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, who plans House subcommittee hearings this year on new university system policies on dealing with sexual assaults. We didn't know that Bibb County District Attorney David Cooke had already penned an op-ed piece questioning Ehrhart's decision. From the Macon Telegraph:
"Nobody wants to be accused of a crime and lose their reputation, their college and university education (and) possibly their entire future career based on a proceeding with people who aren't qualified to determine guilt or innocence. It's pretty scary stuff."
It's a scary thing indeed when our elected leaders are actively working to undermine well¬ established best practices that protect our wives, daughters and sisters. And yet, that is what is happening today.
Ehrhart is wrong. We need to do more, not less, to make our campuses safer and to make sure the focus remains on the needs of victims.
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