Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog had a range of reaction to the stiff sentences handed down last week in the DeKalb schools corruption trial. Judge Cynthia Becker sentenced former DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis to 12 months in the DeKalb County Jail. Pat Reid, former chief operating officer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and her former husband Tony Pope was sentenced to eight years for manipulating construction contracts. Here is a sampling of the comments under the poster's screen name:
Broch: Thank you, Judge Becker. I hope these verdicts send shivers of fear through the DeKalb County school system and are the start of a long-overdue house cleaning from top to bottom.
Another: Hurrah for Judge Becker for seeing through the ridiculous plea of Crawford Lewis. It is too bad she can only give him one year with the charges that District Attorney Robert James dropped down to a misdemeanor.
Mattie: I am so glad to see the smile gone from Crawford Lewis' face when he found out he could not get by with a slap on the hand.
Astro: Let this be a lesson to all of you other would-be criminals: I don't care what you may think, prison is hell on this earth. If you are stealing our tax money that is meant for schools, you'll find no sympathy when they throw away the key. I was aghast when the district attorney cut a deal with Lewis for probation. I'm glad the judge in this case didn't accept that deal.
EastAtlanta: I think they got off light.
Rex: If Crawford Lewis is required to do community service, I have an idea. Since he was once a P.E. teacher/coach, there is plenty of work that needs to be done on Avondale stadium such as groundskeeping, painting and just general clean-up. Also, maybe his co defendants can participate on this instead of just sitting there in jail doing nothing.
DeKalbite: The power structure Lewis installed that drove our student achievement to the lowest in the metro area is still in place. No wonder the same recycled personnel, programs and policies are being put forth by new Superintendent Michael Thurmond. These "new" plans have been given new names and peddled as new and different, but it's really just more of the same. The difference is taxpayers/parents have caught on to the shell game.
Prof: Crawford Lewis should have been sentenced to more than a year in jail. But at least the judge struck down the unjust plea deal to let him off altogether if he testified.
People: Anybody find it strange that a county-level employee can get 15 years for basically steering $1.4 million of business to her husband, while the Wall Street criminals who caused the recent worldwide recession are not even prosecuted? Not that Pat Reid and Tony Pope do not deserve to pay for their crimes. It just seems a little unfair.
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