Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
From my point of view:
The political town hall meeting was an eye opener! Every candidate spoke well and was “point on” with their questions. My “eyes” saw good. My “eyes” saw bad and, and my “eyes” saw questionable. The quote of the night, in my opinion was made by Matthew Hickman “Apparently, I am your ONLY candidate for Ward 2.” Matthew was the “lone” man on the stage. His opponents, incumbent Murray Keith and Scott Russell, did not show….. So all that free air time went to Matthew Hickman who handled the situation beautiful – as did Ward 3 Chris May (Incumbent Lane Steele did not show) and Ward 4 Dolores McDonald (Incumbent Patrick Brown did not attend). Although Ward 1 had three candidates on stage (Dr. Jasper Adcock, Whitney Baker, and Chris Lane) incumbent Eddie Lofton did not choose to participate.
The number one question repeatedly submitted to MageeNews.com dealt with change to appoint a police chief rather than elect. The major comment was “taking our right to vote away.” Several citizens felt the decisions was made to remove Randy Crawford as chief making the appointed decision personal. Every Alderman candidate told how the people they visited on the campaign trail expressed their displeasure with the police chief situation. But, not one incumbent Alderman seeking reelection was willing to stand before the public at a town hall meeting and explain the reason these men voted for an appointed Chief. Do the incumbents feel their positions are safe and do not need to justify their actions?
If you are unsure of who to vote for please take time and check out the video. Several in attendance stated after the Town Hall Meeting they had helped them reached a decision for the best candidate for the job and knew who they would be voting for.
The change to appointed chief was made about 3 yrs ago. Have you interviewed any of the aldermen to ask them why they made the change? Is’nt that what reporters do? You have had plenty of time. I suppose its easier to just make wild guesses and repeat rumors.
Maybe they learned something from Mendenhall’s fiasco with their chief a few yrs ago.
Didnt all the incumbant aldermen attend the political speaking event sponsored by your competitor? I noticed that story has been removed from this site. Attacking the aldermen who didn’t attend your event about a 3 yr old decision–could your attack be personal?
My dad, Dale Berry, discussed this topic in his speech to held by the Magee Chamber of Commerence a week prior to this event. He was the only alderman to vote NO when asked if the chief of police should be appointed rather than elected. However, his vote lost 1-4. He explained that over thirty years ago, this same topic, was presented to the board of Alderman, one of them being his father E.O. Berry, and he remembered his father discussing that by passing this it would take the right to vote the chief of police into office away from the people and people have the right to have their voices heard. However during the time that this past, only eight municipals in MS elected their police chief. Many have mentioned that our neighboring city, Mendenhall, that had an elected police chief that faced legal woes did not acquit the city from having to pay him the remainder of his three year salary.
The particular question about the police chief was spefically taken from a poll that asked the citizens how they felt. Therefore, all MageeNews.com did was deliver unbiased data. With all do respect, by appointing a chief and not electing one, then the outcome of the chief is now held in five aldermans’ hands, not the will of the people. So, basically, the alderman hire and fire the chief of police.
Everyone knows the present board of aldermen are trying to control the police department..Every four years the first order of business is to not rehire the officers and/or dispatchers that they don’t like (now they want to control the chief as well). This is seldom based on job performance but on who tow’s the line and who doesn’t. Reelecting the same aldermen is business as usual for Magee. And everyone knows your present Chief is gone if the same ole crew stays in office!
That’s because the people keep voting them back into office. The turnout rate in May 2nd election was less than 30% So many people won’t take the time to go vote, or they use the excuse of noting wanting to be called for jury duty as to why they wish to not register to vote.