(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column of those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and somebody ought to put a firecracker under the Augusta Commission to wake them up to deal with the realities of life.
Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. has been acting like a fool for the past eight years, and the commission hasn’t done a thing about it.
They have more money than they’ve ever had, and they still can’t get the grass cut. They’re paying employees more than they ever have, and they still can’t find supervisors smart enough to get the grass cut.
I don’t know which of them has musical talents except maybe Commissioner John Clarke, but they all seem to be playing fiddles while Augusta falls apart around their ears.
They’re playing the same old tunes, like “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” which is where Hardie keeps your tax dollars. And they’re all playing Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” because none of them seems to know.
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Some commissioners are playing, “Who’s Cheatin’ Who?” and calling for an audit while others are playing Randy Travis’ “Diggin Up Bones.”
When somebody wants to know how deep the government corruption goes, one or two strike up Travis’ “Deeper Than the Holler.”
The Socialists are stuck on playing “Gimme Shelter” for tiny homes for the homeless while the administrators are spending ARP money to clean up the illegal campsites set up by the homeless. Those campsites exist because Davis and the commission majority spent eight years signaling the homeless everywhere to make their way to Augusta to live in their own high-rise hotel.
Clarke is playing the O Jays’ “Backstabbers,” who know who they are. And he’ll be fiddling “Paybacks are Hell” sooner than expected.
Davis is playing, “Ace in the Hole,” thinking that’s a job with Biden. And he’s playing M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This,” when looking at any receipt he has.
Meanwhile, they’re all fiddling, “I Feel Good” about getting to spend $7,500 on travel this year, since they voted to increase their travel budgets by $3,000 each because they couldn’t quench their thirst for knowledge on a paltry $4,500 a year.
They were just back from the Georgia Municipal Association conference in Savannah when they met Thursday and approved spending $2.8 million of American Rescue Plan money for cleaning up downtown Augusta, getting the grass cut more often, adding irrigation to improve the landscapes along city entrances, addressing illegal dumping and repair Riverwalk - all annual expenses. What Democrat scam money will fund these chores next year and every year thereafter? Huh? Answer me that.
Anyway, everything they’re talking about they’ve been talking about for years, especially illegal dumping and Riverwalk. Former Administrator Odie Donald said a Quick Strike cleanup and a Pothole Palooza was coming in January, but it didn’t, and then he left to go to work for the mayor of Atlanta.
Double Standard
Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Wood was arrested Wednesday for using his county-issued fuel card to purchase gasoline for his personal vehicle. And he was fired Thursday and charged with Financial Transaction Card Fraud and Violation of Oath of Office.
Wood used the card twice on June 21 at the Circle K on Washington Road, once for his patrol car and once for his personal vehicle, and while that’s wrong and against the law, it pales in comparison to the way Mayor Hardie Davis has manipulated his budget for his own interests the past eight years.
And the question is, “Did Deputy Wood intentionally use his county issued fuel card, or was it a mistake, a case of pulling out the wrong card and using it without looking at it?” We don’t know. But we do know that Davis used his credit cards, PayPal account, My Brother’s Keeper account and political campaign contribution account for whatever he so desired – food, videos, recording equipment, photographs, plaques, a $400 resume, bringing a poll-dancing actress to Augusta to teach women and young girls how to move among other things. He kept very few receipts and fought producing those few to the public.
And he continues to ignore city policy when spending taxpayers’ money, according to Scott Hudson, senior reporter for The Augusta Press.
Hudson reported that Davis has hired temporary employees, paid interns and political consultants in his office without going through either the Human Resources Department or the Procurement Department as required by city policy.
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“Mayor’s Office check records show that a man named Myles Delont Graves was paid $6,825 from the My Brother’s Keeper account over three months beginning in November 2021. In records found online, Graves is described as a “mayor’s fellow,” which, according to the city’s website, is supposed to be an unpaid internship program for college students,” Hudson reported.
On Myles Graves’ Instagram, he’s identified as an “actor, model and singer.”
So, maybe the poll dancer got him on the payroll.
Despite multiple Open Records Act requests, Davis refuses to provide any documentation as to why Graves was chosen for the position or what tasks he performed.
Davis has also kept his former campaign manager, Tonia Gibbons, on the payroll as a consultant, and in the span of three months and 10 days this year, has paid her $19,086 which is more than the amount that city policy states should go through procurement.
Fired but Rehired
The Augusta Personnel Board unanimously overturned the termination of a firefighter who was fired for not reporting a request for information about illegal drugs from a female firefighter to a supervisor.
The board voted to overturn the termination of firefighter Chahuan Bowman following an hour-long hearing Wednesday, during which he was accused of insubordination and four other policy violations for not reporting the request or his response to it. Bowman sent the female firefighter the name of a person he presumably thought she could buy marijuana from, and she later overdosed on something, according to hearing testimony.
The female firefighter, who was on leave when she overdosed, quit her job after returning to work.
Fire Chief Antonio Burden testified that an independent investigation of the incident took place outside of the fire department.
Roman Candles Aren’t What They Used to Be
Injuries and deaths from fireworks have been steadily increasing the past 15 years, except for 2020 during COVID-19, and really it’s crazy for anybody, especially children, to play with fire and something that can blow up in their faces and blind them.
But when we were children growing up in south Georgia, we loved to play with all sorts of fireworks – firecrackers, Cherry bombs, Dynamite bombs, sparklers and Roman candles.
I don’t know what our parents were thinking, but they turned us loose to do what we wanted to do with them. And what we wanted to do was to shoot each other with Roman candles. We had Roman candle wars in the yard until one of the fireballs caught the sleeve of my dress on fire and burned me badly. But of course, they didn’t take me to the hospital. Nobody went to the hospital except to have a baby or to die. So, Mama went to the drugstore in town and got some burn ointment. What I really needed was morphine. I’ve never cried so hard in my life. The scar is faded now, but the memory is as vivid as ever.
My older brother Johnny loved nothing more than to light a whole pack of firecrackers and throw them at my feet as I came out the door. And my younger brother Danny lit a Roman candle in the house one night while our parents were at the restaurant working. It was a proud moment when I was able to get it pointed into the commode and stop the explosions except for two more fireballs that blew water and soot all over the bathroom.
We were hellions, and how we all survived is a mystery.
Then when I was a teenager, we lit firecrackers and dropped them out of the holes in the floorboard of my boyfriend’s jalopy going down Main Street in Tifton. We’d be arrested as terrorists if we did that today.
