(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
Good News: There are only 168 days left in Mayor King Hardie Davis’ reign.
Bad news: There are 168 days before incoming Mayor Garnett Johnson takes the reins.
Meanwhile, where was Hardie off to last week? He’s been a no-show the last three times Augusta commissioners met. He was supposedly at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting two weeks ago when the “Mayor’s Compact to Combat Hate and Extremism” was adopted, but his name wasn’t on the list of mayors endorsing the compact.
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Opinion
Commissioner John Clarke says Davis ought to “go away now.”
“He’s out making deals for himself at taxpayers’ expense,” Clarke said. “He’s been away for a couple of years. His body just shows up occasionally.”
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
A Richmond County judge granted Yvett Davis’ motion for a protective order to stop her husband’s attorney from deposing her Aug. 26 about the couple’s assets and other matters. The order will be in place until Davis complies with her attorney’s second request for documents.
The reason Hardie wants her deposed ASAP is he probably knows she doesn’t know about all of the assets, so whatever she says, he could claim that’s all the assets there are. So, her attorney has asked Davis to produce a comprehensive list of documents, computerized and otherwise, for inspection and copying in the law offices of Capers, Dunbar, Sanders & Bellotti.
“The word ‘document’ or ‘documents’ shall be defined to include every writing or record of every type and description that is or has been in your possession, control or custody including, but not limited to, books, letters, bulletins, printed forms, e-mail or other communications, notes correspondence, and preliminary draft copies thereof, memoranda, telegrams, hand-written or stenographic notes, computer data, reports, records, working-papers, tapes, diaries, contracts, agreements, invoices, warranties, canceled checks, inventory records, financial statements, ….”
The list goes on to include writings, records and information maintained on a computer or any object containing information stored by a computer including, without limitation, discs, hard drives, USB drives, flash drives., CDs, DVDs, or any other removable media, etc. ….”
That’s a lot to ask somebody to produce who doesn’t even keep receipts or records documenting taxpayers’ money he spends, but the judge probably won’t look the other way over missing records like the Augusta commissioners have.
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Quote of the Week
“I’m here to tell you something smells other than the toilets.”
– Augusta Commissioner Alvin Mason after Parks and Recreations Director Maurice McDowell didn’t show up at Tuesday’s commission meeting to explain a three-and-a-half months delay to get emergency repairs done on the restrooms at Diamond Lakes Park because he was attending a convention.
Only God Can Make a Tree
Commissioners Catherine McKnight and John Clarke are on the warpath again about city trees being chopped down for no apparent reason, especially four maple trees at the Augusta Common.
“We’ve got some nice trees all over Augusta, but we don’t need to get them butchered up,” McKnight said.
McKnight and Clarke both said the commission had talked not long ago about hiring an arborist.
“I put it on the agenda to hire an arborist,” Clarke said. “Parks and Recreation and Engineering said they already have an arborist on staff. Well, where is the s.o.b., and what does he do?
“They’re cutting trees down, and they talk about a line of sight.”
Available, but Probably Not Ready and Willing
When Odie Donald resigned earlier this year, he left the city without a permanent administrator. Now as of the past week, former Augusta Administrator Janice Jackson is no longer the city manager in the city of Stonecrest in DeKalb County.
Jackson served as Augusta administrator from 2014 until April 2019, when commissioners went behind closed doors for two hours and cut a deal. Some commissioners wanted to fire Jackson while others wanted to fire Andrew MacKenzie. So, they came to an agreement to offer them both a year’s salary and benefits in exchange for their resignations.
Jackson, who was taken by surprise by the commission’s action, was hired as Stonecrest’s city manager in 2021, after an internal investigation began about Mayor Jason Lary’s misappropriating Covid-19 money.
Lary was recently sentenced to almost five years in federal prison for his role in stealing $924,000 in relief money.
When contacted Friday, I told Jackson she was under-appreciated when she was Augusta’s administrator, considering who came after her. I asked her whether she’d consider returning, and she said, “I really can’t say.”
Well, after four years as Augusta administrator, she knows her way around the Marble Palace but doesn’t think she knows everything although she knows a lot, especially that many elected officials have Odie-size egos.
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Partying Fool
Since I wrote last week’s column, I’ve become a social butterfly. I attended a record number of events. A record number for me, anyway, which would be two.
Debbie van Tuyll, retired journalism professor and current executive editor for The Augusta Press, invited me to a tea party at her home. I’d never been to a tea before and didn’t know what to expect except for tea. I knew it would be sort of fancy though because Debbie said I could wear a hat if I wanted to. The only hat I have is a baseball cap with the phrase, “I Like Dogs and Maybe 3 People,” on it, which I had a feeling I shouldn’t wear, although I considered it until I put it on and saw how stupid I looked.
(Now I know some of you don’t care to read about tea parties any more than you like to read about my cookbooks. So, I won’t mind a bit if you just skip on down to the next section.)
Anyway, Debbie really outdid herself with the table settings and food. In addition to tiny crustless sandwiches and smoked salmon on rye, she’d made strawberry shortbread cookies, orange olive oil cookies, ginger cookies, Marguerita macarons, chocolate mousse and mini-Victoria sponge cakes. The tea served in the most delicate teacups was Earl Grey, Georgia Peach and Elderflower.
The guests included musicians, Augusta University employees, longtime friends and one of her former journalism students and her two daughters. Debbie is a harpist and plays in churches and various other venues in the area.
It was as my late sister June, who loved tea parties, would have said, “a lovely affair.”
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A Reunion Worth Reporting
The other event was the Augusta West Rotary Club’s media day luncheon and Louis Harris Award Winners Reunion on Thursday at the Brandon Wilde Clubhouse.
Louis Harris (1912-1978) was a longtime editor of The Augusta Chronicle and The Augusta Herald newspapers. He was a renowned journalist, honored by the Georgia General Assembly and Congressional delegations from both Georgia and South Carolina. And since 1978, the club has honored outstanding members of the media in Augusta, including those in attendance Thursday who were:
Phil Kent, 1987; Kathy Marks, 1988; Bob Young, 1989; Sylvia Cooper, 1997; Bob Smith, 1998; Bill Kirby, 1999; Laurie Ott, 2001; Barry Paschal, 2005; Jennie Montgomery, 2006; Don Rhodes, 2012; Mary Morrison, 2013; Austin Rhodes, 2014; Jay Jeffries; 2016; Mary Liz Nolan, 2017; The Family of Louis Harris, 2019.
Augusta West Rotary Club member Frank Spears served as master of ceremonies and introduced the speaker Bill Kirby, longtime editor and columnist for The Augusta Chronicle.
Like the Poor, They Will Always be With Us
A recent commenter in The Augusta Press had suggested I ask Phil Kent about crooked politics of the past in Augusta. So, when the reunion was over, I did, but the story turned out to be about crooked politics in Columbia County.
Phil said it happened in the ‘80s, after he’d come back to The Augusta Chronicle as editorial page editor in 1982.
“And I had a feud with the sheriff of Columbia County, Tom Whitfield,” he said. “I wrote a series of editorials about corruption in the sheriff’s department, and a couple of things happened.
“First, they set me up on a phony DUI arrest when I came into Columbia County. They illegally had me under surveillance in Richmond County. And fortunately, an honest state trooper knew about it. They hauled me to the old Appling jail. I wanted to get the names of everyone. I said, ‘I’m going to be calling my attorney, David Hudson,’ and I said, ‘There is an honest state trooper here. I want him to run the test.’ And they had to let me go. I was not intoxicated, and that infuriated the corrupt sheriff.
“And so, his son was a deputy. His son attacked me at the Holiday Inn in Richmond County. We had to get Billy Morris, the publisher, involved, and he stood behind me. He said, ‘Nobody is going to attack our First Amendment rights and our editor.’ And so, we sued under the First Amendment because my civil rights were violated.”
And they hired a private investigator who found out it was the sheriff’s son who attacked him.
“The election was in 1984, so I was writing editorials in favor of the Republican reform candidate to defeat Tom Whitfield,” Phil continued. “And he was defeated. We had a settlement of the lawsuit – my assault lawsuit. Billy Morris insisted on one thing – that the sheriff write a letter of apology. We ran it on the front page of the newspaper.
“And that’s when I learned I am still pro-law enforcement, but also I have a new appreciation for defendants’ civil rights.”
Whitfield’s defeat and the victory of Otis Hensley as sheriff in 1984, ushered in a new era in Columbia County, Phil said.
“That’s when the county changed from Democrat to Republican,” he said.
Sylvia Cooper is a columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
