POLITICAL CORRUPTION IS A NATIONWIDE ISSUE AFFECTING ALL OF US. ALABAMA RANKS #5 AS THE MOST CORRUPT STATE. *DOJ 2007 stats
Something is very wrong in the Land of Cotton


PERTINENT ENVIRONMENTAL AND CORRUPTION ISSUES IN OTHER STATES ARE ALSO DISCUSSED


NO OTHER COMMUNITY, RICH OR POOR, URBAN OR SUBURBAN,BLACK, BROWN,RED, YELLOW OR WHITE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BECOME AN "ENVIRONMENTAL SACRIFICE ZONE."

Dr. Robert Bullard
Environmental Justice Movement Founder

Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Grandiose Ego of Albert Turner, Jr.---Perry County, Alabama's Coal Ash Cad

"We are on our way up."
"Glory be to God that we was able to hit this landfill deal and hit this coal ash."
Perry County Alabama Commissioner Albert Turner, Jr.

It isn't commonplace to hear God and coal ash mentioned in favorable terms, but leave it to Mr. Turner to come up with a way to intertwine God's blessings with four million tons of toxic coal ash from the TVA Kingston spill dumped in Perry County, Alabama. We can't imagine that there are any coal ash dumps in heaven, but maybe in Mr. Turner's visions of the skyward paradise there are.

The $4,000,000,000 windfall in dumping fees that remains largely in the control of the County Commission is heaven for them (him), but for the residents of Perry County the effects of the coal ash are a living hell, and in their eyes, Turner is a literal black devil.

They're right. He is.

And he's a proud devil with great ambitions and full of self-importance.

The following *pictures were sent to us by a reader who found them on the newly constructed (November 2010) Albert Turner, Jr. page. It seems that he feels the need for further self-aggrandizement, despite the fact that Perry County has an official governmental page with commission minutes and pictures of all the commissioners already.
*(We apologize for the bad quality, but that's how they appear, pun intended.)
A "presidential" Turner and his official really tacky lavender Oval Office attire
This man has no shame and an ego the size of the Arrowhead landfill that received the bulk of the coal ash because when he does things like this recent presidential posing, it illustrates in "a picture's worth a thousand words" terms just how pompous and narcissistic he really is.  

In an October 12, 2010 County Commission meeting # 70, located on this Turner site, we noticed that the coal ash cash is flowing like the landfill leachate and some of the amounts are quite large in certain areas.

Motion by Albert Turner and seconded by Clarence Black to adopt the appropriation budget in the amount of $461,289.00.  Nea:  Brett Harrison.  The motion was carried.

Motion by Albert Turner and seconded by Clarence Black to adopt the Commission budget in the amount of $828,953.  Nea: Brett Harrison

Motion by Albert Turner to adopt the Elections budget in the amount of $104,165. The motion was carried.

Motion by Albert Turner and seconded by Clarence Black to conditionally approve the in the amount of Sheriff/Jail budget $843,515. The motion was carried.

Motion by Albert Turner and seconded by Tim Sanderson to adopt the Ambulance Services budget in the amount of $228,000. The motion was carried.

Are these fiscal decisions and appropriations really benefiting the citizens or are they benefiting "friends?"

There aren't any pictures on this site of anything or anyone else in Perry County. Nineteen of them are of Turner with various individuals, some well-known, some not so much, and in one of the pictures we see a woman in need of a garment check before she has a wardrobe malfunction:

Wouldn't your Facebook page be a more appropriate place for this Commissioner Turner? 

There's nothing about this site that remotely resembles a majority of official county websites that we know of. This is one big self promotion, and it's offensive Mr. Turner, considering what your constituents and a large majority of the press says about the inside deal you pulled over on the residents of Perry County when you agreed to allow their community to become a toxic dumping ground.
*Untangling a toxic story: Perry County's coal ash tragedy
There are plenty of villains here, and heroes, too. The contradictions are towering.

Take Albert Turner Jr., for example, a cad to the masses in Perry County, black and white. His father, Albert Sr., was a beloved leader of the civil rights movement, a brave man who risked his life for the cause. Albert the younger, on the other hand, a county commissioner, is about maintaining power in his corner of the Black Belt.
"It would be economic racism if they didn't send it here," he said. "This is economic survival for one of the poorest counties in the nation. Poor people sought this."
Commissioner Albert Turner, Jr.


"You can't find ten people in Uniontown, other than these officials, that want that ash down there."
Michael Jackson--District Attorney

"I think that a lot of the time he really believes that what he's doing is going to be good for Perry County. But I think that's always second in line to the most important thing which is that it's going to be good for Albert Turner."
John Allen Clark--Local Journalist

Shame on you Mr. Turner. 

The words of the great Dr. Robert Bullard, one of the nation's leading authorities on environmental justice, describing how the dirty coal ash deal was perpetrated on Perry County;
"It was not a vote. It was not a referendum. It was a decision that was made..deals that were cut by the County Commission, TVA and EPA. That's not democracy, that's basically a dictatorship."
We completely agree Dr. Bullard.

The sins of Albert Turner, Jr. run deep and dark and are as filthy as coal ash.

"What happens to a county when its only chance for economic growth lies in a pollutant?"
Perry County film by N'Jeri Eaton & Matt Durning
*In a particularly telling moment in the film, the good bureaucrats of the EPA hold a public meeting. Residents are asked to voice their opinion about bringing the coal ash to Perry County.

But not a single resident showed up. It seems Commissioner Turner had scheduled another event, a classic car show, a barbecue and a health fair on the same day, at the same time, as the EPA public meeting.

Eaton and Durning capture his dark cynical humor when he drops by the EPA's empty meeting hall, gazes around and says, "and look at the crowd."
It was a trick out of Robert Moses' playbook and a sickening display of the usurping of civil society. If it makes you angry, just think how it makes a good many of the people of Perry County feel.
It is a tribute to Eaton, from Maryland, and Durning, from Massachusetts, both who now live in the Bay Area, that they could come to the heart of the Black Belt and get it right.

"PERRY COUNTY" Trailer from N'Jeri Eaton on Vimeo.

Legal news and developments in Perry County coal ash issue from Beasley Allen.
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9 comments:

  1. This man is a horrible excuse for a public official. He should be drawn and quartered in a court of law for the obvious misuse of office (personal gain) and investigated for possible (probably) bribery.
    Miserable mouse (rat) of man...

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  2. Mack-Daddy Obama wanna poser.

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  3. I notice he's posing with Shelby and Sessions in a couple of the pictures, the poster children of special interests in Alabama.
    Lying down with dogs usually results in "fleage."
    Did you see the article on the lack of ethics and lobbyists influence in today's Bham News? That attitude is not confined to Goat Hill, the criminals learn on the local level first.

    http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/11/alabama_trails_many_states_in.html

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  4. Pictures that wind up on websites of public officials don't get there by accident. They're usually chosen to portray a certain image and message.
    What's Mr. Turner saying to visitors?
    Not anything good that's for certain.

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  5. He's quite the natty dresser for a county commissioner. Kind of reminds me of Larry Langford who shopped at the Bill Blount haberdashery.
    Perry County has a population of just over 10,000 according to the 2009 census estimate. Why are they appropriating almost 1,000,000,000 for the jail? Is the entire county in jail?
    Same question for the ambulance services. Are they using them as public transportation?

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  6. Who's the surgically enhanced barbie doll Turner's grinning with?

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  7. CRESTWOOD---

    Thanks for the link to a very interesting story.
    Three words come to mind--Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

    We remember hearing Scott Beason-R Gardendale (Jack Biddle's old seat) talking with a local radio host about the meeting called in Montgomery.

    He told the host he did not know about it until the last minute, and that this may "not be the best way to start things out" with the new legislature.

    Jabo Waggoner was the organizer for the quickly called meeting, whom we hear most legislators are afraid of crossing--he's got too much power and he's not shy about using it to intimidate.

    If Beason didn't know about the meeting until the last minute, how did the "lunch lobbyist" know about it and what was he doing there anyway?

    The new GOP majority of the House held a lunch meeting recently to pick new leaders, and Hubbard said Sumner was invited to talk to the group about the need for ethics reform.

    A lobbyist offered to pick up the tab.

    "Frankly, I didn't think it was a good idea," Hubbard said. "I just didn't think while we're having that discussion we should be having a lobbyist pick up the cost of the lunch."


    Expect business as usual with the crooks and liars of Goat Hill. Nothing's changed, nor will it, despite what they say.

    MAX

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  8. Turner is mean and angry man who shames his father's memory.
    Even worse, he does not care that he does.

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  9. Of course no one will ever know what happened to the money that was "stolen" from Albert Turner Sr...But in the years following the "theft" isn't it ironic that the Turner family lived a higher lifestyle..."Things that make you say, 'Hmmmmm...'." Of course a full accounting of the $4 million is needed. The question will be: Who profitied from the coal ash landfill? It certainly was NOT the voting residents.

    The EPA's "public" meeting. In addition to the other events Turner sponsored and/or supported that day, the "public" meeting was not widely announced in advance. As I recall, it wasn't even in the Legal Notices section of any of the local newspapers, nor was it announced on the radio, TV, or local government internet sites until a day or so before. The rationale given at the time was a half-apology insincerely given...Again, "Things that make you say, 'Hmmmmm...'." As other posters have stated, many of the decisions behind the coal ash landfill were made behind closed doors and away from public scrutiny. This is how the nazi party and Adolf Hitler got their start in pre-WWII Germany--read the history and you'll also find this is exactly how Vladimir Lenin achieved and concentrated his power over then Russia through the Boleshevicks, just had Hitler had repeated 10-15 years later.

    Perry County elections: We're not supposed to pay any attention to the ongoing, yet coincidently stalled investigation into election fraud in Perry County during the 2008 general election...Yeah, "Pay no attention to man behind the curtain! Just drink the Kool-Aid." All that aside, because it probably won't be final until after the 2012 general election, during the general election last NOV, several people complained about men loitering around outside polling places in Perry County. Many of those men were Albert Turner Jr's minions. Rumors have it that this will spread to neighboring counties in 2012. While there was no violence, the men did impede some voters, mainly whites and a few blacks not friendly to their cause. It seems that his web is expanding and all I can advise here is to go to vote en masse in 2012 if you live in Perry County or any of it's surrounding counties. I intend to take off the 2012 election day, so I can drive to all the polling place in Perry and the surrounding counties and take pictures of loiterers to put on the internet and share with the media.

    The "Law": Under the tyrannical control of Albert Turner Jr, the "law" has become just a bit skewed. If he or one of his chronies (henchmen) call the police (or EMS, or the Fire Dept) anywhere in Perry County, they have immediate service. The rest of us wait for over an hour! The emergency is over by then! The County Commission states that this is just a coincidence and more money is needed either from higher taxes or AL/US Gov't grants. Of course if the situation requiring a 911 call involves any of Albert Turner Jr's friends (henchmen), you will be found at fault in some way, even if the others were in commission of a crime (e.g., Breaking and Entering, Trespassing, Theft, etc.); so, what good does that do?

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