Developing Stories--Conecuh County Landfill and BP Contract $$ to Senator Trip Pittman

"No Opposition"?

Conecuh County, Town of Repton--The controversial mega landfill planned for Conecuh County saga is heating up again with the owners of the landfill (Conecuh Woods, LLC) filing for a dismissal of the case citing there is "no opposition" to the landfill.

March 11, 2011:

With more than 400 people seated in the auditorium and hundreds more in line at the start of the hearing, five county commissioners listened as Stone and his attorney took about 30 minutes to defend the Conecuh Woods LLC project that would be built on a 5,100-acre tract.

During several hours of the hearing, with people allotted five minutes to speak, six supported the landfill, while hundreds opposed it.

A hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, September 21 @ 11:00 am in the Conecuh County Courthouse.

Opposition to the landfill is fierce and lawsuits have been filed to stop the project. "No opposition" is a non-starter of an argument, but that never stopped crafty lawyers from obfuscating the reality of an issue with propaganda before. It will be interesting to see how the court rules in the motion to dismiss.

The "Republican tractor" Senator Pittman

Baldwin County, Alabama--According to a report in today's Baldwin County Now, Grand Jury subpoenas have been served on Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant, City Administrator Greg Mims, Purchasing Manger Dan Ames and Information Technology Director Jason Colee "in that probe of the $635,000 contract to Pittman Trucking Company of Daphne in 2010" for post BP spill cleanup services.

Senator Pittman defended himself by feigning ignorance because he had not yet had the ethics training mandated by the state when the 'sweeping ethics reform package" was passed by the Alabama legislature in December 2010.

The Pittman Trucking Co. is owned by Senator Trip Pittman-R and Bob James of the Baldwin County Commission. Former Alabama Governor Bob Riley put Senator Pittman in charge (along with Rep. Steve McMillan-R) of $1.2 million dollars allotted to Baldwin County from BP to administer at his discretion:

The issue has grown out of Pittman Tractor Co. winning a bid from Fairhope to provide booms around the city and the Grand Hotel in the wake of the oil disaster. Citizen activists have filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission saying Pittman’s company should never have even bid for the job, much less received it, because not only is he a state senator, but he also had been chosen by Gov. Bob Riley to help oversee BP funds coming into Baldwin County.

The Alabama Ethics Commission answered the complaints by refusing to investigate Pittman and James. Have the feds finally taken notice of the huge impropriety of the senator's (and the former governor's) actions?

More on the back-story here
*Updated Monday PM--David Ferrara Mobile Press Register story on Pittman inquiry

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Brute Force Unchecked--84 Year-Old Man Beaten by Fairhope, Alabama Police Officer

*Updated--Thursday pm--We're hearing from more than a few sources that Officer Scott and Kevin Stokes "were calling each other by their first names" during the incident.
* Second update May 25th--Fairhope PD claims "no abuse, interference by Henderson"

Thug on the loose Officer Trent Scott (center) flanked by FPD Chief Dr. Bill Press (R) and Gary Glover (L) Chairman of the Citizen Advisory Committee, who dressed up for the occasion.

The Courthouse News Service reports on the incredible story of an elderly citizen who called the Fairhope Police after an accident occurred near his home in May of 2009. The driver of the car was "severely intoxicated," and the local citizen caller, Mr. Dorsey Henderson, who's now the epitome of no good deed goes unpunished, made the 911 call in an attempt to do what he believed was his civic duty.

What happened next is shocking and unbelievable to imagine, but it's what happens regularly in one form or another in this state that's rapidly become the poster child of bad behavior in every faction of its public and governmental agencies.

When Officer Trent Scott arrived on the scene, Henderson attempted to inform him of the driver's belligerent behavior and that the driver had been placed under citizens arrest. The officer allegedly told Henderson there was "no such thing as citizen's arrest in Alabama," and to "get out of the way, old man."

After Henderson tried to explain that he was only trying to help, Officer Scott placed him in an arm bar and slammed him face first into the ground, breaking his nose and eyeglasses. Henderson's wife, Dorris, watched from a wheelchair at the front window of her house, telling a 911 dispatcher that the officer was "beating the hell out of my husband."

We've not seen any prominent state media coverage of the story, but now that the Courthouse News Service and Raw Story have run with it, after the filing of a lawsuit in the case, this will be added as another piece of garbage to the ever growing pile of stench that Alabama seems to be hell-bent on becoming.

It's interesting to note that the rogue officer received an award for Officer of the Month in December 2010 from the FPD after this incident occurred. Alabama has this dysfunctional reward system for bad behavior that is unparalleled and unrivaled in any other state. One might say it's "world-class."

Additionally, a commenter to the Raw Story coverage states that they made a call to the FPD and were met with an acerbic and "nasty militant yell over you type" FPD employee who continued the denial line of Officer Scott that the victim "wasn't really hurt."

A "broken nose, torn rotator cuff and multiple contusions and lacerations" apparently don't fit the FPD's definition of injuries, and furthermore, if you beat up an elderly man, who committed NO CRIME, in front of his wife, not only are you not held accountable, you might even get official recognition for your 'outstanding service and devotion' to your job.

That 2010 award was based on his "determination and persistence in a drug investigation" because rooting out illegal drugs, democrats and gambling will elevate your position and pay faster than a rocket ship strapped to your behind bound for the moon in Alabama's way of promotion.

Nice to know we have our 19th century priorities all straight and continue to "move forward to being a world-class state" isn't it?

If you would like to have a go at the FPD here's your number: (251) 928-2385

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