STEVEN A. McCALEB
103 ALVERADO DRIVE
LONG BEACH, MISSISSIPPI 39560
PHONE & FAX: (228)-868-8428
E-MAIL: mccaleb5thdist@aol.com
WEB SITE: www.mississippiwebsite.com
By ROBIN FITZGERALD
THE SUN HERALD
Friday, August 18, 2006
I now can understand why Long Beach
seems to never have
enough money.
Dunston,
whose interim position was to end Sept. 30, resigned Wednesday, the day after
aldermen declined to act on his recommendation to demote the top five police
officials and lower their pay.
Deputy Chief John Carrubba, Capt. John Wells and Sgt. Dee Schultz were the
officers called to meet behind closed doors with aldermen Thursday. They also
are among the five officers Dunston recommended for demotion. They were
unavailable for comment after Thursday's meeting.
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach mayor will ask the Harrison County sheriff to lend the city a top-ranking official to fill the post of interim police chief.
You know it's getting bad when our Mayor is requesting help from the Harrison County Sheriff.
Perhaps our Mayor's leadership is faulting.
The Board of Aldermen unanimously authorized the move at a called meeting Thursday, the day after interim Police Chief Mark Dunston resigned.
I can understand why chief Dunston resigned as police chief, I believe even he sees the Fraud, Waste, & Abuse of our elected officials.
“We've got confidence in Sheriff (George) Payne and trust him to assign somebody who will do a good job,” Mayor Robert Bass said.
Who is this "We" the Mayor is talking about.
It must be him and his aldermen, I sure don't want too be counted as a "We" do you.
Before making the decision, aldermen spent an hour in executive session, then called in the city's top three police officers for five minutes before reopening the meeting to the public. The vote passed without any discussion or comments.
Since Long Beach has three (3) top police officers, why are our elected officials looking for police chief George Payne to fill our empty slot.
Dunston, whose interim position was to end Sept. 30, resigned Wednesday, the day after aldermen declined to act on his recommendation to demote the top five police officials and lower their pay.
Dunston did the right thing, but it's bad to use a person and then deceive him.
Deputy Chief John Carrubba, Capt. John Wells and Sgt. Dee Schultz were the officers called to meet behind closed doors with aldermen Thursday. They also are among the five officers Dunston recommended for demotion. They were unavailable for comment after Thursday's meeting.
I believe all of the police officers which have been over paid, pay all of the money back our taxpayers have been paying all this time.
And I would like an explanation from each alderman on why they were paying these police officers, even though they were not working as police chief's.
Dunston had already declined to accept the police chief's job on a permanent basis because he and the aldermen could not agree on financial terms. His salary for the interim position was $55,900 a year, even though he devoted only two weeks of every month to that job. His predecessor, Tom Bishop, was paid $42,600 a year.
I want too know exactly how much of the taxpayers money has been paid to all five police officers which have been grossly over paid.
Bass said it is “extremely premature” to discuss whether the city will ask the sheriff to take over law enforcement in Long Beach.
Does the below statement sound, "extremely premature"
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach mayor will ask the Harrison County sheriff to lend the city a top-ranking official to fill the post of interim police chief.
“We want to maintain stability right now,” the mayor said.
Where is our leadership in Long Beach?
Robin Fitzgerald can be reached at 896-2307 or at rfitzgerald@sunherald.com
STEVEN A. McCALEB
COMMENTARY
MY OPINION