Scott’s Scoops: Wanting on the vibrant facet has by no means been a lot enjoyable!

First off, congratulations to the newly sworn in Commissioner Tanya Barnhill-Turnley being appointed to exchange the now (hopefully briefly) retired Alvin Mason.

Barnhill-Turnley could also be a brand new identify to some, however to these actively following the Augusta political world, she has been a type of within the background stirring up optimistic change by working behind the scenes to draw younger individuals to turn into extra politically lively and get entangled within the course of by operating for workplace themselves.

When she says that she likes to view her glass as half-full, she means it, and her optimism is infectious.

Tanya has some actual items on the subject of advertising and has a wall of awards testifying to her skilled savvy. I’ve identified for fairly someday that she would take off her black “set crew” tee-shirt and emerge on stage not the understudy, so I’ve very excessive hopes for her.

The timing was completely proper, and the fee was sensible to see that and appoint her to exchange her statesman predecessor and political mentee, Mason.

Get on the bus or get run over…

The on-again, off-again, a lot hyped presentation by Commissioner Tony Lewis concerning the Charter Review Committee is formally on and off once more.

Lewis had the merchandise tabled on the July 29 agenda of the Administrative Committee till the committee meets once more this month. This drew snickers from each the dais and the gallery as nearly everyone seems to be starting to see a sample.

Poor Lewis can’t appear to catch a break; one week the committee couldn’t handle to attain a quorum, one other week Lewis couldn’t match the assembly into his schedule and this has gone on for weeks.

Naturally, this now has individuals starting to consider that Lewis doesn’t actually have something new to current to his colleagues and constituents, however quite, he’s ready for the committee to truly do one thing he disapproves with and holding his identify on the agenda in case that occurs.

This is mostly what occurs to individuals who make a profession out of being obstructionists. They run out of arguments, their “prophecies of doom’” don’t fairly pan out, and but their egos gained’t permit them to concede they could have been incorrect. Plus, for a few of them, having George Eskola stick a microphone and digicam of their face offers them the headrush feeling of self-importance.

Like the “music” performers we now have as we speak, as a substitute of displaying actual expertise on-stage, they depend on Auto-Tune and prattle on about their “artistic integrity” whereas gyrating round like circus freaks, utterly oblivious to how ridiculous they arrive throughout to an viewers that needs they by no means purchased a ticket to the present.

One factor I’m discovering is that the voters in Augusta has modified markedly over the previous 5 years. I prefer to suppose that The Augusta Press has executed its half over the previous few years by educating the general public and exposing the corruption that has lengthy been this metropolis’s Achilles Heel. The change occurred quite shortly, too shortly for the “Old Guard” that has lengthy trusted the general public shopping for their rhetoric of racial division to maintain them in positions of energy the place they’ll manipulate the system to the advantage of themselves and their pals.

We can lastly say that the Cracker Party is formally lifeless and any supporters left are gently whiling their remaining days away nursing a sipee cup on the veranda of their care residence ready for his or her subsequent spherical of nutritional vitamins and for The Price Is Right! to air one other rerun on the Game Show Network.

Voters have gotten extra vocal and fewer predictable, not glad with the established order, the reasons, the corruption, the pandering and the fixed use of the race card to sow division in one of the vital colorblind communities within the nation.

I’m seeing younger individuals, professionals with youngsters, displaying up at group conferences, city corridor conferences and candidate boards. These are people that, 5 years in the past, wouldn’t have carved out the time of their busy week full of labor stress and laundry woes to go and juggle their tots on their laps to take heed to a candidate for sheriff or the fee communicate to the gang.

These are the individuals driving the “renaissance of political awareness” in Augusta, they’re displaying up for group clean-ups, standing in line to offer blood and donating cash to underdog candidates like Garnett Johnson and Gino “Rock” Brantley. Instead of changing into jaded into considering Augusta is destined to at all times be run by a egocentric elite, they’ve a imaginative and prescient of what they need their metropolis to be and they’re decided to attain that imaginative and prescient, one vote at a time.

Most importantly, Black or White, they’re as oblivious to what the race card is as they’re the Q-Card, which as soon as sat firmly ensconced within the pockets of everybody residing right here. Naturally, they’ve some egocentric motivations. They need their children to decide on to stay in Augusta once they develop up and begin households of their very own.

They wish to spoil their future grandkids in individual, not on FaceTime.

Lewis and his few supporters are sluggish to starting to understand is that with out offering substance, their arguments solely metal the resolve of taxpayers who wish to proceed opening the doorways of prosperity and depart the previous the place it belongs, up to now.

Based on the feedback I hear from this new and vocal bloc, Lewis could wish to go forward and provides that presentation earlier than these voters make good on their promise to unseat him within the subsequent election.

Parents beware!

The pitfall of any first-time elected official is to be seen as charging in like a bull, making drastic modifications and shopping for into their very own hype quite than taking a extra pragmatic strategy and dealing with the instruments they have already got at their avail.

Usually, the result’s that the beginner elected chief finds themselves within the wilderness or they flip into the finger-pointing obstructionist that I’ve simply described.

Sheriff Brantley has very correctly prevented going and begging the fee for cash he is aware of will not be there or occurring a blame tour declaring the already identified faults of his predecessor for not having the ability to elevate the morale amongst his workers.

Instead, Brantley has gone about utilizing the arrows already in his quiver and, after a brief seven full months in workplace, the outcomes are starting to indicate.

Those paying consideration may have famous that, for the primary time in years, there’s a notable legislation enforcement presence in visitors from Riverwatch Parkway to Peach Orchard Road. Even with the staffing scarcity nonetheless affecting legislation enforcement businesses nationwide, Brantley is managing to maintain a cushty variety of deputies on the streets. This is a positive signal, for my part, that morale has improved by lightyears inside the division.

Each week, I obtain a rundown of each perp arrested and photographed on the jail. Instead of seeing a pop-up right here and there on The Jail Reports FaceBook web page, I see the complete checklist.

DUI arrests are up.

Now, I don’t consider that the quantity of people that prefer to put others in peril by driving drunk instantly doubled in a single day. Nope, these individuals are actually, lastly, being taken off the streets by an alert and purpose-driven legislation enforcement presence.

If you take note of the fees listed towards the accused drunk drivers, what you don’t see most frequently is “alcohol less-safe,” which suggests the individual doubtless had two glasses of wine for dinner and barely edged as much as the restrict and nonetheless obtained arrested. 

No, what I’m noticing is that the persons are being charged with DUI in addition to a bunch of different costs like failure to take care of lane, no headlights after darkish, suspended license, no proof of insurance coverage or, goodness forbid, drug possession. These are individuals who should get yanked off the streets and compelled to spend their weekend a visitor of that pitiful jail.

Brantley’s rationale is that the county gave him a badge, a set of handcuffs and a marked police cruiser filled with gasoline, so he may as properly put them to make use of.

Therefore, in case you get pulled over and notice that it’s the sheriff himself conducting the cease, then simply get able to signal your quotation, he’s not there filming his weekly feel-good youTube video.

Last week, Brantley introduced that his officers will probably be imposing the curfew in place limiting when youngsters will be roaming the streets unsupervised.

Take word that Brantley didn’t ask the fee to vary any ordinances or proclaim some type of emergency scenario requiring his officers to verify the ages of the common youth they arrive throughout. He is merely imposing the curfew that’s already on the books.

Brantley additionally despatched the message that oldsters can not duck any duty when their treasured underage offspring errs and locations public security in danger. Parents may nonetheless pitch a tantrum and show their very own absence of excellent function fashions rising up, however I can virtually assure that when these people have their Saturday mornings interrupted by having to choose up trash on the roadways alongside their snotnosed brats, we’ll see much less of the roving gangs of teenagers inflicting mayhem on weekend nights downtown. 

Let’s hope our District Attorney Jared “Training Wheels” Williams follows swimsuit and holds these dad and mom’ ft to the hearth once they and Junior arrive in court docket.

Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, Editorial Page Editor and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at [email protected]