Good morning to everyone that is aware of the issues surrounding Georgia District Attorney Paul Howard. You’re thinking… what the heck do I care about the issues about a Georgia County DA? As far as I know, none of my followers live in Georgia, so I’d say…. Give me a second and I’ll explain.
Yesterday the Fulton County Georgia D.A. charged 2 officers with crimes for the death of Rayshard Brooks. He’s the man that was intoxicated & asleep at the wheel of a car in the Wendy’s drive thru. His very civil demeanor (the DA’s words.. not mine) while interacting with the police is to be commended. Mr. Brooks answered questions, offered a solution to simply “walk to his sister’s house” and thereby avoiding the whole ordeal of paperwork, handcuffs, booking into jail, etc. So, you see Mr. Brooks was in fact really trying to help the officers have a pleasant evening by allowing their encounter in the parking lot to be just a quick conversation and everyone could go their separate ways and continue on with their night. But.. it didn’t go that way as we’ve all seen. Mr. Brooks violated his parole conditions, assaulted the officers, stole their taser and ran for the hills with it. But, let’s continue with the DA… according to him, the officers at that point should have just let him go. He was running AWAY from them, he was absolutely no threat. He had a TASER, but that’s not really “A Weapon” so it’s all good. Oh really???
A mere 2 weeks ago, this EXACT same D.A. charged 6 officers for the “violent arrest of 2 college students who were tazed and pulled from their car during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.” At the end of this press conference (again I reiterate… 2 WEEKS AGO) he stated that “A TASER is considered a deadly weapon under Georgia law”. Did you get that? In the span of 14 days a taser went from being a deadly weapon under Georgia law to the equivalent of a water gun or nerf noodle. Not a weapon, not a threat, nothing to be concerned with. So, either the Georgia legislature is one of the quickest governing bodies in this country and they evaluated and voted to remove it from being considered a deadly weapon in 2 short weeks OR… Mr. Paul Howard thinks we are all stupid and can’t remember what he said 14 days ago.
I did a bit of digging… are you aware that Mr. Howard is in a tough fight to secure the nomination to even be on the ballot in the November election? His campaign has also been accused by 2 workers of sexual harassment (which he denies). He is also under investigation by the state ethics commission over alleged campaign financial disclosure law violations. His political challengers say that he isn’t focused on progressive criminal justice initiatives and is not working to ensure justice for the minorities in the community. I realize all of that is just accusations and political campaign speak, BUT… what’s the quickest way to silence the criticism that you don’t have the safety and rights of your most vulnerable citizens at heart?? STAND IN FRONT OF A MICROPHONE AND ANNOUNCE CHARGES AGAINST 2 PEOPLE THAT KILLED A VULNERABLE CITIZEN.
So… back to the beginning… if you don’t live in Georgia, how the heck does this effect you? Do you live somewhere with a police force? Do they carry weapons? Do you have a D.A. with the power to prosecute them? Is your D.A. up for re-election? Does your D.A. need votes from the minority citizens in your community in order to be elected? …. WHAT is your D.A. willing to do to get those votes???? Do your research. That position in government can support your local police officers or he can charge them with murder for doing their job and stopping a violent criminal with a deadly weapon.
On a personal note…. yesterday I had to GO to the dreaded Shelby County Clerk’s office to renew an expired car tag. It was SOOO past due that I couldn’t do it online, I had to go in person. Off I went to stand OUTSIDE the building (because of the WuFlu) with 30 other people waiting our turn. After 45 minutes of sweating and getting pretty close to the front of the line, one of the Clerk’s came outside and said they were ordered to close immediately by the county. No reason given. Who the heck knows why… bomb threat, computers down… they didn’t give any details. So back home I went. You would think this would make my day an aggravating disaster. But it wasn’t. My day started off in the most wonderful way by sharing coffee with a sweet friend that I haven’t seen in a long time but has been on my mind every day for months. It was such an enjoyable visit. A few hours later, I got a call from a relative that I adore but haven’t spoken with in years. We’ve emailed eachother through the years, but I haven’t heard his voice in quite a while. Our phone visit was also wonderful and it was great to catch up. So, my advice… you don’t know what aggravating situations will occur during your day, but if you fill it with just a few moments of wonderfulness…. the other stuff can be forgotten. Take your phone, go to your contacts…. spin that puppy like you’re playing The Big Spin on Price is Right and when it lands on a person that you haven’t spoken to or seen in months or years…. give them a call. Just to say hello. That call can make your day or theirs a pleasant one regardless of the other crap that happens.
Good Day!
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