14 JAN 08: H__L TO THE CHIEF

We know the proper way to fill in that blank, should President Bush come back to Fort Benning. But in other places, things could be different. An e-mail to us the other day made that clear....

Sir Richard:

Happy New Year! I just thought I would throw a little garbage your way. Things are really going down to the "Dump" ( pardon the pun) so to speak! Let's see if my attachment fills in some blanks

Constable R.J. Schweiger.

Yes, our contributor from Hurtsboro has contacted us again - the man for whom "trash talk" can have a couple of meanings.

Robert Schweiger attached a letter he mailed last week to Hurtsboro's elected officials. For some reason, it did NOT have "Happy New Year" in its opening line:

To whom it may concern"

Where will it ever end? When will you concede that your inept efforts are far from successful in all areas of corporation management? I won't reiterate the list of shortcomings per se. Let's just concentrate on personnel; on this occasion.

Any management team - worth its salt - conducts background checks before employing ANY applicant! Those to be entrusted with the public's safety and well being should be scrutinized under a microscope! If you people had made ANY effort whatsoever; to discover the past performance and other criteria that either qualifies or disqualifies an applicant for police work you would have the facts that I have in hand! I'm not going to reveal what I've discovered, but, in my opinion; they would make hiring these individuals an act of desperation rather than a sensible choice!

Marvin Christian (our interim Chief) has been observed loitering; in uniform, at The After Five Lounge. When he realized he had been seen, he accosted the observer and made a vague threat. On another occasion (with the Mayor at his side) he used vulgar language and only the citizen's size kept him from getting physical. On 1/9/08 Christian resorted to vulgarities and threats when I engaged him in conversation about the Town's garbage pick-up operation!

This type of verbal outbursts and direct threats are NOT acceptable in any individual - let alone a police officer. I have filed a complaint with the Russell County Sheriff and intend to follow up on it!

Constable R.J. Schweiger

P.S. When the County Deputy arrived; Chief Christian was no where to be found, and both patrol vehicles were left unsecured (doors unlocked) and they remained unsecured through the night and next day. They are probably still unlocked!

I can't resist starting with the P.S. of this letter. I thought one of the wonderful things about living in a small town was that people do NOT have to lock their doors at night. If both Hurtsboro police cars are still there, doesn't that show there's no crime problem? Or are they as broken down as the garbage truck tends to be?

The Constable might be surprised to learn there are plenty of well-known businesses which do NOT conduct employee background checks -- even in Columbus. They might lack the staffing to do it. Or the human resources departments might be too busy using their computers for other things - such as shopping for caterers for upcoming board meetings.

I'm not sure what "facts" R.J. Schweiger is holding in his hand. But a Google search Sunday night for "Marvin Christian" didn't seem to show anything unusual. There was a Marvin Christian who does photography -- but if he's advertising his own web site and there's no "xxx" in the description, I would assume he's legitimate.

A check of the Alabama state court system's web site found a "Marvin Christian" was arrested for menacing last July in Union Springs. That's a town right down Alabama Highway 51 from Hurtsboro. But the charge was dismissed one month later -- so for all I know, that man might have been a "doomsday" preacher.

There's also a Marvin Christian from Union Springs who racked up six speeding convictions from 1998 to 2004. The last one was for driving more than 25 miles over the speed limit. Come to think of it, there are times when a small-town police chief might have to resort to that....

We must note we have no way of knowing if the Marvin Christian listed in these Bullock County court records is the same one who's now the interim Police Chief of Hurtsboro. There could be more than one Christian in east Alabama. After all, the area has so many Baptist churches....

Now to the Constable's list of allegations. How is he defining "loitering" at a lounge? At some nightclubs on Broadway, this might have a different name - police overtime pay.

Since we try to keep this blog G-rated, I don't plan to ask about what sort of vulgarities Marvin Christian used in recent days. But it seems R.J. Schweiger is on a campaign to go far beyond cleaning up Hurtsboro's garbage - he wants to clean up the town's mouths as well.

(Perhaps the Constable is inspired by a proposal near St. Louis to ban swearing inside bars. Opponents of the ban planned to hold an organizational meeting - and hopefully their children were left with babysitters.)

If Marvin Christian did the things Constable R.J. Schweiger is claiming.... well, wouldn't that explain the "interim" in the police chief's title? The Hurtsboro City Council may have him on a preliminary "probation" of sorts. Bring out the audio tapes - and as they say in football, after further review we could have a reversal.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Now to Columbus law enforcement, and a fugitive we mentioned here Sunday....

I think American's Most Wanted did not cover the murders of the college students by Registe because they used several minutes in a memorial piece about one of their own who died this week...So,perhaps next Saturday night they will cover this slime ball..I wonder if his sister will be charged with helping him escape since she bought his plane ticket out of Columbus after the killings..?

Your theory about the missing mention of Michael Registe seems to be correct. WRBL reported Sunday evening that the case will be mentioned on next weekend's program. Why the Fox network thinks WRBL carries this program, I'm not really sure....

The question about Michael Registe's sister is a good one. It's possible she could make a plea deal, and become a prime government witness against him - unless, of course, someone bought HER a plane ticket to Dominica in the last six months.

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION on a proposed Georgia gun law closed Sunday evening - and two-thirds of you support a law guaranteeing the right to keep a firearm in a locked car at your workplace (10-5). That settles it for me. I'm not touching anybody's bumpers from now on - even if it means I can't parallel park for blocks.

Without our realizing it, we posted our question as National Rifle Association officials visited Georgia lawmakers in Atlanta. The N.R.A. executives said a proposal similar to what we described would allow you to be protected in your car, while heading to and from work. Those teenagers promoting donut sales on street corners had better show open boxes -- and have no orange icing.

Now to other items of interest from Sunday's news:

+ WRCG-AM remained off the air, two days after it hoped to finally repair vandalism to its tower. The staff of this station has to be frustrated. Dozens of people must be calling, to complain it's part of the vast media conspiracy against Presidential candidate Ron Paul.

+ Auburn assaulted Georgia in women's basketball 82-52. The highlights on WRBL showed a giant curtain behind one of the baskets at Beard-Eaves Coliseum. Either the crowd was embarrassingly small - or Auburn's women were celebrating "Extreme Makeover Home Edition Day."

+ Instant Message to all Publix customers: Please note for the next couple of days, a half-gallon of soy milk costs less than a half-gallon of cow's milk. Buy vanilla, and you'll probably like it. Buy plain, and it might taste.... well, just plain.

SCHEDULED THIS WEEK: Did you receive an invitation to a conference on Internet moneymaking? We'll save you the trouble....

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