Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 11-6-15 Edition

Editorials/Columns
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Was Mrs. Elia A Good Superintendent?
Don’t Worry; Mice Love Cheese
ast week the U. S. Depart-
ment of Justice and the Tampa division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) announced that they were offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to an ar- rest in any of the four unsolved murders involving shooting vic- tims Lyfe Coleman, Jamylin Turner, Edward Harris, III, and Mrs. Sharon Darns Watkins.
It was a nice gesture that, I imagine, was designed to give the families of those slain hope that the individuals responsible for the death of their loved ones will eventually be brought to justice. But, the truth of the matter is that, the substantial cash reward still may not be enough to make people come forward.
This is not to say that these murders will go unsolved. I just seriously doubt that it will hap- pen in the form of a suspect being identified by someone seeking a bounty.
What the average person who exists outside of the param- eters of the criminal underworld doesn't understand is that infor- mation is currency with a value worth well north of $15,000 for certain individuals. The people who are keeping their lips
sealed probably aren't doing so because of some misguided alle- giance to a street code. They are, more than likely, holding the info until a time when it can be used to their greatest personal benefit.
The so called "No Snitching" trend that's been criticized so frequently over the last ten years is really just a very bad joke. Any federal agent or per- son who has served time in a federal facility will tell you that cooperating with authorities is as popular as body sculpting for a large majority of individuals who go to the feds.
The first thing a federal agent normally asks a person after his or her arrest is "do you want to help yourself?" And the answer, more often than not, is typically "Don't mind if I do."
I have personally been around men who showed no signs of remorse after informing on their cousins, mothers, brothers, fathers, sons or any- one else they believed they could give up to reduce their prison sentences. One individ- ual in a federal institution in South Carolina was so loyal to the process that he went as far as to report a female officer to her superiors for wearing her pants too tight. True story.
The only reason why this kind of cooperation between cops and criminals is not as fluid on the state prison level is due to the fact that state prison- ers aren't given credit for their assistance. In other words, for them, there's no incentive to turn into what's often consid- ered a "rat."
If the Florida Department of Corrections followed the De- partment of Justice's lead across the board they wouldn't have to worry about unsolved cases of any kind because people would be lined up to spill the beans in an effort to go home. While a life sentence under State law usu- ally means going home in a cas- ket, in the feds it only lasts until a person decides to slide on his or her mouse ears.
If I could offer any advice to the family of the victims I would tell them to be as patient as pos- sible. The way the system is set up, combined with the mental weakness currently running rampant in the streets, it's only a matter of time before someone with direct knowledge of what transpired in those murders finds themselves in a situation where they'll have to decide be- tween continuing to play the role of "gangsta" or using that information as a chance to get out of jail for free.
And, being a betting man, my money is on them suddenly de- veloping a strong taste for cheese.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@- yahoo.com.
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as MaryEllen Elia a
good superintendent? MaryEllen is the terminated superintendent of Hillsbor- ough County School System. Whether or not she was a good
one depends on who you ask. Some say she was and some say she was not. You couldn’t get a definite answer
so I will ask the facts.
It is a fact that MaryEllen
was chosen as one of the top four superintendents in the nation. That in itself is a huge honor and it spoke volumes for Mrs. Elia being good at her job. Mrs. Elia had a large gallery of followers who were positive she was doing a fine job, included in that group is the mayor of the city.
The School Board kept re- newing her contract, too.
Finally, there was that group who believed that two members of the Board were just out to get her.
So much for the aye voters. And now, for the naysayers.
This group that said Ms. Elia should have been fired because she was doing a poor job. This group includes Board mem- bers, employees and some par- ents.
The first problem attrib- uted to the departed superin- tendent was her inability to get along with the Board, her bosses, was well documented said one board member.
Allegedly, MaryEllen did what she wanted to do without communicating with the Board. When the Board re- quested information she pro- vide them with what she wanted to and when she wanted to.
There were allegations that lawsuits had gone up against the school district. The school district’s bus fleet was among the oldest in the state.
Student achievement was among the poorest in the state. Employees said Mary- Ellen had a tight group of em- ployees who did her will. A
mess was made out of the $80 million Gates Grant.
Enough about Mrs. Elia’s alleged shortcoming.
Let us remember the say- ing that if it happens on your watch then it falls under the heading of your responsibility.
My question is if all of this was happening under MaryEllen’s tenure, what took the Board so long to ter- minate her contract?
This is a reflection on the School Board. The Board must be held to the same standard of, if it happens on your watch, then it is their fault, too.
Was MaryEllen Elia a good caretaker for Hillsbor- ough County’s schools? Was she a bad one?
I talk to folks on both sides of the ball, nobody I talked to changed their opinions.
I ask the facts and they re- fuse to give an opinion. I would not dare stick my nose in such a controversial matter. I am going to join the facts and advise all who may be inter- ested to form their own opin- ion about the subject.
If there is a lesson to be learned from this debacle, then it should be applied to the new superintendent and the rest of the school district. Hopefully, this will never happen again.
C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
President Obama And After-Prison Reform
nce again, we congratulate President Barack Obama
for another slam-dunk initiative on his humanitarian efforts toward post-prison reform.
The fact that on his watch more than 6,000 former in- mates have been set free due to their non-violent pasts has said volumes about a president of a nation that has more people behind bars than any other nation on the face of the earth.
But this editorial isn’t only about President Obama.
It also presents a story that maybe you’ve heard before. Allow us to introduce you to a young man we’ll call Billy, a former convict who served time for a drug offense, did his time and then was thrust back into a world.
Five years since his release from prison, young Billy tried to get a job at an agency that had proudly boasted its willing- ness to hire ex-felons with non-violent records. But Billy would soon discover talk was cheap. He went before an in- terview with a department head who then referred him to the agency’s human resource arm only to be informed that, even with the best of references, Billy was still considered a criminal.
The young man wept with frustration. Yet, nothing could be done. So, this is our cry to President Obama: You have met with Congress and the states. You have freed human be- ings who, having shed no one’s blood, did not deserve to grow old and die behind bars. But until you meet with mu- nicipal agencies and the leaders of private business, the out- come for ex-convicts looking for work will be sadly be “business-as-usual.”
Leave Gunsmoke At Home
egarding Florida legislators’ most recent bid to allow
people to openly carry firearms, Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter says, “Officers have a tough enough job with the way the world is now. . . This is just one more ele- ment of danger I’d prefer my men and women not have to deal with.”
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri (imagining a Spring Break season packed with drunk and packing juve- niles) responds, “It would be a great concern to have people with firearms stuck in their bathing suits walking up and down Gulf Boulevard.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee simply says, “It’s just not safe.” At least 47 of Florida’s 67 Sheriffs are against the idea of people being allowed to openly carry guns as if they were bit-players in a Wild West movie. We agree with the 47 sheriffs.
However, those who argue on behalf of Gunsmoke ex- plain the State-sponsored bill would not only restore and vindicate the Second Amendment (which gives people the right to bear arms to protect themselves), but would pro- mote public safety among Florida’s 1.5 million gun permit holders.
Said one supporter (who happens to have been a sheriff), “If you look like you’re prepared for the fight, people aren’t going to fight you.”
But here’s a troubling question: How would you know the good-guys from the bad-guys?
There once was a place where America was packing, openly and unapologetically. Its name was Dodge City, which featured the celebrated cemetery called “Boot Hill.” Millions of Americans sat glued to their TV-sets watching
men like Marshall Matt Dillion swagger up and down dusty streets with firearms strapped to their thighs. It’s how the West was won.
But now, in retrospect, we fear, if Florida and other states proceed with this new gun law, we will be witnessing the beginning of “How Western Society, and all it stands for, Was Lost!”
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