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It’s not easy to shock me. I’ve been around for over a half a century
and seen amazing things. I must admit, though, that I was stunned to my
shoes earlier this week.
Folks have been warning me that our Electric Department chief
Adrian Garth (Cousin of Cloyd) would be seeking to promote Antwinette
Spratt (hereinafter called “Light Fingered Louise” or simply “Lewie,”)
(Cousin of rookie alderman David Ewing) into the position previously held by long time APUD employee Peggy Pace,
who retired earlier this year. Naturally, being a true believer in the
system and something of an idealist, I scoffed at the very idea. Nobody in
their right mind would promote a person who’d been caught with her
fingers in the cash drawer. What I failed to realize was, at least three
of our aldermen are not in their right minds. Duh!
Indebtedness is a sticky thing.
When people help you get what you want (like re-elected) by doing
unethical and sometimes illegal things, it follows that you must return
the favor. Cases in point:
Many of the disconnect notices which are issued from the Electric
Department are signed by “Lewie” Spratt.
So are the reconnect orders. She holds the “light” in her
little hands. If you’re a friend of her friends, she’ll let you slide.
If you happen to be an enemy of her friends, you get harassed. It goes
without saying that Adrian Garth is equally if not more involved in these
activities. (I know this from unpleasant personal experience and maybe,
when I have nothing better to do, I’ll get around to suing.)
Knowing all of this, I should not have been surprised when Lewie
got a promotion and a hefty raise last Tuesday. Nevertheless, I was
flummoxed.
At that same meeting, I understand that Cemetery Department boss
Jessie Tate was expected to announce his retirement. To his certain
credit, Tate seems to recognize that when he goes Loudmouth Leo Gibson
will be a shoo-in for his position. Why? Loudmouth doesn’t like to work.
He has been known to flounce off to the house when he’s told to do
something he dislikes, so why would he be rewarded with a promotion and a
raise? Well, it turns out that Loudmouth Leo Gibson is the chief
lieutenant of the Mississippi Mafia. (I refer, of course, to Cloyd Garth
and Alonzo Sykes.) He’s the “brains” behind gathering the votes
these two crooks need to keep their cushy city jobs.
Loudmouth Leo uses various and sundry approaches to garner these
votes. His favored tools
include intimidation, threats, lies and violence – all of which are
felony abuses State and Federal law. So, when a guy like Leo does you a
favor, he gets paid handsomely from the city coffers – which, by the
way, is also highly illegal. Anyway, the bottom line here is, Jessie Tate
has kindly reconsidered his retirement and will stay around awhile longer.
Thanks Jessie!
I’ve been rolling this situation around in my mind for some time.
I simply cannot understand how it can happen in the
United States of America
that bad deeds are rewarded and good deeds get punished.
I do have an idea sprouting, though.
Some philosopher back in time said that the beginning of the end of
any civilization comes when the people learn they can use the system to
line their own pockets. Once they start electing people for the purpose of
obtaining money for themselves, the entire society collapses. Welcome to
Impunity,
Mississippi
, where the word accountability
cannot be found in the dictionary,
nor coming from the lips of three of our
alderthugs.
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