Newspaper Page Text
4A
A Sony End to a
Tenure
———
a
Polluted
That’s my feeling after
reading Fort Valley City
Manager Martha McAfee’s
memo detailing her investi¬
gation into sexual harassment
complaints against Public Safety
Director John David Anderson
by Officer Casey Pippin. It is
my job to wade through such
material, and I feel as I'd been
tied up and forced to watch
an extended episode of one of
those tawdry “reality” shows
now so much a part of the TV
menu. Please, send me another
inspiring story of a physically
challenged person overcoming
the odds or a brave soul speak¬
ing truth to power and winning
a seemingly unwinnable battle.
As McAfee’s 18-page memo
says, most of Officer Pippin’s
allegations against Anderson
couldn't be substantiated. It is
largely another “he said, she
said” case, but there was, for
McAfee, enough evidence to
establish “serious dereliction of
duty with regard to maintaining
command," which led McAfee
to recommend Anderson’s
dismissal. It is a shame that
Anderson’s tenure in Fort
Valley came to such a sorry
end. Under his command, the
Fort Valley Police Department
become much more profession-
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MARCH 2012
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al. according to many reports;
morale improved tremendously
and the department achieved
State Certification. That
honor comes from the Georgia
Association of Chiefs of Police
and acknowledges a department
and its leaders have achieved the
highest professional standards.
In the light of that achieve¬
ment, it is especially disappoint¬
ing to discover examples, from
several officers, of behavior
so far below the highest pro¬
fessional standards for a law
enforcement agency. Even the
minimum of proven allegations
in McAfee’s memo describe the
behavior of teenagers without
proper home training, not highly
trained professionals charged
with a vital public mission.
There is enough puerile vulgar¬
ity described in this report to fill
a large high school locker room.
Yes, boys will be boys and,
it appears, girls will be girls;
but we do expect professionals
working in a public agency to
conduct themselves like mature
adults. What might be accept¬
able when hanging out with
friends while downing a few
brewskies is not acceptable in a
21st century workplace.
We can still hear an argument
like this; “Look, cops are cops.
This is the way they talk and
act. If women want to be cops,
they II just have to suck it up and
deal with it.” That is nothing
but a justification for gender
inequality, and it dishonors the
many male officers who manage
to treat their female colleagues
with the full equality and respect
they deserve. Male and female
officers alike put their lives on
the line to protect the public, and
they should be treated, and treat
each other, in that light.
Neither Anderson nor Officer
Medicaid, PeachCare Redesign Offers
Chance to Child Health
By Pat Willis and
Cindy Zeldin
The Georgia Department of
Community Health is in the
midst of a process to rede¬
sign the state's Medicaid and
PeachCare for Kids programs.
Together, these two programs
cover more than 1.7 million
low-income children, families,
and disabled Georgians. As
advocates for Georgia’s children
and for Georgia’s health care
consumers, we view this rede¬
sign process as an opportunity
to strengthen these programs to
ensure they provide access to
the services that children and
families need to live healthy and
productive lives.
The first phase of the
Department’s redesign effort,
an assessment of the Medicaid
landscape in Georgia and in
selected states around the coun¬
try conducted by an outside con¬
sulting firm, was recently made
public. In addition to a lay of the
land, the report featured three
major redesign options, each of
which would move Georgians
with disabilities from fee-for
service into managed care
arrangements. There are ques¬
tions about how well managed
care may work for populations
with complex health needs, and
the Department should work
with advocates for these vulner¬
able Georgia citizens to ensure
any redesign system does not
disrupt or impede care for this
fragile population.
At the same time, we must not
•V, m
This week is the Fire Ant
Festival in Ashbum, Ga.. pos¬
sibly the only place and time
where you can hear someone
attempt to call a fire ant, watch
men put on panty hose while
eating deep fried Oreo cookies.
You might be able to do one
to two of these things at the
same time other places, only
in Ashburn can you see it all
happen at the same time.
Frankly, I don't care about the
panty hose contest or the fire ant
summoning.
I’m going for the deep fried
Oreos. Yes. I am serious. You
cannot imagine how good these
things are. No, you can’t.
There are occasions in this
Pippin come out of this case in
a flattering light. As McAfee’s
memo highlights, the
didn't always act in the most pro
fessional matter, and especially
as t he leader of the department,
should have set higher standards
for himself and enforced those
standards among all employ¬
ees. men and women. Officer
Pippin, according to the memo,
“dished it out” at least once, and
doesn't come across as always
upholding very high standards.
As for relationships between
employees in the Public Safety
Department, we can only
confirm one, that between
Officer Pippin and Lt. Jeremy
Morgan. Relationships between
people who work together
always raise red flags, and as
the memo reveals, this one
created complications. In this
case. Chief Anderson’s previ¬
ous assistance to Lt. Morgan,
who is going through a divorce,
created an added twist. The
result was a messy situation that
nobody appears to have handled
effectively.
The mess led to John David
Anderson’s tenure in Fort
Valley ending. Was it the right
decision? 1 honestly don’t know.
It is an unfortunate ending that
should not obscure Anderson’s
considerable achievements. We
can on | y hope that, over time,
tbe memory of those achieve
ments will wash away the dirt.
Blame Obama For High Gas Prices
President Barrack Obama
and his re-election campaign
organization have stretched
their credibility pretty thin with
their recent attempts to pin the
blame for rising gas prices on
the Tea Party movement. South
Carolina Comptroller Richard
Eckstrom wrote in a recent
column.
Designed to place responsi¬
bility for high gas prices on his
political opponents the Obama
Campaign said the Tea Party
movement was financed by oil
companies whose goal was to
make millions by increasing the
prices at the pump.
There are many factors to
consider when it comes to gas
prices, including events in the
Middle East, but here in the
United States the present poli¬
cies of the Obama administra¬
tion have the most impact on
today’s gas prices. We all know
that in January Obama denied
a construction permit for the
Keystone pipeline which would
have carried oil from Canada to
Texas our nation more
lose sight of the children who
are already enrolled in man¬
aged care through Medicaid and
PeachCare for Kids. Nearly a
third of Georgia’s children are
covered through these programs,
and there are concrete steps that
the Department can take now
to bolster these programs for
the future. We encourage the
Department to adopt a best prac¬
tices approach by focusing on
three evidence-based themes as
it redesigns these programs for
children; first, coverage mat¬
ters; second, ensuring access to
care requires adequate network
capacity and accountability; and
third, ensuring quality of care
requires system coordination.
Coverage matters. Numerous
studies link continuous health
insurance coverage to improved
health outcomes. Georgia has
made an intentional effort to
cover more children in recent
years; our uninsured rate for kids
has steadily improved from 11
percent in 2008 to 9.8 percent in
2010. Still, about three-quarters
of uninsured children in Georgia
are eligible for Medicaid or
PeachCare for Kids, and by
leveraging new enhanced fund¬
ing opportunities and program
flexibilities at the federal level
and by borrowing a page from
successful initiatives in neigh¬
boring states like Alabama,
which has reduced its uninsured
rate for children to just six per¬
cent, we can get closer to the
goal of providing health cover¬
age to all of Georgia’s children.
For example. Georgia could
Paradise Comes Fried
walk through life I’m on in
which i often wonder what my
Momma was thinking when
she went into the kitchen
cook. Most of the time I know
what she was thinking • will
two whole chickens or four 1.S
pound steaks or 8 pounds
deer be enough?
I am not complaining about
thc quality of groceries I grew
up eating. Ma can cook. You
only need see me once to verify
the accuracy of that statement.
But every now and then.
I come across some food will
“make you wanna go home and
slap your momma.” You want to
go home and abuse your mother
because the food was so good
and she didn't cook that particu¬
lar food for you.
Polish sausage dogs almost
fit into the “Slap Yo’ Momma”
category for me these days.
Except that when I was growing
up, l probably wouldn't have
eaten a sausage dog. Yet another
tragic error of my youth. At the
I
energy independent and bring¬
ing down the high gas prices.
While complaining about
high gas prices President
Obama has refused to issue
more offshore drilling permits
or reduce federal regulations
that hinder energy production
which would result in lower
prices at the pump.
It is often done and is easy
to blame the opposing party or
other politicians when things
go wrong at the White House. It
is much easier to point a finger
at someone else than to take
the blame for bad decisions
we have made and accept the
responsibility for them but that
is what Obama has done.
U.S. Representative from
Georgia Lynn Westmoreland
says that gas prices could hit
$5 per gallon by this summer.
He also pointed out that when
President Obama took office in
2009 the average price of gas
was $1.92 a gallon and in late
February was $3.72 per gallon
which is almost a one hundred
percent increase. Westmoreland
goes on to say that the experts
feel this is partially due to
Obama’s energy policies that
promote green energy which
supplies about eight percent of
the total energy usage.
“Don’t let President Obama's
campaign rhetoric fool you,"
Westmoreland says. “This is
exactly what he wants. He has
done nothing but make sure
gas prices would rise in order
simplify the eligibility process
for children by adopting a policy
ot 12 months continuous eligi
bility for kids (currently, some
children fall through the cracks
with a 6-month renewal policy).
There are other administrative
and technology system enhance
ments the Department can take
to make it easier for kids to
enroll and remain enrolled in
coverage, and we encourage thc
Department to do so.
Ensuring Access to care
requires adequate network
capacity and accountabil¬
ity. Getting and keeping kids
enrolled in Medicaid and
PeachCare for Kids is critical,
but it is only a first step to
ensure that children have appro
priatc access to a well-coor
dinated and patient-centered
medical home. Significant doc
umented weaknesses in pedi
atric specialty networks exist
in certain regions of the state,
Georgia has two policy levers
at its disposal to bring these
networks up to standard: first,
increase provider reimburse
ment rates for specialty care
and second, monitor the con
tracts with the care management
organizations to ensure compli
ance with policies to establish
out-of-network arrangements,
Where overall shortages in phy
sician supply hinder access, the
Department should work with
the care management organiza
tions to explore emerging solu
tions such as telemedicine, an
approach that states like Texas
have embraced with some suc-
festival every year, I eat my fill
of sausage dogs with onions,
pepper and extra grease. The
grease runs down my arms and
drips off my elbow onto the
street.
But - fried Oreos.
Do not get between me and
my plate of fried Oreos. One
of us is going to get hurt and it
won’t be me. I still remember
my first fried Oreo. I sat down
in the street in a puddle of
sausage dog grease and wept.
I’d found the true joy that moun¬
tain-sitting mystics and bearded
gurus seek and never find.
It was dipped in funnel cake
batter, then fried. It was dipped
up. dropped in a heavy paper
container and dusted with pow¬
dered sugar.
It was hot when I bit down.
You could have set off dyna¬
mite under me and I would not
have noticed. Reba McEntyre
could have been singing and I
would not have noticed.
1 cried. “Oh cruel fates to
THE LEADER-TRIBUNE
to appease his environmental
buddies. His own Secretary
of Energy Steve Chu said he
wanted to raise gas prices to the
same levels as Europe.”
The only way to create long
term solutions to our energy
cost is for President Obama
to stop his permatorium on
drilling and adopt an energy
plan that takes advantage of
all options. House Republicans
pushed to have Obama approve
the Keystone Pipeline but he
refused to support the project
partly because it could be con¬
troversial and he wanted to stay
away from that decision until
after the November election.
Three years ago Obama’s
campaign was on hope and
change when true change must
start in Washington. Those in
leadership positions must stop
attacking their opponents and
take actions that will provide
solutions. True leadership
requires adopting a vision that
is good for all Americans.
The cost of gasoline impacts
most all of our citizens, espe¬
cially those who earn lower
wages and have to drive long
distances to work. The high gas
prices also do nothing to help
our economy to thrive again
and to say the least hampers
tourism which is important to
many communities where we
publish newspapers.
You can blame President
Obama for the high gas prices.
cess.
Ensuring quality of care
requires system coordination,
Thc Department of Community
Health maintains strong qual
j ty standards, but performance
measures show opportunities
f or improvement. For exam
p | e , well-care visits and key
screenings are below national
averages, and less than half of
Geoigia’s children with behav
j ora | health needs obtain the
care they need. Promising care
coordination practices in states
like Texas, which uses an elec
, ron j c health records system
to share medical histories and
ensure coordinated care for
children in thc state’s foster
care system, and Rhode Island,
which utilizes specially trained
parent consultants, can inform
Geoigia’s efforts to develop a
more coordinated system of care
f or children. The Department
should also develop and enforce
rigorous contracting standards
to enhance quality,
We commend the Department
D f Community Health for its
pmac tive efforts to modernize
Medicaid and PeachCare for
Kids and encourage best-prac
, ices based systems changes that
incorporate these three themes,
The health of Georgia’s children
hangs in the balance,
Pat Willis is the Executive
Director of Voices for Georgia 's
children. Cindy Zeldin is the
Executive Director of Georgians
for a Healthy Future.
have denied me the ecstasy
of this gastronomical delight
to make the most jaded gour¬
mand’s palate salivate to make
even Pavlov think twice about
ringing a bell.” I said in my best
Shakespearean voice.
I tried to anyway.
It was very hard to speak with
a mouth full of fried Oreos.
It was also very hard to speak
with my mouth closed. My
mouth was closed to keep any
small bits of fried Oreo from
escaping.
After that I went and got an
extra-grease sausage dog.
I cried some more.
This time I cried because 1
did not have any fried Oreos
to go with my sausage dog.
This happened throughout the
festival.
I never could make a sausage
dog last until I’d grabbed more
Oreos or vice versa.
But! This weekend I shall
give it one more try.