Newspaper Page Text
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THURSDAY. MARCH 11.2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Fire
those, seven make $11.67 an
hour, one $12.02, one $13.38,
one $13.99, one $14.08, and
one $18.60.
The situation ramped up
publicly after the city posted
a job listing for a temporary
customer service representa
tive to begin at $12 an hour -
more than firefighter’s start
ing pay. Some firefighters
and their families feel this a
slap in the face because they
are required to have dozens
of training hours and risk
their lives in dangerous situ
ations, unlike other employ
ees.
One social media post re
garding the issue stated, "The
40-hour employee can come
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straight out of high school
with zero higher education
compared to the ones who
are asked to go inside of a
burning building and work
Christmas and holidays away
from their families. It's sad
that our public safety isn't
valued more than they are.
They are looked at in the
same light as a 40-hour-em-
ployee that job requirement
poses no risk to their own life
or health."
In a message to the
Progress, one spouse of a
paramedic said her husband
has to work two jobs.
Another firefighter said he
knew of a fire department
employee who has to be on
food stamps.
On March 4, some mem
bers of the Jasper Fire De
partment met with city offi
cials to discuss pay after
more negative posts were
made on social media.
The city manager told the
Progress that when fire
fighter, police, and general
fund employee salaries are
averaged for the year they are
comparable with their hourly
employees - firefighters
make an average of $41,000
a year, while police make an
average of $39,000 (both in
cluding base and overtime),
and general fund employees
make $34,000. But fire de
partment employees and
families of those employees
who wished to remain anony
mous say that number isn't an
apples-to-apples comparison
because they are required to
work so many more hours
than other employees.
The CFO confirmed that
firefighters can work up to
2,756 hours a year before
they go into overtime, while
police can work up to 2,236
hours and 40-hour employees
up to 2,080 hours a year. But
the fire department employ
ees who worked the entire
2020 year put in an average
of 62 hours a week.
"They are paid to be avail
able," Ragland said, referring
to their 24-hour block sched
ule.
As a standard schedule,
firefighters work 96 hours in
a two-week period in 24-hour
shifts, then 120 hours the
next two-week period, then
back to 96, then back to 120.
When asked if there are
concerns about entire shifts
in the future calling in and
how that could impact serv
ice, the city manager said at
this point things seem to be
on track as Sunday and Mon
day shifts came in as sched
uled. He noted that if it was
found that there was in fact
an organized effort to call in
en masse, and if a public ser
vant expressed a “disregard
for public safety,” there
would have to be an investi
gation and that it could be a
terminable offense.
Just at press time, the
Progress was provided with
documents that showed at
least one firefighter on the
shift that called in sick was
demoted with reduced pay
for “failure to report for
duty...and your role in con
tributing to the decisions of
other firefighters on your
shift to similarly fail to report
for duty for reasons....in
tended to influence the City’s
compensation decisions.”
Documents show that this
employee was put on proba
tion for 12 months, and at
least one other firefighter was
notified they were being con
sidered for a probationary pe
riod for not reporting to
work. These documents were
not provided by firefighters
on that shift, but by someone
else familiar with the situa
tion. This person also in
formed the Progress two
other employees were con
sidered for probation and that
one of those quit.
Cleanup
details such as the fire wood
program, cleaning and up
keep of the jail, sheriff’s
annex, and our firing range.”
In addition to work detail,
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Pickens Commission Chair
Kris Stancil wants to work
with the community to ad
dress the litter problem.
“We’re trying to put out a
day to encourage people to
get out a pick up trash,” he
said at the work session.
Saturday, April 10 is the
tentative community-wide
trash pick up day to coincide
with the national Keep Amer
ica Beautiful campaign that
happens the entire month of
April.
Stancil is also in discus
sions with the probation of
fice to get community service
workers to help “so that
we’re not 100 percent relying
on one work inmate detail.
It’s community wide. It’s
probably the most com
plained about thing is trash
on the side of the road.”
Commissioners are work
ing with the recycling center
director as well so people
who collect roadside trash
will be able to take it to the
center for free.
Keep Pickens Beautiful
holds several initiatives in
April. More details about the
partnerships, the Team Up to
Clean Up initiative, and Keep
America Beautiful events
will be announced in coming
weeks.
Thelma “Bay” Cagle singing the National Anthem at a
Trump Rally. She and her husband and daughter have filed
suit against a person suggesting the mother and daughter
were part of the riots.
Lawsuit
and defamatory commentary
on social media platforms,
namely Facebook, which has
evidently been motivated by
a distaste and dislike for
plaintiffs.”
The lawsuit continues that
Goolsby would “delight in
making a concerted effort to
hunt for any available oppor
tunity to disparage or defame
plaintiffs.” The suit said if
Goolsby had not frequently
commented on posts made by
the Cagle family, they would
not have known she existed.
The suit specifically fo
cuses on the allegations that
Katie and Thelma had a part
in the Capitol riot. While the
mother and daughter were in
Washington for the Trump
rally, the suit says the base
less claims that they partici
pated in the riots goes too far,
as that would lead people to
believe they had committed
crimes and create “suspi
cions” in the minds of the
their fellow community
members.
The filings note Goolsby’s
posts allege acts (organizing
the riots) that would be
“criminal conduct and crimi
nal activity that is currently
the subject of great public at
tention and public scrutiny,”
and by stating that the pair
committed a crime, it crossed
the line from freedom of
speech into libel.
The court filings state that
Goolsby proceeded with her
barbs, “with a clear misap
prehension of the First
Amendment rights and has
expressed that such permits
her to engage in defamatory
conduct and that she is not
worried about the conse
quences of her behavior.”
The response by the attor
ney for Goolsby filed March
5 seeks to have the Cagles’
suit dismissed under Anti-
SLAPP codes, which were
passed by the Georgia Gen
eral Assembly to prevent
people from silencing critics
by filing libel suits. The re
sponse from Goolsby’s attor
ney Andrew Fleischman of
an Atlanta law firm, stated
the suit is the type that tries
to punish people for criticiz
ing them who may not have
the resources to defend them
selves in court.
“The vast majority of peo
ple back down, delete their
comments and settle,” stated
the response, but the defen
dant intends to fight the case
using the Anti-SLAPP statues
and legal fund donations
from GoFundMe just shy of
$10,000 as of Tuesday morn
ing.
The defense response in
cludes several different
points of contention includ
ing their assertion that the
Cagles, due to their political
activity, Bill’s previous posi
tion of as chair of the plan
ning commission, Katie
being a former chair of the
Pickens Republican Party
and Thelma singing at Trump
rallies, are limited public fig
ures and open to more criti
cism than an average person.
The response also states
that both Thelma and Katie
made statements that they
were involved in the Trump
rallies in Washington at the
time of the riots so it’s not
unreasonable that Goolsby
made her comments about
them being involved.
As to Thelma having par
ticipated in the riot itself, the
response filed by Goolsby’s
counsel notes she was using
political sarcasm and hyper
bole which is protected under
the First Amendment and
which are “hallmarks of on
line opinion.” It continues,
“Much like the President of
the United States, Georgians
are entitled to get a little
snippy when having a parti
san dispute.”
Specifically on Bill’s
characterization of the trans
gender students as “freaks”
and Goolsby’s online com
ment that that was “homo-
phobic,” the defense argues
that as chair of the planning
commission Cagle’s state
ment are subject to discus
sion online and
“homophobic” is an opinion,
thus not subject for a libel
charge. Furthermore, the de
fense notes that Goolsby’s
choice of the word “loser”
against Bill was a favored
word of President Trump
who called people Major
Losers without suffering libel
charges.
The defense also argues
that statements made on
Facebook shouldn’t be taken
seriously and thus don’t meet
the criteria for a libel suit.
“Rayven Goolsby was not
making her statement in the
pages of The Atlanta Journal
and Constitution. She was
trading barbs on Facebook.
And courts have been ex
tremely reluctant to treat the
statements that people make
online as anything other than
hyperbole. In short, courts
tend not to believe that the
things people say online are
meant to be taken as facts
even if the speaker is the
President of the United
States.”
All parties and attorneys
were contacted for further
comments. Only the Cagles
responded saying they were
sorry they couldn’t offer
more now, but had been ad
vised by their attorney to
refer people to the court fil
ings only for the time being.
Continued From 1A
Cams
body cams for most officers.
The system automatically
activates any time an officer
flips on their lights for a po
lice action and will switch
from the dash cam to body
cam when an officer exits a
vehicle. The system records
and sends the video to a
server in the sheriff’s office
after an officer finishes his
shift and returns to the base.
Officers cannot access their
video directly, as they are
locked into a hard drive until
uploaded on the sheriff’s of
fice server.
Craig went over several
scenarios where they believe
the cameras will be useful.
First, he cited domestic calls,
where a spouse may want to
downplay the event later, but
the body camera captured the
scene as it unfolded and
statements made at that time.
Another key use would be
review for complaints against
an arresting officer. Craig
said several times the dash
cams have already come into
play to clear complaints
against officers.
Officers are not required
to notify anyone they are
recording, but the body cam
eras, which are visible on an
officer’s chest, can de-esca
late a scene when a subject
knows they are being
recorded.
Sgt. Jody Weaver, of the
uniformed patrol division,
said he and his fellow offi
cers are happy to have the
new body cams to give them
clear documentation of their
interactions with the public.
He cited specifically cases
where someone complains
about an officer’s behavior
and also when someone says,
“a deputy told me some
thing.”
“We want the public to
know we have these,” he
said. “We think it will create
dual-accountability.” They
will make officers account
able for their actions but also
deter baselesss complaints.
Craig said after reviewing
a dash cam video recently, he
was able to tell an angry fa
ther with confidence that his
officer hadn’t been rude to a
teenager. Craig said when the
father heard that the event
was on video and it was the
teenager who had been out-
of-line, the father said he did
n’t need to see it, he would
take the sheriff’s word about
the video and have a talk with
his son.
Having videos to review
will help with training and to
maintain professionalism
with his officers’ daily work.
Major Mitch Yeargin, the
commander of the uniformed
patrol division, reviews all
videos uploaded as his first
duty of the morning, looking
for anything that doesn’t
meet the office’s standard.
“We’ll not have to wait on
a citizen to complain,” Craig
said. “We can address any
thing we see appropriately,
immediately.”
The cameras do require
some training, primarily offi
cers making sure they are
catching the important ac
tion/interaction. Craig said
the body cams and dash cams
are only front facing so they
are limited if an officer is
talking to someone standing
off to the side — you can still
hear the conversation on the
video but can’t see what the
officer is seeing.
The sheriff’s office next
plans to add body cams to the
shift commanders for the
road patrols. Then to the
school resource officers and
finally the detention center
personnel to have full cover
age.
Craig noted that the
amount of video that will be
uploaded may create some
new protocols on how long
they store which types of
calls. He said they are re
viewing those policies now.
For the public, no video
that is part of any ongoing in
vestigation can be released as
a public record, nor can do
mestic violence call videos.
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