Newspaper Page Text
Powell Fires EMT; Walkout At EMS Unconfirmed
Sheriff’s Deputy Dismissed As EMT By Commissioner; Davenport Contacts Lawyer About Legal Action
A deputy with the Chat
tooga County Sheriff's Depart
ment said this week he was
conferring with a lawyer after
being fired from the county's
ambulance service by Commis
sioner Harry Powel{.
Sgt. Jerry Davenport, who
also worked as an Emergency
Medical Technician (EMT)
with the Chattooga County
Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) unit, confirmed Tuesday
that he had been fired as an
EMT. His position with the
sheriff's office wasn't affected
by his dismissal from the am
bulance service.
OVERTIME |
Powell said Wednesday
afternoon that he had fired
Davenport and was
withholding $1,237 in overtime
an for Davenport that had
een requested by Sheriff Gary
McConnell. Powell displayed
the requests, dating from Dec.
3 through Wednesday, Dec. 23.
The commissioner said Ed
Surles, county attorney, had
told him to ‘“*hold up’’ on pay
ing Davenport.
The pay was for Davenport
working as a private security
guard at Wal-Mart in Summer
ville during that time, Powell
indicated.
**His work was very un
satisfactory,”” Powell said
about Davenport's employ
ment with the EMS. “ferry
was working one shift with the
sheriff, one shift with the am
bulance service and one shift
with Wal-Mart."
*“SLEEPY?”
On one occasion, Powell
said, Davenport was in bed at
ambulance service head
quarters when a request for an
ambulance came in. ‘‘He was
called on to make a run and he
said he was too sleepy, to get
somebody else to make the
run,”” the commissioner
asserted.
Powell also said that a radio
news report of a mass walkout
or a lack of staff at the am
bulance service was inaccurate.
The News has been unable to
confirm any walkout.
The newspaper reported in
last week's e(ijition that Jimmy
“Booger’’ Bennett had resign
ed as director of the EMS and
that Powell had named EMT
Todd Broyles as the new direc
tor, effective Friday.
FIRED?
A report had circulated last
week tfigt Powell had fired
Bennett because he allegedly
wouldn't dismiss Davenport.
Both Powell and Bennett
denied the report. Bennett said
he resigned as director since he
could no longer spend enough
time with the EMS because of
another job at Redmond Park
Hospital, Rome. Powell
Wednesday confirmed Ben
nett's comments.
The News also received
another report last week that
Powell haé) offered the direc
tor's post to EMT Franklin
Majors, Menlo, but that Ma
jors didn't want to give up his
longtime job at Georgia Rug
Mifi.
An unconfirmed report also
said Powell told Majors that he
could have the job if he would
fire Davenport. Majors,
however, wouldn't comment on
the report Tuesday night. Ma
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Hope 1988 proves to be filled with
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D
jors said he didn't accept the
director’'s job because of his
27-year em%oament with
Georgia Rug Mi althou%h he
planned to remain an EMT
with the service.
STILL WORKING?
Powell was asked by The
News on Dec. 22 if Davenport
was still working for the E‘KAS.
“Well, I don’t know," he
replied. ‘‘He's mostly working
at Wal-Mart, I think. He's been
working at Wal-Mart two or
three, three or four weeks. I
just heard that he was working
up there.”
Told on Dec. 22 that reports
were circulating that Daven
?ort had been fired or was to be
ired, Powell said, I haven't
heard anything on it.”
But on Wednesday after
noon, Powell repeated that he
had last week named Broyles
to the EMS director’s slot, suc
ceeding Bennett, and added,
““later on in the week, I expell
ed this deputy.”
Asked the reason for the
dismissal, the commissioner
said Davenport's work was
‘‘unsatisfactory.”
CHRISTMAS?
Davenport said his termina
sion notice was effective on
sither Dec. 23 or Dec. 25 —the
aandwriting made it difficult to
letermine which day.
The notice wasn't given to
Davenport until Monday,
however. The deputy said he
was called by Bennett, who
told him he had been fired.
Davenport said he then went to
Bennett's house to pick up the
dismissal papers.
The deputy said he had
worked 16 hours as an EMT on
Christmas Eve —the first and
third shifts — and eight hours
last Sunday without knowing
he had been fired from the am
bulance service.
NO COMMENT
“I don't know. You'll have
to get that from the commis
sioner,” Bennett said Tuesday
when asked if Davenport_had
been fired. Had Davenport
been at his house Monday? *'l
can’t recall,”” Bennett said.
Sheriff Gary McConnell
told The News that Davenport
had not been working private
duty at Wal-Mart in the weeks
prior to Christmas. The depu
ty was on official assignment
from the sheriff’s office to help
prevent thefts at the large dis
count store, McConnell said.
LATEST
The controversy involving
Davenport is the latest in a
series involving the ambulance
service since Powell took over
the operation from Chattooga
County Hospital on Jan. 1,
1986.
The commissioner com
plained at the time that the
hospital wanted too much
money from the county to
operate the service.
When the commissioner
assumed office on Jan. 1, 1985,
the county was paying the
hospital SIO,OOO per month, or
$120,000 per year, to operate
the EMS. The county was also
purchasing gasoline f};)r the am
bulances and performing
maintenance and repair service
on the vehicles.
County auditors said the
county actuallK paid a total of
$209,483 for the service — in
cluding the monthly fee,
maintenance, gasoline and
repairs — in 1984,
ANGRY
Powell became angry when
the hospital asked %or addi
tional funds for the service in
late 1985. The commissioner
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contended in March, 1987, that
the hospital had asked for
$20,000 per month, up from the
SIO,OOO it had been receivinf.
However, hospital officials
denied that they had asked for
$20,000. Instead, they said the
request to Powell was for
$12,000 per month — or
$144,000 annually.
The commissioner
budgeted $391,395 for the am
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N Reg. $149 ACCENTS
bulance service this year and
the same amount for 1988.
A controversy arose in
April, 1987, when Powell
bought a $35,000 ambulance
without advertising for bids.
He wused the county's
“emergency’’ clause to justify
the Xurchase.
dispute also arose in
January, 1987, when Powell
said he dismissed then am
bulance service director, Don
nie Fowler. Fowler said he
resigned from the post.
RESIGNED
Dr. Hugh Goodwin resign
ed that same week as medical
director or advisor for the ser
vice, apparently as a result of
Powell's action. Powell then
named a Redmond Park
Hospital physician to serve as
The Summerville News, Thursday, Decemrbgisili. 1987
the service's “official”’ medical
advisor. The post is required
by state law,
The ambulance service was
moved from its Commerce
Street location in Summerville
last spring after plans were an
nounced by the owner of the
buildin? to lease the property
to a fast-food restaurant.
Powell bought a used mobile
home — again without seeking
bids — and moved it to a site
between the coun‘t’a' public
works camp and Wal-Mart,
{?st behind Chattoogla
ospital. It was converted in
to new EMS headquarters. The
law allows Powell to bug' used
items without seeking bids.
The EMS has recently
received plaudits for its profes
sionalism from several Chat
tooga residents
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