Gwinnett Buzz

The Buzz has been quiet lately as I have simply not had time to devote to the site (still open to accepting other contributors - let me know if you are interested in writing for the Buzz!).  However, after reading the news of Commission Chairman Charles Bannister being charged with DUI last night, I had to comment.

While I supported Bannister in his race against former Commissioner Lorraine Green two years ago, I have been less than pleased - to put it mildly - with the job performance of the chairman and the rest of the board since that time.  However, despite that, this is not a post to “pile on” the chairman.  Rather, after reading the latest news account of yesterday’s events, I wanted to write to urge my fellow Gwinnett residents not to rush to judgment.  There are enough red flags to prompt the fair-minded observer to allow the facts of this situation come to light before forming a hardened opinion on guilt or innocence.

When I received a text from a friend last night telling me that 11Alive had tweeted that Charles Bannister had been charged with DUI, my initial inclination was to believe that he was guilty.  I mean, after all, DUI is pretty cut and dried right?  You get pulled over, you blow a high reading on a Breathalyzer…bam, DUI.  Not really any extenuating circumstances for that in my book.  However, as details of last night’s events have emerged, I have begun to think “Hold on…maybe things are not as they seem:”

…the Breathalyzer producing a .000 reading.

Hmm.  Of course, given the description of Bannister’s driving, the decision of Gwinnett Sheriff’s Deputy M.G. Cummings to ask for a blood test was understandable:

“Once I received the blood kit I explained to the defendant that due to the results of the breath test being inconsistent with someone who had drunk a beer, as he admitted to at the scene of the pullover and at the jail, and his current manifestations, I requested he submit to the state test of his blood. He stated he would.”

However, this raises another question to me.  Why was this incident being handled by the Sheriff’s Department?  While I know the Sheriff’s Department certainly has the authority to conduct traffic stops, in Gwinnett, I normally think of the Gwinnett County Police Department taking on that responsibility.  Could it be because the Sheriff is an elected official and, as such, not a direct report to Bannister?  Is it normal procedure for the GCSD to handle such incidents to avoid a situation where a county employee is arresting his boss?  If anyone knows about this, please post.  If the GCSD handling this is not standard operating procedure, I think asking why the Sheriff’s office and not the police department was waiting outside the restaurant for the chairman to leave is a fair question.

While none of the above suggests that Bannister is definitively not guilty of the charge, these facts suggest to me that we be all the more cautious about jumping to conclusions.  Whether anyone agrees or disagrees with Chairman Bannister politically, as an American citizen, he has a right to be treated fairly under the law and not to be immediately assumed guilty due to political unpopularity.

I am absolutely not taking DUI lightly.  In fact, I feel that the justice system is too easy on those convicted of DUI.  This is a serious offense that takes too many innocent lives across our country.  However, before applying strict punishment, any American, including Chairman Bannister, must be proven guilty of a DUI charge.  Once that occurs or if the chairman admits guilt, only then is consideration of whether he should resign his office or any other response appropriate.

A dismembered corpse was discovered along Woodward Mill Rd. near Buford Wednesday night.  The hands had been removed from the body which was decapitated.  Police are asking for help in identifying the body.  If you have any information, “call CrimeStoppers at 404-577-TIPS.”

Last month District Attorney Danny Porter announced that he would not prosecute convicted murderer Brian Nichols for the kidnapping of Ashley Smith Robinson while on the run after his 2005 killing spree.

Prosecuting Nichols would not have been a good use of public resources, since he already is serving life in prison without parole for his deadly shooting spree at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Porter said.

Security issues also played a part in the decision.

This is the right call.  I have always had a hard time understanding why district attorneys have tried criminals who had already been convicted of equal or more serious crimes and were serving time.  Such moves always seems like a waste of government resources for no real benefit.  I understand that a family often wants a criminal to be brought to justice for the specific crime committed against their loved one.  However, when that individual has already received a harsh sentence, is there enough benefit to justify the use of taxpayer dollars?

I am a strong supporter of Danny Porter and thinks he exhibits the toughness against crime that Gwinnett needs.  At times in the past, I have found him a little fond of the television cameras.  However, he truly has shown respect for the taxpayers of Gwinnett by tossing aside the chance to try what would surely have been a high-profile case for local media.

An article in the USA Today about Mexican drug cartel activity in Atlanta, fingered Gwinnett County as “the ‘epicenter’ of the region’s drug activity.”  If you were not already convinced that our porous international borders was a legitimate problem, consider this:

An added attraction for the cartels, say Nahmias and Rodney Benson, the DEA’s Atlanta chief, is the explosive growth of the Hispanic community.

Nahmias calls northeast suburban Gwinnett County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, the “epicenter” of the region’s drug activity.

Gwinnett’s Hispanic population surged from 8,470 in 1990 to 64,137 in 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Now, 17% of the county’s 776,000 people are Hispanic.

“You see Mexican drug-trafficking operations deploying representatives to hide within these communities in plain sight,” Benson says. “They were attempting to blend into the same communities as those who were hard-working, law-abiding people.”

If there were not a significant number of illegals living in Gwinnett, perhaps our communities would not be so attractive to drug trafficers.  I would imagine that the skiddishness of illegals for law enforcement keeps many otherwise law-abiding residents from tipping off authorities about dealers.  (And, no, blanket amnesty is not the solution.  You don’t cure the problem of legitimate crime by legalizing it.)  Since President Barack Obama’s administration is unlikely to take any measures to seriously combat illegal immigration, we can only hope that Gwinnett’s participation in the ICE 287(g) program will make our county less attractive to illegals and perhaps drug cartels.  If not, an environment infested with drug activity will only drive more law-abiding citizens out of Gwinnett, thus exacerbating the problem.

A week ago I blogged about the murder of Dekalb businessman Marc Stewart.  Mr. Stewart’s church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, is offering a reward of $10,000 “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the murder of Marc A. Stewart.”  From the church’s press release:

Stewart was a faithful member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia and a well known DeKalb county record company executive. “We offer our deepest sympathy and support to Stewart’s family and pray that God will comfort their pain and sorrow during this time of deep grief,” says Bishop Eddie L. Long, senior pastor, New Birth Church. “We are hopeful that the reward offer will assist investigators in finding justice for the Stewart family and send a message to the community that the killing must stop.” Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Gwinnett County Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at (770) 513-5300 or call anonymously on the Gwinnett County Police Department’s tip line at (770) 513-5390. The public should not contact New Birth Church with information about the investigation.

The body of Dekalb businessman Marc Stewart was found in his Ford Explorer in the 3500-block of Breckinridge Blvd. Saturday night.  The is just down the road from the Bahama Breeze at Breckinridge and Pleasant Hill where a man was murdered in the parking lot in August.  Technically, Stewart’s death has not been ruled a murder yet and, even if it eventually is, there is no guarantee he was killed in the area.  However, the reasons for not going to the Gwinnett Place area keep mounting right along with the body count.  While this address does not appear to technically be in the Gwinnett Place CID, all the CID’s landscaping, signage and reconstructed interchanges is not going to draw people to the area if we keep hearing of murders in the vicinity every few months.

In a day where our society makes heroes of athletes and guitar players, Shawn Taylor is a real hero.  The quick actions of Taylor may well have saved the life of Gwinnett police officer Jeff Smith.  Officer Smith was grappling with an armed robbery suspect along Sever Rd. on December 18.  As the perp was going for the officer’s firearm, Taylor stopped his car, ran and tackled Ahmaad Jarvis.  Taylor was honored with a plaque and a $2,500 check in a ceremony yesterday.  

Our society needs more Shawn Taylors.

(The perp, after being tackled, ran away and was later captured in a nearby house.  I suspect this is the same incident about which I blogged on that day.)

Another advocacy group has come to the defense of the illegal aliens that are overrunning Gwinnett’s justice system.  Georgia Detention Watch has come out in opposition to the deportation surge being conducted in the Gwinnett County jail by ICE.  The surge is part of the process of Gwinnett County being approved to participate in ICE’s 287(g) “program that trains local jailers to begin deportation paperwork.”  

A press release issued by Georgia Detention Watch said it “condemns in the strongest terms this effort of expulsion of immigrants, many of whom are hard-working members of our communities.” Georgia Detention Watch bills itself as a coalition that includes activists, community organizers, persons of faith and lawyers.

“We believe local enforcement of federal immigration laws leads to racial profiling as well as erosion of trust between immigrant communities and the police, making our communities less safe,” the press release said.

Ah yes, the “racial profiling” boogeyman again.  This argument is patently absurd with respect to the situation in Gwinnett.  First, everyone in the jail is being screened.   Second, this screening is being done only to those booked into the jail.  The police are not setting up checkpoints randomly across Gwinnett to check immigration paperwork.  Please tell me how this could possibly be profiling of any sort?   The only profile being employed is whether or not one is a human being.  Also, I fail to see the reasoning of how this makes our community less safe.  The program seeks to deport those that have likely committed a crime.  To my logical way of thinking, this would actually improve the safety of Gwinnett County.

Sheriff Butch Conway is often good for a comment and he does not disappoint here:

Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway said the program doesn’t violate human rights or constitute racial profiling. He pointed out that it targets people who have been arrested for a crime.

Those who are here illegally are not immigrants, as this group claims,” Conway said. “An immigrant is someone who has entered the United States legally and has nothing to fear.”

Hammer meet nail.

It is evident that Georgia Detention Watch would have us do nothing about illegal immigration.  Here is the reality, folks: illegal immigration is overrunning Gwinnett’s criminal justice system.  According to the Sheriff’s Department, “60 percent of the 14,084 foreign nationals that were booked into the Gwinnett jail in 2008 were here illegally.”  That is 8,450 illegal immigrants that had to be processed by the system.  That is 8,450 trials which entail court costs, public defender costs, prosecution costs, and jury costs.  The volume of trials increase the demands on Gwinnett residents for jury duty.  Who is paying for all of this?  You and I, the taxpayers of Gwinnett.  In a time when our county budget is under pressure, can we continue to justify this drain on our resources?  This does not even begin to address the impact on Gwinnett County’s communities.  

You may think that I simply do not like immigrants.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I have worked with and have known many people of varied ethinicities.  I count them as colleagues, classmates and friends. These individuals came to America legally.  While continuing to embrace their culture and teach others about their heritage, they have assimilated into the American community.  The have learned our common language and pursued the American dream just like many American-born citizens.  I recall a conversation with a coworker a few years ago where he recounted his dream of coming to the United State and ultimately becoming a citizen.  I would venture to guess he “gets” the American ideal better than most of us who were born and raised in this country.  The stance of Georgia Detention Watch is a slap in the face of the millions of people who originally came to this nation as legal immigrants.  

I suspect most legal immigrants came to our country because of the promise American offers.  I am sure many illegal immigrants came for similar reasons, but by overrunning our nation’s borders and societal infrastructure, by refusing to learn our language and to become integrated into the rich fabric of our culture, they threaten the very reasons that brought then to this nation in the first place.  Liberal activist organzations like Georgia Detention Watch simply empower this destructive form of immigration.  We must vigorously oppose these groups who would flaunt our laws now while there is something to defend. If we don’t, America’s beacon of hope and promise to the world will be extinguished.  

Georgia Detention Watch takes exception to local enforcement of immigration law.  Unfortunately, the politicians in Washington have shown they are more interested in catering to potential votes than stand up for America’s heritage.  Based on the recent election season, there is little hope this situation will improve and things could well get worse.  Because of this, this battle must be fought at the local level.  I am pleased that Gwinnett is stepping up to the challenge.  While I do not always agree with him, I am thankful that Butch Conway is not the type of leader who will worry whether an organization like Georgia Detention Watch is upset over justice being carried out.  If only all of our politicians had such backbone.

I was very glad to read a recent article on the progress of accident-victim Demetrius Randle in his treatment.  As you may recall, Randle was severely injured and suffered brain damage in a March 31 accident on I-85 that killed his son, daughter and grandson.  Randle and his wife, Falleen, have relocated to California to have better access to the specialized oxygen treatment he is receiving.  The man accused of causing the accident, Cody Rhoden is still awaiting trial.

As I recently discussed, a string of murders around Gwinnett Place mall is not doing any favors for the area’s image.  According to Joe Allen, executive director of the Gwinnett Place CID, the recent killings give the false impression that, in general, crime in the area is worsening:

Joe Allen, the executive director of Gwinnett Place CID, said Tuesday that the recent homicides have been “very disheartening,” because it could create a misperception that crime in the area is up when in fact it is down.