Local & State Headlines

County says local crime must end

• Dougherty County commissioners recognize students who are a part of a county civic awareness program.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — A couple of Dougherty County commissioners made it clear at the end of the board’s business session Monday morning that they share the public’s growing unrest over criminal activity in Albany and Dougherty County.

During an end-of-meeting discussion, District 6 Commissioner Jack Stone suggested that the commission get behind some kind of unified countywide movement to address the city and county’s crime problem.

“I don’t have the answers,” Stone said during his impassioned impromptu comments. “But as elected officials, we are partially responsible for the safety of our citizens. It’s time that we stand up and get all these agencies — the city and county police, the incoming and the outgoing sheriff, the new and the old district attorney, all the judges, the City and County Commission — to work together.

“I’ve never been so fed up and sick of something in my life. We sit here and we don’t get anything done. We need to do something about it, and I don’t mean next year.”

Commission Chair Jeff Sinyard said he, along with other members of the commission, shared Stone’s concerns.

“I’m fed up — my business has been robbed and my home has been robbed,” Sinyard said. “Our citizens are crying out, and I’ve talked with pretty much everyone in this room and I think I can speak for them when I say we’re all tired of it.

“We’ve got a ship that’s got a hole in it, and we’ve got to plug that hole.”

Sinyard hinted that the problem was being discussed by local officials.

“Even as we’re meeting right here, there is a group meeting this morning to discuss this issue,” he said. “The very thing that you’re talking about is taking place right now. I don’t want to overextend my role as chairman, but things have changed in Dougherty County and we have a lot of issues to address.

“Everyone’s tired of it, but the thugs are going to be taken off the streets in Dougherty County.”

Sinyard said late Monday afternoon that officials with the county police department, the sheriff’s office and the district attorney’s office had met Monday to brainstorm on ways to address the crime issue in the county.

“Let’s just say that every (law enforcement) agency that falls within our budget is meeting to talk about ways we can address these areas of concern,” Sinyard said. “Chief (Don) Cheek, Sheriff (Jamil) Saba, both (District Attorney-elect) Greg Edwards and (outgoing DA) Ken Hodges, and Vice Chief Jackie Battle met with the attitude that we’re going to do everything in our power to make things better.

“By meeting with the different jurisdictions in our budget, we maximize our (law enforcement) assets.”

Indicating local student leaders who are members of a Georgia Civic Awareness Program group that traveled to Savannah for a training session over the weekend, Stone said, “These young people who are doing the right thing in their lives need to know that we’re addressing these problems.”

District 2 Commissioner John Hayes had talked briefly about the GCAP students’ trip earlier in the meeting.

Commissioners also voted to approve gasoline and diesel fuel distribution contracts to Jim Hinton Oil Co. for $490,834.82 and $312,705.87, respectively, and OK’d appointments to the joint city/county Historic Preservation Committee (Scott Loehr) and Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Board (Major Scott Mykoo).

The commission approved resolutions providing for an easement in favor of BellSouth Telecommunications and accepting a right-of-way warranty deed from 19 South Associates Inc. but tabled a requested contract for services with Georgia & Florida Railway Inc. for the upgrade of railway crossings at Holly Drive and Antioch Road to give County Attorney Spencer Lee time to study the proposed agreement more closely.

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