Miller, team are real ‘Walking Tall’ heroes

I have been keeping up with the news in Murphy as best I can from my home in south Florida (yes, I am one of “those” Floridians). I have especially appreciated your reporting on the county commission and health department issues. You have been on this story and have delivered the residents of Cherokee County some very honest and brave reportage.

So, here I sit, one of those south Floridians who has bought 10 acres of land in a beautiful corner of the country. I have a “water color” perfect view of the mountains, a few old Appalachian farms near by, a creek bubbling by and some nice neighbors. I have done some clearing – a “park-like” setting, if you will – but I have not built my new home yet. You see, I am waiting. Before I spend $300,000 on my dream home in the mountains, I want to know that I have a commission that has a clue about integrity, honesty and the welfare of the citizens it serves.

At this point, they are hell-bent on polluting our water because they would rather “develop” their lands and make a quick buck than protect Cherokee County for the children and families that live there. The last thing on their minds is ensuring an effective sewage management process. They are a sorry lot and unworthy of the responsibilities they have been given.

Mary Miller and her team are heroes. They are the sheriff in the movie Walking Tall. She stood her ground, and did her job because it was her duty and it was what she was appointed to do. The members of today’s commission (with the exception of David Sumpter, an honorable man) are a caricature of all the old Southern hillbilly, small-town politicians that were once the butt of jokes. Miller and her deputies have more integrity and brains in their little finger than does the entire commission, save Sumpter, has on its best day. The folks should be storming the Bastille and demanding Miller’s return to office.

Whether or not I decide to build, or sell or just hold my land until common sense returns to Murphy is of no consequence really – except to the construction workers who will earn a few thousand dollars less this year, the appliance store owner who will sell one less kitchen’s worth of appliances or the furniture store owner who will count three more beds, a couch and a dining table in his inventory at year end. But multiply me by a hundred, or a few hundred, and the ignorant actions of the “Good Ole Boys” will hit the wallets of ordinary folks in Murphy. And they don’t deserve that.

Rick Eacker, Colee Hammock, Fla.

http://www.thecherokeescout.com/article ... 603363.txt (http://www.thecherokeescout.com/articles/2007/05/02/opinions/doc46378e557eeb0694603363.txt)

If you read the characterization of our county commission, it only re-enforces many of the past posts here with regards to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office is run the same way, like a hillbilly sheriff’s department when it comes to politics. Mary Miller was an ex-law enforcement officer from Florida, and she too was run-out of our local government with NO good reason. Commissioner ****ey and Sheriff Lovin have been best of friends for a long time. ****ey’s brother a Sergeant with the NC Highway patrol for this area has worked with sheriff Lovin for years. Commissioner ****ey owns and operates Fatbacks, the Citgo service station in Murphy.

A word of caution to all Floridians with the desire to work at our sheriff’s office, if you take a job you will probably be flushed-out with all the dirty laundry when the day comes and a new leadership arrives here. For those of you working at the Sheriff’s office now, if you take a stand and back the current administration you will be considered loyal to this administration. Therefore, if and when there is a new Sheriff (Leadership) those at the top of the food chain now will be gone. So, please get yourself out of denial and do not pretend have known nothing was rotten at the Sheriff’s office, or that you had NO idea of anything. Do not play mountain politics and stand up now for what is right. One of the sheriff favorite political tactics is to neutralize any potential adversaries by hiring them. Lovin knows well that by hiring a potential future adversary he can neutralize their political prospects by association.

Please stop being so fearful to post here and speak out. If you have been told that you can be tacked, that is BS, you can post from a public computer, or better yet share an IP address like I do, or download spoofing software. You can simply pay for an ISP (Internet Service Provider), and share it with others. Tracking can only tell you what ISP the messages was posted from and not the caller without a warrant to the ISP, requesting a telephone number at the time of posting. Please stop being such cowards and stand up for your county. There is much turmoil and favoritism at the sheriff’s office just like in all our county government. Lets break-up the click and make this county work for the people. If you do not take a stand now, then you will be considered as one of the problem people later. All of you working for county government have a responsibility to come forward with regards to misconduct and corruption. Your denial, or omissions at this time do not excuse you from your moral and ethical responsibility. You (deputies) were all sworn to up-hold the law and to protect your county (the people).

As an example look at our former CIA director George Tennant how his integrity has been ruin because he did not step up to the plate when he should have. Not sure if many of you follow current events like this, but it is a very good example of how the powers to be can corrupt. Please stop being cowards and have the courage to change things for the
Better. I cannot stress enough, that when it all goes bad at your department for whatever reason you cannot play the game that you were unaware of anything going on at the time?



Because there is no union, or any sort of protection here for deputies, I hope any new administration in the future will conduct really good backgrounds, polygraphs, and psychological exams of all current and new officers. This is common practice in any organization where one’s integrity is paramount, i.e., FBI counter intelligence officers, and CIA operatives, etc… There is no type of integrity check today for deputies to be hired, only that he is loyal to the sheriff and can pass the academy. These people are then sworn as law-enforcement officers to exercise one of the most powerful responsibilities afforded to any citizen, and that is to enforce the law and deprive people of their liberties when necessary. With no real background checks as mentioned above its not surprising to many when we read about bad police officers being arrested, or caught-up in scandal.

For all Florida officers, so you understand how backwards things can be here. If you want to be a deputy and the sheriff’s wants you, you get sworn-in, given a badge and told to go to the range to qualify with your sidearm, that’s all folks! You then have one year to qualify at the academy for your certification. This is the way its been done for years and how many officers that are current made it here. NO backgrounds, other than they were never convicted of a crime. They can be lairs, thieves, sexual predators, have psychological issues, but will go unchecked because there is no testing.

Miller and her deputies, please keep up the great work and the pressure on. I read about your husband Dan Miller, great story. I hope by the time we move to North Carolina it will be a new sheriff's department and county government. We have bought land, but not going to build till things get worked with Cherokee county.