YOU GUYS ,PLEASE HELP US OUT,WE WOULD DO IT FOR YOU!!!

YOU GUYS NEED TO HELP US OUT,WE WOULD DO IT FOR YOU!!!

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Go to My Florida web site.On the main page on the right side mid way down, find your Legislator by your zip code,and fire off an email loud and clear that what happened to Chris is not only unexceptable,But this (Eletra what ever) is a loose cannon and the lack of commonsense and Irresponsibilty on her part is very troubling to us Florida voters! This action has done serious damage not only to the FHP, but also the citizens of florida.Tell your Legislator you will be following this injustise closely,and you are eager to MONITOR his/her progress on bringing C.Knight back.Lets get to work!

You wanted him you got him.


The Florida Times-Union
September 19, 2007

FHP chief hits hits the road
By J. Taylor Rushing,
Capital Bureau Chief
TALLAHASSEE -The head of the Florida Highway Patrol has resigned following an investigation into allegations of falsification and discrimination involving agency personnel.

FHP officials on Tuesday announced the resignation of Col. Christopher Knight, 50, whose 26-year career included a station in Palatka. He was replaced by Lt. Col. John Czernis, 53, a 30-year veteran. Knight served six years as head of the agency.
His resignation came despite being cleared of all but a single allegation of wrongdoing: Falsifying a document that referred to an employee transfer request. The employee, Maj. Rebecca Tharpe, was fired last June and filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. During the EEOC investigation, Knight submitted the fake document to investigators.
Knight told The Associated Press Tuesday he "simply got the dates wrong," but FHP spokeswoman Julie Baker said the agency believes the mistake went deeper.
"It may sound simple, but that is a serious, sustained violation," Baker said. "In September 2006 he basically created a memo, backdated it to December 2003 and gave it to federal investigators."
The FHP has a budget of $220 million and includes more than 1,800 troopers. It is under the authority of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, whose executive director, Electra Theodoris-Bustle, made the decision to replace Knight with Czernis. Baker said Theodoris-Bustle was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
Knight had been the subject of an internal investigation since November 2006. Much of the investigation focused on racism allegations, including discriminating against minority employees by failing to promote them, excluding them from meetings and using "derogatory language" about African-Americans.
But Knight was cleared of those claims. In his six-year tenure, two of five employees promoted to the rank of major were African-Americans, and the 23 promotions to captain during that period included eight minority men and five women. Also, although the patrol's pool of African-American eligible for promotion to captain was increased, the number of African-Americans actually participating in the process has decreased, according to the report.
"The review of the racial make-up of the entire FHP is consistent with the U.S. Census Bureau statistics for the State of Florida," the report states.
Gov. Charlie Crist told the AP he agreed with the decision to remove Knight.
"He had a long career of service, but regrettably made poor decisions at the end," Crist said.
The probe into Knight's performance was launched after an FHP lieutenant, James Darby Jr., filed a complaint with the state's Chief Inspector's Office last November. In March, six African-American FHP employees also reported "concerns" to Crist's office, according to the report. That was followed by an anonymous e-mail to the Chief Inspector's Office in April and an e-mail from a former FHP sergeant to Theodoris-Bustle in May.
In July, Knight sent all 2,000 state troopers a defiant e-mail titled "Rumors" that denied he would be dismissed.
"Rumors throughout the patrol range from me being placed on administrative leave, to being asked to resign, to being dismissed," Knight wrote. "NONE OF THOSE RUMORS ARE TRUE."
jt.rushing@jacksonville.com, (850) 224-7515


This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 6525.shtml (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091907/met_200796525.shtml).
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