Two Words: Press Charges

I was sickened when I watched a video of a student being sucker-punched, knocked to the ground, and then beaten with fists and kicks until he was unconscious.

Thankfully, I have spoken to my school board representative Kevin Adams and he reported to me that the student in the video is going to be okay.

And I know from my experience as a school board member that those that committed this battery on another student will face school discipline--which could potentially include reassignment or expulsion.

But after watching this and seeing it for myself----it is disturbing.  Really hard to watch.  I also believe the student (s) who filmed this from beginning to end, obviously knowing what was about to happen, these student (s) should be disciplined as well.  Will they be though?  We will never know but they should be.

Because the blows to a downed individual could have been lethal--this young man could have been killed in this attack.

That's why I have two words for the parents of the victim here--because that's what he was in this attack, a victim.   PRESS CHARGES.  I would strongly encourage the parents to press charges to get justice primarily, and to remove these violent students secondarily from the schools so that such attacks are not committed on other students.

I say this because I have seen, in my many years on the school board prior to joining the county commission, instances similar to this where  students that committed similar type assaults and or batteries come out of the school discipline process and return right back to the schools from which they were removed or are moved to different public schools once the often light school discipline (3-day, 5-day, or 10 Day suspension)-is concluded.  Sometimes this happens much too quickly--so far as I am concerned.  At least if charges are filed, a just penalty can be achieved for the families and the victim.

I tried hard to make discipline firm and meaningful when I was on the board, but the proclivity of the administration was always to defer to political correctness and discipline was watered down.  This was infuriating to parents, and frankly I do believe it is one of the reasons the population voted to finally move to the appointed superintendent model (which cannot happen soon enough!).  I also believe feckless, weak discipline is driving good parents and good families to flee the public schools--which is very sad to me as a staunch public school supporter.

Bring back firm discipline, remove and segregate the violent predatory monsters, protect the vulnerable, enforce board policy on bullying, and back up the teachers when they write referrals---and the school population will increase again.  I'm convinced of that.

(In case anyone is interested, here are some posts from the past on this topic, real incidents, real stories).

When the Head-Waiter Runs the Restaurant.........Part II: "From Retaliation to Vindication--The Closed Office Door and the Internal Report's Release"

"I am in charge!!" shrieks the Head Waiter at a posh restaurant.  In actuality, he is simply an employee of the restaurant.  As a practical reality, however, perhaps the head waiter does, indeed, run the restaurant.....

Note:  This series is based upon a fictional account of an antisocial, smug restaurant "head waiter" employee that has hijacked and paralyzed an entire fictional restaurant and its staff with his antics and histrionics-jeopardizing profitability, stigmatizing certain employees, and destroying morale among the waitstaff.  The below account is fictional, an account based largely upon the author's imagined scenarios and circumstances combined with his experience working in and owning restaurants; any resemblance or similarity with any person or other entity, living or dead, whatsoever, is purely and simply coincidental....................................................................................

Part II: "From Retaliation to Vindication--The Closed Office Door and the Internal Report's  Release"

This is a story about a series of unfortunate incidents at a well-regarded, very fine French Restaurant in Escambia County known as "Chez Pretentieuse."   As discussed in Part I, many patrons of this establishment had questioned who was actually in charge of the restaurant as morale at the long-established, well-regarded dinner house began to rapidly decline.  

A departing Area Manager brought in a new head waiter in 2018, and at first many of the staff members thought this was going to be a good thing.  One staffer in particular that was an early supporter stated "I thought the new head waiter would be a good thing, with a fresh perspective on service, and recipes, and overall operations."  He continued, "Slowly, though, I realized this was not the case.  It became obvious that the new head waiter came into the restaurant with a preconceived agenda and an axe to grind.  He was picking favorites that kowtowed to his every whim and anyone that disagreed on any aspect of the restaurant service protocols and procedures was immediately made into a pariah.  What amazed me the most--the head waiter's initial 'open door' policy attitude quickly devolved into a 'closed door' demeanor.  I mean, the office door was closed most of the days-- and it appeared that paranoia seemed to be setting in, that's the way I saw it."

Several members of the waitstaff loudly complained to the area manager and the site general manager.  "We're no longer having training sessions, and we are not getting good guidance anymore!"  Others complained of the gossip being spread..."We were asked questions by the head waiter that seemed inappropriate--we were asked our opinions about our fellow waiters and other restaurant employees--including management-- by the new head waiter---It just didn't seem right--so we reported it to the Site General Manager" said one waiter, who continued, "We love working here, serving the public, and doing our jobs--we don't want the unnecessary DRAMA!'

Soon, the restaurant devolved into factions.  Customer service and operational efficiency were the real casualties of this turn of events.   Those employees that supported the new head waiter, and those that did not, became divided.   Soon, multiple employees filed complaints against the new head waiter.  Instead of waiting for the results or answering the complaints, the new head waiter filed counter complaints AND state

Great Discussions with Citizens at our 29th Coffee With a Commissioner Event this Morning

We had a great discussion on a variety of topics at this morning's 29th Coffee with a Commissioner event.  I appreciate the citizens that attended, and more importantly I appreciate their questions, comments, and input on a host of issues.

Some of the significant discussions this morning centered on Public Beach Access on Perdido Key (Beach Access #4), the vacation of Cameron Lane in Warrington, the new elementary school off of Sorrento Road, the new Library in Bellview, the OLF 8 Master Plan, the NW District 1 Master plan/Overlay District, Modernization of the Beulah Fire Station, Beach Traffic/Roundabouts, Cashless toll booths at the beach, the Civic Center Recapitalization, and  other topics as well, including economic development and controlling growth/managing growth intelligently.

For those that wish to watch-the facebook live video can be accessed here.  (note:  we had a minor technical glitch when one of the microphone transmitters failed.  I did re-state the questions as they were presented so the answers given describe the questions that are difficult to hear)

We will have our 30th Coffee with the Commissioner on the last Wednesday in January--I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

29th Coffee With a Commissioner Event is this Tuesday at 6:30 AM

Our Final Coffee of 2019 will happen this Wednesday at 6:30 AM--All are welcome and encouraged to attend!

Our office will be holding our 29th Coffee with a Commissioner Event this Tuesday, December 3rd.

We will meet at the Denny's Restaurant on Mobile Hwy across from Walmart.

This will be our last Coffee event of 2019--so all are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

We will also Facebook Live the session so that all questions and answers can be viewed in real time by those constituents who may not be able to make the meeting in person.

There are lots of topics out there for discussion, and I anticipate much discussion on the following:

1.  Vacating Cameron Lane
2.  Going Cashless at the Beach Toll Booth
3.  The Latest on Opening Perdido Key Beach Access #4
4.  The Latest Plan to Recapitalize the Pensacola Civic Center
5.  The status of Modernizing Beulah's Fire Station #2
6.  Roundabouts at the Beach
7.  The Master Planning of OLF 8
8.  The Master Planning of the Greater Beulah Area
9.  Opening of the Latest Public Library in District 1's Bellview Community
10.  Any other topics of county-wide or D1 interest

When the Head-Waiter Runs the Restaurant.........Part I: "Who is in Charge?"

"I am in charge!!" shrieks the Head Waiter at a posh restaurant.  In actuality, he is simply an employee of the restaurant.  As a practical reality, however, perhaps the head waiter does, indeed, run the restaurant.....

Note:  This series is based upon a fictional account of an antisocial, smug restaurant "head waiter" employee that has hijacked and paralyzed an entire fictional restaurant and its staff with his antics and histrionics-jeopardizing profitability, stigmatizing certain employees, and destroying morale among the waitstaff.  The below account is fictional, an account based largely upon the author's imagined scenarios and circumstances combined with his experience working in and owning restaurants; any resemblance or similarity with any person or other entity, living or dead, whatsoever, is purely and simply coincidental....................................................................................


Part I:  Who Runs This Place?

This is a story about a series of unfortunate incidents at a well-regarded, very fine French Restaurant in Escambia known as "Chez Pretentieuse."  Like many restaurants, it had a hierarchy of super talented extremely dedicated employees, supervisors, shift managers, directors, business managers, site managers, auditors, accountants, head waiters, waiters, food runners, bus boys, chefs, sous chefs, line cooks, valets, parking lot attendants, restroom attendants, and hosts and maitre D's. Because it was a publicly traded business--the actual owners of the restaurant were the members of the public, the shareholders.  Many customers were privately confounded by the massive numbers of employees.  Some regulars would often quip "This restaurant staffing looks like a government bureaucracy--no wonder the price is so high and the service is so slow!"  But they came back again and again because the food was good and in many respects Chez had a monopoly of sorts in the area.

"Who is in charge of the restaurant--who actually calls the shots, Who Runs this Place?"  Some customers and others would often ask whenever the occasion would arise where something was askew at the restaurant.  And this was always a tough one to answer.  But the best explanation would often go something like this:  "Chez is owned by the people, policy is created and overseen by the Board of Directors,  Operations are managed by the Area Manager who supervises the Site General Manager.  The Head Waiter is an employee of the Site General Manager but he, the Head Waiter, supervises the waitstaff (and they shall operate strictly on the state health license and permit of this Head Waiter), but the overall operation is a public corporation, publicly traded and owned!

Although "Chez" was very well regarded, over the last several years some concerning circumstances came to light and area management decided to make various personnel changes to keep the

Accessibility the Potential Casualty in the Fight Against Opening Beach Access #4 in Perdido Key

If those opposed to opening beach access #4 in Perdido are successful, a handicapped-accessible Escambia County-owned beach location would be one of the casualties.......

For those who have not followed the deliberate attempts to keep 300 feet of publicly-owned, prime Gulf-Front beach property inaccessible to the general public, you can read all about this ongoing, sordid spectacle here.

Several of us are working to open this beach, and we will #OpenOurBeach.  But there have been a few setbacks that have thrown us off of the timeline we were given by staff last year at this time.  

Most recently, it is a red herring, faux argument straw-man concocted to advance the fiction that opening this beach might "draw a lawsuit" for the county and leave vulnerable, protected wildlife species "unprotected."  This is total BS garbage, a smokescreen. 

You see,  there are these special interests, those with hidden agendas, and their bidders (primarily nearby condo owners who have a padlocked, "no-trespassing" private walkover to access our beach) who like the comfortable status-quo.  They don't want us to do what we said we would do (provide public access) when we purchased this property with taxpayer funds in 2013;  they like things just the way they are right now.  It is very, very comfortable for them as it now stands presently.

It goes a little something like this:  

"We can use this beach, we live here and we have access to it that you cannot use--our access point is Private--we don't want you here!"   See how that works?

And meanwhile, NOTHING is being done to protect the habitat and the dunes at this parcel.  A casual walk to this parcel from the nearby Crab Trap Restaurant will illustrate this in stark terms:   Litter, rubbish, used fire-rings and footprints all through the dune system that is supposed to be the protected habitat for the mouse.

As of today, sadly, Escambia County has failed to do either of the things it said it would do when it spent $ Millions on this property in 2013.  No protection for the habitat, no public beach access.

But thankfully, now we are finally seeing the forward progress that many of us have longed for and pushed for--because contrary to the fake news, false narratives proclaimed by some--- this was never political--it is and always has been about access to that beautiful beach.

So the project has now officially been socialized with The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, initial plans have been drawn up that indicate 36-37 parking spots with room for emergency vehicles to access and turn around if necessary, a location and infrastructure for a permanent restroom facility to be constructed in the future has been included--and most importantly--Handicapped, accessible "mobi-mats" will be utilized at this site to allow citizens with disabilities to access this beach.  This will be Escambia County's only handicapped-accessible, free- beach access point in Perdido Key once it is constructed!

The project is going to the County's Development Review Committee in December, and will be brought back before the board for funding (which we will make available from oil-spill proceeds I believe) in January if all goes according to plan according to conversations I have had with relevant staff members.

Because this is the right thing to do, opening this beach for all of us to use.   And no matter what anyone says--we will #OpenOurBeach !

Doing What is Right Part III: A Completed HR Report from 6-24-2019 is NOT a Public Record?

How long must an employee suffer and be punished for making a valid, sustained complaint against a supervisory employee?

As I have chronicled in Part I and Part II of this series--there appears to be an issue percolating around an Escambia County employee that filed a harassment complaint against his supervisor.

Ever since his complaint was filed--it appears as if he has been stymied, stigmatized, and deprived of due process rights as mandated in county policy and relevant collective bargaining agreements.

I was contacted by this individual in November after this employee tried over and over to get resolution on his situation utilizing his chain of command with no success--for nearly 6 MONTHS!.

Nobody was listening.

I listened, and I am listening.

I have received a copy of the five page HR investigation summary of this employee's harassment claim against his supervisor.  The report corroborates what this employee claims.  This report was completed, and recommendations were made for resolution, on June 24th of this year.

But then the report was shelved.  Nobody did anything with it, and the employee asked over and over and over for a copy.  He asked over and over and over to get back to his job.  He was stymied.  Nothing was given to him for five months.  Meanwhile, he was prevented from working shifts he traditionally has worked and this has had the net effect of reducing his income by 15-18% over what he has earned in the past.

So upon my receipt of the report, I immediately thought I would publish it--after all, it was inactive and nothing was being done on it.  Jim Little of the PNJ saw part I on my blog and made a public records request for the 5-page report.  So I asked our attorney if it was a public record releasable on my blog and also to the PNJ.

Here is what I asked of our attorney:

"As you know, Jim Little from the PNJ has made a public request of me for the email string below as well as the embedded photographs within what I am forwarding to you in this email—which includes the first five pages of an HR document from June (?) of this year apparently.  Because I want to comply and I always do comply with the state public records statutes—please supply the specific statutory exemption that applies and which precludes me from sending the below string specifically--- to include the photographs embedded-- to Jim Little in answer to his public records request.  Please be specific. 

As you and I discussed, I know this does not comport specifically with county policy—but that in and of itself