Howdy, Folks! What's cooking?
So, the big news last week naturally was the report that both Marcello Banes, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Newton Co., GA, as well BOC 3 Commissioner-Elect, Stephanie Lindsey, were both indicted by a Federal Grand Jury.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, indeed!
But of course in our system one is always presumed innocent before being proven guilty; however, it's looking pretty bad for the self-described dear, old friends - Marcello & Stephanie.
For one thing, reading the press release from the North Georgia US Attorney's office seems to give the impression that they've pretty much got 'em dead to rights.
Also, it's my understanding, based on research & from what a few folks w/ familiarity w/ these things have told me, that the conviction rate for federal indictments is in the range of 90-95%.
So, again, not looking very good for those two at the moment. But, there's a long way to go. You never know.
It does seem to be confirmed that Ms Lindsey did receive a $150K real estate commission for a parcel in Stanton Springs some years back. Further, based on what the US Atty's office has stated, it looks as if $100K of that was put into a LLC that was organized & that finally approx $100K of that money found its way to Marcello (who served on the JDA board that voted to approve the sale) & then that amount of money was purportedly spent on that fine house Marcello built a few years back.
My, my, my.
We'll keep an eye on it...
Madam Mayor
Fleeta Smith Baggett.
Mayor of the home city (Covington, GA, USA) for right at six months now.
It's my understanding - and I feel 100% confident in reporting on this at this time - that while an official court TPO was not placed on her, a very serious warning was given to her by the CPD to no longer ever enter the premises of one of the merchants of the Covington Square.
That happened a while back.
Not a good look.
Now, more recently, an official grievance has been filed against Fleeta by a City of Covington employee.
Many are aware of how Fleeta has been brow-beating, threatening & just overall being most unpleasant to multiple city employees the last few months. She's also had public confrontations w/ multiple city employees as well as some other elected officials.
As a confidential source told me -- "she really is totally out of control."
Per the city's charter, the mayor is not supposed to have any involvement w/ day-to-day operations of the city government. Moreover, the position really has NO real power or authority of any sort. The only duties of this elected office are basically as follows:
- to preside over city council meetings or other functions
- to break any possible ties of city council meetings
- to be a figurehead/public face of the city
And that's really basically it.
I feel as if that is simply killing Fleeta -- the not having any real power.
But the kicker, I believe, is this: she has no way, really, of getting her way as she simply doesn't have the votes on the council to do so. If she could get a 3-3 tie, she could swing a few things her way. But, she doesn't.
And I think that's really eating her up.
Her behavior as of late is something that some had worried about leading up to the election but it was thought that she'd obviously be better than the alternative, and that she likely had corrected some of her previous ways.
Well...
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Okay for now. Until next time.
- MBM
