GSPack
07-24-2004, 07:11 PM
July 24, 2004
County Sheriff Is Suspended in Georgia
By ARIEL HART
TLANTA, July 23 - Gov. Sonny Perdue on Friday suspended Fulton County Sheriff Jacquelyn H. Barrett, who earlier this month surrendered control of the county jail to federal management.
The governor acted a week after Ms. Barrett announced she would take a leave of absence for the last five months of her term, beginning Aug. 1. The suspension lasts 60 days and can be extended for another 30.
After the governor's order, Doris L. Downs, the chief superior court judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, appointed Theodore Jackson, a former F.B.I. special agent in charge in Atlanta, as interim sheriff. The county jail, whose operation is the sheriff's largest task, will continue to be managed by John Gibson until a new sheriff is elected this year.
Mr. Perdue cited the recommendation made Wednesday by a panel he appointed at the prodding of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association to look into suspending Sheriff Barrett. The three panel members - the Georgia attorney general, Thurbert E. Baker; and two sheriffs, Thomas Brown of DeKalb County and Howard Sills of Putnam County - cited bad investments the sheriff made with public money, questionable contributions to her election campaign and her "voluntary retreat from the duties of her office" in taking leave.
They did not draw conclusions about her management of the county jail, saying it was too complex an issue. Sheriff Barrett has acknowledged the overcrowding and severe understaffing at the jail, and said she lacked an adequate budget.
Manubir S. Arora, one of Sheriff Barrett's lawyers, said, "The basis for the suspension has no merit."
Mr. Arora said that his client should be presumed innocent on the financial matters, which are still under federal investigation, and that she had not abandoned her duties.
The suspension came a day after Sheriff Barrett said she might rethink her decision to step aside, given the panel's statement that her office "may well be" considered vacated. On Friday she said through her lawyers that she had intended only to remove herself as a focal point for media attention and criticism in sheriff's office affairs, and that she was still available for consultation on sheriff matters.
The governor disagreed. "There is no legal mechanism by which she can take leave," said Loretta Lepore, a spokeswoman for Governor Perdue, a Republican.
"From Your Alabama Neighbor!"
County Sheriff Is Suspended in Georgia
By ARIEL HART
TLANTA, July 23 - Gov. Sonny Perdue on Friday suspended Fulton County Sheriff Jacquelyn H. Barrett, who earlier this month surrendered control of the county jail to federal management.
The governor acted a week after Ms. Barrett announced she would take a leave of absence for the last five months of her term, beginning Aug. 1. The suspension lasts 60 days and can be extended for another 30.
After the governor's order, Doris L. Downs, the chief superior court judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, appointed Theodore Jackson, a former F.B.I. special agent in charge in Atlanta, as interim sheriff. The county jail, whose operation is the sheriff's largest task, will continue to be managed by John Gibson until a new sheriff is elected this year.
Mr. Perdue cited the recommendation made Wednesday by a panel he appointed at the prodding of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association to look into suspending Sheriff Barrett. The three panel members - the Georgia attorney general, Thurbert E. Baker; and two sheriffs, Thomas Brown of DeKalb County and Howard Sills of Putnam County - cited bad investments the sheriff made with public money, questionable contributions to her election campaign and her "voluntary retreat from the duties of her office" in taking leave.
They did not draw conclusions about her management of the county jail, saying it was too complex an issue. Sheriff Barrett has acknowledged the overcrowding and severe understaffing at the jail, and said she lacked an adequate budget.
Manubir S. Arora, one of Sheriff Barrett's lawyers, said, "The basis for the suspension has no merit."
Mr. Arora said that his client should be presumed innocent on the financial matters, which are still under federal investigation, and that she had not abandoned her duties.
The suspension came a day after Sheriff Barrett said she might rethink her decision to step aside, given the panel's statement that her office "may well be" considered vacated. On Friday she said through her lawyers that she had intended only to remove herself as a focal point for media attention and criticism in sheriff's office affairs, and that she was still available for consultation on sheriff matters.
The governor disagreed. "There is no legal mechanism by which she can take leave," said Loretta Lepore, a spokeswoman for Governor Perdue, a Republican.
"From Your Alabama Neighbor!"