John Loach, the witness who made the secret recording openly admitted while on the witness stand that yes, he lied sometimes...
Passing a note or anything at all to a judge during a court proceeding is 'unheard of' ...See how gracefully Judge Don Ash handles the situation. The John Loach testimony is towards the end of the video.
It may be the first and only time you see a witness unwittingly incriminate himself like this: ...Watch Court Hearing on YouTube.
Monroe County Road Superintendent--Incumbent Steve Teague wins over Richard Best's 2nd try to get in the county road superintendent position...RB was seen sitting down in election posters wearing what looked like a light green pajama shirt..."What the heck were you thinkin' Richard?"
Monroe County Mayor--Mitch Ingram defeated Tim Yates for the second time--Mitch Ingram 4,116--Tim Yates 1,993
In a rarely seen unified effort to demand more money from the Monroe County School Board, 3 long time school bus contractors are refusing the latest contract offer from the school system --watch video on how School Bus Drivers Gettin' Screwed
A strange twist on how the school board is using your tax dollars; they recently spent close to $300,000 to buy out the contract of former director of schools Dr DeAnna McClendon. The buyout agreement included provisions that McClendon would not sue the school system or publicly discuss the secret agreements worked out by the school board and her lawyer. It is believed that the firing and the 'cover up' was over the school board wanting to continue their history of mismanagement and 'back room deals' with little public input or oversight. Go to the next school board meeting (if they'll let you in).
Update 7/16/2022 Just a couple of weeks from the start of school and director of schools Kristie Windsor still 'using evasive tactics' when dealing with the news media: refusing interviews.
The current revolt by the main bus contractors is a rare event--in years past, they would just offer a low salary to school bus drivers and continue operations doing 'business as usual.'... several factors have contributed to the unified 'cry for more money' ...
Several employee/drivers are not returning after the summer break (two of the contractors in the video had over 35 drivers employed)... some drivers have within the last two years retired or will soon retire. A bus contractor in 2020 unable to hire additional help, was overworked and crashed into a tree while "functionally asleep" at the wheel.
Let's not forget bus contractors have skyrocketing diesel fuel and operating costs, and there is little incentive to attract new drivers since there are many area wide options for employment--there's also an increased difficulty for new applicants to get a school bus CDL license now that the new federal MAP-21 provisions have been implemented--getting a CDL now is much more time consuming and expensive--and, the training has to be provided by an accredited federal/state program. The new requirements are effective for all new driver training performed after February 7, 2022. See School Bus Entry Level Driver Requirements
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"The Homeland Security Act" was amended in 2006 adding hr5852, (5) which includes provisions for inter-agency inter-operabilty and cooperation to 'conduct extensive outreach to foster the development of interoperable emergency communications capabilities by State, regional, local governments, and public safety agencies.'
It also describes ways to (8) 'promote the development of best practices to facilitate the sharing of information for achieving, maintaining, and enhancing inter agency cooperation capabilities for such response.'