Heads and tales: Dying to get out
By Wade Kwon
Cop out: Birmingham’s murder spree continues unabated, and what’s the police chief’s big idea? Threaten cops leaving for better-paying jobs in the suburbs, telling them that they won’t ever be hired back. Mayor Kincaid even balked at the Aug. 2 menacing memo from Annetta Nunn (pictured here), writing that she didn’t have the power. Mayor Kincaid, take it one step further: Fire or demote Nunn now, and tell her if she ever leaves, he’ll spring for bus fare.
• Mayor orders police chief to restore policy [Birmingham News]
For whom the school bell tolls: Police officers aren’t the only ones fleeing town in droves. In only five years, Birmingham schools lost 7,300 students — one in five students skipped out for other, presumably better, systems. And 90 percent were black. (The methodology, somewhat flawed, still shows a desperate situation.) The exodus is costing city schools millions in federal dollars tied to enrollment numbers. New superintendent or no, the system’s fate could be sealed, leaving nearly 30,000 students stuck with a bleak future.
• City’s black students leaving for suburbs [Birmingham News]
Semper try: Some conservatives paint the media as responsible for declining troop morale and safety in Iraq. So what to make of Jeff Key, a gay redneck from Walker County turned Hollywood actor turned Marine reservist deployed to Iraq? After suffering from a hernia two months on duty, he returned stateside for an operation and … anti-war activism, including a play at Birmingham Festival Theatre, “The Eyes of Babylon,” based on his life story. The play runs through Saturday. By 2007, nearly 1,600 Alabama Army National Guard soldiers will be in Iraq, the highest number since 2,300 served in 2003.
• Looking into the Eyes of Babylon [Birmingham Weekly]
Also:
- Gas station owners prepare to gouge gas-addicted drivers
- Malls besieged with returns, long lines in post-sales tax holiday rush
- Accounting firm’s softball team forfeits pennant after flipping digits
• • •
Send us your news tips.
Thursday, August 10, 2006, 11:01 am
I don’t see how Nunn has managed to remain in her post this long with out some sort of comment from the Mayor’s office.
We experienced this back under Chief Johnson and his successor found a way to fix it. I’m pretty sure he didn’t take the play book with him when he went to Montgomery.
Thursday, August 10, 2006, 1:59 pm
Alabama Bloggers Roundup
If I did not highlight your blog specifically, choose a post from your blog for me to post, edit it to add a link to this post, and then send a TrackBack. As soon as I get it, I will edit the post with your highlighted post.
First off, Happy Birthday …
Thursday, August 10, 2006, 4:44 pm
Nunn seems helpless to take on the public relations problems the department is having. Part of that reflects on her fitness for the job, and part of that is the result of the mayor’s attempt to both micromanage and ignore the operation of the police department. I also would fault the mayor for breaking his promise, repeated several times, to raise the pay of patrol officers to above the regional average.
Thursday, August 10, 2006, 6:38 pm
The whole thing is a giant mess. Sorry, but Nunn’s gotta go (as does Kincaid). But only one can be fired tomorrow.
Friday, October 26, 2007, 6:08 pm
Birmingham police chief Annetta Nunn steps down after a bloody reign