You can't make this stuff up

One of the things I was sure I was NOT going to miss when I left Huntsville last year was the overly active nature of many of the local government bodies. I could go on and on about the proposed smoking ban (which they still haven't figured out) and the question of cutting garbage pickup to once a week (don't think they've settled on this one either), not to mention the outlandish actions of the hysterical commission. Not only were my libertarian tendencies offended by a lot of their decisions, but many of their actions seemed to be driven by nothing more than a desire to get even with someone.

Well, it turns out Decatur has some doozies too. I think this story started yesterday. Evidently the Morgan County Commission and the Morgan County Sheriff are in a pissing contest. The sheriff wanted to control his own dispatchers, but the commissioners wanted to keep the dispatchers under their control. Evidently much name calling followed and the commission then cut the sheriff's budget by $67,000. [By the way, lashing out by cutting budgets or even eliminating a foe's position entirely is evidently a common strategy for the commission.]

Bartlett [the sheriff] said the amount would pay salaries and benefits for two dispatchers, and he might be forced to lay off two employees. A majority of commissioners said they doubted that.

Well, today Sheriff Bartlett struck back.

Morgan County commissioners learned this week that if they cross the sheriff, they won't get perks such as working inmates.

Apparently the county has been using inmate labor to do lots of little odd jobs and now Sheriff Bartlett has decided to retaliate by cutting off the supply of free labor. While the inmate work program seems like an okay policy to me, I cenrtainly understand the sheriff's move. Not the commissioners. They act as if this is totally unprovoked on his part. Stacy George, one of the chief combatants in the previous dispute said:

"I think he's being vindictive," said George. "He's different from me. I can argue in a meeting and disagree, and if the sheriff needs me later, I'll be there to help him."

HELLO! It's called tit-for-tat and 5-year-olds understand how it works. Don't act all surprised when you smack someone and he smacks back. Remember the line from The Untouchables? Something like, "They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the cemetery." Of course this is a bad way to run a government, but everyone understands the process - except for Commissioner George evidently.

I can't wait to see what happens next.