Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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April 28
The Brunswick News on safely storing firearms:
Guns and children do not mix. Better yet, guns and children do not mix well. Even better still, loaded guns and children is a mix that can end in tragedy and often does.
Just this past week, about 230 miles northwest of here in middle Georgia’s Jones County, a two-year-old boy accidentally shot his 28-year-old father in the back, killing him. The type of gun, whether a rifle or handgun, or its caliber was not reported, nor did law enforcement officials elaborate on where the toddler might have picked up the weapon. All it said was that accident occurred in the home when it was just the two of them there. Enough said.
Although we wished we could say otherwise, Glynn County and our coastal neighbors are no strangers to this devastating loss of life. Our neighbors have been unfortunate victims of similar gun-related accidents involving children. It is not something anyone is likely to ever forget.
How life changes for the survivors. There’s the initial mourning, followed by anger and hopelessness, followed by endless brainstorming of “what ifs?” Sadly, all too late.
Parents and adults can avoid such woeful tragedy, and potentially save a life or two in the process. They can take steps now, right this instant, to reduce the likelihood of experiencing what is a mother and father’s worst nightmare.
Make sure all guns and ammunition are out of sight and out of reach of children. Trigger locks and hard-to-breach lock boxes and cabinets are extra precautions, added insurance against a deadly mishap. Drawers in nightstands or under the bed are never ideal hiding places when young ones are afoot. If you feel secure sleeping with a loaded weapon nearby, make sure to return it to its safe place first thing in the morning.
This is also a heads up for grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends when families with young children or bored teens are coming over. Why risk it? Lock guns and ammunition safely away and out of sight.
Don’t invite tragedy. It comes often enough without an invitation. Protect your family, and do it today.
Online: https://thebrunswicknews.com
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April 27
The Augusta Chronicle on Georgia’s governor allowing some businesses to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic:
Saying you can doesn’t mean you must.
Has that concept somehow eluded the newest critics of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s coronavirus policies?
Last week the governor announced a measure, that went into effect on April 24, allowing certain businesses to reopen - gyms, barbershops, salons, movie theaters, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors, among others. Effective April 27, restaurants are allowed to provide in-person, sit-down dining again.
A bold decision? Certainly. Worrying? Admittedly.
But suffering businesses, and the newly swelling ranks of Georgia’s unemployed, need this. More importantly, these businesses are perfectly free to stay closed in the best interests of their employees and customers.
If this order wasn’t framed under the thoroughly vetted guidelines of the Trump administration’s own “Opening Up America Again” initiative, we’d rather see most businesses stay closed. However, Kemp’s order came with an exhaustive list of hygiene and safety requirements that these particular businesses have to meet if they are to unlock their doors.
Critics have bemoaned how Kemp’s decision is somehow “socially irresponsible.” But they’re leaving out one very key factor: Social responsibility begins with the individual.
Does the governor have to issue an executive order requiring all Georgians to speak quietly in movie theaters? Or not to act obnoxiously in restaurants? Of course he doesn’t. There are societal expectations to manage your own actions.
That’s why Kemp’s executive order - which apparently too few people chose to read carefully - doesn’t order citizens to pack like sardines into restaurants, or blunder mask-free into barbershops. Kemp still is advising Georgians to exercise caution by using the same 6-foot distancing that by now is familiar to everyone. The state’s listed requirements for these businesses to reopen are prudent and comprehensive.
The governor’s order isn’t gospel. Most places of worship statewide still are conducting services remotely - most popularly by online broadcasting or by keeping gathered worshippers in their cars. That’s as it should be - congregations are filled with the most at-risk candidates to contract COVID-19. To encourage otherwise would be setting the stage for another deadly outbreak such as the coronavirus’ wildfire-like spread in Albany.
As U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia said in a recent Fox News interview, the success of the governor’s reopening plan will require “a combination of technology and of intuitiveness” - practicing commonsense social distancing habits and expanding rapid and efficient coronavirus testing. Augusta University Health and the Medical College of Georgia have powered to the forefront of the state’s testing efforts.
Georgia consistently has been ranked a top state for business, and that distinction wasn’t bestowed merely by fiat. It was earned. Georgia has been lifted to robust levels of economic vitality on the backs of people in the very service industries that Kemp has allowed to reopen. A gradual, responsible and extremely cautious unshuttering of selected businesses best serves Georgia - and the workers eager to start earning an honest day’s wages again.
But if a spike in coronavirus cases can be attributed directly to these relaxed restrictions, the governor should reverse his new directive immediately and close those businesses back down.
Online: https://www.augustachronicle.com
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April 25
Savannah Morning News on workplace conflict complaints against a police chief:
Police Chief Roy Minter is unpopular with a number of his subordinates along Savannah’s thin blue line.
A workplace conflict complaint signed by 77 members of his department, including four precinct heads, makes that dissatisfaction official. The document, made public this month, is a repudiation of Minter’s leadership approach and deserves thorough review first by human resources professionals and then the city’s leaders.
But like an officer responding to an emergency call, the analysts must proceed with caution. Because as we witnessed for much of the last decade, trauma runs deep in the Savannah Police Department.
The rank and file have voiced dissatisfaction with Minter since shortly after he assumed department leadership nearly two years ago. The discontent started with quiet murmurings in the fall of 2018; gained notice with a rash of resignations, most notably among the sergeant ranks, in early 2019; and exploded last summer with a damning three-page letter sent to Savannah City Council, Acting City Manager Pat Monahan and local media outlets.
The letter bore no signatures beyond “officers and supervisors of the Savannah Police Department” and no individuals stepped forward to claim it or elaborate on the issues cited. That left outside observers, including the journalists here at the Savannah Morning News, to suspect that while many of the concerns could be valid, the complaint was motivated by resentment and a desire for vengeance.
The letter criticized not just Chief Minter but also his predecessor, Chief Joseph Lumpkin. Denouncing Lumpkin for his actions hurt the diatribe’s credibility. Lumpkin, after all, restored public trust in a department left decimated by a leader so corrupt he ended up in jail. Lumpkin delivered results, and if it required him to wield a heavy hand with the ranks, so be it.
Chief Minter inherited a different police department than Lumpkin did.
But just as with Lumpkin, Minter was given broad latitude to remake his organization as he saw fit. Like with many new chief executives hired from the outside, that meant an overhaul of the command structure to get deputies the new leader trusts across the top of the org chart.
Making such sweeping changes means making enemies. The measure of a leader’s effectiveness is what happens next.
Once the new org chart is established, the leader’s new lieutenants are in place and the rank and file adjust to the reset in policies and priorities, does discontent gradually grow into grudging respect?
Does the chief executive evolve his approach to give more pats on the back and fewer kicks in the pants?
The workplace conflict complaint would suggest Minter has failed to connect with a significant number of Savannah’s finest. The document is undated, but it’s safe to assume the ill-will cited remains. None of the 77 signees - approximately 12% of the police department staff — have stepped forward to withdraw their names from the complaint or recant or modify their concerns.
The signatories include employees from across the department, from precinct captains to detectives to patrol officers, and hints at the depth of the discontent. How many more members feel likewise but weren’t willing to risk putting their names on the document?
MORE SPECIFICS NEEDED
The complaint is deeply troubling. The allegations of intimidation, favoritism and poor communication resonate because of the effect those concerns have on workplace culture and staff morale.
However, the document is short on specifics and those details will be essential to the review. Those particulars will likely determine if internal procedures, such as mediation, will lead to resolution.
City Manager Monahan has pledged to follow the process. He noted that in instances where multiple employees and supervisors are involved with an HR complaint, the city seeks third-party assistance “to ensure the process remains fair and impartial.”
Given Mayor Van Johnson’s background as an HR professional, he’ll no doubt demand a comprehensive review as well. Monahan has the authority to discipline and even dismiss the police chief on his own, but the mayor and aldermen and alderwomen will certainly be made privy to the investigation and the eventual recommendations.
In the meantime, the public would do well to withhold judgment. Obviously, Chief Minter needs to improve his relationship-building skills, but his shortcomings there may or may not constitute a fireable offense.
Let’s wait on the review results to determine if the break along the thin blue line is irreparable.
Online: http://www.savannahnow.com
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