The Tri-County Journal
& Chattahoochee Chronicle
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Buena Vista, GA 31803
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By RICHARD HARRIS
(From the July 5, 2006 issue)
Chattahoochee County Sheriff Glynn Cooper recently made good on his promise to fight the drastic cut in his budget, filing suit in Chattahoochee County Superior Court and asking the court to grant an injunction to stop the Commission from going forward with the new budget figures. He is also asking the court to restore the funding to an amount that he believes would make it possible for him to adequately operate the Sheriff’s Office.
The case began its way through the judicial system last week when it came up before Chattahoochee Superior Court Circuit Judge Robert G. Johnston. However, Judge Johnston continued (postponed) the matter due to a conflict of interest with the county’s attorney, William Moore. Moore feels he shouldn’t represent the Commission of the Unified
The commissioners have hired attorney Joseph Waldrop to represent them in the case, but he was unavailable for the first court date. Judge Johnston did not immediately set a new date to hear arguments on the case.
The Commission passed a budget on June 6 that cut the Sheriff’s Office funding from $625,941 to $198,963. The new budget also included $578,744 for a new municipal police department that they recently voted to establish. The police department would operate separately from the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Cooper’s attorney, Richard Hagler, says the decisions about the budget cut and the new police department were politically motivated and has called them “ridiculous.”
“To me, this seems to be an obvious attempt to put someone in control that they (the commissioners) can control,” said Hagler.
The sheriff’s lawsuit points out that the office of county sheriff is a constitutionally established office and that the sheriff has duties that the constitution requires him to fulfill. The sheriff says it will be difficult to perform those duties on the limited amount of funding provided in the new budget.
Background:
Last year, Larry Dillard, chairman of the Commission, asked Governor Sonny Perdue to investigate the local sheriff’s office, making various allegations of wrongdoing. He also pointed to local Probate Judge Ken Van Horn’s letter to the chief judge of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, in which Judge Van Horn said the sheriff was “pocketing warrants.”
Commissioner Dillard met with the governor’s lead attorney last November to discuss his complaints. After reviewing the complaints, the governor declined to investigate the Sheriff’s Office. While acknowledging that the sheriff had not served warrants in a timely manner, the governor noted that the sheriff was taking steps to address the issue. He did not directly address any of Dillard’s other complaints, but said he saw no criminal activity.
Probate Judge Ken Van Horn, who had earlier made known his intention to begin contempt proceedings against the sheriff, recently asked the governor to reconsider his decision to not order an investigation. Van Horn says the sheriff hasn’t adequately addressed the issue of not serving warrants in a timely manner. In a letter to the governor, he also claimed that the problem goes “much deeper” than warrants, and mentioned claims of improper behavior alleged by former deputies.
The governor has not yet made a response to the recent request by Van Horn.
Sheriff Cooper has maintained all along that he has nothing to hide and that he would welcome an investigation.
Related Articles:
Another local official requests investigation of Sheriff's Office
Commission votes to slash funding of Sheriff's Office
Sheriff's attorney says Commission's actions are 'ridiculous'
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