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Sheriff suppressing public’s right to know
Jul 25, 2012 | 9630 views | 4 4 comments | 487 487 recommendations | email to a friend | print

It’s been a week since the arrest of Alonzo Rico Ford on suspicion of the December 2011 shooting death of Pops Patel at the Ribbitz convenience store on West Point Road.

You didn’t read about that arrest in LaGrange Daily News because Troup County Sheriff Donny Turner is wantonly withholding the arrest reports from this newspaper. However, Turner is more than happy to share this information with his newsletter, the Troup County News, and WTVM Channel 9, a Columbus TV station.

It’s not from a lack of trying that you don’t see this information in LaGrange Daily News. Our reporters check with the sheriff’s office daily. He has said all public information must come from Lt. Chad Mann, the office’s public information officer. When our reporters request to speak with Mann at the station, he is unavailable. When we try to contact him by phone or email, he does not return the calls or respond to the emails. We have filed open records requests to force the release of information from the sheriff on Ford’s arrest, among others.

As a result, the public of Troup County is being denied the right to know. In the July 25 edition of the Troup County News, the top story is about a methamphetamine lab explosion on Salem Road. I’m sure other residents on Salem Road would like to know what the source of that explosion was. I’m sure they’d like to know if their neighbor is cooking meth. Pity you will only find that information in the Troup County News, again, because the sheriff won’t release that information to LaGrange Daily News.

This sheer pettiness stems from the fact that this newspaper wrote an article about the sheriff threatening an ex-employee because he was campaigning for his opponent in the 2012 election. The employee came to us with the recorded conversation and we published that information, with the recording, because the public has a right to know if their local sheriff is acting unethically by making threats.

He has taken his insecurity further in an ad in the Donny Turner Newsletter/Troup County News that accuses our parent company in Connecticut of trying to sway the vote. The fact is, Sheriff Turner is swaying the vote with unethical actions and childish retaliatory antics.

All right, Turner is angry with us and won’t talk to us.

But to order his public information officer to not talk to us or anyone is a wasteful use of his office, and drags down his whole department.

His new policy doesn’t hurt the media so much as the general public, which is denied information, and the men and women in law enforcement who are dedicated every day to making all of us safe.

The citizens of Troup County deserve and expect more from our sheriff. Let’s keep his bizarre behavior top of mind when we vote on Tuesday.



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dirktoney
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July 25, 2012
The incidents mentioned have been published in the Troup County News. The arrests have been made public on multiple Columbus news channels. How can you state that the information is being hidden from the citizens of Troup County? I think your editors need to look at the information they are publishing and figure out why public figures are not cooperating with them. It makes me wonder who at LDN has it out for Sheriff Turner and what their possible motives could be other than alienating the community they are supposedly trying to reach. The original story was published because Mr. Whitney took it upon himself to personally try and villify Sheriff Turner. Sheriff Turner did apologize for making a mistake, but the LDN continues to villify him. The story published after that has been proven false, but yet the LDN is still standing behind a story that is not true (the DA was never at any time intending to press charges because there was nothing illegal). Yet I don't see the LDN apologizing for publishing an entirely false story. Instead they have continued to villify someone who has worked dilligently for 20 years to make our community a better place to live. I will be voting for Sheriff Turner on election day because he has proven that he can do the job. I think we need look at the record and appreciate the excellent job Sheriff Turner has done for our community.
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wordpower
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July 28, 2012
The main exception I take to your comment is that I would never look to the TCN as a serious source of news, and I don't get Columbus news channels. Though not perfect, the LDN is hands down a more professional and unbiased paper.

Okay, one more exception. Donny Turner's "apology" was more of an "I'm sorry I got caught but I'll try to justify my actions" response. No one could have faulted him for calling Whitney and saying that he thought they were friends and that he was wondering why Whitney would campaign for someone else. I fear governments full of power-mongering bullies. I'm glad LaGrange is finally waking up and looking closely at the status quo.
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CateBailey
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July 29, 2012
For dirktoney, I want to respond to your comment on so many levels I don't even know where to start. First, rather than the LDN question why Donny doesn't want to deal with the newspaper, perhaps tables should be turned and ask the question of why so many reputable offices in the county find it difficult to deal with Donny. They have all tried unsuccessfully to work within the laws or ethics established for their offices, and when he wants them to play by "Donny's rules" and they refuse, he becomes vindictive. Ask the tax commissioner's office, ask the solicitor general's office, ask the newspaper publisher or editor to sit down with you and explain what they have had to endure from Donny for years. You would be shocked. Did you know the challengers to both the solicitor general's seat and the tax commissioner's seat are people Donny asked to run so that he can get his friends in the offices he needs to help run the county by his own set of rules? He is even planning to do the same with his own job. They have tried to keep it under wraps, but several conversations have surfaced in the county that other law enforcement officials have heard that when the sheriff's Chief Deputy retires, the sheriff has a specific person from the Georgia State Patrol in mind to take his place. Donny himself then plans to retire in the middle of his own sheriff's term and then make his new Chief Deputy the interim sheriff so that person will have name recognition for the next race. Do you realize how seriously the LDN takes the reporting of this? Even though they have annual revenues from the Legal Notices of hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake because Donny is one of three officials in the county who decides what newspaper gets the Legal Notices, the LDN has obviously decided that the public's right to know of just some of the things Donny has done through the years outweighs the tremendous profits they may lose if he wins the election. Isn't it rather downright spooky to you how the Troup County News is pro-Donny on everything and bashes one certain political opponent of his in a completely unethical manner by inserting elementary-school opinion into what should be objective news stories? I did a search at the Georgia Secretary of State's website and noticed that TCN "owners" Eddie and Judy Murphy are only listed as the owners of Eddie Murphy Interiors and no other business. The "Troup County News" is not listed as a business. It obviously is named another company and is "doing business as" the Troup County News. So who is the owner if it isn't the Murphys? Who REALLY stands to profit if the Troup County News gets the Legal Notices, which are worth at least $300,000 to $500,000 a year?
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CateBailey
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July 29, 2012
One other thing, dirktoney: Just because the Attorney General's office decided not to investigate doesn't make the story "not true." It happened, and it wasn't the only time the sheriff lashed out to someone for campaigning for one of his opponents. I think that is one of the reasons Jon Whitney protected himself with a recording. Sheriff Turner called the LaGrange Police Department saying he wanted to file a complaint against two officers campaigning for another opponent. Request a meeting with the chief of police if you don't believe my words and ask him. The sheriff did the same thing by calling the Georgia State Patrol and complained about a specific employee there as well. It wasn't just one episode of sticking his foot in his mouth as he has said in public.
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