Girls Gone Wild

Officials shield crime of mayor’s teen daughter

Part 1: Mayor's Daughter Cover Up

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two part series on Girls Gone Wild. Part two on Jessica Summer Murray, the daughter of Bill and Sandra Murray will appear in next month's issue.

The daughter of Americus Mayor Barry Blount is once again on the wrong side of the law. Carley Michelle Blount, 19, was arrested by the Americus police for alleged possession and consumption of alcohol by a minor. According to police reports, on October 17, at approximately 2:12 a.m., officers Nelson Scott and Joel D. Mathis responded to a call in reference to a noise violation at 6-F Lexington Place Apartments on 1130 Felder Street.

When the officers arrived, they observed Jeremy A. Sapp, 19, a white male, who appeared to be asleep on the back of a pickup truck. After officers assisted him from the back of the truck, he was arrested for underage consumption. Officers also noticed several bottles of beer outside the residence and several males and one female, outside. The female reportedly had a can of Bud Light in her hand and consuming the contents. When the officers entered apartment 6-F, upon knocking, they allegedly found George Moody, Jack Nicholson, Jason Holley, Joshua Tondee, and Carley Blount, all age 19.

The teens allegedly admitted that they had consumed alcoholic beverages at the residence belonging to Miss Blount. They all were arrested on the scene and charged with consumption of alcohol and released on summons pending a plea date of December 6. 

"A young college girl like Carley having five guys alone at her apartment and getting drunk at 2:00 a.m. in the morning seems like a scene from 'Girls Gone Wild'," said Dr. John Marshall, President of the Americus Sumter County NAACP. "The thing that makes me so upset is how the police department released them on summons at the apartment to continue drinking, partying, and who knows what else but arrested and jailed a good man like Craig Walker because he spanked his unruly teenage niece with her mother's permission. Tell me who should be handcuffed and jailed: Craig Walker spanking a bad child or Carley Blount's drinking and driving? That is why I support Craig spanking his niece so she won't turn out like Carley Blount."

This is not the first time Blount's daughter's alcohol problems have gotten her in trouble with the law. She was arrested and charged with driving under the influence (DUI) on July 15, 2005, after police saw her driving her 2004 white Honda Civic with no headlights near the Bel Air Plaza on Lamar at 1:37 a.m. The result of Ms. Blount's Alcohol Intoxilyzer test was .08. The legal limit is .08.

Carley Blount's first court date on September 14, 2005, was cancelled after William J. Murray filed a notice of appearance that he would be Ms. Blount's attorney for her case. Mr. Murray filed the document with City Prosecutor William Rambo, who is also a partner with the law firm of city attorney James Skipper. Rambo and Skipper are both appointed each year by Mayor Barry Blount along with the City Council's approval.

Carley Blount's second court hearing scheduled for February 2006 was cancelled when attorney Murray requested her case be transferred from municipal court under Judge Michael Greene to State court under Judge Russ Barnes.

On June 21, this year, attorney Murray filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case of State of Georgia vs. Carley Blount. In the motion, Murray asked the court to suppress "any and all contraband seized… specifically the results of bodily testing and any statements or admissions made by the defendant" because Carley Blount wasn't given her Miranda Rights and law enforcement officials who searched her vehicle did so without probable cause. 

Murray further asserted, "At the time of the stop, defendant had just traded her old automobile (a 1996 Honda Accord) for a new one (2004 Honda Civic). The lighting system on the 2004 Honda Civic did not have automatic headlights, but it did have automatic lights on the interior dashboard. When the interior dashboard lights came on automatically, defendant believed that the headlights also would automatically operate.

They did not, he said. The design of the lighting system was confusing to the defendant therefore failure to not have headlights in operation was not the result of her negligence or intent, but was the result of confusion caused by the design."

When Carley Blount's case was finally heard on July 12, 2006, before Judge Russ Barnes, she was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving thus avoiding the mandatory jail time required with a DUI guilty plea. The no headlight requirement charge was dismissed altogether. Blount was sentenced to 12 months confinement to be served on probation, fined $1,350 and her driving license suspended.

As a condition of her probation, Carley Blount was instructed to avoid alcohol, drugs, and other narcotics. Police officials said that this new charge might result in jail time because Blount violated her probation, however that decision would be left up to her probation officer.

 "Being a parent myself, I can certainly empathize with Mayor Blount and the issues he is facing with his daughter," said James L. Bryant, Jr., a former city of Americus mayoral candidate. "However, underage drinking and alcohol abuse are a major problem in our community and it appears as if some of the parents of these teenagers think it is OK, when it is not.

"More than likely these kids are modeling the behavior they see at home. It might be a good idea for Mayor Blount to take some time off from running the city's business and help his daughter handle her addictions before she hurts herself or someone else."     

According to Marshall, this entire incident has been "a cover up from top to bottom," citing the relationship between Mayor Blount, city attorney Skipper, city prosecutor Rambo, Police Chief James Green, and attorney Murray. "The glue that kept this story together was the Americus Times Recorder which never printed any of this news. I am so thankful that the Americus Sumter Observer ran this story because our people needed to see this classic example of how the good ole' boy network operates in Sumter County."

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Seagraves tampers with Hospital Authority

The Americus Sumter Observer has been informed by the NAACP that it has received information that David Seagraves, CEO of Sumter Regional Hospital, has submitted names to the County Commissioners to be considered for seats on the Hospital Authority.

Although Seagraves has a part to play when choosing the hospital management board members, he is in violation if he submits names for the Hospital Authority, which governs the hospital CEO, according to an NAACP spokesperson.

The hospital membership is made up of citizens who are chosen by the city council and the county commissioners.  The authority oversees the management board and the hospital administration, as well as leases the hospital to the management board and the administration.  "It makes no sense for David Seagraves to submit any names to a governing body that will have to preside over him as hospital CEO," says the NAACP spokesperson. 

In a recent ASO article, the paper reported that Seagraves and Steve Machen, SRH vice president of operations, who have no previous experience or credentials to run a hospital, had an approximate combined annual income of $500,000. Given the sad financial status of the hospital and the fact that a significant portion of salaries come from an indigent fund of approximately $1.6 million that the state allocates, the paper questioned how the two individuals could be paid such huge salaries. The paper also questioned the hospital's aggressive collection policy from many of the indigents in the community.

"Some people have been sent to Magistrate Court and their wages garnished," the NAACP spokesperson said. "We were told by the Magistrate Court and some of the Sheriff's Deputies that the number of people served for collections by Sumter Regional Hospital is staggering.  The number of cases has decreased since the Beauchamp law firm of Albany tried to sue the hospital on behalf of the poor."

The NAACP cases were mentioned to David Seagraves but neither the patients nor the NAACP received a response from Seagraves.

The NAACP described Seagraves' alleged effort to submit names for the authority as very suspicious. "He is the benefactor of a hefty salary even though we are told the hospital is operating in the red and staff is cutting cost everywhere they can," the spokesperson said. "Some of the hospital employees called our office explaining their disbelief of the large salary Seagraves makes and some veteran workers are still making $7 an hour after more than 20 years on the job.

"We received a complaint of promotions of women for positions in which they do not have the experience to perform those duties.  The reasons for such promotions were not fully spelled out."

In an open records request by the NAACP, Seagraves admitted that the hospital paid for the medical school expenses of Dr. Doug Joyner's son.  Joyner is a surgeon at the hospital. When asked for more details of other prominent highly paid citizens whose children are sponsored by Sumter Regional Hospital, attorney Michael Fennessy was not forthcoming.

The county commissioners failed to submit any names to the Hospital Authority at their last meeting.  Commissioner Al Hurley submitted several names in July but the authority did not choose Hurley's names.  The second slate of names was never presented at the last meeting because the commissioners allegedly didn't want Hurley's second list of names. 

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Times Recorder hides drug arrest of employee's son

The Americus Times Recorder hid the drug arrest of one of its employee's children by failing to report the facts of the case in the area beat section of its newspaper. The Sumter County Multi-Agency Drug Task Force recently arrested Joel M. Melton, Jr., the son of Times Recorder Circulation Manager Zelma Melton, for alleged possession of marijuana.

According to police reports, at 3:29 a.m. on October 12, agents Marcus Wise and Anthony Jackson were conducting a drug investigation in the area of North Jackson and Rucker Streets. When they stopped a silver vehicle because the driver didn't have on his seat belt. Upon further investigation, agents reportedly discovered marijuana residue, paraphernalia including a Job Cigarette and Rollit paper, and a drug-smoking pipe.

"Beth Alston (editor) and William Bronson (publisher) have no shame in printing police reports when its about blacks and poor whites, but when it's one of their own or prominent citizens children like Carley Blount, Summer Murray, and Justin Minich they conveniently omit this type of information," said Dr. John D. Marshall, President of the Americus Sumter County NAACP. "Hopefully the majority of the community can see that the Times Recorder is an extremely bias and highly unreliable source for your news. It makes you question if they are not printing that, what else they might not be printing."

After reading about the omission of the Melton drug arrest, officials at the Times Recorder decided to print the story and attributed the omission as "an inadvertent error."

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Officer loses job over arrest

Attorney Bill Murray verbally attacked Police Officer Michael Miller when a domestic dispute Took place at the Murray Home May 16, 2006

The Americus Police Department is not givening out much information. But the officer best know for his involvement in a May dispute between a local attorney and his wife, has been dismissed. 

The attorney, Bill Murray called police alleging that his his wife, Sandra, was pointing a gun at him. But when Officer Miller arrived on the scene, Murray (Bill) yelled at Miller, asking the officer to leave his home. "You Mr. Miller, leave my property now; you are not welcome," Murray said.

In a May 2006 editorial in the Americus Times Recorder, Sandra Murray reported that the Murray family had filed a $2 Million Dollar lawsuit against the city of Americus for Police Harassment.

The suit stemmed from a complaint that officer Miller stormed Jessica Murray's home with four armed men with guns drawn yelling and using abusive language. "She had no knowledge of any events prior to having guns drawn on her and lights shined in her face, said Murray."Miller has been obsessed with our daughter and my family. It is also believed that officer Miller was one of the police officers who arrested Murray's daughter for DUI, a charge that was later dismissed.

"The officers were loud and destructive, turning over plant stands on her front porch, pointing guns at us. This type of conduct was uncalled for," said Murray. It has not been determined whether or not Officer Miller's involvement with the Murray family was the sole cause of his termination. Efforts to reach Police Chief James Green for comments on this story were unsuccessful.

Officer Miller did not arrest Attorney Bill Murray or his wife even though obvious disorderly conduct took place at Atty. Murray's home says NAACP spokesperson. But officer Alfonso Ross did not hesitate to arrest NAACP VP Craig Walker for spanking his niece.

The Criminal Justice system in Americus is extremely racist and the District Attorney needs to investigate the preferential treatment of prominent citizens vs. black and poor whites. The Craig Walker arrest is a classic example of Americus Police departments' tolerance of unfair punishment.  Police Chief James Green has sat silently and allowed his department to go into the gutter, says NAACP President Marshall.