Japan May Offer A Way Forward For Better Community Policing in Bibb County

By Alan Wood,

Editor of Georgia Watchdog

In the U.S., police activity is mostly centered around the patrol car. In downtown Macon you occasionally see officers on bicycles, segways, or on foot,  but in most parts of Bibb county they use squad cars for patrols. In Japan the center of police activity happens in a very small police station called a koban.
Police boxes  are ubiquitous throughout Japan, and practically every populated neighborhood or community has one. There are different versions depending on urban or rural areas, but if you include both types, there are approximately 6,600 kobans in cities and around 9,000 chuzaishos in rural areas. The main difference is … Continue Reading

Should Milledgeville and Baldwin County Unify? Comparing Bibb and Baldwin, Macon and Milledgeville

By Dave Oedel, March 26, 2015, Macon Georgia:

The Monitor has already covered the retaliation controversy surrounding the movement of some Milledgeville city funds away from Century Bank, and special master Patrick Longan’s recommendation to fire city manager Barry Jarrett as a result. Jarrett elected not to appeal that ruling by March 18, 2015, and Milledgeville’s City Council has not acted to fire Jarrett. That seems to indicate that special master Longan’s recommendation to fire Jarrett will not be implemented.

That kerfuffle is seen by many in the community to be a satellite issue revolving around a bigger question … Continue Reading

Hoop Skirt Hoopla at UGA

By Dave Oedel, March 22, 2015, Macon, Georgia:

Middle Georgia made national headlines Wednesday, March 18, 2015 after sorority and fraternity leaders at the University of Georgia chose to ban or discourage the wearing of hoop skirts at events this spring during Kappa Alpha’s Old South Week and Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Magnolia Ball. The issue has immediately been seen as another moment of academic censorship, and another data point in the rise of overbearing political correctness.

In this particular case, both of those characterizations seem dubious.  Here’s why.  … Continue Reading

Jack Ellis Calls out Senator Isakson for Signing the Iran Letter

By Jack Ellis, former Mayor of Macon, Georgia, March 22, 2015, Macon, Georgia:

I was disappointed to learn that Georgia’s senior U.S. senator, Johnny Isakson, had signed the ill-conceived March 9, 2015 letter to Iran circulated by Senator Tom Cotton, a junior senator from Arkansas who’d only been in the Senate for two short months. Cotton was quickly joined by another junior, inexperienced senator, Georgia’s David Perdue. Secretary of State John Kerry referred to the letter eventually signed by 47 Republican senators as “unprecedented and un-thought-out.”

The junior senators may be excused for their inexperience. Isakson cannot. … Continue Reading