Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday's Odd and Ends

Is Mooresville Mayor Chris Montgomery Doing a John Edwards? - The Mooresville Mayor's affair hardly has the drama or tragic events that surround former Presidential contender John Edwards.

But people in high places should be held to a high standard of personal conduct and Montgomery's conduct is pretty much lower than pond scum.

Montgomery was caught with his pants down after a steady stream of short emails were released "wiki leaks" style by Mooresville blogger Jamie Gatton.

You can read Jamie's blog posts about the mayor's emails here.

The mayor described his relationship with Grace "Molly" King as "sticky" and described his wife as a "Rock" but Cedar Posts take away on the emails is a little more troubling.

The women in question, Grace King is clearly an insecure emotional basket case, the kind that show up at offices and work place parking lots with hand guns after years of "fatal attraction". Montgomery is rude and condescending towards her. He is often dismissive unless the emails are about an impending "hook up" or recent encounter.

Further troubling is the 40 year old mayor's use of junior high school words like "Kewl" and his clear lack of smarts. Seriously, men and women have affairs, elected officials are no exception but I'm not sure his honor the mayor could pass a basic IQ test.

How do people like this get elected?

CMPD's "Snoopy" Helos are Blind at Night? - Cedar doesn't have any contacts in CMPD's aviation unit so alot of this comes as a big surprise.

Apparently the CMPD helicopter flying overhead at night was basically just a helicopter flying overhead. Missing were operationally necessary night vision "eyes" to get the job done.



According to tonight's Charlotte City Council agenda: "The 1997 helicopter is equipped with a 1993 Inframetrics IRTV-455G MKII Camera. The day camera does not have a functional iris and is only functional on sunny days. The thermal camera is currently not functional.

The 1998 helicopter is equipped with a 2004 Wescam 12DS200 camera. The day camera is functional. The thermal camera is currently degraded and unreadable at times. "

Accordingly CMPD is asking council for permission to buy a new camera and upgrade the other at a total of $361,311.

Both CMPD helicopters are Bell 407 models each is more than 1o years old. There are nearly a 1000 of these single engine aircraft in operation with an excellent track record. Keep in mind a ten year old helicopter is not the same as a 10 year old car. Aircraft are maintained to an amazingly high standard and the CMPD helos are no exception. But therein is the trouble, running a Police Aviation Unit is pricey.

The CMPD Aviation Unit has apparently been Chief Monroe's "red haired step child" for the longest time, perks, fancy offices and command staff uniforms have always been a priority not so much "night vision" cameras for little used Snoopy 1 and 2.

Last night's WSOC story included an interview with Charlotte City Council member Andy Dulin, a guy who never met a camera he didn't like, and Dulin was all for funding the money. But how about some hard questions from the council's honorary court jester?

I doubt Dandy Andy is all ears for this idea, but how about asking the following:

How long have the cameras been non-operational? Given the limited City County budget why do we have two police helicopters? Wouldn't it be better to just have one that was 100% operational rather than two at 50%?

Dulin as always opens his yap and gives the media the sound bite he thinks the voters want to hear. But a real elected official would ask the tough questions, and force some accountability.

Dulin just writes the check that we have to cash.

Packers vs Steelers - I don't think we could ask for a better end to the season. A Packers, Jets Superbowl would have been a blow-out.

Yesterday the Packer/Bears game was the better of the two games. The Jets were just to pumped up after there win over the Pats. In Chicago it was another story. While the Packers defense was unbreakable, it came down to luck and timing in the end.

No doubt Charlotte was cheering for Julius Peppers and Da Bears.

Note to JR: Follow the Packers lead for building a "small market" team. Note to Panthers Fans: This is what being a loyal fan will get you.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cedar I think you are on to something. I don't know if CMPD flies either one of those helicopter but once or twice a week. I'd say they are "on call" and up only for events like Panthers games, parades and the like. Its rare that I've seen it up since Monroe took over.

You're right why to we have two 3 million dollar aircraft that do nothing!

GO PACKERS!

Anonymous said...

So why do you always call out Dulin? There are other members on council Peakcock, Cannon, Howard and more they don't ask questions either. What about them?

Anonymous said...

The helicopters fly all the time. Sometimes when officers need them, they are at the hanger. other times the helicopter is already up and it helps considerably with perimeters, etc.

You have two helicopters since one cannot fly while it is in maintenance. If one is being maintained, then the other flies. If CMPD only had one helicopter, then the time period when the helicopter was down for repairs, there would be no chance of using one.

They also should have operational cameras and equipment. Those cameras working are way more important than any extra stuff they spend it on (such as new uniforms, take home cars, etc)

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:41 Do they fly all the time? As is routine patrol, just being up?

I know in the past it was a pretty sharp operation but seems to have taken a back seat to other CMPD efforts in the last year or so.

Anonymous said...

gCedar I'm with ya! Jets Packers would have been nothing more than a cool 1/2 time show.

Stay on Dulin he is the biggest do-nothing we have. If he doesn't ask the hard questions tonight then you need to start asking someone to run against him.

Take a hint dandy andy!

Anonymous said...

I am worried that City Council will vote to take an out of town retreat as excuse to get a free vacation to discuss the many issues at hand!

Anonymous said...

Love your write-ups on Mr. Dulin. I live in his district and he makes me crazy. Based on his Tweets, it seems he only enjoys driving to SC for gas and eating lunch. Still cannot figure out what exactly his role is in regards to City Council.

Anonymous said...

Helicoptors are expensive but they are a critical part of serving a community as large as Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Not only have they been a tremendous asset in day-to-day operations - the CMPDs ability to respond to major events and terroism would be severely hampered without them. Two helicopters are a must to ensure availability 24/7. The CMPD aviation unit is one of the best and they have done a very good job for many years with a program that has not received the support from the city it deserves. Funding has always been an issue - money often comes from asset forfeiture accounts.

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Rebecca A. Maynard said...

word of how much if any time Officer Kerrick had on the FATS system during the year prior to Jonathan Ferrell's death. It seems however the outcome would not change.
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