True Crime

laserhaas

(7,805 posts) Tue Sep 2, 2014, 12:05 PM Sep 2014

City Too Corrupt for Florida - is Spared (being dissolved by the State).

That phras "City too Corrupt for Florida is Spared" is an actual title to a CNN story (here). The city of approximately 500 persons, of Hampton, Florida reportedly annexed a small part of the highway nearby; in order to garner "speed trap" revenue via traffic ticketing.

Then the mayor was arrested for drugs (Osycodone) and various investigations abounded.
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State Legislators Sought to Dissolve Hampton, Florida - as a city - due to corruption

As reported on Wikipedia (here), in November 2013
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the city's mayor was arrested for selling Oxycodone.[4]

On February 10, 2014 auditors from the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee presented 31 violations of state law, city charter and federal tax requirements to state legislators.[5] The city made $211,328 ticketing people driving its 1,260 feet of U.S. Highway 301 during 2012,[6] giving the city an unenviable reputation as a "speed trap".[7] The committee will formally ask State Attorney Bill Cervone to investigate any potential criminal activity, and a number of state representatives and senators are pursuing the dissolution of Hampton.[8] In the wake of the controversy, many city officials have resigned.[9] State legislators visited Hampton on March 28, 2014 to see if the issues had been solved.[10] They have agreed to let Hampton stay incorporated, because the city planned to retract the annexation of U.S. Highway 301 and decommission its police force. Hampton also has accounted for budget shortfalls, and reformed its city council proceedings

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CNN - "City Too Corrupt for Florida is Spared"

I was alerted to this saga by a comedy routine repeat on this morning's radio show in Los Angeles. The joke was "How corrupt does a city have to be, for some one to care about it - in Florida". Which brings me back to the title of the CNN story by CNN journalist Ann O'Neil a City Too Corrupt for Florida.

Brilliant title - apropos (maybe) - but accurate, HELL No!

A more precise depiction of the scenario should be "Hampton, Florida, THE Most Caught Up City on Corruption". Even if, arguendo, the speed trap revenue ratio to the city's budget is one of extreme largess; doesn't make any substantial logical basis for the claim of "Too Corrupt for Florida". More than likely, those corrupt and CNN (I believe is corrupt also) seeks to U.S. and the citizens of Florida from the other flagrant shenanigans going on; by focusing in on ye little old town.

A better title too, is "Steal Big - Only if you are big"

Here's a link to the actual video by CNN, with a title thereupon a little less demeaning of

---------------------------------"The Most Corrupt Town in America?"

As is obvious, putting the question mark at the end, turns the whole story into a different paradigm. It begs the question - instead of making the statement. The way reporters dupe U.S. is nothing less than scandalous (just plain wrong).

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/03/08/erin-dnt-lavandera-most-corrupt-town.cnn.html

City Police Force Swelled to 19

Yup - that's correct - ye liddle ole town of Hampton started having visions of life extraordinary. If you are getting paid big, the path of least resistance is to find a way to get paid big - at a faster pace. But CNN and/or its reporter - doesn't stop there - as is readily apparent by the story's remark that;

Already a notorious speed trap, the place gained even more infamy as a symbol of small-town corruption when the legislators threatened last month to yank its city charter. Late-night comedians mocked Hampton as "too Florida, even for Florida.

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Granted, the journalist points out that "Late-night comedians" did the slur; but even that reporting isn't pure (as it was one comedians remark - repeated {but credited} by many). The specific comedian being Conan O'Brien; whom this particular journalist only remarks upon in the following paragraph (and then - only by 1st name).

Be that as it may, the real story of importance is that the City Mayor resigned (reportedly from jail), as did many other officials; and they not only returned monies questionable - they gave up the highway speed trap.

That - is a good thing for the zipper bye's of Flordia.........
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As reported by CNN, the Florida legislators yielded on their plan to disband Hampton, Florida - stating;

But even as Conan and the rest of world cackled, even as investigators carted boxes of documents out of Hampton City Hall, even as some residents pointed fingers, others rolled up their sleeves and started to turn their city around.

In just four short weeks, they came up with a plan that convinced state Rep. Charles Van Zant and Sen. Rob Bradley to spare their city. They won an uphill fight nobody thought they could win.

"Thank you for the work that has been done," Bradley told the crowd of 50 gathered Friday at Victory Baptist Church. "You've got a lot more to do, but boy. ..." He clearly was impressed, and so was Van Zant, who said, "You've done yeoman's work. I think you've done well."

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My question (that shall never be answered) - is - what actually brought the corruption down (as a fighter of corruption - I'd really like to know). Was it the fact that some retiree got ticketed more than once? Did the cop recruitment set off some type of "good ole boys" alarm that "Hey guys, these greedy stalwarts are going to ruin a good thing for the rest of us"? Or did they actually ticket a corrupt official and/or make one jealous?

I'm just sayin......