Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren on 287 (g) and Jerry Gonzalez – in a letter to the editor in today’s Marietta Daily Journal. We need more sheriffs in American like Neil Warren!

I have inserted some hyperlinks to educate the reader.

Critic wrong about sheriff s stance on illegals
Sunday, August 5, 2007

DEAR EDITOR:

Re: Story, “Georgia Latino leader resigns,” Friday’s MDJ

I would like to clarify several issues that were directed towards the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. While I understand Jerry Gonzalez’s concern for the Latino community, it is my belief that the message he is sending may be one-sided. The office of sheriff is a Constitutional office and in 2004, the citizens of this county elected me sheriff. As such, I do not need to ask for the Cobb County Board of Commissioners or any one person or group’s permission to utilize tools available to me to enforce the laws of this state.

The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office has historically worked closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify illegal aliens coming into our jail. With the increase in the number of foreign-born in our custody, I felt it was necessary to implement the 287(g) program that was part of the Immigration and Nationality Act passed by Congress in 1996.

The statement that the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the utilization of the 287(g) program in October 2006 is not accurate. However, they did endorse and support the Sheriff’s Office Memorandum of Understanding with ICE.

As for Mr. Gonzalez’s statement that the October action has led to fault in public safety, with “immigrants going around saying don’t trust the police,” my response is that if you commit a crime in Cobb County, whether here legally or illegally, you should fear the police. I may have very little control of what happens on the federal level, but I can and will deal with criminals who are preying on our citizens.

In Cobb County we are blessed to have elected officials who are dedicated to their jobs and are willing to work together for the betterment of our community. Commission Chairman Sam Olens and the other commissioners work diligently with the Sheriff’s Office to provide our agency with the funding resources necessary to manage the jail, service the courts, and purchase safety equipment for our deputies. More importantly, the board has supported the North Central Georgia Law Enforcement Academy (something the State of Georgia should be doing), which provides training for our deputies as well as other law enforcement officers in the county, local municipalities and other agencies in the region.

As I said before, I understand Mr. Gonzalez’s passion for the Latino community. However, it was evident with my first encounter with him thru forwarded e-mails to the entire Cobb Latino Initiative that he was focused on attacking the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office for alleged profiling. Law enforcement in general and I personally take any criticism of this nature very seriously. Yet in reality, after further investigation, the allegations made by Mr. Gonzalez involved absolutely no participation by any Cobb Sheriff’s Office personnel.

From my perspective, all of us should have one common goal and that is to make our community a safer place to live, work and raise our families. I can assure you that I and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office staff will always be available to citizens to discuss how we can remove criminals from our community and reduce the crime rate.

Neil Warren

Sheriff, Cobb County

Thinking of joining the latest crowd move to the Libertarian Party?

You may want to read their platform and ideas on those pesky borders first. Below from the Official Website of the Libertarian Party. HERE.

“Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders. “…Repeal all measures that punish employers for hiring undocumented workers. Repeal all immigration quotas.”

FAST FACT: GALEO the work of Sam Zamarripa…of the MALDEF board and United Americas Bank Zamarripas

The below exchange is posted on Sam Zamarripa & Jerry Gonzalez’s GALEO Website. A letter from an American to Jerry and Jerry’s reply.

If any body out there can make some logical sense of Jerry’s response…PLEASE clue me in?

As we have said many times before…Jerry isn’t too smart, they have given him some talking points and a lot of money and turned him loose on Georgia. Yikes.

Below from GALEO NEWS AND PRESS

A suggestion from Scott Bachelder
Found in email
Written by Various
Posted on 2007-08-03

—–Original Message—–
From: Jerry Gonzalez [mailto:jerry@galeo.org]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 11:15 AM
To: Scott Bachelder
Cc: Jerry@Galeo. Org
Subject: RE: A suggestion.

Scott,

We recognize that our immigration system is broken and we need to fix it. In order for us to address the distinctions you allude to would be for us to have comprehensive immigration reform.

The lack of progress and the U.S. Congress’ failure to act has lead to what John McCain calls “Silent Amnesty”. It perpetuates the status quo of a broken system.

Have a good day.

Jerry Gonzalez
Executive Director
Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) & the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund
—–Original Message—–
From: Scott Bachelder [mailto:sbachelder@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 8:36 AM
To: jerry@galeo.org
Subject: A suggestion.

Hello:

Maybe some of us non-latino citizens would take you more seriously if you distinguished between “legal” and “Illegal” immigrants. As long as you insist upon ignoring the difference, you can pretty well assume that some of us will be less than sympathetic to your concerns and comments.

S. Bachelder

R. Scott Bachelder
Riveredge Financial Services, Inc.
2000 Riveredge Parkway, Ste. 940
Atlanta, GA 30328
Phone (678) 742-5600 Fax (678) 742-5601

Registered Representative, Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a Broker/Dealer, Member NASD/SIPC.
Investment Advisor Representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor
Cambridge and Riveredge Financial Services are not affiliated.

FAST FACT: Clinton’s Executive Order 13166 and our common language here.

Below from Today’s MDJ. Adios Jerry!

Boarding house ordinance prompts move

Friday, August 3, 2007
By Kelly Brooks

MARIETTA – Less than two weeks after Cobb tightened its rules on overcrowded houses, Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, resigned from the 2004-formed Cobb Latino Initiative.

Gonzalez said the initiative served to advise Cobb government and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on how to integrate the Latino community and establish relationships and open lines of communication.

Cobb politicians, he said, disrespected the group and its purpose by “not having an up-front, transparent discussion” regarding rule changes that clamp down on oft-overcrowded boarding houses and day laborers that commissioners held public hearings for July 10 and 24.

Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens said he “absolutely” told Gonzalez about the tougher boarding house rules the board unanimously approved on July 24.

“(Gonzalez) told me boarding houses were something that no one wanted,” Olens said, noting he is disappointed in Gonzalez for acting more like a politician than the leader of a nonprofit organization.

Commissioners on July 24 postponed action to tighten the county’s day laborer rules until Aug. 14 but approved a crackdown on boarding houses, which says one family (parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers and sisters) and two or fewer unrelated adults and their children or grandchildren may live in a home, provided there is enough square-footage.

“The whole notion of the county government defining what family means is really going to be problematic, I think,” Gonzalez said.

Olens echoed his previous defense of the overcrowded home rules, which he has said is not a racial issue.

“I don’t care who’s living in the boarding house, I don’t want them,” Olens added, reiterating previous statements that Cobb has encountered boarding houses occupied by blacks, whites, Latinos, and many other races.

According to the nonprofit leader, the initiative’s objective also was undermined when commissioners, without giving it a heads-up, in October 2006 approved implementation of part of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act that allows sheriff’s department officials to check the legal status of every inmate entering the jail through a federal database.

The October action has led to a fault in public safety, with “immigrants going around saying, ‘don’t trust the police,'” Gonzalez said.

“Cobb admitted it was an oversight on their part not bringing it up in the group. They said it won’t happen again,” Gonzalez said. “It happened again.”

Gonzalez said Olens did tell him about planned changes to Cobb’s housing and day laborer rules, but Gonzalez then told Olens the issue should be brought up in a meeting “to address the unintended consequences” of the changes.

Olens said Elise Shore, Atlanta regional counsel for the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who at the July 24 meeting spoke against the boarding house rules and has said her organization would oppose a day laborer ordinance, has not contacted Cobb or tried to meet with Olens to discuss the changes.

The chairman said the actions of Gonzalez and Ms. Shore will not affect the pending day laborer ordinance.

Dan Vargas, a Latino advertiser, original member of the initiative and east Cobb resident, said he was equally angered with officials when he read Gonzalez’s heated resignation letter the day after commissioners passed the boarding house ordinance, but he had only seen “one side of the coin.”

“It was no sooner that I read it than another e-mail came to me with Sam Olens’ request,” he said, referring to a resurrected June 30 e-mail in which the chairman attached the proposed rule changes with a request for a discussion with the Cobb Latino Initiative.

The e-mail did not go through at the time it was sent, but Vargas said his anger subsided because “I can’t blame people for trying.”

Vargas noted that whether Cobb’s proposed day laborer rules are problematic is “up for discussion.”

According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, 10.4 percent of Cobb’s population, or about 70,000 in a population of 680,000, is Hispanic.

Gonzalez said that from January 2003 to December 2004, the number of Hispanic registered voters increased from 1,063 to 3,800.

According to David Connell, who with Olens formed the Cobb Latino Initiative when he was incoming Cobb Chamber chairman, the informal group started with a handful of people, has since grown to about 60 or 70 and, in its approximately bi-monthly meetings, tries to keep lines of communication open with Latino residents.

The group has discussed and worked on projects regarding family health care, reducing crime rates and addressing language barriers.

“I personally think Jerry will come back, and I hope he does,” Connell said.

Jimmy Espy: For the common good
Dalton Daily Citizen

Dalton City Council is pondering an ordinance that would limit the number of vehicles a property owner could park in his yard and restrict where those cars are parked.

I applaud the council for its new “get tough” attitude, but fear the ordinance does not go far enough. Why doesn’t council strike while the iron is scorching?

Let’s really clean this crummy burg up.

My suggestions:

1. No one can place on their property any flag of a foreign power. Dang it, This is Dalton, Ga., USA, not Chihuahua or Knoxville. This rule would mean no Mexican or Guatemalan flags and none of those funny looking rainbow flags … whatever country they represent. More importantly, it would mean no more Tennessee puke orange banners or Alabama crimson rags. This is Georgia – G-E-O-R-G-I-A – as in Georgia Bulldogs! Support our state’s top team or keep quiet. (Note: For the sake of fairness, council should make allowances for Georgia Tech pennants – nauseating as they are – but these should be severely limited in size. No bigger than a dollar bill, for instance.)

2. Some troublemakers oppose the ordinance, suggesting that larger families might actually need the additional automotive representation. This should not be a deal-breaker. The council can generously give such families a year to dispense with any superfluous family members. In conjunction, local families would henceforth be banned from overbreeding.

3. Council does not want its citizens parking their cars on grass. Why not move forward aggressively and simply ban grass altogether. No grass, no parking on grass. Problem solved! Henceforth, all grass should be removed and replaced with clean, shiny asphalt

….read the rest of the wit and wisdom from Jimmy Espy here. THEN: Read the online comments line and see just how brilliant this newspaper editor in Dalton Ga. really is HERE.

EsLaHora.com