Questions unanswered on Johnson's ouster
By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
There is more to the sudden departure of Roy Johnson as chancellor of the two-year college system in Alabama than meets the eye — a lot more. As they are wont to say on television, "stay tuned."
As for Johnson, shed no tears for him. He will remain on the payroll for eight months at about $20,000 a month and you can add to that a sizable lump sum payment he will receive from the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). Bottom line: He will not qualify for food stamps.
As to the big picture, it has been common knowledge for years that the state's myriad of two-year colleges, in many instances, have been used to provide employment not only for legislators but their families and friends.
Of course it was the fired Johnson who became the poster boy for nepotism in the system. Some splendid investigative work by the Birmingham News in recent weeks revealed that the family Johnson had been paid $560,000 last year for jobs and contracts they held with the system. Incredibly, Johnson defended his kin, noting that his was an "education family."
While the dismissal of Johnson garnered the headlines, a far more significant development is the federal investigation now under way which has already led to a guilty plea of theft and money laundering by State Rep. Bryant Melton, D-Tuscaloosa, who had an $80,000-plus job with Shelton State Community College. He has admitted he diverted $68,000 from the Alabama Fire College Foundation to his personal account to pay off gambling debts.
But this probe apparently will not stop with Melton. U. S. Atty. Alice Martin said four others are likely to face criminal charges in the Melton case. While she did not identify them by name, she said the four included a former community college president, a current president of a community college, a member of the Alabama Fire College Foundation board, and a friend of Melton.
Comes to mind the old expression about the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot reasons to believe that the dismissal of Johnson and the guilty plea of Melton are but the tip of the iceberg.
There are a lot of two year college administrators, and legislators, who are watching the unfolding story with more than passing interest.
Like I said above, stay tuned.
But one of the objections to a park being named for Caldwell is that he was a slave owner. Nobody in their right mind supports slavery but let's be honest. If that rule is applied across the board then there are a lot of names that will have to be changed in Alabama, including several counties: Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Jackson, and Monroe.
Speaking of such things, what really concerns me is that once upon a time there was a Lloyd Noland Hospital in Birmingham and a freeway named for him, as well. If you don't know, he was a giant in medicine. He helped build the Panama Canal and he helped wipe out a malaria epidemic in Birmingham which threatened the city.
The hospital is no more and the freeway is now named for – brace yourself – Richard Scrushy.
The Times published a story listing some of the top terrorist threats in the nation and on that list was Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo in Woodville. Understand, this is not one of the major tourist attractions in Alabama. It is not one of the major tourist attractions in Jackson County.
School kids on field trips on occasions come by to feed goats and llamas, but that's about it.
Nobody is quite sure how it made the terrorist threat list but the owner is miffed. Rather than be unhappy, she should realize this could be a marketing bonanza for the attraction. I can see the advertisements now: "Visit our Zoo and feed Osama bin Llama."
