If it’s an issue, it’s not much of one

Columbus Crime Prevention Director Seth Brown’s job is a touchy one under the best of circumstances. The Crime Prevention Office and its board must make difficult and sometimes unpopular funding decisions. And almost from the creation of the post, the office has been a bizarrely irrational target for anonymous flaming and cheap shots holding the director personally responsible for every crime committed in the city. “Where was our crime prevention director?” goes a fairly typical comment after the latest shooting or burglary.

But this isn’t about any of that.

This involves something Brown thought was an offhand crack on Facebook about the purchase of some items he bought for a minor family medical problem and a household plumbing problem. He posted a picture of the items with a comment about “when you’re checking out at Walmart and realize you have the makings of what looks to be some kind of Redneck bomb.”

Our sense is that if the joke was intended to be at anybody’s expense, it was Brown’s own. Some representatives of the Columbus NAACP branch see it otherwise, calling for Brown’s resignation or for Mayor Teresa Tomlinson to fire him.

Local NAACP President Tonza Thomas acknowledged that Brown is a friend, but said concerns about violent crime and terrorism make his remarks especially inappropriate: “We are living in serious times and such statements are not jokes.”

She and all who agree with her on that point are of course entitled to their opinion.

Tomlinson has said — rightly, we believe — that Brown will not lose his job over the Facebook post: “Employees of the city government are entitled to free speech. Their jobs cannot be put in jeopardy for that. ... It was made on his private time.”

That goes only so far, of course; Brown is a public figure, and social media are public forums, so the First Amendment isn’t necessarily the issue, as we’ve seen in other high-profile incidents in recent years. But Brown’s post did not involve any public matter. He shouldn’t lose his job over what was basically a Jeff Foxworthy line.

Objection, Your Honor

Mark Thomason, publisher of the weekly Fannin Focus in Blue Ridge, Ga., and his attorney, Russell Stookey, are facing felony charges that include false statements and identity fraud.

The false statement charge came after a written request for records of canceled checks on the offices of Superior Court Judges Brenda Weaver and (now former) Judge Robert Bradley, specifically checks “cashed illegally.” The identity fraud charges came after Thomason and Stookey sought subpoenas for copies of checks from two local banks.

When Weaver learned a subpoena had been secured for an account assigned to her, she contacted the district attorney about filing criminal charges.

She told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she “doesn’t react well” when her honesty is questioned. If she’s using her criminal justice authority to quash criticism and public scrutiny, we’d say she’s pretty much answered the questions herself.

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 4:34 PM with the headline "If it’s an issue, it’s not much of one."