People still whining over this Stair swindle thing
September 12th, 2006 by Atomictumor
Reading the letters to the editor in the Oak Ridger today (well, yesterday, I guess), I see that people are still playing that whole sympathy card over the Stair swindle/cover up. Thats cute.
Micki Stair Dalton took the writer, Richard Esposito, to task, asking
“I would ask that you get the Stair family side to this and then report it such that the public can then form their own opinion. It’s only fair to we, the public, to get a story that is honest, accurate, and above all fair.”
Indeed. If that story has anything about “Granddaughter stole a bunch of money, and the trustee covered it up”, then I say keep it to yourself. I don’t care how heartbreaking, or sad, or personal, or whatever the story is. This ain’t Les Mis, and she didn’t steal a loaf of bread.
Bring the hammer down on the both of them.
September 12th, 2006 at 8:49 am
He He He, Les Mis. Loaf of Bread LMAO.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:00 am
But I haven’t seen anything about bringing the hammer down on the “coverup” in the County Clerk’s office (same result: theft + restitution = no prosecution + no publicity, at least until after the Trustee’s office stuff was made public, and even then they didn’t name the thief). The same thing happened with the Democratic Party, and it wasn’t publicized until after the news broke about the Trustee’s office.
Patsy Stair did not go public with the incident, and she didn’t report it. I agree that she should have, but since restitution was made and the employee was dismissed, I don’t think Patsy’s actions rise to the level of criminal. I’ve known her for many years, and she’s one of the most conscientious and reliable people we’ve ever had in public office in Anderson County.
So yes, I disagreed with Esposito’s editorial, although he’s certainly entitled to his opinion, as you are. That said, I hope that the offending granddaughter has enough of a conscience to understand the horrible wrong that she committed, not only against the public, but against her own grandmother. I hope that it troubles her deeply, and that she knows that there is no restitution for the damage she did to Patsy’s previously-impeccable reputation.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:16 am
NM, it sure appears to the unbiased outside observer that she went public only after her boy lost the election. They say bad things happen to good people, and that may certainly be true, but man, this is inexcusable.
The Democrat thing, to me, is in a different league, as that isn’t public money. To that end, I’m not getting worked up over it, because
a) I’m not a democrat
b) I didn’t give them money
c) They weren’t going to use it on anything that has something to do with me and my people
So, thats a matter for the police/democrats.
However, I’m either having a brain dead moment, or I totally missed this happening in the clerks office. Hell yes, smite them with the hammer of “don’t mess with my money” justice.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Netmom, the granddaughter has a problem that seems to be problematic for her. But to flip to the opposite side of the coin, is it fair to blame the parent?
You are absolutely correct in blaming the one person doing the evil deed. I feel as many others do, nepotism should not be in government, yet this particular office’s criminal actions should not lie on the parent. They did all they can, and it must have been difficult to run their campaign with that.
I feel it again, a heavy train of lacking parents coming down the tracks.
September 12th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Did this girls parents have something to do with it? I thought it was all between Patsy and grandkid?
September 12th, 2006 at 10:32 am
The unraveling has led me to believe more than Patsy knew about it. I was just wondering if nepotism and criminal activity could lead to the fault of the parents. Also, these people were grown ups. I believe I have failed in getting my point across when I ask my child to do something but nothing was done.
Nepotism makes strange family stories. Though my family is not a government office, we here in the AC family have our offices and matters to take care of. I am only concerned that the wrong doer gets the punishment and not innocent family members. I can’t help to think of all the parents I’ve heard say “My child is a good child.” Now we throw in Nepotism, what is the final count of who was criminal and who wasn’t?
September 12th, 2006 at 10:41 am
I dunno, to me nepotism is a whole other ballgame. It might suck, but I don’t think I’m calling it here.
My beef is the coverup, which widely implicates the former trustee. I don’t think her kids had much to do with it, tho. Raising a druggie, but that happens to the best of parents these days.
September 12th, 2006 at 11:33 am
Well I might agree that the cover up was baffling and I’m not happy about the way this came down but I have to say that the same case could be made against the County Clerk and probably for the same motives. In the County Clerk’s case this happened well before the election but the voters didn’t heard of it until after the problems with the trustee’s office became public and after the election.
Neither served the public trust but like Netmom I haven’t see editorials lambasting his actions or calls for his resignation. Personally I see no difference between their actions of attempting to hide “bad news” from the voters during an election season. Pasty is out of office, the County Clerk is still in office but does he have any integrity left when we know he chooses to hide things from the voters. What else may he be hiding from the voters and will we ever know? Personally I think he should resign but I know that won’t happen. But then it goes back to integrity and ethics of our local politicians and how little they seem to have of either.
September 12th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I agree, I don’t see a difference between this and the county clerk case, but I still don’t know exactly what you guys are talking about… got a link?
Wait, he’s still in office? What what?
September 12th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
I’ll find something and either post on it or comment tonight. Most of the links are behind pay per view by now.
September 12th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Yeah, if I wasn’t lazy I’d find stuff.
September 12th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
OK, I’m back. According to this theres not even a comparison.
In Coles case, it wasn’t a family member, and there was no coverup. Yes, the employee should be nailed, but theres no evidence that Cole did the wrong thing.
Frankly I’m suprised at you two, Netmom and AT2! Of all people, the two of you seem to be willing to look the other eye at this. If Stair had gone to the cops, like would be the *logical* thing for a politican of 30 odd years, there wouldn’t be the editorials, and she’d have gotten the same treatment as Cole.
You guys are playing favorites for a friend, which is (in a much lesser extent) the same thing you villify Lynch and co. for doing.
September 12th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
No. I am not defending Pasty’s actions as they are indefensible. She should have handled the matter in an entirely different manner. I’m not complaining about any thing that is written or said about her actions.
But were you aware of any theft in the County Clerk’s office? Last year? This year? Or did you become aware of it recently when the problems at the trustee’s office became known. So like most citizens this slipped under the radar as everyone was focusing on Patsy actions. So you think if she had gone to the cops we wouldn’t have heard of this either and that makes it OK?
Well I have a different take on it and believe that both of them should have come forward and made these incidents public. I see no difference in their actions when it came to trying to hide it from the public.
September 12th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
But from all appearances, Cole’s thing was public. I can’t find anything at the Oak Ridge about it, but seeing as how he took it to the 5-0, that would do the trick.
September 12th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Stealing is stealing, but $1700 is not $20,000. And it wasn’t covered up. By a grandmother. Who is, in some way, in charge of her grandaughter at work.
The clerk thing sucks, sure. But he reported it to the cops and fired the embezzler immediate. Stair tried to cover things up and I don’t believe her grandaughter was fired immediately.
I’m not into fact-checking all of that right now. A serious head cold has my thoughts all sloshy.
September 12th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
“Frankly I’m suprised at you two, Netmom and AT2!”
Well, I don’t know about AT2, but I’m not surprised about Netmom. As the former chair of the Republicant Party in Anderson Co., she has that keen ability to see the mote in the Democrat eye while overlooking the beam in the eye of the Republican (Matt 7:3, paraphrased). Netmom is often an acute observer of other’s behavior, but when partisan opportunity rears it’s head, she reverts to type. Pity. I do so admire her blog and believe that OR is lucky to have her on the school board.
September 12th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Joel, you read me wrong, although you do have your facts correct about my previous involvement in the Republican Party. Emphasis on previous. Layton is a Republican too… but I haven’t cut him any slack. Massengill is running for State Rep. as a Republican, but you’ve seen me publicly praise his Democrat opponent, Jim Hackworth.
So, please don’t label me a blind partisan, particularly where the people are local and I know them.
Patsy was wrong to not report the theft to the authorities, but “wrong” in this case means guilty of bad judgement, not a criminal offense (to the best of my knowledge).
And, for what it’s worth, Jackie Holloway is someone I’ve always gotten along very well with… it pains me to see her in the news in this manner as well. If she’s guilty, so be it, but it is difficult to see otherwise honorable careers end in this manner.
September 12th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
It’s not netmom’s party, it’s her knowledge of Patsy. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Patsy from Anderson County builders. I do not know anything about Patsy’s daughter, but my question of do you blame the parent is mangled by nepotism in this case. DA Dave Clark should put this one to rest.
September 12th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
I’m with AT2 and GoldenAppleCorps on this one. GAC expressed it exactly how I feel. And AT2 is right, the keeping it secret part, thats where it makes them look more guilty. I think the nepotism combined with the election is the reason the Stairs kept it hush hush. Maybe if it wasn’t around the election Patsy would have handled it differently. I don’t know about Cole did he keep it hidden? I thought he reported it as soon as he found out?
September 13th, 2006 at 9:56 am
“Patsy was wrong to not report the theft to the authorities, but “wrong†in this case means guilty of bad judgement, not a criminal offense (to the best of my knowledge).”
Wouldn’t that be accessory to a crime?
September 13th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Bingo.
September 13th, 2006 at 10:51 am
And isn’t there something along the lines of obstructing justice? Although I’m not fully aware of how that one works, so it might not be applicable.
September 13th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Did you hear about Tim Steelman in Morgan County? Got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. *allegedly* Seems like its tough to find trustworthy clerks. Don’t know the full story and there isn’t anything at the Oak Ridger. But it’s on TV commercials.
September 13th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
I found a link http://www.roanecounty.com/articles/2006/09/13/news/news03.txt