Mike Yates, Americus’ ex-police chief, must not have much to do in his new job in Arkansas for him to have written two letters to the Americus Times-Recorder in the last couple of weeks.

It is well known that the NAACP "Boot Yates" campaign had a lot to do with Mike leaving the police chief job and going with 911 in Ellaville, apparently until he could find another job in law enforcement. Having come to Americus from Macon, he had to go a long way to find his next position.

When Charlie Whitehead retired as police chief in 2000, I suggested in a letter in Times-Recorder in January 2001 that the Americus City Council replace him by promoting a policeman from within the department into the position instead of going out of town as they had done with Charlie's predecessor Chief Edwin Williams. I told of the advantages to the Department and City of "promoting from within.”

I also told of the disadvantages of hiring an out-of-town candidate who could be induced to leave their current position to accept another for more money or authority or both. If a person does not hesitate to change jobs once, they usually will do it again if a better offer is made. They went out-of-town to get Mike Yates to replace Charlie anyway.

In a letter to the Times-Recorder when Yates resigned, I suggested to the City Council that a good, highly qualified Americus Police Department veteran — James Green — would be their best choice to replace Yates especially since he was already serving as interim chief. I explained to them the many advantages of "promoting from within" such as it resulting in other promotions besides the one to chief, i.e. someone in the department will be promoted to Green's old job and then someone to that person's job and on and on. This results in a lot of people being recognized, rewarded, given salary increases and promoted.

At another time in another letter to the Times-Recorder I also suggested that the City Council fill the vacant Americus chief executive officer's position by promoting Charlotte Cotton instead of going "out-of-town" to fill that position as they had when Sybil Smith was hired. Again, this recognizes and rewards several people in the department. Hiring from "out-of-town" does not result in ANY of the existing local employees being recognized or rewarded; in fact it is usually seen as an insult to them!

Mike: Some "hired from out-of-town" employees like CEO Sybil Smith and Fire Chief Steve Moreno made many friends and improvements in our town and built great legacies for themselves. And Chief James Green is making improvement in his department you never even dreamed of in your time in the job. He had lots of supporters and friends before becoming chief and has developed many more since taking over the job.

I can't think of much you left here except a very satisfied NAACP.

J. Mel Brown, Americus

To Ms. Charlotte Cotton and Americus Police Chief James Green:

I have finally decided to write a letter to “Your Opinion,” especially after being nearly run over by skate boarders on the sidewalk in front of Fred’s and Harvey’s the afternoon of Aug. 2.

There was a rainstorm going on, and I had my small grandson with me. Four teenagers nearly knocked me (a crippled lady), my grandson and another older lady down.

I told one of the boys he should be ashamed of himself and that it was apparent their parents either didn’t care about them or they would be at home where they belonged. I have reported teenage boys harassing people on sidewalks to Ms. Cotton and Chief Green on one occasion and at least two other times to the Americus Police Department.

There’s also another problem that was reported to Chief Green: men (and some women) loitering with the odor of alcohol and using really foul language in front of Goodwill Industries and CVS Pharmacy in Wheatley Plaza. Right after I reported the loitering to Chief Green and Earl Snider (owner of the shopping center) several months ago, they assured me it would be stopped. Well, guess what? Several days later someone’s purse was snatched in that very area, because I read it in the Times-Recorder. This incident of foul language and loitering was also reported to Ms. Cotton. There are signs posted on poles that say police are patrolling the area. If they are, why is this still a problem?

Also, on the skate boarders, if you say something to them, they retaliate by calling you foul names and continue to skate around you. I also thought that police officers cared about children. It’s apparent that someone needs to monitor them before they start committing crimes, such as running over innocent persons. I’m already crippled thanks to a drunk driver seven years ago, 10 orthopedic surgeries later.

Eileen I. Brown, Ellaville