Tennessee Seeks to Remove Accused Mayor

[Rose Siding]

COOPERTOWN, Tenn. -- Tennessee officials are taking the rare step of trying to remove a small-town mayor accused of frequently using racial slurs, including the n-word, and targeting Hispanic drivers for tickets because they are "mostly illegal anyway."

District Attorney General John W. Carney filed the 17-page complaint this week after more than 500 of Coopertown's nearly 3,000 residents brought a petition to him.

The complaint accuses Mayor Danny Crosby of frequently using racial slurs since his election in 2004. In one instance, the complaint said Crosby swore in a new police officer on Martin Luther King Day and said, "Happy James Earl Ray Day," a reference to King's assassin.
...
The mayor is also accused of ordering police officers to ticket soldiers and Hispanics for speeding because he thought neither group would contest the fines in court.
...
Crosby also is accused of telling officers to watch, ticket or arrest several city officials and of ignoring a police officer's failed psychological test because "he's my star ticket writer."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-mayor-ouster,0,3503849.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[MrPrax]

1. What an evil little man...

I hope they do more to him than, not let him play mayor anymore...'watch, ticket and arrest' him

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Thought it said 'accursed' -- IF ONLY! nt

[SensibleAmerican]

3. And people wonder why no one likes cops

n/t

[Rose Siding]

4. *I* like cops. Mostly.

At least, that's always my first inclination. It would naturally seem that the profession would attrack its fair share of jerks and power trippers but I still believe that many cops view the job as trying to help people.

-And it's always good to see a bad one rooted out.

[Sgent]

5. I hope they nail him

for his directions to the cops (which are an obvious violation of civil rights).

That being said, what crime can they charge him with for cussing and making comments like the JEJ?

[cboy4]

6. This mayor sounds like a "decider." I just can't imagine who this little

racist voted for for president, can you?? :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

7. Town's petition to remove this guy:

Petition for Ouster of Danny J. Crosby, Mayor, Town of Coopertown, Tennessee

To: John Carney, District Attorney General for Robertson County
101 N 3rd St.
Clarksville, TN 37040

We the undersigned, being residents, citizens and registered voters of the Town of Coopertown, Tennessee, having lost confidence in the management of the affairs of the Town, hereby demand the state Office of Attorney General oust Mayor Danny J. Crosby from office in compliance with TCA, Title 8-47-101 through 108 for the following reasons: financial mismanagement, conflict of interest, abuse of power, use of police department to intimidate citizens, examples of which are: concealing his felony conviction until after early voting had occurred; threatening physical violence against his opponent at the polls on election day; threatening and levying of fines on citizens and others beyond legal authority; refusing to sign a plat for a citizen for zoning although the Planning Commission unanimously had approved it and then firing the State Planner who advised the committee; exposing the Town to undue risk of liability by hiring his underage step-son and an alderman's son to drive a city truck; unauthorized purchase of a city truck after existing one was wrecked; failing to publicly advertise City ordinances after passage; openly attacking and threatening citizens and Aldermen during official Town meetings for voicing dissenting views on issues facing the Board and had one such non threatening dissenter arrested and put in jail overnight; obstructing Aldermen from performing their official duties, removing them from committees, and forbidding them to speak to City attorneys and other City advisors; unilaterally changing speed limits twice in the City without consulting duly elected aldermen; violating citizen's First Amendment rights of free speech by forcing the citizen to appear in court for an acknowledged and paid traffic citation due to defendant expressing his non-threatening thoughts over receiving the citation; demonstrating a pattern of abuse of power through the use of the police department and the court system to intimidate and silence citizen dissent over his decisions and actions. Mayor Crosby has brought a negative image on the City and everyone that lives in the City due to his public, arrogant abuse of power as reported in all local and many Mid-state news media.
(snip/)

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/10/1017.asp

[Judi Lynn]

8. Scope of charges against Coopertown mayor shocks even foes

Scope of charges against Coopertown mayor shocks even foes
Thursday, 06/29/06

Scope of charges against Coopertown mayor shocks even foes
Critics, defenders react to ouster bid

By CLAY CAREY
and KATE HOWARD
Staff Writers


COOPERTOWN — One of the residents who says Mayor Danny Crosby harassed and intimidated him said that even he was shocked by the scope of misconduct alleged in an ouster complaint filed this week.

And a civil rights advocate said that, if the claims of racial profiling and racist statements are true, Crosby's actions were "deeply disturbing."

The ouster filing accuses the Coopertown mayor of making racist remarks and outright threats and of abusing his power. In a 17-page complaint that would remove Crosby from office, District Attorney General John Carney accused the mayor of routinely violating the civil rights of Hispanic drivers and soldiers by directing officers to ticket them, under the theory that they would be more likely to pay their fines than contest the tickets in court.

That alleged practice didn't sit well with Rick Casares, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, who is Hispanic and a veteran.
(snip/...)

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/COUNTY06/606290404/1006/NEWS01

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Times June 30, 2006

The real-life Boss Hogg faces his legal hazards
From Tom Baldwin in Washington

~snip~
A 17-page “writ of ouster”, a rarely used Tennessee procedure to remove an elected official, was presented to Robertson County Chancery Court on Tuesday by John Carney, the District Attorney, stating the mayor has “exhibited an unworthiness to occupy the office”.

The writ alleges that Mr Crosby systematically sought to “shake down” passing motorists with traffic fines, targeting undocumented Hispanic workers and soldiers because they were more likely to pay. He is said to have ordered police to arrest or intimidate political opponents, and fostered an atmosphere of intolerance against blacks and gays.

The document claims Mr Crosby routinely refers to black people as “niggers”, saying: “Everyone should own one.”

After swearing in a police officer on Martin Luther King Day, he is alleged to have said: “Happy James Earl Ray Day” — a reference to the man who assassinated the civil rights leader in 1968.

Other allegations include violating child labour laws by employing his stepson and the son of a local alderman to mow grass, then allowing the teenagers to herd cattle using a patrol car, and trying to tamper with records so that a police report of suspected domestic abuse of his wife “disappeared”.

Mr Crosby insists he has done nothing wrong, and said the document was “full of garbage and lies”. Mr Carney’s investigation began after complaints from motorists that Coopertown — a former whiskey-making centre 20 miles northwest of Nashville — was being run as a “traffic trap”. The police budget tripled to $452,000 (£250,000) last year with the purchase of patrol cars.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2250550,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Mayor Danny Crosby