Comments

It's about time....I hope John Covington gets the job on a permanent basis....

well, it looks like there might be a lawsuit coming against the city.this whole case has been nothing but a three ring circus.

John Covington get the job permanently....GIVE ME A BREAK! If the man cannot even care for his own father how do you expect him to care for this city and the people who live in it.

The "good Ol' boys club" running the Seneca Police Department right now needs to be cleared out!

Stanley Sheriff was the best thing that happened to the Seneca Police Dept and the decision that was made was not in the best interest of this city!!!!!!

you can not expect nothing good when you still ..if we could see the video from wal-mart then we will know that no stroke was the case..thy shall not steal....

John Covington is not the man for the job.Stanly Sheriff was the best thing that happened to the seneca police department.

John Covington stepped in and did a marvelous job in a very difficult situation.Thanks John!

I THINK THE MAYOR AND 90% OF THE CITY COUNCIL ARE JUST GOOD OL BOYS.THEY ARE WHAT GIVES THE SOUTH THE STEREO TYPE OF BEING DISHONEST AND A BUNCH OF BACKWARD HICKS WHO WILL STICK TOGETHER TO COVER UP ANYTHING.STANLEY SHERIFF IS AND WAS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO SENECA IN A LONG TIME,AND IT SCARED THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL WHEN HE STEPPED ON THERE TOES.MAYBE MR. SHERIFF SHOULD BE OUR NEXT MAYOR.GO STANLEY WE LOVE YOU.

I hate that for Stanley but putting Covington in as Chief will be another one of those great blunders that the City of Seneca is so popular for. He was assigned to civil processing at the Sheriff's Office and the joke was that they were just cutting out the middle man, Covington could serve his legal notices on himself. How can he budget the police department when he can't balance his check book?

I think the possibility of having another stroke would the main thing to consider. If the medical tests showed a high possibility of more strokes, police chief wouldn't be the best job to have.

Maybe the doctors' reports, all of the evidence and the statements of those envolved should be made public.

I also wish the best with him and the best for his family and my prayers are with them. I think he's done more in a year that has been done in the last 10. I also think Mr Dietrick and Mayor Alexander had a dumb excuse if your the boss and adminstrator and you complain about him not calling you? If your the boss why didnt you call him well duh.. By reading these comments i guess ole Covington would be worse for the city.

I agree with truckman. Being a police chief is stressful and Mr. Sheriff probably doesn't need to be in such a high stress job. There is always more to the story.

I feel that if Mr. Sheriff has a medical condition that would cause him to steal and drive a car without any recalection then he needs not to be in law enforcement. I am sure the city will end up paying him a settlement. Which they wouldn't have to pay if they had not put him in that position to begin with. Next comes disability, if indeed he has a medical condition. So, I am sure he, and his family, will be well taken care of by our tax dollars. In fact, by the end of this ordeal I am sure he will be better off financially than most people living in the city of Seneca. Two thumbs up City Hall and job well done. You should be proud of yourselves.

Do you think the seneca walmart will give him a job in securtiy, since he's so loved by the people of seneca??
Or greeter. NO GUN NEEDED!!!!!!!

This is a burden off Mr. Sheriff's shoulders. File for disability - continue to allow your body to heal and move on with your life.
Always remember, When one door closes - God Will Open Another.
To the folks that want to be judgemental - get over it ... stop being so mean and hateful. This man worked for the city of Seneca to the point of job burn out.
Google it.

Job burn out, rezlep. Really?

Where is Sheriff quoted as saying he had job burn out?

Previous articles quoted Sheriff as stating he intended, and expected, to return to his position. Didn't sound like a man burned out on his job to me.

You are right rezlep. But sometimes he also closes a door when he see you heading down the wrong path. I feel badly for the Sheriff family and hope that they can go forward from here. But if you play, you pay. There are consequences for everything we do in live and Mr. Sheriff is finding this out now.

ITS ABOUT TIME SOMBODY DID SOMETHING RIGHT IN THIS COUNTY!!! YOU ARE RIGHT "THY SHALT NOT STEAL" NOW IF THE REST OF THE "GOOD OLE BOYS" WOULD FOLLOW SUIT, THIS WHOLE COUNTY WOULD BE MUCH BETTER OFF.

My prayers are with Stanley and his family @ this time. I know that losing your income can be very difficult, but, driving a car and shoplifting and not remembering doing either one, is a sign of something too troubling to allow him to continue. He will be better off in another field of work where he doesn't have to worry about what another stroke may affect. God bless them all.

Dreambig2005 - by any chance are you either one of or related to one of the under-qualified friends of Covington that he promoted into leadership positions at Seneca? All the while over looking and treating extremely unfairly the ones with 15-20+ years of experience in law enforcement simply because Stanley had plans to promote those officers as soon as he was able... oh and let's not forget they were not his best friends like the ones Covington did promote!
By the way I saw Stnaley at church last night. He is in very good spirits. He has faith that God will pull him through this. Stanley is an inspiration in how well he has handled this entire situation. And for those thinking he should not be working on the police force any longer due to a stroke...there is medication, diet and more that can be done to help prevent the kind of stroke he had from recurring. Most of his health issues came from his weight issues. Since this all began Stanley has probably lost over 50lbs so far and looks better and more healthy than he has in years. I'm proud of Satnely Sheriff and very disappointed in this city!

Dan Alexander never seems to surprise me, like all the junk with the council voting for themselves? Face it Dan Alexander is a coward and Greg Dietterick runs the city of Seneca we don’t pay him $120,000+ a year for nothing. Well anyway, I hate this for Stanley but he'll be good at whatever does. John Covington is a joke Stanley helped him out gave him the job of Major and all he does is backstab him. John promoted all his friends while Stanley was sick and took advantage of his situation. Trust me John Covington has way more problems than Stanley Sheriff does. If the Mayor Dan.. I mean Greg Dietterick is smart he will hire from out of the department and out of Oconee County. I wish the best for Stanley and his Family.

P.S. See you at Church Sunday DAN!!

I would not say the new Chief needs to be hired outside of this county or even the Department. There are some officers on the Seneca PD that have more than enough years experience and love for this city to take on the job and do it right...just like Stanley would have. And they have no love for Covington and his friends either. They are the very ones Covington keeps passing up for promotions while rewarding his fellow Good ol' boys!

Is it up to the Chief alone to promote these people, or are others involved in helping to make the decision?

so stanly sheriff is just feels sick about losing his job???? he should have thought about NOT shoplifting, hey stanly what did you expect when you lie and cheat.
just like omh or omc they will have one of their good ole boys lead the way............i would like to see GENTRY HAWK get the job, we need someone who knows how to not only get the bad guys off of the street but the internet as well.

AND ANOTHER THING.......why does the city of seneca need to give him some sort of settlement???? that's the problem with the majority of the people in the up-state, you think everyone needs money because someone lost his or her job.
why does he need disability??? their is nothing wrong with him at all. can he walk, talk and breathe???? yes he can, he does not need any sort of disability payments, get a job like any hard working american. he needs to go to the un-employment office and see what every other up-stater has to go through and maybe stanley sheriff will realize what kind of dope he really is.

dds8892 - why don't you find out the qwhole story before you make uneducated comments like you just made?
Stanley Sheriff had a STROKE that affected the part of his brain causing short term memory loss - he has no memory of driving to Georgia much less walking out of the store with any items in his hand. He had no sense of judgement or right from wrong when he did this. There was a doctor's report complete with brain scans showing what part of his brain was affected and there were second opinions. Hence the reason ALL CHARGES WERE DROPPED!!!!!!!
Stanley Sheriff his a wonderful man who loves God, loves his family and loves his city. He teaches Sunday School, is in the choir and a deacon...his is a HUGE part of Hepsibah Baptist church and anyone who knows him cannot help but smile because no matter what his troubles are he always has a big grin and pleasant word to say. He was devastated when he learned what he had done.
Get to know someone and the TRUE story before you judge him.
And another thing don't assume he is asking for disability or a huge settlement simply because someone on here makes another uneducated comment!

Comradai - I can't help but think that you need to look at some of your comments and think about what you are saying. You are asking people to not judge Stanley Sheriff, yet you are making some pretty judgmental comments about others at the Seneca P.D. I don't know who you are, but you are not helping anything by slinging mud at others, when you just seem to be trying to defend your good friend. Unless you are an employee of the Seneca P.D. and are prepared to make official complaints about the inner workings of the department, I think that it is wrong to comment on things you don't know about first hand. ARE you an employee at the police department?

THANKS 5CRAZIES for having my back, now onto Comradai....i respect your opinions and you know what i hope that it is true that his stroke affected his judgement but just because he is a deacon, goes to church, sings in the choir and teaches sunday school should not matter.
i have made huge mistakes in my life and i love the lord as much as anyone, i goto church as well and i am serving my god and country as i am typing this comment.
who ever said that i am judging him??? listen dennis rader was a deacon in his church as well and he served his community so just because stanley sheriff has done all those things should not matter.
i have responded in the past on the tell willie comments on how the shoplifting charge was just a misdimeanor and that does not make stanley sheriff a bad person.

here is what stanley sheriff said in the above article:

Right now I’m just devastated,” he said. “I was of the belief that the city was going to give me due consideration. You know, we were dealing with this stroke, and we were saddled with these legal issues, and that was a nightmare. And now I’m realizing that I won’t be able to provide for my family. I’m just sick about this.”

what does he expect Comradai??? what i see from that article is that stanley sheriff does not think he did anything wrong, does that sound like a man you describe??? to get respect you have to give it and it does not look like the man is remorseful at all, he keeps blaming it on every other thing besides stanley sheriff.
these are just my opinion and i do not mean to upset you or anyone, but being in the military i guess we are taught differently.

Comradai must be very very close to Stanley to know so many details about his life and about all that goes on at the Seneca PD.How else would She/He know the people who were promoted were "UNDER QUALIFIED" and were friends of John.... How did She/He know that Stanley had plans to promote certain people who had 15-20 yrs. experience over the ones who got promoted? Comradai has my curiosity up now for sure .What jobs were open and who got promoted and which of Stanley's " good ol boys" were supposed to get these positions when Stanley came back?????I find it hard to believe these guy/ladies got these jobs because they were John's friends .I think they were promoted because they were Qualified.I'm glad Stanley's condition can be treated with meds,excercise and diet,but no Doctor can guarantee another stroke won't occur.I think most of the people in the city limits would be on the city officials like a chicken on a june bug if Stanley had been given the Police Chief's job back.Comradai thinks there are people at the Seneca PD who would make a good police chief but says they have no love for John C OR his friends.Now ain't that a Hoot-Who would be working if the Chief disliked half the Police Department?I do agree with Comradai on one thing ,Stanley is a nice man and I believe a good man,But I also think John Covington is a good person also.

trooper 91125-I didn't get what you were saying,Cutting out what middle man,serve his legal notices on himself.Did part of your comment get deleted? How do you know he can't balance his checkbook?

THIS IS WHAT MAYOR DAN ALEXANDER HAD TO SAY IN THE ANDERSON PAPER:
The city plans to receive applications for the chief’s position in-house among current city police staff first.

“We will post the position in-house first and see if there is any interest,” Alexander said. “Then if we choose we can also advertise it outside the city.”

Major John Covington, the No. 2 man in the Seneca Police Department, assumed Sheriff’s duties when he was placed on medical leave by the city back in May. Covington has said he will apply for the police chief’s position.

Wonkids you must really like john covington or really dont know him.when i read someone suggested him as the new police chief i laughed and almost cryed. If im not mistaken he left the OCSO because he had strokes and all kind of problems. A guy with a gun and strokes dont mix wonder when the city will knock him on the streets Haha.
Stanley was a good guy and i liked him. why dont yall drop the stanley sheriff stuff and talk about better stuff like how ugly the new Cvs is.

maybe we can cut cost and have judge councilmen and chief all in one job. because we all know they don't do nothing but get bigger and always in trouble or in the paper. or just have county take over.

Expalnation: when you write checks without sufficent funds in your account, the check will bounce. You have a 10 day notice to pick these checks up. When you do not reimburse the person in which you wrote the check to it goes to the magistrate. When the magistrate calls the Sheriff to let him know that one of his deputies is about to get a warrant signed on him for fraudulent checks and ONLY then the deputy finally goes to pick up the bad checks. A fruadulent check charge is the same type of crime as shoplifting. It is, by statue, a crime of moral turpitude. IT IS STEALING! When you take more than forty days to pick up the bad checks it shows "intent to deprive".

Deputy Dog,I too like Stanley.He's a nice man and from what I've heard he did do a great job before all this happened.He might still can,,who knows ,but Seneca can't take the chance,too risky.As for John.I don't know him as well as Comradrai seems to know him,but he has always been nice when I have been around him.I don't know a lot about either one's private lives and have never worked with either one ,as some of you have.My post was directed at Comradai ,if you go back and read it.
Oh thanks, Trooper, for explaining your post.I just couldn't read between the lines.

stanley do you remember the oversized coat you left hear in walhalla? the trouble you cause seems to follow you, or how about the laptops, do you remember?

Run for Sheriff again Stanley! You got my vote. We need a new sheriff badly.

Weellll, facesandplaces aka MR. R.W. I was wondering when you would raise your head and throw a stone at Stanley. You are always shooting off at the mouth. We don't need to post the reason you left the Sheriff's Department, in hand cuffs. We also don't need to post why you and your co-hort had to take a polygraph, requested by SLED. A little accusation about a burglary at your estranged wife's place of employment.

I don't know Mr. Sheriff. I am an outsider who applied for the job and received an interview for the post when he got it. When I read about his selection by the city, I thought he had the qualifications acceptable to be the chief in a city the size and complexity of Seneca. But, the city, whatever you guys may think and know about its leaders, had no choice but to move on because of this. If not, how could their police department effectively present any charges for larceny in a legitimate court of law? Anyone’s defense from heretofore could be I suffered a stroke and I do not recall stealing anything!

For Mr. Sheriff, if the #2 man has or had such a questionable background in regards to leadership qualities as well as the lack of trust and respect from a majority of your department, why promote him to the number post? That was asking to get stabbed in the back. I for one hope the administrator and council will open the process up again to outsiders (I am a SC native with eight years experience as a chief and a Master’s Degree) again so I can have the opportunity to apply for the position I was more than qualified then and now. To end, having someone who is highly qualified, objective, and honest and in excellent physical condition is not as bad as you think it is.

Applicant, I have more than 3 decades of law enforcement experience. Assuming the duties as a Chief or a street officer requires more than having a masters degree. I would question, If you were such a great chief, WHY, are you not still one today? Maybe the Mayor of Seneca seen through your resume' and decided that you were not even worthy of an interview. The City of Seneca has hired those folks from up north and the folks from down south. Just did not work out. Need a local to do this job. As for you, stay in school and KEEP ON JOGGING BABY!!.

Stanley is a Christian man, and as all of us have...............did wrong, but as all Christians know, God forgives us for our sins, and all we have to do is ask and have faith. I just wish him all of the best, and if our Heavenly Father can forgive and forget, who are we to continue condemning him? Get a life, and let him and his family have theirs back.

Retired cop, you may be right. Perhaps they saw right through me. I am probably not as good as I think I am. No one is. And I honor and respect your 30 plus years of service.

Next, people without something tend to rationalize why it is not important; be it good health, higher education, experience, religion, etc. That's what makes us people. Retired cop, I will do just as you suggest sir. Thanks for the free advice.

To all the people that are mud slinging---you should know the facts and the truth before you speak and spread untrue gossip. No one is perfect. The only perfect person to walk on this planet was our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

To the ones that go to Church and are mud slinging---would you get up in the Lord's house this Sunday and read to the congregation of your Church what you have wrote, knowing that what you are saying about people is hear say and you really don't know the truth. (I don't think so) Don't wreck your Church's reputation as a bunch of gossipers. Jesus is watching you and He knows all. Just remember that.

To John Covington---Hold your head high and don't let the people that are mud slinging bring you down. You have done nothing wrong in this situation. You have done an outstanding job for the city of Seneca and they should be proud to have someone with your experience and knowledge. Also, Stanley Sheriff would have not promoted you to 2nd in command if he did not think that you could do the job and we all know that you have done a great job. Just remember that God will take care of his own.

To Stanley Sheriff--- You have always been a wonderful man with a smile on your face. This has been a tragic situation from the beginning. Just continue to put your faith in the Lord and He will bring you through this. You should really talk to the people of your church and ask them to stop mud slinging. Nothing good can come from this. I will continue to pray for you and your family.

yea, but the guy i work for has my back, i know who you are and your a retired dirty cop and you know it.

retiredcop.........way to go!!!!! you are supposed to be setting the example as someone who used to be a police officer not throwing someone elses dirt out so that the public will know about facesandplaces troubles, i am sure i am not the only one who does not care about facesandplaces troubles of the past.
i have commented many times about this stanley sheriff thing and i admit that i have been hard on the man, i want to apologize to him if he ever reads this.
everyone does things in life that they regret and wish that they could take back, this goes for each and everyone on here christian and non-christians alike. i just could not believe that he would do such a stupid thing, i even read about it in the stars and stripes here in iraq.
hope the man is doing better and he gets his priorities straight, i don't know the man and have never met him but i have seen him around.

No I do not work at the Seneca Police Dept. I have only lived here my entire life and from past knowledge pay close attention to who is supposed to portecting me and my family.
As for any crook being able to use the stroke excuse in a court of law - like Stanley they will need medical proof that this was the reason and second opinions on that proof.
As for the promotions within the Seneca Police Dept - why don't you go ask the city councel to provide how many years experience in law enforcement the officers recently promoted have? You don't promote someone barely wet behind the ears with little or no experience as a patrolman and fresh out of the academy to a leadership roll.
That is all I am going to say on this situation. If things continue as they have been I am sure everything will end up coming out in the end!

Just wanted to say that just like the war in Iraq, if you don't support Pres. Bush at least support the troops.
The same applies for the uniformed men and women at Seneca Police Dept.
They do a difficult and dangerous job and we owe them our respect and gratitude.
If you don't like the Chief or command staff, please don't take it out on the street cops.
They are the ones who get cussed at, spit on, beat up, and sometimes killed, just so we can go about our lives without constant fear of violence.
Call law and order unfair, call it unjust, but it is the foundation for a civilized society.
There is always Darfur for the people who don't like it here.

xjoex,
well spoken.

I wonder how many of you, occupie a pew on Sunday.

I have to question FKSWW3 as to how they know so much about Comradai? I tried to find their e-mail address as was suggested, can't be done. Is this person an employee or does this person know an employee at the Daily Journal so that they can not only obtain the e-mail address, but the physical address and name of this person? If I were Comradai, I would be contacting the Daily Journal to find out how this FKSWW3 found out my personal information and why they were allowed to post it to this page. If someone gets my info and puts it up on a web site, I am going to track them down and press charges against the web site that allowed the information to be put up as well as the person who posted it. Go for it Comradai, contact the Daily Journal and find out how this info was found, I couldn't do it and I know a lot about computers and the internet.

I have to agree - FKSWW3 - how did you get that information? Sounds like the Daily Journal cannot be trusted to keep our identities private. Does that mean their 'sources' should beware???
As a matter of fact you call Comradai out to not hide behind their username but what are you doing? You created the account just 3 days ago with your 1st and only post so far not to mention NONE of your personal information is posted above...so who are you and why are you hiding behind your cloak of anonymity?
What else have you done, possibly opened up someone to harassment, vandalism, identity theft, assault, personal property theft...maybe even worse.
I hope like the previous comment says Comradai finds a way to get to the bottom of your post and who gave you that private information since not even our names much less our email addresses are on our profiles without us putting them there. You were wrong for that and so is whoever leaked that information to you. Makes me not trust the Daily journal or the Edwards Group any longer, maybe the Anderson Independent would be interested in hearing another local paper assists in giving out personal information for a malicious intent?
As for the comments made here, everyone is entitled to their opinion and from the things Comradai has heard, their opinion is that Covington is a crook apparently, I may agree or I may not, but why would I post my opinion here if I risk having my personal information posted here for malicious intent as well.
You should be ashamed!

hafney & secretsoutnow - If you know a lot about computers, you'd realize you didn't give any personal information when you registered for your account, so there's no personal information to find - or give out.

But I'm sure you knew that. Being experts and all.

You know it is not right to post someone’s personal information on here just because they post an opinion. Makes me think like hafney above you either work for the Daily Journal or someone there leaked that info to you.
Well, I don't know any of the Seneca PD personally, but I have ears and I have eyes and I have heard a lot of the same stuff posted here. I even heard some cops bragging, when they thought nobody was listening, about some of the stuff going on. It sounded to me like certain privileged officers could not keep their mouths shut, they thought it was funny even. I was even disturbed by some of the comments I heard.
Maybe Comradai was on to something and maybe you are just mad that either you yourself or someone you know is being called out?
PS practice what you preach - show your personal info as well - don't see your name, email, street address?

You may not give out personal info now, but when this site first started, you had to give out your info. Also, how did they get Comradai's to put on this site unless it was from an employee at the Daily Journal. If you try to win the free gas, you have to give your name, address, phone and e-mail address. So yes, an employee would have that info and could be the one posting or have given the info out to the person who did post as FKSWW3. So there!

"So there!"

rofl.

are you five?

When someone acts out like a child you have to respond to them in words they understand.

"Bluebutt"??? By any chance are you a cop? Seneca does wear blue! Covington perhaps?
Now that is what I would like to see - it is his integrity being questioned here so why doesn't he come on here and not in incognito or via some other person who posts for him and answer the questions being raised here?
Who have you promoted? To what? Why? How many years experience do they really have? Why was someone else with more experience not right for the job? Please put a rest to the questions, debates, comments and mudslinging and answer to the people! I am sure there really are cops reading these posts and maybe even you - so put a rest to it, give us the truth!

I'm not a computer expert ,but you can GOOGLE or MYSPACE a screen name and if you use the same name on this site as you do on other sites where you use your real name,then it gives out your names .email address,etc.MYSPACE has a friends list so you can even view their friends and relatives ,and even see their pictures.The Journal does not give this information out....you give it out yourself.

Well actually I tried all that, I searched the username, the email provider given, even the name and street address given and I have yet to be able to associate any of the 4 with one another? I tried using many combinations, adding the city and state and even surrounding cities - yet the person who posted that info got it simply from the username and nothing else?
Sounds way too convenient to me!

omg! I tried what wonkids said and I googled all of the user names with myspace and "hafney" came back to a MySpacesite that has a picture of a Seneca Police car on it
along with the web site on the friends list!

I think it is no coincidence that so many 'new' user accounts are coming on here to either get back at someone voicing their 'opinion' about our acting chief or attacking those supporting that person, after information that had NO BUSINESS what so ever being posted on here unless it was for malicious intent....So how many of you are officers? Or how many are family members of the officers whose integrity is being questioned?

I am not a cop, far from it. But thanks for that fantastic display of your paranoia. Don't get too riled up now, you might crush your tinfoil hat.

When a person fills out the form for an account to login to post comments, we have an option to include our name and phone number. The Journal says they will call and verify your information. This way we can have our name posted instead of remaining anonymous. That is how our name can be tied to our username. It's not through the gas contest.

Oh, Mr. Sheriff's charges were not dropped. That is one reason they decided to go ahead and post his job. The prosecutor ruled at the time, the case was "unprosecutable". There is a big difference in the legal world between this and "not guilty", whether Mr. Sheriff and his friends think so or not.

"Sheriff’s reaction after learning he had been acquitted of misdemeanor shoplifting charges in Toccoa, Ga., late Thursday evening."
and
"Sheriff added that his health and peace of mind have benefited from the acquittal of all charges by the Toccoa municipal court."
What is the definition of Acquittal? Declared not guilty of a specific offense or crime; legally blameless.

Hmmm sounds like he is NOT GUILTY to me.

secretsoutnow--what part are you not getting? OK. the charges were dropped, but not because he WAS NOT GUILTY,but because he could not be prosecuted DUE TO HIS MEDICAL CONDITION.

An acquittal, is when the evidence cannot prove you did it, or someone screws up.

first you say they are not dropped, then they are dropped, make up your mind.
It was announced Sheriff was ACQUITTED of all charges - like I said before the definition of Acquitted is - to relieve from a charge of fault or crime; declare not guilty - how about the Law definition - judicial deliverance from a criminal charge on a verdict or finding of not guilty. Judgment, as by a jury or judge, that a defendant is not guilty of a crime as charged.

I saw a cops yesterday outside of a restaurant and I asked them about this situation in the paper. Even though they were from another police force they were aware of the situation. They told me that they would rather not comment on the Sheriff situation, but that he is a good man. They also said that the assistant chief is also a good man, and one made the comment that he heard that 2 disgruntled employees are trying to cause trouble inside the police station. I do not live in Seneca, but for the sake of the reputation of the Tri County area I wish that every one would try to get along with one another instead of bashing one another in public.