Here's the weenie right here.
Posted on 05/21/2003 6:50:49 PM PDT by Libloather
Ex-Stokes manager had computer full of porn
Finding led officials to fire him, not accept resignation
By Sherry Wilson Youngquist JOURNAL REPORTER
DANBURY
The former county manager for Stokes County, Craig Greer, had downloaded so much Internet pornography that his computer hard drive at the government center was running out of space, county officials say.
The cache of more than 27,000 photos - with such titles as 'Bye bye bikinis,' 'Housewife,' and 'Midget peep show' - was discovered by information-technology workers after Greer resigned April 28.
County commissioners said yesterday that the discovery was behind their decision last week to reverse themselves and fire Greer instead of accepting his resignation.
'This is abnormal,' Commissioner Joe Turpin said. 'People are not happy seeing their tax dollars pay an employee who was not working but spending his time doing this.... He had a massive amount of categorized information on there. It had been categorized, alphabetized. It was all archived.'
Greer began using the computer in early 2000. The downloads, which occurred during business hours, continued to take place throughout this year, county records show.
County officials said that there was so much material that Greer must have spent at least 60 percent of his work hours downloading photos.
Though some files were titled 'teen lesbians' and 'teen maiden,' authorities have ruled out that any of the material contained children, county officials said. Sheriff's deputies were asked to conduct an investigation the week Greer left and determined that it was not a criminal matter, Lt. Junior Palmer said.
Greer confirmed in a telephone interview yesterday that he downloaded the pornography but later said he wanted to say 'no comment' in answering the question.
'Here's all I can say. On April 28, I gave my word that I would not discuss any of the circumstances surrounding my resignation and the severance,' Greer said. 'If nothing else, I'm a man of my word, and I will continue not to comment.'
Greer, who is married, had been county manager since 1992 and his initial resignation was unexpected. It came after a closed session of a regularly scheduled meeting, and the commissioners accepted the move by a 4-1 vote. They approved a severance package of $37,000 as well as accrued compensatory time and vacation.
At the time, commissioners had said that Greer and the board had different visions on spending county money and the county budget. Commissioners have struggled this fiscal year to overcome a budget crisis. The board faced a $2.3 million shortfall last fall after losing about $5.4 million in state reimbursements since 2002.
There also may have been disagreement over Greer's annual salary of about $74,000.
That night, commissioners notified the county's information-technology department to back up Greer's computer files so that no important government information would be lost, said Dianna Fulp, the department's director.
Greer emptied his office by noon the next day. A diskette belonging to Greer titled 'Toys' was found either that day or the next, prompting the investigation by the Stokes County Sheriff's Office, county officials said.
On May 12, a Stokes County sheriff's deputy spoke to county commissioners during a closed session at the board's regularly scheduled meeting.
After coming out of a closed session, the commissioners voted unanimously to fire Greer and take back the severance package.
'I think this discovery demonstrates my earlier beliefs that he was not fully committed to his job,' Chairman Sandy McHugh said.
McHugh said she became frustrated with Greer because he often wasn't prepared at meetings with department heads.
Stokes County doesn't have a policy on employees' use of county computers.
The county's information-technology department has from time to time suggested adopting a policy, but the proposal has never gone forward..
'They never could get it past him (Greer),' McHugh said.
She said that she expects to present a policy at the commissioners' next meeting May 27.
Like many local governments, Stokes County does not monitor employee e-mail or Web browsing.
The temptation to download or view sexually explicit material depends on whether employees think they are being monitored, said Kenneth Rogerson, the research director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University.
'Those people who know they're going to be filtered and they know they're going to be monitored, it may be more of a deterrent,' said Rogerson, who teaches a class on Internet politics and policy.
In the last two or three years, more employers, both in the public and private sectors, have begun to make employees sign a form stating that they understand that employers have the right to look through employees' Web use and e-mail, he said.
'Employers are becoming much more aware of those issues and trying to address them up front,' Rogerson said. 'So people should know what they're getting into when they go there.'
Sherry Wilson Youngquist can be reached in Mount Airy at (336) 789-9338 or at swilson@wsjournal.com
They approved a severance package of $37,000 as well as accrued compensatory time and vacation.
Being paid for porn makes you a - what?
Minus the title, I'll take half that much to download the stuff. Time for a civil servant exam - eh?
Here's the weenie right here.
The remaining 40% of his times was spent... (well, never mind)
Bingo!!
Bingo!!
Short on hard drive space.
You think that even 60% of his worktime was work? I think you overrate the value of county government!
L
One, just like the case of the homeless millions that the media ran with without verifying independently, it hardly appears that this perv had to spend 60% of the workday to download porn. The article said he started using the computer in 2000. If he dowloaded porn till the time he was fired, that is some 700 workdays. He would only have to download 38 pics a day to get to 27,000. Unless his modem was slow, he could have done it over the lunch hour or coffee breaks. Heck, I would prefer most government bureaucrats download porn instead of passing laws and regulations that get into my wallet.
Two, I would immediately start a campaign to proclaim that this was just about sex, and he should be able to get back to his important work for the county residents ala Clinton.
This guy just needs James Carville to get out of this jam.
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