Free Republic

    An audit of the Atlanta Police Department has concluded that it has consistently underreported crimes for years. The audit found evidence of negligence and deliberate efforts to improve the city's image for tourism, possibly including the Olympics in 1996.     The report, by the management consultant firm Linder & Associates, painted a picture of a department mired in disorganization and increasingly besieged by 911 calls, some of which never got a response.     "We've not seen this sense of a condition of being overwhelmed in any other major city," said John Linder, president of the consulting firm.     Several...

The son of the late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson was released from Fulton County Jail on New Year's Day after posting $10,000 bond on felony drug charges. Maynard Holbrook "Buzzy" Jackson III, 32, had been scheduled to make an 11 a.m. first appearance Friday before a magistrate judge in the jail courtroom. Jackson was arrested New Year's Eve at about 5 p.m. after he allegedly sold undercover officers $160 worth of marijuana --- about 25 grams --- at a house in Inman Park. He was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and with selling it. A total...

The airport's new name -- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport -- will be flying by year's end. Mayor Shirley Franklin said she would move quickly to rename Hartsfield International Airport after Monday's 12-2 vote by the City Council to add former Mayor Maynard Jackson's name. Jackson, Atlanta's first African-American mayor, died June 23. He and William B. Hartsfield, the city's longest-serving mayor, were credited with the growth and expansion of what is now one of the world's busiest airports. Voting against the name change were Clair Muller, who represents northwest Atlanta's District 8, and Anne Fauver, who represents east Atlanta's District 6....

City Council OKs New Airport Name The Associated Press City Council members voted today to rename Atlanta's sprawling Hartsfield International Airport, adding former Mayor Maynard Jackson's name to its title. Hartsfield International Airport will become Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport under a compromise put forward by Mayor Shirley Franklin and approved by the City Council members. The council members discussed the proposal for about two hours before voting 12 to two in favor of the change. The measure needed eight votes to pass. Council members Anne Fauver and Clair Muller voted against the renaming. Much of the opposition leading up to...

Mayor Shirley Franklin's reputation as a consensus builder is being tested by the racially divisive debate over renaming Atlanta's major airport. The issue has become more contentious as the city grapples with a campaign to take the name of a legendary white mayor, William B. Hartsfield, off the airport and replace it with the name of the city's first African-American mayor, Maynard Jackson Jr. "This has hit a chord unlike anything I've seen in Atlanta in a long time," said William Boone, political scientist with Clark Atlanta University. "The issue is such a polarizing question. Shirley's had to walk through...

Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor, cast a huge shadow Tuesday over his white predecessors as the campaign to rename Atlanta's airport developed into raw racial politics. "This really shouldn't be about what the white business establishment would allow," said state Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas, a former Atlanta City Council member. "It's really what the strength of the African-American community will allow. What will we stand for? The real deal is we stood too long silent. Atlanta is being gentrified every day. So, while you do still have a majority, as Maynard would say, use the power you have today."...

Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor, cast a huge shadow Tuesday over his white predecessors as the campaign to rename Atlanta's airport developed into raw racial politics. "This really shouldn't be about what the white business establishment would allow," said state Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas, a former Atlanta City Council member. "It's really what the strength of the African-American community will allow. What will we stand for? The real deal is we stood too long silent. Atlanta is being gentrified every day. So, while you do still have a majority, as Maynard would say, use the power you have today."...

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, 64, has died of a heart attack, City Hall confirmed Monday morning. In 1973, Jackson was the first black elected mayor of a major Southern U.S. city. Jackson was a 30-year-old political novice when he ran for the Senate against Herman Talmadge. He has since put together an efficient voting machine over the years, one that has shown that it can win big for the Democratic Party. Jackson considered a run for Georgia Sen. Zell Miller’s seat when Miller stepped down in 2004. “I must tell you that I'm giving running for the U.S. Senate...

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson said today it is highly unlikely that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Zell Miller. "I've been taking a look at this issue and the research I've been doing is not complete," Jackson said. "But the closer I look, the less likely are the probabilities that I will run." Jackson made his comments amid speculation that he would announce his candidacy at the Butler Street YMCA Hungry Club luncheon at noon today. The 64-year-old former three-term Atlanta mayor cited personal, family and business interests as reasons for his current thinking....

Capital Comment The shirt off their back -- The "Freepers," as the folks at Free Republic are known, are at it again. Back in 2000, they -- and not Republican Party activists as Karenna Gore Schiff suggested in last Friday's interview with ABC's Barbara Walters -- staked out a spot near the vice presidential residence during the post-Florida recount period, shouting "Get out of Cheney's house!" over and over and over again. Now they are turning their sights on Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe. The D.C. chapter of Free Republic has produced a T-shirt, one of which came in Monday's...

WASHINGTON -- Maynard H. Jackson, the former Atlanta mayor who lost out to Terry McAuliffe for chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee last year, wrote McAuliffe this week demanding a meeting of the party's executive committee to discuss the midterm election "horror show" and "correct our course immediately." "We need to meet, analyze what happened last Tuesday and where we are, and plan without delay where we go from here," Jackson wrote in a letter dated Nov. 13, reflecting similar concern among other party leaders. "A Democratic victory in 2004, including key Southern states, will require that we not waste...