Spalding commissioner faces recall effort

Lamar County residents are highly upset with their commissioners over the recent botched fire and EMS billing fiasco.However, in Spalding County, one commissioner’s antics have sparked a recall effort.Recall procedures have been implemented against Spalding district 3 commissioner Bob Gilreath. The committee to recall Gilreath is headed up by Charles Ponder.Ponder’s letter to Spalding’s chief registrar reads as follows, according to WKEU radio:o Whom It May Concern:As the official Sponsor of this citizen’s request, I am requesting the recall of District 3 County Commissioner Bob Gilreath. I have been chosen to serve as the Chairperson, who will represent the sponsors in all matters pertaining to the recall process.The first offense, per O.C.G.A. 21-4-3-(7), Commissioner Gilreath has misappropriated public property associated with the elective office to which he has been elected. Specifically, he has used his position as County Commissioner to acquire documents and photos from the Spalding County Fire Department, with out an open records request, and has printed and copied the same onto his personal web site, where access is available only with a paid fee. He has taken that information and waged a character attack on selected members of the County Fire Department and two Commissioners Elect, using those documents and pictures. He has personally profited, financially, from these actions because there is a monthly subscriber’s fee to view the entirety of all information on his web site.Secondly, per O.C.G.A. 45-10-1., and O.C.G.A. 21-4-3 (8), Commissioner Gilreath has committed an act of misconduct in office when he willfully and publicly lied about Commissioner Elect Raymond Ray, threatening Mr. Jon Richardson regarding a presentation that Mr. Richardson had made to the BOC. He said Mr. Ray warned Mr. Richardson not to proceed with trying to do business with the county, He stated that Mr. Richardson relay this information to him about the conversation during a meeting between the two men. Gilreath committed assault on Mr. Ray’s character during a public meeting and publicly threatened to have him investigated by the Bibb County Law authorities as well as by The State of Ga. All of this was done knowing that the accusations were not true. We believe that he had fabricated the story to draw more readers to his web site. Two weeks later, in the 11/26/10 issue of the Griffin Daily News, Mr. Richardson Denies accusations Commissioner Gilreath, made against Mr. Ray relating to the meeting between the two men.Respectfully Yours,Charles Ponder