Politics in Alabama is a full-contact sport, apparently

[AnotherFairportfan]

Talladega Mayor ‘Attacked' by 71-Year-Old Love Rival

An elderly man allegedly beat up the Alabama city's 75-year-old mayor this weekend, in supposed retribution for a sex-tape scandal.

A senior citizen reportedly attacked Talladega's 75-year-old mayor with a baseball bat Saturday—an early bird beating that sent both men to the hospital and that one local attorney claims is revenge over a sex tape.

{snip}
 

During the struggle, Barton said he pulled the hood off the suspect to reveal the man's identity. The mayor has fingered the suspect as 71-year-old Benny Green—a friend turned foe and former cohost on Barton's public access television show, "In the Interest of the People.”

"Ain't no doubt about it,” Barton added. "If I hadn't kicked him twice in the balls I'd be dead. If he had been able to get me out of the car it would have been over.”

{snip}
 

Meanwhile, Stewart Springer, a former attorney for Green, said the mayor got what he deserved for supposedly betraying his longtime friend. He told The Daily Beast that Barton was likely attacked because he allegedly bedded Green's wife around the time the couple filed for divorce in 2013. (A message left at Barton's home was not returned. Green's ex-wife declined to comment, and his divorce attorney could not be reached.)

Barton and his buddy's spouse—who currently serves as a giggly cohost on the mayor's TV show—were allegedly caught fornicating on camera in Green's liquor store, Springer said.

{snip}

In May, Barton and his wife, Mary, were subpoenaed to testify in Green's divorce proceedings, Springer said.

The mayor is no stranger to controversial headlines. In 1994, during his third term, Barton was convicted of fraud and 26 counts of money laundering for cashing $5,900 in city checks made out to a bogus tree-stump specialist.

He was released from federal prison three years later. He lost runoff elections in 1999 and 2003 but was reelected in 2011, AL.com reported.

"One question has nagged Alabama for years,” Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald wrote in July. "How, in the name of all that is holy, could the mayor of Talladega defraud the city he served, go to prison and then be re-elected by that same city?”

Wow. I thought that sort of shenanigans was a Louisiana thing.

[jwhouk]

I believe the answer is that 2.66 mile piece of tri-oval asphalt outside the city proper.

[Dave]

Wide-area monoxide poisoning?

[jwhouk]

Don't forget the rubber burning, too.

[Sgt. Howard]

I believe the answer is that 2.66 mile piece of tri-oval asphalt outside the city proper.

OK- now it is my turn to show ignorance- what 2.66 acre tri-oval asphalt are we talking about?

[Dave]

Talladega Superspeedway. It's apparently on all of the major pilgrimage routes for NASCAR devotees.

[AnotherFairportfan]

I believe the answer is that 2.66 mile piece of tri-oval asphalt outside the city proper.

OK- now it is my turn to show ignorance- what 2.66 acre tri-oval asphalt are we talking about?

Talladega Superspeedway - first of the "super-speedways", i think.

And so fast that it was one of the reasons for NASCAR carburetor restrictor plates to slow the cars down.

[Typeminer]

Wilson Goode bombed Philadelphia, destroyed an entire block, and still got reelected.

Don't think I'll live long enough for that to ever make sense.

[Dave]

Wilson Goode bombed Philadelphia, destroyed an entire block, and still got reelected.

Don't think I'll live long enough for that to ever make sense.

You have to look at the situation in its full context... it may make a bit more sense that way.

In the election you're referring to Goode was running against former mayor, and former police commissioner Frank Rizzo. Goode had defeated Rizzo in an earlier election for mayor, forcing Rizzo out of office.

I grew up in Philadelphia (Germantown, specifically). My recollection is that the relationship between the Philadelphia police, and the black community (a sizable one in Philadelphia) was not a good one at any time during those years. There were charges of institutional racism being leveled at the police for quite some time... more than a bit like things are in Ferguson these days, actually.

I can't say what the cross-section of attitudes among Philadelphia police were. However, two Philadelphia police were co-Scoutmasters of my troop for several years, and I know for a fact that they were definitely bigoted against blacks, attempted to keep our troop whites-only, and yielded only on orders from national Boy Scout headquarters. They said so to us in as many words (including the N-word if I recall correctly) when they announced the integration of the troop.

Rizzo's attitudes and leadership were felt by many to be a big part of this problem. Black enrollment in the police force did improve during some of his tenure, but he also seems to have fostered a "police-vs.-the-enemy, bash 'em!" attitude that didn't help matters.

It looks to me as if Goode probably won re-election because a lot of the black voters may have felt that he was the lesser of two evils... quite simply, he was Not Frank Rizzo. As several U.S. presidents have been alleged to say about several different third-world dictators, "[He] may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."

And, for what it's worth, media reports from the day say that Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor said that he made the decision to use an explosive to demolish the bunker at the MOVE site (the incident which started the fire). Goode took responsibility for the overall decision-making in the MOVE situation... that is, the decision to clear the MOVE activists out of the building by force, after prolonged negotiations failed to bring an end to the situation... and because he'd made the decision to give the commanders on the spot (e.g. Sambor) complete freedom to choose the tactics.

This wasn't the first time that MOVE had been involved in a prolonged, armed standoff with the Philadelphia police... there had been a similar long confrontation back in '78.

Definitely a tragedy, with plenty of responsibility to go around, and many strong opinions about what should or should not have been done.

A contemporary newspaper report is here and links from that page express other points of view about the situation.

[Typeminer]

Oh, Rizzo was a pig, no question.

I was at the counterbicentennial on July 4, 1976. Rizzo had practically surrounded the route of the march and the park with cops and rooftop snipers to protect the city against, basically, a herd of Yippie stoners with a parade permit. He wasted a bargeload of money, and his hateful alarmist ranting scared off a lot of people from attending the official celebration.

Goode was a lot better mayor for the city, overall. But the whole MOVE thing was such a ghastly clusterfrak that it stunned me that he could not gracefully decline to run for reelection. But I guess there was no strong candidate for the handoff. Bad times.