Brickbat: Dirty Hands

A report from the Tennessee Comptroller's Office found then-Marion County road superintendent Jim Hawk allowed a county employee to use county equipment to haul loads of county-owned dirt, which the employee sold for $50 to $75 per load. At least one load was delivered to Hawk's home. Hawk contended that the dirt was free to the public. But the report said he could not provide any proof that the county ever advertised the dirt was available to the public.

Comments

[John F. Carr]

Contractors in Massachusetts used to use government-supplied salt and sand to treat private roads and parking lots after snow. The practice was curtailed by installation of GPS monitors to see where the contractor was hauling government property. The truck should be going down the main road, not into the shopping mall.

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[Jerryskids]

which the employee sold for $50 to $75 per load

As someone who recently bought several loads of topsoil, I'd have to say that's some cheap dirt. I wouldn't make the pun of saying it's 'dirt cheap' because I know that dirt is not that cheap.

[Rossami]

Dirt and topsoil are very different things. Neither the article here nor the one it links to says for sure but since it's from the road crew, I'm pretty confident it's fill-dirt.

Near us, topsoil is around $50 a cubic yard. Fill-dirt can be anywhere from below $10 to 'I'll pay you to haul it away'.

[mad.casual]

‘I’ll pay you to haul it away’.

Yup, and WRT The County, “Free place to deposit free dirt.”

This really seems like a case of persecuting a county official for the marginal increase in amortization of equipment. OMG! The County truck will have extra dents in it when we sell it used!

Edit: To be clear, yes it's possible the dirt wasn't free, and yes it's possible the work was being done on County Time, and yes it's possible they were hauling tons of dirt with a half-ton pickup or whatever, but in typical brickbat fashion the article provides no evidence of such.

[Rossami]

I think there's more to it than that. Yes, there's wear-and-tear on the truck and that's pretty minimal. But there's also insurance risk (the city would have been on the hook for any accident involving their vehicle even if the use of the vehicle was determined to be unauthorized - and given the lack of controls, it's not obvious that it would be. And there are the inherent ethical problem of selling the dirt that (according to his own claims) is supposed to be "free to the public". Also of abusing your position for personal gain.

And, not reported in this article but spelled out in the linked one, cheating on his taxes, nepotism, illegal modifications to vehicle exhaust systems and several other infractions. This seems like more than just a little bad judgement.

[mad.casual]

Brickbat: Dirty Hands Crooked County Official Caught, Comptroller Piles On, Reason Buries Lead For Free

[Adans smith]

Finally, taxpayers getting a real bang for their buck.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Yep. And I'm sure the taxpayers were happy to provide them with the means to make a few extra bucks on the side.

[Ed]

What a refreshingly quaint, Lake Wobegone type of story! Petty corruption by petty people, just like in the good old days. I hope we can see more of this feel-good type of story in the future!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Looks like authorities dug up dirt on their workers.

[H. Farnham]

Was it you that always used to "don sunglasses"? Feel like there was a great opportunity there for a dark eyewear dramatic pause.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tried but couldn't make it work on this one and I refuse to compromise quality.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

It's a smear campaign.

[rbike]

I had ~7 tons of dirt delivered last summer for my deck project. I moved it by shovel full into place after my source dumped it in the driveway. It was some of the finest, cleanest dirt I had ever seen. I don't know where he got it but it is still doing well. I paid $400 for it all, but that included hauling away in two loads 10 tons of broken up concrete.

[SQRLSY One]

So then this was clean and un-corrupted dirt, I take it. The article, on the other (dirty) hand, discusses dirty dirt!

I, too, prefer clean dirt over dirty dirt, especially when pubic affairs are involved! (Thongs are less dangerous and pussyibly diseased that way.)

[mad.casual]

So, uh, I hate to be a libertarian and all that, but do we have any indication as to whether the work was done on County time and whether the County actually paid for it (and to a lesser degree, the size of the truck, if there was a truck)?

If the "truck" (assuming...) is like the one indicated, $50-75 per load is around a 75% reduction locally and probably at least a 25-50% pretty much anywhere. If the "truck" is just a 2-ton flatbed or pickup the time spent loading and unloading was potentially more than the dirt.

Presuming that the lack of evidence of "County time" and whether the County actually paid for the dirt is evidence of absence, it's still a pretty inane brickbat.

Otherwise, this is a rather overt "Private citizen does neighbors a solid for a six-pack and a Grant. Libertarians outraged."

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

According to the linked article he used county equipment to load county owned dirt into a personal truck. Not on county time.

[mad.casual]

JFC.

He used the county's loader, presumably on county property, to fill his personal truck after hours with dirt that no one is sure was free, paid for, or not. So who, exactly, is the victim here?

Courtney C. Lynch, Marion County's district attorney general, said the report didn't indicate a violation of criminal laws.

Imagine being less libertarian that the budget hawks and officious conservatives in Dickbag, TN.