A couple of posts back involved the Phenix City police officer who was charged with rape. That post has nothing in common with this story except both took place in Phenix City, Alabama. I first heard of the legacy of Phenix City from my old high school principal who was a native of that area (Smith's Station) and used to tell some harrowing stories about the crime and corruption that went on in and around Phenix City/Columbus, GA. Most of the crime was prostitution and gambling and perpetuated on soldiers from nearby Ft. Benning. During WWII there were so many instances of soldiers from the U.S. Army Training Center being "rolled" in the town that Gen. George Patton threatened to roll his tanks into the town and to shut down the crime wave. He did not. The vice and violence continued on several more years and reached a climax when Phenix City native, Albert Patterson who had been recently elected Attorney General of the State of Alabama (ran partly on the premise of cleaning out Phenix City) was shot and killed outside of his office in the town by some of the local syndicate. I was wondering if anyone had seen the 1955 movie The Phenix City Story. In the movie the AG's son gives a rousing speech to the townsfolk and is insturmental in restoring decency to the town. In real life, Patterson's son Albert, went on to become governor of the the State of Alabama. The movie is "OK", but the real history is fascinating. This is especially true if one is lucky enough to hear it first hand. Here is the movie poster. Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia and a YouTube snippet.
Phenix City was notorious during the 1940s and 1950s for being a haven for organized crime, prostitution, and gambling. Many of its customers came from the United States Armytraining center at Fort Benning, Georgia. The leaders of the crime syndicate in Phenix City were Jimmie Matthews and Hoyt Sheppard. Albert Patterson, from Phenix City, was elected to become attorney general of Alabama on a platform of reforming the city, but was shot and killed in 1954 outside his office on 5th Ave, N of 14th Street. As a result, the city had a negative reputation, and many people still associate this legacy with Phenix City. The Tragedy and the Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama by Margaret Ann Barnes chronicles these events, which led the small town to be known as "Sin City, USA". The bordertown was the subject of an acclaimed film, The Phenix City Story, made in 1955.
Kandice Cabbil died last week of blunt force trauma. Her father, Samuel Cabbil, has been charged with her death. Mourners who came together to console each other ended up in a helluva brawl. The video can be seen below and the story can be read by clicking HERE.
Phenix City police officer, Eldrick Devon Kennedy, was charged with raping a woman in handcuffs. Kennedy was put on administrative leave and then fired after a brief investigation proved Kennedy had broken multiple department internal procedures.
Russell County Sheriff, Heath Taylor, said "Kennedy knew better. He was a five year veteran". Taylor went on to say he had no sorrow or sympathy for Kennedy and that Kennedy would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. STORY here.
Kenny over at "Knuckledraggin My Life Away" has set up a fundraiser to help Angel in her time of need. Here is a link to KENNY'S page. Please send along whatever you can to help
someone who has definitely touched so many people in the blogosphere.
This comment by Phil over at "THEVULGARCURMUDGEON" offers his description of
Angel and it's spot on:
Angel has a blog also although it went dormant a few months ago because
her personal life was stressed out. She had two autistic daughters, the
oldest just passed away suddenly.
How to describe Angel to someone who doesn’t know about her? Very difficult but I’ll give you a quick rundown the way I see it.
Angel is the unofficial and decidedly unwilling “Den Mother” to a an
assortment of bloggers who are all a part of the American Patriot
movement in one way or another.A red head from Texas, she is one very
sweet lady with a huge heart who you would not ever want to piss off.
There was one instance that stands out when she was out in her garage
alone with the door open in front and some pervert walked in out of the
blue with his little Johnson hanging out. She was cornered and reached
behind her and pulled out her pistol from her waistband and chased him
right the hell out.
I have no doubt she would have plugged his ass if he hadn’t took off
like a scalded cat. That kind of tough. There are a lot of people with a
ton of respect for the lady and I count myself as one of them.
She has had fund raisers for other people in need and as a matter of
fact, the last post she put up was just that. She is wicked smart and
doesn’t put up with any bullshit. Her and Kenny (Wirecutter) from
Knuckle Draggin’ My Life Away have had a friendly tease the hell out of
each other very publicly relationship going back years and are actually
good friends. the name of her blog is The Lonely Libertarian and you can
find it quite easily by searching for that.
I hope this helps explain what is going on.
