Sunset Review of Alabama Historical Commission
From Steve Phillips
August 28,2005
On August 24th and 25th the Alabama State legislators that make up the Sunset Committee had meetings to consider actions to abolish or correct problems in the Alabama Historical Commission. My wife and I were present both days to represent the divers, relic hunters and amateur archaeologists. The legislators were given a 92 page report from the State Examiners of Accounts. This report details much of the dereliction of duties, neglect and abuse of power that the directors and employees of the AHC are guilty of. Click here to see the report: http://www.examiners.state.al.us/PDFs/Audit26S-0014.pdf
The AHC has never had to face this review before and our group is responsible for the investigation. I asked my Representative, Jim McClendon of St. Clair County to have the AHC reviewed. He is a member of the Sunset Committee and has been a strong supporter of the interests of the public and a good friend of the groups who want to fix or abolish the AHC. Representative McClendon was able to make this happen and we owe him our thanks and support. The public meeting on this past Thursday was pretty intense at times with the Directors and employees of the AHC trying to put all the blame for their failures on the previous Executive Director Lee Warner.
The acting Executive Director is Elizabeth Brown. Ms. Brown has been employed by the AHC for many years and she is directly responsible for much of the problems that we now have with the underwater law. She was the person in charge of the AHC when the law was passed in 1999. At that time she was the acting Executive Director. Lee Warner was hired after the bad law was passed. I managed to bring this to everyone's attention at the meeting, much to Ms. Brown's discomfort.
They talked long and hard about how many PHD's, MBA's and Masters Degrees that the employees have. The fact that they have failed to work with the public and failed to preserve the properties placed in their care doesn't seem to concern them. They are totally incompetent and crooked regardless of how many degrees and diplomas that they have. The Chairman of the AHC directors is Bill Drinkard who monopolized most of the day trying to prevent others from speaking. Mr. Drinkard is a former State Representative and has been on the AHC board of directors for many years. He is also a convicted felon guilty of diverting state funds for personal use. He has since been pardoned but he is still guilty and should not be on this board.
Some of the new directors are concerned with the problems. These directors are Guy Spencer and Danny Cooper who have been appointed by Governor Riley during the past year. If we had enough directors like them the AHC would not be corrupt. The problem is that many of the other directors have strong ties to the colleges that are getting millions of dollars funneled to them by the AHC. This money is not shown on any audits because the money does not go directly through the AHC. Much of this money that I speak of is fees charged to contractors or other agencies for cultural resource assessments. Any construction or repairs to existing work is referred through the webpage of the AHC to approved Professional Archaeologists and the colleges that they work for. The directors of the AHC are primarily appointed by these same colleges that receive the extortion money that the affected parties must pay. By the way, the AHC is trying to make divers pay this same type of extortion to these same archaeologists and schools. That is how our dog got in this fight. I bet they wish they had not become so greedy and had left the divers and collectors alone.
Since I was arrested in 2003 the AHC has lost almost half of their employees and their boss has been fired. They still need to fire the culprits who are in charge of some of the departments and get rid of the directors who allowed the corruption to occur and financially benefited from business sent to themselves or their family by the AHC. The underwater law that our legislators passed in 1999 to control salvage of shipwrecks only was perverted by the AHC employees to cover all underwater artifacts that are over 50 years old. This is what they are doing now but the Alabama legislators don't agree with them and may shut them down.
I would like to see the duties of the AHC assigned to the Department of Archives and History and the properties that they own transferred to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It appears that the directors of the AHC are not going to hire a new Executive Director. The state has the best man for that job in Jim Bennett but he would not be a party to continuing the current corruption. Several of the legislators spoke up at the meeting with their opinions of the AHC. Representative McClendon said that the Sunset Committee had never had an agency reviewed that was so financially inept. No one at the AHC can balance the books and they haven't been able to for about 10 years. Over a million dollars have been diverted from trust funds and no one knows where the money went.
Senator Figures from Mobile said the AHC was like Enron. Representative Mitchell of Mobile said the AHC had "cooked the books." Representative Mitchell also talked about the fact that no results come from the AHC in the form of preservation of properties in their care. "They are just like a bump on a pickle, they are just there." Over 20 people from historical groups and divers spoke asking for the AHC to be abolished. In September the Sunset Committee will meet again and give recommendations to the other legislators about what they want to happen to the AHC. We need to contact the members of the Sunset Committee and ask them to abolish or fix the AHC.
The members are:
Senator Vivian Figures Mobile County
Senator Hap Myers Mobile County
Senator Larry Dixon Parts of Elmore and Montgomery Counties
Senator Myron Penn Barbour, Bullock, Macon, Henry and parts of Lee and Russell Counties
Representative Howard Sanderford Madison County
Representative Joseph Mitchell Mobile County
Representative Laura Hall Madison County
Representative Tommy Sherer Walker County
Representative Jim McClendon Part of St. Clair and Shelby Counties
Just before I went to Alaska I found out that my pistol permit had been revoked. I called the sheriff's office to find out why and was told that the DA's office in Selma had asked to have my permit revoked. Some of my friends called the Sheriff and spoke in my behalf and explained what this is all about. The Sheriff immediately gave back my pistol permit and I was thanked for my community service for finding evidence for his department. Since I am charged with a felony even though I am not guilty and have not been tried I cannot buy a firearm. My rights have been denied to me because of the arrest. I am not able to buy a firearm even if I want to. I wish the NRA would get involved in our problems with the AHC. The AHC is using laws to twist the arm of innocent citizens of Alabama.
During the time since I was arrested several good things have happened, such as: Divers, collectors and amateur archaeologists are now known to the Alabama legislature. We have a voice and our Senators and Representatives are listening to us. Much interest has been generated nationwide by the actions of the power hungry, corrupt staff of the AHC. Our website at Southern Skin Divers Supply, http://www.ssdsupply.com/, where we post information about the underwater law is getting huge amounts of interest. Last month over 87,000 people went to our website. Many of these people were there to see what is happening with our dive laws. Even when I went to Alaska many people asked me about the ongoing problems for divers in Alabama. They had been to the website and read many articles that have been published nationwide about my arrest. I want to update everyone about what has happened with my arrest. My boat and dive gear has all been returned to me now. The judge forced the state to return my property except for the musket that I found. I also expect to get that back. My trial continues to be continued even though I have asked for a speedy trial. The DA in Dallas County does not want to try me because they are going to lose and they know it. The previous DA was not reelected and I think that my arrest had something to do with that. I want a trial as soon as possible but I am unable to make that happen.
Our legislators have cut the funds of the AHC and forced the reduction in size of the AHC. I appreciate their actions on this. Now they are considering abolishing the AHC totally. The Governor is appointing directors who actually care about the public. The lawsuit that was filed against the state to get rid of the bad dive law is going in our favor so far. This lawsuit is paid for by monies that divers and collectors donated. The AHC lawyer who is paid by the state Attorney General's office has filed several motions trying to have the case dismissed. The judge in Montgomery has ruled in our favor each time and that case should come to trial later this year. We do need more money to help pay legal fees for this case only.
Please send checks to:
Save Our Lost History
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
I am going to attend a fund raiser for Representative Jim McClendon in a few days. My sons and I will make a contribution and I hope that many of you will send me a check to carry to this fundraiser. I would really like to give a stack of checks to Representative McClendon from the divers and collectors.
Please send a check to:
Southern Skin Divers Supply
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
Make check payable to Jim McClendon Campaign Fund
This coming year is election year and we need to participate with our votes and our money. When Senator Biddle and Representative Ward have any fundraisers I want to help them as much as possible. These people have been our friends and protectors. Lets do what we can for all the elected officials who support us. Maybe someday we will actually be able to dive and collect in our own state again.
Thanks,
Steve Phillips
Southern Skin Divers Supply
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
205-595-3052
http://www.ssdsupply.com/
From Steve Phillips
August 28,2005
On August 24th and 25th the Alabama State legislators that make up the Sunset Committee had meetings to consider actions to abolish or correct problems in the Alabama Historical Commission. My wife and I were present both days to represent the divers, relic hunters and amateur archaeologists. The legislators were given a 92 page report from the State Examiners of Accounts. This report details much of the dereliction of duties, neglect and abuse of power that the directors and employees of the AHC are guilty of. Click here to see the report: http://www.examiners.state.al.us/PDFs/Audit26S-0014.pdf
The AHC has never had to face this review before and our group is responsible for the investigation. I asked my Representative, Jim McClendon of St. Clair County to have the AHC reviewed. He is a member of the Sunset Committee and has been a strong supporter of the interests of the public and a good friend of the groups who want to fix or abolish the AHC. Representative McClendon was able to make this happen and we owe him our thanks and support. The public meeting on this past Thursday was pretty intense at times with the Directors and employees of the AHC trying to put all the blame for their failures on the previous Executive Director Lee Warner.
The acting Executive Director is Elizabeth Brown. Ms. Brown has been employed by the AHC for many years and she is directly responsible for much of the problems that we now have with the underwater law. She was the person in charge of the AHC when the law was passed in 1999. At that time she was the acting Executive Director. Lee Warner was hired after the bad law was passed. I managed to bring this to everyone's attention at the meeting, much to Ms. Brown's discomfort.
They talked long and hard about how many PHD's, MBA's and Masters Degrees that the employees have. The fact that they have failed to work with the public and failed to preserve the properties placed in their care doesn't seem to concern them. They are totally incompetent and crooked regardless of how many degrees and diplomas that they have. The Chairman of the AHC directors is Bill Drinkard who monopolized most of the day trying to prevent others from speaking. Mr. Drinkard is a former State Representative and has been on the AHC board of directors for many years. He is also a convicted felon guilty of diverting state funds for personal use. He has since been pardoned but he is still guilty and should not be on this board.
Some of the new directors are concerned with the problems. These directors are Guy Spencer and Danny Cooper who have been appointed by Governor Riley during the past year. If we had enough directors like them the AHC would not be corrupt. The problem is that many of the other directors have strong ties to the colleges that are getting millions of dollars funneled to them by the AHC. This money is not shown on any audits because the money does not go directly through the AHC. Much of this money that I speak of is fees charged to contractors or other agencies for cultural resource assessments. Any construction or repairs to existing work is referred through the webpage of the AHC to approved Professional Archaeologists and the colleges that they work for. The directors of the AHC are primarily appointed by these same colleges that receive the extortion money that the affected parties must pay. By the way, the AHC is trying to make divers pay this same type of extortion to these same archaeologists and schools. That is how our dog got in this fight. I bet they wish they had not become so greedy and had left the divers and collectors alone.
Since I was arrested in 2003 the AHC has lost almost half of their employees and their boss has been fired. They still need to fire the culprits who are in charge of some of the departments and get rid of the directors who allowed the corruption to occur and financially benefited from business sent to themselves or their family by the AHC. The underwater law that our legislators passed in 1999 to control salvage of shipwrecks only was perverted by the AHC employees to cover all underwater artifacts that are over 50 years old. This is what they are doing now but the Alabama legislators don't agree with them and may shut them down.
I would like to see the duties of the AHC assigned to the Department of Archives and History and the properties that they own transferred to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It appears that the directors of the AHC are not going to hire a new Executive Director. The state has the best man for that job in Jim Bennett but he would not be a party to continuing the current corruption. Several of the legislators spoke up at the meeting with their opinions of the AHC. Representative McClendon said that the Sunset Committee had never had an agency reviewed that was so financially inept. No one at the AHC can balance the books and they haven't been able to for about 10 years. Over a million dollars have been diverted from trust funds and no one knows where the money went.
Senator Figures from Mobile said the AHC was like Enron. Representative Mitchell of Mobile said the AHC had "cooked the books." Representative Mitchell also talked about the fact that no results come from the AHC in the form of preservation of properties in their care. "They are just like a bump on a pickle, they are just there." Over 20 people from historical groups and divers spoke asking for the AHC to be abolished. In September the Sunset Committee will meet again and give recommendations to the other legislators about what they want to happen to the AHC. We need to contact the members of the Sunset Committee and ask them to abolish or fix the AHC.
The members are:
Senator Vivian Figures Mobile County
Senator Hap Myers Mobile County
Senator Larry Dixon Parts of Elmore and Montgomery Counties
Senator Myron Penn Barbour, Bullock, Macon, Henry and parts of Lee and Russell Counties
Representative Howard Sanderford Madison County
Representative Joseph Mitchell Mobile County
Representative Laura Hall Madison County
Representative Tommy Sherer Walker County
Representative Jim McClendon Part of St. Clair and Shelby Counties
Just before I went to Alaska I found out that my pistol permit had been revoked. I called the sheriff's office to find out why and was told that the DA's office in Selma had asked to have my permit revoked. Some of my friends called the Sheriff and spoke in my behalf and explained what this is all about. The Sheriff immediately gave back my pistol permit and I was thanked for my community service for finding evidence for his department. Since I am charged with a felony even though I am not guilty and have not been tried I cannot buy a firearm. My rights have been denied to me because of the arrest. I am not able to buy a firearm even if I want to. I wish the NRA would get involved in our problems with the AHC. The AHC is using laws to twist the arm of innocent citizens of Alabama.
During the time since I was arrested several good things have happened, such as: Divers, collectors and amateur archaeologists are now known to the Alabama legislature. We have a voice and our Senators and Representatives are listening to us. Much interest has been generated nationwide by the actions of the power hungry, corrupt staff of the AHC. Our website at Southern Skin Divers Supply, http://www.ssdsupply.com/, where we post information about the underwater law is getting huge amounts of interest. Last month over 87,000 people went to our website. Many of these people were there to see what is happening with our dive laws. Even when I went to Alaska many people asked me about the ongoing problems for divers in Alabama. They had been to the website and read many articles that have been published nationwide about my arrest. I want to update everyone about what has happened with my arrest. My boat and dive gear has all been returned to me now. The judge forced the state to return my property except for the musket that I found. I also expect to get that back. My trial continues to be continued even though I have asked for a speedy trial. The DA in Dallas County does not want to try me because they are going to lose and they know it. The previous DA was not reelected and I think that my arrest had something to do with that. I want a trial as soon as possible but I am unable to make that happen.
Our legislators have cut the funds of the AHC and forced the reduction in size of the AHC. I appreciate their actions on this. Now they are considering abolishing the AHC totally. The Governor is appointing directors who actually care about the public. The lawsuit that was filed against the state to get rid of the bad dive law is going in our favor so far. This lawsuit is paid for by monies that divers and collectors donated. The AHC lawyer who is paid by the state Attorney General's office has filed several motions trying to have the case dismissed. The judge in Montgomery has ruled in our favor each time and that case should come to trial later this year. We do need more money to help pay legal fees for this case only.
Please send checks to:
Save Our Lost History
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
I am going to attend a fund raiser for Representative Jim McClendon in a few days. My sons and I will make a contribution and I hope that many of you will send me a check to carry to this fundraiser. I would really like to give a stack of checks to Representative McClendon from the divers and collectors.
Please send a check to:
Southern Skin Divers Supply
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
Make check payable to Jim McClendon Campaign Fund
This coming year is election year and we need to participate with our votes and our money. When Senator Biddle and Representative Ward have any fundraisers I want to help them as much as possible. These people have been our friends and protectors. Lets do what we can for all the elected officials who support us. Maybe someday we will actually be able to dive and collect in our own state again.
Thanks,
Steve Phillips
Southern Skin Divers Supply
4515 5th Ave. South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
205-595-3052
http://www.ssdsupply.com/
