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County official suspended

Posted by
Walter Geiger
in News
Thursday, August 19. 2010
Comments (27)
Gretchen Ellerby, the Lamar County's commission's office manager, payroll clerk and human resources director, has been suspended.

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#1 Anonymous on 08/19/10 at 11:02 PM
Good! Get some more! This is how you save the county money Mr. Matthews. Now look into everyone else under you and start cutting the rest of the trash thats soaking up county funds. Theres dirt in this story, and much more dirt that needs to be stirred up.
#2 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 01:06 AM
If she did something illegal will there be criminal charges or will she be allowed to just not return to work?
#3 Seriously? on 08/20/10 at 06:38 AM
This is Lamar County - it will get swept under the rug because I am sure she has dirt on someone else - that seems to be how we roll in the 'Ville.
#4 house cleaning on 08/20/10 at 07:12 AM
As a taxpayer I hope they do an audit and check all the county departments out. I think house keeping is in order and after that "cleaning house" and prosecuting anyone guilty of stealing. Checking all contracts with the county, from the water authority to splost and following the money trail, to see where the money has been spent who signed off on it.
#5 house cleaning on 08/20/10 at 08:24 AM
I agree. It will depend on what she knows and how high up that person is in authority. Isn't her boss Wayne Patterson? What I would like to know is if she is guilty, does it have anything to do with taxpayer's money and how long has it been going on? Why wasn't it caught by the county auditor? Who did she report to? Wasn't Mrs. Ellerby being groomed to take Wayne Pattersons postion in the future?
#6 abbycadabby on 08/20/10 at 09:20 AM
That will make a small dent in the budget except for all the litagation we are constantly in. Maybe this will inspire other employees to sit up and take notice. I am rarely in the courthouse or annex locations but there seems to be a lot of folks just hanging out..Just a comment on the recent fire, ems assessment..'you can put lipstick on a pig and take her to a dance but it's still a pig" taxes/assessment it's still $$$$$, have a good day
#7 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 09:32 AM
She gave herself a raise. Now you know....
#8 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 09:48 AM
I am not defending Grethen for what she did because it is stealing, but why is the heat only on her. She is a subordinate of Patterson, and he signed the checks for the last 2 years. He should be held accountable as well and prosecuted for dereliction of duty. But I know in Barnesville they will blame it all on the black clerk. Gretchen get you a good attorney because Patterson signed those checks and he should be charged too.
#9 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 10:10 AM
If he knew, he should be out the door.
#10 Prosecute crime on 08/20/10 at 10:53 AM
It stated in the article an investigation is being done. I am sure they will find out everything before this is over with. Remember, she was the office manager and payroll clerk. Lavitres and her both did the payroll checks. She was entrusted to do right, in her postion. It is a pretty sad day, when you hire someone and then have to keep tabs on them, to make sure they are being trustworthy. I don't think it has anything to do with her being black. If she has stolen from the taxpayers, she should be criminally prosecuted. There have been quite a few people let go in the county. Why didn't you speak up then, or was it because they were white? If people aren't doing their jobs, get rid of them and replace them with someone hard working and honest. A honest day's pay for a honest day's work. Apparently Wayne Patterson trusted her to do her job. As for as signing checks, alot of businesses use stamped or computer signed signatures and then they are approved before being sent out. Maybe this is the case with the county payroll.
#11 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 10:59 AM
But someone had to approve them.
#12 Anon 101 on 08/20/10 at 11:01 AM
Wayne does not sign those checks, two seperate commissioners have to sign each check. Black or whatever color, SHE IS IN THE WRONG!
#13 Somebody Somewhere on 08/20/10 at 11:08 AM
When an auditor audits the county, the payroll is audited by department and the procedure is done by analysis, as in it is compared to budget and prior year payroll reports. If the amount is comparitively the same, then no extensive work is needed. The amount involved is very diminutive.
#14 Prosecute crime on 08/20/10 at 11:40 AM
Her job postion included supervision over 3 employees and daily operations of account payables, account receivables, payroll, insurance, minimal road construction, customer service, budgets, audits and surveys. If she had her hand in the cookie jar , it wouldn't had been to difficult, looking at her job description. Apparently she had access to the bank statements and accounts. Maybe the county needs an outside auditor to come in twice a year to check the books, to keep the people with access to the accounts honest.
#15 Prosecute crime on 08/20/10 at 11:54 AM
Wayne Patterson's signature is on payroll checks.
#16 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 01:03 PM
If she took money, prosecute her....I don't care what color she is!!!!!!!!!!!!
#17 Anonymous on 08/20/10 at 02:10 PM
Well there is some of the Budget money. Dig a little deeper and you will probably find alot more. Hard to believe Lamar Co is so far in debt that they have to make up a tax to help fix it. DIG DEEPER
#18 Just Wondering on 08/20/10 at 02:18 PM
Is this Gretchen Fletcher/Henderson ???
#19 none on 08/20/10 at 08:01 PM
no jay mathews and wayne patterson approves everything if you are on there side and against the hard working people of our county mathews has no clue how to run anything except how to run banks into the ground and anything he touches unless daddy bales him out people in this county are ingornant and have no clue whats going on in this county as well as the sheriff's office now. WAKE UP IDOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
proscute her ha wrong sheriff you chose the wrong one last election if we had the other sheriff he would do his job and atleast investigate it Ho i forgot he's already under investigation himself cant mess with anyone till you get out of your own shi.....waller?
#20 Anon on 08/21/10 at 08:33 AM
Wow, you made yourself look like an idiot! I-D-I-O-T that's how you spell it... along with bale... its B-A-I-L... and I-G-N-O-R-A-N-T. As for the rest of your idiotic rant, it will cost more than the raise she got to prosecute her, go ahead and spend MORE county money to prosecute her and then she'll never pay it back because where will she get a job now? If the County prosecutes her, she should have community service at minimum wage until she pays it all back. That should take a while and benefit the County, instead of having a debt owed and never seeing any of that money.
#21 Anonymous on 08/21/10 at 10:42 AM
All I got to say is what goes around comes around!!!! Serve her right!
#22 house cleaning on 08/21/10 at 02:24 PM
Why should she get special treatment and not face prosecution if she is guilty? If everyone that got convicted of a crime of helping themselves to money that wasn't theirs and got off with no prosecution, what kind of message would that be sending? Within, the past year, city and county clerks have been prosecuted throughout georgia for stealing money from traffic tickets, bank accounts, etc., the list goes on and on. If she has not been in trouble before, she will most likely have to pay restitution and serve probation. It is not our fault she lost her job, if she is found guilty. It is her fault and she needs to face the consequences of her actions like anyone else in that position. It is not up to the people she stole from to give sympathy about her finding a job. She will find a job, but I doubt it will be like the one she had for 11 years.
#23 Anonymous on 08/22/10 at 07:21 PM
People you have always had their hands out do not understand the concept of what right and wrong. This lady probably thinks she did nothing wrong. Probably thinks that money was owed to her.....just like her friends on here trying to make excuses and blame everyone else. Typical behavior of a society leech.
#24 just remember on 08/23/10 at 11:47 AM
as best I can remember, Patty, the former office manager, is white. She was prosecuted and arrested 3 times by Buice;she lost her job as did her husband, a white sheriff's deputy.
So, please don't bring race into this.
I like Gretchen a lot and am more than surprised to see her name come up in this manner. Just wait to see what the investigation uncovers.
#25 Anonymous on 08/24/10 at 11:31 AM
she could be like clark and get change of venue
#26 Sheila Tolley on 08/24/10 at 12:19 PM
Probably insufficient evidence to try her anyway. Right Mr. Milam?
#27 Zay on 08/25/10 at 07:13 PM
God bless all of Lamar County and our nation; we definitely need help. This is especially true when financial distress leads to things like this. It's sad to hear about Ms. Gretchen, yet I have heard first hand of some not so pleasant things she did to some previous county employees who were dismissed from their jobs. My grandparents taught me that what goes around comes around (a circle), so you have to be careful how you treat others. These days, that "circle" has a radius that is growing smaller; thus payback comes real soon.
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