44, 166 Minutes on the Cell Phone

When I read the recent Flint Journal article (in green type below) concerning Flint's Board of Education President Robb Martin's cell phone usage my “taxpayer's blood” began to boil. Especially when her predecessors were able to get the job done without the aid of a cell phone.

I wonder what has changed under Martin's reign that created this need for an “electronic umbilical cord”. Particularly for a part-time job.

Just to put Martin's cell phone usage into some perspective I took the numbers and did a little math.

She used, over a six month period, 44166 minutes. Each day has 1440 minutes (24 hours x 60 minutes). With me so far? Good.

Now we'll figure how many days it takes to equal 44, 166 minutes. To do that we simply divide the 44, 166 minutes by the number of minutes in a day (44166/1440). The result is 30.67 days or 30 days, 16 hours. Can you imagine, even over a six month period, having a phone to your ear for nearly 31 days? I can't. But wait...there's more.

We'll do a little more math based upon one assumption. Not really an assumption. Just an observation that the typical work day, for most with a full time job, is eight hours. I'm now trying to figure out just how many work days, not complete 24 hour “one earth revolution” days, Ms. Martin used the cell phone.

There are a couple different ways to figure this but let's just use this formula: 30.67 days X 24 hours in a day = 736.10 hours. Now, to get the number of typical working days we divide the 736.10 hours by 8 (the number of hours in a typical work day) and get 92.01 typical work days. That means that Ms Martin was on the cell phone, during the course of six months, for over 92 days! Incredible! I know Realtors and stockbrokers that don't use the phone that much! But wait...there's still more!

I just realized that the computations above are based on a typical "full-time" work day. Ms. Martin's job as School Board President is a part-time job. What do you think most part-time jobs average per hour per day? Would half of a regular “full-time” job be fair? I think so. Four hours per day for part-time work seems reasonable.

However, rather than 92 working days of cell phone use, that would mean that Ms. Martin used it for the equivalent of 184 days! That is computed by using the same 736.10 hours (see above) and dividing by 4 hours rather than 8 hours. Wow! 184 days of cell phone use!

I wonder how many days are in six months. Well, as six months is one half of a year and a year consists of 365 days (no leap year to further complicate things) we would simply divide 365 by 2 and get 182.5 days. We'll just use standard rounding and say that it is 183 days. OK? Good.

But something must be wrong here. We have only 183 days during a six month period but Ms. Martin used her cell phone for the equivalent of 184 days! Where are Archimedes, Babbage and Pascal when you need them? I guess, even if they were here, they would concur that the math is solid and that, in fact, there are 182.5 days in an approximate six month period.

Oh oh...I forgot something...Holidays! On second thought, by taking out holidays, that would only make things worse. Besides, we can't take out days for holidays because, according to the news article, phone records indicate that Ms. Martin used the cell phone on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

What a dedicated soul Ms. Martin is! Working for all our kids with that cell phone to her ear while struggling to carve the Thanksgiving Day turkey. And continuing to work for all of our kids by talking business on that same cell phone while slicing the Christmas Ham!

And speaking of “slicing” someone please get that cell phone away from Ms. Martin before it becomes part of her ear and us taxpayers have to pay to have the phone surgically removed!

Cellphone tab tops $3,000

Flint schools get bill of Board of Ed chief

FLINT

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

By Melissa Burden

mburden@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6316

FLINT - Board of Education President Stephanie Robb Martin's district-issued cellphone has cost the cash-strapped Flint School District $3,055 this school year, an analysis of school cellphone records shows.

Robb Martin's cellphone bill was the highest in five of six billing periods reviewed among the dozens of cellphones and walkie-talkies issued by the district.

In one 31-day period, Robb Martin used the phone an average of 5.5 hours a day. She also used it on holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, although it's unclear whether those calls were personal or business.

Robb Martin said she has used the cellphone for both personal and business-related reasons.

"My life is extremely busy," she said last week. "I work my Board of Education president role like a full-time job. It's not something I do for one or two hours a day.

"Today alone, I've talked to the district office seven times. I have talked to other board members four times."

Robb Martin's phone tab is more than double outgoing School Superintendent Walter Milton Jr.'s $1,260 cellphone bill during the same period and dwarfs other administrators' phone costs, records show.

Many other school employees' cellphone or walkie-talkie bills range from only about $23 to $200 per billing period.

In only one monthly billing period did a school district employee have a higher bill than Robb Martin - master plumber Vickie Taylor.

The Journal obtained the cellphone bills, records and call details through the Freedom of Information Act.

Robb Martin, a children's therapist who was appointed to the board in 2005, is seeking to retain her seat in the May 8 election.

She said she started using the cellphone when calls to her began "going through the roof" about the time when former school administrator Julius B. Anthony resigned over a sexual misconduct conviction, which subsequently has been set aside by a Georgia court.

Robb Martin said she and other board members had access to the phone, but she was encouraged by administrators to take it in order to be reachable. She said she let other board members know that she was using it.

It's unclear who authorized her to use the cellphone, but Robb Martin said she had conversations about it with Milton and Carl Johnson, the district's interim chief financial officer.

She said she initially asked Johnson or Milton how she should handle calls that didn't pertain to board-related business and was told, "We just need to be able to reach you."

"The intent and the expectation was for accessibility of the leadership to the community," Milton said in a statement to The Journal.

He and Johnson could not be reached for further comment.

Sheila Henderson, the district's assistant chief financial officer, said top administrators and some program directors have cellphones.

Department leaders can submit a request to the business office for their staffers to have a cellphone, she said. Phone costs then come out of the departments' budgets, Henderson added.

It's unclear if those procedures were followed in Robb Martin's case.

In the six billing periods reviewed, Robb Martin logged more than 44,000 minutes and had more than $360 in directory assistance charges.

Robb Martin said she will be more mindful of her cellphone use now that she has been informed of the bill and her minute usage.

"I'll definitely have to be more aware," she said.

Some board members say they didn't know she was using a district-paid cellphone, and at least one said the matter should have first gone before the board for a vote.

"I believe this board needs to know everything that comes up that's dealing with taxpayers' dollars," said board Treasurer Vera J. Perry, who said she didn't know about the cellphone. "We're not spending our own money - we're spending taxpayers' dollars."

Board member Erica Leverette said she recalls being asked if it was all right if the board president used the phone.

"I'm OK with whoever serves as the president having a cellphone," she said. "The level of communication, especially in this district ... the need is very high."

But the two most recent former board presidents said they did not have district-paid cellphones, questioned the expense and criticized the failure to get board approval.

Former President Marvin "Skip" Harbin, who resigned from the board last July, questioned the cost to taxpayers.

"I didn't feel there was a need for me to have one," he said, adding he was reachable at work, at home and on his personal cellphone.

Chris Martin, who preceded Harbin in the post, said it wouldn't have been appropriate for him to have a district-paid cellphone when he was president.

"Not in the climate we're in. The district is in trouble," said Martin, a school employee who also has a district-issued cellphone.

"When layoffs are looming, the board has to be the first to set an example of tightening the belt."

The Board of Education's bylaws allow for "reasonable, necessary and actual expenses" for board members' telephone calls, but the board must vote and approve reimbursements before payment is made.

Robb Martin, who said she is paid an average of about $90 a month for her board service, said she feels the district is getting its money's worth.

"I think anyone who knows me knows I'm working hard on behalf of kids, and they know my heart and they know my heart is for the community and for a positive difference," she said.

She said she had never seen her cellphone bills.

"If anyone had contacted me to say, 'Hey, there's an issue,' then I would have adjusted accordingly," she said. "This is the first discussion that I've had with anyone about the detail."

Robb Martin said she has had the number printed on her personal business card for months.

"I give my business cards to everybody," she said. "If you talk to people in the community, it's how everybody knows how to reach me."

Robb Martin said she could turn the phone back in, but she then might not be reachable.

"I'm not going to carry around two and three and four phones," she said. "I can be accessible to the community, and it's my goal to be accessible."

QUICK TAKE Cellphone use

Costs incurred by Flint Board of Education President Stephanie Robb Martin on cellphones issued by the school district:

Billing period	Minutes used	Directory assist	Total charges cost
Sept. 20-Oct. 19, 2006	3,148	$15.40	$369.85
Oct. 20-Nov. 19, 2006	4,649	$23.80	$376.61
Nov. 20-Dec. 19, 2006	8,744	$32.20	$605.09
Dec. 20, 2006-Jan. 19, 2007	8,757	$88.20	$371.28
Jan. 20-Feb. 19, 2007	10,306	$103.18	$646.97
Feb. 20-March 19, 2007	8,562	$102.03	$685.10
Total:	44,166	$364.81	$3,055

Source: Cellphone bills obtained through the Freedom of Information Act

Your Home is Your Castle? Better Keep Your Drawbridge Up!

Below (in green type) is a recent article from the front page (above the fold) of the Flint Journal. The type of crime discussed in the article, home invasion, seems to be rampant in the Flint and Genesee County area.

The following quote from the article appears to substantiate the severity of the situation: “Flint police Sgt. Mitch Brown estimates that thousands of home invasions have come across his desk in the past three years”.

We know that there are some areas of Flint that you would not go to because doing so would be placing yourself in danger from the criminal element. And those regions continue to grow in both size and number.

Recently there were a number of fights at the Genesee Valley Mall. This was once considered to be a “safe haven” for residents where they could shop in an enclosed secure area without the worry of being victimized by criminal activity.

After the rash of fights at the mall many shoppers now feel that it is no longer a safe place to shop. No one that I know wants to shop while continually having to look over their shoulder to be sure that they are not caught up in a brawl.

I suspect that many (if not most) residents think that their homes are the last remaining secure sanctuary and barrier from the criminal element. Well, according to the news article below, we are no longer safe in our own homes!

Imagine…You’re sitting there watching American Idol, just minding your own business, enjoying the show, when two or three guys suddenly kick in your front door! What do you do?

The article tells you to do the following:

“State law allows citizens to defend themselves in their home with deadly force if they believe they are in danger of being killed, raped or badly hurt.

But Leyton said killing an intruder should be a last resort.

The better option is to escape the house and call police, Leyton said.

"If you can get out, get out. You can always replace something that is stolen," he said.”

In other words, RUN!

I don’t know about you but I believe that “running” is a root cause of crime in Flint. City government leaders have been “running” from their responsibility of effectively fighting crime for a long time now. When we have criminals invading our homes by the thousands (remember the quote from Sgt. Mitch Brown) it is time to stop running!

It is time to stand up and fight back. But to be effective we can’t fight back individually. We must band together and “en masse” go to every possible City Council meeting and any other meeting of city governmental leaders and insist…no, DEMAND that there be no more running from the criminal element of the area.

When we have thousands of home invasions this, at least to me and, I’m sure, many others, is a very drastic situation. And “drastic situations call for drastic measures”. But what “drastic measures” have our local government leaders taken? I can think of none! Not a single one!

Unfortunately, crime, particularly in the city, seems to be a “business as usual” circumstance to our city leaders with no “drastic measures” contemplated.

Well, how is this for a “drastic measure”? Flint, being the third most dangerous city in the United States, warrants that the city government asks the State of Michigan to provide several units of the National Guard to fight and defeat the criminal element.

Enough is enough and it is now time for the criminals to do the “running”!

Burglars Stealing Sense of Security

GENESEE COUNTY

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION

Thursday, April 26, 2007

By Bryn Mickle

bmickle@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6383

GENESEE COUNTY - Home is supposed to be a safe haven.

But you can't take for granted that burglars will wait until nobody's home to break in.

The Genesee County prosecutor's office has authorized 116 warrants this year charging people in home invasions.

Last month, a Flint Township man, 76, was shot to death when a group of men came to his door with plans to rob him.

Sharon Burnett, 58, of Flint has heard terrifying tales at crime watch meetings from senior citizens who have been home when someone broke in.

One senior citizen's door was kicked in while she sat inside, Burnett said.

The burglar left and the woman wasn't hurt, but such incidents are a far cry from the days when residents didn't even lock their doors at night, Burnett said.

"We had no fear," said Burnett, who now protects her Ballenger Highway neighborhood home with an alarm system and a pit bull.

Prosecutor David Leyton blames a changing mindset of crooks.

"We have a criminal element that is more aggressive than in the past," said Leyton, adding that his office has issued 240 home invasion warrants since October.

On Monday, a Flint man told police that four men burst into his apartment about 1:30 a.m. and ransacked his home after tying him up and covering his eyes with duct tape.

When he finally freed himself, he told police his computer and DVD player were gone, along three wristwatches and $200.

Flint police Sgt. Mitch Brown estimates that thousands of home invasions have come across his desk in the past three years.

In some cases, the burglars are just hungry.

"I've had some suspects tell me they were starving and literally looking for something to eat," Brown said.

Sometimes, the invaders aren't after anything at all.

Last week, a Flint woman told police a man kicked in her door, yelled at her and left.

Flint police recently busted one man suspected of breaking into homes day and night to support his drug habit.

In at least two of the break-ins, Brown said, the man was still inside when the homeowners walked in the door.

No one was hurt, but police say that isn't always the case.

A home invader who assumes no one is home may resort to violence instead of running away, said Clayton Township Police Chief Chuck Melki.

"Those are the ones that turn ugly," Melki said.

State law allows citizens to defend themselves in their home with deadly force if they believe they are in danger of being killed, raped or badly hurt.

But Leyton said killing an intruder should be a last resort.

The better option is to escape the house and call police, Leyton said.

"If you can get out, get out. You can always replace something that is stolen," he said.

The key to guarding against a home invasion lies with personal security, said Burton Police Chief Bruce Whitman.

An alarm system and outdoor lights are good ideas, but people should make sure the doors are locked and some lights are on even when they're home in bed, Whitman said.

"(Thieves) drive through a neighborhood and go for it if it looks like no one is home," Whitman said. "They are big opportunists."

Just Click the "Undo" Button

When you're working in Microsoft Word and, for example, you make a change to the document that you are composing and the change turns out to be a mistake you can simply click on the "Undo" button. The mistake is instantly corrected.

While you're editing those digital pictures in Photoshop and you realize that your last edit to a particular photo was a mistake what do you do? Well, just click on the "Undo" button and you're instantly back to where you were before the mistake.

That "Undo" button is indispensable in today's computer oriented world. Wouldn't it be great if we each had an "Undo" button that we could use in real life? Just as soon as we realized that we had made a mistake we could simply click our "Undo" button and get a chance to "right our wrong".

A friend and I were talking over coffee the other day. We were discussing Dr. Walter Milton's recent move to head up the public school system at Springfield, IL. During our discussion we said that both Dr. Milton and the Flint School Board now both have a chance to do things right. My friend commented that "it is as if they can click the 'Undo' button". What a great analogy!

Now, Dr. Milton can (if he hasn't already) go back to his resume, click on his "Undo" button and make the resume accurate! The Flint School Board can also click on their "Undo" button and go back and learn how to review and investigate the grand and glorious accomplishments an applicant may post to a resume.

The current situation is the same as having a virtual "Undo" button for both Dr. Milton and the Flint School Board. Let us hope that they each use the button wisely. Unlike Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop this "real life 'Undo' button" might be good for only one click.

Below, for those interested, is a news article from the Springfield, IL area regarding Dr. Milton


Reported by: Abbie Alford/ My CFN News at 9
04/02/2007 09:59pm

Two finalists are in the running to take over as the head of Springfield Public Schools.
The board is looking at Baltimore City Public Schools Administrator Deborah Wortham and Flint, Michigan School Superintendent Walter Milton Jr. But Milton has a past ... The board hopes people can forgive.

Doctor Walter Milton has been known for shaking things up in Flint, Michigan schools ... Some say for the better other's say for the worse. He just says some people are out to get him.

He's been there for less than two years ... And to get out of a 5 million dollar deficit he's made layoffs .. closed schools and created gender based schools and gifted one's as well. But recently ... He made headlines when he recommended consultant and friend Julius Anthony .. who turned out to be an *accused sexual predator.

I talked to Milton on the phone Monday and he said he didn't know at the time and was shocked when he found out. The board then fired Anthony on the spot ... but charges were later dropped.

And one District 186 board member says ... During the interview Milton shared this information and she believes he's still a viable candidate to look over your child's education. "This was an honest error that he made and he faced his problems as soon as he found out about it and took the appropriate actions and it seemed like when you make mistakes you face your mistakes you and you address your mistakes that is appropriate response." Said Board President, Cheryl Wise.

The other candidate, Wortham has traveled the world as a renown speaker on education and culture.
She's also taught at John Hopkins University. She could not be reached for comment.

You'll have a chance to meet the finalists and ask questions this week. An open forum with Doctor Wortham is on Wednesday from 5 to 6 and Doctor Milton on Thursday at the same time in the board room.

The board hopes to name a superintendent Wednesday April 11th. ... Which he or she could be getting paid 220 thousand dollars ... That's about 40 grand more than the current superintendent.
Both candidates are African Americans.

Doctor Diane Rutledge retires at the end of the year.