A check of internal personnel records at the Fayette County Detention Center shows that jail employee Rashel Coatney, who was roughed up by a jail administrator and told that she was fired two weeks ago, has essentially been placed on unpaid leave.
This is outrageous because the single mom (and her son who has cancer) can't get any public assistance because she is, technically, not unemployed. So jail administration is jamming this young lady into a box she can't get out of as some kind of sick vendetta against her.
This sorry episode lays bare a sick leave policy at the jail that is being used as a weapon against employees who don't play the kind of games Director Ron Bishop has been playing for years. Fayette county taxpayers will ultimately pay many millions of dollars to clean up the messes Bishop has created in sexual harassment lawsuits, racial discrimination, a class action lawsuit for improper compensation practices, and a federal investigation into inmate abuse and misuse of public property. Mayor Jim Newberry has slept through the whole thing.
As a Jessamine County resident, I can watch and wait with a somewhat detached indifference for the massive lawsuits to keep coming down. They won't cost me a dime.
But I refuse to sit by idly while these "leaders" toy sadistically with innocent children. If you live in Lexington, please call Mayor Jim Newberry at 576-2564 and tell him to stand up for an innocent, hard-working citizen for once instead of for his political cronies at the jail. If he wants to save money, he can get rid of the administrators' taxpayer-provided cars.
