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DoT board fires commissioner
Governor criticized action
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Georgia Department of Transportation, http://www.dot.state.ga.us/Pages/default.aspx
ATLANTA - The Georgia Transportation Board voted 9-3 Thursday to fire Commissioner Gena Evans, citing a need for a change at the department troubled by criticism of its leadership and prompting a rebuke from Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The board named department chief engineer Gerald Ross interim commissioner and said it will soon begin a national search for a replacement.

Evans, who did not attend the board meeting, did not immediately respond to a voicemail The Associated Press left with her husband Thursday evening.

Members of a transportation board committee declined in November to take action against Evans who had been accused of sending racy e-mails on state computers while working for other agencies.

But Thursday, board members cited a loss of confidence as triggering their decision to oust Evans after two years on the job.

"We just thought it was time to move the board forward," said board member Johnny Floyd.

The decision was swiftly criticized by Perdue, who hand-picked Evans for the $175,000 a year position.

"Today the State Transportation Board proved that a majority of its members are more concerned with personal vendettas and politics than delivering value to citizens in transportation," the governor said in a press release.

But board chairman Bill Kuhlke insisted the board's vote was not based on personal disputes, but a measured review of Evans' abilities. The announcement followed a lengthy, closed-door meeting he said was dominated by discussion of how the department would go forward.

The shake up comes as the first portions of an anticipated $6 billion in federal stimulus money arrives in Georgia. Some of the money is expected to favor "shovel-ready" projects, potentially including efforts to relieve notorious traffic along Atlanta roadways.

Board members were confident Thursday the shift would not delay efforts to dole out money at the department, which has been criticized for moving slowly on projects.

"Gerald Ross obviously is the one who was going to be heading that up," said board member Steve Farrow, who voted in favor of removing Evans. "I don't think we'll miss a beat."

Critics accused Evans last fall of using state computers to send sexual e-mails while working for two other state agencies.

In September, Evans married former board chairman Mike Evans. He had resigned from the board in April to pursue what he described then as a budding romance with her. Farrow filled his seat.

Board leaders later reprimanded Gena Evans for failing to report her romantic relationship with Mike Evans sooner. DOT policy bans intimate relationships in the direct chain of command.

The board oversees the commissioner.

Evans has countered that she wrote the e-mails when she was a single adult woman and that people should consider the source of the complaint.

Last fall, Kuhlke said a committee had a "thorough discussion" of allegations and chose instead to focus on Evans' performance.

But Thursday, Farrow said board members acted after considering ongoing criticism of Evans' abilities.

"We needed to send a message that we as a board are making a change in direction," he said.

Ross is the first black man to hold the department's top position.


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Book review: Author digs into mining's complicated past and present in 'River of Lost Souls'
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Jonathan Thompson will speak about his book "River of Lost Souls" at the King's English Bookshop on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. - photo by Amanda Olson
"RIVER OF LOST SOULS: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Spill," by Jonathan Thompson, Torrey House Press, 275 pages (nf)

Plenty has been written about the very small world of a mining town and the very broad reach of a beleaguered industry. From Loretta Lynns iconic song "Coal Miners Daughter," to the 2010 nail-biting coverage of 33 trapped Chilean miners, to the hit Broadway musicals "Paint Your Wagon" and "Billy Elliot," mining is a global story, and its one of heartbreak, hard work and hard times.

Jonathan Thompsons "River of Lost Souls" examines the many facets of risk involved in taking resources from below the earths surface. An environmental journalist, Thompson has reported on southwest Colorado for over 20 years. This book is special, however, because the Four Corners area of Colorado is his current and ancestral home. Thompson is writing about minings ecological, social, financial and political impact on his land, his landscape, his water, his people. That makes "River of Lost Souls" more than a regular reporting job.

Thompson begins with the Gold King Mine wastewater disaster of 2015, which the EPA caused while attempting to drain water near the mines entrance. The spill sent 3 million gallons of waste and tailings into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River and part of the San Juan River watershed which drains into the Colorado, affecting the Utah, Colorado and New Mexico parts of that watershed as well as the Navajo Nation.

From there, Thompson jumps into far stretches of time to 1765, when a Spanish explorer named the Animas River; to 10,000 years earlier, when Paleo-Indians roamed the rivers valley; to the meridian of time, when the ancestors of the Zuni, Hopi and Rio Grande Pueblo people inhabited the land for 500 years; to the mid-1800s and the Swedes who came to Silverton, Colorado, to mine.

Its a grand scope, but telling any story of landscape is telling a very grand story.

It also makes a complex story difficult to follow. Thompsons time warps are important, but they are jarring. His time jumps need clear dates, and Thompson doesnt always make them available. A map would also be useful. Thompsons writing is good, but his sentences can be dense and require readers to do their own mining for the riches the writing embeds. The work is worthwhile, however, as there are many moving parts in any story about mines land, culture, policy, history, money, inevitable disaster and Thompson works to examine all of them.

"River of Lost Souls" is a thoughtful read, but not a quick one. Because Thompsons writings come from 20 years of his newspaper reports, the overall feeling can be disjointed and sparse, which is distracting if one is expecting to follow a tenable thread. This is not a typical narrative with a cast of characters and a traditional story arc. Readers should approach this text as the investigation it is: puzzle pieces of a larger-than-life story that is eons old. If you are the kind of reader who wants it laid out cleanly, this is not that book. But, to Thompsons point, nothing is clean about mining that has never been the case.

Thompsons best writing is in his descriptions of people and places. His telling of how he came to Silverton is familiar and engaging. If readers approach the book with care and attention, they will be rewarded with savoring these descriptive passages when they happen.
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