Editor, I’m writing this letter to call attention to concerns that I feel need to be publicly addressed regarding the election of Marcus Scott to the Liberty County Board of Education District 5 seat. I, personally, am in a quandary as to what the voters in District 5 were thinking when they put this man in a position of authority over their children. Certain issues concerning Scott demand further scrutiny.
The Coastal Courier ran a story about Scott on June 21, 2008, prior to his unsuccessful run for a BoE seat. From that article, I will provide quotes and reference.
Per the Coastal Courier’s story: “... Scott was fired from his eighth-grade teaching position for previous sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl.”
Since the age of consent in Georgia is 16, why didn’t Scott face charges? What law-enforcement agencies investigated this, and what were their findings? Why was Scott not classified as a sex offender? How was he able to remain in the classroom in another county? Why did the people of the 5th District put this man in a position of authority by electing him as their representative on the BoE? Where is their outrage and, more importantly, where lies their collective conscience?
Quoting Scott from the Courier article: “That’s something, of course, that I knew would come up. Everybody does stuff that they’re not proud of.”
Yes, Mr. Scott, not one of us is sinless, and many of us have done things we were not proud of, including myself. The difference, though, is that the vast majority of us do not engage in questionable acts with children. Your glossing over of your actions with the excuse of “everybody does stuff that they’re not proud of” is pathetic and patronizing in its absurdity.
 Regardless of Scott’s many academic accomplishments, those accomplishments in no way excuse him nor lend credibility to him having a seat on the BoE.
If the voters of the 5th District are comfortable with Scott, then he is their man.
Finally, is the word “recall” in the vocabulary of the voters of the BoE’s 5th District?

— Jimmy Darsey
Hinesville