Letter from Supporter
7/13/2010


I recently retired from Cobb County government service as a Police Major after having served over 31 years with the Cobb County Police Department. I write in response to the June 25th article in the MDJ concerning the article written for the Political Vine website by Mr. Bill Simon a District 3 Cobb County resident. Though I am no longer a Cobb County resident I am still a friend to Mrs. Birrell and her husband David. I met JoAnn in 1999 when she was originally appointed by then Commissioner Woody Thompson to represent District 3 residents on the newly created "Cobb County Neighborhood Safety Commission". This Commission was created and charged to work alongside Cobb Public Safety officials to give Cobb County residents a stronger voice and greater awareness of public safety issues in Cobb County.

As a founding member of this Commission, Mrs. Birrell was tireless in her efforts to enhance the safety for residents of Cobb County and the abilities of Public Safety to provide the services needed. Much of the work of this Commission focused upon community input and public education activities such as Homeland Security and Neighborhood Security awareness training throughout all of Cobb County, Gang Education Awareness and Prevention, educating the public on the Police Email Notification System (PENS) in Precinct 4 and the creation of a program to address false alarms and its cost to taxpayers as well as the time away from priority patrol by public safety employees having to respond to these unnecessary false alarms. During Mrs.Birrells 10 years of unpaid service on the NSC Board she served four terms as the chairperson of the Commission and was instrumental in keeping public safety a top priority with the Board of Commissioners, (Public Safety is not a really big Waste Management issue as I see it)
My greatest impression of JoAnn during all these years is that she is sincere and truly cares about Cobb County, and is not just trying to pad her resume or make herself important. I found that JoAnn would readily admit when she is not knowledgeable about a subject, but she is always ready to listen to those that are and she has a strong trait of common sense and sincerely wants to do what is right.

In conclusion, I have firsthand experience working with JoAnn in a volunteer service capacity for the citizens of Cobb County and I am thoroughly convinced she can be trusted to do what is right and what will benefit the residents of Cobb County the best.


Anthony R..Coker
Emerson, GA
770-334-8140