Word - Business as usual?

On March 12, Fulton County officials held a press conference on the capture of accused courthouse killer Brian Nichols. It was the first high-profile appearance of Fulton’s new sheriff, Myron Freeman - and he flubbed it. Freeman, whose job it is to oversee courthouse security, clearly needs to work on his public speaking skills if he’s going to gain the public’s trust. Below are excerpts from his time at the podium.

“I want to thank everyone ... for helping us ... uh ... capture this, uh, capture this ... this, uh ... this ... Mr. Brian Nichols. My condolences goes out to the families of those that were injured and really, uh, tragic ... uh, this, uh ... tragedy that really happened to the families.”

“I’d like to say henceforth is that we’d like to set up a task force ... to probably look at, uh, the overall procedures of the, uh ... of the, uh ... of our procedures, uh, at the, uh, uh, our security, uh, procedures. But I would ask that don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve only been in office a couple of months, and to be patient.”

“Monday, when the courthouse opens, it will be business as usu ... as usual. Our office, I mean, it will be business as usual.”

“I think that we can handle the, uh, security in the courtroom. Of course, when I first took this, this, uh, office, my first priority was the jail. And that’s where I been focusing most of my attention. ... Again, I’ve only been in office two months. And please, let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“The families are bereaved, and we’re trying to ... my first, uh, act was to take care of the families, because they are really shocked. My, my second priority was to get Mr. Nichols back in custody. Now I can turn my attention to the other issues of looking at all these security.”