"Don't let the Snipers hit you on the way out..."

JONESBORO, Georgia (AP) -- On his first day on the job, the new sheriff called 27 employees into his office, stripped them of their badges, fired them, and had rooftop snipers stand guard as they were escorted out the door.

The move Monday by Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill provoked an angry reaction and prompted a judge to order him to rehire the employees.Hill, 39, defended the firings and said the new sheriff has the right to shake up the department in whatever way he feels necessary. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he fired the employees to "maintain the integrity of the department."

"A lot of people are under the impression that the sheriff's office is under civil service laws," he said. "But my research shows the employees work at the pleasure of the sheriff."

The firings had a racial overtone. Hill was among a spate of black candidates elected last year in the county once dominated by rural whites. The fired employees included four of the highest-ranking officers, all of them white. Hill told the newspaper their replacements would be black.

Hill said the manner in which he fired the workers was necessary, citing the assassination of Sheriff Derwin Brown in neighboring DeKalb County in 2000. "Derwin Brown sent out letters to 25 to 30 people letting them know they would not be reappointed when he took office," Hill said. Brown was gunned down in the driveway of his home three days before he was to be sworn in. Former sheriff Sidney Dorsey was found guilty of plotting to kill him and sentenced to life in prison.

LINK (CNN)

Yes, we've learned lessons from the assasination of Derwin Brown... when you do have mass layoffs along racial lines, protect yourself with state-funded snipers!