Been reading my local paper online for the last few days and might I just say I'm beyond disgusted with the way my local sheriff runs his office?? Might I please?? Thank you!
This man places ads in the local paper quite often (and the closer it is to election time, the more often he does it) paid for out of his own pocket (with money he earns from his paid position as an elected law enforcement official and head of a governmental body i.e. taxpayer funded) proclaiming his personal religious beliefs. Now before you go jumping on me, hear me out. I have no issue with his taking out the ads in his own name and stating his personal beliefs. That's not the problem. The problem is that he does so with his official title and seal of his elected office appearing on those ads. And at the same time he is at the very least insinuating that anyone who does not share his personal beliefs are not entitled to the same protection of his office as those who do happen to agree with him. Of course he uses different language, but boil it down and the bones state what he really means.
This isn't my only issue with him. I have a few others.
For instance, the fact that he refused to serve a court-ordered restraining order on one of his own deputies because he knew the wife and knew if he just gave her the weekend to think about it, she'd realize she didn't want to do that to her husband. That's what he told the local news when they asked him about it.
Then there's the whole deal about how anyone (read FEMALE there) who wants to file a complaint of sexual assault has to take and pass a polygraph test before an investigation will begin because 'if she lies, then a man's reputation is ruined' So it is perfectly acceptable in his head to victimize everyone filing that kind of charge because someone COULD lie. Funny, I could say my house was robbed and I don't have to prove I'm not lying about it BEFORE an investigation even begins! Only sexual assault charges are handled this way. Now I will state that 2 elections ago, he CLAIMED this policy was no longer in force in his department. I've heard otherwise, but have no proof of it. It just sticks in my gut that it was ever the case at all.
Then there's the time he left his loaded weapon in the bathroom at a grocery store and had to be called to the front of the store to have it returned. He didn't even realize he'd left it until he was pointed out to him. Had that been one of his deputies, he would have fired him on the spot, but because it was Ed, the people here still say "haven't you ever left your keys in a restaurant before? People forget things all the time. It's no big deal!" Last time I checked, my KEYS lacked the ability to maim or murder the way a loaded gun does, so I don't see the connection.
Then there's the fact that he does not have a single female deputy patrolling the streets. All female officers work in the jail and it is part of their daily jobs to cook breakfast for the inmates and other officers! I'm not making that up. I wish I were making that up!
Then there's the way he intrudes into the personal lives of his staff. He not only has deputies following other deputies off duty to see where they go and what they do and who they are with while going and doing, but he refuses to hire a deputy who is living with a woman who is not his wife. YET the sheriff himself is a divorced and remarried man--in his own religious belief system that is a No-No! As long as that first wife is alive, he is an adulterer! But that doesn't apply to the mighty Sheriff Ed! Only to the other lower beings who come into his presence.
The latest example of this over-reaching was when he confiscated cell phones, both department issued phones and personal phones, from all employees in his department and ended up firing one long-time deputy for using his personal phone while on duty. Then he fired a second deputy because that deputy talked to the fired deputy after the firing! Read all about it here:
And what is really frustrating is the fact that if he decides to run for office again, he will be elected again! His supporters will say 'run against him if you can do better!" but what they fail to acknowledge is that when you are outnumbered by idiots who believe that because he CLAIMS to be a 'good Christian man' that makes him the perfect sheriff. '
A few elections ago I was at lunch with some friends while wearing a support badge for one of his opponents. I saw one of his deputies at the dessert table and he told me he liked my badge. He said "I would wear one of those too, but if I did, I'd lose this one" and pointed to his departmental badge on his uniform. I told him there was one place he could do his talking and not worry about being fired--the voting booth. And his reply has proven true a few times since then, "Lotta good that'll do. We're outnumbered by the clueless"
I can only hope that as more people move into this area, the voters who are card-carrying members of the Kool-Aid Drinker's Society will eventually be in the minority and we will actually be able to elect a sheriff who will take the safety and well-being of ALL citizens into equal account.
I know this is just a rant and a rant that few will ever read, but it does make me feel better to get it off my chest. And if just one person is happier with the police protection they get because it was compared to what I have here, then maybe something positive can come from all this frustration!
That's my rant for today...what's yours??
Later Tater Tots...
