 |
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| PRICE AND MUCHOW TRY TO FRAME COUNCILOR |
|
| 'I'LL SHOW THAT INSURANCE COMPANY HOW WE DO BUSINESS!" |
| LYING CHIEF STRIKES A CLASSIC BROWN NOSE PHOTO |
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| CONSPIRED WITH COUNCILOR PRICE TO LIE AGAINST WOLF |
| CHIEF REPORTED 'PEEVISH' ABOUT BANK ROBBERY |
|
| but turns out in matching two piece togs anyway |
Police Chief Dean Muchow was not shy about admitting he was peeved when he was
interupted while dressing for a an afternoon of fishing by what he now refers to as "that darn bank" being
robbed.
We assume that the Chief did get his fishing trip in because by Monday morning, the new
excuse being offered by Mayor Young as to why Muchow was not available to a local merchant who needed someone on their premises
removed, was that Muchow had "probably gone home early (before noon) because he had poison oak on his 'winky'. Please tell
me that word doesn't mean what I think it means.
Well bank robbers WATCH OUT, I hear that Dean has ordered a full 9 piece Bank Robber Catcher
outfit, with neckerchief and realistic handcuffs and when his winky is better, he is coming at YOU like gangbusters.
| DIARY OF A POLICE CHIEF |
|
| WALK ON THE WILD SIDE..BUT ACCESSORIZE! |
Dear Diary,
Today is July 6th and you will not beeeeleeeve what happened to me today, some naughty
boy robbed the Washington Mutual Bank.......again. Just walked out with the money in broad daylight.
(And after the day I had, who would blame you? Can we talk?) If you knew, Diary, WOW...
first thing, I had a request from that nasty Judge Don Leahan, he wanted the GHPD to get a baliff in his courtroom once a
month. Can you believe it? after what he said about us?? I can hardly even get Hanky to show up at all on court day and
then I have to pay him overtime to do it, even though court falls within his normal shift. Well I just stamped my feet and
said "no, no, no..I can not, will not, shall not.........and neither will my boys. We don't take orders from no one."
As if I can make Hank do anything I say, he is so peevish now that he actually comes to work that who knows what will happen
there? I'll tell you, I wouldn't want to be a black man in this town on Hanks shift.
Anyway, back to me, I was so bushed after that then..RING! RING! Can you believe
it??? Bank Robbery, again! and me just ready for a nap. Well I got there and thank goodness that the Jackson County Sheriffs
were already there so that I didn't have to put out the crime scene tape or do any of that stuff.
I looked great though, I had my white knee highs on, then I wore my coordinating shortie
set from OSH-Kosh, the one with the matching white trim on the color and cuffs. I topped it off with my signature "sunglasses
worn like a hairband". AND I didn't forget to accessorize with a clipboard and pen. BUT PHEW!! what a crazy day. Bye bye for
now, XOXOXO Diary, I love you, Dean
WATCH OUT RESIDENTS OF 1ST AVENUE
YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE VISITED BY SOME GOOD OLD "COMMUNITY SPIRIT"
Sami Pedersen has done more than fired a shot across my bow, she has it in for anyone
on 1st Avenue that she considers as "view" for the new duplexes that the Pedersens built on the old Kell property.
Gosh, why talk about them? (Pedersens).........who remembers Clarence Kell? he was
the salt of the earth, a classic Gold Hill Bulldog. He worked at the Ideal Cement plant. Who remembers him ambling down the
street in his hard hat into the El Rogue? It just kills me that as these old timers die off, they are replaced by the masters
of mediocrity. $15 reward for the person who can stay awake 15 minutes talking to Eugene Atkinson.
Anyway, I digress. Mrs Pedersen has declared that she intends to clean up the town,
at least the part of it that she deems as her rightful property, the "view" as she calls it.
This includes all persons who live along the routes to the new Pedersen rental at
the corner of Dardanelles and 1st street. The Bradley family at the corner, who have never done any harm to anyone,
they were targeted by name during her tirade today in City Hall. Of course the Jennings are in her "view", they better shape
up now that "Big Sami" is in town. (Her parents showed a lot of perception naming her Samuel.)
So if you had formerly considered your life as having some merit of it's own,
and you now live in Big Sami's "view", you may need to rethink your live in these new terms.
There was even some talk about Scott Pedersen getting a seat on the Council, although
he lives outside the city. Perhaps that is why he yelled out at the Council Workshop with the League of Oregon City representatives,
"How do we change the Charter?"
(note: you don't change the Charter, Scott, the voters in Gold Hill change the Charter
by a 2/3 majority vote. Maybe they do it differently on Mars.)
For now, we might be safe, it seems that Big Sami may have exhausted herself trying
to convince Dean Muchow to just kill me, and gone home. Thanks, Dean, I owe you one.
ZONE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE........ALL C-3 PROPERTY IN GOLD HILL
I was able to verify with the head of the Planning Commission, Margaret Dials, a
report that I thought had to be a mistake: that all the C-3 property in the city, which includes all the commercial development
along 2nd Avenue from the Raft Rental to Nugget Auto had it's zoning changed from C-3 to the Downtown Development District.
I also questioned if the notices had been sent out, why I didn't get one, when the
hearings were and the usual questions one might ask if they find that the zoning of their property, the zoning on their property
record, has been eliminated. Here is the answer that I got, there were some meetings, can't quite say what the subject was,
they were not Zone Change hearings, because they didn't have a zone change, they just changed the name of the zone and the
criteria within the zone.
But, Margaret assured me that I would like that new zone better than the old zone.
So bless her heart, and I mean that. I am sorry that the real world doesn't run that way. I would love to never have to look
at a code book again, and take a nice lady's word that I will love my new zone. I would also like to have been told that it
was changing so that I could evaluate the changes as to how they would effect our property. I would even be glad to have an
opportunity to do that now, but is seems as though all the language of the old C-3 Zone is gone out of the code book. I certainly
hope that an old copy is hanging around somewhere. Fortunately for me, the law actually mandates that property owners are
notified by mail of a Zone Change for the same reasons.
In order to verify what is reported here, just call City Hall 855-1525 and ask what
zone you are in.
Also, along the same vein, if you currently live in any residential zone, the definitions
of the R-2 zone are being transformed into R-3 by the same sleight of hand. Language such a "multiple family dwelling" and
"town house" is being insinuated into the R-2 verbage, by what legal process, I know not. These de-facto Zone Changes are
the handiwork of Rogue Valley Council of Government Planner Dick Converse and are approved with only the one dissenting vote
of die-hard Commissioner Jack Edler. Those girls just think the world of Dick Converse, and if Dick isn't changing something,
he isn't getting paid.
I have standing request at City Hall for the minutes of the Zone Change hearings
that took place changing C-3 to the Downtown Development District, although I know full well that they don't exist, it actually
takes some thinking in order to get a straight answer out of City Hall.
So far the answer was "yes we did (change your zone) yes we did have hearings, no
we didn't need to because it wasn't really a zone change, we just changed the name of the zone and the criteria."
| HEY ROCKY WATCH ME PULL A RABBIT OUT OF MY HAT |
|
|
| It's a complaint to the Government Standards and Practices |
THE COMPLAINT GAME
I am sure it was in the spirit of community that Sami Pederson has started a
new round of the "complaint game". It seems that minutes after I had published the Sherman & Peabody article
on pushy opportunists et al, Mrs Pedersen filed a complaint with the City for unregistered cars on 2nd and Ambrose,
(a technical mistake as the cars are at our house, at the corner of 2nd and Dardanelles).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CITY OF GOLD HILL COMPLAINT
Complaint
File #0603
Date 5.13.06
Person Making the Complaint: Sami Pedersen
Address: PO BOX 126 GH OR 97525
Phone: 541 582 9022
Nature of Complaint: Out of register cars parked in city right of way.
vehicle #1 toyota celica exp 10/03 VSP801
vehicle #2 tempo exp 12/05 vxp209
located on the corner of 2nd & Ambrose
Requested action: tow & clean up the area, It has been an eyesore for SO long.
Etc, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Generally speaking when someone starts the "complaint game", it ends in a wash, so
experienced players always calculate the end to see if it is worth it. (Also, next time, see who has more to lose.)
First find out, do we even own the cars and secondly if we want them. This is called the
"don't throw me in the briar patch " move.
Now on the subject of city right of way, it is a no win there because at any time I can,
using Mayor Young and Citizen of the Year Judi Holderman as an example, appropriate 10-20 feet of city right of way and build
a fence and then still keep the junk.
Mayor Young has constructed an entire building shed in the city right of way and Judi Holderman
has constructed what her neighbors call the "GREAT WALL OF JUDI" leaving less than 12 feet of paved road and absorbed all
the right of way for both herself and Hanby.
SO anyone in town that wants to take right of way, build in it, or just store junk in it,
can rely on precedent and anyone who is cited for using city right or way can ask for the same enforcement on everyone else.
In a nutshell, that is how the complaint game became passé.
Secondly, if Mrs Pedersen had an informed take on how to improve the city's image, she should
abandon her cheerleader support for Chief Dean (front page embarrassment) Muchow and "Moral Turpitude" Hank Hobart. The negative
publicity that Gold Hill has received in the past decade over criminal and substandard police departments is bad enough. But
the fact that a contingency of citizens arise and show vehement support for these backwards agencies, has perpetuated
the "Children of the Corn" reputation that Gold Hill has in the larger community.
It might surprise Ms Pedersen that there has never been a headline about my house causing
property values in Gold Hill to plummet. There has however been a string of headlines and newspaper articles like "DRIVERS
BEWARE" that have blackened the towns collective eye.
Ms Pedersen, as an avid and vocal supporter of the current GHPD, I suspect it
is impossible for you to acknowledge that, as such, you constitute the greater embarrassment to the community at large
than unregistered cars.
If the town can manage to struggle on to achieve standards that meet those of the larger
community, having to fight against your COC party, to the point where the biggest problem we have is unregistered
cars, we will certainly contact you first to go sniff them out.
AN OPEN INQUIRY TO THOSE WOULD-BE MASTERS OF
GOLD HILL
an attempt to point out some incongruities in a common assumption held by certain
retired Californian's: that they automatically became the aristocracy simply because they were able to buy better real
estate in Gold Hill, than they ever had before.
A phenomenon that the long (and longer) time residents of Gold Hill have
repeatedly experienced from people who move here, largely from areas in California that they have by
their own dereliction, greed and ignorance rendered uninhabitable, is the posture that their arrival constitutes
an epiphany of sorts. They seem to be under the delusion that time started when they arrived and the fact that some
of the families in town go back 5-7 generations
goes right over their heads.
By no means does this include all and everyone who has just "discovered" Gold Hill in the last few
years. I meet people all the time who moved here because they LIKE IT it here.
But there is another breed of newcomers, an offensive breed. The would be "movers and shakers" who
come here and arrogantly think that the community needs to be made over in their image. The incongruity in this thinking is
two fold: Why, if they find the community so repugnant, did they move here? and secondly, if they possess the dynamic to remake
a community into a paradise, why didn't the use this talent in their old hometowns...then they wouldn't have had to move?
If we were to refer to natural selection, the evidence suggests that these peoples connections to
their former communities was so thin that "cashing out" was the only motivation. Are we all supposed to roll over and bow
down because these people have deigned to share our town with us during their colostomy years?
More than a few of the life time residents and people who moved here while they were still
useful or of child-bearing capability, have mentally told off these arrogant charlie tunas that spent
their productive years somewhere else and came here with nothing to do but become big fish in a little
bowl and for the first time in their lives "mess around in politics". This is the third such wave in 17 years. There
is only so much a small town of 1 square mile that collectively owns a water and sewer plant can take.
| "Gee, Mr. Peabody, can you explain it?" |
|
|
| " I think I can, Sherman, but the devil is in the details" |
"Sherman, do you know what a 'pushy opportunist' is?"
"No, Mr. Peabody, I never heard of it"
"Well, Sherman, pushy opportunists are people who see something and want to exploit it to their
own benefit and then they begin pushing other people around to get that benefit. Take for example Scott and Sammy Peterson,
many people see them as pushy opportunists."
"How come, Mr Peabody?"
"Well, they came to Gold Hill, built some houses, Scott Peterson got on the Planning Commission
and started pushing to make the town of Gold Hill a more profitable place for himself.He worked all the time on the planning
commission to cram more houses in to smaller spaces."
"The opportunity that he saw was a trusting little town. While other people in town were
going about their business trusting that the ladies on the Planning Commission are protecting the livability of the existing
neighborhoods, he plugs along every month, chipping away at the zoning regulations that have made Gold Hill one of the last
uncrowded towns to live in."
"Is Scott Baker a pushy opportunist?"
"No, Sherman, that is why the devil is in the details, Scott Baker is a moron. He thinks he
is doing the right thing but is too dull witted to understand what he is doing. He naturally gravitates to the one posture
that he understands, pretending to have something on his mind, in fact, there is no evidence that he has a mind."
"Well that still doesn't explain the ruckus in Gold Hill,"
"When people with half-cocked ideas of their own self-importance like Scott Baker and pushy
opportunists like Sammy and Scott Peterson get together with other displaced and uniformed persons like Eugene and Christine
Akinson, you begin to get the rabble effect. They all have different reasons for wanting to take over. The
Atkinsons have a huge vaccuum to fill in their lives and apparently have never had an original thought between them, it makes
them feel important to have a "cause". They have no connection to the historical Gold Hill and therefore no connection
to the community of families that lived here before they arrived."
"Is that why Christine Akinson was hoo-raying in the Post Office the day that they tore down Clarence
Kell's House?"
"Yes, Sherman, also because she has very bad manners. Even though she is a new-comer
to Gold Hill, she has no respect for the people who have lived here for 5 generations like the Silvas or Thumlers
or the Kells or Foleys or any of the names stenciled on the chairs at the Grange"
"She also must not have any respect for the history of Gold Hill."
"That's right Sherman, maybe we should just say that she is a boor."
"So we have pushy opportunists, a moron and a pair of boors? is that how you get "rabble"?"
"That is it Sherman! and when you have 'rabble' they are a magnet for a cause and
a leader......voila.....a perfect medium for Dean Muchow to thrive."
"Wow, Mr Peabody, I thought that the people of Gold Hill didn't like the Police Department."
"Well, Sherman, the evidence says something quite different. For the last two
decades 100% of the municipal property taxes have been set aside for PUBLIC SAFETY and they have never turned
down a public safety levy".
"You mean they did all that BEFORE Scott Baker came here? and before the Akinsons' came here?
I heard Sammy Peterson say that the City had always given the Police Department trouble"
"Sherman, if you listen to the Sammy Petersons in this world, well, Sammy Peterson is what you
get if you feed a child Ol' Roy."
"She sure looks strong, Mr Peabody."
"Can you think of another word for rabble?"
"BIG MOUTH KNOW NOTHING?"
"Okay Sherman, you got it."
"Contrary to the mantras that are being repeated by the POLICE ZOMBIES the Gold Hill City Council
has never voluntarily shut down the Police Department. Unless you say that the lack of accountabilty fostered by the different
Councils over the years caused it."
"What did Mr Peabody"
"Well we need to go back in history Sherman"
"Katie Holmboe, her department was shut down by the Oregon Justice Department, not the City
Council. The investigation is a matter of public record and details of attempted bribery and a conspiracy to harass the children
of people who were out of favor was reported by persons within the department that actually did the harassing. And during
the two years that it took to get the Justice Department in to investigate, hundreds of people just like Petersons, Bakers,
and Akinsons, came and yelled at the Council and threatened them Councilors and re-called the Councilors. In the end the issue
was moot as the Justice Department took over."
"Well, then what happened?"
"Almost immediately, because the people wanted a police department, the Council gave the job
of Chief to Dave Crawford, who was indicted and convicted within a year of brutalizing older people. Prior to that he was
shaking the locals down for drugs and operated with impunity."
"WOW, Mr Peabody, I bet the people were really mad about that!"
"No, Sherman, the Council Chamber was filled every week with POLICE SUPPORTERS who jumped up
and down and said that Dave was being persecuted by the Council because they "didn't like the police"......sound familiar?"
"So did they close the department then?"
"No, Sherman, of course they couldn't still have Dave Crawford because he was in jail. Then
the insurance company came along and shut the department down by raising the premium to about 700 times the normal cost
and giving the city a $100,000 deductible."
"How can they have a Police Department, now?"
"Well for the last eight years, up until the time that the present Mayor took office, the City
had a Council that was working with the insurance company to have a department that conformed to communtiy standards, so the
insurance company gave the town some grace and allowed those people to open the department."
"Was Scott Baker one of those people who went to the meetings and took care of all the business
so that the city could get back into law enforcement?"
"NO, Sherman, Scott Baker wasn't there."
"What about Sammy and Scott Peterson?'
"NO, they weren't there"
"What about the Akinsons? Sherry Young? Kathleen Price? Judi Holderman?"
"No, no, no, no, no...none of those people were there, none of those people did the homework,
none of those people understand the stakes."
"So Mr.Peabody, I guess those people were getting all the new streets and sidewalks and storm
drain projects done while the Councilors were fixing up the police department?"
"No Sherman, they weren't doing that either, the same Councilors who were trying to have an
accountable Police Department were also watching over the administration of the City Finances so that the City could finish
the water line project."
"What was the "water-line" project?"
"Well that was a project that was half-finished when a different bunch of "rabble" took over
City Hall for two years and reduced the city to the point where it could not even receieve the second part of the funding
for the water loop."
"Hey, I remember what rabble is, pushy opportunists, morons and boors?"
"That's right Sherman. These are the names of the individuals and Councilors that
worked to get the critical water loop, the street and sidewalks and the funding for the police department:
GASSO, WOLF, SILVA, HICKS, EILEFSON & EILEFSON,EDLER, LOWE, ALFORD, JOSEPH, DIALS.
"Scott Baker said he was going to get the water line developed."
"His specialty seems to be kissing up to cops."
"Well the Peterson's they are making all their money hooking up to the water system, they
must have been some help."
"No Sherman, remember they are pushy opportunists, they just take advantage of the systems that
other people have stood guard over and actually made sure they were there for the people..and then they squeal when they have
to pay a pittance for capitalizing on the systems."
"Well Sherry Young, she must have been instrumental in the highway project, she likes to
stand out in the public watering. I had the impression that she paved the whole thing herself."
"Nope Sherman, she didn't lift a finger, just pushed in to glom on to the credit.
You see Sherman, the only tie that binds this negative-recall group is to find something to complain about and then
jack each other up about things they know little to nothing about, and the police gives them a catalyst. I told you that the
devil was in the details."
"So how did the streets get paved?"
"The money came from every person who ever bought a gallon of gas, from gasoline taxes."
"Wow! MR Peabody, you sure know a lot about Gold Hill."
You remember friends, in our last episode, the three Councilors had been taken from defeat to victory by the voters of
Moosebite Falls, I mean, Gold Hill. Snidley Whiplash, I mean, Dean Muchow, had hypnotized 100 of the citizens to chant, "they
don't support of the Police Department". Our heros were all tied to the railroad tracks, I mean put up for recall, by the
Muchow's "useful idiot" Scott Baker. In the nick of time the Councilors were rescued and now face the problems of how to get
Moosebite Falls back on track.
"I have more tricks" Muchow sneaks off to secretly plot his take-over of the town. Muchow, who is none other than the villian,
Ill-Regard Beauregard whose stinky politics destroyed the harmony of Union and also stunk up the lower corner of Idaho has
begun to run out of places where he isn't known. "We can pass the strong mayor initiative and then turn over all the power
to me!".
Ill-Regard was still stinging from his rebuff in the Budget Committee where he attempted to siphon off money from the Water
and Sewer Funds believes that he has until the November elections to put his zombies in place in the Council...........will
he succeed? or will he leave town like he left the others? blaming everyone but himself...........?? to be continued.
What is next in the upcoming episodes of the "City Councilors
who tried to Save Gold Hill" ??
Will Gold Hill be Muchow's Waterloo? Can they salvage the city's reputation as
the place where bad cops meet their end?.........stay tuned...........
| DEAN MUCHOW PLOTTING HIS NEXT DASTARDLY DEED |
|
|
| "My plot to take over Gold Hill failed, so far, I have other tricks up my sleeve." |
editors note: my apology for subjecting the readers to the following
letter, the incoherent rambling and bad grammar places it somewhere between merely tedious to un-readable.
I have to believe that if this letter, written by Mayor Young to Mail Tribune editor Bob Hunter, can end up in my hands
it is incumbent upon me to share it with the public.
Do not imagine that I begrudge Gold Hill the right to have a fool for a mayor,
that is not so uncommon as one might think. BUT should a fool also be in charge of a police department? GOLD HILL
should already know the answer to this question.
The editor notes in parenthesis are mine, not Bob Hunters'. I thought it only kind to
inject some comic relief into an otherwise depressing whine-a-thon.
From: "S K YOUNG" <mayorgoldhill@msn.com
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 10:09 AM
Subject: Gold Hill
Editor: Medford Tribune
Attn: Bob Hunter
Maybe it's our three councilors and news reporter that have problems with being accountable, not our Police department.
It might be worth looking into.
The way I see it we have a six pack of people, including a judge, a city recorder and a newspaper woman from the
Medford Tribune along with three councilors who will stop at nothing to discredit a police department and a its chief.
( ed: if Young wants to list the people that question the ethics and professional judgment of Dean Muchow
she needs to bring in Jamie Shropshire former City Prosecutor in McCall Idaho, the Federal District Court in Boise, Martin
Birnbaum, Union,Oregon DA, Mr. Baumgartner head of Juvenile Services in Union County and those are just the other professionals.
We are looking at something more than a six pack here, we are well on our way to a half-rack.)
The three councilors know that the $697.88 phone bill was because the chief was out of town when your news reporter
showed up at our council meeting, rushed over to the city recorder and the three councilors (Wolf, Fish, Silva) showing them
something she had. Sanne then looked over at me and stated, "He's been indicted." Needless to say, the chief was on the phone
quite a bit over this and being out of the local calling area, did not realize that he was not getting his free incoming minutes
along with his free mobile to mobile. The fact is the chief paid for his calls and we got a $197.00 credit from U.S.
Cellular. The phone plan has now been changed. How about, lets be accountable for the truth.
(ed: okay, how about not stealing the stairs in the first place? then he wouldn't have to "be on the
phone quite a bit" when it is made public. Muchow has a pattern of paying off when he is caught, he pays for the phone when
caught, he pays for the stairs when caught. But sometimes he is lucky like in the Terry Elam case where Valley County, Idaho paid
for his dirty deeds.)
How about an article announcing that Chief Dean Muchow was never indicted?
(ed: okay, I'll write an article Announcing that Chief Dean Muchow was not indicted for stealing the
stairs, that he was just charged with it it. Why split hairs? The problem is that he is accused of stealing stairs and that
the stairs appear to be attached to his home in Union)
Three unaccountable councilors, Wolf, Fish and Silva know about our city employee who got reported by Crater Sand
and Gravel for being drunk and driving the city dump truck on Saint Patrick's Day, but they have quietly ignored this because
it is their friend.
(ed: the mayor appears to have knowledge of a crime, why hasn't her PD made an arrest?)
On December 19, I had scheduled a special council meeting. Councilor Wolf called a few days before. He was very abrasive
and demanding and said that the only meeting I was going to have was an executive session with Chief Muchow and that if I
did not do what he said he would make me an ineffective mayor. I had the special council meeting along with the executive
session. Councilor Gus Wolf as usual, did not get any information on what the meeting was about to us before the session.
Then he brings the same questions that he had in our July session (Council breaks open meeting laws) when we got investigated
by the GSP. He neglected to give Chief Muchow the option of having an open or closed session and the fact is, Chief Muchow
was out of town at a training session and knew nothing about it. Our Attorney Steve Rich was there and kept Coucilor Wolf
on track.
(ed: too bad Rich couldn't keep the Mayor on track when he advised the Council to fire Muchow in July)
Councilors Wolf, Silva & Fish now make the decisions at City Hall with the help of the city recorder. Mary opens
all the mail for the mayor and tells the mayor only about the phone calls or notices that are not important. The city recorder
just got a low score on her personnel review because of this, a lower score than our police chief Dean Muchow. Mary Goddard
was given a raise despite the complaints about her. Our police chief was not given his promised raise. The money was already
budgeted but the three councilors refused to give it to him.
(ed: people of Gold Hill, I beg you to take an inside look the mind of this ignoramus that you
have allowed to operate as CEO of your municipal corporation. This letter with the attending confidential personnel information
was sent to the editor of local newspaper. )
On December 9, Gold Hill City Recorder Mary Goddard called a meeting with councilors Wolf, Fish and Daily and a reporter
with a fourth councilor standing by on the phone (Silva). She was standing by for a vote. No minutes were taken! This is a
direct violation of open meetings law.
(ed: I'll report this to the GSP on Monday and take bets that Young's charges do not hold water.)
Councilor Wolf had our city recorder hold onto a letter from Judge Don Leahan for 20 days and then they shredded
a letter to Officer Smith from Don Leahan. Now I have come to find out that shredding documents is common practice for these
councilors, per councilor Silva. It's on the tape of the May 11th executive session.
(ed: please do not use Latin when you haven't mastered your native tongue)
Councilor Wolf was unable to get Tom Daily to agree with him about firing Chief Muchow so began looking into council
seat #4 and the next election. Councilor Wolf and the city recorder then called the city attorney. Evidently they had been
planning this for days. Councilor Wolf makes a motion to remove Councilor Daily at the meeting. It is immediately
seconded and all three councilors (Wolf, FIsh, and Silva) knew about this prior to our meeting, but they sprang it on me and
Councilor Daily suddenly, without our knowledge. This is the kind of thing that I, as well as Councilor Daily, Hicks and Price
have come to expect.
(ed: I have no doubt that it comes as a surprise to Mayor Young that persons have to stand for election
to legally sit in a council seat, even when they have been appointed by her majesty.)
In July 2005, Sanne Specht called me about the credit cards charges of Chief Muchow. I politely tell her that I don't
know the answers to her questions, but I am sitting down on the chief next week and I would be glad to get back to her.
I was leaving in a couple of hours to go camping. She rudely told me that she does not have time to wait for me and slammed
down the phone.
I believe it is time for you to change reporters sent to our town by the Tribune. Sanne Specht is not only biased,
but on a mission to destroy one of city employees. She has been heard to say she is "Muchow hunting."
Let's have accountability with councilors as well as with newspapers. Call Scott Jorgensen with the Rogue River Press.
He's accountable and he has been attending the meetings. The councilors being recalled, according to Jorgenson sent a letter
to Attorney Steven RIch with a blatant lie about a quote they said Scott made.
(ed: Scott Jorgenson has been attending the meetings and during the March meeting joined in with the
OBSERVER trash in yelling from the back of the room at the Council. Jorgensen stated in a phone conversation with yours truly
that he was aware that Mayor Sherry Young had stated that she would never have let the Council vote on vacating Council seat
#4, would have closed the meeting down before she would have let the council vote and was prepared to have her 'sergeant at
arms' Muchow physically remove the councilors if they attempted to vote on it. If he denies it now, that would be parr for
the course, we don't expect high ethics from reporters who abandon their professional standards to join in
with a mob as Jorgenson did at that meeting. )
There is going to be a law suit against the City of Gold Hill. This has happened because of the unethical behavior
by Councilor Jan Fish. Letter received at City Hall from Wayne Botta May 12th 2006.
See activities from 1987 & 1988 of Mayor Wolf's shenanigans while in office. He likes to call emergency executive
sessions and vote on things while no one is looking. He's now had 20+ years of practice.
(ed: what movie does she think she is in? Maybe SUPERMAN and Bob Hunter is Perry White. He pushes the
intercom "Lois, get me the shenanigan file on Wolf, 87 & 88."................get a net)
Your news reporter is part of this and is in violation of the code of Ethics for Professional journalists. I would
be happy to send you a copy if you would like to see it. It's hard to believe she would team up with someone like Christine
Alford.
(ed: I was wondering when she would get around to me. I must be like the perennial villain in
Scooby-Doo, Mr. Withers.........)
I might be a new mayor who has no past history of political involvement but I know the difference between right and
wrong and I am surprised that a newspaper such as the Mefort Male Tributre (hic) has done so little to find out the truth.
(ed: hey Honey, you should be glad they didn't . You might say that you have no political history but
your business history has left three former business partners holding their respective bags after dealing with you.
Prior to your current involvement in city projects and trying to take credit for the hard work of others, what you were best
known for is letting your kid have underage drinking parties at your family home and bringing home transients
that you released into the neighborhood when you had tired of them. People in our neighborhood have let rabbits go but releasing
people is a new one. If, as you claim, you know the difference between right and wrong, why don't you pay the outstanding
debts that you left with at least three local business persons who don't want their names associated with you? There is a
new slogan making the rounds, "CHARACTER COUNTS" but don't worry, so far it just appears to rhetoric)
Sincerely,
Mayor Sherry Young
855-9869
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE
editorial May 9, 2006
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Gold Hill recall without merit
The three recall targets are among the few doing their jobs
We have traditionally opposed recalls of elected officials over political differences, because we believe they should be
used only to remove officeholders who have committed egregious acts. If you simply don't like a public official's politics,
well, that's what regular elections are for.
In the case of the attempted recall of three council members in Gold Hill, our opposition goes far beyond the philosophical.
The targets of that effort are not only innocent of any wrongdoing, they appear to be among the few elected or appointed officials
in the town willing to stand up and fulfill their obligations.
The three council members are Gus Wolf, Donna Silva and Jan Fish, whose misdeeds consist of demanding accountability of
the city's police department and its chief. Those seem like grounds for praise, not dismissal.
The police department and Chief Dean Muchow certainly deserve scrutiny. Among the problems that have been identified: Muchow
allegedly failed to place a police levy on the 2005 ballot, used city credit cards 40 times in a four-month period to buy
meals for himself and others and charged $1,200 in cell phone calls to the city in a three-month period.
Beyond that are the well-publicized felony theft and criminal trespass charges filed against Muchow in Union, where he
was previously the police chief. Citizens have also raised allegations about improper actions by the department's other officer
and reserves.
It seems from here that the
council would be negligent if it did not demand accountability. But, instead, Mayor Sherry Young, Councilwoman Kathleen Price
and other recall proponents have falsely labeled the three targeted council members as not being supportive of the police
department. In fact, it appears Young, Price and the others want a police department that can operate with no rules, backed
by a council that is willing to turn a blind eye to any transgression.
There are already some questionable practices in the city regarding oversight of the police department. Complaints filed
against the department or its officers are funneled through the mayor, who has the discretion whether to investigate. Not
surprisingly, few are investigated.
Small-town police chiefs wield a considerable amount of power. Often, as in Gold Hill, there is no city administrator and
therefore no direct supervisor. That means they answer to their city councils.
And that means the city councils must be vigilant and ask tough questions, which is exactly what the three targeted council
members have tried to do. Gold Hill residents need to recognize that this is not a case of council members stepping in where
they don't belong. Instead, they have been acting in the best interests of the city by demanding that the police chief meet
expectations that are taken for granted in most municipalities.
Mayor Young and Councilwoman Price have said the recall is a referendum on what kind of government residents of Gold Hill
want. We agree — and if they want a government that is responsible and accountable for its actions, they will vote no
on all three recalls.
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THIS FROM A CONTRIBUTING LOCAL HUMORIST
.................................ATTENTION GOLD HILL...............
The City of Gold Hill is in serious need of applicants for the position of city council.
The Ciy is at risk of losing its reputation of being a Southern Oregon small town joke.
Please apply immediately if you have any of the following beliefs or attributes and credentials.
(1) Feel it is desirable that the Chief of Police be a THIEF
(2) Don't believe the judge shoue be independent of what the city council or police department
wants him or her to do, in an illegal attempt to raise money.
(3) Must think it is OK to have a Mayor and Chief that lie to the Gold Hill citizens to
suit their personal agendas.
(4) Want NO accountability for city employees and/or expense accounts.
(5) A basic lack of integrity is REQUIRED. An understanding of government rules and regulations
not desired. A common understanding of the written word not needed.
Gold Hil citizens that DO NOT possess the above mentioned, or can be pressured into doing
what is honest and best for the city, need not apply. A conscience or knowledge of what is right and wrong is NOT desirable.
WE the Citizens committee of GOLD HILL in an effort to promote further embarassment to the
city is proud of the following accomplishments:
(A) Initiated a recall of three council members that refused to disregard their integrity
on behalf of the mayor and chief.
(B) Solicited and purchased outside help from a privately owned publication from Josephine
County. We have been successful: considering that the paper masquerades as a legitimate press. Kudo's to Chief Muchow for
his willingness to disregard professionalism and deliver the publication from the Gold Hill Police car at tax payers expense
while on duty, in uniform throughout Gold Hill.
(C) We have been able to hide the fact that the Chief has left his two previous jobs under
color, negotiating deals to keep his past a secret. The fact that we are currently covering it up by calling it a civil action
has been working and is remarkable, considering that theft is theft, yet he remains "our chief". We are especially
proud.
(D) We have sucessfully retained one council member that is seated in violation of the city
charter. Much thanks to Mayor Young. If she had not been willing to violate honest and ethical standards of government and
violate Roberts Rules of Order, our cause would have been in jeopardy.
(E) We have kept Gold Hill's current reputation as a laughing stock alive, at the same time
wasting several thousand of dollars of the citizens' tax money.
(F) We have heightened the council "wanna be" reject Allan Baker's opinion of himself. We
feel he would be an excellent member of the new council he has proven often that education, ability to spell or use a dictionary
or intelligence are not his strong points. He would suit the new criteria for the Gold Hill Council perfectly. He continues
to be an active and productive member of our committee.
REMAIN diligent! there is always a risk the truth could come out, loose lips sink ships.
Members of our secret command stucture could slip over a bee or two. Our motto "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE
IN A LARGE GROUP". We would like to close with out theme song by our esteemed committee member Kathleen Price.........PO-DUNK-PO-DUNK-RATTY-TAT-TAT-PO-DUNK-RATTY-TAT-TAT.
THE END
and the author did not sign it, but I thought that it hit all the points
and did it well. Thanks, if any one else has contributions and needs to remain anonymous until this current plague passes,
just wrap it on a brick and throw it through one of the front windows. Thank, editor.
SOME BUSINESS OWNERS WERE INTIMIDATED INTO SIGNING THE PETITION IN SUPPORT
OF THE POLICE.
Not all the signatures on a petition voicing support of the police and circulated by
Dennis Ryan were a true representation of how the business owners felt. At least three business owners have spoken about the
intimidation that they felt if the didn't sign the petition. "It is like putting a target on your back" one owner said.
Loyalty oaths are a common Fascist phenomenom.
People of lower intelligence often live in fear of diverse opinions and often decide
to "take matters into their own hands" and make sure that everyone thinks the same way.
Benito Ryan said "We will find the business owners who have criticized our Chief
and make them put "THANK YOU GOLD HILL POLICE" signs on their building or we will start a boycott of their business.
THREE HOT CONTENDERS FOR "DONKEY OF THE MONTH".......
| NEW BI-MONTHLY DONKEY OF THE MONTH AWARD |
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| Has some local ladies lining up for recognition |
Our new bi-monthly award for the resident who distiguishes
him or herself as the biggest jackass in town had some hot contenders. Please remember that people, like Hy Klaus can
not rest on their laurels from the last time they were a mayor or councilor, they have to do something new to compete.
So the first nominee that the judges looked at was Judy Holderman. A newcomer from California
that is having a "chair drive" for City Hall and wants to take a Council seat and is crossing her little fingers in hope that
the recall is successful. Holderman got on the Budget Committee as a full time bookkeeper and then that didn't quite appear
to be the fact. Her entry into the contest was to state that she didn't have time to read the audit and then attempt to have
the entire budget committee meeting answering questions that are answered in the audit. Holderman volunteered that one
way to clean up the budget would be to eliminate all the zeros on the pages.
BUT that won't get her the award. Only a big Hee-Haw, keep trying, you got the stuff!
The next runner up was City Councilor Kathleen Price for one simple motion made at the
Monday night City Council meeting "I'd like to make a motion that we change the Charter.".............that is like poetry
in motion. Price is the very essence of all those who came before her and with all the arrogance in the world assumed that
she could be an effective board member of a million dollar municipal corporation with out knowing the slightest thing about
it, like what the Charter is.
BUT still no brass ring.........
| Gold Hll City Councilor Kathleen Price |
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| "I'd like to make a motion to change the Charter" |
| JUDY HOLDERMAN |
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| "What are all these zeros? Can't we just get rid of them?" |
| DONKEY OF THE MONTH |
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| GOLD HILL MAYOR SHERRY YOUNG |
The winner had to be Mayor Young, though, she combines the best of both the other
contenders. Like Price, she assumed that she was some how magically fit to take the rudder of City Government without knowing
anything about it.
At Monday night's Council meeting, Young allowed city resident Wayne DeSpain to issue a protacted verbal complaint,
naming union employee Officer Hank Hobart. Young, who has been quite handy using her gavel like a baby rattle
in a spoiled childs hand when other Councilors said anything she didn't like, was too dumb to stop the verbal complaint from
DeSpain.
According to the Union Contract, the Council can not publicly hear a complaint against a Union employee. Complaints
against union employees are to be referred to the employees supervising officer. If the Council does discuss a complaint against
a union employee the employee has the right to an executive session with the Union Representative present. But hey!
let's be fair, Sherry is just lernin' the job. That is where most CEO's learn isn't it? they just volunteer to be the
CEO and learn from there, one lawsuit at a time. SO the big bray has to go to Sherry Young....you other girls keep trying..
Honorable mention to Kathleen Price, for "Union Contract? I haven't ever seen it. Why haven't I seen it?" (how about
learning your job instead of spending all your time making excuses for Dino?)
4 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JUDY HOLDERMAN AND MYSELF
1.Judy Holderman decieves herself that she is "nice"...........I do not.
2. Judy Holderman tells lies, I do not have to. Judy Holderman circulated a paper stating that
I was a convicted criminal. She is a liar.
3. I have never stolen anything from the City, Judy Holderman has. She mis-appropriated about
10 feet of city property.
4. When I open my mouth, I generally know what I am talking about, probably the biggest thing
that distiguishes us from one another.
editors note: this is a mighty small town to run such an offensive
website as this one. the way I look at it is this, it is even a smaller town to run another dirty police department in. For
the twenty years I have lived here, with the exception of Rod Countryman, this city has had nothing but dirty police departments.
I can't remember what Irishman wrote, "Do not go gently into that good night. Rage, Rage, against the dying of the light".
okay it was Dylan Thomas but why didn't anyone point out to me that I wrote
RAVE instead of Rage? some of you are literary people, you could have said something. As Mark Twain points out in his 119
literary rules it is best to use the word you mean, not it's second cousin.
Well as long as I live in this town, people who would like to live
and let live will have my encouragement.
While desperate housewives and other empty-nesters who, under color of government, continue to
operate bogus pseudo-police agencies in order to reach out and touch people, will have my scorn.
It is my contribution to the well-being of the city.
WATCH NEXT WEEK FOR A NEW ARTICLE:
100 THINGS I CAN'T STAND ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA RETIREES THAT
HAVE MOVED HERE IN THE LAST FEW YEARS
The Dream Team......Mayor wants to replace elected Councilors with 3 super-stooges.
Gold Hill Mayor Sherry Young is all a tither with excitement with her recall
of the three councilors coming up.
"The only way Dean will survive in this town is to lower the city's standards to fit his standards.
I figure that he can fool and I can rule if we can get three two-year olds to take the Council seats"
SHED NO TEARS FOR YOUR LAMPOONED MAYOR
"Gee, that's pretty mean to do that to Sherry. She is trying to do something good for the city and
that's what she gets"
That gets you nowhere.
Sherry Young has done exactly nothing for the city.
In fact, the City Councilors who Miss No-Class is trying to push off the Council are the very persons
who do get the credit for all the recent improvements in the City.
With all due respect to CAN-DO, they need to give credit where credit is due for the streets, sidewalks
and the completion of the water system. That was all accomplished by a handful of intrepid Councilors who worked towards
keeping a stabilty in Gold Hill City Hall long enough to get the funding and get the projects done.
If the new civic minded groups want to continue to see progress, they should step forward to insure
stability in City Hall.
What an ingnoramus like Scott Baker doesn't understand is that the Council that he has worked so hard
to destroy is the Council that accomplished all those projects after taking hold of a city government that had been
brought to it's knees by know-nothing-know-it-alls like himself and Judy Holderman and Mayor Young who in their ignorant immaturity
think that "they will fix it".
They have no skills to run the city just a slogan that they "support the police" implying that anyone
who questions the aggregious spending policies of the new Chief, is "anti-police".
HEY, newsflash>>that's their job.
No-class is to sit on the Council and sign a recall petition, then have to hang up the phone when
the press wants an explanation.
Even small town politics have the right to have a modicum of propriety, Young has brought her beer
hall manners to the Council Chambers. What she does excel at is sneaky phone calls and politics that are more suited for the
girl's bathroom in high school, replace her gavel with a rat-tailed comb and you get the picture.
Mayor Young thought she coud go out in public, pull rank and ride roughshod over elected officials
who have actually worked hard and have accomplished measurable tasks.
She thought she could get her "useful idiot" Scott Baker to do the dirty work and write the lying
manifestos against the other councilors. I wonder if Scott Baker knows how much Sherry didn't want to appoint him to
the Council seat that Tom Daily now occupies, even going so far to suggest her hubby take the seat. It would almost be a Princess
and the Frog story, but no Princess.
So when you viciously attack your neighbors and fellow councilors, even if you are too much a coward
to answer questions for the press, even if you hide behind your little toadie Baker, you will get as good as you gave, people are
bound to find out about how you handled business that you had with other neighbors and how many beers it takes
to knock you out, it is a real small world when it comes to that.
MAYOR YOUNG AKA "OLD BEER NOSE"
MAYOR YOUNG DUBBED "OLD BEER NOSE" at Mayor's Meeting
Dear Diary,
Just a quick note, had to laugh out loud today talking with an acquiantance that has the inside track at
the Mayor's meeting, told me that one of the other Mayor's had called Gold Hill Mayor Sherry Young, "Old Beer Nose".......I
am going to the Budget Committee tonight to see if it is true. I had heard that she pretty much keeps her snout in a can every
afternoon but didn't know it had begun to show in the capillary meltdown.......to be continued...........later this evening,
I couldn't tell, she never looked up.
|
NICE TO SEE HY KLAUS IS UP AN AT IT AGAIN. (see following story
from the glorious past history of GOLD HILL)
But before you do, perhaps it is a good time to hear the 'rest of the story".
After every big hub-bub in Gold Hill there seems to be an exhaustion phase and a lot of interesting
details are not reported and overlooked in general, due to burn out.
That was the case after the Dave Crawford era. So much energy was expended that almost nobody ever
knew the details of the LAWSUIT phase of that little incident.
Not many people knew that behind the headlines "BIKER SUES GOLD HILL" was another story.
It came in the mail one day and it was directed to then-Mayor Tim Roddam. I read a copy and although
this isn't verbatim it went something like this. "The City Councilors of Gold Hill are being sued and because the suit charges
Civil Rights violations, we need to inform you that we do not pay for damages on Civil Rights claims. We will however provide
a defense.. It then went on to request the names of the individual councilors that had ignored the complaints that the Council
had recieved against David Crawford, prior to his beating of the biker."
Boy was that a shocker, all that time that they were playing big-shot Councilors and making assinine
decisions that affected other people but not themselves, they never thought they would ever have to answer for it. As
it turned out, the Biker settled for a very small amount of money and compromised what was expected to be a very decent payout.
This close call lesson was apparently lost on Mr Hy Klaus, maybe it was during his not-quite-all-there
years.
Another interesting thing that happened is that when the City County Insurance got a good inside look
at what passes as accountability in Gold Hill, it raised our insurance rates to 700 times what everyone else was paying and
effectively closed the department.
After a two year hiatus, while we paid off everything, the City proposed to CCIS that it wanted CCIS
to reconsider letting us open up a Police Department again and "WE PROMISE THAT WE WILL NEVER LET IT GET OUT OF CONTROL AGAIN".
That is a nice thought, but the fact is, the Council has never been able to get the slightest modicum
of accountablity from the GHPD.
Asking why one phone bill is over $1000 a month or how our police cars are putting 100
miles on them every night, that will get you recalled. How dare they question the Chief's purchase of liquor on the City Credit
Cards or overtime paid at the rate of $40 per hour when no straight time was worked.
Don't even think of asking where our police cars are or how many of them........that make you DISLOYAL TO
THE CHIEF.
CCIS gave the city an investigator to do background checks and told them NOT
to hire Mr. Muchow and now that some of the Councilors have found out why, it may be too late. They have nutured another viper
at their breast, which is a poetic way of saying that now that he is attached to the public nipple of Gold Hill, what force
can make him let go? Especially with a bunch of "useful idiots" clambering around encouraging him "SUCK ON DEAN< KEEP SUCKING".
and he does.
Biker sues Gold Hill, ex-police chief
Wants $500,000 for alleged brutality
By CHRIS BRISTOL
The city of Gold Hill has been sued by a dirt biker who was roughed up by former police chief David Crawford after a chase.
Chris Brooks seeks $500,000 in damages, alleging city officials ignored "numerous" brutality complaints about Crawford,
which created an "atmosphere of lawlessness" that only encouraged the officer.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 27 in Jackson County Court, names Crawford as a co-defendant.
City officials declined comment Monday, citing advice of counsel. Nothing about the lawsuit had cropped up publicly in
recent weeks despite controversy over the future of the police department.
The council last week voted 4-2 to keep the police department instead of negotiating a contract with the sheriff's department.
The lawsuit alleges the city violated Brooks' civil rights by failing to properly train and supervise Crawford,
"thereby creating ... an atmosphere of lawlessness in which defendant Crawford would employ excessive and illegal force and
violence in the belief that such acts (would be) condoned and justified by his superiors."
Brooks also alleges negligence, as well as assault and battery.
Crawford resigned in June, shortly after he was convicted of three misdemeanors that stemmed from the Jan. 2 incident involving
Brooks and an unrelated off-duty traffic dispute in 1996. He had been named chief in 1997 after his predecessor was fired
for unrelated misconduct.
The lawsuit alleges Crawford kicked Brooks and jumped on his back after a chase along the railroad tracks near town, then
punched him in the side and dragged him by the handcuffs.
Brooks also alleges Crawford threatened to take him to jail if he failed to "keep quiet about what happened."
Medford attorney Lee Ferguson, who represents Brooks, declined Monday to comment on the case, except to affirm
her client's position that city officials had received complaints about Crawford and failed to act on them.
"We certainly think that, and we think the evidence is there," she said.
Without elaborating, the lawsuit alleges city officials ignored "numerous complaints" that Crawford was violent and "knew
or should have known" he was likely to injure someone or violate someone's civil rights.
"The failure ... to discharge defendant Crawford after notice of his previous violent and abusive behavior as a Gold Hill
police officer amounts to gross negligence and a deliberate indifference to the safety and lives of the citizens of Gold Hill,"
the complaint says.
Since his resignation, the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training has begun proceedings to suspend or
revoke Crawford's police certification.
Since his resignation the city has relied on Jackson County sheriff's deputies for protection.
Such coverage is for emergencies only.
Last week the council voted not to abolish a 1982 city ordinance that established the police department. The council then
began screening applicants |
Sunday, March 12, 2006 17:45.......all points bulletin issued by GHPD, a suspect
was reported trying to use a counterfeit GHPD "Good Driver" award at the Ray's Sentry Market shopping center. Suspect attempted
to cash in the phony "Good Driver" certificate at the Gold Hill Pharmacy where he tried to purchase 10 packages of Smarties
candies and a Chapstick. The clerk pushed a silent alarm button under the counter but the man became suspicious and took off
running.
Chief Dean Muchow said that they will engage all their man power in attempts
to apprehend the suspect. "We don't intend to let this person get away with this. We are in the process of organizing a neighborhood
to neighborhood search. Each of the officers will be assigned to one of the quadrants of the city. "
The "Good Driver" certificate program is a program that is really close to Chief Muchow's
heart. "I started the program as a community outreach, you know, sort of a 'get warm an fuzzy with the cops' thing.
The program, which would appeal to anyone with a 2nd grade mentality, issued little paper
certificates to a "good driver", who was then able to spend the certificate instead of money with participating
merchants, if they had no self-resepect.
"We never thought anyone would try and counterfeit the certificates" said Muchow.
Officer Hank Hobart, who will be working overtime on the manhunt said that he wants
residents to remain calm if they are being followed by one of the officers at night in a police car with it's lights out.
"We heard that there was a black man in town recently, we are going to see if we can find him first and see if he did it."
Muchow, who said he had a string of infantile projects planned that will now be put on hold.
"I really wanted to use these projects to try and distract the public's attention from my unsavory side, but I guess I better
get my little hiney back on the mean streets and do some police work." he chirped in his signature "cutesy" talk.
That's Encouraging??
Here's a saying for you, to quote Chief Muchow in the AP article below
:
"There's an old expression that if you are not making mistakes, you're not doing
anything"..........I never heard that one, is it a family thing?
What I am afraid I am hearing is "When I'm doing anything, it is probably a
mistake" or "Most of what I do could be catagorized as a mistake".
Okay, give the guy a break, that's what passes as wisdom in his family.
Here's one..........."You can fool all the people some of the time, you can fool some of
the people all the time, you can fool the people like Christine & Eugene Askisin any time you find a low enough common
denominator, and you can hardly ever fool me for long."
So we have a Police Chief that hides his personnel file, successfully from the Gold Hill
City Council and has been brought up on numerous criminal matters.
Then we have Officer Hobart who was fired in Sutherlin for Moral Tupitude.
And quite frankly, these people should not be wearing police uniforms in this town. The
reason I say this is because I do not believe that most of my neighbors have the same kind of sordid pasts that both of these
men bring to the table. I believe that very few of my neighbors have been fired for moral turpitude. I believe very few of
my neighbors have personnel records that need to be buried alive in a cat box.
It just isn't good policy to give law enforcement over to persons who have demonstrated
that they have lower standards of deportment than the people they are being asked to police.
How then can the Gold Hill City Council, who are also my neighbors, bring these persons
into this town and invest them with the trust that is due to a police officer? These men are not the same caliber as the men
who work for the Sheriff and they are not the caliber of person that is hired by OSP. They are a breed of their own and apparently
get passed from one unsuspecting community to another, subterranean like.
You Councilors do understand the damage that can be done to your neighbors by
these men, correct?
The Chief has lied repeatedly to members of the Council, both in and out of the public meetings
and yet they sit their like scared rabbits and let him walk all over, not just the City government, but the people themselves.
Scott Baker threatens a recall and the ones threatened, capitulate? Just like that?
Scott Baker can not even spell Council, from the reading of his application to the Council, he appears to be both semi-illiterate
and to not own a dictionary.
The perfect irony, Scott Baker, 5th generation public employee, a man who repeatedly states
that he wants to "slap summon upside the head" to translate to English "slap some one upside the head", even in Council meetings,
he "s'ports the police" does he? What about the law? does he know that it is illegal to "slap summon upside the head"? This
is your typical "police supporter" of Gold Hill today.
We know what they really mean, "We support the police no matter what they do, and anyone
who wants accountablity is agin the police and we're agin thum".
That is a sorry state of affairs.
DESPITE APPEARANCES, THERE REALLY ARE RULES FOR COPS
and despite Gold Hill's experiences, good cops do exist, although not inside
our city walls, and they do go by those rules.
*****************************************
BPSST STEPS UP TO THE
PLATE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
EMPLOYEES AND ETHICS
OREGON STARTS TO CATCH UP ON ETHICS ENFORCEMENT
Recently a friend of mine who works in Public Safety forwarded this bulletin to me which is re-printed
here. |
MEMO
From: "undisclosed@state.or.us"
To: dpsstbulletin@oregonvos.net
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 1:24 PM
Subject: dpsstbulletin Ethics Bulletin 13
The Board on Public Safety Standards
and Training (BPSST) has the legisaltive mandate to establish and enforce the physical, mental, and moral fitness standards
for all law enforcement officers, telecommunications and emergency medical dispatchers in the state.
This requirement
also defines the procedures for the Department and Board to use when denying or revoking certification of an officer, telecommunicator
or emergency medical dispatcher who has fallen below the moral fitness standards.
The Ethics Bulletin is published
to provide insight into the types of misconduct that could result in revocation or denial of certification. The following
cases of misconduct resulted in revocation and denial of certifications by DPSST in May 2004.
Case 1
Officer A was
discharged for cause after an internal investigation revealed that she violated numerous agency policies relating to her off-duty
behavior. Officer A partied in a hotel with an adult male and a male child and observed the male child being provided alcohol.
Officer A left sometime during the night however the male child later reported being sexually assaulted by the adult male.
Officer A also allowed her brother to reside with her while he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Officer A's conduct
ended her 6-year career. Officer A's basic Corrections and Basic Certifications were Revoked.
Case 2
Officer B resigned
after he was arrested for numerous felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from using his job as a corrections officer to
force a female inmate to have sexual contact with him. Officer B was convicted of felony C Coercion and Official Misconduct,
a misdemeanor. Officer B's conduct ended his 10-year career. Officer B voluntarily signed a stipulated Order revoking his
ceritifications. Officer B's Basic and Intermediate Corrections Certifications were Revoked.
Case 3
Officer C was
discharged for cause after repeatedly demonstrating insubordination by not following agency directives. Officer C left his
duty firearm on the back seat of his patrol vehicle, in plain view, after being ordered not to do so. He also failed to maintain
the fire equipment at the agency where he served as both a police officer and a fire fighter; this conduct caused the self-contained
breathing apparatus to malfunction on more than one occasion, Oregon Administrative Rules require that when one certification
is revoked, all certifications that the individual holds be revoked. Officer C's conduct ended his 6-year career. Officer
C's Basic Police Certification was Denied and his NFPA Instructor1, Instructor 2, Apparatus Operator1, Driver, Instructor
1 and Fire Fighter 1 Certifications were revoked.
Case 4
Officer D was discharged for cause after an internal investigation
revealed that she had improperly issued a traffic citation, perjured herself at the traffic court hearing, and was untruthful
with investigators. Officer D's conduct ended her 10-year career. Officer D's basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Police Certifications
were revoked.
Case 5
Officer E was discharged for cause after an internal investigation revealed he engaged in
a pattern of conduct and behavior that rendered him unfit and unsuitable to act as a supervisor of staff. The investigation
was preceeded by a vote of no confidence by agency staff that described a work enviornment that was permeated with fear, hostility,
intimidation and turmoil. Officer E's conduct ended his 24-year career. Offier E's Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Supervisory,
Management and Executive Corrections certifications were Revoked.
Case 6
Officer F was discharged for cause after
repeatedly violating agency policies that resulted in remediation, pay reduction, work plans and warning letters. Officer
F's agency finally discovered that Officer F had told over twenty truck drivers that he would not give them a ticket if they
destroyed their radar detectors, which they did. Offcier F's conduct ended his 7-year career. Officer F's Basic Police certification
was Revoked.
Case 7
Officer G was discharged for cause and later convicted of Rape in the Second Degree. Officer
G's conduct ended his 4-year career. Officer G's Basic Corrections certification was Revoked.
Case 8
Officer H received
a probationary discharge after internal investigation revealed he had inappropriate contact with a female inmate, while on
duty. Officer H was convicted of counts of Official Misconduct in the First Degree. Officer H's conduct ended his 10-monty
career. Officer H's Basic Corrections certification was revoked.
Excerpts from AFSCME article "DPSST Cracks Down on
Wrongdoers"
"In recent months we have seen a marked increase in decertification actions by the DPSST. It is important
for you to understand that in order to hold any public safety related position you must have current DPSST Certification.
Regardless of the actions taken or not taken by your employer, DPSST can and will start decertification or revocations proceeings
against you."
AFSCME Council 75 has no interest in seeing the officers who serve this state at every level unfairly
prosecuted or persecuted but we are also compelled to uphold the high standards of behavior that the Oregon Legislature and
DPSST has set forth in the law.
Each of you should understand that the Legislature, your employer, and your Union share
a common respect for the men and women who serve the citizens in their hours of crisis and trauma**..
You have been honored
in becoming one of Oregon's public safety officers and as such you will receive better retirement benefits, a shorter career
requirement and in many cases higher pay. In return you will be judged at a higher level, you will be expected to behave better
and you will be held more accountable for your actions* on and off the job.
As members of this elite group of public
employees you have made it clear you do not want us-as your Union-to defend or excuse many of the behaviors listed on the
DPSST Matrix and in the law. What you have told us is that you do want us to require uniform enforcement of this law between
all members of the public safety community. We will do everything in our power to be sure that these laws are enforced fairly
and evenly regardless of rank or status."
Reprinted excerpts with permission from author Mary Bodkin, Legal Political
Coordinator, Oregon AFSCME Local 75.
End of memo
reprinted by me with no permission from anyone
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ANY CHANCE THAT THE COUNCIL CAN GET THAT BADGE BACK BEFORE THE
NEXT SCANDAL??
Let's face it, if I know about it, and Sherry Brown knows about it, everyone will
soon know about it.
COPS TALK ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT!!
And guess what? they don't like it.
Ask Hank how the Douglas County Sheriffs liked it when he did it.
"Everything I have learned about bad cops, I learned from good cops."
WHAT'S ALL THE RUCKUS??
Christine Alford
Personally I am sick of hearing the cutesy speculation that Gold Hill's juxtaposition
to the Oregon Vortex attracts weirdos, and then we hire them as police officers. There is a logical reason why Gold Hill continues
to be immersed in police personnel issues.
The irony is that while I have been recalled and ex-Chief Rod Countryman has gone
on to greener pastures at JCSO, the problems with the GHPD continue. Could it be that there is LOGICAL reason for this
that the hysterics of recall petitioner Scott Baker failed to correct?
Could it be that the continued advice from the City Attorney and various PROFESSIONAL
law enforcement old timers is that Gold Hill should get out of the police business has merit?
According to highly respected ex-Medford officer and former Central Point Police
chief Mike Sweeney, the biggest problem in law enforcement today is not a shortage of money and it is not training, it is
a shortage of QUALIFIED personnel. The most qualified officers are hired by OSP, JCSO and the larger agencies. Even
those agencies hire persons that they would like to pass on, to fill their compliments. Gold Hill can not compete. We hire
personnel that we are warned not to hire, as in the case of Chief Muchow. And we hire people who can't get hired elsewhere.
NOT ALL THE TIME, but enough of the time to keep us in trouble.
To compound the problem, the Gold Hill City Council still does not have an expedient
forum to deal with personnel issues. They do not have a working dispute resolution process that can kick in to gear and establish
the facts of an issue and force closure. Instead the facts of every issue under contention is debated endlessly until the
Council members become senseless with it.
It was almost too easy for Chief Muchow to come in and work the Council against each
other. The majority of the Council wants reformation. Unfortunately they do not have a Mayor who respects the Council's
majority vote and has gone outside the Council to whip up a public frenzy in order to intimidate the Council to "lay off"
the Chief. Mayor Sherry Young can not pose a "lay off the cops" agenda to the Council by reason and persuade a majority of
the Council to follow her, so she has worked diligently to undermine the majority of the Council by staged events of hand
picked "police supporters" who apparently think that police should never be held accountable ever for anything.
I want to know why I see Chief Dean Muchow delivering a load of the "OBSERVER" in
the Gold Hill Police Car to a local market? You would think that a person who was so up to his neck in small town politics
and confusion in Union would have learned somthing about public relations this time around, but maybe he is just doing what
he does best.
Making a List, Checking it Twice
"gonna find out whose naughty or nice"
a secret look a Mayor Young's Christmas list.
- Get rid of Sanne Spechct
- Get rid of Judge Don Leahan
- Get rid of the Mary Goddard
- Get rid of any one who think Dean lies
- Get rid of the newspapers
- Get rid of the Public Meetings Laws
- Burn Roberts Rules of Order
- Find out who made this website and get rid of them
- Make a really big wreath and inflict it on someone
ZONE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE........ALL C-3 PROPERTY IN GOLD HILL
I was able to verify with the head of the Planning Commission, Margaret Dials, a
report that I thought had to be a mistake: that all the C-3 property in the city, which includes all the commercial development
along 2nd Avenue from the Raft Rental to Nugget Auto had it's zoning changed from C-3 to the Downtown Development District.
I also questioned if the notices had been sent out, why I didn't get one, when the
hearings were and the usual questions one might ask if they find that the zoning of their property, the zoning on their property
record, has been eliminated. Here is the answer that I got, there were some meetings, can't quite say what the subject was,
they were not Zone Change hearings, because they didn't have a zone change, they just changed the name of the zone and the
criteria within the zone.
But, Margaret assured me that I would like that new zone better than the old zone.
So bless her heart, and I mean that. I am sorry that the real world doesn't run that way. I would love to never have to look
at a code book again, and take a nice lady's word that I will love my new zone. I would also like to have been told that it
was changing so that I could evaluate the changes as to how they would effect our property. I would even be glad to have an
opportunity to do that now, but is seems as though all the language of the old C-3 Zone is gone out of the code book. I certainly
hope that an old copy is hanging around somewhere. Fortunately for me, the law actually mandates that property owners are
notified by mail of a Zone Change for the same reasons.
In order to verify what is reported here, just call City Hall 855-1525 and ask what
zone you are in.
Also, along the same vein, if you currently live in any residential zone, the definitions
of the R-2 zone are being transformed into R-3 by the same sleight of hand. Language such a "multiple family dwelling" and
"town house" is being insinuated into the R-2 verbage, by what legal process, I know not. These de-facto Zone Changes are
the handiwork of Rogue Valley Council of Government Planner Dick Converse and are approved with only the one dissenting vote
of die-hard Commissioner Jack Edler. Those girls just think the world of Dick Converse, and if Dick isn't changing something,
he isn't getting paid.
I have standing request at City Hall for the minutes of the Zone Change hearings
that took place changing C-3 to the Downtown Development District, although I know full well that they don't exist, it actually
takes some thinking in order to get a straight answer out of City Hall.
So far the answer was "yes we did (change your zone) yes we did have hearings, no
we didn't need to because it wasn't really a zone change, we just changed the name of the zone and the criteria."
You remember friends, in our last episode, the three Councilors had been taken from defeat to victory by the voters of
Moosebite Falls, I mean, Gold Hill. Snidley Whiplash, I mean, Dean Muchow, had hypnotized 100 of the citizens to chant, "they
don't support of the Police Department". Our heros were all tied to the railroad tracks, I mean put up for recall, by the
Muchow's "useful idiot" Scott Baker. In the nick of time the Councilors were rescued and now face the problems of how to get
Moosebite Falls back on track.
"I have more tricks" Muchow sneaks off to secretly plot his take-over of the town. Muchow, who is none other than the villian,
Ill-Regard Beauregard whose stinky politics destroyed the harmony of Union and also stunk up the lower corner of Idaho has
begun to run out of places where he isn't known. "We can pass the strong mayor initiative and then turn over all the power
to me!".
Ill-Regard was still stinging from his rebuff in the Budget Committee where he attempted to siphon off money from the Water
and Sewer Funds believes that he has until the November elections to put his zombies in place in the Council...........will
he succeed? or will he leave town like he left the others? blaming everyone but himself...........?? to be continued.
What is next in the upcoming episodes of the "City Councilors
who tried to Save Gold Hill" ??
Will Gold Hill be Muchow's Waterloo? Can they salvage the city's reputation as
the place where bad cops meet their end?.........stay tuned...........
editors note: my apology for subjecting the readers to the following
letter, the incoherent rambling and bad grammar places it somewhere between merely tedious to un-readable.
I have to believe that if this letter, written by Mayor Young to Mail Tribune editor Bob Hunter, can end up in my hands
it is incumbent upon me to share it with the public.
Do not imagine that I begrudge Gold Hill the right to have a fool for a mayor,
that is not so uncommon as one might think. BUT should a fool also be in charge of a police department? GOLD HILL
should already know the answer to this question.
The editor notes in parenthesis are mine, not Bob Hunters'. I thought it only kind to
inject some comic relief into an otherwise depressing whine-a-thon.
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