Heros? Bully!

I listened to the noon news with a sigh of resignation as the story about a Dallas cop unfolded. It seems a car rolled through a stop sign in the wee hours of the morning in a rush to get to the hospital. He pulled it over - in the hospital parking lot. The occupants explained they had gotten a call that the woman's mother was near death and they were trying to get to her.

No dice. He refused to let them go, demanding the usual, drivers license, registration, proof of insurance. Flustered, the man had trouble finding everything and finally the woman fled into the hospital, arriving in the nick of time. The man did not.

I don't understand the mentality it takes for these jobs. The man in question was a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Did the officer want to make a score to impress his buddies?

How many of you as a kid wanted to be either a fireman or a policeman? What has happened to them as role models? Well, in Spokane they can get away with egregious behavior and lose little more than their jobs - if that. We just had a case wrap up where a drunken off duty officer chased a young man through a neighborhood ultimately shooting him in the head. He claimed the young man tried to steal his truck.

He was acquitted and will receive back pay. In the infinite wisdom of the judge, the jury was not allowed to be told the young man had already been found not guilty of trying to steal the truck in a previous trial! Fellow officers cheered the outcome. The chief declared she believes in the process.

Then just this morning there was a story about a former firefighter being convicted of assault. This is his second go round. The first, which cost him his job, was having sex with a sixteen year old in the firehouse and taking pictures of the episode to boot. To make matters easier for him detectives had him erase the photos from his cell phone.

The firefighter said the sex was consensual. In the firehouse? With a sixteen year old? I realize that everyone under the age of 60 looks 16 to me, but the offender was around 35 at the time! And married. The prosecuting attorney said he could not file charges because the evidence had been destroyed.

So. What did he do that finally caught up with him? He bought another 16 year old girl bras and asked her to model them in the adult care home run by his wife. He then fondled her, straddled her on a bed while giving her a massage. This time the charges stuck. His wife lost the license for her facility and he must have a psycho sexual evaluation. Do you think?

If soap opera writers ever get stuck for material for story lines they need but search the archives of the local paper for stories galore. This, unfortunately, is just one more in what seems to be a constant parade of deviant behavior.

Police and firemen are supposed to be our hero's! They're supposed to save lives, not ruin them!

As for the attorneys, the judges and the juries? That's another post after I get the distaste from this one out of my mouth!

What The Heck IS An Ombudsman?

The local Council On The Aging is always advertising for people to join the program. They listen to and look into complaints made by residents of the local homes for the aged. The Spokesman Review has one. Their function, by definition, is to look after the interests of the public.

ombudsman |ˈämbədzmən; -ˌboŏdz-|
noun ( pl. -men)
an official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration, esp. that of public authorities.
ORIGIN 1950s: from Swedish, ‘legal representative.’

The Spokane Police Department needs one. Though the relatively new police chief has done much to bring some semblance of order and responsibility to the department it still strongly resembles Camp Run-a-Muck.

This is another situation where, as a senior, I wonder if I'm losing my ability to reason. This is a position of independent oversight. The Spokane Police Guild is resisting. Why are they even involved? This is like Congress passing a law, sending it to the President for signature, him signing it then making a signing statement saying he has no intention of paying any attention to it. Bush is famous for this! Spokane seems to be following suit. Maybe because it's the Republican stronghold in Washington state. Follow the leader!

The strings being tied to the selection process for this position are enough to strangle any possibility of success. It is beyond pathetic and should be an embarrassment to all involved in the process.

Many here in the Coeur d'Alene area are constantly finding fault with how the city is run, some of which is justified. It is said the City Council wouldn't recognize an open meeting law if it jumped up and bit them and due process is not in their vocabulary. Maybe so. Maybe no. At least they function.

If I were a resident of Spokane I'd be fearing for my safety. If any action was misinterpreted by the long arm of the law, recourse would be slim to none. Running around in little tight circles by the Mayor and City Council trying to keep everyone happy is non-productive. That pile of dirt under the carpet is growing too large. It has long been obvious.

The citizens of Spokane deserve better. Just ask the family and friends of Otto Zehm.

One Person CAN Make A Difference!

Doug Clark is my favorite columnist at the Spokesman Review. It's the razor sharp wit in describing situations round and about Spokane that keeps me looking forward to his columns. He is also much more. He is a talented musician and he cares about his city.

What started as a one man show in 2003 has evolved into what is now known as Spokane Street Music Week. It has grown in size every year, I should guess, by the power of his personality. Buskers take up positions on street corners, preform to their heart's content and have the tip jars front and center. The proceeds benefit the Second Harvest food bank.

How simple a fund raiser is that! People love it, be they locals or visitors. This year the Chief of Police participated, the Mayor has promised to join in next year. What's so wonderful about this is they are two people who are often taken to task in Clark's columns!

What's even better is that the food bank helps somewhere around 48,000 people each week. This years proceeds will provide for more than eleven tons of food. That's a lot of food!

One man with an idea and the will to make it happen. Here's to you Doug! You're an inspiration!

Mean Streets

Every once in awhile I get an idea that is so brilliant I can hardly believe I came up with it! How to get Spokane city streets repaired!

Spokane's streets are so full of potholes it's nearly a national disgrace. Cars are thrown out of alignment, tires are burst, it's a mess. Tomorrow, however, is Bloomsday. An annual race that covers a route over many of these streets. Patching along the route had to be done to avoid potential injury to the runners.

They could take it a step further and solve pothole problems for the Coeur d'Alene area too. We could share the Ironman competition. They could start here with the swim in our lake, as usual. The bicycle stint could go from here to Spokane. By closing the west bound lanes of I-90 to vehicular traffic, the cyclists would have plenty of room and maybe the highway department could fix the stretch of sinking roadbed in Post Falls that swallowed cars all winter. For the safety of the cyclists of course.

Then run the marathon in Spokane. Twenty six miles. Only don't release the route until the day before the race. Spokane would have to fix all the city streets for the runners' safety, not to mention saving embarrassment. After all, not knowing the route, the runners would be training all over the city.

How would all this be paid for? Easy. With the kazillions of dollars we're told these events bring to our local economies.

Brilliant. Now really. Isn't it?