Did you read the letter to the editor from James Dickerson in this week's YS News? I don't know Mr. Dickerson. He claims to be a resident, but I don't see him listed in the Redbook. It seems like he has a beef with the Yellow Springs Police Department.
In a letter laced with pejoratives with no specific facts to back them up, other than vague allegations of door kicking and fence busting, he claims our local officers are capable of using tasers to get cats from trees and do a poor job of public relations.
"They profile and discriminate and do things that are illegal and immoral," Mr. Dickerson writes.
He ends his piece with a rant about "an ugly gate in the Glen, making our beautiful Glen trashy, like there are pigs and cows on the other side of the gate."
One can only imagine that Mr. Dickerson had his door kicked in and his fence trashed, but he never says that. And he never says that he personally witnessed any of the behavior of which he complains. His mention of the word "misdemeanor" leads me to believe he might have been charged with something.
If it were not for that priceless item in the "Police Reports" about the guy who reported that he was missing a sum of cash, five bottles of salad dressing and a jar of mustard, Mr. Dickerson's letter would have been the funniest thing in this week's paper. Was that why the News published it? One has to wonder. In the past, it seems they were very careful about publishing unsubstantiated allegations.
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5 comments:
Good call on that one - why is that stuff printed in the News? I guess everyone gets to have their say but let's get semi-reasonable.
I admit the letter sounded crazy, but not EVERYTHING he said was....the police dept. has been a little bit overboard in the past couple years. I know much of it has been due to the aftermath of the Tim Lopez murder/drug dealing, but not everyone who isn't dressed neatly is into drugs. Sometimes I feel lucky to be a known local, if you know what I mean.
My problem is not with the allegations, it's with the YS News publishing a letter like this were there is no substantiation for them. Early on, Mr. Dickerson attempts to establish his credibility by stating that he is a long-term resident, but he fails to include identifiable specifics or any basis for his knowledge of his allegations.
The police may seem overbearing, but I grew up in this town in the 1960s and 1970s and it was a scary place. Sure the cops were cool. There were rapes, robberies and even a murder or two of Antioch students, all related to drugs or drug dealing. Crimes went unreported because of the drug connection but everyone knew and the students fled in droves. Antioch almost closed because of the drop off in student enrollment. Chief Grote was a classmate of mine so he probably remembers those good old days....YS still has that old rep as a drug haven in some quarters. We're known in Columbus and not for our pottery either. I'm happy for the thin blue line.
Just another rant - with no facts to back it up! At first I thought it was posted by John B. It had that same "I'm mad about something, but I'm not sure what." ring" to it.
I for one, appreciate the YS police. Tim's Lopez's death was a big wake-up call for this community. Anyone who is afraid of our police is probably doing something illegal.
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