LTE to the Pierce County Herald from Nicole Baker, Elmwood Citizen 10-7-2007
(note: everything in Bold print was taken out of her letter by the Herald, before printing)
Once again the Village of Elmwood is having a problem with its' police department, apparently we have suspended our police chief- our only officer. I don't know about anyone else, but for me this is getting really old. We have had 4 or 5 Police Chiefs' in the last nine years. We can't seem to keep anyone around here for any length of time. And what's worse, I don't see how we are ever going to get anyone who can stand to be here very long.
It doesn't seem to matter what kind of person is hired, what their background is, or what their goals for our towns safety are. They all start out saying how they are looking forward to working here, how much they love a small town, and what a great place it is to live, and then before you know it they disappear.
It's time for our board to realize that we aren't having a problem with the hire-ees- the problem is our hire-ers.
Being the only police officer in a small town can never be an easy task. Not many people would relish being the only person taking all the flack in town. But there are rare people who are willing to give it a try. People who believe what my husband and I believe:That we can keep the good things about a small town and get rid of all the old garbage. That we should be neighbors, friends and families working together for a good community. That we should look out for each other, and keep our town a safe and happy place to raise a family.We don't all have to be best friends and we don't always have to agree, but we do need to be honest about what we want. Well here's what I want.I want my children, my home and my friends safe. I want to know that crimes are investigated. I want to know that my privacy is protected. I want to know that no one is above the law. I want to know that people are treated fairly and equally. I actually want to know that if I am caught speeding in town I might get a ticket-- or I could just get a warning- but I never want to think that I have the right to break the law because of who I am or who I know. And I expect that my husband, my friends, my children and my neighbors should be treated the same way. For this to happen, I want our town to have a police chief.
I do not understand what exactly the people that I voted for want, but it does not seem to be these things. You cannot hire someone to protect your most valuable possessions and then complain about them doing it. You cannot undermine every bit of authority that a person has and be upset when things don't look pretty in the newspaper. You cannot ridicule and disrespect someone in front of the entire town, and then punish him because half of the town has no faith in him. You cannot hire someone to uphold the law and expect him to bend it at your will.Whether we keep Chief Meyers or hire someone else, our board needs to accept the fact that they are what send officers running from this town. It is their job to hire someone to look after this community.
That person needs to work with the towns' people and be allowed to be a member of our community. That person needs to be someone our children can trust and respect. That person needs to be able to follow the law and not have to defend himself for it. And, most important, that person needs to be able to tell our board members that some things are just none of their business. And our board need to respect and accept that.
As you can see, the paper removed a lot of her writing. Many meaningful statements where taken away from the letter, so I wanted to place this into the blog for people to be able to read the whole story, not just what the paper felt like printing. They do have a policy that you can only send a Letter that is 300 words or less, or they can simply take out what they want to. So anyone that is going to write the paper, make sure your letters are 300 words or less. This can differ from paper to paper also.
As you can see, the paper removed a lot of her writing. Many meaningful statements where taken away from the letter, so I wanted to place this into the blog for people to be able to read the whole story, not just what the paper felt like printing. They do have a policy that you can only send a Letter that is 300 words or less, or they can simply take out what they want to. So anyone that is going to write the paper, make sure your letters are 300 words or less. This can differ from paper to paper also.
