In Missouri, a state highway patrol memo ignorantly linking members of the Libertarian Party (America’s third largest party) with militant fringe groups is the subject of the Missouri LP’s legitimate anger. One finds many people who are ignorant of what the LP represents, but surely someone in government must have been able to visit the…
Police
City, Police
Whitewater Publication Requests
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good afternoon, my fellow residents. I have two quick requests that someone might be able to fulfill, short of an open records request. First, I am looking for the issue of the Whitewater Police Department’s quarterly newsletter in which Chief Coan writes about the police officer as warrior. The issue is probably several years old,…
City, Police
The Meyer Lawsuit: Pending Questions
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well, we in Whitewater, Wisconsin are not given to introspection. We lead by cheerleading. That’s not my view; I am happy in dissent from, and against, cheerleading. I would be ashamed to be so callow. The federal constitutional lawsuit against former investigator Meyer and the Whitewater Police Department is now settled. The world did not…
City, Police
The Meyer Lawsuit: Our Silent Press
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well, if settlement in this case represented anything good for the city, would it not have been writ large on the front page of the Whitewater Register? Settlement was a disgrace for the city, as I once wrote when it seemed possible: Larry Meyer’s career has been bad for the city, and all the king’s…
City, Police
The Meyer Lawsuit: The Intervening Event.
by JOHN ADAMS •
The constitutional lawsuit against Larry Meyer and the police department he served in our small town was filed in May 2005. It was settled, and the case closed, in September 2008. One might imagine that, during the pendency of the suit, investigator Meyer (now retired from the force), might have had a different profile. Not…
City, Police
The Meyer Lawsuit: Introduction
by JOHN ADAMS •
On May 24th, 2005, Whitewater resident Steve Cvicker filed a federal lawsuit against Whitewater Police Department investigator Larry Meyer, individually and as a member of that department, among other parties. The case closed on September 15, 2008, with a signed stipulation for dismissal, following settlement. Four years is not a long time for litigation, although…
City, Police
Police and Fire Commission — Last Meeting, 8/20/08 (Part 2)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here is Part 2 of my post on the 8/20 PFC meeting. Freedom of Expression Resolution. In the spring, the Common Council, on a 5-2 vote, passed a resolution re-affirming rights of free expression. The resolution was reviewed, but not adopted at the August PFC meeting. The reception – but not adoption – offers insight…
City, Police, Uncategorized
Police and Fire Commission — Last Meeting, 8/20/08 (Part 1)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll post now on the latest Police and Fire Commission Meeting, from August, as a prelude to a week-ending series of posts on the constitutional lawsuit against Meyer and the City of Whitewater. I will devote Saturday to that series on the lawsuit, and what it so clearly tells about our leadership and politics. (FREE…
City, Free Markets, Libertarians, Police
The Different Standard
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sometimes a story about one topic reveals more about another. In Pewaukee, there have been chronic concerns about the temperament and conduct of that community’s police chief. In early August, the Pewaukee City Council requested that the city’s Police and Fire Commission remove police chief Gary Bach from office. Among the Common Council’s charges against…
City, Police
Where’s Whitewater’s M56 Scorpion Anti-Tank Weapon?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Police, Press, Register Watch™
Register Watch™ for October 2nd: Patrol Cars
by JOHN ADAMS •
On the back page of the paper is a brief, unattributed story entitled, “Whitewater police patrol cars are sporting two new additions.” On Media Relations. There’s a false theory that says that if you repeat the same information enough times, people will believe what you’ve said, regardless of how erroneous it might be. It’s…
Police
The Dangerous Paramilitary Direction
by JOHN ADAMS •
I am a blogger from Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town of fourteen thousand in America’s Dairyland. There is, thankfully, no large and organized local threat against our city, or thousands of other cities in rural America. We are far from America’s fanatical foreign enemies. Richland County, South Carolina is far away, too. It’s not so…
Police
Wisconsin as a (Library) Police State
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Smoking Gun website reports that twenty year old Heidi Dalibor was arrested, handcuffed, and photographed for a mug shot because she had two long overdue books from the Grafton, Wisconsin library. It’s nearly funny until you consider that arrest over two library books is an absurd waste of police time and effort. A serious…
Police
The Police and Fire Commission Meeting for August 20, Part 5
by JOHN ADAMS •
5. Why not televise? Months ago, I came out against televised PFC meetings, on the theory that television would inhibit complaints. It was a faint hope. Candidly, it’s the reputation of leadership that makes reliance on any supposedly confidential process dubious. I’ll ask a question: Have police leaders ever sat in on citizen-commissioner interviews of…