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Star Packaging — One Year On

I checked my email this afternoon, and found a press release from a group called Voces de la Frontera. I am not affiliated with the group, know none of its members, and have no idea what their event will be like tomorrow, with the exception of the news that’s contained in a press release that…

Parsing Jim Coan’s interview with The Week on the Star Packaging Raid

Over at The Week, Mike Heine has an interview with Jim Coan, Whitewater Police Chief, about the Star Packaging Raid, and the plea of Star Packaging’s owner, Alan Petrie. I’ll leave Coan’s comments, and Heine’s text, in black, and my replies in blue, for easy distinction. Pending a sentencing hearing, a dark chapter in Whitewater’s…

Reader Mail: Inbox — Spear-o-Rama, Part 1

I’ve received two messages recently about former municipal judge, and perpetual vulgarian, Steven Spear. The first is from a member of the Common Council. I’ll post the message in full, with my reply thereafter. (The Council member refers to my post entitled, “Spear, Coan, and Brunner.”) From a member of the Common Council: Dear “Mr.…

Coming Attractions for the Week of July 30th

We have a busy week ahead of us, with following topics on deck: Reader Mail: A letter from a member of the Common Council. Reader Mail: People who want Steve Spear’s return as municipal judge. Reader Mail: A letter from the owner of the Double Dip Deli on ‘Public Art.’ (Yes, printed in its entirety.)…

Inflexibility as a Way of Life

Readers know that I’ve written frequently about the Star Packaging raid. The owner of Star Packaging, Alan Petrie (to whom I have no connection) faces multiple counts of supposed conspiracy to commit ‘identity theft’ for hiring Mexican workers. As I have written before, in my post entitled The Identity Theft Excuse, Petrie and the Mexican…

Spear, Coan, and Brunner

First, Spear. Our recently-resigned municipal judge, Steven Spear, was charged in March with disorderly conduct, following a criminal investigation as recounted in The Week: Whitewater Municipal Judge Steven Spear was found guilty Wednesday of disorderly conduct, a civil violation stemming from allegations he forcibly tried to kiss a female secretary and masturbated in front of…

Inbox: Reader Mail

I’ll take a moment on this excellent and fair day to catch up on some reader mail. (As I publish pseudonymously, I’ll not publish the names of any readers, either.) Here are the paraphrases of questions or comments that I’ve been asked, and my replies. Comment: …finally some one who tells it like it is!!!!!…

Jim Coan and Larry Meyer’s Shameful Legacy

The Star Packaging raid is nearly eleven months on, but the damage that Police Chief Jim Coan and now-retired detective and Larry Meyer did in the false name of ‘identity theft’ endures. (See my earlier post, “The Identity Theft Excuse”, for an explanation of how the raid on Star Packaging was falsely justified.) It’s a…

The Identity Theft Excuse

The Whitewater police tell us, repeatedly, that the Star Packaging raid, and their former requests of motorists for Social Security numbers, were efforts to prevent identity theft. There are three reasons that Whitewater’s identity theft investigations are wolves in sheep’s clothing: 1. WPD identity theft investigations target groups where there are a disproportionate number of…

The Disappearing A.D.A.

Larry Meyer, the retired Whitewater police investigator at the center of the controversial Star Packaging raid, was involved, also, in an investigation of a local businessman who’s now suing Meyer for harassment. Both of the businesses had significant numbers of Mexican workers. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line: From The Week,…

Coan on Star Packaging from the WPD Newsletter, Volume 48

The Star Packaging raid offers insight into how Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan presents his police force to the community, and as a consequence, the message he sends to his team. No action of Coan’s force has been as justly controversial as the Star Packaging raid, and at each stage his statements underlie an unwillingness…

Journal Sentinel on Star Packaging Raid

On May 1st, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a thoughtful, informative story on the Star Packaging raid. Georgia Pabst wrote the story, running on page B1, of the paper. Here are some nuggets from that story, that may not have been printed in local papers, with my comments following: 1. From City Councilman Maxwell Taylor,…

The Week on Star Packaging Raid

Mike Heine of The Week has a good summary of developments in the Star Packaging raid, where the Whitewater police and other agencies, acted against Mexican workers, and the American owner of the business, leading to criminal charges against both. Here’s Heine’s summary of the raid: Whitewater businessman Allen L. Petrie, owner of Star Packaging,…

Whitewater Register’s Fawning Story on Police Day

The Whitewater Register proudly proclaims that it’s in its 151st year, implying a place in our history, and entitlement to our respect, its present quality could never justify. Under editor Carrie Dampier, the Register is a fawning, uncritical paper. There’s no solid journalism in the Register, just laughable cheerleading, and ignorance of the challenges that…