Page 14
The INDEPENDENT, July 16, 2009
Letters
From page 3
of our citizens. I have worked
closely for many years with
several police departments,
and my observation is that we
have a very fine department for
a smaller community. They
have my support, and I encour-
age our citizens to also support
them. They often go beyond
the call of duty to provide a
good service to this community.
Since we are not perfect, when
mistakes happen, we will admit
it, correct it, and go on serving
you.
I hope this helps you to un-
derstand what really has taken
place to cause such a discus-
sion among us.
Bob Young
City Administrator
City of Vernonia
Editor's Note: Mr. Graf is 18 years
old, not 19. Witnesses at the scene
of Mr. Graf's arrest on March 20
have indicated that the shotgun
was not found by the police until af-
ter the taser episode. Neither the
Juvenile Dept. nor the Columbia
County court system have any
record of Mr. Graf being charged or
convicted of assault, disorderly
conduct or any drug charges. We
could find no record of him being
arrested or found guilty of any of
these charges. There is an open
case against him for assaulting a
public safety officer on March 20.
Free speech is for all,
including dissenters
To the Editor:
At the city council meeting
last night (July 6), Mike Kay
made a speech and a very
good one at that. Kudos to
Mike! He even made me feel
bad. However, there are a cou-
ple of things that I must clarify.
First of all, I’m not bashing
them for the wonderful job they
did during the flood or at any
other time. The job they did and
currently do is truly, absolutely
wonderful. Second, Mike has
seemed to miss my point in
what seems to be an avoidance
of an explanation. The issue is
about abusive big city police
tactics, not good guy policing in
the community.
I thought about Mike’s
speech. The question that
comes to my mind is: Should
the good things these guys
have done in the past and also
in the present overshadow the
bad? If this is so, then it should
work both ways. There are a lot
of people, who on occasion, do
something stupid but are basi-
cally good people who have
done good things. However,
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the good things they have done
rarely overshadow the bad. Do
Vernonians really feel that the
fact these guys wear a uniform
and carry a badge exempts
them from any wrongdoing?
It is true that they have been
up here at our place a few
times, but Mike failed to point
out that it was not I who called
them and it was not me they
were called to inquire about. As
a matter of fact, the 20 years
that I’ve lived in this community,
I have never called for police
assistance. I generally handle
my own affairs. Mike also point-
ed out that in one instance they
had to make a report because
the teen in question was in-
volved in an altercation. The
truth of the matter is, the teen in
question was literally attacked
and beat up by two other teens
(who were actually adults). This
was typical teenage stuff that
occurs practically everywhere.
This was an unprovoked as-
sault and he sustained sub-
stantial injury. He didn’t want to
report this to the police. I ex-
plained to him that this is how
we do things in a civilized soci-
ety and finally convinced him to
make a report. I guess you
might say I was indirectly re-
sponsible for calling a cop; but
beating someone up is a seri-
ous matter.
Now the question that Mike
fails to answer is: How does a
teenager who has no training,
and who was recently assault-
ed by two teenagers, all of a
sudden develop super-human
strength and fighting ability to
outmaneuver three large men,
who each weigh more than 225
lbs., and who are trained in
martial arts? Also, it is alleged
that the teen was severely in-
toxicated. Of course, this is ac-
cording to the police. In my ex-
perience, I have never run into
a severely intoxicated person
who couldn’t be outmaneu-
vered. It just doesn’t make
sense!
Someone asked why Mike
would want a part time job as
police chief when he already
has a full time job (of course,
last night Mike denied ever
wanting this job). Simple expla-
nation…the city council created
the part time chief’s position.
This means the city council can
make this position full time
whenever they so desire. So, if
Mike did decide he wanted to
be chief all they would have to
do is change it back. I person-
ally don’t care one way or the
other who the police chief is,
but I certainly wouldn’t want a
chief who feels brutality is a
standard police practice. Selec-
tion of a chief is a decision that
could impact the whole com-
munity. The city council should
present these matters to the
community before they approve
them. The community has a
right to comment on matters of
this nature before they’re en-
acted. All labor agreements,
potential hiring of police officers
or chiefs, city administrators,
hiring of law firms, and all of the
particulars associated with
these should be made public
beforehand.
A word for the city council: It
seems that Randy has never
heard of “freedom of the press.”
It appears that he and the other
council members have accused
The Independent of catering to
a few individuals who have
some sort of grudge against the
VPD. The city council has ac-
cused The Independent of
printing a series of articles con-
taining non-truths about the city
council and VPD. The articles
recently printed in The Inde-
pendent are not, and I say it
again “ARE NOT” the opin-
ion(s) of The Independent or
it’s publishers; these articles
are strictly my opinion and the
opinions of others who feel the
same way. Also, even though
they do possess this power it
isn’t necessarily the responsi-
bility or job of the editor to
screen or determine what “Let-
ters to the Editor” will be print-
ed. This space in The Indepen-
dent is graciously provided for
public use. Nothing derogatory
has even been printed so I’m
not sure what Kevin Hudson
meant by “crossed the line”.
Isn’t our First Amendment
Right wonderful? Our founding
fathers gave us this gift to voice
our grievances and challenge
the government through free-
dom of the press. Without The
Independent, and other news-
papers like The Independent,
this wouldn’t be possible. I am
very grateful to The Indepen-
dent. A publication that believes
in freedom of the press and our
right to voice our opinions and
concerns is an exceptionally
valuable asset to the communi-
Please see page 20