No Show Ch. 01

Bettina: "The Council voted to go into Executive Session, and peacefully exited the room. The peaceful protests remained peaceful, then eventually dispersed. The Council did vote in Executive Session to ratify the Budget, and scheduled a special session for next Monday, November 1st, for the second reading of the bill."

Bettina: "Sources tell Channel Two News that the TCPD, under the direction of Police Lieutenant Jerome Davis, who was demoted from MCD Lieutenant to 1st Precinct Lieutenant, acted very aggressively towards the peaceful protesters in evacuating the Council Members from the Council Chamber, despite being told to stand down by Senior Deputy Louis Bailey, who holds the equivalent rank as Lieutenant Commander Teresa Croyle does."

Bettina: "Channel Two News has learned that Senior Deputy Bailey will refer Lieutenant Davis to both Sheriff Griswold and Inspector General James Goodwin for insubordination, and that he is also filing a grievance against Chief Deputy Cindy Ross for unspecified reasons."

Bettina: "And all of this chaos and confusion developed because Police Commander Donald Troy did not show up at the scene, despite being called and notified of the potential for violence! This comes on the heels of Commander Troy not appearing on scene during the train wreck and explosion two weeks ago. Channel Two News has learned that Mayor Daniel Allgood is requesting a meeting with Sheriff Griswold and Police Chief Moynahan to discuss Commander Troy's failures to appear at these crisis situations."

Bettina: "And this is an editorial comment by me, as Executive Producer of KXTC Channel Two News: after not appearing at the scene of of the train wreck and explosion two weeks ago, and now not showing up at last night's incident, Commander Troy's Officers will rightly wonder if he will abandon them during future crises. Donald Troy is becoming a cancer in the Public Safety Department, and Sheriff Griswold needs to take the correct steps swiftly to excise that cancer before it totally destroys the morale of the TCPD..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Please tell me you can add that to your libel lawsuit against Bettina." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as she, Sheriff Griswold, ADA Patterson, Myself, Chief Moynahan, Deputy Chief Muscone, and Chief Deputy Ross drank coffee and watched the propaganda-cast in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Likely not." I replied. "At least not the parts related directly to me. I was called, by Mayor Allgood. I sent it to voicemail. He did say in it that a hostage crisis was developing, but I did not listen to the voicemail until hours later."

"And I ordered you to send that call to voicemail." Sheriff Griswold said. "So it's my fault, not yours."

"Thank you, Sheriff, but it's neither of our faults." I replied. "The Mayor voted to keep me out of Executive Sessions, but comes running and whining at the first sign of trouble. And it was handled well enough without me needing to be there. Anyhoo, Bettina covered her ass by saying that last part about me was an editorial comment."

Me: "What I will say is that if this were not a serious and pathetic situation, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing at Bettina's contradictions in just that one story. She says the protesters were (air quotes) 'peaceful', but says I did not respond to the (air quotes) 'potential for violence'. She said the Council Members peacefully left the Chamber, then said they were 'evacuated', apparently by Jerome Davis. She made sure to attack Jerome for being 'aggressive' towards the black protesters, and then said he was being accused of insubordination, but of course she does not mention that he is black himself."

Me: "As to the other stuff she reported, I don't know what's what, so I can't say just how close her biased reporting comes to outright slander and libel."

Cindy said: "Like you, I don't believe in the concept of the 'lie of omission' being an active lie. But it is dishonest of Bettina to have left out a lot of important details that would otherwise give context to what happened. First of all, the agitators were moving to prevent the Council Members from leaving, but Jerome led some of his TCPD Officers into the well of the Chamber and blocked the agitators, allowing the Council Members to get out the side door behind Kelly Carnes and go up to the Private Council Chamber."

Cindy: "Second, Louis Bailey did order Jerome to stand down, and said that he, Bailey, was the Incident Commander at the scene. That was before the evacuation of the Council Members, so when Jerome and his people moved to protect them, Bailey accused Jerome of insubordination and literally threatened to arrest Jerome. A standoff between the TCSD Deputies and the TCPD Officers ensued, which didn't do much for their safety nor resolve the crisis of the violent agitators."

Cindy: "That's when I arrived. I listened to both sides, then told Bailey that Jerome was right to have moved to protect the Council Members. Bailey then told me that he was the Incident Commander and in charge of the scene, and that I was 'just the Sheriff's Staff Officer', and not over him in the field. I've filed my insubordination complaint with the Sheriff, and you can decide what to do about him, Sheriff."

Sheriff Griswold said "I'll address that in a minute. Let me show you this, first. It proves those bastards weren't peaceful nor just protesting grievances, but were trying to gin up real problems." He had been plugging his iPad into the dock on the table, and now he ran a video clip from the Council meeting that had been placed into our Evidence servers:

It showed the Council Members coming in, and the meeting being called to order by the Mayor. The audience was chock-full of green-shirted and red-shirted agitators, and some were in aisle near the well on the left side, the side closest to the side door next to Kelly Carnes.

"Oh my God." Teresa gasped at what came next. Mayor Allgood called for the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited. The Republican Council Members stood up, as did Sheila Sorrells and Susan Weston on the Democrat side. And about 15 people in the audience, dressed normally, probably there to see their lawsuits served or to address the Council, also stood up.

But as they started reciting the Pledge, the entire contingent of t-shirted agitators got up and began screaming "RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!" The noise was overwhelming, drowning out the few people reciting the Pledge. Mayor Allgood led the Pledge to completion as the agitators screamed "RACIST! RACIST! RACIST! RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!..." over and over and over again. The normally-dressed people quickly got up and went up the aisle, and were able to get out of the Chamber.

I said: "That's the mantra of the Totalitarian Left. Patriotism is Racism. Patriotism is a threat to our 'Democracy'. And I didn't hear Bettina mention any of that." I said.

"And it keeps getting better." Cindy said as she plugged her iPad into the dock on the table. "I want y'all to watch this clip that was put into our evidence servers last night." Narrating the video as it played, she said "Okay, this picks up just after I got there. The protesters are chanting 'Defund the Police' over and over, but not with as much enthusiasm as before. And now watch..."

We all saw it. At least 40 of the protesters either got their cellphones out of their pockets or looked down at them as they were already holding them, and read the messages on them... and then began moving en masse to the exits and out of the Chamber!

"Just like that." I mused.

"Just like that." Cindy said. "They cleared the Chamber and the back hallway, most of them going out the emergency exit at the far end of the hallway directly to the outside, on cue, and as if directed to do so. They just walked out of there and dispersed, as if leaving a movie theater after the show had ended."

Cindy then said: "And here's the punch line: Amber Harris was there, just inside the back entrance to the Chamber we normally use. She cattily asked me when you were arriving, Don, and I told her you weren't. I then watched her take a cellphone out of her pocket and type something, then those 40 or more cellphones went off at once, and everyone started leaving."

"Shut the front door!" Teresa exclaimed. "Can we bust the bitch for that?"

I said "Only if we can find the phone that messaged all the others, and find it in Amber's physical possession. And I suspect it's either at the bottom of the River, or she handed it off to one of the leaders of the agitators."

The Sheriff said "But that's not the important point in all that. It proves something we were getting an inkling about. Crowbar, I didn't have you ignore that text from Allgood just because it was your birthday. We kept you out of it because we had good intel that someone was trying to set you up."

"And if you had gone down there," Chief Moynahan said, "those agitators would've really turned violent, and attacked the Police and Deputies. Oh sure, we have the TASERs, we have the guns, and they don't. But it would've been ugly, we'd be processing hundreds of arrests, and the US DOJ Civil Rights Division would be storming the gates of the Police Station even as we speeeeek."

I was stunned. I said "But... but they could've attacked anyway. Whether I was there or not."

"True." said Griswold. "But with you not there, the Press had no video of the Iron Crowbar doing Iron Crowbar things."

"Guys..." I said, trying to marshal my thoughts, "I... I can't go around acting scared of the Press nor the God-cursed DOJ. And however well-intentioned you were, you can't protect me from them if I'm going to do my job... or are you going to ask for my Badge?"

"Noooo, farrrrrrr from that." said the Chief. "But we want you to lay low, just until after Election Day, and then we think things will simmer dowwwwnnnn."

"I wish you had told me beforehand." I said with asperity, and the beginnings of anger.

"We're telling you now, Crowbar." growled Griswold.

"And it's worked out better this way." the Chief added helpfully. He was not helping, at least not my mood.

"And y'all have fallen completely into the Media's trap." I said. "It was 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'. Now they're calling me a coward and a deserter, and creating rifts between me and the TCPD's Officers, whose loyalty and respect I've worked my ass off for years to earn, but now could be ripped to shreds by the Media's lies."

"Come on, Don." Tanya said. "They understand, and they know better than to believe Bettina's bullshit."

"Do they?" I fired back. "Yeah, they might understand when they find out 'oh, he wasn't at the train site because he was investigating a murder', but they sure as hell won't understand 'oh, he was told to stay with his family on his birthday'. And you damn well better believe that is what Bettina will be saying next."

Cindy said "They still know you're not a coward, and that you're not abandoning them."

Teresa said, "No, I see what Don is saying, and he's exactly right. They either don't know or they don't care about the past. Especially our younger Officers. And while a lot of Assistant Chiefs don't show up at every little incident, our Police Force knows they can act with confidence because they are being led by a man who not only has their backs, but is right there with them, unlike New York City, Chicago, and that shithole Wilmington, Delaware."

Cindy persisted: "But if he had been there and they'd turned truly violent, it wouldn't just be the Press accusing us of Police brutality, it's be the US DOJ Civil Rights Division coming in and---"

"SO WHAT?" I yelled. As everyone else looked at me in dumbstruck silence, I yelled "We are not going to be intimidated into not doing our jobs by threats from Derrick B. Harland's racist 'woke' DOJ---"

Sheriff Griswold stood up and intervened, interrupting me: "All right, all right, let's all take a breath. Crowbar, we acted on what we believe was good information. And at least for last night, I think we did the right thing. We'll talk about that going forward, but right now we have other issues to sort out."

Griswold remained standing as he said: "It's a funny thing... the Constitution is a relatively simple document, pretty easy to read, and it's only been amended 27 times... 11 of those in one Bill of Rights." (Author's note: Amendments 1-10 and 27.) "And yet, the Supreme Court of the United States has kept itself busy for over 200 years 'interpreting' that simple document, often in different directions, and often twisting logic into a pretzel in the process."

Griswold: "We have something similar here. I thought the structure of the Public Safety Department was simple, and clear. But last night showed me that not only do some people have different interpretations of the rank structure... and that is being very kind in my assessment... but that there are deep divisions between the Police and Sheriff's Department, and a total lack of understanding of each Department's role in our County's law enforcement structure."

Griswold: "To that end, Crowbar, Carole will be hating me for this, but I'm going to be having 'meetings' to figure this out and make the proper corrections." I smiled wanly at the joke, but no one else really did; they did not really know about Carole's hatred of her parents going to 'meetings'.

The Sheriff finished up by saying "But first we'll have the grievances and insubordination charges to work out, so expect to be called into those, as well."

In the silence as the Sheriff finished, Chief Moynahan spoke up, saying: "I have a question for twooooo Co-mannnnd-rrrrrrrs: where was Captain Hewitt last night?"

Teresa stepped up and took ownership of it, saying "I apologize for not having that information for you, Chief. I'll find out as soon as we're done here, and get back to you and Commander Troy as soon as I have that."

Moynahan said: "Don't blow it up into more than it is, especially if it's a legitimate reason. But it might have bee farrrrrr better if Hewitt had been there."

Cindy said "With respect, Chief, I don't know what Hewitt could have done that Davis didn't do. And Bailey outranks Hewitt, too."

"Troooooo." drawled the Chief. "But Hewitt and Bailey are both in the same Captain's Union, which would make all these grievances much easier to deal with. As it is... Davis may have done the right things, but you better bee-lieeeeeve the Union and Captain's Unions are going to squabble and bicker like cray-zeee..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hello and welcome, to Fox Eight Sunrise!" said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am sharp, from the Fox University studios. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me as always is Priya Ajmani. Good morning, Priya."

"Good morning, Catrina." said the drop-dead gorgeous Indian reporterette, sitting next to Catrina on the sofa, and both of them showing off their shapely legs. "Good morning, everyone. Here's what's in the news. Violent agitators stormed the Town & County Council meeting last night, sneaking in a back exit that was opened from the inside, and overwhelming the few Sheriff's Deputies that were present at the time to completely fill up the public Council Chamber."

Catrina: "The agitators then did this as the meeting began. Roll tape." Tape rolled, showing the hatred-filled agitators shouting "RACIST!" over and over as the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Then the feed of the Council Members trying to leave, agitators moving to stop them, and Lt. Davis getting in the way and helping the Council Members escape was shown as Catrina narrated it.

Priya: "The agitators continued chanting 'Defund the Police', then, as this video shows, a bunch of them got text messages all at once, and the entire group moved out en masse and ultimately went outside and dispersed. Sources tell Fox Eight News that the entire protest and demonstration may have been orchestrated with the purpose and intent of committing even more violence if and when Commander Donald Troy showed up."

Catrina: "Two weeks ago, Commander Donald Troy was accused by our competitors in the Leftwing Media of dereliction of duty, because he did not show up at the site of the train explosion. Our competitors, whom Commander Troy is suing for libel, did not tell you what you had the right to know, that he was investigating the triple homicide of a former DEA Agent and what was believed at the time were two Sheriff's Deputies."

Priya: "Commander Troy was not at the scene of the violent protest last night by order of the County Sheriff, but he did send this video email to everyone in the Public Safety Department. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Your Iron Crowbar saying "I just want to let all of you know how proud I am of your actions and your professionalism in serving and protecting our Citizens over the last few weeks. All the branches of the Public Safety Department worked very well together during the train accident, and you did not need me to be there for your courage and professionalism to be shown shown to the world."

Your Iron Crowbar: "I was also impressed by the professionalism, courage, and fast actions of the Town & County Police Force last night in getting the Council Members to safety. I especially commend Lieutenant Jerome Davis for his leadership and decisive actions during that situation, and his team of Officers that enforced the law and got the victims to safety."

Your Iron Crowbar: "My trust and confidence in the well-trained and dedicated professionals of our Police, Fire Department, EMTs, Public Health personnel, and Sheriff's Deputies was validated both last night and two weeks ago. With such outstanding people as you, I know I don't have to be at every incident, every single time. Don't let the propagandists of the deeply biased and dishonest Mainstream Media demoralize you. Just keep on protecting and serving the People of our County like you have been, and know that I and your leadership have your backs..."

Back to Catrina live: "Priya, you once worked for our competitors, the ones Commander Troy has filed a libel suit against. I simply don't understand this. What is their thinking in attacking Donald Troy when he's leading his Officers to quell violent riots... which they call peaceful, but clearly aren't... and then attack him when he's not physically present at some incident?"

Priya: "It's several things, Catrina. First, they believe they can have their cake and eat it too. They believe they can attack Commander Troy from either side of a situation, no matter what he does. But worse, they are insulting their viewers's intelligence. They apparently believe they can take opposite sides of something in their unholy zeal to push their agenda... which in this case is to destroy all the good that Donald Troy does, and is... and the viewers won't remember what they said before, or they'll excuse it and just go with the current narrative."

Catrina: "Do they not realize they're on tape? That what they said before is preserved, and can be re-shown along with their contradictions the next time?"

Priya: "Catrina, I think the more accurate question is if they care about that. They truly don't care about the facts and the truth. All they care about is their agenda, and the optics of the moment..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wow." I said as my Angels and I sat in my office for the Angels Meeting, and drank coffee as we watched. "Who gave Priya my talking points?"

"You owe her a pickle-tickle for that." Cindy said, deadpan flat. "Especially for showing that footage of the rioters checking their phones and then leaving." Tanya burst out laughing, and Teresa chuckled more quietly.