Schoolhouse Rock Ch. 05

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

1:30pm. I was called into the Chief's Conference Room. Inside were Chief Moynahan, sitting at his usual seat at the near end of the table. To his left was Sheriff Griswold.

"Sit here by me, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff. I did so.

Then I found out why: Chief Moynahan picked up the TV remote and said "As some in here are fond of saying: Let's watch some tee-veeeeeee."

He started the DVR, and we watched the SNN coverage of Katherine Woodburn's press conference introducing the 'Free Press Protection Act'.

When the press conference ended, the Chief turned off the DVR. The utter silence of the room was finally broken by Sheriff Griswold, who growled "Any comments on that?"

"That cannot possibly be Constitutional." I said. "I certainly will not abide by it."

"Any ideas why Woodburn is doing this?" asked the Chief.

"She was once the owner of KXTC." I said. "So she's still a filthy journalist at heart. Looks like KXTC went to her. Also, it may be as a distraction. Maybe we're closer to some campaign finance crimes on her part than we realized. We should have the SBI-OER open a formal investigation of her finances. Maybe ask the FBI to join that effort."

"Could well beeeee." drawled the Chief.

"Any word on any KXTC actions?" I asked.

"I talked to Burt West earlier this morning." growled the Sheriff in the way only he can growl. "I'd planned to not do anything about Bettina unless he acted first. But after hearing about the P.I.s, I called him and told him we knew what he was up to. He got snotty about it, so I told him that I was going to go ahead and get the Court to issue the arrest warrants for Bettina and her cameraman."

"Let's do it, then." I said.

"What do you want to do about Woodburn, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff.

I just shook my head. I did not care to answer that question, at least not out loud...

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

"Dammit, Priya!" Cindy Ross shouted into her personal cellphone as she sat in her office with the door closed. "What the hell are you guys doing down there?"

"What do you mean?" Priya asked lightly, which annoyed the hell out of Cindy.

"That fucking Press bill, Priya!" Cindy snarled. "Stop playing shit games with me. Why did Woodburn do that?"

"If you want candor," Priya said in her 'sweet' voice, which was actually her intentionally snotty voice, "it was because Commander Troy began investigating Senator Woodburn's finances. It's retaliation, as well as helping Bettina fight back against Don's persecution of her."

"What?!" Cindy exclaimed. "Priya, no one is investigating Katherine! The investigation started against the Heritage Cloisters HOA because Teresa lives there! And then someone set Teresa's house on fire! If her children had been at home, they'd have died! Does that not mean anything to you?"

"Whaa?" Priya gasped, totally confused. "We know a house caught fire, but I didn't know it was Teresa's."

"Yes, it was." Cindy said, taking control of the conversation. "And we were only looking at the HOA's finances. No one was pushing it about Katherine's side... but that may change. Furthermore, I've been trying to stop this war between Don and the Press, and you may have irreparably damaged that, to the point... oh, never mind that. Just know that your Senator didn't need to file that bill, and now there's going to be consequences, and there's nothing more I can do to help you." She disconnected before Priya could say anything.

She sat in her office, alone, and numb. She had just possibly permanently damaged her relationship with her cousin and friend, and for what? To stop him from escalating things?... only to find that the Press was relentlessly escalating everything just as much, and had no intentions of stopping, as Don had rightly said?

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

Sarah Honeysuckle came to the podium of the Governor's Press Room in the Governor's wing of the State Capitol building. "Governor Jared believes that the bill filed by Senator Katherine Woodburn, which she called the 'Free Press Protection Act', is unconstitutional in that it would compel persons to speak, which violates the rights afforded them by the U.S. Constitution."

"Furthermore," continued Honeysuckle, "the Press hardly needs further so-called protection, but just as one has Free Speech rights but cannot yell 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, the Press does not have the right to impede Police and Fire personnel doing their dangerous jobs."

"The Governor does not expect this bill to pass, but if it does he has a pen, and he will use it to veto that legislation."

"The Governor also believes that Senator Woodburn and the rest of the Legislature need to stop playing petty games and start seriously working on a Budget that is acceptable to all sides..."

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

"Come in, Tim." Marcie Harper said. She was sitting at her teacher's desk on the set where she filmed her videos. Sluman came in and sat down in the chair indicated on the other side of the desk.

"Tim," Marcie said, "the amount of product that you're wanting us to deliver is staggering, over twice as much as we normally move on a weekend. What is that about?"

"Ma'am," said Sluman, "after missing last week's shipment, we're going to need to supply more product this week."

"I can see them wanting more than normal," said Marcie, "but twice as much? It's not like our customers didn't sell any. They just got supplemental amounts from other sources. They're not that severely impacted."

"Ma'am," said Sluman, "all I can tell you is that the orders poured in, and that's what we need to move."

"Tim," Marcie said, a certain craftiness showing on her face, "are you sure that's the...real... reason?"

"What do you mean, ma'am?" Tim asked. Then something told him to look around. When he did, he saw that four 'security' men were behind him, guns drawn.

Sluman was grabbed, his hands manacled behind his back, and then he was re-seated in his chair. Marcie's look at him was one of cold fury, and determination.

"When you told me our reserves were down," Marcie said, "I became suspicious. The reserve should have been well-funded. So I had our associates check on things, and sure enough... the reserve is not enough to meet our obligations for this week. And when they checked further, Tim... they found that you'd been skimming from the reserve fund, and putting that money into your own offshore accounts."

"I can explain, ma'am..." Sluman started. Marcie gave him a wicked smile.

"I'm sure you can." she said. "And you're going to... in every detail, as these gentlemen assist you in returning the stolen money to my accounts. Gentlemen, take him away."

Tim Sluman was taken away...

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

An hour later, the security man came to Marcie's office next to the studio.

"He's a tricky bastard." the man said. "He typed in the passwords to move the money, and the whole thing suddenly shut down. Looks like the Government at one end or the other stepped in and stopped the money transfer. That, or what he typed in were actually some kind of dead-man code that shut down everything. In any case, we can't get the money back, at least not yet."

"Oh, shit." said Marcie. "We need that money to pay the guys that deliver the product."

"Won't we be getting money from the guys that buy the stuff?" asked the man.

"Yes, but we have to have that cash on hand." Marcie said. "Sluman was the one who ran the 'bank' at the points of sale. The cash reserve was there to provide that point-of-sale cash in case we missed a week. But he was skimming off of it."

"What do you want to do, ma'am?" asked the man.

Marcie thought about it for a moment, then said "I'm going to have to get some cash from one of our benefactors. But we're going to be paying through the nose for it... and it's going to make us look bad, too."

"If we can get past this week, we should be okay." said the man.

"Yes." Marcie said, seeming to agree, but looking introspectively ahead. "But in the here and now, we have no choice but to move this big shipment." She gathered her wits, then said "Okay, we start filming in an hour. Go ahead and clean up any leftover mess." By that she meant any mess remaining behind after Tim Sluman had been 'talked to'...

Part 26 - Fallout

"This is Amber Harris, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the athletic blonde reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, January 29th, from in front of the Courthouse complex on the east side of Courthouse Square. "Channel Two News is following the continuing story of the Town & County Police preventing KXTC reporters from doing our jobs in bringing you the stories you have the right to know!"

Amber started: "Town & County Police, on the orders of Police Commander Donald Troy and Deputy Chief Cindy Ross, forcibly stopped KXTC reporters Bettina Wurtzburg and her cameraman Scott Turnbull from covering the house fire in the Heritage Cloisters subdivision that consumed the home of BOW Enterprises CEO Todd Burke and his wife, TCPD Captain Teresa Croyle. Fortunately for the family, they were not at home, and no one was injured in the fire."

Amber continued: "KXTC Executive Producer Burt West issued a statement yesterday afternoon, stating his intention to sue the Town & County Police for violating the First Amendment Press rights of the KXTC reporters, and also for threatening and physically intimidating our reporters. In response, County Sheriff Antonio Griswold is seeking arrest warrants for Bettina Wurtzburg and Scott Turnbull, on trumped-up charges that they assaulted Police Officers."

"And in State news, State Senator Katherine Woodburn of our 1st District filed the 'Free Press Protection Act', which seeks to stop Police intimidation of reporters, as well as force Police to give Press Conferences and make any and every Police Officer available to answer Press questions, and would require that Officer to answer those questions truthfully..."

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

"So we're doing it?" I asked.

"Yezzzz." said the Chief as he and I sat in the Chief's Conference Room, watching the newscast. "The warrant has already been sworn out. The Sheriff went to Judge Watts, so that Nance would be bypassed. I would im-aaaa-ginnnnn that D.A. Walters is going to be upset about that, about bypassing her D.A.'s office in doing that, but the Sheriff says he'll handle herrrrr."

I nodded.

The Chief continued: "The Sheriff offerrrrred Burt West the chance to have his reporter and cameraman turn themselves in, rather than us barging in and arresting them on-airrrrrr. And the Sheriff agreeeeeed with me that you should stay far away from this, and let the rest of us handle it."

I nodded.

"Anything you need to tell me?" asked the Chief.

"Yes sir." I said. "KXTC is suppressing news from Midtown. Watch Catrina and Meredith, and you'll see what I'm saying..."

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

"Hello and welcome!" said Catrina Pierce of KFXU at 8:00am, as Teresa, Tanya, and I were watching in my office. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and this is Meredith Peller."

"Good morning, and thank you for joining Fox Eight University Sunrise, the top-rated morning show in the State!" said Meredith brightly. "It's getting very warm under the gold dome in Midtown, especially for our 1st District State Senator, Katherine Woodburn, as she is now the subject of expanding campaign finance investigations. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing SBI-OER Inspector Brittany M. Maxwell stepping up to the microphones on the podium in the SBI Press Room in Westphalia, just south of the City, and saying: "The SBI-OER is opening a formal and full investigation of State Senator Katherine Woodburn for campaign laws violations. This investigation will continue to explore the contributions received from the Heritage Cloisters HOA, which were allegedly embezzled from that community's residents, and will be expanded to investigate other similar contributions to determine if there were further violations of the law."

"Is Senator Woodburn being charged with anything at this time?" asked Tim Sioban of KSB News.

"The investigation is just beginning." said Inspector Maxwell. "But criminal charges will be made if we find any violations of the law... any at all."

More tape rolled, showing Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone stepping up to the bank of microphones in the Press Room of the Federal Building in the City and saying: "We have been asked to assist the SBI-OER as well as local law enforcement jurisdictions in the investigation of State Senator Katherine Woodburn's campaign finances, and we will be opening a Federal investigation as well as cooperating with the State and local authorities..."

Back to Meredith live: "State Senator Woodburn's offices both here and in Midtown have released no statements, and have not returned repeated calls for comment."

"In local news," said Catrina, "a Bench warrant was issued for the arrest of our competitor KXTC's reporter Bettina Wurtzburg and her cameraman, stemming from an incident that arose during a fire last Friday night that severely damaged the home of Burke Enterprises CEO Todd Burke. Wurtzburg and her cameraman are being charged with assaulting Police Officers and disorderly conduct. Police submitted video evidence of the alleged offenses to obtain the warrants..."

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

"Wow." said Tanya. "you went 'nucular' again on the Press?"

"Not me, actually." I said. "This is Sheriff Griswold at work. He was really... really... pissed off when he heard about those P.I.s questioning the Police and Fire Officers over the weekend. And yes, he just invoked the 'nuclear option' on KXTC and Bettina as a result."

"What did Cindy say about that?" asked Teresa.

"I don't know." I said. "I haven't spoken to her since yesterday afternoon, and she didn't come to the Chief's coffee klatch this morning."

"She told me that she talked to Priya yesterday." Teresa said. "Katherine Woodburn thought that our HOA investigation was actually focusing on her, even though it wasn't. So she went with the Free Press Bill. It might also be a distraction from other things, of course, but we can now see that it's been ramped up. No telling what Katherine might try to do next."

"Do... next..." I murmured as I went into what an increasing number of people were calling 'the Land of Reverie'. I was out of it for a second, and when my sight came back to me and I could focus my eyes, I looked down from the ceiling to see Tanya and Teresa staring at me... and recording the event with their iPhones.

"Okay, cut off those phones." I said, allowing my irritation to creep into my voice. "Erase what you just recorded, and do not ever record me like that again." After I 'supervised' those erasures, I continued: "I'm having a patrol watch our houses on the mountainside. I'm also wondering if Bradshaw and Martin were behind the fire at your Cloisters home... or if Woodburn might have been behind it!"

"You serious?" asked a shocked Teresa.

"It may have been Bradshaw himself," I said, "but then again, it may have been Katherine distracting us, or warning us that we were getting close to her, a little too close. And like you said, she ramped it up and so we ramped it up... so what's next?"

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

"Well, Priya," Katherine said acidly as she sat in her office with her lovely Indian Press Secretary, "You told me yesterday that the TCPD wasn't going after me."

"Ma'am," said Priya, "Cindy Ross did tell me they weren't going after you, that they ran across the HOA's embezzlement because one of their Officers lived in the subdivision."

"How can any TCPD Officer afford to live there?" Katherine asked, almost angrily.

"Uh, because she's married to the BOW Enterprises CEO, ma'am." said Priya. "Anyway, Captain Croyle is the one who stumbled onto it. Someone set fire to the Burke's home, also. But Cindy says they have no intention of going after you------"

Katherine turned to her aide Clark and said "Turn the news on, Clark. Let's get Priya up to speed on the value of a Town & County Police Officer's word." Clark went over and turned the television on to SNN, which was re-showing all the previous day's press conferences.

"Oh, nooooooo..." Priya wailed as she watched.

"So much for not going after me, eh, Priya?" Katherine said sourly. "Didn't take the Iron Crowbar very long to marshal his forces to come after me with everything they've got. Now we've got the SBI and the Feds coming down on us, and that cat can't be put back into the bag."

Priya did not answer, her head was drooping.

"Priya." Katherine said. "Priya!" When she got the lovely Indian woman's attention, she said "You need to go make a press statement that we've done nothing wrong, we have nothing to hide, and we will cooperate with the Federal and State authorities within the bounds of the law."

As Priya was about to go, Katherine went back to her desk and sat down. She picked up the telephone, and Priya was beyond shock when Katherine said "Get me the Director of DFACS..."

"What are you doing?" Priya gasped.

"I'm pushing back, Priya." Katherine said coldly. "This is not a game where we can be pushed around by that bastard Donald Troy. I'm going to have DFACS take Cindy Ross's child away from her..."

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

"What?!?" Cindy gasped as the words she'd just heard on the phone hit her like a bomb. "Are you serious?" She then dropped the phone...

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

The first indication of trouble that I saw was seeing a platinum blonde run out of her office and through the anteroom towards the back hallway. Cindy's assistant Lauren was gaping when I said "Lauren, would you go see if Commander Ross is okay?"

A minute later Lauren came back. "She's in the women's room, sir. Throwing up." I picked up the phone and called Teresa's office...

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

"You okay?" asked Teresa coming into the bathroom. Cindy was on her knees in front of a toilet, sobbing. She'd puked her guts out; there was nothing left but the tears."

"Priya called." Cindy said, her voice sounding dazed. "She... she said... she said that Katherine Woodburn called DFACS, and told them to take Betsy away from me..."

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

It could not get worse... but it did. I got a phone call. Helena patched it through.

"This is Yvonne Newton, Commander." said Yvonne Newton. "You won't be able to come to the school tomorrow to see the video... Principal Butler fired me today..."

Part 27 - The Pressure Cooker

"Three is a magic number.

Yes it is, it's a magic number.

Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity

You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future,

Faith and hope and charity,

The heart and the brain and the body

Give you three.

That's a magic number."

------ Schoolhouse Rock, 'Three Is A Magic Number'

The Police and Sheriff Deputy presence at the Town & County Council public meeting was strong... and needed. A large number of people, mostly young, had taken seats in the public audience chamber. Most of those that were black were wearing red shirts with a logo of someone holding up a pennant. Nearly all that were white were scruffy and wore green shirts with some kind of environmentalist logo on it. I would learn later that it was the Proactive Citizens of Greenworld's (PCGW) new logo.

After the preliminary things, like accepting the lawsuit notices and referring them to the City Attorney, were done, Mayor Daniel Allgood made an announcement: "We've had 142 persons sign up to speak tonight. Unfortunately, this is a night we go into executive session with the Police and Fire Department promotions and medals coming up on February 1st, and our requirement to have a second reading of the bill for those. Therefore, we ask you to take one of the forms at the door or being passed out, and you can write your comments, which will be entered into the record of tonight's meeting if handed in tonight, or into next week's record if handed in before next week's meeting."