Vox Populi Vox Dei Ch. 02

"No sir." I said. "More coffee for me! And I have no say in the Ladies Auxiliary Club's business."

"Heh heh heh heh." chuckled the Chief. "Sooooo, how do you think the Wildcats and Bulldogs are going to do this season?..."

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

7:00pm, Tuesday, August 13th. I went to the Public Council Chamber, where I found Sheriff Griswold waiting.

"I should be home with my wife right now." muttered Griswold. "But I have to be here to see what Quinlin does."

"Did you talk to him?" I asked.

"Sure did." said the Sheriff. "I asked him point blank if Bettina's report was true, and he said it was not, that he didn't know where that came from. I then asked him if he was going to speak before the Council tonight, and he said that he'd been asked to attend the meeting by Susan Weston and Reginald B.F. Lewis. I told him that it would be very beneficial to his continued employment to not be here."

So far, Chief Quinlin had not shown up. But a lot of young people in red Antifa shirts did. Somewhat to my amusement, many of them greeted me nicely, and I said hello back to them and shook hands with them.

I was about to reach for my radio when a voice behind me said "I'm right here." I turned to see Teresa Croyle, who said "There's a contingent of Deputies here, and the Police SWAT Team is down in the basement parking lot. We also have contingents of both Deputies and Police at the Courthouse."

"How did all that go?" I asked.

"Security is fine." Teresa said. "They seated the Jury around noon. After Court recessed for the day, we took them to the University Hotel under guard. They're sequestered on the sixth floor, with Deputies at all the key points... except the secret underground tunnel to the Tower Condos. The alarm should trip if anyone tries to go through there."

"Did I ever tell you about that tunnel?" I asked.

"The Sheriff did." Teresa replied. "And Todd knows about it, and told me." I nodded, remembering that Todd did indeed know about that tunnel. (Author's note: 'A Case of Revenge', Ch. 02-03.)

"Expecting trouble tonight?" I asked.

"No sir." said Teresa.


"That makes one of us." I said.

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

The Council Members took their places. I noticed there were no water bottles in front of them; no one would drink out of the bottles, so the Mayor had just the Intendent to not put any out, so that none was wasted.

The routine stuff was dealt with, then the Mayor addressed the audience: "I understand that many of you are here about issues concerning the Charter Commission. You are in the wrong place for that. We have no control over the Charter Commission. Our only input will be to vote as Citizens just like the rest of you." I felt the air go out of the sails of a large portion of the audience.

There were few comments from the audience, then Councilwoman Susan Weston spoke up. "Mr. Mayor," she said, "several of us asked the Fire Chief to appear and speak about the Police Department's acquisition of expensive new SUVs for their leadership. However, the Fire Chief has ignored our request to be here. Do we have subpoena power to force him to appear before us? And can we convene a Board of Inquiry to investigate the Police Department's wasteful expenditures?"

"Point of order!" J.P. Goldman shouted.

"Mr. Goldman is recognized." said the Mayor.

Goldman stood up and said "First of all, the Fire Chief is not beholden to you nor this Council, Ms. Weston. He belongs to the Sheriff, who is an elected official and independent of us. Second, you do not have subpoena power over anyone, at all. And third, expenditure issues are the sole province of the Town & County Assembly. They approved the Budget, and you have no right to question that."

"Point of order!" screamed Kelly Carnes. "The Council oversees the expenditure----

*tap tap tap tap tap tap*

"Mrs. Carnes," thundered the Mayor, "you were not recognized to speak----"

"I am making a point of order!" screamed Carnes.

"You interrupted Mr. Goldman's point of order!" thundered back the Mayor. "He has the floor, and you don't until you are recognized, which you will not be. If you attempt to speak out of turn and further, I will have you arrested and removed from this Chamber!"

The audience was getting restless until Captain Croyle moved forward so that she could be easily seen. It got reeeeeal quiet when everyone saw the look on her face.

"Furthermore to this subject!" J.P. Goldman shouted (yes, shouted) angrily. "The Police vehicles were budgeted. Some of Commander Troy's new vehicle was paid for by the insurance on his old vehicle, which was literally destroyed by a murderous attack upon him by multiple gunmen with machine guns and rockets. Last but not least, one vehicle was not paid for by the Police at all! It was a gift from Todd Burke in gratitude for the TCPD rescuing him at the cost of one of their Officer's lives. I am incensed and insulted at the inference of wrongdoing by the Police by wanting a Board of Inquiry about this!"

"Mr. Mayor," said Susan Weston, staring at J.P. Goldman, and speaking her words with great purpose and clarity, "I move to ask a Board of Inquiry to investigate the Town & County Police Department over the acquisition of these vehicles, as well as the impropriety that the vehicle donated by Mr. Burke is being used by his own wife."

"I second that motion!" Reginald B.F. Lewis almost screamed.

"There is a motion on the floor." the Mayor said much more calmly. "Is there any debate?" There was none, everyone was set in their ways. "Let's vote." said the Mayor.

The vote was 5-5. "The Council being evenly divided," said the Mayor, "the Mayor votes 'nay', and the motion is defeated."

"Get ready for the lawsuit." I whispered to Teresa. She nodded vigorously in agreement.

Part 13 - Charter Charted

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, August 14th, from near the Courthouse Complex. "Council Democrats promise a lawsuit after Republicans cover up for Police malfeasance!"

Bettina went on about the Police vehicles, making it sound as bad as possible for the Police, and all but committing outright slander by saying the Mayor and Council Republicans voted against a BOI solely in order to cover up Police Department crimes.

Then Bettina said: "And tonight's meeting of the Charter Commission is a closed executive session. Considering the unpopularity of what they've released so far, we can hardly blame them for wanted to keep the Public out of any further meetings..."

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

"If they do file that lawsuit," Sheriff Griswold said as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room, "the Public Safety Department will file a countersuit. I've been told that the Town Assembly will convene in emergency session to file a countersuit, as well."

"Based on what?" Cindy replied. "The Assembly sets the taxes and the budget, but the Council sets a lot of what the money is spent upon."

"The Public Safety Budget is set by the Assembly as a separate item." I said. "And we have an elected official, the Sheriff, over the Department, so the Council does not have sole, all-encompassing authority over our expenditures. The Assembly is responding to what we see as a blatant attempt by the Council to usurp financial control over Police expenditures."

"He's right, you know." growled Griswold affably.

"It's alsooooo about the SUVs, and the gift from Todd Burke." said the Chief. "Absolutely nothing illegal about any of it, but the Council Democrats don't care about the truth... they'll gin up any false narrative that they can."

"Kind of like what some people in Congress try to do to Presidents they don't like." I said.

"Sounds like I need to put out a Press release, to counter Bettina's lies." Cindy said, getting up.

"I want to see and approve that before you put it out." said the Chief.

"Me, too." said the Sheriff. "And confine your statement to the Police Department part of this. Don't wade into the filth of County politics on it."

"Yes sir." Cindy said, then turned and exited the room.

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

As I sat in my office preparing for the Angels Meeting, I got a phone call from Fire Marshal Zoe Singer.

"Don!" she said, "what is going on? The Fire Chief is en fuego!"

"What's it about?" I asked laconically.

"First," said Zoe, "that reporter Wurtzburg came out and said the Fire Chief had filed a complaint with the Council. The Chief says that's a lie."

"I'm sure it was a lie." I said. "Bettina is very dishonest."

"Second," said Zoe, "the Chief says the Sheriff ordered him, the Chief, not to appear before the Council last night, and he didn't. Now several Council Members are filing ethics complaints against the Fire Chief for not obeying their demands to appear, and they're trying to get him suspended."

"So he gets a lawyer and sues those Council Members that made the complaint." I said. "And I'm not sure the Sheriff ordered the Chief not to appear, but suggested that he, the Sheriff, would consider it insubordinate if he did."

"The Chief is saying the Sheriff ordered him not to appear." said Zoe. "The Chief also said he would have appeared if he'd not been directly ordered to."

"Hoo boy." I said, more to myself than to Zoe on the phone. "Look, I appreciate you calling and telling me, but I don't know what you want me to do about it, and I've got no dog in this fight."

"Yes you do." said Zoe. "He's smearing the Sheriff's name, and I know how you feel about Sheriff Griswold. And I'll tell you what this really is about, Don. Quinlin doesn't want an independent EMS. He's using this incident so he can speak out against the EMS, and if the Sheriff comes down on him, he'll say it's because of this incident."

"Okay." I sighed. "Thanks again for calling. And by the way... if push comes to shove on this, the Fire Department will need a new Chief. Want me to put your name in for it?"

"Hell no!" said Zoe. "I think we both already know what the Sheriff wants me to do..."

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

After calling the Sheriff and the Chief and giving them the gist of the Quinlin situation (without naming Zoe), I heard a commotion going on in MCD. I went over there. The Detectives were talking to someone in a Duty Dress uniform with ribbons, but it was not a TCPD uniform. It was Detective Nell Bell of the Midtown Police.

"Hello, Commander!" Nell said enthusiastically as she came up and hugged me.

"What brings you to see us?" I asked. "The Blassingame trial?"

"Yes sir." Nell said. "I'm being called as a witness, possibly today."

"This early on?" I asked. "Aren't they introducing the evidence and putting the Crime Lab techs and the M.E. on the stand?"

"Yes sir." said Nell Bell. "And four of Midtown's State Crime Lab techs are up here, as well."

"Sir," said Joanne Warner, "that won't take long, will it?"

"Harumph." I grunted. "You guys have no idea what Gwen Munson is like. She's going 'scorched earth' on this. She's going to challenge every single piece of evidence, try to block all the evidence based on false crap like in the O.J. Simpson trial."

"Was that legit, Commander?" asked Theo Washington. "What happened in the O.J. trial?"

"No." I said. "First of all, the DNA tests on blood found at the scene matched Simpson...I refuse to call him 'O.J.'... to the tune of one in three billion. That means only two persons on the face of this earth had that blood DNA, and one of them was the victim's ex-, who had threatened her and lived nearby."

"Second," I continued, "the preservative EDTA does not change one substance to another like alchemy. There is no way it was a contaminant that changed the DNA to someone else's. Third, the guy that ran the mass spectrometer tests did an extremely poor job explaining what he did. I've run a mass spec, so I knew what he was talking about, but those twelve jurors weren't made to understand. I admit I did have some issues with the way he ran those tests, but neither the Prosecution nor Defense made anything of that."

"But let that be a 'teachable moment' for you all." I finished up. "Explain things simply and clearly to the jury, and don't let Munson try to fuck you up. Stick to what happened, and don't let Munson try any 'hypotheticals'. My Detectives here know what happens when someone starts 'hypothetical' crap with me; I challenge them on it right there from the stand. Don't be intimidated by their tactics."

"Thank you, sir." said Nell Bell, absorbing the lesson I'd just given her.

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

7:30pm, Wednesday, August 14th. The Charter Commission met in a conference room at City Hall just around the corner from the private Council Chamber. I tapped the meeting into session... and all hell broke loose. Not really, but I got an earful.

"Wow." said Savannah Fineman. "The Blassingame trial is going on, and all I'm getting asked about is where the school tax money is going. The people in the County High system are opposed to the point of near-violence."

Edna Carter said "The NEA is putting tremendous pressure on the teachers to oppose the Charter if the School Board doesn't get to set the tax rates."

"Violence? Violent pressure? Threats?" I asked.

"Not yet." said Edna.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Williams said "Reginald Lewis and Eldrick Weaver are really pushing the minority communities to reject the new Charter because of the Board of Inquiry changes. They're saying doing away with the BOI will let white Police Officers physically abuse black people and get away with it."

Edward R. Steele said "I'm getting all that, but the most I'm hearing about is the Fire Department's opposition to a separate EMS service. The Fire Department Union is telling the TCFD to vote against the Charter if it creates a separate, independent EMS, and they're rallying a lot of other Unions to their side."

I said "So the BOI is being replaced by something even better, but the politicians are fighting like hell, to the point of making up lies, to stop that. Hmmm, that's... interesting." No one misunderstood my sarcasm in that. "And the rest of it is Union opposition?"

Savannah said "Not the school tax allocation issue. The people in the County High districts are genuinely upset that they are paying more in taxes, just to see their money go to the... poorer districts."

"Meaning 'minority' districts." Rev. Joseph E. Williams said. "Nothing's changed there."

"They do have a point!" Fineman said strongly. "They're paying more, why shouldn't their schools get more in return?"

"How are we supposed to give all our children a fair and equitable education if the money is not distributed equitably to all students?" Edna Carter shot back.

*tap tap tap tap tap tap*

"Guys," I said, "we're not going to solve the world's longstanding political issues here. I just want to get a better structure for our schools in place, and then we can let the politicians figure out what to do after that. I do sincerely believe that all taxation authority should be vested in one entity, in this case the Assembly."

"As to the rest of it," I said, "this is exactly what we knew was coming... every person or small group wants their own special interest to be taken care of in their favor, and there's no way we can do that. We're here to provide a structure, a backbone, for the People of this Town & County to go forward from and work out what interests work best for them."

"Like the Police structure?" Savannah Fineman replied, and a bit snottily I might add. "That was pretty damn granular. Why not leave that out, and let the People of the County decide what works best."

"Well, that's a point." I said, not rising to the bait. "Besides, we were just talking about issues that have come up. I just had one come up, as well. Members of the Council are suing the Fire Chief for not answering a non-existent summons to appear before them. The Sheriff and the Town Assembly are countersuing. And all that is leading to a question of just how independent of the Council the elected Sheriff and the Public Safety Department are, and how much they should be. We may be back to the question of if we even need a Town & County Council."

"What?!" gasped Edward R. Steele. "Are you kidding?"

"No." I said flatly.

"We're back to Square One." Savannah said. "Maybe worse..."

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

It was nearly 1:00am, Thursday, August 15th, when I got back home to the Mountain Nest. To my surprise, Laura was still up, reading that most renowned of periodicals, Sexual Psychology.

"Wow." she said when she saw my face coming in. "I'll pour us drinks."

"Let me do it." I said. I proceeded to pour Laura her drink, then myself a 'triple' of neat Scotch.

"Long day?" Laura asked as I sat down in the rocking chair next to the sofa against the wall, my back aching.

"Well..." I said with mock near-joviality, "some of the underlying tensions finally came out. Savannah Fineman, who lives up in the County High areas, took their side with regard to allocation of school tax dollars. The Rev. Williams immediately invoked the race card. Edna Carter didn't go that far, but made it clear she took Fineman's comments as a desire to keep the poor kids down."

I continued: "Then I brought up the issues with the Sheriff, the Fire Chief, and the Council. And Edward Steele didn't like what I had to say about giving the Public Service Department more autonomy from the Council."

"And that's when the fight started." Laura said.

"Just about." I said. "We started doing the line-by-line, article-by-article voting. The good news is that I got what I wanted on the Boards of Inquiry. We'll have an elected Inspector General and Inquest Boards. The bad news is that I lost on the Public Safety Department; we have to get Council approval for all promotions to Lieutenant or above, all medals above the Sheriff's Medal, and expenditures not specifically budgeted by the Town Assembly."

"The art of compromise." Laura said. "What else?"

"Savannah lost bad on the School Board issue. Four to one." I said. "The Town Assembly will set all taxes, and while the School Board will handle budget and expenditure issues, it's mandated that all monies be spent on a per-student basis, and all educational materials be uniform for each grade throughout the Town & County's schools."

"The NEA won't like that." said Laura. "Neither will the County High system's schools. And what about charter schools and special-ed schools?"

"They're accounted for." I said. "But it has to be uniform throughout the County. A special-ed school in the southern areas must be treated as well as one in the northern areas. And Town High, County High, and BTW High can have college-prep, vocational, etc., but they have to be generally uniform -or- admit students from all over the County, like Town High's vocational school."

"So what did Savannah get in return?" asked Laura.

"Nothing." I said. "She never said much nor advocated for much, and the D.A.'s Office is guided by State Law as much as the Town & County Charter. I don't think she planned to do much about this, but when Williams played the race card, she got her hackles up.'"

Laura nodded. "So it's over? You're ready to go to the voters?"

"Almost." I said. "I think we all wanted to get through everything tonight just to get it done. I think all of us thought this would pass when we convened tonight. But by the time we were done, it was just like 'put this out there and if it fails, so be it'. At least that's how I felt."

"That doesn't sound like you." said Laura. "Why don't we go to bed, and you get some sleep? You'll feel better about it in the morning..."