Vox Populi Vox Dei Ch. 02

Part 14 - The Voice of God

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday, August 15th. "The Charter Commission is plowing ahead with their agenda despite fierce opposition!"

Bettina: "Sources tell Channel Two News that the Charter Commission has formally ratified sections of the Charter they plan to submit as early as August 28th, including that the Town Assembly will set all property tax millage rates instead of the newly created School Board, in defiance of the demands of the NEA, the powerful Teacher's Union. The Commission has also done away with Boards of Inquiry, which are the only means of oversight of Police brutality against Minority Citizens."

Bettina: "And in other news, Judge Patrick Folsom dismissed the lawsuits of some members of the Town & County Council and the countersuits against them. Judge Folsom stated that a minority number of Council Members could not bring suit on behalf of the Council nor as 'sour grapes' for losing a vote, and that the attempt to use the Courts as a workaround was a violation of the 'Separation of Powers' concept. Judge Folsom also said that the countersuits were moot points after his initial ruling, and therefore he dropped them as well."

Bettina: "And Council Member Kelly Carnes will be happy with the news that the State Appeals Court issued a ruling that the State Law allowing the Governor to suspend an elected State official is only valid when that official has been convicted of a crime. To suspend or remove someone from office merely for being indicted is a violation of the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty', the Appeals Court said. Therefore, Kelly Carnes may continue to serve on the Town & County Council, despite having been indicted for campaign finance violation charges..."

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

"Fast action by the judge, there." I said as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Yeah it was." growled the Sheriff. "But I'm glad he dismissed the complaints as soon as they were filed."

"How's Chief Quinlin taking it?" asked Tanya Perlman.

"I'm going to be having a 'come-to-Jesus' meeting with him and the other Chiefs this afternoon." said the Sheriff. "I'll say no more about it at this time."

"You look tired, Sheriff." I observed. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah." grunted Griswold. "The Mrs. didn't sleep well; she had an uncomfortable night. It's the middle of summer, and she was complaining of being cold. She wrapped herself up in a blanket before getting to sleep. She felt better this morning, so I guess she'll go with the other ladies to the Ladies Auxiliary meeting today. She doesn't remember any of them, but she seems to enjoy going to the meetings."

Cindy Ross said "We should write it into the Charter to have nap times for the Police leadership. I heard Commander Troy got out of his Charter meeting very late."

"Very early, actually." I replied. "Early in the morning, that is. But we got through almost all of it."

"What's left?" asked Tanya.

"We need a legal opinion on one matter." I said. "The Mayor & Council is the Executive Authority for the Town & County, and is theoretically over the various branches and departments of the County Government. The Council has also acted as a semi-legislative body and increasingly given itself oversight authority.

I continued: "The Town & County Assembly is the Legislative branch, but has been limited in the past. Our plan was to expand the duties of the Assembly to include oversight of the Executive, much the way Congress gives itself oversight of the Federal Executive Branch. The new Inspector General Department, which replaces Boards of Inquiries with Inquest Boards, would theoretically come under the Town Assembly if necessary. But Edward Steele, doing his job as a Council Member, wants to know where things stand with the Council on things like oversight and what they can do. They won't be able to call Boards of Inquiry any longer, and could only refer something to the I.G., who could just ignore them."

"Savannah Fineman is going to research it... she should have already, but that's another story... and I'm going to get opinions from other sources, as well." I said. "Then we'll write something into the Charter, and that'll be it for us."

"Soooooo," drawled the Chief, "how is the Blassingame trial going?"

"Slow as molasses." Teresa said. "I'm on the witness list, so I can't watch the trial, but in doing security I just happened to overhear the Bailiff telling my imaginary friend next to me that Gwen Munson is being as much of a bitch as she can be. She has objected to every single piece of evidence submitted, a lot of it based on that warrant that was rescinded, but that we got included through the warrant based on finding the car in Midtown." (Author's note: 'Unresolved', Ch. 03-04.)

Teresa continued: "So Paulina has had to establish, and re-establish, the veracity of the warrants and the evidence time and again. Then Munson objected to every single technician, trying to discredit them, so Paulina had to take the time to build them up, and then Munson would again raise objections to the admission of the evidence, which started irritating Judge Watts."

"And then... Munson questioned Martha the M.E.'s credentials." Teresa said. "I mean like she was questioning Martha's college degrees, then her appointment as M.E., and so on. Munson even asked why Martha wasn't the Coroner if she was qualified to be an M.E., and Martha said Coroner was an elected office and she, Martha, had not run for it. Then Paulina objected to Munson's tactics, and that got the Jury a five minute recess and Munson an asschewing from Watts. If she keeps it up, she might just get held in Contempt and kicked out of the courtroom."

"How long before we get called up?" asked Cindy.

"Either soon or not at all." said Teresa. "Paulina's doing a good job building it up. Commander Troy will be the last Police Officer called, then it's all Fraternity and Sorority members that took plea deals. Jesse Smallwood is the last one; he's the star witness."

"Yes." I said. "Keep your pagers or iPhones on you at the Ladies Auxiliary meeting..."

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

"I did learn one other thing." Cindy said as she and I sat in my office after the Angels meeting. "Jenna had dinner with Callie and me last night. She said the jury selection was very, very strange. Paulina struck mostly older women that might be sympathetic to a handsome young man, and young men that might be the kind of guys that would hang out with a guy like Peter. They expected Gwen Munson would go for younger, single people and strike people with families, especially young children. But Munson didn't, and every current juror has family, and ten of the twelve have children under 12 years old."

"Hmmm." I said. "She's going..." I was about to say 'balls to the wall', then remembered what Jack Muscone had said about being professional even around my closest friends. So I finished: "... all out on everything, and she would've had time to study the jury pool overnight... over... night..." I went into a reverie. When I looked up, Cindy had left the office.

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

2:30pm, Thursday, August 15th. Finally! I was caught up on paperwork! I turned to my emails, where I found the legal opinions that several lawyers and other noted experts of Government Law at the University had sent regarding Council oversight----

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my Police iPhone, and it was Cindy. I answered... and then almost dropped the phone in shock.

"Okay, I'm on it." I said. "Yeah, you keep going. I'll meet you there."

I flew out of my office, telling Helena that it was an emergency. Then I ran down the hall and out the employees entrance to my Police SUV outside...

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

I hurtled into the anteroom of the Sheriff's Office in City Hall. His assistant looked up at me, at first with a smile, then a frown as I just said "It's an emergency!" and went for the door.

"Wait, you can't go in----" the assistant said, but I was already opening the door, hearing the somewhat raised voices of an argument. Inside the Sheriff's office were the Sheriff, the Fire Chief, and the Police Chief.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," I said loudly, "but you need to come with me right now, Sheriff."

"What is it, Crowbar?" Griswold asked. I barely noticed the Chiefs looking dumbfounded at me as I went around and gently guided the Sheriff out of his chair.

"I'm taking you to the hospital, Sheriff." I said. "It's your wife. I'll explain on the way."

"Oh my God." Griswold whispered as I grabbed his hat for him and escorted him out the door.

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

"All I know," I said as I tore through the streets of Town, my blue lightbar and the siren blazing as I tested the power of the new engine, "is that Cindy called and said your wife collapsed at the Ladies Auxiliary meeting. She was just sitting there, not moving, then someone asked if she was all right, and she just fell over. Laura was there and immediately began treating her, and then they put her in Cindy's SUV and rushed her to the hospital."

"Oh no..." the Sheriff whispered. "Oh no..." He was in shock himself, realizing the magnitude of this situation.

I crossed University Parkway rather dangerously as I pulled into the Hospital's driveway and sped down to the 'Authorized Only' parking lot. The Sheriff and I hustled to the entrance nearest the waiting room of the Emergency Room.

"Yes, Sheriff." the nurse at the desk said when Griswold asked about his wife. "She's been taken upstairs into emergency surgery. All I know is that Dr. Morgan and Dr. Fredricson examined her here then rushed her up, and Dr. Searles joined them in surgery."

"Let's go upstairs." I said, knowing the ORs were there, above the ER on this floor. We took the stairs up to the waiting room at the intersection of the hallways. Cindy was there.

"What happened?" the Sheriff asked, his voice ragged.

"It looks like a heart attack, Sheriff." Cindy said, tears in her eyes. "Laura was right there when she collapsed, and gave her a shot and did CPR on her. Then she had me pick Mrs. Griswold up and we put her in my SUV and rushed here. They were in the ER about five minutes, then the duty nurse told me she was being taken to surgery."

"Oh, no." muttered the Sheriff, his eyes wide with a dazed look. "Oh noooo."

"Let's sit down, Sheriff." I said. The Sheriff sat down, but in less than two minutes was back up on his feet, pacing into the hallway and back.

Cindy and I walked a bit further down the hallway that went away from the hall to the ORs. She said quietly "Mrs. Griswold was just sitting there, and someone finally realized she wasn't moving at all. They asked her if she was all right, and she was unresponsive, and I..." Cindy became tearful, then willed herself to finish: "I noticed her lips and fingers were getting blue. And then she just... collapsed"

"Laura came right up and started working on her." Cindy said. "Teresa ran and got Laura's doctor bag out of her car, and Laura gave Mrs. Griswold a shot, and had me squeezing the breathing mask while she did CPR on her heart. Then she said she thought she had a heartbeat, and Mrs. Griswold seemed to take a breath, so we rushed her to my SUV and to here."

I nodded, then seeing that Cindy needed a hug, I gave her one. Then we looked over at the Sheriff, who had been looking down the hallway. We saw a shadowy form come out of a door at the far end. I could tell it was Laura. She looked down the hallway at us... and doing the one thing I didn't want to see: she stood still, not walking down the hall towards us.

And we knew.

"No!" gasped Sheriff Griswold. "Nooooo..." he whispered again as he began walking, half-stumbling, towards Laura, taking that long walk down that hall... alone...

To be continued.