Dear Grant,
I sincerely hope that you will publish this letter in the Silver World. Recent events and dissatisfaction by some of the community members in Lake City with the Hinsdale County Sheriff’s department is largely based on a lack of information or false information. While there are some grievances these are not the issues that are being largely discussed.
I purposely did not attend the meeting at the movie theater on Sunday, July 23rd. I felt the community would view my attendance as a threat or conflict of interest due to my engagement to Deputy Debra R. Thompson. However, I do have some issues which I will attempt to address here. Most of the things I state will have nothing to do with this meeting though I have spoken to people who attended purely out of curiosity.
I have been informed that a committee was formed to push for the recall of Sheriff William Denison. This is a travesty as it will not accomplish what the people on this committee think it will. This is due to an unfamiliarity by the common person with how a Sheriff and their deputies are assigned/acquired by a county. I too was ignorant of the process until I started dating Debra.
In most Sheriff’s departments the deputies take an oath and sign a contract stating that they are hired or fired at the pleasure of the sheriff. This means that they can be hired or fired on a whim with no provocation. The importance of this will sink in as I continue. In the event that the Sheriff is recalled the Under Sheriff Ed Owens will immediately fill the position until another sheriff can be elected. In this case the sheriff will likely be brought in from outside of the community and will not know anyone or anything in Lake City. This sheriff will likely bring in their own deputies like wise who do not know anyone in the community. All of these officers have sworn an oath to uphold the law. They will do so with no knowledge of the community service of individuals in this community. The current officers do know this and do work with the community. Basically, if the recall goes through you will learn the true meaning of the word Gestapo which is being used frequently here.
I did laugh about hearing that a certain individual’s lock was picked by the Sheriff’s office recently. On the day in question all of the officers and reserve officers were involved in the recovery of bodies from a plane crash. Where is the evidence? Is the Sheriff’s office required to provide evidence yet the community members can say whatever they like without providing evidence to support their claims? The farce of this is the number of people who believe whatever they hear without being given proof.
Some members of our community have been clamoring over lack of action on the part of the sheriff’s office in terms of drug abuse/distribution. Read the past year of the Silver World and you will find people calling for the actions that the office is now taking.
Some of our community prefers our officers deaf and dumb with respect to the drugs. Regardless of how long our community has been free to break the law with no fear of repercussions in regards to narcotics it is still a law. Many community members are up in arms against the actions of the Sheriff’s Office but, they are legal.
Due to the length of this letter I would request that the people that are against the actions of the Sheriff’s office and those that are for it visit this web page. On the web page I will provide an email link and you are welcome to give me comments that you would like posted there. I will build a significant web page to discuss these issues and I will post your comments unedited. I also have the state statutes, the U.S. Constitution, and the Colorado State Constitution linked on this web page.
https://futurewavecs.tripod.com/sheriff.htm
Sincerely concerned,
Deva Winblood