The people in the Sheriff’s Office, for the most part, were good people.  They were doing the best they could under the given circumstances.

I knew there was a problem with two people in key positions.  They were both nice guys.  But they also were operating in a mentality that was partially okay in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but was not okay now. 

The world of law enforcement had changed through the years, too many of the deputies had not.

Sheriff’s Offices, as I have said before, are much different than a Police Department.  I ‘knew’ that but in practice the much is MUCH!

The Sheriff is elected and directly responsible to the citizens.  A Police Chief has several layers between him and the public – not to say a Chief’s job is easier, the two are just different and require a different approach to the citizenry.

That is true of most of the County positions that were in Wasco County at the time.  The County Clerk, County Treasurer, County Assessor, County Surveyor (who also was County Road Master – but by order of the County Commissioners) County Judge (and Commissioners – similar to a city council) and County Sheriff were all elected officials.

They were directly responsible to the citizens, period.

The first thing I noticed and appreciated was the closeness of the County officials to the citizens of the county.  They were more willing to respond to the needs of the citizens and help them do what they needed to do.

The Planning Director was appointed by the Commissioners and answered directly to the County Judge.  While we would see City Planners just say no to projects, the attitude of the County planner was to try and see if they could help them do the project, legally.

The County Road department had the basic responsibility to citizens outside the city as the city street departments had inside.  There are over 900 miles of roads in the county, about 70 miles inside the City of The Dalles.   The other incorporate cities had one maybe two miles of streets.

Wasco County is 2,996 square miles.  The Dalles is 7+ square miles.  At the time, half the population lived within the City of The Dalles with about half of the rest of the population within just a few miles.  The rest of the population was anywhere from 10 to 100 miles away.

We had four small cities that did not have a Police Department, so we performed the duties in those communities, as well as the several miles in between and all around.  Antelope (Rajneeshpuram) and the City of Rajneesh had their own Peace Department.  But the only ones happy about that were the Rajneesh, the rest of the citizens called us.

For the most part those areas were being service adequately, we needed to do a better job, but I had other areas, within the Office, where I needed to focus most of my energy.

My Chief Deputy, again a great guy, should never have been appointed to the position.  His mind set was to be just one of the boys and his management training and style was non-existent.  He would have been okay as a deputy, but not in that position.

My Corrections Chief, again a nice guy, was probably okay when they appointed him, but he, too, was not up to modern techniques and rules of conduct.  He also considered the Jail ‘his’ domain and resented any perceived interference.

I had a dilemma; I had determined when I ran that I would give everyone a chance in their positions.  I knew that many of these people had been in service to the county for several years, they had not been held to a more professional standard and their training had been virtually non-existence after the basics.

There was a ‘personality’ about the Office that made it acceptable to be lackadaisical about their duties and no real accountability.  There was no goal or direction, it was just go day by day, operate by the seat of your pants and that was okay. 

This is the way it had been run for ‘ever’ and no one thought to really change it.  Things were being done and said that had no place in a modern Law Enforcement agency - especially in the litigious in today’s world.

The County had suffered some serious financial difficulties in the recent past and every Office had to cut back their expenses.  The Sheriff’s Office was no different. 

One of the places that were cut back was training, but it had never really been a priority.  The training budget, for about 35 employees, was $1000.  It would take me several years to bring that up to a more acceptable level.

However, In Oregon there is a lot of training where the cost to the agency is getting the deputy there (and of course losing the services of the deputy for that time.)  Everything else was furnished, without cost to the agency.

We had the Police Academy operated by The Board on Police Standards.  The academy paid for the staff, instructors, housing and feeding of all students.  It was funded by a specified portion of the fines, levied by the courts, against violators. 

These classes were important.  Most dealt with the boots on the ground type training but there was a lot of management training available.

In addition there were classes held in different communities throughout Oregon to enable classroom training to be less expensive to the communities since they were just a day or two in length and, again, the financial burden on the agency was just the time spent by the employee.  Since the employee was, either within his jurisdiction or close, they could respond to calls if necessary.

Wasco County had little involvement with these classes.

In evaluating where I thought the best bang for the buck in getting the Office on a more professional track I came to the conclusion I had to train the supervisors and managers first.

It worked for some, it was resented by some, and for some it was ineffective.  The second group fought me and the third just couldn’t do what was expected of them.

But I began the process of upgrading the Office; in retrospect, I would have given those that either couldn’t do the job or those who fought me far less time than I did.

Hebrews 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Aaron Hernandez, former football star at Florida and New England was found guilty of killing another man.

This young man was a star athlete all his life.  He was a gifted football player who had signed a contract with the New England Patriots giving him forty million dollars for the life of the contract.

Why would he give all that up and kill a man?

I was listening to a newscast that started outlining the many incidents Hernandez was involved in during his college and pro-football days.

There were multitudes of violent behavior, many causing serious injuries, that he plainly did, and others where he was either at the location and/or actually perpetrated the crime but there was not enough to convict him..

He was never brought to justice on any of them.  He will be facing a trial, later this year, for two more murders where he is the prime suspect.

What was going on in his mind, why would he do such a thing?

He had the world at his fingertips and gave it all up.

Hernandez is just one of many gifted athletes who are able to slide by in life.  Because they are good at what they do; their ‘indiscretions’ are either overlooked or they are treated as ‘boys will be boys’ thinking and never disciplined.

Hernandez is guilty and has no one to blame but himself.  Many young men with the same and much worse backgrounds go on to be model and productive citizens. 

If we look at many in professional sports even they have had a difficult time but have overcome their environment and have excelled at their sport and became good role models for the youth – as far as it goes.

It would appear Hernandez was never really held accountable for his actions.  His coaches, his team mates, those in positions of authority where he played, law enforcement and many others did not bring him up short and let him know that his actions were wrong.  Or, if they did, it had no effect on him and he continued to commit crimes – which were not prosecuted.

It didn’t start out with killing, it had to begin with other lessor crimes and as I listened to the list it was obvious he escalated in his violence.  He was unchecked due to his ability to play football.

He was given a free pass and now at least one person, and possibly more, is dead because of it.

The people who could have possibly prevented this let him and most certainly society down.  Because they allowed him to get away with bad behavior without disciplining him, he felt he could do no wrong.

His case is similar to the young man, of rich parents, killing four people while driving impaired.  His sentence was light, actually almost non-existent, because he had never been told know by his parents – and so thought he could just do what he wanted without consequences.

The attitude of the rich and famous being able to get away with things that the rest of us would be punished for is not only world-wide, it is centuries wide going back to the Adam and Eve.

Here, in America, today we are excusing bad behavior and even criminal behavior instead of addressing it and disciplining the offender.  It is getting worse all the time.

Don’t like the outcome of a trial?  Riot, destroy other peoples’ property – and steal from them.  Don’t like the outcome of a GAME do the same thing.  And get away with it, how many people do we see prosecuted – even arrested for these crimes?

You have a group of students that don’t do well – instead of holding them to the standard we let them slide by so their self-esteem is not hurt.  Forget that the sense of accomplishment by meeting those standards would be better for their self-esteem.

Have a group of students who are doing well, don’t recognize them and point to them as successful, because those that aren’t doing as well will feel badly.

As a nation, we no longer value hard work, to get your hands dirty is looked down on; we no longer value a person’s word; we no longer value righteousness or holiness, they are old fashion values and hold no place in this more ‘enlightened’ America.

Law, let’s obfuscate it and then just not follow it.  Problems, throw money at it, never mind that has been done, unsuccessfully in the past – on the same problem. 

Criminal activity – blame the environment and lack of opportunity and disregard the fact that society has created a majority of the problems by not addressing them, truly helping them and then holding them accountable.

Your actions are condemned in the Bible – come up with a syndrome to blame it on, or change the law so the Bible’s condemnation is now illegal.

The list can go on – and on – and on of course, but the bottom line is America is allowing people, of all ilk, to get away with things that are clearly abhorrent to God and His Word.

Isaiah 5:20-21  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

We have de-synthesized our youth in what is evil and have confused them so they cannot see that America has indeed called evil good and good evil.

There will come a time of accountability to our nation and our people if we do not get a handle on this and recognize that we have turned our back on God and we need to come back to Him.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again