Dignity? I want to Vomit!

EDGAR CO. –

“Dignity is a term used in moral, ethical and political discussions to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity) A sign or token of respect; nobility or elevation of character; worthiness, the quality or state of being worthy, honored, or esteemed”

The horrendous crimes against children committed by now convicted Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky are inexcusable and unforgivable. The highly paid administrators that chose to protect the image of Penn State at the expense of Sandusky’s victims have been condemned in the investigation report.   To them, the image of the Penn State football program was more important than protecting the young victims of Sandusky.

Now enter into Edgar County.  A county with a long history of self-serving officials who cover up and ignore crimes against We The People.  Those days are coming to an end because the masses have had enough and are speaking out.

Grab your barf bag because if you have any sense of right and wrong you’re going to be sick to your stomach when you’re done reading this.  For that I am sorry but I will not apologize for exposing the people behind the cancer in this county.

This will be part 1 of a multi-part series that will expose crimes and events that have taken place and have been either covered up or ignored in the County Jail dating back to Karl Farnham.

From county employees having jail house affairs with prisoners, jail house pregnancies, oral sex, sex, drugs, alcohol, to a laundry list of other criminal acts taking place under the leadership roles of Karl Farnham and Tim Crippes.  Is it any wonder we have the problems we do in this county?

What kind of leader allows one of their employees to simply quit their job for having sex with an inmate, which by the way is a felony.   What kind of deputy allows the same thing? Not only did Karl Farnham do nothing about it but Shane St. Clair did nothing as well.  Shane’s role in this is key as this same type of activity was taking place under Tim Crippes and Shane was well aware of it and again, was part of steps to ignore criminal activity!  Wasn’t it Shane St. Clair that told the world on Facebook he was going to run for Sheriff after he was removed as Chief Deputy?  Hang on folks as I still can’t believe what we have discovered.

The focus of this first story is about Dignity.  How can a person resign with DIGNITY after committing felony actions while employed in this county?  I wrote about Moral Fiber and its decay in this country and county and this story is a perfect example of what I was talking about.

You see back under Karl Farnham’s watch as Sheriff, criminal activity took place with an employee having sex with an inmate.  Records from a recent Illinois State Police investigation report that a family member actually called it an affair.  When it got exposed the person simply leaves one job only to go get another, with the state!   Nothing was done and now that person holds a state job in Paris, Illinois.

Another incident of molestation in the jail involving a deputy who simply turned in his badge to Shane St. Clair when he came to the door to talk about it was ignored as well.  That victim is now dead of an appearent suicide shortly after the event.

These people did nothing?  Karl Farnham, former Sheriff and current sitting County Board member running for office again and Shane St. Clair, currently an Edgar County Deputy who claims to have plans on running for Sheriff.  Tim Crippes who allows these things under his watch now also has a plush state job.  Three public officials who took an oath to uphold the laws of this state as law enforcement officers and they ignored felony crimes!

Fast forward to June of 2010 under the leadership, if you can call it that, of Sheriff Tim Crippes and again, Chief Deputy Shane St. Clair.  More allegations of sexual activity with county jailers and inmates.  The cover up worked last time so why not do the same thing this time?  Thank God the cover up failed as did the efforts to make it go away with a simple resignation of the two involved.

Shane’s report, and Hoppers, reflects that Tim Crippes wanted two jailers to resign over what Tim Crippes reported to the State Police as simply violations of “department policy”!  Hopper reports that if they resign they would advise the state police the investigation was being handled internally.   So in a nut shell, resign and it all goes away even though it was later proven to be multiple felony counts against those involved that ended in convictions! That is a far cry from violations of “Department Policy”!

Yes people, that is the leadership you voted into office because they are nice guys.  As far as I am concerned they too should be charged for failure to do their job and failure to uphold the oath of office they took.  They should have been charged and convicted which would have prevented them from EVER serving in public office again.

Had Karl Farnham had the courage to do the right thing when it happen under his watch chances are it would have sent a message to every other jailer that you can’t get away with doing that in this county.  Instead, it gets covered up and that becomes the pattern used for the very next time the same thing happens only this time it backfired!  Why did it backfire?  Because WE THE PEOPLE have had enough of this crap!

Who are you voting for and why?  I believe in my heart that when this series of articles is done you will never vote for Tim Crippes, Shane St. Clair, Karl Farnham, Dee Burgin, or Roger Hopper for any public office, ever!  If you do, your head is in your sand box!

Tim Crippes, Roger Hopper and Shane St. Clair are responsible for telling two, now convicted felons, that if they just resign they can do so with their dignity and full pay and benefits.  What world do we live in that three law enforcement officers all IGNORE the crimes that were committed by jailers Jason Ball and Kent Rhoads and then imply if they simply resign they somehow will still have their dignity?

What is truly sickening is the report that Tim Crippes helped them get hired at an Indiana Department of Corrections facility after they resigned from the county positions.  They thought it was all going to go away after that.  They were wrong!

Who would ignore such acts?  A person doing the same thing?  According to ISP interviews Jason Ball said he did not do anything at the jail that his Sheriff, Tim Crippes did not do!  Ball said he felt if his Sheriff did it, then he could do it.

With over 290 pages of ISP investigative reports in our hands we are going to expose the cancer in this county and pray that We The People wake the hell up and realize ignoring crimes committed by your friends and neighbors does nothing good for our society.

Its time to take a stand and hold people accountable.