Secrets of the Edgar County Sheriff’s Office – Revealed – Parts 3 & 4 –

PARIS, IL. (ECWd) –
Letter to the Editor:

Part 3 or I’ll Have Two Dips Please

Another issue referred to in the infamous “anonymous” letter is the subject of supposed double dipping by a part time Sheriff’s Office employee. The employee in question is a retired Sheriffs deputy who works a few hours a week taking people back and forth to court. There is a second retired Sheriffs office employee who transports people to and from other correctional facilities when needed. Oddly enough, he was not accused of double dipping. Why you ask? I don’t know, but I do know that he was a part of the Breakfast Club, a term that several employees used to refer to the day shift (and their satellites) during the Crippes administration. The term was not used fondly.
Any way, the retired deputy in question was accused of “double dipping” because he is collecting retirement while being paid to work part time for the Sheriff. The fact that the arrangement saves the county money apparently did not occur to the “anonymous” author(s). The retired deputy is paid at a much lower rate than a full time deputy. The bonus is, the full time deputy does not have to leave his other duties to sit in a courtroom with the inmates from the jail. Please note, that the Chief Deputy and the Sheriff also escort people to court when needed. A further savings in money and safety for the citizens of Edgar County.
The real issue, goes right back to the Crippes administration and the 911 coordinator. As long as I have worked at the Sheriffs Office, overtime has been an issue. With a staff as small as ours, overtime is just a part of life. Remember that we never close. A dispatcher, a jailer, and at least one law enforcement officer are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. BC (before Crippes), the overtime issue was always handled cordially. If another employee took off, the most senior member of that section was offered the overtime first. If that person turned down the offer, the time was offered to the next (sometimes the shift was split, each person working 12 hours) until the shift was filled. Sometimes, you ended up working a 16 hour shift. But that is how life is in a small department. We all knew it coming in. Nanette Beals was not a part time employee and did not work shift work at that time.
Sometime into the Crippes administration, Crippes and Beals developed an unusually close working relationship. Suddenly Beals began working day shift hours when Johna Todd took a day off. The opportunity for overtime was not posted. Indeed, the rest of the dispatchers would usually find out about the open shift after it had been worked. Occasionally, someone else would get the opportunity to work the shift, but that was always fixed in advance as well. When I questioned this new arrangement at a union negotiation meeting, I was told by Tim Crippes, that if one depends on overtime to pay their bills, one is not managing their money correctly. Okay, maybe so I countered, but between your salary and Beals salary, what is your excuse? Needless to say, Crippes was not happy with that remark. I also questioned whether the 911 coordinator was “double dipping” when she was being paid as a part time dispatcher while collecting a salary from 911 for working the very same hours. The Watchdogs also questioned the practice. We were told, that she took paid time off when she worked as the part time dispatcher and that it was not double dipping. Mmmmm. Now, written into the union contract is the language that any available overtime must be offered to the full time employee with the most seniority who also has the day off. The contract goes on to state what happens if that employee turns down the opportunity to work the overtime, but it is too lengthy to go in to here. That language in the contract is the direct result of Nanette Beals Crippes working hours that, morally and ethically belonged to dispatchers that were making a damn sight less money than she was.
Now here is the part where the candidates for Sheriff need to pay close attention. Sheriff Motley is already familiar with the contract. Jeff Wood should, most assuredly be familiar with it, also St Clair and Hopper. The Sheriff will run up against the same contract that is in effect now. The road deputies have a similar clause in their contract as well. So while, the other candidates are trying to convince the voters that they will use part timers to save the county money, the union will get in the way. I know some people have a problem with unions, but remember while you are home with your families on Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc, we are at work. The opportunity to work overtime is one of the very few “perks” that we have. If that sounds whiny, I apologize and I wish you could come and spend a week at my job with me especially at the holidays.
Back to “double dipping”. The Chief of Police in Kansas is a retired Paris PD officer. Several officers in Kansas, Brocton, and Chrisman are retired or active PD officers who work on their days off. Without them, I don’t think smaller towns and villages could afford their own police departments. Please correct me if I am wrong about that. With them, it is that much less territory that the county deputy has to cover. God bless them. They also have provided back up for that deputy when needed. For the ones who have retired from other agencies….double dipping? I’d be happy to treat them to Dairy Queen anytime.

Donna Throneburg

Part 4 or HOLY DOODLE, SHERIFF MOTLEY IS NOT FROM HERE

This “revealing” information came from an “anonymous” letter received by several folks in the county. I didn’t get one. I received another letter explaining how Dee Burgin, in the opinion of 6 of the 7 county board members, does not owe the county $100000. Sorry “anonymous” that letter just didn’t fly either. PS, most of us already knew that Sheriff Motley is not, originally, from Edgar County. Its not like he kept that little tidbit of information from the citizens.

I shall digress, for just a moment here, and call out the author(s) for the cowards they are. Cowards then and cowards now. Again, if you are so certain that your information regarding Ed Motleys office is factual, find the courage (I suspect you will have to dig really, really deep or maybe someone can loan you some) and put your name on it. See my name at the top of this post. Its easy. You can do it. No, who are we kidding you can’t.

Now, back to the topic at hand, Sheriff Motley’s insidious foray into a county he was not born in. (Excuse me while I clean the sarcasm that is dripping from that last statement). Okay then, my family is not, originally from Edgar County. Neither is former Edgar County board member, Jim Keller, who moved to Edgar County and started a very successful business on Jasper St. Who else is not, originally, from Edgar County? Show of hands? Dee Burgin? See that is how communities grow. Folks move to new places. Sometimes the outcome is good for the community-Ed Motley and sometimes not so good-Dee Burgin.

My folks are, originally from Clark County. They moved to Paris to be closer to the Coca Cola plant where my dad worked. Mom worked in the business office at the hospital for more than 40 years. They worked hard, paid their bills, raised four kids, and lived a pretty quiet life. They didn’t do anything to make themselves world famous, but they set a wonderful example for us.

From what I have witnessed, as a nearly life long Edgar County resident, is that it is a good thing to have a Sheriff who is “not from here”. Sheriff Motley has none of those ties to the folks who have, overtly or covertly, run the county for generations. And therein lies the problem, in my opinion, with the county board. They have, finally, run up against a man they cannot cajole, bully, coerce, or who acquiesces without any scruples at all. There appears to be a problem with generational entitlement mentality syndrome in this county. Generational Entitlement Mentality Syndrome or GEMS is manifested in a seeming belief that because your parents, grandparents were successful after moving to Edgar County (unless you are full blooded Native American, they weren’t originally from here either) you, the offspring, are entitled to certain perks, considerations, subservience from the working class masses. The syndrome is generally is accompanied by much adrama.

I have seen none of this attitude from Sheriff Motley. Probably, cause he is not from here. What I have seen is a Sheriff who is polite and considerate to everyone he speaks to no matter what there social ranking is in Edgar County. The Sheriff expects the same from the members of his office. Okay, yes, I go rogue sometimes, don’t blame the Sheriff for that. I am praying daily for a kinder, gentler temperament. My sins are always before me. Now, lets re-elect Ed Motley and remove or at least temper the effects of GEMS. Let us also, as the signs from an “anonymous” citizen, state, remove or temper the effects of ED or Ethical Dysfunction and ED or Educational Disinterest, unless of course ED refers to something else. In that case, seriously, TMI!

Donna Throneburg