(Disclosure note: We receive anonymous letters all the time; they’re sometimes full of good information, sometimes they are ridiculous. We’ve chronicled many in the past just because they’re sheer entertainment value, especially around election time. But in uber-corrupt Edgar County, the entire citizenry pretty much got a political letter recently, in a pathetic attempt to smear sheriff/current candidate Ed Motley with half-baked claims. Our correspondents in Edgar, the Edgar County Watchdogs, dissected this letter in a recent post; it’s reprinted here in its entirety. Oh, and bear in mind: An anonymous claim in a letter isn’t the same as an anonymous source; don’t even think for a second that it equates. We know the identities of our “anonymous sources,” who give us information despite the risk to their jobs and livelihood at times…so “anonymous” does NOT equal “cowardly” where that is concerned…in that case, anonymous equates to First Amendment protection, which is in danger these days…and garbage like this furthers that problem.)
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By the Edgar County Watchdogs
EDGAR CO. (ECWd) - It seems like a certain person has decided to send a pathetic anonymous letter out to the the good citizens of Edgar County. Kind of makes you wonder why it was unsigned, with no return address? Shouldn’t they be proud of their “revelations” included in the letter? The really funny part were all the claims made, with no supporting documents, claiming they can prove it, with no one signing the letter – and all of that while claiming we lie. Kind of hard to ask for proof that way.
After reading the letter, my first thought was to ignore it since the author was too spineless to sign it, but after a few minutes I felt the right thing to do would be to invite whomever wrote it to send us the “verification” they so proudly boasted of having.
You can send it to:
Watchdogs
7060 Illinois Highway 1
Paris, Illinois 61944
You can even send it unsigned with no return address, but please tell us where to get official copies of this “verification.” That’s what we do, we verify with public records prior to publication. We will verify what you send and then publish it. Couldn’t ask for anything more than that could you?
OK, now let’s start on the letter…
-Yes there is a primary coming up and the current Sheriff is running for re-election. This first sentence is the only true sentence in the two-page unsigned letter.
-“He’s not from here” – Now that one is funny…and you said it more than once…you should be so proud of that… I don’t know why you didn’t sign it! Are you mad because he is upsetting the good-ole-boy applecart? I suspect the person writing the letter is not from “here” either, maybe from Olney?
-“He doesn’t care about the people here” – I suppose a disgruntled, prisoner abusing, former deputy could come up with that conclusion, but I truly believe Sheriff Motley wants the best for all citizens of Edgar County – even this letter writer.
-“Financial bleeding with no remorse” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. There is no financial bleeding, a department head makes a budget, the county board approves the budget. During his tenure, he has come in under budget every year except the first year. The first year’s budget was written by the former crooksheriff (who was over budget by $157,351 he last year in office) and approved by the former board. This past fiscal year under Motley, close to $50,000 was returned to the county general fund because the Sheriff’s Department wasunder budget…again.
***UPDATE 2-9-2014: This article from November 27, 2013 will put the “financial bleeding” to rest (CLICK HERE).
-“we have gathered much more information” – Oooh, keep me in suspense. Please send this “information” to the address listed above.
-“our county has been in constant turmoil since Ed Motley was elected“ You got that one right, but it is not due to anything Motley did or did not do…that turmoil lands squarely on the backs of the county board (current and former). It is their inaction that has kept this turmoil flowing; with refusing to collect on a $100,000 debt owed by Dee Burgin, refusing to acknowledge conflicts of interest of Chris Patrick, allowing employees to violate the Freedom Of Information Act, fraudulent grant applications, lies on audits, to allowing Nannette Crippes to get by with fraudulently obtaining public funds…read our website – the verification, in the form of public records, is there for all to see.
-“this is the same time the watchdogs started harassing and bullying people” – LOL, you must have had a few front page articles written about you. I would like to ask you to define harass and bully, all we have done is shine the light on all the good-ole-boy operations of the past few years. Getting this truthful information out in the open is the only way to look towards a bright future.
-“It is our opinion this is not a coincidence” – You are entitled to your opinion, but that does not equate to “verified” information. Kirk Allen was hammering on 911 well before Motley was elected, and exposed the fact that the dispatchers were out of training compliance for as much as 6 years. I suppose you think if another Sheriff were elected we would scurry off into a hole somewhere and disappear? I guess everybody can have a dream…
-“watchdogs have told so many lies” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. We have posted the actual government documents to each and every claim we have made. How can that be a lie? This unsigned letter, of course, must be the truth LOL.
-“Made changes to the Sheriff’s Department” - Cry me a river…Please send this “verification” of the $18,000 badges to the address listed above. Every new Sheriff makes changes, some more than others. Did he upset the good-ole-boy applecart again?
-“purchased inmate meals from Terre Haute, Indiana” – Please send this “verification” of this $20,000 cost to taxpayers to the address listed above. He did purchase meals from Indiana, that ensured the inmates received the required meals according to law. Your calculations failed to include the money received from the Clark County Sheriff for the meals he purchased from Edgar County.
-“over 25 employees have left” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. What you failed to mention is that of those that have left, some were people that retired, others I’m sure quit because they didn’t like the changes, others were fired after being found guilty of civil rights violations under the former Sheriff, but we all know it has not been 25 people.
You talk about the “years of experience lost” but some of that is experience we didn’t need…left over from the former administration…like a giant zit getting ready to pop…good riddance.
-“we need to put a stop to the double dipping” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. This “double dipping” you talk about has actually saved the Edgar County Taxpayer thousands of dollars per year. This savings comes mainly from training, health insurance, and retirement that these so called “double dippers” save our county. Let’s talk about double dipping for a second – Nannette Crippes worked two Edgar County jobs under the former Sheriff, during the same working hours (911 and Sheriff Dept) while getting paid twice for the same hours worked. Now THAT is what I call double dipping! Wait, how about this for double dipping: run the ambulance service into the ground, “buy it” from the county without paying a penny of the $100,000 sale price, cash in over $12,000 worth of “hour worked” in the last month on county payroll, steal $43,000 from the county and pay it back without interest, and turn around and sell it for a few million dollars a couple years later.
-“the Chief Deputy” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. Every Sheriff gets to hire any Chief Deputy he or she chooses to hire. Period. That is why they are not unionized. You complain of the fuel and miles? How about this for fuel and miles – Nannette Crippes was given a leased car AND fuel just to drive from her home to work and back home every day. That was an over $900 per month cost to the taxpayers. They “fixed it” by “only” giving her $500 per month for a “vehicle allowance”. So, she gets $500 per month just so she can get to work. All of this under the same watchful eye of a 911 board appointed by the former county board.
-“part time correctional officer investigated” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. Never heard of that one> But the former sheriff and two current candidates for sheriff helped attempt to “resign with dignity” the two jailers caught and prosecuted for sex with inmates under Tim Crippes’ watch. One comment from the deposition was “I figured if the Sheriff [Crippes] could do it, so could I” when the jailer was asked why he did it.
***UPDATE 2-9-2014: There appears to be some credibility to this claim on it’s surface. However, the results of this investigation will surprise you, and will in no way be a “mark” on Motley’s record – quite the opposite actually. We will write a separate article on this when all of the FOIA’d information from local and state agencies comes in.
-“many people believe Voigt is part of the watchdogs” - Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. I guess you can have your own opinion. Doesn’t mean it’s true.
-”terminated 2 deputies” – Good riddance! These two former deputies, one of which was found guilty in federal court of violating a female prisoner’s civil rights by participating in illegal strip and body cavity searches. The other disgruntled former deputy is a candidate for sheriff and will certainly put the civil rights violator back to work if elected. Motley filed a lawsuit long before the biased arbitrator’s decision, and besides…arbitration is only for union deputies. These two were not union deputies.
-“no drug arrests in the county” – Do you really expect anyone to believe that Burgin – the civil rights violator, and Hopper – we all know why he doesn’t work for the city anymore, are the only two people that could ever effect a drug arrest? HAHAHHA – what a joke. There have been drug arrests since these two rejects were terminated, and I have the stats – just haven’t had time to write the article yet. These stats do not include “planting” evidence nor does it include illegal strip and body cavity searches – just plain true police work.
***UPDATE 2-9-2014: This (CLICK HERE) will put that “no drug arrests” statement to rest.
-“the jail…it is well known that most feel” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. The Budd lawsuit came after the county lost the lawsuits when Crippes and Farnham were Sheriff. Motley told the truth about the conditions of the jail when talking to the press. Would you rather he lie about it…wait, you don’t have to answer that…
UPDATE 2-7-2012 – After reviewing the court documents on the Budd lawsuit mentioned in this unsigned letter, the suit was because of actions in the jail during the Crippes regime including three separate arrests and detentions at the jail. The third arrest also included a couple of months into when Motley was elected – He took office in December 2010 and the suit included a time-frame that went into January 2011. It was the conditions in the jail that was the main complaint.
-“The information we have gathered can all be verified” – Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. Please send this “verification” to the address listed above. There, I asked you three times. I won’t hold my breath. If you do send it and I can verify it, I will publish it.
-“These aren’t twisted lies like the watchdogs tell” – Umm, we don’t tell lies, we publish the public records obtained from public bodies for each and every article we write…unlike this letter…and we put our names on it! Do you realize how pathetic this letter looks? Wait,…you don’t have to answer that…
-“numerous investigations for the watchdogs” – A taxpaying citizen should expect nothing less. I’m sure he conducts investigations for everyone that comes in and is willing to sign their name to a truthful complaint. That’s how things are supposed to work. On the other hand, if the claims made in the police complaint were false, I would expect to be charged with filing a false police report – which hasn’t happened by the way…
-“not one of these investigations have resulted in charges against anyone” – That is something we, “The Edgar County Watchdogs” (not to be confused with Voigt or Motley) will address at the next election where a State’s Attorney will be elected. A Sheriff cannot “charge” anyone, that is the State’s Attorney’s job and he can simply choose not to do it, which is the path he chose to take on Jimmy Wells even though the evidence supported forgery and from what we understand he more or less told the board that.
I’ll put it this way: If I were to drive 100 miles per hour between Paris and Chrisman, and not get a speeding ticket…does that mean I was not speeding? If I sold guns illegally, but were never charged with a crime, does that mean I never sold guns illegally?
Is real life like the old Tower of Power song: It’s Not The Crime (It’s If You Get Caught)?
***UPDATE 2-6-2014: The “letter writer” is “not from here” either – he is originally from Olney, IL. Also, this letter meets the definition of “election communications” according to the Illinois Election Code since it is communications “for or against” any candidate for public office or for or agaqinst any referendum. Once an individual exceeds the $3000 threshold, it must be reported to the election commission. He has either exceeded that already with the 4×8 and smaller signs plus this letter, or he is quickly approaching the threshold.