SALINE CO.— The biggest news that came out of the most recent Carrier Mills village meeting, October 14, was what was not talked about…and the fact that it pertains to the upcoming November elections might be why.
Disclosure has learned that prior to the meeting, each Carrier Mills village board member had received a mysterious packet filled with information about how their police officers were being treated and specifically how the county sheriff’s department was being run.
Oddly enough the unknown informants picked the eve of one of the most hotly-contested sheriff’s races ever to be held in the county to share their information.
In fact, the internal documents in the packages backing up their assertions are dated 2011 and 2013.
This made those who received the packets wonder aloud that if the sheriff’s department was being run so horribly, why wait a year or three to expose such an atrocity…?
The answer is obvious: the sheriff’s race.
Incumbent D. Keith Brown faces a serious challenger in Mike Gribble for Saline County Sheriff.
The accusations being directed at Brown and his chief deputy Ken Clore make it highly unlikely either man has any connection to the election eve bomb dropped at the village meeting by the anonymous party.
During his campaign interview with Disclosure, Gribble said he would have nothing to do with anyone who would pull behind-the-scenes election antics.
What remains to be seen is if the bomb turns out to be a dud or by dissecting same reveals those responsible.
Grammatical errors and all
What was in the packets?
The packets contained a two-page letter with two pieces of supporting documents.
The letter is reprinted here in its entirety, complete with all grammatical and spelling errors intact (and some pointed out with ‘spelling incorrect’ notations [sic]).
“The first of the memos refers to the Carrier Mills Police Officers, specifically only Officers (Billy) Duncan and (Shawn) Turner. They have been BANNED from the upstairs portion of the Sheriff’s Department LAW ENFORCEMENT COMPLEX. A building I might add that we help pay for and vote for the person running it. This adds to the workload of not being able to pick up log entries or even do paperwork upstairs in the squad room that has been a practice for years. What’s more, this has been kept a secret from the residents of Carrier Mills. As you will note, the memo was typed by his Majesty Tracy Felty.
“It is no secret among law enforcement that Sheriff Brown has been trying to force the Harrisburg Police Department out of the building for years. Brown is no friend of the Eldorado Police and seems to only get along with the Illinois State Police…birds of a feather. Now it seems Brown or one of his mini me’s Felty is attacking Carrier Mills. The only common denominator between Carrier Mills and Harrisburg that would cause the high sheriff to punish both municipalities is that both Carrier Mills and Harrisburg stopped using his wife as village attorney.
“I think the following should be asked;
Under what authority does His Lordship Tracy Felty have to ban anyone from anywhere?
Why did Lord Felty single out only these two officers?
Isn’t Master Felty on the police committee?
So, he doesn’t trust his own men?
Why didn’t Brown’s boy Felty or Chief of Police for that matter, bring this before the board?
Did the board members know of this conspiracy?
If so, why was it kept a secret?
What is the plan now that it is out in the open.
Isn’t Felty’s actions a conflict of interest, especially seeing the large Keith Brown for Sheriff sign in his yard?
“Memo#2. Ken Clore likes to write memos more than patrolling the county. As one of the many memos Clore wrote on Oct. 7th of 2013, the last paragraph at the bottom of the page, Clore (while throwing the sheriff under the bus) orders deputies to stay out of towns with police departments. Even though those towns pay taxes to support Ken Clore being able to sit at his computer all day long and give cowardly orders. Taxation without representation. I think I read about that somewhere. He would also like the deputies to not run radar on the highway. As we all know that is a complete waste of time as no one ever speeds on highways and there are never traffic accidents on highways either. No…this last order was Clore protecting the ISP brotherhood so they can get their monthly quota. Seems Carrier Mills has a police department and a highway.
“Last but not least and this is my favorite. This memo was attached to a barrage of paper work. As you can see it was page 11 of 11. This memo started a labor dispute that just recently ended with the Sheriff losing and losing big. A public fact that is not being released. Sheriff Department employees were prohibited from having secondary jobs as police officers in other departments, (including Carrier Mills which played a major role in this case and again, no one knew it), as it might lead to a conflict of interest. Even though it has been done for years. They are also concerned for the safety and health of the employee that has worked that long without a break.
“HOWEVER, what they don’t tell you is that the sheriff department hired off duty Eldorado and Harrisburg police officers to work part time in the sheriff’s department. Completely contradicting the rules that had just been laid down for their own staff.
“In reality these new rules were designed to force the resignation of two employees. One of which just one [sic] a huge settlement from the County. All of this is public information. Amy Gibbs the court reporter at the judges office transcribed the testimony that is interesting if not all out lies to read. This is all public record. FOIA any of these documents. The labor dispute can be FOIA;d from Amy Gibbs at the judges office.
“WILL THE REAL SALINE COUNTY SHERIFF PLEASE STAND UP?
“AND IS THE CARRIER MILLS VILLAGE BOARD GOING TO TAKE THIS SITTING DOWN?”
Old memos
In the packet with the above information were two additional sheets of paper. One was the memo from Felty, dated Oct. 15, 2013, identifying two officers from Carrier Mills who were restricted from the upper floor of the detention center, and the other a memo from Clore, dated Oct. 7, 2011, which included him chastising a few of the deputies who had been signing off their eight-hour shift after only working seven hours.
In fact, in the 20-plus counties this publication covers, it is not unheard of for officers to be restricted from moonlighting as well as deputies asked to patrol rural areas and not spend so much time in an area that already has police coverage.
In fact, many voters prefer county deputies to patrol the rural areas while city officers patrol city streets.
That same train of thought has been applied to deputies spending an inordinate of time looking for speeders in an area that is already being patrolled by city or state police officers.
Most of the information in the packet appears to be nothing more than pure ax grinding, filled with years-old information that was sat on until just prior to voters going to the polls.
(Publisher’s note: We have been quietly working on this story for more than two years and have been waiting patiently on this ‘Big Thing that’s gonna come out about Keith Brown and Ken Clore in October just before the election.’ Apparently this is the big thing promised. However, I believe we here at Disclosure not only know who is behind the anonymous bomb drop, but can prove it. Keep checking disclosurenewsonline.com as we gather the details on the identities of these mysterious benefactors and bring them to you in order for you to decide for yourselves how much weight to place in their attempt to sway an election).