WHY CAN'T MARLBORO TRUSTEE DO LIKE TRUSTEE DAVE WOLF HAS DONE? "GET OFF" POLICE CHIEF RON DEVIES' BACK?

UPDATE: 08/06/2009 at 5:35 A.M.

A COMMENT FROM A SCPR READER:

I hope that all of those who crowded the Marlboro township hall in support of Chief Devies will remind their friends and fellow voters of the smarmy tactics employed by Tim Wise during his tenure as trustee. We can only guess at his reason for wanting a key to the police department! Really, would anyone with a brain want this guy to have access to sensitive information! What possible reason would there be for him to have access to it? Considering what this guy has already cost the township, not just in dollars, but in disruption, I would hope that this latest irrational request is nipped in the bud! It is a known fact that abused women, children and even animals return to their abuser just because they think any attention is better than NO attention. This must surely be the reason Tim Wise has had the audacity to file as a candidate for trustee. I guess he revels in attention, even when it is negative. What a pathetic creature! Marlboro has indicated, very strongly that we like and respect our police chief. I personally do not have a shred of respect for Tim Wise who in my opinion has proven himself unworthy of holding any public office.

THE ORIGINAL POST

Trustee Tim Wise (Marlboro Township) repeatedly says there is nothing "personal" about his bird dogging of Police Chief Ron Devies. Wise says he is just doing his job as a public official.

The SCPR for one does not believe Wise's protestations.

It as if Wise thinks that "mere assertion" is good enough to convince bystanders. But they are not. Many if not most people stand by the adage "actions speak louder than words."

The SCPR is of the opinion that Wise actions bespeak a man who is on a crusade. In other articles readers and search out from the search box on this blog (using various terms such as "Devies," "Wise," Wolf," Marlboro and the like), there are a number of descriptions of actions taken by Wise (and fellow trustee, Dave Wolf - in some but not all instances) which indicate to a reasonable person that Wise's real goal before leaving office is to excise Ron Deives as police chief in Marlboro Township

And even though Wise has filed to run for a second term, it's hard to believe that he believes he can win in Marlboro given all the political turmoil that he and Wolf have generated in this bucolic community.

The last time the SCPR blogged on the Marlboro saga, Wise was after Devies to get competitive bids on a Marlboro police vehicle; an obvious comeuppance on Devies' point that the trustees had not gotten competitive bids before replacing Kyle Devies with Compu-Tek to take care of township computers.

The latest Wise initiative on Devies is to insist that Devies provide him (and presumably all the trustees) with a master key to the Marlboro police facilities.

Devies tells the SCPR that he has heard through a highly credible third party that Wise believes Devies should be fired unless he turns over the master key.

Devies' response to the Wise demand is for Wise to convince his fellow trustees to pass a resolution requiring that he (Devies) provide the key. Devies says he has no choice by to comply, if the trustees so act.

Devies tells the SCPR that Trustee Schilig does not want a key and has publicly stated that it has been the longstanding Marlboro Board of Trustees policy that no trustee have a key. It appears that Trustee Wolf will be the deciding factor, if a resolution is made and seconded.

If the trustees were to get a master key, then they would (according to Devies) have access to locations where evidence gathered in ongoing investigations is housed on a "temporary" basis and would have access to other information that - while not in the "investigatory evidence" category would include information that is not available to the general public.

Many who have followed the Marlboro trustee/Devies saga are highly suspicious that the "apparent" Trustee Wise reason for wanting this or that action from Chief Devies is not the "real" reason.

There is a feeling among some of Wise's critics that he is beginning to square up with the political reality that he is very unlikely to be re-elected. Devies is confident that Wise will not be re-elected.

Could it be that Wise's final mission is to bring down the chief on his way out the door?

On a more positive note, Chief Devies says that he has had no difficulty whatsoever with Trustee Wolf since he was re-instated.

Wouldn't be a fitting end to Trustee Wise's apparent end as a Marlboro trustee come November that he take a page out of Dave Wolf's book?

GOOD FOR MARLBORO! TRUSTEE WISE BLUSTERS; THEN FADES

It is not often that one is thankful when a public official turns wimpish.

But Marlboro Township residents should be appreciative that Trustee Tim Wise turned into jelly on Friday, May 22, 2009.

A sudden onset of Wise mellowness (excuse the pun), likely, spared Marlboro more bitterness and strife.

Reports were that he was still bristling that Ron and Kyle Devies were victorious in their felony trial that got started with Trustees Wise and Wolf (Schilg was slated to be a witness for the Devies) referring an incident involving township computers to Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero's office.

Sources indicate that Wise was balking at reinstating Ron Deives as police chief unless certain unspecified conditions were met.

So the stage was set for a possible confrontation when the trustees were to meet on Friday evening to consider whether or not Devies was to be reinstated.

Just to back up a little.

The Report has reason to believe that on Wednesday (presumably before Judge Sinclair dismissed all charges against Ron and Kyle Devies), an area policeman had been put on alert to prepare for a Marlboro Township meeting that night to be sworn in as the "new" Marlboro chief of police.

Then came Judge Sinclair's decision which set Wise and Wolf back on their heels and all of a sudden plans for a replacement police chief were changed.

But Wise, for one, was not done. With the conditions/stipulation talk, it was clear that he was not going to capitulate easily. His opening line of "nothing personal" (see video below) has to be hard to take for Ron and Kyle Devies in the light of all the acrimony that has coursed through the relationships between Wise and Trustee Wolf and the Devies duo (mostly Ron Devies), since Wise and Wolf took office in January, 2006.

In fact, in a conversation with Marlboro fiscal officer Pete Brelish immediately after the restoration of Devies to police chief status. Brelish described to the SCPR the uncertainty he was experiencing during the day as whether not to release township money to buy a cake to celebrate the return of Devies. Would or wouldn't it happen? Brelish was relieved that the chief was put back on the job.

Reading between the lines of all that has been said and written, The Report believes that Wise was subjected to intense conversation from friend and foe alike in an effort to get him to drop the conditions/stipulations he had been insisting on.

In unleashing their silly quest (not silly to the Devies nor the Marlboro community who suffered greatly, of course, but as perceived by outside observers) to build a mole hill into a mountain, the SCPR believes that Wise and Wolf set in motion strong tremors that will shake the Stark County law enforcement establishment.

The SCPR will have more to say on the countywide ramification aspect of the case in a later blog.

As seen in the video clip, Wise is still infected with a tinge of bravado at the emergency meeting. The Report is not sure why Wise ultimately caved in. It most likely the pressure that the SCPR speculates was being applied to him from the time Judge Sinclair handed down his legal shellacking of the prosecution through Friday was the cause.

In a little bit of theater, the SCPR understands a number of Stark County deputies escorted Trustee Wise to his car after the judgment of the Court.

As, again, can be seen in the video, Marlboro citizens who supported the Devies heeded the admonition of Trustee Schilig to be orderly at the Friday emergency meeting.

The Report has not seen nor heard anything from involved Marlboro citizens that indicated a need for the demonstrated Swanson forces reaction. It appears to be another in a continuing line of insults visited on the good folks of Marlboro.

Trustee Tim Wise has taken out a petition to run for reelection. It boggles the mind that he thinks he can win. Of course, taking out a petition is not filing a petition. It will be interesting to see if he actually follows through and files.

If Wise wants to say he stood strong through it all, let him believe what he wants.

The SCPR believes that in the end, Wise bent to the will of the good folks of Marlboro Township. Sometimes it's a good thing when someone turns wimpish!

Here is the video of the reinstatement.