DISCUSSION: NORTH CANTON - THE TREND CONTINUES AMONG MOST SMALL STARK COUNTY ENTITIES - POLICE CHIEFS, FIRE CHIEFS & EMS CHIEFS AGAINST STARK COUNTY

This morning The Rep reported on the opposition of the North Canton police chief to the the commissioners' county wide 9-1-1 centralized call receipt/dispatch plan.

True to form, like former Alliance chief Larry Dordea (who now, ironically wants to be a county wide official [running for Stark County sheriff], North Canton Police Chief Mike Grimes and Fire Chief John Bacon say the "politically correct" thing from the vantage point of the parochial interests of Stark County.

But in reality they are against shoring up the safety of Stark Countians, though they say they are not.

Moreover, they say they are "open-minded." Really? Reading between the lines of The Report report of their comments belie Grimes' and Bacon's face-value comments apparently supportive of a county wide dispatch system.

Meanwhile, 70 percent of better of Stark Countians report emergencies via cellphone and Stark County Dispatch centers (except for Canton) do not have what is call Phase II capability to pinpoint the location of the inbound emergency call.

STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT readers will note the absence of any reference to the huge "cellphone tracking gap" in the current 9-1-1 system that Grimes and Bacon avoid.

Also, Grimes and Bacon come through as saying that everything is cool in North Canton (sliding over the "cellphone tracking gap" and the reality that there's "one additional call" in the current system before there can be any dispatch, and we don't care about Stark County as a whole.

One wonders if Grimes and Bacon want all Stark Countians to pitch in and fill the economic gap left by the departure of Hoover jobs. Undoubtedly. But with them it appears to be a one way street.

With leaders like Grimes and Bacon, how can Stark County move forward?