REPOSITORY EDITORIAL BOARD INSULTS RON/KYLE DEVIES & SNICKERS AT "SMALL TOWN" MARLBORO?

In his own mind Repository Executive Editor Jeff Gauger - even though he hails from Rockford, Illinois (Rockford where?) - is a very important guy.

From the tone and the smugness that emanates from yesterday's Rep editorial Chief, trustees must move on, the SCPR is guessing that Gauger was the editorial writer.

Yours truly would e-mail Gauger and find out who wrote the editorial, but it would probably be blown off; like his sidekick Gayle Beck blew off an e-mail asking a mundane question about whether or not The Rep had endorsed in the Chandra/Dann attorney general primary race in 2008.

The SCPR had been hearing that the Rep editors were unhappy with the penetrating critiques that The Report has been doing on their work.

Beck's blow off was all the confirmation the SCPR needed. The SCPR is pleased to put "only countywide newspaper" under the microscope. As former editor David Kaminski once said, The Rep likes being the 800-pound gorilla. Even though he is gone, his statement accurately reflects the attitude among the editors at The Rep today.

The Canton Repository is fast fading as a respected investigatory newspaper. Staff cuts galore are being made at The Rep except for the sports department - of course, many Stark Countians cannot do without their sports.

New owner GateHouse Media Ohio is disliked by the folks who work at The Rep about 60/40 (with 60 being the negative number) according to a source from deep inside the bowels of the Canton daily.

The biggest drop off at The Repository has been with the quality of the editorial staff headed by Jeff Gauger. Let's put it thise way: he is no M.L. Schultze!

The editorial being commented by the SCPR on is about as bush as editors get.

It's done in what the editorial writer thinks is a clever way to demean the Devies and Marlboro Township without it being clearly apparent.

Some examples.

"Let’s put aside the snickering about small towns ... " The writer goes on to cover his/her tracks by bringing in Canton, Massillon and North Canton and their "silly politics."

Not so fast. Apparently, Gauger (et al?) betray themselves and conversation that has been going on in The Rep editorial board room. Frequently, such is the case. He who disses "anonymous" others is covering up his own dissing.

A clever attempt to ridicule Marlboro, while appearing to take the high road.

The clincher is this line: "It’s time for the trustees to put Devies back to work, for him to drop any thought of a lawsuit, and for both sides, now, to put the public first."

The Devies have always put the public first. But not Wise and Wolf. No! They got this mess started. And Marlboro has suffered at their hands. Not the Devies.

To equate the Devies with Wise and Wolf is a huge insult.

And, the Devies are "to drop any thought of a lawsuit."

No, no and no again.

It is obvious that the member(s) of The Repository editorial board do not fully understand the American system of justice.

There is a civil side to our system of justice. The Devies unjustifiably experienced the criminal justice side. Now is their turn to have justice. That is the beauty of the American system.

If the Marlboro trustees damaged the Devies in violation of legally recognized rights in established tort law, then making them pay money damages is the civil side of the American system of justice way sending a message that such conduct could be costly and therefore is check on any who would follow their example.

Where were the editors when the trustees made a mole hill of a matter into a gigantic mountain?

Why weren't the editors editorializing the trustees to not make this a criminal justice matter? Why weren't they editorializing the Stark County sheriff to proceed on a criminal basis with the greatest reluctance. Why weren't they editorializing the Stark County prosecutor to make double, double sure they had a solid case before going to the grand jury?

It is said that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

The Devies matter is a classic case of the Stark County prosecutor doing just that? Except the Devies are not ham sandwiches. The Devies are real breathing, feeling and thinking human beings. With his sloppy work (as confirmed by Judge Sinclair), Ferrero and his involved staff deeply hurt and damaged a pillar of the Marlboro community. Feel good about that John?

There was no case against the Devies. As one who attended a good part of the trial, that became apparent to me by noon of Tuesday, the 19th. Of course, yours truly knew that long before the indictments came down. Check The Report's blogs.

But where was The Rep editorial board?

Nowhere to be seen!

But now they want to weigh in.

Go get a life Rep editors - outside the editorial board room!

DISCUSSION: ARE SWANSON & FERRERO OUT TO DIMINISH STARK COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT? REPUBLICAN PARTISAN OHIO AUDITOR MARY TAYLOR TO THE RESCUE?

If a Stark County lawyer goes through a divorce, Stark County judges are not assigned to the case. A visiting judge is brought in. This it the way it should be. Ethical appearances demand such.

Apparently, Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor (Republican - Green; highly political in her own right) knows the political landscape so well she has called the feds (the FBI) in. Obviously, she is leery of the of at least the Swanson/Zeigler (Zeigler ran unopposed in 2008) political relationship. Is she going far enough? And, is she looking herself in the mirror. Her office has been giving Zeigler's office and Frustaci a clean bill of health all along.

It is the position of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) that neither Sheriff Tim Swanson's office nor Prosecutor John Ferrero's office should be involved in investigating a case involving high profile political activists (e.g. Marlboro Township police chief Ron Devies vigorously supported Swanson opponent Larry Dordea) and political figures (e.g. Mayor William J. Healy, II) when any of these folks have a connection (pro or con) vis-a-vis either Swanson or Ferrero in a political context.

Could Swanson's folks have bungled the investigation because of a overzealousness fueled by politics?

A second reason that should have recused his office from the Devies investigation is the fact that Marlboro trustee Tim Wise (who is one of two of anti-Devies people on the Marlboro board) is the brother of former Ferrero hire, (prosecutor) E.E. Wise, Jr. The Report doesn't believe that EJ (as he is popularly known within Democratic circles) would try to influence the course of the investigation.

The Wise family has been has been heavily involved in Stark Democratic political circles. Even assuming these folks have kept their proper distance from the investigation as the SCPR does, these political interrelationships do not look good to the general public and Ferrero should take on the "public perspective" more than he does.

Does Ferrero (who ran unopposed in 2008) care about the public perception?

Ferrero not too long ago was the chairman of the Stark County Democratic Party. Having been such, should make him particularly sensitive to cases in which politics is deemed to be a factor.

And it is not good enough that Swanson is ONLY keeping his distance from the Stark County treasurer's office. Swanson is an avowed political support of Zeigler. Swanson even wrote a "letter to the editor" to The Repository supporting Zeigler's handling of the treasurer office operations.

The Report remembers Swanson, Ferrero and Zeigler tunning together as "a law enforcement team" for a period of time in 2004. How does Ferrero justify staying in this matter. Shouldn't he be bringing in a outside of Stark County prosecutor?

DISCUSSION: WHEN PETTY POLITICIANS CANNOT HANDLE POWER, GOOD PEOPLE CAN GET RUINED - CAN THEY NOT?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) is astounded over the controversy that the Marlboro Township trustees have unleashed.

Rustic Marlboro Township? Who would have thunk that a family who has devoted its life to the well-being of their community could have end up have two family members indicted and prosecuted for crimes that have their origins in guess what? community service! Wow!

Kyle Devies, who is a young man, but who was even a younger man several years back when he - get this - VOLUNTEERED - to fix the broken township computer system.

Kyle began his volunteer work back in the good old days when the township trustees deeply appreciated community people stepping forward to help out. Nowadays, Marlboro has a couple of "wheeler-dealer" trustees who have brought "big city politics" to this bucolic community and to an office which officially is "non-partisan."

Tim Wise, a member of a politically initiated Stark County family, is an interesting "political" person to The Report. The Report has always thought well of the Wise family and believes that Tim is a deviation from the Wise family political standards. His brother E.E. Jr. (currently city administrator for North Canton) is highly respected within the Stark County political community and not just among Democrats (his affiliation) but among the entire Stark County political establishment.

Is Tim a case of "the political black sheep" of the family who is frustrated at not having achieved at his father's level (Earle E. Wise, Sr. - a kingpin of Stark County Democratic politics and a retired 5th District Court of Appeal judge) and is out to prove himself as a politically powerful player in Stark County?

Added on to Tim's frustration might be his brother's prominence in Stark County politics. E. E., Jr. ran very respectable and relative close campaigns for county recorder (losing to Republican Jane Vignos) and probate court judge (losing to the hugely campaign financed Dixie Park - her husband's money).

The Report believes that both E. E. Sr. and Jr. have to be horrified at what Tim has done in helping to create the ugly political mess (totally unnecessary) with the Devies family in Marlboro.

Dave Wolf? How did he come to have a hand in creating this mess?

The Report believes it is a "religious Right" political thing with him. No sooner had Wolf taken office as trustee and he was knocking on Marlboro Police Chief Ron Devies' door.

Was this a "let's get to know each other session?" The Report thinks not. Rather it was a "orders from God Almighty" encounter which didn't last very long. It only lasted long enough for Wolf to hand Devies a video tape done by a religious Right South Carolina sheriff by the name of Ray Nash with the Wolf admonition to Chief Devies "this is how I see things."

Things?

Presumably, how law enforcement should be run.

Well, the Chief had a little bit of police training and experience himself and predictably blew-off Wolf by continuing to police Marlboro as he and his predecessors always had.

The Report believes the Chief did the right thing by Marlboro. Religious Right folks are known for their "take over tatics" of local government (mostly boards of education). If Wolf is the religious Right firebrand The Report suspects he is, then Wolf may be trying to bring fundamentalist (religious) political values and programs to the township. The Nash intro may be Chapter One of a book full of religious grounded prescriptions.

Again supposing The Report is correct and Wolf embodies "religious fundamentalism" in political action; it is more than a touch ironic that someone who embraces "family values" would attack a Marlboro family which is the personification of family values.

Whatever the motivations of Wise and Wolf, they have created a firestorm in Marlboro Township.

And The Report believes Wolf, at least, now realizes this and that is why he met with Chief Devies last weekend to try to diffuse the community volatile situation; pleading with the Chief "to call off the dogs" (an unfortunate metaphor if dogs is the word that Wolf actually used).

Finally, The Report believes that the trustees control of how this scenario is going to play out. Even if the Stark County grand jury refuses to indict the Devies, these two trustees have unleashed damages galore: the Marlboro community, the Marlboro police department, the Devies family and to each of themselves.

And just think, it all began with a young man wanting to help out his community by volunteering.

The message: Indeed, NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED. Especially when folks come to the table with a political agenda.

Here is a history of the Devies family civic involvement in Marlboro community life as written by Ron Devies:

1. My father Gene Devies was one of the organizers and charter members of the Marlboro Fire Company. He was the departments second ever chief. After he retired he served on the board of directors for the fire department. My mom was on the Ladies Auxiliary and back then when there would be a fire in the middle of the night the ladies would get out of bed too and make coffee to take to the firemen. They also kept canned hams so they could also fix sandwiches and take to the firefighters. One day no one was free to drive the fire truck to a fire and my mom loaded up little Denny and Bob and drove the truck to the fire scene.

2. My oldest brother Gene started on the fire department as soon as he turned 18 in 1957 and rose through the ranks and retired as chief in 1995.

a. His son Rob joined the fire department when he turned 18, went to EMT and Paramedic school and worked with me at Alliance Ambulance before going to the police academy and working with Denny and I on the police department. Rob has quit all of that now and is a Lieutenant for the Alliance City Fire Department

b. Gene's son Mike is a Captain on the Marlboro Fire Department.

3. While Bob has never done anything in those areas, he specializes in police & fire screening and treating related problems. He was instrumental in the organizing of the Stark County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) that sits down with police and fire departments and debriefs them after a catastrophe.

4. Denny was a cop from 1971 till his death in 2003. While Denny was never an EMT he did work as an ambulance attendant from 1969 to 1974. (that was before they had EMTs) His wife is a surgery nurse.

5. Me, I was on the Marlboro Fire Department from the time I turned 18 in 1976 till I retired after becoming police chief. I was the fire departments first EMT,I was one of the organizers of the fire departments EMS Division and started the fire investigation bureau in 1995 under Chief Gary Haines. I was an EMT-Paramedic from 1977-1993 with Alliance Ambulance and then later Gold Cross after they purchased the company. I started as an auxiliary patrolman in 1984 and now Chief today. Barb is a emergency room nurse. Kyle is a Firefighter-EMT and joined the fire department when he turned 18.

DISCUSSION: COUNTY PROSECUTOR FERRERO DODGES A DECISION IN DEVIES MATTER?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) has learned that Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero has declined the opportunity to make an assessment on whether or not Marlboro Township Police Chief Ron Devies and his son are to be charged with committing any crime as an outgrowth of an investigation conducted by Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson.

Instead, Ferrero has opted to present to matter to the Stark County Grand Jury which will hear the prosecution side of the case beginning today.

Chief Devies has told The Report he and his son will present their side of the case to the grand jury next week.

Devies (who was placed on "paid administrative leave" by the Marlboro trustees on January 6th) said he was surprised to learn of the grand jury proceeding yesterday, the 9th, as he and Wolf had sat down over the weekend and discussed a resolution between himself and Trustee Wolf and felt enough progress had been made that he could see "light at the end of the tunnel."

Needless to say, Devies was disappointed by the grand jury news in the light of the progress he and Wolf had made, but expressed confidence that the grand jury would not indict once it has heard the Devies’ version of events allegedly involving Kyle's work for Marlboro Township on its computer system. Devies did contact Wolf after he got the news of the impending grand jury proceeding and was told by Wolf that he was as surprised as Devies was.

Why, The Report asks, didn't Ferrero decide on his own whether or not charges are to be filed against the Devies?

In any event, The Report continues to believe that Trustees Wise and Wolf are “political toast” n Marlboro Township this coming November.

It is clearly a lose-lose situation politically for Wise and Wolf. If the Devies do not get indicted, then political retribution will be in order. If the Devies duo do get indicted; guess what Messers Wise and Wolf - political retribution will be in order.

It is surprising to The Report that Tim Wise would get himself into such a political fix.

His brother Earle E. Wise, Jr. (now city administrator for North Canton) was a long time Stark County assistant prosecutor who ran for Stark County Probate judge in 2002 losing to Republican Dixie Park. In 1992, Wise, Jr. Was the Democratic nominee for Stark County Recorder (having bested current county auditor Kim Perez in the Democratic primary). In the general, E.E., Jr. lost to Republican Jane Vignos.

Tim’s father, Earle E. Wise, Sr., was a one time a powerful Stark County Democrat who teamed up with the recently deceased Roy Gutierrez (the chairman) as law partners in the 1970s through 1980s and from this base lead Stark County Democrats. Wise, Sr served as a judge on the 5th District Court of Appeals for a number of years.

With this political pedigree, why Tim is not a more accomplished politician is indeed a mystery.

Wolf is a different matter. As far as The Report knows, Wolf is a political novice with no prior exposure to politics in the fast lane who may have been motivated to get into local politics as an advocate of “the religious Right” political agenda. One tip-off that this might be the case is Ron Devies account of how (after having just taken office as a newly elected trustee) Wolf came to him with a Sheriff Ray Nash tape telling Devies in effect that the tape expressed his view of how law enforcement should be conducted.

For a taste of the Nash (Wolf’s self-proclaimed model of law enforcement), here is an excerpt of a piece done by Glenn Smith of the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier (February 3, 2008):

Week after week, the hits kept coming, providing fresh fodder for critics who have long taken issue with Nash's management style, spending habits and priorities. They bristle at his faith-flavored approach to law enforcement that some foes say blurs the line between church and state.

The Internet bubbles with bloggers and posters who question the sheriff's links to controversial evangelists and try to paint his character-training initiatives as thinly veiled proselytizing, an attempt to infiltrate law enforcement with cult-like tactics.

Defending his record

Nash, a devout Christian, calls such claims "silly" and says he has never tried to convert employees. He blames his opponents for trying to distort his record, taint his image. He says he has long been the target of an entrenched old guard in Dorchester County that wants him out of the way.

All in all, it seems that both Wise and Wolf have a thing or two to learn about Marlboro Township politics given with whom they were dealing: a highly respected, long term member of the Marlboro community - Police Chief Ron Devies and his son Kyle.