By Jerry Haferkamp
Franklin Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. We can apply these words to the current situation in our police department. Rest assured, we have an excellent corps of police officers in St. Charles. These individuals are well trained and have served the residents well. They will do their duties professionally and the residents don’t have to worry about their mental or emotional state.
Due to the filing of papers that claim mental and emotional problems, however, there has been some concern that some may not be able to handle stress. We believe they may have been misguided into signing what has been reported as a “form letter” stating these problems. We find it hard to believe we have 73 officers on the force that can’t shrug off the unfortunate ribbing of Councilman Hoepfner. Sure they were insulted by his comments and are angry. We understand. Their leadership added to their problems by allowing the form letters to be submitted.
There is a concerted effort going on to demonize this Council. A public relations firm has been hired, ads are appearing in the St. Peters Journal, a recall against a Councilwoman who never harmed or spoke ill of the police has been started, letters calling the city “out of control”(they mean out of their control) have been published, and characters attacked. There are some who are still angry about where the Mayor sits at Council meetings, even though she thought it was a good idea when brought forward at meetings of the previous Council. Now however, the issue has risen to a new level.
The people stirring up the problems between the officers and the Council would like nothing better than to somehow get Councilman Hoepfner recalled. The problem is Councilman Hoepfner received 60% of the votes in the last election. Dottie Greer received 27% of the vote and there were 5 running for the position. To the troublemakers, Councilwoman Greer is statistically a better target. The wife of the St. Charles Police Officers Association leader used time at the last Council meeting to unleash a tirade against Councilwoman Greer. She spent much of her allotted 2 minutes denying her husband was connected to the recall effort. Someone may have believed that. She may have even believed it, or she may have just been trying to convince herself?
Of course no recall effort in that ward would be worthwhile without the assistance of Dan Gould. We don’t care about his personal problems, only the ones he caused while on the Council. You remember. He insisted all items brought forward from “staff” be rubber-stamped. He felt some bureaucratic panel in Washington should decide where St. Charles should put stop signs, not our local officials. The one time we vehemently disagreed with the Editor of the FCN is when he criticized Mr. Gould for missing so many Council meetings. In my opinion, the less he was there, the less harm could be done to our city. We would have preferred his chair grow cobwebs. Unlike Dottie Greer, he seldom answered calls. When questioned, he may reply if you didn’t like it, you can run for the seat. He told Dottie that, she did and she spanked him soundly at the polls and sent him home.
Councilwoman Greer: Hang in there. The folks in your ward are smarter than the malcontents believe. You have done nothing worthy of recall. You are head and shoulders above your predecessor.
Ward 7 voters: If you really want to see a city “out of control”, sign the petition. Maybe Patti will appoint Danny to the seat. He’s her kinda guy.
Has Steve Powell been “pink slipped” yet? Why not?
