Wednesday, July 01, 2009

EPD Fireworks

Just in time for the Fourth.
First it broke on heraldo:
Eureka Police blog spawns lawsuit
Then the Times Standard
Employee of EPD files suit against coworkers
A civil lawsuit between employees of Eureka Police Department is unfolding and involves a local and now defunct blog, accusations of defamation and 99 unnamed defendants.

EPD Communications Supervisor Tawnie Hansen filed suit against EPD Support Services Manager Devora “DeeDee” Wilson and 99 anonymous users for allegedly falsely stating on a blog that Hansen had an illicit sexual relationship with EPD Chief Garr Nielsen, according to the complaint filed with the Humboldt County Superior Court.

And it also became the cover story on The Journal
Broken Blue Line link to be updated, not online yet
a sad and sorry mess - and now it looks like all kinds of dirty laundry will be aired, invasive depositions will be taken, and all kinds of things will become public on both sides alike.

The "Above The Law" Blog - from what I could see, was, like so many things here, an attempt to get a story and a message out - that message being how EPD employees were feeling, and how they felt like they were being treated, and what they saw going on internally. It was inside gossip, perhaps facts, as they would have been relayed by co-workers as discontent and frustration reached the breaking point. How many had tried to talk to reporters prior to starting such a blog would be interesting to know.

How much was true, any or all, was and is impossible for those of us on the outside to tell. I doubt many read it without cringing a few times.

Now that watercooler chatter, and internal folklore is about to be splashed all over the local press - a story that has a bit of everything.

Summer reading. Gonna be hard on all involved. And very interesting for all us bloggers.

7 comments:

  1. How is it that Heraldo broke this story first?

    Think about that for a while.

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  2. Sounds suspiciously like what happens in lots of public, non profit and private organizations of females screwing their way up the promotion ladder. I'm SHOCKED simply SHOCKED!

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  3. Well, I am a firm believer that you can have male friends/female friends and NOT be screwing around - but if you go to lunch everyone ASSUMES certain things - so I make no judgements here.

    It is interesting to see the anti-cop heraldo crowd trying to jockey for position on this one - in general they are pro Garr - and no matter what else happens, this ain't gonna be good for anyone concerned. This woman has now opened herself up for the most invasive of depositions - herself and everyone else. It's also interesting to see the crowing about 'an anonymous blogger' on heraldo's site, heraldo he/she/it/them being anonymous his/her/it/themselves.

    As for what is coming - think Gundersen x 1000 - if you read the TS comments, bad enough that they have been shut down.

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  4. Who is Heraldo?

    How is it that he/she (it's a he) had the inside track on this?

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  5. This is a sick and sad situation. How the hell can Garr defend himself by (a) proving something DIDN'T happen, and (b) against anonymous blog comments?

    He is a good chief making tough decisions that some insiders object to ... so what?

    Suck it up and get back to work people. What ever happened to the code, where you didn't air internal department business outside the family?

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  6. How is it that the Humboldt Hearald got this story first? Could it be that a certain city council person leaked or provided the information to initiate the spin?

    It would appear that the recent posts on the Humboldt Hearld are part of an organized effort against the city manager and the police department, minus the chief.

    I don't buy the story provided by Larry Glass. Sorry but it's just too transparent.

    I wonder if the chief of police of Arcata, San Francisco, Woodland, Fresno, or Trindad get to take a city owned police car with a police radio and siren on vacation? No I don't think so either.

    The next city council meeting for Eureka may be worth attending.

    I hope everyone enjoys the 4th of July and takes time to remember what the celebration means.

    God Bless Amercia and all United States military personnel wherever they may be serving. And of course all U.S. military veterans.

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  7. Quit lookin for more conspiracy theories where none exist. We have had it up to our eyeballs with them! There are dozens of people who knew all this crap before it went public and we all know half of them are blabbermouths. Get a life.

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