NJ COP VACATIONS IN OC, GETS A BJ ON THE BOARDWALK AND A HANDJOB IN COURT

For yet another example of how special cops are, we turn to a report from The Dispatch. Seems this guy, Cesar Manuel Moyano, a New Jersey cop... well, not a real cop, more of a prison turnkey, really, came to Ocean City last summer and, through whatever means, was able to persuade a 15-year-old girl to give him head right next to the boardwalk. Well, by and by, the local cops take notice and arrest him. He claims he thought the girl was 20 years old, and the girl claims she was not forced but felt pressure to perform said ministrations upon Moyano because told her it would be alright because he was a cop.
So by and by, this comes to the attention of the local heat and they arrest his arrogant, dumb ass, and he wound up in court today. The price cops pay in this county for child sexual abuse and assault; 10 days in jail, because well, you know, cops deserve special treatment being as they're special and heroes and such. No word on if he'll be required to register as a child sex offender.... Probably not.

YA, UND NEXT YEAR YOU VILL TELL ZE WHOLE VORLD ZAT YOU LUF UZ UND VE ARE JUST LIKE ZEM

CNN is moving a story, now, saying Second Tier Rep. Tom Tancredo (seen here in his Rocket J. Squirrel outfit), a Repiglican presidential wannabe from Colorado, is really annoyed with the NFL after it rejected a commercial pimping the Border Patrol that was supposed to air during the Super Bowl. And to make up for his having a hissy-fit, he wants the NFL to guarantee the boys in brown a commercial slot in next year's event and a statement of support for its efforts.... He's got to be kidding.... Excuse me, I had to stop writing for a moment because I was laughing so hard that I almost hurled chunks all over my latest copy of USNWR.
Yup. I think this does it; proves Tancredo has jumped the shark in a wild-eyed attempt to be more patriotic than thou.

WHY NOW AND NOT BEFORE, AND WHAT GOOD IS IT GOING TO DO?

Bless her heart, the Ocean City police chief has apparently ordered an internal affairs investigation into a 2005 traffic stop, where Rick Meehan's daughter was stopped, admitted to consuming alcohol and called daddy to come and get her. Although details of the alleged incident have not been made public, I couldn't help but notice there was no mention made of a field sobriety test being administered. So that makes it a whole lot less suspicious than the Atkins fiasco.
So why would DiPino order an internal investigation in this case, and what good is it going to do? Answers to these questions are important because there are avenues for a miscarriage of justice built into the investigation that need close scrutiny.
First, it's troubling that DiPino's version of IAD is to have the head of the department to which the officer is assigned do the investigation. That means the person doing the investigation has a personal relationship with the officer in question, so his findings could be colored by that relationship, as well as how popular or unpopular the officer in question is both within the division and in the community at large. And even if the results of the investigation are on the straight and narrow, what reason is there for the public to believe it, given the Atkins case in contrast, not to mention DiPino's history of lying in sworn testimony. In effect, anything she says- good, bad, or indifferent- cannot be taken at face value. So, I don't understand why this investigation didn't get handed off the WCBI or the State Police.
Secondly, in the event the officer is found to be in the wrong, there's the question of his penalty and whether he would suffer a harsher penalty than he might have if the Atkins issues had not reached the public eye. In other words, getting sacrificed on the alter of political expediency.
And, unless I miss totally, this investigation effectively removes it from public oversight, because the original report on this traffic stop, which under ordinary circumstances would be a public document, is now an investigation document and so shielded from public view.

HOMEOWNERS GET THE FINGER FROM THE GOOD HANDS PEOPLE

Why in the name of Gawd would the state of Maryland sit on its thumbs while State Farm Insurance declares it will no longer write homeowner policies on the Eastern Shore and counties bordering the Chesapeake Bay? According to the last I read, that's nearly half the state - 11 counties. Yes, it's a risk, but insurance is all about risk. It's a gamble, any way you look at it. And just like in casinos, the odds are in the house's favor.
Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure insurance companies operate under a public convenience business license, and that means they have to serve the public without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation or residence. We've seen this scam before, but then it was called redlining - when real estate companies and insurance companies engaged in policies to deny services to people of a certain skin tone. And when it was discovered, state and federal governments took exception to the policies and took corrective actions.
So what's different now? Same operation but the reasons are only slightly different. But it doesn't stand up to scrutiny this time either. If State Farm is allowed to get away with this, what's next? Refusing to write policies in the midwest because of the risk of tornado damage? refusing coverage in other states that border the oceans and Gulf of Mexico. What good is an insurance company that won't write policies.... How would it be providing a public convenience? And if it won't cover some areas of the state, then why should it be permitted to do business in the state at all?

OK, SO MAYBE THE OC COPS DON'T GIVE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT ONLY TO ELECTED OFFICIALS

The Daily Crime is moving a story this morning alleging that Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan's daughter was stopped for suspect drunken driving in 2005 and saved the embarrassment of arrest when her daddy was called to come pick her up and take her home. Meehan was not the mayor at the time.
Okay, mea culpa. In earlier posts I posited that OC cops give elected officials "special consideration" when they're caught for drunken driving and such. I was wrong and this is a graphic example of how wrong I was.... sometimes they're just nice guys and give "special consideration" to people who aren't elected officials.

YES, WELL JUST THE SAME, COULD WE HAVE THE MONEY BACK?

For the last nine consecutive quarters, The town of Snow Hill has routinely failed to tax its federal taxes in a timely manner and instead opted to pay penalties of $10,000. And for their own, unclear reasons, town officials failed to catch the "mistake" for more than two years. This oversight raises some questions, not the least of which is "where the hell were the accountants and auditors when this was happening?".... No answer yet to that one.... And as much as I would like to see the town get its money back from the IRS, I'm having trouble justifying why they should get it. I mean, the town hired its bookkeeppers and had a responsibility to provide oversight. The fact that it apparently didn't do so is the fault of the mayor and council and the town manager, right? To me, that looks like a breach of fiduciary responsibility. So if the IRS declines.... well, that's $2,500 each they should cough up.

CALL FOR THE ETHICS COMMITTEE ON LINE 1

Has the Daily Crime dropped the ball again? When last we heard, Delaware Del. John Adkins asked the ethics committee to determine if he acted inappropriately when he flashed his legislative ID to get special treatment after being stopped for suspected drunken driving last October. The Crime ran a story about the opening meeting, but there has been no word since then.

THE GRONCKI v. SNOW HILL STORY BEGINS OOZING OUT

Tuesday night's meeting of the Snow Hill Town Council saw a meeting space that was nearly SRO, chiefly because of unanswered question about police chief John Groncki's sudden departure. And while mayor Steve Mathews took pains to be clear that Groncki was not fired, or in any forced out, he stopped short of saying the split was amicable. Other, however had no qualms about classifying Groncki's tenure as anything but amicable. Among the issue raised were Groncki's reputed refusal to meet with the town council and a reported refusal to stand a watch by himself and free up other officers for the night shift. According to Pat Pruitt, a sheriff's deputy, Groncki's refusal sometimes meant there was no police protection in Snow Hill during the night time hours.
For his part, Mathews said the town has recieved about 15 applications for the Chief's position. That's the good news. The bad news is that number is about one-third the number of applicants the town recieved when the position was last advertised.... And even with that larger pool of applicants, Mathews found only about five or six candidates worth interviewing. Even more bad news is that the gig pays $40,000 - equal to the pay of the rank and file officers and far below what is paid to police chiefs in other nearby jurisdictions. Just the same, the town expect to fill the position by sometime next month.

WOULDN'T IT BE MORE COST-EFFECTIVE TO JUST TEACH THEM HOW TO DRIVE?

So with most of the widening of Rt. 113 completed, folks in the southern end of the county discovered the new crossover at routes 12 and 113 was suddenly much less safe than it was before dualization....hmmm .... So let's see here, the very plan that Bobby Hulburd and his group fought so hard, in the name of traffic safety, to be built has actually made the road less safe. And now, some are proposing a traffic light as a short-term fix, and a freaking overpass in the longer term. Sadly, those proposals may turn out to be the only solutions.
Nevertheless, I can't help but recall a conversation with Bob, several years ago, wherein I asked about the necessity of spending $100 million to dualize 113, especially since I had driven the road many times at 70-some miles per hour, and had nothing untoward happen. For his part, Bob recounted the 70 lives that had been lost in the previous 20 years as evidence the road needed to be expanded. And among those lives lost was a family member- a nephew, perhaps. And so I asked him for the details of that accident and others on the road, and in the telling of those incidents it became clear that every one was a direct result of driver error. SOme crossed the double-yellow line through inattention, others just absolutely had to be where they we going right now, and at least one was so foolish he backed his car out of his driveway onto the road and got hammered. But when I asked if the $100 million might be better spent on actually teaching people how to drive defensively, Bob got rather huffy, took umbrage, and abruptly ended the conversation.
So now, we are where we are; with a very expensive road that is less safe than it was before it was fixed, and my insurance rates here are still higher that they were when I lived in the DC metro area.

MORE AIRPORT HOT AIR

So bear with me on this.... I'm taking my information from the local daily rag.... But, am I understanding events correctly; that the FAA says it will withhold any further funding if the OC airport doesn't expand?.... and that would mean what, exactly? That the airport wouldn't get any bigger? Okay. Sounds good to me.

MAYBE WORCESTER DEMS NEED TO SET THEIR STANDARDS A LITTLE HIGHER

Despite a clear win in last year's mid-term elections, Worcester County Democrats are having a tough time finding prospective leaders for the local Central Committee. ... Seems a small wonder, what with well known racist and loose cannon, Eddie Lee retaining is chair. And speaking of loose cannons, The committee still has to deal with Tom McLaughlin, an at-large member, who many say is extremely volitile. So volitile, in fact, that other committee members implored him to increase his medication during public appearances in last year's primary election. I'm not a doctor, of course, but to my mind he exhibits all the worst signs of being bi-polar, and nobody wants to be around that.
Three of the seven district chairs are up, apparently, for the mere asking. Go get 'em, and don't forget your cup, body armor and broadsword.