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chesterwhistle.wordpress.com 
March 21, 2012
March 11-17th , Sunshine Week ?
Sunshine Week, is an annual observance that encourages dialogue about open government and the public’s right to know. I think that’s a great idea. I found out about “ Sunshine Week” from an article I read in a recent edition of the N&R, with the title “ Just a reminder” The author was reminding us and our elected officials that they are held to a higher standard than the general public. They have been entrusted by voters to do the right thing. It goes on to talk about closed door government meetings , saying in part “ We as the media and you as the public have no way of knowing what is being said behind those closed doors.” and that “ Some public officials are afraid to say anything inside or outside the meeting room for fear of reprisal.” I have something to say to the local media about fear and reprisals, and doing the right thing.
We ,the public, should hold you, the media, to a higher standard. The public’s right to know and public opinion is greatly effected by what you will or won’t tell it. The media is our only watchdog. It’s job is not all about sports scores and who’s getting married and who’s getting buried. If the media, for whatever reason, can’t or won’t do stories about local government and law enforcement wrongdoing where does that leave “ We the People”? It gives that government the power to do whatever they please to the rest of us. They can create and implement there own self serving polices and ignore citizens complaints of wrongdoing. They are free to do whatever they like to those that oppose them. It is too much power in too few hands.
December 2011, I was present at two council meetings one city , one county. I listened as a citizen stood before the council in a public, not private behind closed doors meeting and told an almost unbelievable story, but said, he had solid evidence to back up his claims. He was talking about wrongdoing and cover up. It involved the local government and top members of law enforcement. He spoke of threats and intimidation against himself and his family. About convicted felons coming to his home, being used by county employees, to try and intimidate him into keeping quiet. It was about some sort of wrongdoing that took place, years ago, while he was employed by the county. He claims he had been reporting it to local city and county government officials, local law enforcement and the local news media for years, but that they would do nothing to help him get it stopped. He was there because his mother, who lay dying of cancer at his home at the time and had recently passed away, was terrified of these people. The man said he had video, eyewitness testimony, and police reports that he could provide to back up those claims. A former top cop says that he is willing to come forward to further back up the citizens complaint of wrongdoing.
I would watch as a local newspaper reporter sat on the front row, less than ten feet from that man as he spoke in both of those meetings. The reporter took no action to investigate the citizens claims, nor did he ask any questions of anyone afterwards. In his follow up newspaper articles, about the meetings, there was no mention of the man even being present. I would see the old man walking the streets, months later, handing out flyers trying to get the word out to the public in hopes they would help him. He didn’t appear to be some irrational lunatic living in fantasy land and spreading wild unsubstantiated stories. He had a mountain of evidence to back up his claims. If we can’t trust the local government, who are the people that control local law enforcement, and the local news media. Who then can we trust? If the local system refuses to defend the rights of those that speak against it and only punishes those that do. What then? John Massey from Chester.