by Joe Kirkpatrick

The buzz around town in the past few weeks has been dominated by one thing: Sex in the city!  What started out as a Cleveland city police officers little sexual rendezvous on the parking lot of Westwood Baptist Church has become a full blown controversy which has ultimately ended in the resignation of Cleveland city councilman Tim Gobble.

Let's look at some of the implications of the controversy.  The first thing I think it brings to light is how underpaid our city policemen are.  This is very evident by the (still un-named) officers inability to afford a cheap motel room for his sexual playground.  Maybe the city council could vote in an "affair stipend" so officers having affairs who are in financial straits could afford at least a cheap  motel room, rather than having to use church parking lots.  My gosh, instead of using the sanctity of a church parking lot, could he not of used the parking lot at some place like Pokey's?? 

Okay, let's get serious.  The "SEX" of the matter has clouded the issue at hand.  For the moment, let's remove "SEX" from the controversy.  What did

the officer do wrong?  He left his sector.  If he had left his sector to go get something he needed at Ace Hardware or Walmart would there even be a controversy to begin with?  Or, if he had left his sector and gone to Westwood Baptist for some much needed marital counseling?  I doubt it.  It was reported this was not the first violation of this type for the officer, and he had previously been issued  a warning.  Since he failed to heed the warning, and once again was caught leaving his sector while on duty, is a two day suspension sufficient?  Once again, leaving "SEX" out of the equation, I would say a two day suspension would be adequate for a relatively minor infraction.

I, to my knowledge, have never met Chief Reese or former Councilman Gobble.  I do know running a police department is a hard job, because lawman usually tend to have ego's and be head strong, and keeping some sort of order and peace between a department full of them cannot be easy.  Chief Reese must do at least an adequate job  as he has held his job for many years while under the scrutiny of the city manager and city council, with seemingly few controversies.  Tim Gobble, from what I understand, is a man of integrity and high morals.  I think he recognized some problems within the police department, and centered too much on them since he himself is involved in law enforcement.  Recently, in almost every  commission meeting, he would start in again on the police department.  I am not saying his accusations were unfounded, but when it became evident the rest of the commission wasn't ready to hop on the bandwagon with him, he should have let it drop.  I'm sure if he had looked hard enough into the public works division, the fire department, the clerks office, or any of the other departments of city government, he would have been able to come up with some problems in those areas as well.  Instead, his zealousness became a power struggle between he and Chief Reese over a relatively minor incident and the way it was handled within one of the many departments of city government (if SEX was removed).

I hate to see a man with a good reputation leave the commission, but I hope the next commissioner, whether elected or appointed, will be able to work more harmoniously with the other commissioners.  After all, we don't need the city commission to take on the appearance of the city school board!