The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hopefully we can get thru our difficult everyday lives and never experience the bad or the ugly part of the people who are sworn to protect us.
Thanks so much for your work. I live in Klickitat County WA, home of "Constitutional Sheriff" Bob Songer and his MAGA /Constitutional sidekick, Loren Culp, who was hired to manage the county jail last year. So far, we have had one inmate commit suicide after begging to be taken to the hospital because he was going through withdrawal from fentanyl. Then we learned that a mentally distressed woman was held for several months, refusing on 92 occasions to shower, clean or take her meds. She was eventually transported to the hospital where the staff reported that the stench from this woman was unlike anything they had experienced. Her head was covered in lice and her body covered in infected wounds likely from scratching insect bites. They had to peel off layers of what likely was a fungal mass on her body. Both of these victims were of the nearby Yakama nation. Also last year, a young woman "drowned" in a local river. She went there with a man, a neighbor heard arguing and hours later the young woman was found dead in the river. The deputies mangled the entire investigation including not interviewing the man who was with her. Last week we had a double homicide committed and the shooter called Sheriff Songer's personal phone rather than the police or 911.
Two of our county commissioners have created a risk management inquiry since the family of the young man who died has filed a $20 million lawsuit. Two weeks ago they announced they were considering closing our county jail due to its problems. The only control they have is the fiscal aspect. The Sheriff was shocked that somebody dared consider taking "his jail." For weeks he was given the opportunity to speak about the problems with the jail during the weekly meetings and each time, he became defiant and raged against the "Songer Haters" who are out to get him. A county employee from the Sheriff's office sent an email from the county email system to the 200 plus "Posse" members to show up at the commissioner meeting and the meeting was packed (online and in person). A three-hour public comment session ensued and though some of it was helpful, a good chunk of it was personal attacks on the commissioners and insults. At one point, a woman had to be restrained because she was headed up the commissioners' table to the female commissioner leading the investigation. Oregon Public Broadcasting has been reporting on the problems with both Songer and Klickitat county sheriff's department. https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/07/analysis-shows-klickitat-county-jail-owes-considerable-debt-to-local-hospital/
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hopefully we can get thru our difficult everyday lives and never experience the bad or the ugly part of the people who are sworn to protect us.
Thanks so much for your work. I live in Klickitat County WA, home of "Constitutional Sheriff" Bob Songer and his MAGA /Constitutional sidekick, Loren Culp, who was hired to manage the county jail last year. So far, we have had one inmate commit suicide after begging to be taken to the hospital because he was going through withdrawal from fentanyl. Then we learned that a mentally distressed woman was held for several months, refusing on 92 occasions to shower, clean or take her meds. She was eventually transported to the hospital where the staff reported that the stench from this woman was unlike anything they had experienced. Her head was covered in lice and her body covered in infected wounds likely from scratching insect bites. They had to peel off layers of what likely was a fungal mass on her body. Both of these victims were of the nearby Yakama nation. Also last year, a young woman "drowned" in a local river. She went there with a man, a neighbor heard arguing and hours later the young woman was found dead in the river. The deputies mangled the entire investigation including not interviewing the man who was with her. Last week we had a double homicide committed and the shooter called Sheriff Songer's personal phone rather than the police or 911.
Two of our county commissioners have created a risk management inquiry since the family of the young man who died has filed a $20 million lawsuit. Two weeks ago they announced they were considering closing our county jail due to its problems. The only control they have is the fiscal aspect. The Sheriff was shocked that somebody dared consider taking "his jail." For weeks he was given the opportunity to speak about the problems with the jail during the weekly meetings and each time, he became defiant and raged against the "Songer Haters" who are out to get him. A county employee from the Sheriff's office sent an email from the county email system to the 200 plus "Posse" members to show up at the commissioner meeting and the meeting was packed (online and in person). A three-hour public comment session ensued and though some of it was helpful, a good chunk of it was personal attacks on the commissioners and insults. At one point, a woman had to be restrained because she was headed up the commissioners' table to the female commissioner leading the investigation. Oregon Public Broadcasting has been reporting on the problems with both Songer and Klickitat county sheriff's department. https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/07/analysis-shows-klickitat-county-jail-owes-considerable-debt-to-local-hospital/