21 March 2008

turmoil in rapides parish sheriff's office: former reverend dr. chaplain/deputy hardison calls sheriff wagner 'unprofessional' and a liar

click here to download 6 page .pdf
for a politician, you know you're not having a very 'good friday' when a prominent reverend comes out and publicly calls you 'unprofessional' and a liar but that is exactly what courageous reverend doctor james s. hardison, sr. of the greater live oak baptist church has done regarding new rapides parish sheriff charles "chuck" wagner.

in a "your mail" letter posted as a .pdf to the gannett/town talk's website, rev. dr. hardison recounts the very unkind treatment hes witnessed and experienced first hand being meted out by sheriff wagner.

rev. dr. hardison writes that "everything that sheriff wagner promised that he would not do while on his campaign trail, those are the exact things that he has done since being elected. nobody would be hired from the state police, that was a lie; nobody would be fired, that was a lie; i am a witness to that."

rev. dr. hardison goes on to write that "others in the department have been demoted..." and recounts what he has witnessed happening to major sammy thiels, who was moved out of his office and given a small room that was previously used as a break room. this is an old school louisiana political tactic, wasnt it huey long who had a disagreement with another politician and had his office moved to a bathroom?

in abbey brown's town talk article 'wagner says politics not involved in three terminations' she writes that "wagner said wednesday that he wasn't terminating hardison, just eliminating his salary and sheriff's vehicle." err, uhh, hmmm. ya know the sheriff seems to have a problem with honesty and truthfulness and he likes to insult peoples intelligence, coz when your job is eliminated and you didnt initiate it - thats being fired. besides, the sheriff's letter to rev. dr. hardison says different. (.pdf page 5)

ms. brown also writes about the termination of lt. raymond edwards. "wagner said little about the termination of edwards. "i'd rather not comment on that," he said. "it's just something that i felt was in the best interest of the department."

although ms. brown didnt address it in her article a regular town talk story chat commenter, ewesyourhead commented this morning that lt. edwards was three months away from retirement. now we dont know lt. edwards, he might be the most incompetent policeman this side of roscoe p. coltrane, but he had put in all those years and to be fired just days away from retirement, without any explanation, especially in these tumultuous times we are in, is just sinful. the sheriff ought to be ashamed or state the reason he fired lt. edwards.

as far as getting rid of the deadwood -- when is sheriff wagner going to let go charles frederick smith and roosevelt johnson from the sheriff's "payroll?" now these two, who are also city of alexandria, la. councilmen have a long documented history of extremely dubious actions just as city councilmen that shows that they shouldnt have any authority over the citizens of this parish - especially with the weight of the law and the state behind them.
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Posted by wst... at 16:30

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