NOTHING GETS ME GOING LIKE THIS!

(Green Bay Press-Gazette, Frazer Chronicle)

 

The headlines loomed large this morning in the Green Bay Press-Gazette…..SUB-PAR GREENS PROMPT CHANGES; a sub title read, Winter conditions, age killed grass at Brown County Golf Course. I gotta admit it; the Press-Gazette was at the top of its journalistic game. I’m canceling all of my golf dates until the grass’s is fixed…..I’ll just station myself at the 19^th Hole and wait.

 

Of course I’m being facetious, I don’t golf, and to me there was a hell-of-a lot more important story then the stupid grass at the local golf course…..unless it’s the kind of grass you roll! I’m talking about the headline to the left of three fat guys trying to maneuver a water hazard at the 16^th hole.

 

That story would be under the heading of Police Brutality Case Settled, and would relate that the City of Green Bay pays man $20K to stop suit against officers. To my way of thinking somebody getting his ass kicked always trumps some dead grass at a private golf course…..but that’s just me, and after all, who am I?

 

I’ve been watching the Green Bay Police for years, and have counted several mis-steps during the course of doing their duty. Nothing big and unusually nothing that needs to be covered with what might be called an ardent voice, but still people need to be aware of what is going on in their community.

 

Police violence isn’t just for the big cities, just the racially mixed areas, or for minority type neighborhoods, no, my friends, police brutality can raise its ugly head in any sized community. There are thousands of cases down through the annuals of history that depict egregious, disgusting incidents where cops seem to be looking for somebody to bust up!

 

ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION

I’ve got to clarify right up front…..well okay, five paragraphs in that I don’t very much like cops, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want their jobs, but I’ve learned that cops are 50%ers, they either help you or hurt you, there’s no in-between. You’ve got a flat, or your car stops running, and a cop shows up to help you, or you’ve exceeded the speed limit, or broken some other traffic law, your pulled over and issued a traffic citation, and are gonna have-ta  pony up some dough-ray-me!

 

The deal where cops rescue cat’s outta trees for crying little girls is, and always was, an overblown marketing tool for better pay, or working conditions for cop shops. With very little exception I haven’t had to deal with law enforcement, (thank God), but I do know people who have and some have came away with the short end of the stick, literally.

 

I’ve had friends that were cops as well as a cousin, who was awarded an early retirement, (33 years old) for shooting to death a man in a domestic violence situation in Pontiac, Michigan. Doesn’t surprise me, Gary always was a dink anyways.

 

My old man wanted to be a state trooper in Michigan, but couldn’t pass the height test, he was 5’5” and you had to be 5’9”. Broke his heart, according to him, but he always had a reverent place for all law enforcement people…..me, I balanced the equation out, I don’t like cops, never have and never will. I think most are overbearing, power mongers.

 

 

 

Of course there are good cops…..but their kind of hard to pick out, so I’ve learned to disdain them all, and it’s kind of sad too, because there are some good guys that live, love, hate and root for the Packers just like the average guy walking down the street, the one exception, the revolver strapped to their hip, and the knowledge that they can whip the damn thing out and shoot somebody to death.

 

That knowledge must carry with it an awesome responsibility, or at least it had better, it’s one of the reasons that I have an abiding dislike for firearms. The other day I was at my friendly Wal-Mart, setting in the snack bar waiting for my wife when I noticed a customer going through the check-out with a firearm holstered to his hip…..I was first and foremost shocked, and after that, kind of pissed off, who the hell did this joker think he was anyways.

 

And he wasn’t a cop or a Wal-Mart security either, he was dressed casually, shorts, and a ripped “T” shirt, and had a look of (I’m packin and ready for action! The scene, at least for me was strange and unusual, and I wondered exactly how far had we come from the Wild West days?

 

THIS SEGWAYS INTO THE MEAT OF THE BLOG

We now enter into what I call the meat of my blog, the September 2010 incident involving Anthony Basler and the Green Bay City police. According to his attorney, Ralph Sczgelski, (he, Basler,) was roughed up pretty badly.

 

Basler was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and pepper-spraying officers, but the charges were later dropped by the District Attorney’s office. Now just for a minute let’s ponder the last part of that sentence, the part about the District Attorney dropping the alleged resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and pepper-spraying the cops.

 

Aren’t those charges pretty serious, don’t they merit some sort of punishment, come on, we can’t have citizens running around pepper-spraying law enforcement officials. Police reports show that officers went to Basler’s apartment on September 6, 2010 to help Basler’s estranged wife move some of her things out of the building.

 

No time of day or night is listed, but shock of shocks, Basler became agitated and officers thought that he was reaching for a weapon, and that’s when one of the cops administered a (knee blow) which of course knocked Basler to his apartment floor, was held down and that one of the officers administered two closed fist strikes. I think a closed fist strike is really a punch to the chops, and although I wasn’t there, was it really necessary?

 

Turns out what Anthony was reaching for was his cane because good old Anthony was disabled, now I don’t know about you, but reaching for a cane doesn’t not constitute reaching for a weapon, even in a person’s wildest dreams…..and to top it all off, Anthony looks a bit overweight…..in the Press-Gazette front page photo.

 

In addition to the rough treatment by the cops at his apartment, according to Basler, he suffered some sort of seizure in the squad car, but the officers said that it, (the seizure) was faked. Now I don’t know what you might think, but I don’t feel that your garden variety peace officer has the expertise to diagnose whether a person is having a seizure, or is having an attack of post chili gas…..I mean that does happen to me sometimes.

 

 

 

PREDICTABLE RESULTS

Here’s what happened, really the Press-Gazette could have simply borrowed a headline from any number of similar police excessive force incident cases from around the country, cause pretty much there all the same. Cops get slap on the rest, victim is awarded some sort of financial settlement, and everything is copacetic.

 

And usually that is as far as it goes…..until I came along and decided to examine all of the information on the event. Disabled…..handy-caped, broken limb, usually pretty easy to spot, and a cane as a weapon, let me see…..cane vs. pistol, and the winner is…..ding, ding, ding, a Bullitt is always faster than a cane.

 

An official for the District Attorney’s office, assistant District Attorney, Kail Decker mentioned the fact that excessive force claims against police officers are particularly sensitive and are concerning to the public. “If there’s anything that our officers did wrong, we take it very serious”…..Decker said.  

 

Boy do I have a problem with that statement, first and foremost, law enforcement officers are not the District Attorneys, they are the city of Green Bay’s peace officers, and are paid for by taxes which are raised by the citizens of Green Bay!  How dare any city official figure that police officers work for their office.

 

If Anthony Basler was at fault with regards to the incident at his apartment, then he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but not taken to the floor in his apartment with a knee blow. There is no amount of training, or the changing of procedures that will work to eliminate this type of activity, it comes from a long line of power mongering, it’s an attitude, an attitude that permeates in an atmosphere of people not wanting to get involved with officials in authority…..Green Bay is the same as Los Angles, or
Boston, or Milwaukee…..we just don’t get as many instances.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!