"Not Interested" in Elections Briefing
Police Chief Ronnie Yarborough lived up to his reputation last week when he and city manager Hal Hegwer refused a request to meet with the mayor and the editor of this blog so that information obtained in connection with the board of elections complaint could be shared with them. Actually they refused twice, once with Mayor Olive going through normal clerical circles and once when each was contacted directly by the mayor personally.
The city manager, like others before him, appears to allow Yarborough, who in reality is just a city employee, to operate unchecked, free of supervision. The actions seem to confirm widely held views of Ronnie Yarborourgh's running the Sanford Police Department free of supervision, a degree of secrecy and isolation. While the mayor does not supervise the city manager or police chief, Cornelia Olive is the elected representative of all of the citizens of Sanford, disregarding such a personal request from the mayor shows his arrogance in his position.
The mayor had sought the meeting to bring to their attention information obtained by the e-Lee Dispatch and was not to be an interview. The background for the meeting included relaying the position taken by Kim Strach who was adamant that the ongoing election board's investigation should not in any way impede any law enforcement from pursuing their normal procedures or legal responsibilities. (See previous post) Her position had no yet been published.
This information was thought to be of potential benefit in managing the difficult position for both Kevin Bryant and the department given the prevalent rumors regarding the involvement of the city detective. The meeting was also to reveal, as explained below, that a Sanford council member had initially claimed to have been told directly by Steve Thomas that a Sanford police detective was indeed one of the two "friends" who persuaded him to sign the form. More documentation than is being disclosed here was to be shared so that they could be assured of the reliability of the claim that Thomas had indeed told Stone. This appeared to provide much more creditable information at the same time the city was about to learn it was free to follow its normal procedures during the Board of Elections investigation--information neither the police chief or city manager might have yet had. The claim of Kevin Brant's involvement would appear to have more credibity than local rumors.
The mayor had been told that there was potentially significant information that should be relayed directly to the city manager and chief pertaining to the election perjury information and was willing, as she put it, "to give it a try." No doubt she had dealt with the independent attitude of Chief Yarborough before and was also aware that the city manager had demonstrated no willingness to take him on. In most towns and city, a mayor would have been more confident.
Most everyone agrees there ought to be a lot of care in reacting to rumors--even widely and quickly developed ones. That is particularly true when the rumor is potentially (in most towns) devastating to any law enforcement officer's career. Those rumors also had to be evaluated in light of what some expect to be another campaign, and opponents of such a campaign may have reason to start such rumors. Careful reactions would be appropriate for the City of Sanford to consider in reacting to them.
Careful investigation has confirmed from numerous highly responsible sources that City Councilman, and Thomas business partner, Mike Stone had claimed that Steve Thomas had told him directly the name of at least one, if not both, of the two individuals involved in bringing him the false statement . Those sources all agree that Mike Stone had called the night the first form was filed to tell them that Thomas had given him Kevin Bryant's name as one of the two individuals involved. This was likely creditable information from an elected official related to a possible crime, not a rumor over breakfast.
With Stone now denying making those calls or ever making that claim, it seems unlikely he made this information available to the city manager or chief of police. Saying that Thomas had secured an attorney and told Thomas to stop talking, by mid day the next morning, Stone was no longer making the claim of hearing directly from Thomas. Over time, Stone has offered different descriptions of what happened that night, denies that Thomas told him or that he passed such information along, and claims that his source of information was the same rumors everyone else was hearing.
When asked in a follow-up call why he had declined to have the meeting, Hal Hegwer said "We just aren't interested." In most cities and town refusing such a request from the mayor at all would be unusual and dismissing it with such a comment would bring his future into doubt. Apparently not in Sanford where it appears to be evidence that the manager understands that when it comes to the police deparment, it is only what Ronnie Yarborough says that matters. that in such matters the chief of police, not he or the mayor, makes the decisions.
It would seemingly be important that there was now credible evidence that Thomas had claimed that a city detective was involved directly to a city official. The information concerning Stone's claim was support by reliable sources as to the their source, not the rumors. One would also believe that a city council member who has taken his own oath to uphold the law would have himself made this information available to the city manager or police chief. But Stone and Thomas are business partners, and Stone may have correctly assumed the information would have no influence on the long time chief who answers to no one and might chose to do whatever was necessary to protect Kevin Bryant.
Stone knows, as do most others, that hired Kevin Bryant as a detective immediately after the sheriff election in 2006, filling the position without following normal procedures. Many took this as evidence that Yarborough, as rumored, supported Bryant over Tracy Carter. Carter had strongly supported the disbanding of the joint City County Drug Unit, which operated under the Sanford police department but included sheriff's deputies and had jurisdiction over all the county. Ronnie Yarborough strongly disagreed with that position since dissolving the unit markedly reduced his jurisdiction.
Perhaps there has already been an internal affairs investigation of the allegation or for some other reason Ronnie Yarborough is satisfied that there is nothing to Thomas's allegation. While the public information laws about such investigations would seemingly not require the disclosure of one of its findings, in most cities, clearing an officer of such a charge would be important to the police department and the officer.
Perhaps there has already been an internal affairs investigation of the allegation or for some other reason Ronnie Yarborough is satisfied that there is nothing to Thomas's allegation. While the public information laws about such investigations would seemingly not require the disclosure of one of its findings, in most cities, clearing an officer of such a charge would be important to the police department and the officer.
Editor's Note: Sentence Structure Clarified at 6 pm 1/19/2009
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