Contributed by Bruce Walden, Old Sarge Books
www.oldsargebooks.net
I was thinking a couple of days ago about those I’ve known, and who’ve fallen victims of terrible crimes right here in our own fair borough. Immediately, I could name five people I knew who have been brutally murdered in the last couple of years.
Some you know well, and some you may not know at all. But this speaks volumes about our home. These are only the ones I knew. I’m sure there are many others out there.
One you all know, and his name was David Grunwald. Every time I think of that young man, I am angered beyond words. My son went to school with him and he knew the scum who killed him. I see David’s picture and I see my own son. I see a young man who was his father’s pride and joy, and who was the delight of his mother’s eye. Then I think of the filth that murdered him and thought they were really showing how gangster-like they were.
The situation is not getting better, it is getting worse. The city police can do very little as their jurisdiction is small, and the troopers are stretched so thin that they can do very little except react… eventually.
The time has come to talk about a sheriff’s department. Why?
I was stationed in Okinawa for a couple of years and many of you were stationed in “friendly” foreign countries. And still we were resented because we were outsiders. When new state troopers are stationed here in the Borough, for the most part it is a temporary gig for them. No one knows them, therefore no one trusts them. The result is very little cooperation by the people.
If we elected a sheriff from among us, likely the people would begin to go to that sheriff and offer their help. If that sheriff needed immediate manpower, he or she would be able to deputize as need be.
Say, “Bruce, we’ve got too many cops already.” I now live in Palmer which is likely the most “policed” city in the state, as it is the training ground for the troopers. I do not want a sheriff’s department in addition to the troopers. We need a sheriff’s department in lieu of the troopers who, as I said, are stretched too thin to do any real good. And by the way, I’ve talked to a lot of AST folks who agree with him 100%.
From the meth epidemic to murder on a weekly basis by little kids who’ve not even begun to live, lawlessness in the Borough has grown to be so rampant that one dare not go about town unarmed.
Might a sheriff’s department cost a bit to get started? Yes. One person told me it would cost around $250 grand per cop to get it up and running. Is that too much? If it was your son or daughter who was found face down in a ditch somewhere, would it be too much then?
Very little of that has to do with illegal immigration, but as an afterthought, we see the crimes being committed in the L48 by illegal immigrants and those on the Left tell us that those folks have a right to be here. For what? To commit murder? They have that right and then the right to flee to “sanctuary cities”? We are going to prove our solidarity with the president on that border wall.
In the very near future, we are going to hold the nation’s first “Brick Party”. You show up, take a brick, sign your name onto it using a dremel tool and you attach a check or money order in the amount of your choosing and send it to President Trump Care of Homeland Security. Will the brick be used to build that wall? No, but they might incorporate it there. In any case, we in Alaska will be the first to show real support for the notion. To keep track of times and locations for said party, keep an eye on my webpage mentioned above.
Folks, I used to say that change won’t come until the people become desperate, but that time has passed. I figure that we won’t make change until you become downright angry. After the recent murders, I think we’re there.
Oh, and that tired old argument that we’d have to change the state constitution? I’ve a copy in word on my computer and I searched for the words - sheriff, sheriff’s department, police, law enforcement - and guess what. None of those words appear anywhere in that document. You want to fix this situation? We can, but you’ve got to want it enough to forcefully demand the changes.
