The Vanguard - All Comments

Obama Fairness "Silence" Doctrine Comes Early to Menomonee Falls Village Board Budget Hearing

The Vanguard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:27 GMT

Vanguard Coverage this Posting Obama's Fairness "Silence" Doctrine comes early to Menomonee

Obama Fairness "Silence" Doctrine Comes Early to Menomonee Falls Village Board Budget Hearing

The Vanguard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:26 GMT

Vanguard Coverage this Posting Obama's Fairness "Silence" Doctrine comes early to Menomonee

Obama Fairness "Silence" Doctrine Comes Early to Menomonee Falls Village Board Budget Hearing

The Vanguard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:24 GMT

Vanguard Coverage this Posting Obama's Fairness "Silence" Doctrine comes early to Menomonee

Obama Fairness "Silence" Doctrine Comes Early to Menomonee Falls Village Board Budget Hearing

The Vanguard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:21 GMT

Vanguard Coverage this Posting Obama's Fairness "Silence" Doctrine comes early to Menomonee

Obama Fairness "Silence" Doctrine Comes Early to Menomonee Falls Village Board Budget Hearing

The Vanguard — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:20 GMT

Vanguard Coverage this Posting Obama's Fairness "Silence" Doctrine comes early to Menomonee

re: Post Election Thoughts and Future Challenges

Gotf8ngzus — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:00:09 GMT

Great job Vanguard

re: Potpourri: Catching up on a Number of Unresolved Issues

Evacuate — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:47:56 GMT

Do the citizens that live in the western portions of the village know that Lannon Fire Department provides their ambulance service? Are their taxes which they pay to the village lowered because Menomonee Falls does not provide the service? Does a portion of their taxes go to Lannon? Why is this done anyways? I think this may be done because the Menomonee Falls Fire Department does not have enough members to provide the service. So why are we making cuts in the Fire Department? I think the citizens deserve an explanation and answer! The book needs to be open into what really goes on with the Menomonee Falls Fire Department!

re: Potpourri: Catching up on a Number of Unresolved Issues

unknown15 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:26:56 GMT

I agree with you 95%. The station that is not staffed is rarely staffed during the day either. When someone calls in sick to work I understand that they also take that station out of service. The staffing is obviously not to where it should be if they are unable to staff the stations that they have. It sounds like the management is playing Russian Roulette with the lives and the safety of the citizens of the Village of Menomonee Falls in which they are sworn to protect! I seriously do not think that the village board has any clue how short staffed the department is. I think its time for the citizens to know what they are paying for. The tax dollars that we are spending seems to be going up in smoke. Instead of cutting personnel that are protecting us (i.e. cutting lieutenants) maybe they should look at if they need all of the admin. staff and see if they really need all of them.

re: Potpourri: Catching up on a Number of Unresolved Issues

john smoth — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:10:37 GMT

MR. Vanguard, on the fire department did the village board approve this budget cut. Why are they cutting public service when they are short handed already. Do you know if the Village board knows that a station is closed at night. That is putting that part of the community at risk. All done under this chief. I have talked with some members that said this person was well liked and that the rest of the fire department is wondering why that person and not others. They also stated that the fire department has no confidence in the full time Deputy Chief if he is to become the interim chief. Sounds like the Village needs to clean house in the front office of the over aged dead beets that are making these decisions.It is time to make people accountable for there actions.

re: $42 Million Taxpayer Bailout of Menomonee Falls Village Board

Evacuate — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:45:20 GMT

I am glad to see that someone is taking a closer look into the Menomonee Falls Fire Department. Chief Robert Coon has run the department with a iron fist and has chased far to many good people out the door! Thank you Jefferson Davis for taking the initiative.

re: "Excuse me, Could you please tell me how to get to the high school?"

Gotf8ngzus — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:26:45 GMT

It is obvious that the Menomonee Falls Village Board has NO community mentality what's so ever, this has been evident for years. BUT, for some reason they were able at the goodness of their heart gave our Village that beautiful building that houses a library, etc. WHO BENEFITED???? PLEASE will one of them tell us who. Was it Greco? With the tax bill that came along with it DO NOT tell us it is the citizens. PLA...LEEEESE....Again I say wake of Menomonee Falls!

Question 1

Should Menomonee Falls have destination signs like almost all of our neighboring communities do?

_Dah__yes

_____no

Question 2

With a minimal cost that could be taken out of the "taxpayer's $9 million surplus account", should the Village Board use that money to pay for the signs and have the Village Public Works Department install them?

_Dah___yes

_____no

re: Falls Cable Access...whatever happened?

Gotf8ngzus — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:50:14 GMT

Good job on revealing this long time sham.. I am wondering if a petition from the citizens to the AG office insisting the FCA comply would get results.

Question 1

Should Falls Cable Access return the $630,000 taxpayer's surplus account to the Village and or the taxpayers?

___X__yes

_____no

Question 2

Should the operations of the Cable Access Channel be competitively bid out like other Village operations are?

___X__yes

_____no

Question 3

Should Falls Cable Access annually file 990 Federal Tax Returns as is required by federal law?

__X___yes

____no

Question 4

Should citizen programming be allowed on the Cable Access Channel without any censorship or pre-screening which is allowed by Village Ordinance and the Policies and Procedures of Falls Cable Access?

___X__yes

_____no

Question 5

Should Falls Cable Access make their records available to the public as is required by law at minimal or no cost?

__X___yes

_____no

Question 6

Should Falls Cable Access disclose if they have paid any fines and or penalties to the IRS for not filing their tax returns and if so, by whom and how much?

___X__yes

_____no

re: Village Health Care Plan...A really good deal gone bad, reeeeeeeeeeeeally bad!

Gotf8ngzus — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:09:33 GMT

I am happy to see the entire story FINALLY reported.

Question 1

Should the Village Government be more transparent with the Village's Health Care Plan by releasing the numbers and costs of the Plan?

__X___yes

_____no

Question 2

Should Village Employees pay more for their health care plan benefits?

_____yes, at least 10% of the annual premium if not more.

__X___no, 5% of the annual premium is plenty for employees to pay.

Question 3

Should the Village Board implement the reform ideas proposed by the former benefit analyst to bring costs down for the taxpayers while maintaining excellent benefits for the employees?

___X__yes

_____no

re: Village Health Care Plan...A really good deal gone bad, reeeeeeeeeeeeally bad!

sweetpeasmom — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:37:58 GMT

1. yes 2. yes 3. yes Why are these people on the board??? I want to know who they are in bed with, because it sure isn't the taxpayers of the village!!

re: "Sir, please put your hands above your head and spread your legs"

drummerman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:54:32 GMT

Below are my answers to the questions raised in the Vanguard article by Jefferson Davis on Menomonee Falls Police accountability as it pertained to an unfortunate victim of circumstance - a circumstance apparently set in motion by the police themselves.

To preface my answers, allow me to relate a story about a friend of mine who endured a very similar experience of false arrest and false imprisonment due to a clerical error caused by someone in the West Bend Police department. To the best of my knowledge, the officer(s) and/or clerk(s) responsible for this error were never held accountable. Similarly to the person described in your article, my friend was pulled over by an officer in a suburb of Milwaukee for a routine equipment violation (tail light out). When the officer on the scene ran a routine background check on my friend's name, an open warrant popped up related to an alleged unpaid ticket from a year earlier. My friend had, indeed, paid this ticket in full and on time, but he obviously had no proof of that at the time of his arrest. So, like the person in your article, he was cuffed, thrown into a squad car, subjected to a humiliating strip search, fingerprinted, mugshotted, and thrown into a urine-sprayed jail cell - like a common criminal. As you can probably imagine, this experience caused considerable consternation and stress for my friend. After hours of languishing in the filthy jail cell, the clerical error that got my friend arrested was verified and subsequently corrected. He was summarily released from custody - greatly traumatized and disillusioned. You can bet his view of the police will never be the same.

Forgive my cynicism, but I can only image that my friend's dilemma was the subject of jocular ribbing back in the WBPD squad room, possibly characterized by cavalier disinterest in his ordeal. I say this because, to the best of my knowledge, no formal apology of any kind was ever issued by the WBPD, and apparently no serious investigation into the matter was ever conducted. Certainly no serious attempt was made at disciplining the GUILTY party (in this case, the POLICE) or offering reparations to the VICTIM. In other words, the whole incident was apparently swept under the proverbial rug.

In large part, these "public servants" - our police - do a fine job, but I think they often forget they work for US! Beyond that, because we give them extraordinary authority, they better be prepared to give an account when they mess up someone's life due to their negligence. But, alas, cops are too often unwilling to admit their own guilt, so citizens who go through things like this are rarely given any satisfaction.

I think we can all agree that police work is very difficult, and most of us would not want that kind of job. Further, we must recognize that police officers are human, and mistakes will happen. On the other hand, if the average citizen is to be held accountable under the law for his/her actions, so should the police officer - perhaps, even more so.

Actions speak louder than words, but mistakes speak louder than reparations. For that very reason, reparations AND discipline of those officials in the wrong should be public, swift, sincere, and beyond simply adequate. And, yes, MONEY should be involved in the reparation (dare I use the term RESTITUTION?) portion of the equation - without the victim having to go to court or endure other bureaucratic obstacles.

Now, in answer to your questions:

Question 1

Should there be an internal investigation of this matter by the Police and Fire Commission?

__X__yes

_____no

Question 2

Should those responsible for these mistakes be disciplined?

__X__yes

_____no

Question 3

Should the Village of Menomonee Falls (or any other police agency) offer to pay the individual who was put through this experience for their incredible inconvenience without going to court?

__X__yes

_____no

re: "Sir, please put your hands above your head and spread your legs"

Gotf8ngzus — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:26:32 GMT

I am surprised that this has not been brought up before. You cannot tell me this is the first time this has happened. Will we hear if discipline was given? Will we here that responsibilty was taken? Internal investigation is a must and has been warranted for some time. The frustration has always been about the complacency of the citizens. Wake up people.