Cottageville, SC -
The shooting death of former Mayor Bert Reeves by Police officer Randy Price, has developed another little quirk in its already long list of bizarre circumstances.
An Attorney by the name of Mullins McLeod who represents the former Mayor's family, had petitioned town council to put the subject of the shooting on Monday's council agenda. The present Mayor, who is the former Mayor's Aunt, refused to do so, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and the on-going investigation.
Small town rumors are plentiful. Residents held a rally outside town hall before the start of the meeting. The council meeting was a packed house with 5 police officers in attendance to maintain order. Mr. McLeod tried a wee bit of grandstanding and was promptly reminded that it was illegal to interrupt council proceedings. The Mayor refused to answer questions about the matter and the meeting continued with the usual town business.
The residents of the town have many questions and are even considering dissolving the police department and giving control to the local Sheriff's office.
It looks like the same people who once demanded that Bert Reeves resign as mayor because of his embarrassing antics, are now holding a rally "in his honor." It is close to becoming a lynch mob, demanding Officer Price be held accountable NOW, without benefit of a full investigation and trial.
The investigation of this matter was started by the SC Law Enforcement Division. The local prosecutor has asked for a federal grand jury. Who knows what may or may not have been completed by SLED, since they have problems of their own. Their Chief tossed in his resignation after less than 4 years on the job...but that's another story.
This melodrama just gets more bizarre by the day.
The shooting death of former Mayor Bert Reeves by Police officer Randy Price, has developed another little quirk in its already long list of bizarre circumstances.
An Attorney by the name of Mullins McLeod who represents the former Mayor's family, had petitioned town council to put the subject of the shooting on Monday's council agenda. The present Mayor, who is the former Mayor's Aunt, refused to do so, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and the on-going investigation.
Small town rumors are plentiful. Residents held a rally outside town hall before the start of the meeting. The council meeting was a packed house with 5 police officers in attendance to maintain order. Mr. McLeod tried a wee bit of grandstanding and was promptly reminded that it was illegal to interrupt council proceedings. The Mayor refused to answer questions about the matter and the meeting continued with the usual town business.
The residents of the town have many questions and are even considering dissolving the police department and giving control to the local Sheriff's office.
It looks like the same people who once demanded that Bert Reeves resign as mayor because of his embarrassing antics, are now holding a rally "in his honor." It is close to becoming a lynch mob, demanding Officer Price be held accountable NOW, without benefit of a full investigation and trial.
The investigation of this matter was started by the SC Law Enforcement Division. The local prosecutor has asked for a federal grand jury. Who knows what may or may not have been completed by SLED, since they have problems of their own. Their Chief tossed in his resignation after less than 4 years on the job...but that's another story.
This melodrama just gets more bizarre by the day.
2 comments:
i live on the side of the country and i'm not a police officer, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt... but it seems like it would be much more preferable, from an accountability as well as fiscal perspective, to have law enforcement services outsourced to the local sheriff's office instead of having a one-man police department.
also, i have the strong urge to make a claymation out of this story... too bad i don't know anything about claymation.
My understanding is that this podunk town actually has about 4 police officers, 2 of which are part time. Cottageville has a notorious reputation for being a speed trap and a good portion of revenue does come from traffic citations. The former mayor was once caught on tape telling a police officer to write more tickets to pay for the police car and his own salary.
Everybody in that town is related to somebody and everybody knows what everyone does. Some have felt they are above the law.
I agree, they really should just dissolve the town and let the Sheriff's Dept take control. That would alleviate a good deal of problems.
The claymation idea is hilarious. A comic book might even be an interesting notion as well.
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