http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2010/05/25/local_news/doc4bfc11ea44098680416367.txt


Anyone know what's going on with Chief Sowers which has led to his being placed on administrative leave?

I dunno, could have something to do with the alleged rumored major-league gambling and drinking problems that the entire county establishment has known about for years. Allegedly.

According to the DW article, he's been the Chief since 1994, so any issues such as gambling or drinking surely would have surfaced much sooner than this. Perhaps these issues have escalated, or perhaps something else has more recently come to light which has affected his ability to perform his job duties.

The county doesn't hire the Monte police chief and has no authority over those who do.

lol

Sure. Nobody had any idea. Allegedly. Except everyone in law enforcement, Grays Harbor county and Montesano city government. Allegedly.

I didn't say Grays Harbor County hired him or had any authority over him. I said the "county establishment," allegedly knew about his alleged drinking and alleged gambling problems. Allegedly. I suppose "good old boys club" would have been more clear but then they are not all "boys."

Which I know because I allegedly heard about them first from an alleged county employee and then from many, many others both in and connected to various public administration and service organizations in county and city governments over the years. I have also allegedly seen the police official in question allegedly myself in certain well-known late night establishments more than once over the years, in conditions that I would say would get a normal human being arrested for driving under the influence, in particular one well-known Chinese restaurant in Aberdeen that caters in large part to the late-night post-bar crowd. Allegedly.

Ha...love it! Well, I don't think everybody knew. Especially those who very rarely ever go into any late-night establishments. Early evening ones either, for that matter. Allegedly.

My point was that if "they" knew he had these issues yet chose not to do anything about them, then something else (allegedly) more recent must have caused the current admin leave action.

The article in the Daily Hurl hints at misappropriation of fundage, allegedly. Could fundage misappropriation have some connection to drinking a lot allegedly and alleged compulsive gambling? Allegedly?

A possibility...allegedly, that might finally have mustered further review by "them."

Great story in The Vidette today, worth the 75 cents for the article. Looks like editor Leif Nesheim has been working on the article for a couple weeks and did a fabulous job sourcing it, even got the police chief to talk to him. I don't see the article online yet (http://www.thevidette.com/) but I know the weekly only puts up small nuggets of information so you may need to go buy one to get the full article.

Yes, that was a very good article.

I hate to see the turmoil in his family and I hope the misappropriation issue is a misunderstanding.

Whoa...the headline? yikes.

For those of us who don't have time to go buy a Vidette and give it a read, how about a synopsis? And I'm really curious about the headline! Spill.

"Monte Police Chief on the Rocks"

It's a long article, but the synopsis is that he was suspended because the turmoil surrounding his divorce was interfering with his job. Before he had returned to work from that suspension, hew was given another because of a financial issue that the city is referring to the auditor.

I like Ray and I hope he can pull it together, but mostly I feel bad for his kids.

Oh.My! That is quite a headline!

I understand, LJ. I've never been much into schadenfreude.

According to the article in the Vidette today, Ray Sowers was not terminated, he was instead demoted to patrol officer. Very strange.

Its not strange at all.

In various law enforcement agencies, including some in this county, when someone is promoted from within to an appointed position (appointed being the operative word)there is usually a protection allowing that person to revert back to their last civil service position i.e. patrol, sgt, Lt, etc. I have found this is mostly to protect the appointee in the event of shifting politics such as the election of a new mayor or some other issue.

Obviously this is not the case here but as stated in TDW it appears he was not demoted for reasons of policy/law violation but of job performance (I have no personal knowledge just going off the article). As the article stated the policy/law issue is yet to be resolved and he is still under administrative leave pending the outcome of that issue.

Now if he had been hired from the outside directly to chief, such as the chiefs in Aberdeen or Hoquiam, the firing would have been final.

I still think it is strange. State law allows police departments to remove the chief police position from civil service. Hoquiam did that a long time ago. Apparently Montesano has not. You also have union issues. I know that Hoquiam's IAFF local refused to change its collective bargaining agreement to allow a Captain promoted to a non-union Assistant Fire Chief position to revert back to Captain. It took the position that once out of the union, adios. And I guess the obvious question in Ray's case is why would he want to come back as a patrolman anyway? I am sure he wouldn't.

Its not a union issue unless the members of that union are concerned. Some are and some are not.

And I never said he wanted to come back. I was only pointing out it is something that is done and not a strange situation.

It does not just apply to chiefs either. There are several positions within various departments that are appointed (your capitan being an example) where it is agreed you are allowed to revert to your last civil service position if demoted.

As you are aware demotion may be for many reasons including both competance or politics. When politics is involved then I find no problem with the chance to remain employed at your last civil service position.

Just out of curiosity, in those jurisdictions where a demoted officer is allowed to revert to his previously held civil service position, what happens to the person who replaced him or her when they were promoted? Does that person get bumped down a position? That would not seem fair to that person if the demotion takes place several years later, as in Ray Sowers case. I am surprised that a union would condone that, especially when the demoted person is no longer a member of the union.

In this case, the assistant chief is assuming the chief role. This is simply a reshuffle of the people in the department.

If the financial issues being investigated by the auditors office turn out to be not a big deal, I hope Ray stays with the department. I have to agree with the mayor however, that the current personal issues are incompatible with being chief.

That said, I have a lot of respect for the councilpeople who voted against demoting Ray and wonder what they know that I don't.

As it has not come up (the bump), I really don't know.

http://www.thevidette.com/

According to the Washington State Patrol, Sowers approximately $10,000 of city money, on personal items. I wonder where the "checks & balances" are. Who "ok's" these purchases? How long has this been going on?

This comes as the City of Montesano is attempting to annex outlying areas in order to increase revenue. Good job guys!!

Yup. Sometimes when you vote for change, that's exactly what you get.

It's worth noting that the first incidence of theft identified by the auditor occurred in January 2008, the month that Ron Schillinger took office and forced out the long-time clerk-controller.

Ron's campaign slogan was "Value your employees". This was a message that resonated with his former co-workers who were also his campaign staff and their support paid off. Shortly after taking office he fired the contract negotiators and gave the employees more money than they'd been asking for. I doubt there's anyone else in the state who got a 27% pay increase right in the middle of a recession.

Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to continue paying the bills given Montesano's small and finite tax base, he quadrupled inside city water rates for some customers which prior to that point were kept low because of the revenue that the forest harvest provided. (He always resented the idea that "his" forest was used in this way).

So now that he's added hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses (while reducing level of service), and hundreds of thousands of dollars to taxes, he wants to browbeat outlying neighborhoods into joining the city. He was quoted in a recent Vidette as saying that "we as staff intend to proceed (with annexation, despite opposition)". News flash Ron; you are not staff. You are supposed to be representing the public.

The problem in Montesano is that the monkeys run the zoo. I'm frankly surprised that anyone actually looked into Ray's spending.

Now they want residents in outlying areas to pay for their mistakes, (as well as cover the costs of someones idealized wet dream of what Montesano should be like).

Schillinger is a piece of work. I am surprise that no one has put him in his place. Agreed, the patients are indeed running the asylum.

I really liked Ron as when he was the forester. I found him to be a smart guy and a conscientious steward of the public resource.

As mayor, he's done just about everything that a public official should not do.

At one time, there were a lot of reasons why outlying communities would want to be annexed. Few of those reasons hold true today.

For a resident already attached to the city via sewer, water police and fire services, I can understand the argument. However, for residents that are unattached it makes little sense. Especially when the cost falls upon their backs to pick up the tab for connecting to water and sewer.

I live in one of the areas talked about. I understand that there are a lot of intense feelings regarding annexation. There also is a lot of misinformation. I chose to live here because it's a great neighborhood, but also because of being connected to Montesano.
Montesano, with all of its faults, is a great town. We have benefited by being connected to Montesano. I understand the concerns that we are benefiting from our connection, but not significantly participating in it's upkeep. I consider myself a Montesano resident. When someone asks me where I live, it's never, "I live just outside of Montesano."

Just as an FYI -
Water rates are one and a half times more because we live outside of Monte;
Most everyone will save money, not a lot, if annexed. Break even was based on 150K home. Very few, if any, homes in these areas are valued at 150K;
Sewer hook up was not part of requirement. Additionally, most of the homes in Val Vista were built in the early 70s. Drain fields and septics are going to start failing at some point. I tried to buy in Central Park, and know how hard to was to get a new drain field approved. We basically live on a rock.

Many of the residents such as those in the Val Vista area are indeed serviced by MPD, the Monte Fire Dept., and have access to city water. While areas east of Montesano, are not immediately up for annexation, some residents have been told to expect the city to attempt to annex their areas sometime in 2011. Most of these areas rely on the Brady FD and the Sheriffs department. Some are hooked up to city water, many rely on Well water.
Perhaps the permitting process is less convoluted when dealing with the city as opposed to the county, that might be a benefit of signing on.

That is certainly true.

http://www.thevidette.com/

"Ex Monte chief’s ex arrested for sex escapade"

It just gets interestinger and interestinger.

As soon as I read the blurb KXRO posted on facebook "39 year old Montesano woman... police recognized her from the videotape left behind" I knew who it was.

I feel very sorry for their kids.

Oh.MY! Interestinger? It's outrageous.

here's the KBKW story.

http://kbkw.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1896

I knew who it was.



Why, is there a history of similar acts that somehow never made the press?

When I first read the release, I wondered about someone else being the female side of the equation.

It does get stranger, that's for sure. It sounds like a made for tv movie. I just found out today how they had met. Hmmm...

I'm not in the right loops, I guess. How did they meet? Do tell.

Marla was a student at MHS when Ray was hired by the MPD to go undercover to investigate drug use on campus.

FWIW, If one of you lurkers and/or regulars whom I don't know are Mr. Sowers... I feel for ya, buddy. I really do. I even made a joke this morning, "Honey, I just picked a winning investment. I put all our money into the Ray Sowers Public Relations Group!"

It all sucks.

That much is certain.

Especially for the children. They don't deserved to be drug into their parents downward spiral. Hopefully Ray can pull it out. Not really sure about his ex..... drugs, counterfeit money, breaking & entering and porn. Ya, hopefully Ray can pull out of the spiral.

Oh, I thought you meant how the two "porn stars" met.

I really shouldn't joke because it's a very sad situation. And how tragic for yet another very public event. Oy veh!

Definitely feel for the kids. I hope all involved can turn things around for the better. For their children, if nothing else.

Or, at least, find a way to stay out of the newspaper saving their children that embarrassment.

I wonder if Sowers has any "dirt"? All those years as police chief, you'd think he has something on the local favorites. I know, you guys are thinking I watch too much TV, but seriously, look at this whole story, as if its not already a circus.
If it were me, and I had something, something good....it would be a good opportunity to shift the focus off myself.

The situation with the school teacher in Morton that the Morton School District was forced to hire back got me to thinking. The arbitrator in that case ruled that since the school district had already disciplined the teacher (suspension without pay), it could not subsequently fire him after he was later found guilty of assaulting students, since it involved the same conduct. In the Montesano case, the city has already disciplined Ray Sowers by "demoting" him to deputy chief. Would the city now be precluded from firing him now, even if he should be later charged and convicted of theft? Wouldn't that be same situation, or was the demotion not based upon theft of city property?

I believe Sowers was demoted temporarily pending investigation and possible further action.

He was demoted for his personal life interfering with his professional duties.

Any findings by the auditor were subsequent to that.