When I first heard the news report on the bad police officers in Shenandoah, I thought it was 'unbelievable'. I was dismayed to have a caller who works in federal law enforcement tell us on the show Wednesday morning that he wasn't shocked by it. In fact, he said the federal system he works in isn't as clean as we may believe. There are just too many small towns with less than professional police department standards. Just like the government corruption, these people have connections, but they also carry guns and the power to really harm us.
If we can't look to our police departments to protect us, where do we look?
In the last year, Northeast Pennsyvania has been revealed to be rife with corruption and cronyism on a level I never imagined. Of course I've heard the rumors about teachers paying for jobs, and contractors paying for work. Yes, I've heard that entire family trees were planted in government jobs, and there were ghost employees spooking the halls of county facilities. I just would not have believed it was at the level we're now seeing.
This is why people believe in conspiracy theories. If I had told you what would have transpired in 2009, you would probably have rolled your eyes and filed me under the tin-foil hat crowd.
We have to be able to do better than this.
Thank you to the brave witness (or witnesses) who came forward in the small town of Shenandoah and stood up to a police department now alleged to be more than half corrupt! Thank you to the parents who didn't give up on their kids who went before Judge Ciavarella and complained loudly. It couldn't have been easy. I'm sure they ran into many who said or thought that their kid must have deserved what they got. Regular, everyday people made a difference because the people they either elected or were hired to protect them did nothing. They persisted and went to higher levels, when the locals turned the other way.
We have to remember that every one of us has the power to make a difference. Our voice does matter, and perhaps somewhere, someone, will listen.
I'd like to say that 2010 will be a better year, but I have an inkling we've just scratched the surface of the mud and the muck that's held our area back for so many years. I think we're going to see some more tall trees in the forest come crashing down, but it's just dead wood, and we're experiencing a cleansing.
Corbett
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