Sheriff Jim Alderden |
A Colorado sheriff who poked fun at a municipal proposal to ban red and green lights at Christmas for being too religious and was investigated for expressing his thoughts on the issue now is funding and launching his own department website in order to escape governmental censorship.
"The 'Bull's-eye' and 'Bull Sheet' are once again under attack," wrote Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden in what he described as probably his last professional opinion piece on his portion of the Larimer County website.
He said his new website will be funded by himself, run by a volunteer, and appear at www.LarimerSheriff.org.
"After taking a little heat for some of my comments about a neighboring county to the south and Christmas trees, the commissioners have 'proposed' a new policy that would establish guidelines for posting on the county website," he said. "'Proposed' means it's a done deal, they just need to finalize the verbiage. The objection is apparently the huge cost to the taxpayers associated with pushing a button to post these newsletters."
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He said the new proposal includes, "Larimer County websites are not a public forum to be used to express personal opinions or other matters extrinsic and not related to general county information."
"The first thing that strikes me is that the purpose of the proposed policy is to prohibit using county resources, i.e., the website, for posting personal opinions. The county then uses county resources, i.e. the website and county e-mail system, to solicit personal opinions regarding the proposed policy to prohibit personal opinions. How ironic!" he said.
"[Another] glaring problem is that the policy doesn't define or make a distinction between a personal opinion and a professional opinion. I do believe that I and other elected officials have not only the right but the obligation to communicate our professional opinions on topics related to the duties of our office. … When I observe a segment of our community posed to trample the First Amendment, shouldn't I speak out? Doesn't my Oath of Office to defend the Constitution of the United States require it? … When the [board of county commissioners] makes backroom deals that have an impact on my budget, shouldn't our constituency be informed?"
He also said his office is being singled out.
"The county websites are rife with opinions and encumbered with tripe that doesn't relate to 'objective general information about Larimer County including information about activities, policies, actions, services, databases, and other materials determined to be of public interest.' Please explain to me where the posted recipes and 'trading space' fit into this description," he wrote.
He said his office's budget limitations prevent hiring a crime data analyst or crime prevention officer, so through its "Bull's-eye" and "Bull Sheet" columns gets information to the public.
But, "as a wise philosopher once said, 'You need to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.' Actually, it was Kenny Rogers. Needless to say, I'm not going to run. However, I am going to walk away. … I will be asking the county facilities/information technology director to remove references to the Larimer County sheriff's office from his website in the near future and link to our website," Alderden wrote.
Besides ridiculing a move in the city of Fort Collins to restrict municipal Christmas displays to white lights and generic seasonal themes such as penguins, he also criticized commissioners' budgeting processes, bicyclists from nearby Boulder County who allegedly failed to follow state law requiring them to ride as far to the right of the road as possible and the commission for approving medical insurance benefits for domestic partners.
He's also written about concealed weapons, illegal immigration and character.
In his most recent issue, he was targeted by an e-mail campaign after he came to the defense of his deputies who were enforcing state roadway laws against packs of bicyclists from nearby Boulder County.
"Hello. I read your ignorant diatribe on your bull's eye forum … it's simply amazing that you are an elected official and are allowed to spew such hate, ignorance, and narrow mindedness on the public's dime," wrote an critic whose identity was kept confidential by the sheriff's office.
"You have no respect for cyclists and are probably an overweight, lazy person jealous of people who can actually manage to do a coordinated sport like cycling," wrote another critic.
In his criticism of the plan to use white lights and representations of penguins for Christmas, Alderden's sarcasm was evident: ""Penguins? This is dangerous territory. What about those of us who were traumatized by Danny DeVito's performance as Oswald Cobblepot in 'Batman Returns?' Skis? What about the poor who can't afford to go skiing? How elitist and insensitive!" he wrote.
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