Unsung Heros EDITORIAL

LIBERTY, COUNTY, February 20. 2010 - The public wants public servants to serve them and not themselves. It is when public servants use their possessions to serve themselves that we become upset.

Through investigation by Federal Authorities we now know some of the alleged wrongdoing that went on at the Cleveland Police Department for years, under the direction of Henry Patterson and Harry Kelly. Without a change in the management at Cleveland PD, it could have continued for much longer.

But Henry Patterson was elected as Sheriff of Liberty County in 2008 taking Office in January of 2009 and he brought with him to the Sheriff’s Department the people that had worked under him at Cleveland PD, including Harry Kelly and Jim Cooper.

Together Henry Patterson, Jim Cooper, Harry Kelly and Steve Green make up the command structure of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department.

Once Patterson, Kelly and Cooper were out of Cleveland PD, and Chief Ike Hines retired, a new Police Chief, Mark Bradshaw, came to the department. He immediately began making decisions and working hard to guide his department. Without the decisions Bradshaw made upon his arrival, the alleged wrongdoing concerning missing weapons at the Cleveland Police Department may have never been uncovered.

The main target of the Criminal Investigation into this is Harry Kelly and Henry Patterson who was Kelly’s supervisor and who had the only other key to where the weapons were stored according to court documents.

While Bradshaw was working quietly guiding the Cleveland Police Department, what was Harry Kelly doing? Well in July of 2009 Harry Kelly sent an anonymous fax attempting to slander and discredit Police Chief Mark Bradshaw. At the time Kelly’s actions seemed strange and without motive. However, given the facts that we now know Kelly’s actions seem much more clear.

See related story… LCSO Captain Sends Anonymous Letter

There are so many examples of public servants who don’t serve the public good. We hear about them in the press everyday. But, there are those who do serve well and often they go unrecognized. They are the people who make government work.

All the alleged wrongdoing at the Cleveland Police Department went on right under former Police Chief Ike Hines' nose and he did nothing about it.

It was the decisions Bradshaw made concerning the department that uncovered and documented the alleged wrongdoing that had gone on in Cleveland for years.

Although being in Cleveland only a short time, Bradshaw’s accomplishments in his service to the people of Cleveland and to Liberty County have been remarkable.

If you look at all the people surrounding the investigation into all the alleged wrongdoing currently unfolding it is easy to see Cleveland Police Chief Mark Bradshaw is the unsung hero in all of it.

By Allen Youngblood

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