middlesmithfieldtownship.net

Well, I saw in the Pocono Record, that the LCB has pretty much allowed Middle Smithfield to have their own police department.

Considering that the majority of the voters in the township have decided that they aren't willing to have their taxes increased for having our own Police Force, and Scott Schaller is bound and determined that we WILL have our own Police Force, I am going to give my opinions.

A Middle Smithfield Police Force is going to be strictly a patronage police force. I don't have all the facts, but one of the rumors that I've heard is that Scott Trethaway is a relative of Scott Schaller. Great...a meglomaniac supervisor is going to appoint an unqualified person to be a police chief. That one appointment will cost the taxpayers millions of unnecessary expense, so that one of Scott Schaller's relatives can have a job.

The Middle Smithfield Police Department is the MOST expensive of the several options that we have available to us. I know that my letter to the editor of the Pocono Record was interpreted by several that I am against police protection. Nothing could be further from the truth. Police protection is a necessary evil. What I'm against is the complete waste of taxpayer money. We can have effective and viable police protection without a cost of several million dollars per year. Joining SARP would be less expensive. Staying with the State Police would be less expensive. Forcing the PA legislature to give the Sheriff's Department police power again would be less expensive.

Scott Schaller is unwilling to listen or even hear objections to his ideas. It's time for some serious civil disobedience in Middle Smithfield Township.

Personally, I will not recognize the authority of a Middle Smithfield Township Police Department. If one of Scott Schaller's personal security guards ( Police Force) attempts to pull me over, I will regard it as a either an armed robbery attempt or a carjacking attempt and I will defend myself accordingly. If, for some reason, I do need a police officer, I will call the State Police.

Jeff Gootblatt