Once again, conflicts and personalities at the Lewis County Courthouse are in the news.
A couple years ago, Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza threw a fit during a commissioners meeting and left abruptly after he took offense because Commissioner Lindsey Pollock asked him legitimate questions about his proposed budget for the next year.
In that incident, I wrote that I thought the sheriff behaved badly and we deserved better.
Also in that case, it was the right time and right place for Pollock, or any other commissioners, to ask budget questions.
This time around, her question about a uniform expense, contractually obligated by her own admission by the collective bargaining agreement, appears petty.
And after reading the story about her husband's issues and unhappiness with the actions of the sheriff’s office amid a decade-long dispute with a neighbor, it appeared to me to be even more so, especially since the question was specifically about the same deputy her husband filed complaints about.
But the sheriff is not without issues.
It’s not clear to me what the Brady letter issued by the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office for the accused deputy, Erin Willey, was actually for, though it appears linked to her previous affiliation with the Proud Boys, which she said was the fault of an abusive partner.
But, presumably, she was polygraphed and had a background check prior to her employment at the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and disclosed or passed all the questions.
I say “presumably” because I don’t know that. For Clark County to have invested that much time and money in her training, it seems she would have passed that background check twice.
But hiring a terminated employee is risky enough, depending on circumstances. Hiring one with a Brady issue attached seems very problematic.
The job description used to require an officer to testify in court as an essential function of the job. An officer with a Brady finding would be restricted, tainted and possibly embarrassed each time they went to court. Keeping one who had a Brady finding, especially if it was dishonesty, would also be questionable at the very least.
Back to time and place. In my opinion, this was not the time or place, especially given the commissioner has an obvious conflict, and not a good look.
Plus, there were some personnel matters being tossed out in public, which might better be discussed in a proper setting.
Commissioner Sean Swope disagreed with Pollock, and we heard nothing from Commissioner Scott Brummer which, in my view, was wise on his part.
But the fact is the uniform spending would occur no matter who was promoted, so it appears to me it really wasn't the money (which is not in her purview after it is approved at the beginning of the new year). It was the person appointed.
That's the petty part. That, too, is not in her purview.
Then there is the anti-harassment order, which seems to be at the heart of this. Here's the truth about neighbor complaints: they happen all the time, and unless a crime of some kind occurs, there is little the law can do.
Being annoying isn’t illegal, even if there is an anti-harassment order in most cases. But in 28 years in the business, I do not recall the number of 911 calls alleged to have been made in the story ever being done before.
It sounds like abuse of the system.
In a published email or post attached to the story, Scott Pollock wrote that the process of enforcing the order was to file a report with the violation order to the prosecutor, who then acts on it. He also wrote that's what was done, and it wasn’t clear what happened after that.
He also wrote that he was upset he was referred to the prosecutor for potential charges by the deputy in question, which also would be the process. That was done, too, and the prosecutor's office declined to file, which was also the process.
But filing a complaint with the Criminal Justice Training Commission because the deputy did follow the process seemed to me to be unusual. The resolution to this may actually involve attorneys, civil court, money and time — which is one reason people call the law.
But the law can’t fix civil matters.
It's a sad situation having a problem with a neighbor, and it’s the reason I haven’t moved in 40 years. All my neighbors are great.
But it is also a fact that deputies cannot make people get along if they can’t or won’t, and calling 911 all the time won’t make that true either.
There are plenty of questions here about the courthouse personalities in this story, but it also appears to me that both of the main characters share the responsibility to figure out a better way to get along.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
