IN THE NEWS: Letters To The Editor March 14

Date: March 14, 2019

Community Forum

Letters to the Editor

Attacks on Frazier explained

Dear Editor;

The Taneytown Mayor and Council tipped their hand as to why Councilman Donald Frazier has been such a thorn in their sides. Asking the questions all citizens are wondering, (like why water/sewer rates are so high; why no direct answers to financial questions; and why citizens are paying for projects developers were supposed to finance); which has the council passing him personally with censures and phony violations.

With the passing of Mr. Heine, we are expecting more answers. The mayor and other council members proclaim the amount of money in the bank accounts has nothing to do with the budget. Really? All along Councilman Frazier and the citizens, outside of the good-ole-boy network, have been wondering what Mayor McCarron, Bradley Wantz, Diane Foster, and others are hiding?

Although the talk of the ATF raid has been very quiet since Feb. 9 secret meeting, the mayor and council may have shown the citizens their reluctance to disclose all budget information and allow Frazier to talk to department heads, or the police chief, was because he may stumble upon what the ATF discovered in January 2019.

Shouldn’t revenues be generated from the property room, if items were sold legally, that were reported in the budget or part of the savings accounts, perhaps?

In his November letter to the council, the concerned officer stated he had reported these wrong doings to some of the council members, but nothing had been done. In another December secret meeting, the chief was questioned about these things. The minutes of that closed meeting (which Councilman Frazier objected to and did not attend) stated that no action was taken. Smelling like a cover-up.

The concerned policeman’s letter also stated Etzler was being groomed for the chief’s position and he recommended not putting Etzler as chief, or “it means more of the same.” Nevertheless, the majority of the council voted to make Lt. Etzler chief instead of getting someone from the outside.

Councilman Frazier requested his reasons for his vote to be recorded in the minutes. Bradley Wantz objected to adding Frazier’s explanation and the other council members voted with him to scrub any reasons from the minutes. Again, this is looking like a cover-up instead of trying to restore the faith of the citizens in their police department.

In my experience, when you catch a liar and a thief, it isn’t their first time and they usually have not done it alone. This may be the tip of the iceberg for not only the police department, but for the town. The Mayor for 30 years and council, particularly the liaison to the departments are responsible for the actions of the Taneytown Police Department. A bunch of rubber stamps that don’t ask questions and vote to go into secret meetings all the time to keep the citizens in the dark will keep corruption covered up.

Now we understand a little better why the aggressive attacks against Councilman Frazier. Wonder what foul play we will find next?

Rhonda Bean
Taneytown


Copy of article:

Rhonda Bean Letter to the editor

April 14, 2019 Northern News, Hampstead, MD