The Martin Chronicles asks you to consider a very serious question. We're being very serious because the potential of a bedroom community being "covered" by county police who consider that bedroom community not much more than an undesirable afterthought imposed upon them by an overly-ambitious-and hopefully one-term- county judge executive is an extremely serious matter.
The question is, what in the world is Martin's goal with his hugely unpopular effort to outsource Villa Hills' police coverage? Yes, we know. Much of this effort is part of a long-standing vendetta against the people Martin blames for his 2007 FORGERY ARREST. That is now a widespread belief in Martin's troubled town. One would think Martin might be at least a little embarrassed about that. But he truly doesn't seem to care. He is pushing mindlessly ahead anyway.
While we all want our political leaders-trust us, we are loathe to call Martin a "leader", but the voters did elect him in 2010-to demonstrate courage, the vast majority of us don't want them to be fanatical kamikazes. Yet that is precisely the way Martin is behaving.
Public opinion is overwhelmingly against Martin's radical plans to either "outsource" the police department or perhaps "just" outsource its management. Public comment has been hugely supportive of not only keeping the local police department, but finally bringing the department up to proper manpower levels.
The last time the City looked for some new way to provide police protection for its residents, expert consultants advised City officials that the department should employ somewhere between twelve and fifteen officers. Martin is currently (mis)managing a seven man department. One of those seven are now injured. The other has been suspended-despite Martin's false claims to the contrary.
Martin's false claims about the suspension of Assistant Chief Joe Schutzman are outrageous. Sources tell us that Martin is falsely saying that Schutzman has been reinstated (and he hasn't) and that he is on medical leave (and he isn't). Look, this all could be happening because Martin is an incredibly stupid man. But stupid men lie too. And Martin's lie could lead to more devastating-and very costly-legal problems for the taxpayers.
Martin's announcement that he intends to hire a part-time officer will in no way address the problems. Martin's simple-minded approach to management has-according to numerous sources-destroyed the morale of what is a truly fine police department. In addition, the soaring crime rate in Villa Hills is the direct result of Martin's dreadful mismanagement.
Police Chief Goodenough has been unsuccessfully asking for an eighth officer since Martin took office. Does Martin even begin to realize that needing Kenton County police officers to patrol the City's streets is absolute proof that the City's police department is understaffed? Worse yet, the Kenton County Police "no-showed" at least one shift they were supposed to cover.
Even the social networks provide proof of Martin's problems. Facebook posters once spoke in favor of Martin's efforts. These posters blamed others for all of Martin's mounting woes. Gradually, the tide began to shift. The debacle that has unfolded since last November's "give Martin an all new council" election has turned that gradual shift in to an avalanche of anti-Martin sentiment. Martin is routinely described as "garbage", "human waste" and worse.
Still, Martin mindlessly plows ahead.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Sometime today we will be welcoming our 140,000th visitor. We're glad all of you are reading. But we hope that you are at least a little bit dismayed as we are by the abject corruption and incompetence of Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin. While he may be a charitable golfing elf, he is indeed corrupt . . . and dangerously incompetent.]
