An Editorial by John Estridge
Brookville Town Council members have been spending my money — to use a professional accounting term — willy nilly.
And they have been spending money belonging to all of the other Brookville residents in the same way — willy nilly.
I am sure I am going to leave some wasteful spending out, but this includes, but not limited to:
Purchasing a failing, unkempt golf course
Maintaining, improving and other cursory expenses related to the failing, unkempt golf course
Purchase of and remodeling of the Zimmer Building that is for the Town Hall, no, police station, no, Town Hall, no, police station, no, … well, you get the general drift there. And with this fiasco, one has the specter of the only people making a profit on this may be a town council member and his relative and/or relatives.
Paying attorneys and companies to plan on an annexation that, if it goes through, will cost me a tremendous amount of money to give those people who do not want to be annexed into this terribly ran town, the same services that I once enjoyed, such as police protection, before this current town council came into power
Paying police officers to sit at home or go golfing on my golf course I own.
And paying a special attorney to handle the situation where the police officers are sitting home or playing golf while getting my tax money and determining what the final outcome will be concerning the police officers’ jobs.
But the final proverbial straw or line or whatever adage one wants to use is a special attorney paid by tax money — my money, your money — acting on behalf of BTC member Brooke Leffingwell in the latest accusations in the ongoing soap opera “All My BTC Members.”
For those who are not aware of the current fiasco involving this inglorious town council, it is alleged Leffingwell sent Snap Chats to a Brookville Police Department officer asking the police officer to arrest Brian Patterson on a DUI charge.
It is not that Leffingwell allegedly thought Patterson was driving drunk, but that Brian is married to Lindsay Patterson, who — at the time — was a candidate for state representative in the Republican primary. And one of Lindsay’s opponents was BTC President, the lead actor/writer/director/producer in All My BTC Members, Curtis Ward. The thinking, if one can call it thinking, behind the alleged Snap Chats is if Brian were arrested, then Lindsay would drop out of the race, leaving Curtis to the spoils.
By the way, Lindsay won handily over Curtis and others in the Republican Primary and is now unopposed for the District 55 State Rep. seat.
Brian and Lindsay put out a very succinct and direct press release responding to the alleged incident saying they have asked for a special investigation by the county prosecutor, FBI and state attorney general.
It is good they did not include the Indiana State Police as it seems an investigation for that department is a person sleeping in his Indy office and waking up long enough to talk on the phone — it would be too much work to leave his comfy office — to defense attorneys who explain why their clients are innocent and should not be charged with any crimes.
It is so sad to see the way the ISP has gone downhill in my lifetime. It was once a well-respected police agency and apparently ineptitude is the norm there.
And in response to the Pattersons’ press release and to the whole affair, a special attorney — handling for the BTC in that still ongoing episode of All My BTC Members the police being paid for nothing fiasco — put out a statement concerning Leffingwell and the accusations.
Leffingwell, and I hope she is not that stupid to actually have sent the Snap Chats, if she did what is alleged or did not do what is alleged, did or did not send the Snap Chats in the act of conducting BTC business and did not do it using town equipment, it is all her problem.
If, and that two-letter word is huge in America, IF Leffingwell did what is alleged, that is on her. Not on me. Therefore, I should not have to pay for an attorney to defend her, write press releases or do anything for her in this instance. And proving her innocence is on her as it would be on me, as a private citizen, if this happened to me.
I am going to be contacting the Indiana State Board of Accounts and asking those faceless, nameless, bureaucrats to please look into this. That organization and the State Board of Tax Commissioners, with both being funded by our tax dollars, meaning they work for us, do not seem to be the taxpayers’ watchdog as they were once apparently designed to be.
If the special attorney wants to do this pro bono, then have at it. But if not, Leffingwell, please do the correct thing and pay that special attorney yourself and from this point on, hire your own private attorney. I do not want to pay for your defense, but good luck.
Oh, and by the way, please let’s not have another season of All My BTC Members. Instead, Brookville residents, please go to the polls and Vote NO on two more BTC members. Just think what crazy and more importantly expensive things two more members could do to all of us.
