Letters: Redraw the blue line in Cloquet

As a matter of civic duty, I share my thoughts.

As our city continues to recover from bad politics, our newest interim police chief is perhaps demonstrating why he wasn’t picked as interim when former police chief Steve Stracek was forced into administrative leave while the false allegations against him were being investigated.

As I read the Aug. 2 Pine Knot News article concerning former chief Lamirande’s complaint with the — clearly obvious — endorsement of Hallback by four of our officers, I am again in awe at the thickness of the thin blue line.

Make no mistake — I love and support all law enforcement officials who act with integrity while on the job and off the job. In my opinion, the “Not Sustained” finding of this complaint is a clear and obvious signal of who is being protected and served.

People make mistakes, there is error in judgement and there is forgiveness. There is also such a thing as new beginnings. I hope and pray we soon get a new beginning.

Now that Chief Palmer is no longer on the job, the city — at some point — will begin searching, once again, for his replacement. Who will want to come to Cloquet with the knowledge of what took place with Chief Stracek?

On another note, I believe the Citizen Advisory Board needs to have its power and authority increased to its original, and maybe more before a new chief is hired and they should be working closely with our interim chief in the meantime.

Brian Smith, Cloquet