They prove us all wrong. Now they are in a pissing match about ‘Letterhead’. Yup, you heard right, they are griping about the use of a piece of paper;
Four commissioners complained to Chairman John Pekas he should not have used commission letterhead to write to Circuit Court Judge Bradley Zell. Commissioners say the letter undercut their own request to Zell that Gourley receive a prison term when he sentences her Monday.
Yeah, John! What do you think? That you are county commissioner or something? Wait?
Commissioner Anne Hajek noted that she and Pekas are lawyers, and she is a member of the state bar association ethics committee. It’s that committee’s position, she said, “when you use letterhead, you’re speaking for the whole organization.”
But Anne, this isn’t the SD Bar Association, it is the chickenshit county commission. You know, there is a difference. One is a club the other is an elected position. There is a HUGE difference. Though I don’t think much of Pekas, I do back him on this one. As a county commissioner he has the right to use CC letterhead, get over it.
Pekas told fellow commissioners Tuesday that while Gourley has pleaded guilty to embezzlement, an investigation is ongoing and more information about the case might be forthcoming. He reiterated that under those conditions he would not presume to tell the judge he should sentence Gourley to prison.
I am kind of on the fence about this. On one hand, she is a crook, and should sit in a cell, but on the other hand, as John points out, there is probably more people involved, how couldn’t there be? Secondly instead Gourley costing us more money by putting her in jail, I suggest 10 years of house arrest with work release. And I suggest that we garnish 75% of her wages until she has paid us back. Let the family that enabled her to commit this crime by pretending they didn’t know where the money was coming from figure out how she is going to eat.
Your suggestions are imminently reasonable. Their is no reason tax payers should have to pay twice for the feeding, clothing, housing, health care, etc., for this vassal. She is not a violent threat to society. She should be put to work wearing an orange jump suit and then the bulk of her “earnings” garnished for her “supervision” and restitution. Sentence (probation or parole) should be set in terms of restitution pay back and not merely alone on a term of years – though that’s pretty outside the box for dogmatic courts.
I bet she gets house arrest. A few years back a woman in Parkston got caught embezzling like $30,000 from the bank she worked at. I think the family paid the money back right away and she got like 2-3 years house arrest. If she does get work release, I suggest a job that she isn’t handling cash . . . I’m just saying.
So you mean she shouldn’t work at a phonebooth VL casino?
Bad, Bad, Bad, idea!