I would like to say thank you to all the residents who showed up to support our town Marshal, even though we were not allowed to speak about the issue. I have lost all respect for the current
Photo: The Oolitic Town Council last year
Town Council members except for one. They have a personal vendetta against the best Town Marshall this town has ever had.
He knows his job, and because he does, he is being persecuted for doing what he knows how to do. He apparently is expected to bow down to the Council when he is threatened with his job by a Council member who was warned not to drink and drive.
Marshal Harrington should have made the arrest at the time instead of giving the member the opportunity not to drink and drive. It is my opinion that this whole meeting was a set-up by the three out of four council members.
They knew the room would be full of residents who objected to putting the Town Marshall on administrative leave, so Brenda Corey announced it was a special agenda and no one would be allowed to speak.
The whole meeting was a fiasco! When the meeting was over, I asked the Council to give one reason why they put Marshall Harrington on leave and was warned I could be removed from the meeting for trying to speak.
After the meeting was over, I tried to ask Jon Broglin why the Council was doing this, and he said he was not allowed to discuss the matter. Supposedly there is an ongoing investigation as to why Marshal Harrington was put on paid administrative leave, but do they really believe there will be an investigation?
Who is conducting the investigation? I surmise the issue was the fact that Marshal Harrington used Deny Joe to do a free air sniff around the suspected drug dealers’ vehicle on January 2nd, 2024, at Casey’s in Oolitic, at the request of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputies.
Marshal Harrington called one Council Member who gave him permission to use his K-9. It was at the December meeting that the Council voted to not “support the K-9 program anymore”. They did not say he couldn’t use his dog to make a drug arrest; they just were not supporting the program any more due to extensive costs to the town. What costs????
Marshal Harrington uses his own personal money to support his dogs by paying all his own vet bills, purchase food, etc. and uses his own personal money for gas when called out while off duty, and he does have receipts to back this up, as well as dates and times.
The only time the K-9 cost the Town of Oolitic money was when the dog chewed up the headliner in the town vehicle. At that time, one Council member spoke up and said “That’s why we carry insurance”. Marshal Harrington said if the dog did it again, he would pay for the damage out of his own pocket. The dog tore up the headliner again, but it was discovered the cage was defective.
The town did have insurance for the K-9 program. Until recently the Council had nothing but praise for the work done by Marshal Harrington and Deny Joe.
On June 30, 2022, while off duty, Marshal Harrington and his partner, Deny Joe, responded to assist the Bloomington Police Department with a traffic stop, after their assistance was requested. During the stop ,Deny was deployed for a free air sniff around the exterior of the vehicle, and he alerted on the driver’s door.BPD officers recovered 114.31 grams of suspected Methamphetamine, 43.52 grams of suspected Heroin, multiple cellular phones, and a digital scale from within the vehicle, and 2.93 grams of suspected Heroin from the passenger of the vehicle.
On September 27, 2022, the Town Marshal received a life-saving award from the Town Council. Marshal Harrington responded to an overdose victim on July 13, 2022, when an overdose victim stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest. Thanks to the efforts of Harrington and members of the Oolitic Volunteer Fire Department, the patient’s life was saved. The patient was revived through resuscitation and AED efforts made by emergency responders. The town council and community honored Harrington for his efforts to save the life of that individual.
On June 7, 2022, Marshal Harrington assisted Bedford Police and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department with the arrest of a male and female in a blue Dodge Nitro that had been parked in front of a business for about three hours. During the investigation, K-9 Deny Joe was deployed and alerted on the passenger’s side door of the vehicle. Marijuana, a smoking device, six used syringes, four small tin containers, three of which contained brown residue and several used cotton swabs were recovered from within the SUV during the search. The couple were read their rights, waived their rights and agreed to speak with officers. The male took ownership of all items of contraband and claimed he used the syringes to inject Heroin.The female was released from custody, the male was placed under arrest and transported to the Lawrence County Jail. The residue was field tested at the Oolitic Marshal’s office and tested positive as Fentanyl. In another incident on November 12, 2022, Marshal Harrington conducted a traffic stop on State Road 37 in the Southbound lane at 5th Street. The vehicle was occupied by three adult white male individuals, and the stop was conducted after Marshal Harrington observed the vehicle traveling in Oolitic with the passenger’s side headlamp out, no license plate lights, and the driver wasn’t able to maintain his lane of travel, and the driver drove onto the shoulder of the roadway at least twice. K-9 Deny Joe was deployed around the truck and alerted on the rear driver’s side rear door. During the search of the truck, officers located two 9 mm handguns and a metal container that contained residue that field tested positive as Methamphetamine. The driver of the truck was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Lawrence County Jail. Marshal Harrington was assisted by the Bedford Police Department and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department.
The Town Council felt Marshal Harrington was spending too much time assisting other agencies, so in a review of several months’ activities, the following was determined by the Marshal’s reports as follows:
1- In June and July, 2022, there was a total of 144 calls, of which the Marshal’s office assisted other agencies 12 times, and other agencies assisted the Marshal’s office 13 times. There were 14 drug investigations and 1 drug overdose.
2. In September, 2022, out of 63 incidents, The Oolitic Marshal’s office assisted other agencies 2 times. There were other agency assists to the Marshal’s office of 7.
3. From December 19, 2022 to January 30, 2023, out of 333 calls, agencies assisted by the Oolitic Marshal’s Office was 2
4. Agencies assisting the Marshal’s office was 33. There were 9 drug investigations. 4. In July, 2023, out of 239 calls, there were 22 drug investigations. 5. In August, 2023, out of 173 calls, there were 17 drug investigations, the Marshal’s office assisted other agencies 15 times, and other agencies assisted the Marshal’s office 18 times. It would appear every effort is being made by all police agencies in Lawrence County to curb the drug problem in our county.
What we do not have a record of is the number of investigations each agency is working on, but it would appear working together is a sign that every effort is being made to control the problem, particularly since we appear to be in the middle of the stretch from Chicago/Detroit, to Louisvile.
This gives drug dealers a great opportunity to cruise through Lawrence County and not worry about being stopped by officers. Why in the world would any town want to stop the K-9 program? It just doesn’t make sense. The next time you go to the polls, please remember those you voted for when someone you know or a family member dies from a drug overdose.
Marilyn L. Crouch Concerned Oolitic resident.
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