I am pleased to see the investigative reporting Barbara Hanson is doing in Orting News. Her 7/17 editorial in Orting News does a good job of explaining what she is going through to get the fire department story. We don’t all have time in our busy schedules to attend the meetings and sort through the details of what is going on behind the closed doors paid for by our tax dollars. It is a relief to know there are brave people still willing to stand in the watchdog roll. She may not be Clark Kent Superman, but it is great to have a Lois Lane like Barbara here in Orting. It gives me hope that the Fire Department issues will all come to light in an appropriate fashion and no one will ever be run out of town on a rail without just cause. We the taxpayers hope that our elected officials will spend our money wisely in tough times like this, act on our behalf, not on the bidding of the firefighters union or disgruntled employees under disciplinary action.
DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
July 17, 2009 · 11 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Orting, Randy Shelton, PFD 18, Orting Fire and Rescue, Orting Fire Department, Orting Valley Fire & Rescue, Fire District 18, Pierce County Fire District 18, Fire Commissioner, Firefighters Union, Barbara Hansen
11 responses so far ↓
Rich Carr // July 17, 2009 at 10:57 am
Barbara’s investigative reporting on this issue is only the tip of the iceberg and I commend her tenacity in the face of many obstacles she encounters while trying to uncover the simplest of facts into what has amounted into, now, a story of regional implications and many a watched eye.
Orting News vowed to present news as generated by the community. Now, the political side of that community is dismayed by the fact that more than the more than 7,100 visits to the site in the past 30 days and the fact that the public veraciously consumes its contents. Furthermore, the Orting News Opinion BLOG readership has grown by more than 2000% in recent months thanks to the work of Rhonda Madison’s efforts in making sure it was monitored and presented in a more professional and timely manner.
Suddenly Orting’s residents have a voice…and that voice is being heard. Despite our Mayor’s attempts to shun Orting News’ reach within her four walls, she’s blind to the fact that WE live outside those walls and will speak up if given the opportunity. The Tacoma News Tribune is a fine publication and has been most gracious in the past for sharing its content with Orting News, but Orting News has surpassed its penetration in Orting Valley and shows no signs of slowing thanks to you. While many a public notice from Orting is placed there, we need City Hall to recognize locality and adhere to local needs.
Your opportunity to be heard is here Orting. Let’s see it.
The Teacher // July 17, 2009 at 11:11 am
When the Orting newspaper went away as a printed paper, I was disapointed. I’ve been in lived in small towns most of my life and know that the “big city” papers rarely cover anything from a small town unless someone sends it in or there is a disaster. But I must say that the “Orting news” as we are getting it now seems more like “over the fence talk from the TV show Hee Haw” Is this a gossip blog or a fact reporting agency? I’m thinking gossip.
What's your true agenda Barbara // July 17, 2009 at 11:41 am
For someone who is trying to be non bias on her reporting it sure sounds one sided. One would wonder what your personal interest in the matter truly is. It’s just seems that your true concern is over Mr. Randall Long Shelton and not the health of the fire department. Almost as if you have some personal connection to him? Like maybe someone your close to on the city council is good friends with him. I think this is were Mayor Temple and friends went wrong. They let a personal relationship and feelings get in the way of business. The Mayor was never Randy Shelton’s boss, in fact the city of Orting paid the Fire district for services. She nor did anyone else outside of the fire department have a clue of what Shelton was really like. I would like to also point out that Shelton had 7 Charges against him, yet you focus only the money. Maybe you should read them again. One last thing. No one has mentioned any concern for the Fire Fighters at all. So again I ask, whats the personal agenda that your letting cloud your precarious reporting.
Jerry Simpson // July 17, 2009 at 11:59 am
I find it interesting that our City officials gave our Fire Department to the district, without anyway of being included in the decisions on how it’s run. Someone need to slap these idiot’s up against the head with a big board, and wake them up. What other lame brain decisions will they make? Several have already been made, just wait until you see what they are going to do to our park and the main street of Orting. God help us, they can’t, their not smart enough.
Satisfied Reader // July 17, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I just wanted to relay to you that I feel Barbara Hansen’s piece regarding the possible corruption within the commission of Pierce Fire 18 was absolutely excellent – it was a pleasure to read. I look forward to reading more hard hitting stories from her.
Phil Russell // July 17, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I would like to respond to Ms. Hansen’s article, “Fire Commission Blowing Smoke Screen?” if I might. I am not one of the commissioners, nor am I a firefighter who served under Chief Shelton, and I have never worked for the Tacoma News Tribune. I am speaking solely as a citizen of our fair town.
Ms. Hansen argues that the public should have been given the details regarding the internal investigation of Shelton while the investigation was ongoing. Not only would this potentially hinder the investigation process, it would also violate Chief Shelton’s right to privacy. The Public Records Act makes this point very clear when it states, “the investigative records compiled by an employing agency conducting a current investigation” are exempt from public inspection. RCW 42.56.250(5). If the fire commissioners had publicly announced a list of unverified allegations against Shelton prior to actually conducting an investigating for the various charges and it was later determined that Shelton had not committed the misconduct, I have no doubt that Ms. Hansen would be the first to say that the Fire Commissioners were out of line for releasing unsubstantiated allegations. If that were the case, I would be writing this letter in complete agreement with Ms. Hansen. Had the Fire Commissioners released the investigative records prior to the completion of the investigation, I would have agreed with City Manager Mark Bethune and Mayor Cheryl Temple’s statements that the Fire Commissioners did not do the right thing. Fortunately, the Fire Commissioners DID handle the investigation properly; they DID do the RIGHT thing! Records involving specific instances of misconduct by public employees are not exempt from public disclosure under RCW 42.56.230(2) either because the information is not highly offensive, because it is a matter of public concern, or both. Once the investigation determined Shelton was guilty of misconduct, the investigative records are no longer exempt from disclosure.
Ms. Hansen claims no anti-Fire Commission bias, yet refuses to acknowledge even the remote possibility that their investigation was properly conducted; choosing to continue to use the word “allegedly” regarding the charges against Shelton as if the investigation were still ongoing. Chief Shelton was terminated for committing the various acts of misconduct that the district charged him with; not for “allegedly” committing them. Ms. Hansen has the audacity to say that she believes that the State Auditor’s office, and not the Fire Commissioners, should really be the one to determine whether the documented allegations warranted investigation. Then we are told that Shelton “allegedly repaid the entire amount in dispute — allegedly $20,000 — immediately after it was brought to his attention…That allegation paints an entirely different picture of Shelton’s intent and whether the Commission actually has suffered any financial loss whatsoever.” This tells us absolutely nothing about Shelton’s intent. NOTHING! All it does tell us is that Shelton does not dispute the Fire Commissioners’ finding that he was in possession of “allegedly $20,000” more than he should have been paid. It also should remove any doubt that the State Auditor would have come to the same conclusion that the Fire Commissioners did.
I have a hard time finding in factual evidence to support Ms. Hansen’s “smoke screen” theory. I thought District 18 Fire Commissioner Shawn Mahoney did a great job responding to questions in his July 13, 2009 blog posting. Are these the actions of a commissioner trying to hide information from the public? He outlined the steps that were taken by the Fire Commissioners regarding the investigation process, including the costs involved, the hiring of an outside investigator, and the difficulties in attempting to balance the rights of the accused with the citizen’s desire to be informed. Are these the actions of someone trying to keep the public from being informed? The only smoke screen I see is the refusal by this paper to hold the City Administration accountable for their comments. Mr. Carr, I have a very difficult time separating Ms. Hansen’s articles with the comments made by the City Administration as they seem to go hand in hand. Why has there not been a response from Mayor Temple and City Manager Bethune that either [1] outlines exactly what it was that the Fire Commissioners did that was improper, or [2] apologizes to the Fire Commissioners, the Fire Fighters of District 18, and the citizens of this community for allowing their personal relationships to cloud their better judgment by wrongly accusing the Fire Commissioners of mishandling the investigation? Defend your accusations or admit that even city administrator’s can make mistakes…you owe the citizens of this city and everyone at Fire District 18 nothing less.
Lastly, I take great offense to statements made by Ms. Hansen regarding the Public Records Act that are simply not true: “To find out just what Fire District 18 is spending taxpayer money on, one must solicit the paperwork through a public records disclosure request and pay 15 cents a copy for it… the cost to me to look at those documents was approximately $85.” I’m sorry, but a citizen can enter a public record request and inspect the records responsive to their request free of charge. No city, county, or state agency can charge a fee for inspecting records. RCW 42.56.120. Agencies may charge up to $.15 /per page for making copies of requested records. If she received copies of the records, then the agency rightfully charged her for the copies. I do not believe that Ms. Hansen was forced to pay $85 simply “to look at those documents.” For her to imply that she was is made to pay for the right to inspect records is very misleading. I would have thought this was simply a misstatement by Ms. Hansen until I read, “Unless one is dogged, is willing to suffer criticism and pay dearly out of their pocket, specific information about the Commission proceedings is difficult, if not impossible, to access.” I am so sorry, but I simply refuse to accept Ms. Hansen’s suggestion that (cue the sad violin music playing in the background) only a selfless martyr, such as herself, has the focus and determination to overcome the district’s reluctance to release the public records. Ms. Hansen, please hop down from your cross. I understand… we all want to be appreciated for the jobs we do. But the information is NOT difficult to access, nor does one have to be willing to pay dearly out of their pocket to access the records. Ms. Hansen has provided a huge disservice to the readers of this newspaper by misinforming them about their rights under the Public Records Act.
I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about Washington’s Open Government Laws – Open Records and Open Meetings – to visit the Washington Coalition for Open Government web site at http://www.washingtoncog.org. “
Truth Seeker // July 17, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Wow Mr. Russell…I can see why you love sending your looooong opinions to Orting News. They’ll actually run them.
Glad to have this local info source to look to. I’m proud of our public servants, firefighters and police. They put themselves on the line for public safety. I don’t see this examination of the recent actions as being critical of them, but a search for the truth, open government and accountibility. Hooray to those who ask the determined questions to bring it out. We live in the great U.S.A. after all and unless people start asking these questions and expect open government, we might as well hang it up and invite one of the worlds despots to come lead us silently away to the slaughter.
Tamara Potter // July 17, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Hi there readers,
It seems as though this Fire Chief thing has many up in arms and I do not see any harm in asking questions because as a people we should be informed of what is going on. I think personally the biggest problem is that out of nowhere the Fire Chief is fired. I have to admit I do not know what goes on at the fire dept on a daily basis so I am not going to speak of Randy’s work ethic there.
However I am a bit confused of a few things. Was not Randy already accused of these things in the past? Was there not already an investigation done and Randy found not guilty of the charges? I do remember reading about this when Orting had a hard copy paper. So my question is why was he found not guilty and now he is found guilty and fired?
I do believe that we should know the charges and the “evidence”. i think that would clear the air for many. Do we need to know who was being treated wrongly or do we need names? Absolutely NOT however if we had the charges (which I have read) and then we could see the actual findings I think many would be at ease or outraged for that matter. So before we go beating each other up with our opinions on the matter would it not be great to have a public forum to understand what happened here? People just want answers to their questions to what is going in with their City Officials.
We should ask questions, we should be concerned with where our taxpayer money goes, we should make sure that proper procedure is followed and we should look out for one another. When our commisioners, leaders or council members become offended or put out because we ask we should ask ourselves why and then maybe we should ask them why? I am in total agreement with Truth Seeker!
Proud to be a wife of ovff // July 18, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Hey tamara, I read your statement and I understand where some of you are coming from but, you all didn’t work with Randy on a daily basis. We all thought Randy was fun and a nice guy until he showed his true side to him. What the little valley of orting need to remember is thier are alot of nice guys in this world doing bad things. look at Ted Bundy, Scott Peterson, Drew Peterson and I could name more. The crimes they committed were unbelievable because these guys were so likeable to the public. No one really knew them. What everyone needs to do is take a hard look at this situation and realize that the commisssioners did not have anything against Randy personally. Randy put himself in this situation of hot water and thought he was invincible. Some of the things Randy did at the Fire Department he would have fired our guys for a few of the things that he did. Let me give you an example how the public thinks something is unfair. All of our fireman were told they were overpaid at the station including my husband. They all had to work shifts free to pay back the money. Also after Randy got told by the comissioners that he was overpaid and he had to pay back his money too, he stormed out of the meeting. I was their. Ironically, the next week he let the firefighters know he once again overpaid them because he was pissed that he now too has to pay money back to the department. Come to find out our guys were not overpaid and he was making all of this up. Also on several occasions he would try to be everyone’s buddy and in 60 seconds later he would be chewing your butt off for something stupid. Let me tell you something my husband was in the military for 13 years he was in charge of 200+ troops he never in his total career as a soldier treated or demeened his troops like Randy has treated our guys. The other thing is my husband and another gentlemen took a lieutenant test and passed and Randy did not promote them. Randy promoted 2 guys in the department who didn’t pass the Lieutenant test. (who has an agenda now)? Randy forced policies to be written by my husband who was not in administration and then he would change the policy without anyone’s knowledge and never go to the commissioners for approval of the fire departments policies and procedures. Our commissioners are their to protect our firefighters and to oversee the operation of what is happening. That’s why they are voted in. Everyone of us like our commissioners at the department, They are very fair and go by the legalities of everyday operation. The other things that Randy did he always told everyone he was all for family until it became yours. Example: My husband’s mother died out of state he went to Randy ahead of time and told him she was not expected to live , Randy said oh when it gets to that time I will work something out so you can go. The night before she died we got a phone call and the family was telling us she isn’t going to make it. My husband called the department right away tried to reach Randy and couldn’t. So, then he went to his Captain and his captain said okay I will let Randy know. So we left that am at 3:00 and got to where she was at and she was already gone. Well we had the funeral service 2 days later and the morning after we buried mom we get a call from the captain saying”Randy said for me to call you and tell you that you are AWOL” How heartless and uncompassionate is that? I as his wife was pissed, Here my husband is grieving over his mother and then he has a chief that only cares about my husband being gone. When my husband got back in town Randy made him pick up an extra shift without pay for being gone to his mother’s funeral. (Our guys are allowed 3 days of bereavement leave and he was off the other days we were gone). My husband was wrote up a very good review on his performance from the captain and then Randy has to sign it, well Randy told the captain this is unacceptable I don’t agree with his performance and made him rewrite out a bad performance on my husband. My husband showed up for work at 20 minutes to 8:00 one day and shift starts at 8:00. Randy made the captain write up my husband for not being their earlier. Let, me tell you something their is more to the story then this and every firefighter has some sort of story like my husband’s of harrassment of rudeness of unnecessary hardship and not feeling like coming to work to work under his dictatorship. Everyone in the city and the district needs to think about our guys before they open thier mouths. Randy will tell you all day long that these are false allegations but do you all really believe our guys would all lie about him? I had to live with this with my husband for over 2 years and what got us through is our faith in God, Our church, our family, and everyone praying for God to please interceed in this situation. So, could you all please take a moment and realize that what Randy got fired for was something that anyone would have gotten fired for. Maybe you do all like Randy he’s a likeable guy to everyone until you work for him. He does have 2 personalities i can attest to that. Also our commissioners do not use Ems money to fight cases like this. It comes out of the general fund. Please everyone vote for our guys they are doing a great job and they are here to provide you service regardless of the ridicule they have received from the city officials and some of the public. My huisband is a military hero, he’s been a medic for 18+ years, He was in charge of troops, He’s been all over the world and he is a decorated soldier I am proud to be his wife and I am proud of him as a firefighter/paramedic. He got Ems provider of the year for saving 3 lives. ( Randy was also upset because he said my husband didn’t deserve this award. ) Anyone who knows my husband knows he is their to help you and to give you the best service he possibly can. I am sorry for being so long winded but, I can’t continue to let the city officials and friends rank on our guys of misinformation. I challenge all of you to go visit our guys at the fire station, get to know who they are and what they are all about. They are all good guys and train to the highest level for you. I am praying for our little city of Orting and the people in it. Thank-you and God bless you.
that guy // July 18, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Watch dog? More like pot sturring……… way to go barb. Right before a levy just what we need is false information being spread. Have you thought that people dont like to give you info becuase you warp it to whatever sounds good to a wana be reporter? I hope after your done smashing the fire department that you dont ever need their help not that they would’nt come but with a levy failure some services would be reduced or lost. So good luck on your ding water newspaper invistigation and witch hunt!!!
Observing from the side lines // July 18, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I just want the Orting Fire Department to know that we appreciate all you do. I have worked for a person like Randy and know the stress you had to face each day not knowing what personality you were going to face. It is tough on your health and affects your family. You don’t want to take it home but if you don’t get it out you’re going to fall apart. I know firefighters love their job and are a close family. I recently spoke with a very wise person who said that the head of a business decides the personality of that business and will make it or break it. You guys deserve better. You deserve a leader you can respect and trust and will lead you in a professional manner. You don’t need someone who has to control or demean you. No one wins in that situation. Orting residents, you need to show the fire department that you care about what they went through these last two years. They are there for you every day. The commissioners were presented information that had to acted on, they investigated and found it was accurate and terminated the chief. Just like any business would do in the same situation. To the Orting Fire Fighter who lost his Mother, please accept my deepest sympathy in your loss and I apologize for the disrespect you received. To the firefighters that were continually harrassed by the Chief, I am so sorry you felt you couldn’t come forward sooner. To the commissioners, thank you for listening to the firefighters and handling a very bad situation. To Barbara, a respected reporter never becomes personally involved in a story, they stay neutral and report the FACTS. I’m from a small town and the residents would have been up in arms over your reporting, and…… they would have gone down to the fire department to let the firemen know they were behind them. Something good always comes out of a bad situation. We learn we can trust people we thought we couldn’t. We review policies and make them better. We work as a team to make things better for all. Come on people……. Let’s put Orting on the map in a positive way….It’s a new beginning….
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