k here is some more for you........posted on FB the wife on one of the C/O's

[Angela]

Aebok Osborne Morton

2 hours ago ·

To all my local FB friends. Please read the article below written by Kim Cole concerning the corrections officers. As a wife of a current corrections officer, I am deeply concerned that the current sheriff has not given any thoughts or concerns about his officers inside the jail. My husband, along with everyone else in this facility, puts their lives in harms way to keep us safe. Many fights and assults have occurred that they have to physically break up and the thought of none of them being protected properly makes me very ill. Especially knowing it is preventable.

Talking Points: Protective Vest
by Kim Cole

Here’s a short lesson on what your corrections officers do:

Firstly, they are the front-line protection for you from incarcerated inmates. They are responsible for the security at the county jail, including cell checks, head counts of inmates, the welfare of those inmates, conducting perimeter checks of the Mason County Jail, among other responsibilities.
Correction deputies transport county inmates back-and-forth between the jail and to court, and for inmates receiving sentences of greater than one year, to prison. They pickup wanted persons who commit crimes in our area but flee to other parts of the state once those bad guys are found. Of the 57 police officers killed in the line of duty in 2012, 5 were corrections officers. Thus far in 2012, 4 make shift weapons have been recovered inside our jail, contraband seized and a cell phone found in a cell, which had been smuggled inside

These men and women put on a Sheriff’s Deputy uniform, strap on a gun, hop into a marked Sheriff’s Patrol vehicle and head out when they go on those transports. When working inside, they deal with criminals, some bad, some not so much. They have no protective vest wear, something that used to be provided. In fairness to the current sheriff, he did get the approval from the county board of commissioners to purchase six vests for transports, citing “they will just have to share a little sweat” as to why he did not seek approval for all Correctional Deputies.

Recently the sheriff mentioned in a public meeting that he had saved “over 400,000 dollars”. This money was budgeted money, allocated to him to do his job (part of which is protecting his people), but he returned it to the county’s general fund. I, nor did any of you who pay taxes, ever received a reimbursement check nor did we get our taxes reduced to reflect this savings and I’m okay with that. The Sheriff also said the costs of providing Correction Deputies with protective vests would be “around 22,000 dollars”. I think this is a little high, but okay. There are matching federal funds out there which would cover about half the costs it’s simply a matter of filling out the paperwork and looking into the availability of those federal funds.

These men and women, moms and dads, husbands and wives, sons and daughters will continue to come to work every day and do their jobs with or without protective vests. Some of them were assaulted last year and a couple so far this year by inmates. You don’t hear them complain because we are all professional who have taken an oath to protect you.

Look at the numbers and you decide.

[Angela]

YOU HAVE BELIEVED everything I have said before XLFD and backed me up before why is is SO HARD to BELIEVE what I or other people WITH FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE have to say??????

[Angela]

yes Kim wrote the article XLFD I NEVER said he didn't I was talking about what the C/O's wife stated before she posted what kim wrote - DAMN XLFD you are so blind and caught up in your own world it isn't even funny 0 I have agreed with you on ALOT of stuff but this time you are just so in your own world you don't want to see or BELIEVE whats going on right under your nose!!!

[Brian Carlson]

This web site is something else. You blast Kim Cole for going to lunch. They should put a Chick fil A in Ludington, so you can complain about that too. God forbid Kim Cole is seen eating at a Chic Fil A.

[XLFD]

Who blasted Kim Cole for going to lunch?  We've blasted Cole for violating the Bill of Rights repeatedly on February 25, 2008, but not for his dining habits.

[Brian Carlson]

The Sheriff is the top of the chain-of-command. The buck stops with him. It is the Duty of the Sheriff to know what is going on with his people. If he does not know, he is not doing his job. It's like the Captain of a ship. If a junior officer crashes the ship while the captain is away, the Captain is still responsible. The Sheriff is responsible for everything that goes on in the jail. If his mid level staff are not doing their job, he needs to find out why and correct the situation. 

[Angela]

I was assaulted by an inmate when I worked there, he threw a large meal tray at me across the cell left a huge hematoma on my thigh and broke my toe.  Anyways I tried to fill out an incident report & call a road officer in the file a complaint.  When Trenner found out I wanted to press charges, like you are suppose to do if an inmate assaults you, he called me into his office and asked if I really wanted to persue this and I told him yes.  Well then he called me back in and stated that this inmate that assaulted me was wanted in another state on a more serious warrant in another state and they wanted him - so they were going to not persue the assault against the me and instead let the other state come and get them.  Believe me, you may not want to believe it but shit like this happens down at the county all the time.  When I was bit by an inmate they didn't want me to go to the hospital, said it was ok and no big deal!!! DUDE a chunk of my skin was gone and there was a risk for infection and they (Laude & Trenner) thought I was okay!!! This I made sure was prosecuted and believe me Laude and Trenner were not happy about this!!  I was given hell forever for that.  They (the sherif & chief deputies have no care for their staff)

[Angela]

depends

[Angela]

ya on how bad the assault was, who the sgt is, what the undersheriif or chief deputy say, like I said it all depends - nothing would have been done when I got bit unless I persuded it myself and pushed them the press charges!!!

[AQUAMAN]

Yuuuup, more heresay, rumor, back-stabbing, and dirty laundry unionized attacks is all this FB page says to me. Most of the jail staff have steadfastly said they don't want nor need vests, maybe a couple of them do, and Fiers has already stated more are on order and coming in now, as well more have been distributed for usage too already. Big Deal! Btw, I'm sorry to hear Angela about the attacks on you, and hope you have recovered ok since these incidents long ago. I don't think you are fibbing, neither is the wife of the c/o, she's probably twisted around in this whole scenario, just like many others not in the know. How anyone can say Fiers is not caring, not efficient, not for safety, is just more fog and smoke for the audience to gaze at and political footballs imho. As soon as the primary is over, all this hub-a-bub will blow over, it's a last ditch grandstand play by the opponent and union, that appear to be desperate to have their man win, at any cost to anyone's reputation. Poor sport if you ask me, concentrate on the facts and truth, not more dirty laundry tactics.

[Angela]

WOW - David, I mean Aquaman I think you need some education

Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience.  Being that the C/O was part of the incident , it is NOT HEARSAY - having is wife post it for him ALSO DOES NOT MAKE IT HEARSAY.

 Fiers didn't order more vests UNTIL AFTER THE FACT - he is RETROACTIVE not proactive like COLE.  If you want another RETROACTIVE person in office then vote Fiers, If you want someone who cares and is PROACTIVE then vote COLE

And to talk down &  bad about this C/O's wife - WOW you got some balls - she is one of the most honest, caring and understanding person I know - AND she will continue to remain this way when she has to be your NURSE!!!

[Angela]

johanna - maybe you need to go back to school or yet just learn how to read all the posts - you dont even know what hearsay means - refer to my post above.  Everything I have stated on here is FIRST HAND knowledge because they had DIRECT experience of the incident.  You can sit her an belittle my attitude all you want - you are just mad because I state the facts and you just don't want to admit or face the truth.  OMG don't let my CAPS LOCK offend you - lol - grown up........really......and yes I am talking to you just like I would talk to an inmate because you act like one :)

[XLFD]

Angela,

The legal definition: "Hearsay is the legal term for testimony in a court proceeding where the witness does not have direct knowledge of the fact asserted, but knows it only from being told by someone. In general the witness will make a statement such as, "Sally told me Tom was in town," as opposed to "I saw Tom in town," which is direct evidence." 

Definitions for hearsay generally include both legal and regular usage of that term.  I was not clear on the one I inferred (legal) earlier. 

I'm still at a loss in understanding the controversy about the vests being used in Cole's favor.  If the absence of vests were a problem when the prior vests were taken out of service, where is Cole's (or other officers) demand for new ones then?  Did he just get religion on protective vests when he saw that he would be able to make it a political point?