McCullom Lake PD officer to leave

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
September 30, 2010

This morning's paper announces that McCullom Lake PD officer Kelly Given is likely to depart on Friday. So what? Here's so what...

She wrote 60 tickets to then-fellow officer Jim O'Doherty earlier this year, alleging that he had driven a patrol car on duty on a revoked driver's license. All 60 tickets were dropped by the Village attorney. Now, why would the Village drop all 60 tickets?

I'll guess and say that they were not valid tickets. What would make a ticket (or 60 of them) invalid? Incorrect information on a ticket, perhaps?

The disturbing part of the news article is that the Village President Terry Counley apparently told the reporter that "there were no performance issues or behavior issues with Given." Whoa, Terry! What about the 60 tickets that your Village had to drop?

When Counley demoted Given from the interim chief's position in June, he said, "I have no qualms with the job she did." Sixty bad tickets and no qualms? Does Counley live in McCullom Lake? Has he been drinking well water there?

I suspect that the "issue" regarding Given's writing of the 60 tickets is not over, even if the Village of McCullom Lake ducks. I don't think they'll find enough cover behind which to duck, should it be alleged that Given did, in fact, fail on one or more "performance issues."

"We don't want any hard feelings," Village Attorney Jeremy Shaw told the reporter. Translate that to "We hope she won't sue us." By failing to discharge her "for cause" and thereby attempting to shift responsibility to her, the Village is probably setting itself up to be right in the thick of a lawsuit.