Ottawa County Sheriff - Ottawa County Deputy Sheriff Association

Story from Wood TV8:

A 10-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the bathroom at the Holland Outlet Center early Saturday evening, police say.

The Zeeland girl was at the mall with her parent, investigators said.

She went to use a public restroom in the east section of the mall when a man grabbed her, dragged her into the men's restroom and sexually assaulted her, investigators told 24 Hour News 8.

Shortly after the assault, a sibling of the victim found out what happened, but the suspect was already gone.

Witnesses say he was last seen heading northwest toward James Street.

The girl was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

The suspect is described as a male between the ages of 20 and 25, with dark skin, possibly of Hispanic descent with short brown hair. He about 5-foot-5 and has a medium build. He was wearing a light blue T-shirt with a logo on the front, faded baggy blue jeans and a large wristwatch.

If you have any information, you are asked to call the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department or Silent Observer.

Click the "Read More" link for video from WoodTV and surveillance video of the suspect.

Shocked commissioners speak out in support of worker who talked to media

Commissioner calls incident with 27-year employee ‘crazy'

Commissioners try to squeeze $3.6 million from spending

BY PEG MCNICHOL
The Holland Sentinel

"Hagen said the county is also looking at changing employee health benefits, costing $12,000 to $17,000 each. Part-time county commissioners also get full health coverage. Next year, the county will ask in negotiations that employees increase their share of medical costs"

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x560172859/Ottawa-commissioners-health-plan-questioned

We still need sponsors for this years event. If you know of someone willing to provide gifts or sponshorships please contact Dave Prout!

Saturday September 26th, 2009 at Grand Haven Golf Club

4 Man Best Ball Scramble - $300.00 per team

Cash Prizes and Chance to win $10,000.00 or a Car !!!!!!!

Free Door Prizes include : LCD TV, $100.00 Cabelas Gift Card, GPS, Michigan Adventure Season Passes, Vehicle GPS Unit, and much more.

Event will be limited to first 18 teams.

 Leave mesaage for David Prout for more info or registration paperwork.

Montcalm County Deputies believe that a Douglass Township man startled his wife during an apparent suicide attempt last week causing the elderly woman to discharge the gun into her arm.

The bullet then exited her arm striking the man in the face.

Montcalm County Undersheriff Bill Burden said the shot was inadvertent and that, "she didn't mean to do it."

The couple, in their 70's, was being treated at Spectrum Health United Hospital in Greenville at last report.

Original story from the Grand Rapids Press

Sarah Swanson, The mother of Coty Swanson who died in an alcohol related crash August 16th in Whitehall, has blamed Muskegon County Deputy Michael Herremans for her son's death. She claims the Deputy should have recognized that Swanson was intoxicated when he stopped Swanson 35 minutes prior to the crash.

However, according to Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler, Herremans did nothing wrong. "The deputy saw no indication of impaired driving," Roesler said. "It's a tragedy that a young man lost his life in an alcohol-related crash. It happens all too often. But it's unfortunate that he made the decision to drink and drive. Those decisions have tragic consequences."

Investigators say that at some point prior to the accident, Swanson attended a bonfire gathering in the area of Bard Road and Central Avenue in Dalton Township where witnesses say Swanson was so intoxicated he vomited.

His mother said Swanson was given a ride back to their Lakewood Club home from the bonfire around 1 a.m. and -- without her knowledge -- took the keys to the family's 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII and drove to a friend's house on Lewis Street.

"He was probably heading to his friend's house when he got pulled over," Sarah Swanson said.

Police records indicate Swanson had a history of speeding, and according to a police report, Swanson had also been pulled over by Montague Police at 1:10 p.m. July 30 on a drag-racing complaint. Swanson was ticketed for careless driving.

Original Story from the Muskegon Chronicle

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis has asked the city to defend their Officers and to become more aggressive in fighting lawsuits he views as "meritless" by going to trial instead of settling them.

And, surprisingly, the city is moving forward with his recommendation.

We have seen an increase in the number of small-value lawsuits being filed" against the police, said department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle, who defined such cases as those that seek less than $100,000.

In the past, city attorneys might settle such a lawsuit for $2,000 if they thought it might cost $10,000 to defend against it, Hoyle said.

"We believe that taking a more aggressive approach in these cases will lead to a decrease in the number of lawsuits being filed," she said.

A Sun-Times analysis of lawsuits filed against the Police Department found about 275 settlements were paid out for the first six months of 2009 for a total of nearly $22 million.

Nearly half of those settlements involved a payout of less than $5,000. And about 85 percent were for less than $50,000.

Good for Superintendent Weis for standing up for his good Officers instead of rumber stamping basis lawsuits.

Read the story from Officer.com

Not that big a deal for us in Michigan since we have our own budget and prison release woes, but it is worthy to note that the California Assembly just approved a 1 BILLION dollar cut from next years prison budget.

Even though California's budget is enormous and the portion of that for prison's huge, it is still a 10% cut from the overall prison budget. And that is $200 million less than what the Governor and Senate wanted.

If there is anything of note for us Michiganders it is that part of the Governor's original plan to cut 27,000 prisoners from state roles was to divert many of them back to County Jails which would only mean an unfunded state mandate. The California legislature is still working on this and you can be sure that state legislatures across the state will be watching closely if this plan is approved.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, "America's toughest Sheriff", is never one to back down from a fight. Remember he's the Arizona Sheriff who put up tents in the dessert when he ran out of room and reportdely makes his inmates wear pink underwear.

Even more controversially, Sheriff Joe has started raiding day labor sights around Maricopa County targeting illegal immigrants and arresting them on the basis that they were involved in a criminal enterprise when they conspired to smuggle themselves into the U.S.

As you might imagine this has not made Sheriff Joe a well liked man by many in his county, but Sheriff Joe did once again win another term as Maricopa County's Sheriff last November (the same election that saw conservatives get yanked out of office in droves across the country).

Sheriff Joe's detractors have not been quiet about their dislike of him in the media on the internet, and Joe has fired back with his own blog! The blog takes on what the Sheriff calls lies being spread about him and his department and claims to provide the truth about them in response. 

• Sheriff Joe Arpaio's blog "The Truth Behind the Headlines" 
• The original story from Officer.com

Taser International has been saying for years that those who die after being tased died of "Excited Delirium". Those who dislike the devices have been critical of this diagnosis and the medical community (the AMA) has taken a "ride the fence, but lean on the critics side" approach by not recognizing the condition.

However, a new study by researchers at the University of Miami in Florida might bring some backing to Taser's theory. The researchers looked at samples of brain tissue for ninety individuals who has apparently died of excited delirium.

They found the signatures of two distinctive “biomarker” proteins which were common to all ninety cases. One the one hand there were abnormally low levels of a dopamine transporter. This is a substance that would normally clear up excess dopamine produce by stress or drugs; a low level means that the body could be overwhelmed by dopamine, leading to either cardiac problems or severe overheating.

Click hear to read more on this study from "The Danger Room"