Reaching Into Our Pocketbooks for Free Speech

By Rudizink

Although we've had continuing inquiries about the now-pending Matt Jones/Vangate Matter, we've been reticent to discuss new developments to which we are privy, due both to pendency of Mark Decaria's independent investigation, and also because of the "quiet" perpetuation of a related OPD "internal investigation," which seems also to have remained on-going (according to trusted sources,) despite representations by Boss Godfrey's office that all issues related to the "Vangate" matter would be handed-off to the County Attorney's office. With two teams of lawyers working the civil rights violation and employee rights sides of this case respectively on behalf of Officer Jones, we thought cautious discretion was in order re further reporting on this story.

For newcomers to Weber County Forum, or regular readers whose memories of the Vangate matter may have slightly faded over the course of the last several weeks, you can find a thumbnail Scott Schwebke fact summary in last Sunday's Standard-Examiner update article, wherein our beloved Std-Ex Ace Reporter also reveals that a release of Mr. Decaria's legal "findings" regarding the whole array of legal issues springing from the Vangate debacle is imminent.

Regular WCF readers are aware, of course, that the facts of this case are far more complicated than the Std-Ex's Ace city-beat Reporter was able to report in the above article. This was, in fact one of the most fact-complicated and rapidly-developing stories within recent memory in the Land of Oz. In the course of a mere several weeks, the Ogden Police Benefit Association deftly managed to disseminate their pay-plan inequity story across the news media from coast-to-coast, reveal Boss Godfrey's nefarious citizen-predatory ticket quota, threaten the political careers of several local neoCON politicians, and persuade a seemingly asleep-at-the-wheel city council that "doing the right thing" was the best public policy of all. (Bumbling Boss Godfrey helped out a little bit with his own efforts, of course.)

In the interest of saving bandwidth however, we'll resist the temptation to re-tell the whole story, and refer our readers instead to this recently-compiled Special WCF Vangate Article Collection, which sets forth in chronological order the events of this story as they developed.

And in the interest of cutting to the chase, we announce the placement in our right sidebar of a graphic link to the Matt Jones Legal Defense Fund. Thanks to the efforts of the Ogden Police Benefit Association, a formal trust fund has now been established, toward which First-Amendment dedicated townsfolk can demonstrate their gratitude to Emerald City's Finest, by reaching into their pocketbooks and assisting in the defrayal of the legal fees that have so far accrued, and continue to accrue, as Matt Jones defends himself against the smear campaign that has been launched by the miniscule-minded neoCON on nine

Although Officer Jones' civil rights lawyers have taken his case on a contingent fee basis, his employment lawyers work for an hourly fee -- and the clock continues to tick.

Our gentle readers have been very generous in the past in their willingness to contribute to noble causes, and we hope they will be equally generous in the instant case, which involves the issue of free speech, a bedrock right of American Freedom.