Dayhoff Westminster

Dayhoff Westminster
www.kevindayhoff.city Address: PO Box 124, Westminster MD 21158 410-259-6403 kevindayhoff@gmail.com
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts

Sunday, December 20, 2015

The view from under the Maryland bus. By Kevin E. Dayhoff Dec. 20, 2015

The view from under the Maryland bus. By Kevin E. Dayhoff Dec. 20, 2015

I spent time this afternoon with several of the police officers, known as the “Baltimore Six,” and their families, as part of efforts to help brighten their Christmas holiday.

By Kevin E. Dayhoff Dec. 20, 2015

Maryland Troopers Association Lodge #20 Chaplain

The views expressed here are not only correct but they are my views and mine alone – and the views of my upbringing – and my mother’s but I take full responsibility for my views. And please note that I take great pride in respecting the points of views of others who respect mine.

I spent time this afternoon with several of the police officers, known as the “Baltimore Six,” and their families, as part of efforts to help brighten their Christmas holiday.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to meet any of them in person. I met fine individuals and wonderful families. My heart – our hearts go out for them at this difficult time.

I guess that my many years of serving as an appointed and an elected official, as well as five-years as a chaplain for the Westminster Fire Department and Maryland Troopers Association Lodge #20, and 12-years as a newspaper reporter gives me a certain insight into the character of individuals.

I have been told by other police officers and public officials that have known some or all of the six Baltimore police officers; that these men and women in uniform have the hearts of dedicated public servants, who have worked tirelessly under very difficult circumstances to protect and serve.

In return, because it was politically expedient, certain public officials have thrown these men and woman under a bus in order to enhance their careers and cover-up their short-comings and inadequacies – and years of failed public policies and political leadership.

These officers and their families are our neighbors, friends, and part of our greater blue family.

They are all on a long journey. As sad as their current circumstances, today they were measured, thoughtful, reflective, but nevertheless upbeat, not only because they exuded a depth of character and personal integrity, but because they have been humbled by the incredible support they have received from the community.

I guess we have not been reading about the support they have received from the community because it does not meet with a pre-determined media narrative.  

They will need more of our help in the future – and I may quietly reach-out and ask for your support.

We help these individuals because it is the right thing to do.

We help, simply because for those of us who have served the public in Maryland for years – it is only by the grace of God that it could just as easily be you or me under the Maryland bus.

All of us who served in appointed or elected office in Maryland or have served the public in Maryland know all too well that in Maryland you do not have to do anything wrong to wake-up one morning a scape-goat and thrown under a bus because it is convenient for a powerful individual of powerful organization or institution or simply good politics.

(I faced it just the other day when a powerful institution wanted to throw me under a bus. I was just doing my job as a volunteer. They saw that as a perceived threat. Fortunately the men and woman of the fire company stood behind me.)

Today, any one of us can be the victim of a news media account that is factual but does not tell the truth. Or the current pre-occupation with lies, damn lies and videotape.

In the race to the bottom that is Maryland, there is an unscrupulous political element that does not care about the welfare of individuals and families if it does not meet with their political narrative or quest for power.

In Maryland, no one has any immunity from being squished like a bug, just for doing your job, or standing-up for the right thing or standing-up to corrupt powerful individuals and institutions that wish to sweep its short-comings under the rug, with the explicit help of the Maryland elite-ruling class.

Always remember, that in the end; without public safety you cannot have a community.

It is at time like this that I recall the words of the German clergyman, Pastor Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

In Maryland, it is time that we stood-up for what is right. There is no better time than right now for standing-up for the Baltimore Six.

http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-view-from-under-maryland-bus-by.html

https://www.facebook.com/notes/kevin-earl-dayhoff/the-view-from-under-the-maryland-bus-by-kevin-e-dayhoff/10153292137177654
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
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E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
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See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maiorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson: “That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!” - See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
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