More complaints to be aired

A comment to the Northwest Herald article about the judge's ruling in Zane Seipler's federal case was (JKL wrote on December 23, 2009 12:17 p.m.) "Problem is no one really knows how 'business' is conducted within MCSD unless you work there..."

Bingo! JKL hit the nail squarely on the head.

Many thanks to the postman (actually, postwoman) for being so kind to me this week and bringing greetings to me in the form of a Dec. 20 message and seven typewritten pages about conditions at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

In due respect to the holidays and readers probably not wanting to read very direct comments about operations, articles addressing those conditions will be held until Monday, December 28.

The complaints about operations are exactly those that should have been satisfactorily addressed internally. Had they been so addressed, employees would not be reaching out.

I remember being in a position with a Denver firm and offering suggestions for change. The suggestions seemed quite reasonable to me, but they fell on deaf ears with management. One day a consultant was in the office and came to talk with me. His comment? "Unless you are one of the top producers around here, they aren't going to listen to you. You have good ideas, but they are not listening."

Those who are complaining are not malcontents. The fact that they are complaining about specific incidents and patterns shows that they care about their jobs, their fellow deputies, the Department and the people they serve.

Those who put them down remind me of those in federal offices who said, "If you're not with us, then you're against us." That is a very, very dangerous statement.