June 23, 2003
BUTT HEADS
This isn’t stupid. No sir, this isn’t insane or crazy or brutal in any way at all:
Wayne Jeffrey, a seven-year veteran of the Fall River force, was fired May 29 after an internal investigation, prompted by an unsigned letter that claimed he smoked tobacco at a party.
Wonder what the penalty is for smoking radioactive salmon.
Posted by Tim Blair at June 23, 2003 06:19 PMAnd to think: I actually want to move to that crazy Bay State (being a recent college grad in Connecticut ain't very fun).
Posted by: Herr Flynn at June 23, 2003 at 07:00 PMMy advice: get a job in a state thet doesn't have it's metaphorical head stuffed up quite so far.
Posted by: mojo at June 24, 2003 at 02:13 AMAs a smoker I have a real problem with the state determining what I can do on my time off. Actually I think that it is somewhat anti-American to try to regulate a persons behavior with respect to a legal substance. HOWEVER, the policeman DID sign an agreement not to smoke off duty. He is, therefore, clearly in the wrong.
Posted by: rabidfox at June 24, 2003 at 06:47 AMWell, we elected a fine, moderate Republican as governor, he's working to throw that hack Bulger out of office, trying to get localities to understand that they don't deserve state money just because they failed to sock any way during the boom years, etc. Things are improving, but the Dems still control the State House, so progress is slow.
Posted by: Ben at June 24, 2003 at 07:12 AMOh, and rapidfox is somewhat right -- he _did_ agree not to smoke (state employees get special disability benefits and had to sign this contract in return).
The messed-up part is that 1) this was an anonymous tip and 2) he was flat-out fired vs. warned.
While the anonymous tip is icky, it looks like that lead to an investigation and not directly to the firing. That said, as a Mass. taxpayer, WTF are they doing wasting my money on this investigation? Police corruption I could understand, but smoking? Puh-leeze
Posted by: Ben at June 24, 2003 at 07:18 AMThe anonymous tip is definitely the creepiest part...but whether Mass. has its metaphorical head up its arse, it has two things that kick CT's butt: 1) Boston, and 2) Lower taxes (believe it or not).
Posted by: Herr Flynn at June 24, 2003 at 11:14 AM