More than 30 years ago, Carlisle Mayor Melvin Reece sought village council’s removal of Robert Reichard as police chief. Reece charged Reichard with, among other things, “dereliction of duty” and “inept leadership abilities.”
Several of the specifications of charges concerned Brenda Lofland, the former Carlisle police officer who was charged with shooting Reichard in a June 1977 altercation.
Another case included Carlisle residents seeing then-Police Chief Gary Long and a Sgt. Brad Fogle resign after an 1999 investigation into the vandalism of a former village manager’s home.
Today, Carlisle Mayor Tim Humphries and Police Chief Tim Boggess — like city and police officials before them — find themselves embattled in a dispute played out in public.
Humphries has been accused of having sexually-explicit images of adult males on his city-owned computer, but was cleared in a recent “road rage” incident where he was charged by Carlisle police.
Boggess, who has been put on administrative leave, said he was disciplined because one of his officers did not attend Humphries’ Jan. 25 court case in the alleged “road rage” incident. His officers were also the ones who confiscated Humphries’ computer.
City Manager Sherry Callahan has not cited the exact reason for Boggess’ administrative leave and his personnel file has not been made available.
Humphries, 41, was accused of stopping his vehicle Dec. 1 in the middle of a Carlisle roadway and approaching another driver he felt was following too closely. Humphries reportedly called police dispatchers on his cell phone and identified himself as the city’s mayor, saying Tyler Anspach, 18, had been following his vehicle too closely.
Anspach had been calling dispatchers at the same time, reporting an apparent impaired driver ahead of him.
When a police officer arrived and pulled behind Anspach’s car, Humphries allegedly got out and walked toward Anspach’s car carrying a baseball bat, but stopped when the officer arrived at the scene.
Judge Mark Bogen dismissed the case because a Carlisle police officer did not attend the court hearing.
Humphries called the allegations against him a “witch hunt” that began 2 1/2 years ago when he was elected.
“The truth will prevail,” Humphries said Friday night. “I can’t be any simpler than that. Those that put their allegiance behind whispers and shadows will find themselves on the wrong side. They will not enjoy what they have done to themselves. It’s going to come out.”
Humphries, who said he refuses to resign despite numerous requests, said he’s collecting data that will show he never used his city-owned computer for inappropriate activity.
The mayor said he did not receive the city-owned laptop until mid-January 2008. The investigative report released by the city’s law director states that 224 sexually explicit images were created on Dec. 25 and 26, 2007.
He called viewing pornographic images “not my character, not my person.” On Thursday, Feb. 11, Mike Bruck, former Middletown police chief, was appointed Carlisle’s interim police chief overseeing its seven full-time officers.
Giving Carlisle a bad image
In the town’s beauty salons and eateries, the two city leaders were on the minds of residents late last week. Many of them had read reports, heard rumors around town, and were trying to piecing together the puzzle.
Regardless of the outcome, many of them are concerned the damage is done. They worry Carlisle is becoming a punch line to a bad joke.
“We’re getting a bad reputation,” said Jackie Whitman, one of three women who own the Carlisle Beauty Salon. “He (Humphries) is supposed to help us here, help build businesses, build homes.”
Chris Purk, another beautician, added: “It’s just a shame. I’m sure everybody in Warren County is saying, ‘I don’t want to go to Carlisle.’”
Jim Gross, owner of Gross Lumber Co., said outsiders are “giggling about us.”
Former Carlisle Mayor Kelly Borad, who lives in Miami Twp., has distanced himself from Carlisle. He wasn’t following the story close enough to comment, but called it “horrible for the community.”
At the Carlisle Restaurant, a wooden sign hangs over the kitchen. It reads: “Sit, Relax, Gossip.” Most of the tables were packed with lunch diners on Friday, and rumors were served for dessert.
Some of them blamed Humphries, others were critical of Boggess.
Suvoyee Rudd, an excavator from Franklin, called Humphries “a good guy” whose computer was tampered with because he “stepped on the wrong toes.”
Rudd added: “It’s not right. You can see that something ain’t right. They just want to get rid of him.”
That’s exactly what Shirley Fore, owner of Village Hair Stylists, wants to happen to Humphries, who easily defeated incumbent Mayor Jerry Ellender in November 2007.
“He needs to step down,” Fore said while standing in the back of her salon. “You can’t have that type of activity in the city building.”
Carlisle’s size — its 5,800 residents — doesn’t make it exempt from city hall controversy.
“We’re a quiet little place, but we have problems like everybody else,” she said.
Those problems, Gross said while sitting in his office, seem to occur about every 15 years in Carlisle. He called most of the issues “silly stuff” and they shouldn’t tarnish Carlisle’s charm.
“It’s a shame,” he said, “that a couple of headlines mess everything up. It’s really not much of an issue. Nobody has been hurt and that’s the important part.”
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