Bill Moeller Commentary: There’s Nothing Much New Under the Sun, Is There?

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I’ve been biting my tongue long enough.  About a week ago, this newspaper printed nearly a complete page dedicated to the story of a Centralia citizen bitten by a police dog being handled by a Chehalis police officer. I don’t know of anyone — except the victim, of course — who would consider it to be nothing more other than an unfortunate incident as mentioned in the story’s headline, although some liability could eventually become a factor.

But it had special meaning for me. Some of you may remember that I was involved in a similar incident around 35 years ago. Both had to do with a police dog biting a person. I’m not going to mention any names, not even the dog’s.

It was back when Centralia was guided by three elected city commissioners, before it changed to the present council-manager form of government. (By the way, I hold the position of being the last living directly-elected mayor of Centralia or Chehalis. Present mayors are chosen from within the councils.)  In addition to the usual mayoral ribbon-cutting duties I was also the commissioner of public safety, meaning that I was both the police and fire commissioner.

The incident I’m referring to involved a young man who was running away from a police officer, the handler of the dog. The suspect ran into a thicket of brush, followed by the dog.  Loaded down with gear, the officer wasn’t running as fast as either the suspect or the dog, and by the time he reached the thicket the suspect had been bitten multiple times.

When I saw photos with the numerous bite marks I asked the police chief to compose a letter of dismissal to the officer, which I signed. As I testified in the ensuing legal proceedings, I felt that the handler either did not have the proper control of the dog, or in his frustration had ordered the dog to attack the suspect. 

 The possibility that the dog might not have been fully trained before going on duty did not come up. As expected, the officer filed a complaint with the city’s volunteer Civil Service Board, and the matter came up in a civil hearing.

The officer was represented by an attorney paid by the union. While he strongly pointed out the union’s objection to the action I had taken, he also hinted that he could drag out the proceedings for months if he had to, thereby subjecting the volunteers to many evenings in session. They voted to reinstate the officer.

There were no more incidents. The dog bit no more citizens, except his handler, once, I was told. The dog eventually developed a severe stiffness in the rear legs, a condition common among German shepherds. He was retired into the custody of his handler, and remained there until he died. I was defeated in the next primary election by a retired police lieutenant and said goodbye to it all. 



That’s enough crying in my beer. It’s been a while since I’ve pestered you with goofs I find in TV’s closed captioning, but two recent newscasts ended the drought. The first could easily have been reported by Emilly Litella (Gilda Radner) in those “newscasts” on early Saturday Night Live shows. 

Remember those? The segment referred to “the violins that resulted in two deaths last night.”  Must have been a grade school orchestra, right?

The next night, the act of turning a vacant strip club into a homeless shelter became “turning a vegan strip club into a homeless shelter.” Bon appetite, guys, bon appetite.

I hope to have another dog story next week.

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.