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CHIEF STREICHER: Just when you thought Cincinnati’s police chief couldn’t get more unprofessional, he proves his knack for doing just that. As reported by WCPO’s I-Team, Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. recently reassigned the top three highest-ranking female officers in the department to new positions that involve far less responsibility. Asst. Police Chief Cindy Combs, Capt. Kim Frey and Capt. Theresa Theetgee all were moved unwillingly into new jobs; Frey’s switch came after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against another officer.
It appears Streicher, graduate of an all-boys high school, has a problem with women in authority. It reminds us of when he criticized a court-appointed monitor — a woman who was an ex-NYC undercover narcotics officer — for being unqualified. What a rube.
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PATRICK THOMPSON: In the media business, if you can’t meet deadlines you’re usually fired pretty quickly. We’re not suggesting that harsh of a remedy for Hamilton County Administrator Patrick Thompson, but commissioners should reprimand him. There’s simply no excuse for Thompson’s recently revealed failure to respond to a letter that the Bengals sent to the county in October. The team offered $40 million in concessions on its lease for the county-owned stadium in return for an option to leave as early as 2017.
The county desperately needs some concessions because shortfalls in the stadium tax will cause a $700 million deficit within 20 years. Thompson says he’ll meet with the team July 15, but what happened during the previous nine months, pray tell?
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POPE BENEDICT XVI: When unscrupulous people want to divert attention from an issue, they often attack the messenger. His High Holiness resorted to the strategy June 28 with a blistering critique against a cardinal who accused the Vatican’s former No. 2 official of blocking clerical sex abuse investigations.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the ex-Vatican secretary of state stopped investigations of a late Austrian cardinal who was accused in 1995 of abusing boys at a seminary. It’s evident the modern Catholic Church is primarily a business, focused on issues like increasing its market share (i.e., followers). And like many corporations, the church is more concerned with burnishing its image and public relations rather than the truth. Infallible? Puh-leeze.
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PHIL BURRESS: The leader of Sharonville-based Citizens for Community Values has a very narrow worldview, we all know. But Burress outdid himself last week when he warned families they may encounter “deviant behavior” if they ventured into downtown Cincinnati during the Pride Festival activities. He particularly was upset that the festival was being held on Independence Day.
Newsflash, Mr. Burress: Many gay people have fought and died for their nation, even if it’s rarely acknowledged. CCV’s hysterics makes one wonder about the psychological underpinnings of the group’s leaders. Regardless, what we classify as deviant behavior is a person who makes more than $88,000 annually, plus benefits, for a so-called “job” that involves little actual work other than spreading fear.
