Just so you all know, the sheriff just made a massive lie about the reserve unit. He has closed the unit down claiming that it was because of "financial reasons" yet the sheriff department does not have any financial responsibility for the reserve unit. In fact, the sheriff department doesn't spend a penny on the reserve unit and the reserves buy all of their own equipment and pay for all of their training. The sheriff "merged" the reserve unit with the traffic squad completely destroying all assignments that the reserves did within the community. The reserves assignments within the community cease to exist along with the scrapping of the unit leaving many community members without security and without trained people to keep their events safe.

Sheriff Stelma is a fraud and a liar who closed the reserves down because of his political affiliation with the "traffic squad" which he was a liaison officer for. Here is the press release from the sheriff website http://www.accesskent.com/CourtsAndLawEnforcement/SheriffsDepartment/pdfs/pressreleases/2009/07232009_Merge.pdf

Notice the lies about financial considerations. 100% fraud and 100% lies. Your sheriff has disgraced the department and the community.

Call Sheriff Stelma and let him know that we as a community will not stand for this type of behavior.

Sheriff's Office Phone:(616) 632-6111 Fax:(616) 632-6122

While a noble cause and somewhat relevant to Rockford, don't you think it's quite OT from Astronomy?