Criminal Justice: Professionals Sorely Needed

Good news for Criminal Justice majors. By the time you graduate at the rate things are going, there will be ample job opportunities right next door.

First there was the Village of Lyndonville's demand to Chief Harris to crank up traffic and parking tickets to help meet this year's expenses. Then the Caledonia County Sheriff's department raided the Town of Lyndon's three-man force and induced an officer to jump ship without notice. And we thought these law enforcement guys thought of themselves as a brotherhood. Oh well.

Not long after that, there was panic in St. Johnsbury following a prison escape in which the authorities notified the wrong town. Of  course the big jailbreak was nothing more than two non-violent types foolishly walking off from where they were supposed to be working. So don't expect to see a Hollywood movie version next year.

Then there was the new guy on the St. Jay force, actually a 20-year-old girl who made headlines by single-handedly busting a drug lord in town. Just kidding. It was some guy who had a trivial amount of marijuana in some sealed plastic bags in his car as well as a little cocaine. The intrepid young rookie claimed to have smelled the drugs and the driver agreed to a search. Meanwhile the young lady accused the second in command of the department of sexual harassment and the town manager suspended him for three weeks without pay.

Next the town manager got the axe himself and the harassment victim resigned from the force citing fear of retaliation as her reason..

Tragically in the middle of all this Keystone Cops nonsense, a real crime occurred: the senseless and brutal murder of a much loved St. Johnsbury Academy science teacher who left behind a two-year old boy. Let's hope that local law enforcement steps up to the plate and does the professional job we expect of them.

In the meantime, many local businesses are doing what they can to help the little boy who was orphaned by his mom's killers. On Saturday, Milk House Ice Cream at 292 Portland St. in St. Johnsbury is opening for the season and will donate all profits for the day to the Melissa Jenkins Memorial Fund in support of her son Ty.  The Vermont Clothing Company is offering a "Wear Pink for Melissa Jenkind" T-shirt and wil donate 100 percent of all profits to the Fund.