BB-2-g
Sharon Amos
(old write up, hadn’t turned it in)
Call to Cde. [W.D.] Wyatt Mathews Ridge, 7/5/78
-when I told him that we didn’t want to pursue the matter as JJ has looked into the qualifications of the man and decided it couldn’t possibly be he and if he did do it, it would have to be to help the needy
-he said that there were inconsistencies in the report anyway/ his voice was hostile and irritated
-he couldn’t understand why people if they stole something would come to our gate in the first place
-the said if there were any doubts at all, he wanted the police to finalize the inquiry, he said “it’s my vehicle and my driver. I am considerably embarrassed by the report”
-I mentioned that we certainly wouldn’t want to cause him any problem he said “I don’t know if it will cause a problem.”
-when I said that it might be to help needy people, he said “that’s not excusable even if for needy people or for the most charitable reasons, it’s not excusable”
-I told him that we brought it to him so he’d know if anything like this happened again and we would certainly appreciate his guidelines if it was the wrong thing to do
-he said “of course it had to be done because if you don’t you don’t keep order” (don’t know if he used the word “order” but it had something to do with keeping things in hand) – it’s just, he said, that in a small community, it’s gone all around the community/ just the police inquiry and the questioning of the driver and others, it’s all around the community and questioning the passenger
-he said the thing has snowballed
-in regard to dropping the issue, he said “even at the risk of embarrassment it should be pursued, if it goes unpunished that wouldn’t be right”
-he said “it’s only a personal embarrassment because my driver was involved, he said that if his driver was involved he wouldn’t want to keephim
-otherwise it’s no damage to his position (I told him that we apprecaite the job he’s doing and feel he’s essential to the region) – he said that it’s just that anyone who is known to be attached to him would be an embarrassment but it should be cleared up one way or the other and “we’ll see what the police comes up with”
-he said that if the person is found to be guilty, then we can see what to do about the charges
-he said he did appreaciate the feelings of our organization (to try to make it OK) – he was less hostile and gruff at the end when I tried to explain our quandry/ should we report things to him and chance embarrassment in a small community or should we not tell him and possibly something could go wrong and we’d feel bad that way too (of course he couldn’t tell us not to report things) – I told him we’d look to his guidance if we made a mistake by telling him