Posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 7:00 pm
The police generally only hear about their screwups and shortcomings. Rarely do they get praised for things that don’t go awry.
But after a weekend of violence in Toledo, Ohio, the Lincoln Police Department can’t help but feel a little pride and vindication. A planned march by the same neo-Nazi group that marched in Lincoln last July spurred rioting in Toledo.
Protesters of the National Socialist Movement march turned violent, assaulting police, vandalizing and looting businesses and setting a bar on fire. Police called off the march, but the mayhem continued and officers arrested 114 people, according to news reports. The Toledo mayor blamed the riots on gang members who took advantage of the volatile situation.
In the aftermath, Toledo’s police chief was left trying to defend his preparedness, or lack thereof.
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady faced some criticism for the roughly $50,000 spent on security and overtime for the march and a counter-rally. And Toledo’s march attracted fewer neo-Nazis than Lincoln’s, he said.
At the time, Casady predicted the Capitol rally would have erupted into violence between neo-Nazis and their opponents if there wasn’t a heavy law enforcement presence. He staffed the rally and counter-rally with 150 officers, most at the Capitol rally.
On Monday, he felt vindicated.
“That’s why we did it,” he told the City Council.
Mayor Coleen Seng said the city needs to “pat itself on the back” and noted it was Casady’s idea to hold the counter “No Place for Hate” rally at Pioneers Park, rather than the Capitol. Toledo officials are now saying they wish they’d steered protesters away from a residential neighborhood to a more neutral location.
Not such a blast
More than a thousand people — including the mayor — evacuated the Lied Center Saturday night after the smoke machine used during the first number of the “Blast!” performance set off a fire alarm.
The drum and bugle corps production was interrupted by an alarm and repeated intercom warnings to “proceed to the nearest exit, there is a fire in the building.”
The audience evacuated the building safely and was left to stand outside for some 15 minutes, waiting for firefighters to show up and wondering what was taking them so long.
Fire Chief Mike Spadt said a university operator was alerted but did not notify the Fire Department. Instead, a maintenance person was contacted.
Meanwhile, an off-duty firefighter in the audience called the department.
Once the Fire Department was alerted, firefighters arrived within 40 seconds, Spadt said.
Spadt said he has asked the Lied to discontinue the practice of not calling the department and engaged the state fire marshal to help make sure “it never happens again.”
Should all pets be microchipped?
During Monday’s discussions about raising rates at the city pound, the subject of microchipping pets came up.
Beginning in 1999, the Capital Humane Society began implanting microchips in all cats in its adoption program, and followed with dogs soon after. The shelter has implanted about 10,000 chips in animals.
Animal shelters have used microchips to reunite lost pets with their owners since the early 1990s. About the size of a grain of rice, the chips are injected under the skin between the animal’s shoulder blades. A scanner reads the microchip number, which can be looked up in shelter databases to find information about the animal, its owner and vaccination records.
On Monday, City Council members talked about potential legislation encouraging or requiring pet owners to get their animal microchipped. Councilman Jon Camp suggested the city give “inducements” to owners to get their pets implanted.
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department Director Bruce Dart said his department has talked about implanting all pets that get impounded.
“We can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t,” he said. “(It) makes our lives easier. … That’s what we eventually plan to do.”
Capital Humane Society Director Bob Downey said he’d support requiring people to get their pets implanted because it would reduce the number of animals that must be euthanized.
“My dogs are microchipped,” he said. “I think the animal control program should have a microchip scanner on every truck. I think they should be scanning animals on every pick-up. If it’s a first or second offense and they have a chip … if they’re within a reasonable distance of the owner’s home, I think they ought to deliver it if the owner is willing to write a check for the impoundment fee. It would certainly take space pressure off of the shelter.”
Betcha didn’t know…
Only 12 percent to 15 percent of cats that end up in Lincoln’s pound are reclaimed by owners.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.