No, not me......When Mr. Stan Begam suggested last week that I enroll in the Sugar Land Citizens Police Academy in order to learn more about policing, I let the suggestion pass without any comment.

Later, I was chided by some of my co-horts about why I didn’t respond. So I thought a lot about it and this is my thoughts.

Me attending the Sugar Land Citizen’s Police Academy is tantamount to the national media being embedded with the troops in the war in Iraq. And we see where that got us. It got us not enough serious questioning from the media about the war. It got us a very distorted view about what was going on. It got the story from one side with little objective reporting. The national media was spoon fed by the military and for the most part, their stories reflect this.

Now it seems to me, the national media is mad because they feel they have been duped and thus they are covering the war differently. While not anti-military (we would never stand for that), their stories are such that we seem not to be doing any good in that part of the world. In other words, I think the press is over-reacting to the criticism that they were too soft on the war when they were embedded.

So, no thanks. One of my most critical acquaintances went through the Sugar Land Citizen’s Police Academy. Now she is a pussy cat when it comes to anything having to do with not only the police department, but the entire city of Sugar Land. Why should I pay to be brainwashed?

I have nothing against the Sugar Land Police Department. I’ve forgiven them for 25 years ago threatening to beat up one of my reporters when he asked to see offense reports (public record). That chief is long-retired.

I’ve forgiven them about their police chief suing me for libel about my reporting about the TASK Force (I won).

I’ve forgiven them about their police chief who had a wreck while smelling of alcohol and the city trying to stonewall the incident (He’s gone).

And I’m sure I will eventually forgive them for killing a homeowner’s dog while making a narcotics bust which yielded about two grams (30 grams equal one ounce) of marijuana,

But, I don’t think that any of this means that I should enroll in the Citizen’s Police Academy. I think the Citizen’s Police Academy is a nice public relations tool for the police department and something citizen’s with the time should do. Every city needs volunteers and proponents.

But I think I should continue to question and discuss in this column occasionally things that go on in Fort Bend County and Sugar Land that just don’t “smell” right.

Not unlike..........The fact that Assistant District Attorneys can continue to have a private law practice while working for the county. If they don’t make enough money to support themselves on their assistant DA salaries, maybe our county commissioners can give up some of that $17,000 raise they got this year to supplement the ADA salaries.

According to County Judge Bob Hebert, this is the last raise the County Judge and Commissioners will get in a long time because in the future they will get raises only when the District Judges get raises.

Now where have I heard this before. Oh yes, it was when their car allowances were rolled into their salaries one year which accounted for a $6,000 raise that year, on top of the standard percentages that most other county employees get every year.

Of course, it wasn’t very long before they started turning in mileage for every little trip, including discussing upcoming political fundraisers and attending the county fair.

By the way, there is no state law tieing county commissioners’ salaries to district judges.

I guess we just have to ask ourselves, “Is this commissioner worth $100 thou?”