" Kevin,

I to was somewhat apprehensive about the sheriff's office taking over the police department. But I can tell you from my own personal observations and expirences with the sheriff's office is responding to every rescue call, doing way more community policing,then the former Syracuse police, and is very helpful when I needed it. I have seen more police cars in syracsue then in the past and they are working more hours than the three officers we had were. I am not saying this was the best decison Syracuse has made, but I really can't complain with the results I have been shown thus far. It seems to me from what I am seeing, Syracuse is getting more law enforcment then we ever had in the past. "

" I recently returned to my home town to find that it no longer has a local police force. I'm wondering how the people of Syracuse could have ever let this happen. Has no one taken notice as to what has happened to other small communities that have chosen this course of action. They have economicly dried up because NO ONE wants to build new business that relies on a police force that is headquartered 17 miles away and has the responsibility of the rest of the county instead of localized law enforcement. I grant that Syracuse has a large number of officers residing in town but the odds are still there that if and when needed county responsibilties may take precident. I hope clearer minds prevail so that Syracuse can grow and prosper and not whither and die like Ive seen so many small towns have without localized law enforcement. "

" Right off of the bat, I am not a resident of Syracuse. My only complaint to both Don and Ken is this. Lynn uses his last name for every post. He makes it statement clear and concise. He does not use inuendos or make degrading statements about other people. (DON). Now, the Sheriff's office running law enforcement in other counties in Nebraska works in the majority of the places they are utilized. Most of the time when they don't work is because they don't have local cooperation. I urge Don (name unknown) and Ken (name unknown) to at least give it a try. Be supportive, be active. One last comment to Ken. I have worked with the Otoe County Sheriff's office on numerous occasions, and have never heard of anyone refusing to take a call. If this happened, please give the name to Sheriff Gress so he can investigate. Thank you "

" So Lynn, you are saying the Syracuse Police department wasn't doing there job? What were they not doing? The council chose to do away with the police department because you emailed them the Lynn's monthly complaint report, that picked certain times they were short handed or told lies about the police department. You have been doing this for the past 3-5 years. Then you talk about the early 90's. Times have changed since then the town has grown. So what you are trying to say in your letter is without your supervision and or one of the two officers in the early 90's this is also you, the Syracuse Police Department won't make it. LET'S GET REAL! "

" As I understand Ken's letter, there was a lady at the Oct 1st City Council meting who tried to report an accident on a Sunday and could hear in the background that no one wanted to go? I hope she lodged a complaint with the Sheriff. I hope her original call was on 911 so the phone call was recorded and the Sheriff could listen to the call himself and hand out some disipline. As far as our police, I wanted our own police department with officers who did the job. I've worked with both full time guys and the part timer too. I have seen them do their jobs, a long time ago, when they were properly supervised. Without proper supervision, they have not performed as well as expected. I wanted our own police force, but not the way it has been running for the past few years. The mayor can either change their ways or the council can change those doing the job. The council chose to change who was doing the job. Back in the early 90's two officers covered everything by working and being on call. "

" Yes, Syracuse does need a police department, but 2.5 police officers can't be on duty 24-7. In Mr. Lyons letter you say the law enforcement should respond to everything. Down at the meeting (OCT. 1ST) a lady got up and said she had a accident on a Sunday, called the county and could hear everyone talking in the background that nobody wanted to respond and then was told nobody could make it. Why doesn't the county fix problems like getting Palmyra, Otoe and other small towns controlled before taking on more area. All those letters Mr. Lyons wrote to the city council and mayor was abunch of garbage, and then you tell everyone that you didn't want these police officers out of here. It was nice of your fellow officer to go to last meeting and talk for you. Why does the state patrol help the county and not Syracuse police? Well, I just hope Mr, Lyons, the city council and the mayor are happy with making our community go back instead of forward. Future officers remember, city hall is not a coffee shop. "

" I believe we need our own police department. It is part of the character of our community. I also believe our police should be the primary response law enforcement agency for Syracuse. Not that it has to be capable of handling every problem, but it should be able to initially respond to everthing and have a finger on the pulse of all issues involving law enforcement actions in our town. With that as the base for my expectations of service, our police have not, will not or are not allowed to step up to the responsibilities of being THE primary law enforcement agency for Syracuse. There have been numerous failures over the past few years of these responsibilites. The mayor and council have been made aware on several occassions, both in person, through the mail and in council meetings. Over the years I've documented way too many instances of no Syacuse police on duty to handle calls for servic and Syracuse police who take little or no decisive actions when doing something was very obvious to everyone else. There seems to be little effort to hold our police to consistent expectations of service. "

" As a concerned citizen of Syracuse I think we should keep our police department and hire another police officer, but we will have to pay a little more money to keep them here. We can't just listen to Mr. Lyons and his stories. If there are any complaints on the police department and nothing happens, to me that says the city council and the mayor are not doing there job by relaying the message to the police. Where are the people doing all the complaining? I think Mr. Lyons wants to get rid of the three police officers and I don't think that is legal being a officer himself. If there are complaints the mayor should be relaying that to the police department. I think the community should be able to vote on this very important matter concerning the police department. If there is any bickering we can blame ourselves and not the city council or mayor. In closing Mr. Lyons, you should make sure your plate is clean before you try cleaning someone else's. "

" The issues regarding the police department reach far deeper than how many times someone observes a police car drive by their house. For several years there has been the lack of law enforcement services when someone calls to report incidents, suspicious activities or other calls for service, which require one of our police officers to respond, investigate and take decisive action. If some folks in our community never call the police for any reason and if all they have seen are police cars drive by, then their peceptions of police services will be favorable. But if you are some of the numerous people, businesses or other entities which, over the years, have called our police, only to find they weren't working, or when they showed up, little to no decisive actions take place, then the reality for them is our police either will not or are incapable of providing basic police services. These are the people who are so frustrated with the Syracuse Police, they refuse to call our police and instead call the Sheriff to handle the problems. These issues have not been corrected by our leadership, except to give up law enforcement responsibility. "

" Let's all show are support for the Syracuse Police Dept.I don't feel that giving up are local service is a step forward in city progress.The officers have been a part of the community for years, there knowlege of the people who live here and the services they provide cannot be replaced by new outside Officers . "

" 2007 Nebraska City, Otoe Co., Citizen's Police Academy Belive this was the 2nd yr. in a row offering this class, Very, very informity lots of information very feely offard from Nebraska City Police & Otoe Co Sheriffs office & Nebraska State Patrol. I would very strongly urg everyone to partake in this class when it is offard again next yr.I for one in yrs. past have taken Police, sheriff patrol, & state patrol, fire & ambulance crews for granted... now that I have been on our local fire dept & have been on a few ambulace calls, house fires & car wrecks & now taking this class, I have a whole different outlook on folks serving our communitys tax dollars are being well spent, & not threw there gas tanks, there are so many behind the scenes stuff the average person has no clue what they are, I have learned alot.. THANKS TO ALL THAT PUT THIS TOGETHER!, & APROVED THE FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT. I very stronly encourage everyone to get involed in there local communitys & help each other, NO-ONE ALONE CAN DO THESE JOBS WITHOUT COUMMUNITY INVOLMENT.. "

" It was nice to see our streets plowed Sunday morning after our recent 6 inch snow. Our snow plow crews even came around again later the next day to "clean up" in places where folks didn't get their parked cars off the streets. Thanks to our city crews. Now lets see what we can do about the vandalism and businesses being burglarized. I realize this does not involve the city snow plow crews. "

" Eulogy for Emmaline Stilwell by Deanna Lamb No one in my life recited poetry or looked at art like Emma Stilwell. Having her as a substitute teacher when I was at Paisley #6 Elementary outside Unadilla, Nebraska was a rare treat. Miss Stilwell taught my dad, Dale Lamb, so she seemed like a piece of his history to have her for a day. She must have been a young woman when she taught him in the 1920’s. Miss Stilwell was an aunt to my school mates Mary and Susan Stilwell. She stood apart from most of our neighbors, being an “old maid school teacher,” but she was part of the backbone of the Paisley neighborhood. She must have been well on in years when she was later a substitute teacher at Unadilla Elementary for my niece. Gabe Twohig found her to be “my kind of teacher.” So, she influenced three generations of my family. (Part one - part two to follow.) "

" The grass pile has been an issue for many years. Numerous bags of trash have been dumped and even some furniture over the river bank. In order to stop this and keep our grass pile from closing, the littering must be acknowledged. Any person that dumps a trash item with a name on it should and will be contacted. How did they know who to contact for the trash that was left there???? "

" My wife and I have been members of the Syracuse community for the past 7 years. Until recently I have had a positive image of the community. We support local businesses and events, but the local police department and city councilman have recently soured us. I have been taking our yard clippings in recycle bags, (bought at a local business) down to the leaves and grass dump for the past seven years. Apparently, I was being watched this last Saturday morning by a city council person at the dump. He thought it would be more appropriate to involve the police this past Monday and embarrass my wife by making her go down to the dump to prove we dumped clipping and not trash, instead of asking me when I was at the dump "what's in the bags." “Home Town Values” is what we here on the campaign trail and you would have thought the city councilman would not hide behind his title and actually talk to someone in the local community, but I guess we moved to a small town for the wrong reason. Big time politics are everywhere. "