Does Galveston Need It's Own Quannel X?

Charles Wiley has been back in his hometown of Galveston just barely eight months. If you don't know who Charles Wiley is, he's the new police chief in town. Already he has faced a bigger challenge than any police chief since the 1900 Hurricane that almost wiped Galveston off the map.

Not only did Wiley lead Galveston's police force successfully through the storm of the century, saving lives and losing not a single officer, his own home was nearly destroyed. In fact, he has just completed moving back into it.

Welcome back to Galveston Chief! Thank you for your leadership and skills in the most horrific event in 108 years. Now, we're going to tar and feather you and run you out of town.

That's what is happening to Charles Wiley at the hands of one of Galveston's well known, longtime trouble makers and Quannel X wanna-be, Tarris Woods, elected to the city council last year by the city's predominently black district.

It seems no one, including the media which prides itself in digging up dirt on politicians and candidates, took time to dig into Mr. Woods. No one asked, or reported on, why Woods, a one-time city firefighter, left that job several years ago. No one apparently asked Woods, who claims to have been a police officer at one time somewhere, exactly where and when he was a cop. No one apparently looked into court records in which Mr. Woods is recorded making remarks like, "I can't work with white people."

This is the guy who is now attacking the city's new police chief, who, by the way, is probably the most qualified, professional, police chief appointed to the position in decades. And, he is certainly what many have demanded for years, a chief from outside the Galveston Police Department. Residents have demanded for years that the city sweep out the politics and coy games going on in the department. So they did.

From 48 applicants throughout the United States, City Manager Steve LeBlanc selected Charles Wiley and the city council affirmed his appointment. It was a good fit for Wiley and a good fit for the city. Wiley wanted to return to his hometown and the city needed a professional lawman with wide ranging experience, someone who had actually seen what policing is like north of the causeway, someone not tied to the same old ways of doing business. Galveston is known everywhere for keeping everything tight knit, close to the chest, shut off to outsiders. Keeping it in the family has been the Galveston way since the island was controlled by gambling bosses and mob rule.

Back to Woods. His latest disturbance is to call a closed meeting of city council to discuss the job performance of Charles Wiley. It's hard to imagine that Woods is capable of evaulating anyone, or anything, after watching and listening to him bumble and babble and stutter during council meetings, trying to form a complete sentence that anyone can understand.

In a recent council meeting, he tried to express his interpretation of exactly what the police department's Internal Affairs Division is and how it's connected to the Office of Professional Standards. Wiley tried to explain that Internal Affairs is just one part of the OPS, that the OPS performs many functions. Woods kept repeating that's not the way it was, "when I wore the blue," suggesting he was once a police officer. If he was, no one has been able to confirm it. Was he referring to his blue fireman's uniform without explaining it?

Well, Mr. Woods will find out today that his attempt to get behind closed doors to launch his attack on the police chief isn't going to work. Woods has now started a fight with a man who is not going to lay down and roll over for his grand standing and public ignorance. Wiley is coming to the meeting with a lawyer and demand that Woods attempted lynching be held in an open meeting for all the world to see. That's the way it's going to be too, because that's the law. If Wiley wants it to be open, then open it will be.

Babble, babble, mumble, mumble, stutter, stutter. Your move Tarris!