Originally Posted - December 18, 2006

return home

You better watch out,

You better not cry,

You better not pout,

I'm telling you why,

Santa Claus is coming to Warren County.

And if voters are good, we'll finally get rid of Larry Cleveland as sheriff.

Larry Cleveland hasn't been a good little boy so it's unlikely that Santa Claus has four more years in his sack for him.

It's already rumored that the Republican Party has told him no to any reelection plans he may have in 2007.

Santa's seen where he's been sleeping,

He knows when you blow in Larry's face,

He knows if Larry's been bad or good,

And it don't look good for Larry, for goodness sake.

With little tin stars and little toy guns,

Officers will tell you it hasn't been fun,

Just ask former deputy Jeff Clarke.

Santa's making his list,

Checking it twice,

Santa already knows that Larry's been naughty, not nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

Virtually as soon as the New Year rings in, the 2007 political season will be at the starting line and it's expected that by late January or early February, candidates for the office of Warren County Sheriff will start their campaigns.

Cleveland's had two tumultuous election campaigns, one in 1999 with the allegations of sexual misconduct brought forth by a former Warrensburg man who claims Cleveland molested him as a teenager. He passed a lie detector test, Cleveland refused to take one.

Then in 2003, the campaign was a little tamer although he forced two veteran officers out the department who had announced their plans to seek the office.

There's already increasing rumors that Bud York, senior investigator for the State Police at the Queensbury Barracks has his eye on the sheriff's office but York has some of his own baggage.

When he appeared last week before the Warrensburg Town Board, presumably as a citizen but speaking on the topic of the resignations of the three part-time members of the Warrensburg Police Department, observers said York's demeanor was less than desirable for a police officer and someone who might be considering a run at public office.

York had been elected to the Warrensburg Board of Education when he was a uniformed officer but forced to resign by the State Police who said their policy prohibited officers from being engaged in political activity.

York was also arrested at one point in the 90's, charged with assault, after he confronted a motorist who had been involved in accident involving York's daughter near Ashe's Hotel and Bar on Hudson St., Warrensburg. Ultimately the charges were dismissed when there was a change of district attorneys in Warren County and Sterling Goodspeed, who took office after defeating William E. Montgomery III, refused to prosecute York.

York also appears to have been involved in the highly questionable deal with Cleveland involving office furniture for the Queensbury state police station. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/010106PoliceFurnishings.html

When Warren County's new public safety building opened in October, 2004, knowledgeable sources say that Cleveland gave the state police the old furnishings and equipment from the former quarters of the sheriff's department.

State auditors found that nearly $165,000 of telephone commissions from the county's jail were improperly used to furnish Cleveland's office in the new public safety building and without formal approval by the board of supervisors, in non-conformance with the county's adopted budgeted, purchasing and accounting procedures.

The audit found that Cleveland improperly used the telephone commission money and circumvented a system of controls in place to prevent such unauthorized spending. Auditors said that there was no legal authority for Cleveland to use the commission monies as he did. Joan Parsons, administrator and clerk of the board of supervisors, said that legally the county could not gift furnishings from the former sheriff's quarters, that any surplus equipment would have to be offered to the public through legal notices and there is no record of such occurring.

She said that to the best of her knowledge, the old furnishings left behind by Cleveland should have remained for the next tenants of the space. There was no board resolution authorizing the gift or sale of furnishings or equipment to the state police.

Reliable sources have told The North Country Gazette that the state comptroller's office has opened an investigation into the alleged misuse of public monies and NCG has learned that several members of the sheriff's department have been interviewed.

After Cleveland allegedly falsified document including a booking slip in his failed attempt last year to jail the North Country Gazette publisher, it was learned that the Public Integrity Unit of the Attorney General's office had opened an investigation of Cleveland in regard to that matter as well as several others. Several departmental members have also indicated they have been questioned in the matter. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/021406FalsifiedSheriff.html

Cleveland's has a federal civil rights claim to defend for his false arrest and malicious prosecution of the publisher after the convictions he secured were reversed and dismissed for constitutional violations with the special prosecutor stating on the record on appeal that the charges were legally insufficient and never should have been brought in 1998, causing seven years of legal abuse along with unlawful imprisonment.

Cleveland has also come under fire for his department's handling of the investigation involving the capsizing of the Ethan Allen tour boat on Oct. 2, 2005, on Lake George, particularly for his now infamous statement that he determined that Richard Paris, his long time friend, retired state trooper and captain of the boat, wasn't under the influence of alcohol and drugs because Paris had "blown in his face" and Cleveland hadn't detected any odor of alcohol. Twenty of the 47 senior citizens on board the Ethan Allen died. Cleveland later determined that no criminal charges were warranted.

When district attorney Kate Hogan was attempting to conduct a review of the matter, Cleveland refused to turn over various records to her, necessitating Hogan suing Cleveland in federal court to obtain a court order for the release of those records.

Hogan is currently conducting a grand jury investigation into the Ethan Allen accident.

There's the matter of Cleveland's promotion of his male friend John Shine to the position of major. Shine failed to pass the first promotional exam as is required to keep the position and Cleveland's provisional appointment of Shine is questionably legal. The well-known, long practiced favoritism by Cleveland in the department has, with other issues, created an extremely low morale problem within the department. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/072906NotExactlyRight.html

What may have been the final straw to finally seal the end of Cleveland's reign was his handling and ultimate firing of Officer Jeff Clarke, 38, a 12-year veteran. Clarke was suspended without pay following an incident in Lake George in August when Clarke filed at a fleeing vehicle following a high speed pursuit.

Cleveland personally chose Lt. James Caram of the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Department as the hearing officer for Clarke's disciplinary hearing, the brother of a former sheriff's department officer who was known to be extremely friendly with Cleveland. Cleveland then refused to make public the hearing officer's report and fired Clarke. However, in typical Cleveland dictator style, denial of fairness and lack of impartiality, the hearing was only a sham. No matter what the hearing officer had recommended, Cleveland had the final say.

Cleveland, who was not present for the incident, says that Clarke wasn't justified in his actions and that he "grossly violated department policy".

Cleveland's gross misjudgment, violations of law and improper actions is on record as being one of the most egregious acts of misconduct in department history and in just two of his more infamous escapades, Cleveland obligated Warren County taxpayers to millions of dollars after he was involved in high speed incidents which resulted in the killing of an innocent elderly female pedestrian in Lake George and the maiming of a motorcycle rider and then later, involved in yet another high speed accident when he reportedly had an unauthorized, underage male in his patrol vehicle. Although a speed governor had been placed in the trunk of his patrol car following the fatal Lake George accident, investigators found that the machine was unhooked at the time of the accident which occurred in the spring of 1985.

In the early 80's, when Cleveland was a patrol officer, he was responsible for the death of an elderly Canadian woman pedestrian who was trying to cross Route 9 south of Lake George Village in front of the Tiki Motor Lodge. Cleveland had initiated a high speed chase of a motorcyclist, wanted for speeding, through the village at the height of its summer tourist season.

Cleveland's patrol car chased the motorcycle into the parking lot of the Glens Falls National Bank at the south end of the village which caused the biker to lose control of his bike, causing the bike to slide across the parking lot, striking the pedestrian. The biker lost a leg in the accident.

After that accident, Cleveland was involved in another accident while driving a patrol vehicle, colliding with a car at the intersection of Route 28 and Glen Creek Road.

A motorist was traveling north on Rte. 28 and upon reaching the Glen Bridge and preparing to turn left onto Glen Athol Road, he says he saw headlights coming south by Glen Creek Road, about three quarters of a mile away, an area where he knew the speed limit was 40 mph. He said he began a left turn on Glen Athol Road when suddenly he was slammed by a car which he later learned was a sheriff's patrol car operated by Larry Cleveland. He says that when he came to, he was sitting in his car about a third of the way back onto the Glen Bridge where the impact with the patrol car had pushed him.

He says he saw a man in a gray uniform walking towards him which he later learned to be Cleveland. The patrol car was on the south bound side of Rte. 28, front end off the road, past the Glen Athol Road. The trunk of the car was open and he saw a "mechanical looking box in the trunk like a computer modem". He said that off to the right was a pile of beer cans and some "bottles".

He says he was transported to the hospital but had no medical insurance so didn't stay for full medical workup. He says no tickets or citations were issued. Sheriff's deputies gave him a ride home.

He remembers returning to the accident scene the next day and seeing skid marks from just above Adirondack Wildwaters to the accident scene on Glen Athol Road. Instead of going behind his car and passing safely onto the bridge, under Cleveland's operation, the patrol car struck the front passenger side of his car as the victim had nearly completed his turn, driving his car backwards 70 to 80 feet onto Rte. 28. After his attorney forced the state police to produce photos of the accident scene and investigation reports, he learned that Cleveland had reportedly been traveling in excess of 140 mph (in a 40 mph zone) and had slowed to 85 mph at the point of impact. He says the photos clearly showed the skid marks and "speed-sensing speedometer" using by the police in the accident reconstruction. The reports allegedly indicated that the trunk monitor for Cleveland's patrol activity had been unplugged and he was allegedly out of the patrol area where he had been assigned. The passenger in his car was reportedly a male minor.

At the time, the late George Keene was Thurman town justice and the victim says Keene began calling his home telling him to "come see him" and turn himself in for driving while intoxicated even though he had not been so charged. He says he felt compelled to go to the town hall, especially after Keene had allegedly stated "if you didn't do anything wrong, just come see me at the town hall". He said he went there with his father and Judge Keene asked him if he had his license. When he said yes, the judge asked to see it and when he produced it, Keene allegedly ripped it in half. Keene allegedly told the victim that he was "good friends with Larry Cleveland" and informed him that his license was suspended. He said he was removing himself from the case, of which there was none, and ordered him to go to the sheriff's station to be processed.

Honoring the judge's orders, he did so and said the sheriff's officers asked him why he had bothered to come. He said he then hired an attorney from Schenectady, the same attorney who had represented the motorcycle operator from Cleveland's fatal accident. After he had mailed all the information and newspaper accounts to the attorney, he claimed the Athol post office lost them. Following nearly a year waiting for a court appearance, he said he was ordered to appear in Lake George town court. His attorney, whom he had paid $3,000, failed to appear and the judge offered him a deal to plead to failure to yield for a left hand turn. He said he agreed just to end the nightmare.

Obviously Cleveland was not terminated from the sheriff's department despite having been involved in two serious accidents, alleged misconduct, serious impaired judgment and violations of departmental policy. In the wake of the accidents, the county's insurance carrier refused to provide coverage if Cleveland drove any county vehicle.

Former sheriff Fred Lamy named him his undersheriff, gave him a desk job and moved him up the ladder ultimately to major.

Larry Cleveland has been an embarrassment to Warren County and its citizens for more than 20 years and unfortunately, when he does leave, taxpayers will have to pay handsomely for his pension.

The best gift that Santa Claus can give the people of Warren County is the end of Larry Cleveland's reign in law enforcement.

O! Republicans better watch out!

They better not cry.

Better not pout, I'm telling you why

"Cause Santa Claus is coming to town

And Larry Cleveland will be history. 12-18-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette