Paranoia comes to Whitewater, Wisconsin

[Universe Prince]

Excerpts from an article at The La Cross Tribune

[Anonymous blogger "John] Adams" charges in his blog that Whitewater is run by "a small, obstinate, and poorly educated local elite" who are hostile toward the 10,000 students at UW-Whitewater and the region's growing Mexican-American population. He is critical of the School District and other local officials, calling a former municipal judge who was convicted of lewd behavior last year a "vulgar laughingstock." But much of his criticism is reserved for Whitewater's police chief, James Coan, whom the closeted critic accuses of misusing his position. Case in point: Coan's use of city employees to try to unmask Adams -- exposed in a series of posts on his blog earlier this month -- that is part Keystone Cops and part challenge to Adams' constitutional rights. According to Whitewater Police Department e-mails obtained by Adams under the state's open records law, Coan involved at least two detectives, the city's director of public works, its information technology officer and the city clerk -- all working on city time and using taxpayer-funded resources -- to find the identity of a man described as a "suspect" but who had not committed a crime. [...] In Whitewater, the effort to discover Adams' identity included examining his e-mails and Web site registration, running a license plate check on a man suspected of being Adams (he wasn't), and suggesting city officials conduct surveillance at the dedication of a restored historic landmark on the chance he might be there. "I think it is someone we want to keep an eye on ...," Whitewater Police Detective Tina Winger wrote in an e-mail to Coan. "Seems like an anti-government radical to me." The investigation culminated in a Jan. 4 visit from Coan and Whitewater Police Lt. Tim Gray to the home of Scott, whom Coan said afterward he was "99.9 percent convinced" was the blogger. In fact, said Adams, who revealed his identity to the Wisconsin State Journal on condition of anonymity, the chief was "100 percent wrong." [...] Adams said his goal is not to tear down his Walworth County community but to improve it. He continues to criticize Coan, whom he charges with failing to address serious problems within the police department. That includes the actions of a now-retired police investigator whom a prosecutor said destroyed evidence and falsified the results of a search warrant while investigating a local businessman. Coan declined to say whether Larry Meyer was disciplined.

"John Adams" deserves a Sam Adams.