Another veteran China Grove police officer has resigned from the force to join the Landis Police Department. A good one-third of the China Grove Police Department as constituted a couple of years ago has migrated a couple of miles down the road to Landis.

Now, Landis is a charming little town; but I did not realize it was that charming. Or, perhaps, it is that working in the China Grove Police Department is not so charming. Several other officers in the recent past have hightailed it out of town for more hospitable environs.

The mass exodus began a few years ago with the police policy tandem of Chief Mike Bentley and Alderman John Miller, police committee chairman. I reckon i t was just a coincidence, like rain and growing grass.

When Chief Bentley was hired, a then-alderwoman enthused that he was a great motivational speaker. I have yet to meet a China Grove resident who has been inspired to great deeds by the chief’s loquacious rhetoric. But I admit to the prejudice of not being impressed with self-serving political drivel myself.

Alderman John Miller jumped in to support the chief’s establishment of his territorial imperative. You may remember Miller:He ran for state labor commissioner in the last election and lost, a result that every working man and woman in North Carolina can be grateful for.

A new election is looming for municipal offices. Some of us in China Grove have not forgotten the past actions of the chief and the town board.

I have been casting a longing eye toward Landis myself.

— WILLIAM E. FESPERMAN
China Grove