cannabisnews.com: Grams Relieved Report Shows No Favor Asked





Grams Relieved Report Shows No Favor Asked
Posted by FoM on December 08, 1999 at 16:22:48 PT
Associated Press
Source: Star Tribune
The office of U.S. Sen. Rod Grams said Wednesday he was " relieved" an investigation found no evidence he sought special favors when he asked the Anoka County sheriff for help finding his son. But the man in charge of the inquiry said any relief was premature. 
" I am relieved that this report will finally bring to light the facts of the incident regarding my son, and that the phone call I made to the sheriff' s department was only that of a concerned father scared for the welfare of my son, " a written statement quoted Grams as saying. But an irritated Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmundson, whose office is conducting the investigation, said he told Grams the statement was " premature and not helpful." And he said Grams told him the statement had been issued without his knowledge. " I don' t have my campaign put things out without my knowledge. Especially with things that affect my family, " the sheriff told The Associated Press. " I think he knew I was not pleased or impressed." WCCO-TV reported Tuesday night the investigation concluded that Anoka County deputies did not follow proper procedures when they stopped Grams' son, Morgan Grams, and gave him a ride home, ignoring marijuana and beer in his car. WCCO also reported, quoting law enforcement sources it did not name, that the report suggests there was no evidence either way whether Grams asked for special favors. Gudmundson would not confirm or deny the report, but called it " flimsy" and " premature." He said no one but himself knows what the report will say because he was still working on it and making revisions Wednesday evening. " I' m writing it on my computer by myself, " he said. Grams' July 14 request for help from authorities wasn' t his first. Grams also called Hennepin County Sheriff Pat McGowan on June 15 for help in finding his son, the sheriff' s spokeswoman, Rosanne Campagnoli, said. McGowan referred the request to two Hennepin County detectives, who found Morgan Grams in East Bethel in Anoka County and persuaded him to call his father, then drove him to a relative' s home in Ramsey, she said. " He spoke with his father, his father apparently convinced him to go to a family member' s residence. The deputies gave him a ride to that residence. End of incident, " she said. Campagnoli said the detectives found " nothing amiss" and did not file a report. " There was nothing unusual, " she said. " I really want to stress that this event was quite different from the Anoka County event. Morgan Grams appeared to be safe and well. The deputies simply put him in phone contact with his father." The spokeswoman also said that even though Grams called the Hennepin County sheriff directly, a similar request from an ordinary citizen would have been handled the same way. In the July incident, Morgan Grams was stopped by Anoka County sheriff' s deputies while driving a borrowed sport utility vehicle with 10 bags of marijuana in it. He was driving without a license, was on probation and had several prior misdemeanor charges, but wasn' t even given a ticket. Instead, he was driven home in the front seat of Chief Deputy Peter Beberg' s unmarked car. A reserve officer also said that a half-full beer can was found in the vehicle. The Dakota County sheriff' s office has been working with the Washington County attorney' s office, which will decide what charges, if any, will be filed. Gudmundson said they will release a nine-page executive summary of the investigation at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Washington County Government Center. " If I had it to do over again I' d release the danged thing tomorrow, " Gudmundson said. Published: December 8, 1999© Copyright 1999. Related Articles:Grams Denies Influencing Treatment Of Son - 11/24/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3771.shtmlSons Troubles Give Perspective on Drugs, Justice - 11/23/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3765.shtmlAbove The Law - 11/22/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3749.shtmlInvestigation Looks How Incident Was Handled - 11/16/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3681.shtmlExperts Question Police Treatment Of Grams' Son - 11/14/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3669.shtmlSenator's Son Had Drugs In Car But Wasn't Charged-11/14/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3667.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on December 08, 1999 at 18:23:07 PT
No favoritism...none at all. Yeah, right!
Like most supporters and handmaidens of the Drug War, there is a tendency on their part to forget Lincoln's Dictum about not being able to fool all of the people all of the time.Perhaps it is because of the insularity of thought that the Drug warriors seem to share, an insularity that brooks no challenges to it's supposed inviolability. But when they are caught, well-and-truly caught with their pants down, and the ugly truth of political favoritism is shown for all the world to see, they still think they can brazen it out. SENATOR Grams wasn't committing favoritism by calling the cops. SENATOR Grams wasn't asking any special favors. The SENATOR just wanted the cops to drop whatever they were doing and please look for his son, who was driving on a suspended license in a car that had been reported as being 'missing'. (Nice way of saying 'stolen', but the rental car agency was probably as politically conscious of the ramifications of their actions as the cop who 'found' the boy and drove him).So, the kid is found with ten bags of pot. His travelling partner gets socked with possessing 9 of them, and is whisked off to jail. But the SENATOR'S son is driven home by the nice policeman. There's nothing out of the ordinary about that, is there? Nooooooo! And now the SENATOR is mouthing off that he is glad that the incident is past and forgotten, and that he is vindicated, now let's move on to more important business... like locking up more potheads.They honestly think people are as stupid as sheep, easily led (and fooled) and they are the shepherds...and are therefore, superior to their flock.In a pig's eye.
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