Editor:
(Former Montezuma County Sheriff) Gerald Wallace suggests in his commentary of Aug. 2 that readers review my letter of July 20. I strongly agree and ask Mr. Wallace to follow his own advice. Since both he and Larry Berger misinterpret some and confirm other assertions of mine, I suggest a more through reading by them both.
Wallace discovered problems with the Community Corrections Program by reviewing every budget line item. This top-level review is but one part of the system of bookkeeping and accounting functions I discussed that permits mistakes and fraudulant items to be identified.
Sheriff Spruell discovered Robin Cronk’s alleged misspending. While I was not privy to what flagged the problem, something in the system gave the alarm — perhaps not on as timely of a basis as we may have liked. Nonetheless the system worked as it should have.
The only way to ensure complete accuracy on a timely basis is to examine every month each and every transaction that makes up the total of each budget line item. Doing this would turn Sheriff Spruell into a bookkeeper/auditor. Without having us all go through the ins and outs of bookkeeping and accounting, suffice it to say Sheriff Spruell acted reasonably and responsibly, best using his time and his talents as he did. He found the problem, fixed it, and took steps to prevent it from occurring again.
Wallace accuses me of making several assumptions instead of “first obtaining the facts.” I am surprised that as a former sheriff, Wallace would expect me to try to pry out the facts of a matter under legal investigation, facts that form the basis of a criminal investigation, and then bandy them around publicly so as to taint the trial process.
Wallace conveniently overlooks the fact that it was during his administration that Cronk was first hired.
As to the other items Wallace raised, do I hear strains from the Overture to the 2014 Montezuma County Sheriff’s Campaign? Most of us would rather wait until campaign season before hearing more of this tune.
Pat Requena
Cortez
