Coquille, alas, seems to be inhabited by a group, small perhaps, but a group nonetheless of very thin skinned individuals. Perhaps it is a genetic mutation but in keeping with the nature of such anomalies as those suffering from this inherent weakness they seek out others of their kind and band together with other members of their species for protection into, well, you know a group, a hive, a band or even a club.

These thin skinned people are recognizable for their unbridled willingness to hurl mud and sling poo at their perceived adversaries while immediately crying FOUL if a defense, particularly in the form of an offense is mounted.

Now, the former chief of police, Mike Reaves, has taken issue with Mayor Steve Britton going on offense in response to a letter written on behalf of the ex chief by a sitting city council member, Bruce Parker, accusing the mayor of being a criminal. The mayor volleyed back with a letter of his own and asserts unprofessional conduct by Reaves while he was chief. Granted, Reaves did not write the letter accusing Britton of being a criminal but then he never does his own fighting… he ALWAYS has someone else do it for him, in this case Parker.

Unable to take what they dished out Reaves and his wife employed George Derr, their lawyer who famously called Coquille citizens ‘unhappy unwashed‘ for disagreeing with Reaves, to write a ‘letter of intent’, (technically it should have been a ‘demand letter’) threatening to sue The Sentinel, the mayor and the City of Coquille, unless The Sentinel prints a letter of apology from Britton for 10 consecutive weeks!

Derr claims that Britton’s letter was published…

…with the intent to cause harm to Mike Reaves, his wife, Teresa, their children and their marriage.

Honestly, what do these people expect when they attack someone publicly? What was the intent of their attack? Surely, anyone expects if they shoot at someone that shots may be fired in return. How lame to cry foul when you fired the first salvo? Why fire the salvo if you can’t stomach being in the line of fire?

So what does The Sentinel and Mayor Steve Britton intend to do? Jean Ivey, editor of the paper decided that rather than throwing the letter in the trash, to instead have legal counsel write Derr to advise the Reaves to ‘put up or shut up’ and I received this email from Jean.

In case you are wondering why anyone would write a NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE; no one would if they had grounds for a suit. If one has grounds, one just brings suit.
It is a guess on my part, but I believe Reaves is finding it much more difficult to be a bully now that he no longer has a badge.
Well, I’m ready to play…… Lets see what he’s got.
Jean Ivey

Ivey told me that she looks forward to the opportunity to prove to the Reaves’ that it is ‘much harder to be a bully without a badge’.

Mayor Britton had similar sentiments and told me, rather gleefully that he is, ‘grateful to the Reaves’ for providing the opportunity to publicly prove my statements’.

Really, what a colossal, whiny assed pussy Reaves is! More importantly, why didn’t O’Connor ever discipline Reaves for mishandling the firing of at least one officer amongst many other things, not to mention fire him? O’Connor never put the best interests of the city first.

Whether the Reaves will take the challenge is yet to be known but for the sake of the paper and our mayor, and having experienced the drudge and drear of a recent pointless and harassing lawsuit I hope the Reaves think better about it. Although, as a people watcher sitting in the people watcher stands with my people watcher mint julep in hand, watching the entire community air the Reaves legacy laundry and THE THIN SKINNED CLUB dumpster diving and pawing through trash looking desperately, DESPERATELY, for anything they can spin to their advantage, may have some serious entertainment potential…. for those of us suffering from Post Election Stress Disorder.

We will see how this plays out…