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Sheriff's
threat just draws fire on Internet Series: |
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SHANNON
COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER. |
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Full Text (657
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Copyright Times Publishing
Co. Aug 5, 2005 Top brass at the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office are the subject
of much taunting this week on LeoAffairs.com, the Web site with message
boards dedicated to dozens of Anonymous posters going by names including "You really are an idiot," "Defiant," and "Vigilante" flooded the message board with criticisms of administrators' recent decision to sue LeoAffairs. Sheriff David Gee - long a critic of the Web site's acceptance of anonymous postings - wants a judge to stop the site from putting any sheriff's officers' posts online that violate the agency's codes of conduct. He also wants to identify through subpoena deputies who left false, crude and revealing messages about the agency. He says the site harms morale and weakens internal discipline. In a Thursday morning posting titled "Dear Sheriff Gee," the anonymous user dubbed "Defiant" wrote: "You have probably caused an immeasurable amount of harm within your agency with this threatened lawsuit. . . . Try to remember who you work for. The citizens and your employees. Don't get your feelings hurt and don't waste taxpayer money making another lawyer rich in a frivolous lawsuit." Contact Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler at (813) 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com. |