Letter to the Editor

Violated her rights

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Dear Editor,

I would like to inform the public of an incident that occurred Monday, Aug. 18, that clearly violated my rights as a citizen. Red Willow County Deputy Lonnie Anderson opened the back door to my house and walked in. If he knocked, I did not hear him, but he still had no right to just walk in.

He was serving me a subpoena to testify in court. If I did not answer or was not home, an officer would have to try to serve the subpoena at another time or even at my place of work. He cannot legally walk into my home.

This is the second time since January 2008 that an officer of the law has illegally entered my home. The first time it was McCook City Police Officer Owen McPhillips. He entered the same back door and knew it went directly into the house, because he previously owned the house.

To the best of my knowledge, the only legal way a law officer can enter a home is with a search warrant and the officer(s) must knock and announce that it is an officer of the law with a search warrant or with a "no knock" search warrant, they can holler to announce "officer-warrant" and then bust the door down and enter.

I have tried both Aug. 18 and Aug. 19 to contact Sheriff Gene Mahon regarding this incident. He has not retuned my calls. I want the public to know that the law officers for the City of McCook and Red Willow County will enter a house illegally.

Sincerely,

Tysha C. Park,

McCook

EDITOR'S NOTE -- Offered the right of reply, of the two officers named, only McPhillips chose to respond:

It appears to me that Ms. Park is either being disingenuous, or is simply ignorant as to the facts.

It is important for readers to understand the layout of the building. This is a two-story house with a basement which at some time in the past was converted into three apartments: upstairs, main floor, and basement. In the basement, there are also a laundry room and several small storage rooms.

Near the southwest corner of the building, on the main floor, there is an exterior entrance to the building. This door opens into a hallway which extends east to a short flight of stairs leading to the basement.

It is one of only two pathways which lead to the basement apartment, laundry room, and storage rooms from the outside. It is clearly a common area of the building, not part of any one apartment.

The main floor apartment has a detached room which lies on the north side of this hallway. The door to this room is equipped with a hasp and padlock. On the south side of this hallway is a door leading into the kitchen of the main floor apartment. This door is equipped with a key lock.

Ms. Park and her companion were given keys to the kitchen door and the front door of their APARTMENT, but not given keys to the front and rear doors of the BUILDING, because both of the latter doors are common entrances.

I know this specifically BECAUSE I was, as Ms. Park stated, the prior owner of the building, and was, in fact, the person who exercised the poor judgment to rent to Ms. Park and her companion, and to issue them those keys in the first place.

I entered through the common exterior entrance near the southwest corner of the building. I stood there and knocked on the kitchen door. I invite Ms. Park to enlighten the public as to the rest of the incident: what occurred over the several hours leading up to my knocking on that door, what happened in the few minutes afterwards, and the ultimate outcome in court.

I do not know what happened with Deputy Anderson, because I was not there. That being said, if he walked through the SAME door, as Ms. Park said, then he, too, simply went through a common entrance into the building.

To consider this to be "illegally entering one's home" is as asinine as making the same allegation toward someone walking through any of the ground-level doors of St. Catherine's Apartments in order to go and knock on a third-floor resident's door.

Owen J. McPhillips,

McCook

Comments
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  • If Ms. Park thinks she is above the law as to having a safe haven, WRONG!! If you haven't done something to have papers served on you, then you should be ashamed to write the opinion you have.

    Take time to research the law and understand it before speaking. Like and old saying, only a fool represents themselves.

    The law enforcement officers follow a strict code for ALL contacts they have. These codes have been designated by the government of the state and cities. Even if you don't like what they do, they follow the law on that.

    Want the laws to change??? Make you opinion heard at council meetings and in the state legislature by contacting your local state official. Ignorance is no excuse.

    -- Posted by edbru on Sat, Aug 23, 2008, at 6:27 PM
  • that was a darn good rebuttle officer McPhillips,

    -- Posted by kman on Sat, Aug 23, 2008, at 6:29 PM
  • It seems to me, from what I've read here, that Ms. Park has caused some sort of incident, and is now attempting to place the blame on someone else. Perhaps the embarrassment she has caused herself because of this will help her grow as an adult and change.

    Ms. Park, I hope you have no children who you are passing this example of poor behavior on to.

    -- Posted by lonweld on Sun, Aug 24, 2008, at 7:57 PM
  • Dear editor,

    Please consider using her name as a headline next time you decide to circulate such jibberish from Ms Park. I could have saved that time today for something much more relevant (like reading about the molecular structure of mold). We have had similiar experiences with Tysha and her credibility with me is worthless.

    I would like to commend our local police for doing their duties and especially Officer McPhillips for the articulate rebuttal. I'm going to go out on a limb, but I'm guessing they know how to do their job better than Ms Park. It sounds like she gets her legal advice from the wrong resources.

    I too, would challenge Ms Park to fill us in on "the rest of the story".

    -- Posted by Husker23 on Mon, Aug 25, 2008, at 1:59 PM
  • What is the address? I'd like to walk in that door unannounced and see where It leads to.

    -- Posted by Dick on Mon, Aug 25, 2008, at 4:12 PM
  • This seems pretty childish if you ask me. Yeah it's interesting... but nonetheless pretty childish. So to you Ms. Park I will say it's quite apparent that you have some sort of grudge or bone to pick here. I'm definitely no rocket scientist but I can smell a rat with this one. It's first of all obvious that you sought resolution by trying to publicly persuade the community over to your side, to humiliate individuals, place distrust in your community for the police, and evidentally experience some sort of satisfaction? Yeah.. that sounds like a real upstanding citizen to me. NOT But don't forget people have to buy your crap before you can call it sold. Well I'm not buying! Police officers know the law a lot better than you might think...(or wish) and I don't recall seeing where you mentioned the law school that you attended in your article? Maybe, just maybe, if you'd keep your nose clean you wouldn't have to deal with these officers at your home serving you papers anyway. It's obvious to me that none of them want to come over for tea and crumpets or bask in the glory of your company... let alone enjoy serving you subpoenas. In any event - public attempts to bash people in a newspaper is, in my opinion, unethical. Legal, yes. Ethical, not really. Especially if you can't be honest. Take it up appropriately next time as this is pretty much high school behavior in my opinion. If you want some advice... my suggestion would be to find better things to do with your time... stay out of trouble so you don't have to be served anymore... and maybe preparing for the BAR exam?? It's a toughy!

    -- Posted by SWHUSKER on Sun, Sep 7, 2008, at 12:33 PM
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