Mayors Gone Wild II - How do you get banned for life from a State Fair?
The mayor of Rapid City, S.D., says he has been banned for life from the Iowa State Fair after being charged for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.Jim Shaw, 59, says the trouble started last Friday night after complaining that a vehicle was barreling through a crowd of pedestrians inside the fair's gates. The mayor claims he approached the driver and was confronted by the Iowa State Fair Patrol.
"The next thing I know, he throws me to the ground, handcuffs me like I'm some escaped murderer, and I was carried to the substation," Shaw says.
State fair officials, who contract patrol officers for the 11-day event, confirmed the charges against Shaw. They said details were in a report at the Polk County sheriff's office, but officials there say no such report exists.
and..."I told them I am a mayor of a community that has lots and lots of tourists," says Shaw, whose city is set in the heart of the Black Hills. "I said if any of our police officers treated visitors to our community the way you're treating me, I'm sure they'd be fired."
Read the Associated Press Story here. "What? You can't do that to me. I'm a Mayor!" Oh please. I'll bet they cuffed and stuffed him.
By all reports, Mayor shaw is a nice guy (and certainly seemed so when I was in RC watching him on tv). But I don't think that his position in Rapid City automatically gives him license to be a buttinsky when he perceives injustice and fast drving at State Fairs.
Speaking of questioning the conduct of a public servant, Disorderly conduct and resisting arrest? That sounds like behavior from a drunken college student, not the leader of the second largest city in the state.
The Des Moines Register has a little more on Shaw's personal tale of State Fair woe:
Shaw said he never struggled and did not deserve the resisting arrest citation. The officer told Shaw that he was attempting to pull away, hence the charge. A first-aid worker came to bandage his knee. When asked what happened, an embarrassed Shaw said he simply fell down. When he was released at about 11 p.m., he was told he was banned from the fair for life.
“He walked me to the gate and wished me good luck like I was getting out of prison in a James Cagney movie. My daughter was sitting on the car crying, she didn’t know where I’d been,” he said. “I have to tell you, I was humbled. I was humiliated. I was embarrassed about the whole thing, but I was also angry about it.
and...
Now, he may contest the charges. Shaw claims he never wanted special treatment because of his status as the city’s mayor, he said, but instead showed them his business card to prove that he wasn’t there to cause trouble.
(Read it here) He just pulled out his little business card to wave in front of the officer. I'll just bet he wasn't asking for special treatment.
And now he's banned for life. No funnel cakes for you!
I'll stay on top of this tent full of freakery as it develops on the Iowa State Fair midway.
Comments
If you have ever worked with Shaw you know of his two personalities.
It's amazing to watch him go from a complete jerk, to the nicest guy when the camera turns on.
As to Shaw expecting special treatment, you bet he does.
This isn't his first trouble with the law, he's been arrested at least once in the past, if not more for DUI.
I guess when your Mayor, the media just doesn't report it.
That must be one of the benefits from being in the media himself for years.
Did Shaw call is friends at the Journal and ask them not to run the story?
This is a great example of what's wrong with city hall in Rapid City.
2. This is a danger of anonymous posts (okay, like this one). All sorts of name-calling and accusations are put out there with no documentation. It isn't fair (no pun intended) until we get all the facts.
3. KOTA radio, where Shaw once worked, reported it early this morning. Apparently it hasn't been reported before now because nobody knew until the DesMoines Register reported it.
The Register says that Shaw has apparently attended the fair for the past 30 years.
On another note, I've seen the rent-a-cops in action at the fairgrounds in the past and know that they can sometimes be self-important.
Sorry it happened
"Apparently it hasn't been reported before now because nobody knew until the Des Moines Register reported it."
How did they pick up on the fact that's he's the RC mayor? It's not like he's well known to Iwegians?
That is, unless he spent a lot of his outrage going "I'm the mayor of Rapid City"
It's like when I was working for the State Division of Insurance several years back and I had a call. It was a common complaint call about a issue on some insurance coverage.
The guy actually said "Does it matter that I'm the Mayor of Salem?"
My reply? "No sir. Not at all."
(yes, I know it's Iowans before anyone comments)
Have you ever seen an Iowan drive fast?
People do dumb things in their youth that they now realize they shouldn't have in retrospect.
It's not necessarily a test of their current character.
Sounds like Shaw didn't think anyone would find out about his bad behavior.
"Shaw said he intended to pay the citations and move on from the episode until he was contacted by The Des Moines Register. He hadn’t told anyone but his family about the incident."
Then Shaw seems to expect special treatment because of this position.
“I told them I am a mayor of a community that has lots and lots of tourists,” he said. “I said if any of our police officers treated visitors to our community the way you’re treating me, I’m sure they’d be fired. The next thing I know, he throws me to the ground, handcuffs me like I’m some escaped murderer and I was carried to the substation.”
It almost sounds like he is threating to have the officer fired.
I can't believe his stupidity, but then again, we're talking about Jim
Shaw.
The title of this post has my vote for best "title of the year",,,very funny!!!
Stephanie will kick his but so far that maybe he will end up at the Iowa State fair as an exhibit on what not to do in politics.
Signed,
SD Republican ashamed
If you use your credit card, and call within the next 15 minutes. We will include a video of a Rapid city councilman, receiving a sobriety test, that had a BAC of .257. Plus, you will automatically receive 25% off of our "Mayors gone wild-III" video !!