Lang
10/16/19
A Tipton woman claims she’s being unfairly targeted by Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington, although a video released by Wethington shows her being belligerent towards law enforcement.
According to the Tipton Conservative, 75-year-old Mary Swan has asked the Cedar County Board of Supervisors to either have two traffic tickets removed from her record or begin proceedings to remove Wethington from office.
Swan was charged twice within one week in July for driving on the wrong side of the road…charges she calls “farcical” in a letter to the supervisors. The October 2nd letter also claims the “s—” will hit “the fan.” She also claims Wethington had at one point banned her from calling Cedar County dispatch…a claim Wethington denied.
Swan also blasts deputy sheriff Joey McNeill in the letter, and refers to Cedar County deputies as “stooges”. She says one more ticket could lead to her license being suspended…something she says she can’t afford as she must drive for medical appointments. Swan says she can’t afford to pay others for rides, and won’t ask others for free rides because it’s “ridiculous”. She says a license suspension would literally kill her.
A video of the July 16th arrest can be seen on Wethington’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warren.wethington/videos/10162375479660204/ The video shows Swan berating the officer throughout the traffic stop.
Wethington has also come under fire from Dawn Smith, the chair of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors. The tensions began earlier this year when Wethington refused to honor arrests made in Durant, citing Durant officer Robert Smith, one of the town’s three full-time officers. Wethington claimed Smith had a history of being untruthful, using questionable force and generating complaints about his harsh demeanor.
Robert Smith is Dawn Smith’s husband. He has since left the Durant police force.
The recusal request came after the two sparred during a board of supervisors meeting on October 1st. According to The Tipton Conservative, Wethington had expressed concerns about county Human Resources Consultant Paul Greufe, who had been arrested by a deputy for Driving While revoked. The sheriff said he didn’t think it was a good image for the county when its HR representative “can’t stay out of jail.”
Greufe was also convicted of OWI earlier this year in Linn County.
Smith shot back with a comment about Wethington having an OWI conviction of his own from when he was 19 years old. He was later pardoned by Governor Tom Vilsack in 1999.
Wethington then said he was not surprised Smith brought up his OWI, calling it “merely a frail attempt” to discredit Wethington as sheriff during what he called “a very stressful time” for Smith and her husband.
Wethington wrote a letter to the board two days after the confrontation, saying, “there is absolutely nothing about Dawn Smith that I find useful, interesting or a threat to me.” He went on to note that there were no YouTube videos of him pointing guns at or hitting young people during traffic stops…and apparent jab at Robert Smith’s controversial time as a peace officer.
Wethington also claimed that Dawn Smith has said Greufe was specifically hired to deal with HR issues at the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff says his comments at the October 1st meeting were not meant to provoke Smith.