Copperhill citizens and cops are at odds again -- or yet. At Monday night’s city council meeting, Wayne Daniels and Keith Roberson each voiced complaints. Gary Bowman has resigned as police chief, so Warren Heminger, named Interim Police Chief, fielded the complaints.

Daniels said he wanted to know who was responsible for fraudulent certification reports on the city’s radar gun. “Someone at city hall or the police department asked Midwest Radar to falsify about 256 radar certificates,” he said, presenting copies of several reports on one radar gun. Among the certificates were some showing tests on the radar gun before the city even purchased it. Daniels said he man who supposedly signed them said he didn’t know anything about them, nor did the city clerk or mayor. Daniels has been asking for copies of the reports for months and said Bowman told him he would not give them to Daniels because they were fraudulent. Daniels said he did not know why anybody would want to have falsified records, adding he planned to get to the bottom of it and find out who was responsible.

Daniels said it is pretty serious to be running radar with equipment that is not certified, but Heminger said there is no state law requiring that radar equipment or operators be certified. He added the city has new equipment that includes both audio and video to avoid future problems, noting it is calibrated when it comes from the manufacturer and the machines go through a self-test when they are turned on.

Heminger said he understands there is concern about traffic tickets, noting he cannot speak for officers who were in the city before he was. He said he will defend himself, noting he had integrity and has honor and follows the law. He said the officers do not write citations that are not warranted and pointed out they also give a lot of warnings. He said the state sets the speed limit at 45 and he has to do his job when he sees someone go by at 65. “You’re going to have a fatality one day,” he said.

Roberson asked when there has been a fatality and alleged the city police have run radar outside his business on Cougar Drive, which is out of the city’s jurisdiction, and further said he has video of a police car speeding. Heminger said he goes to the high school for the kids when the county can’t be there and has been volunteering his time to be there to talk to kids. He pointed out that Roberson was doing donuts on his property and Roberson said he can do that on his own property. “When you come on my property, you’re a private citizen,” he told Heminger.

Heminger said the city officers do not run radar outside Roberson’s store. He said it gets frustrating for somebody who is trying to help, noting that the majority of drug charges result from traffic stops. He pointed out there are drugs going through Copperhill. Roberson said he is not against writing tickets but not when officers are out of their jurisdiction.

Another citizen commented, “You don’t need to be hiding in the bushes,” and added she had seen a city police car heading toward Mineral Bluff. Heminger said there could be reasons why an officer would have to leave the city. He said it is apparent that there are some people who don’t like the police department unless they need it. “We eradicated five of the worst copper thieves,” he said, repeating that he will do his job. “Whether you like it or not, we have a good crew doing community policing,” he said.

Roberson asked the last time officers were drug tested and asked Mayor Herb Hood what had been done about an officer Roberson thought was intoxicated. He had made a video of the officer crossing the double yellow line through the Ocoee gorge. Hood said he talked to the officer within 30 minutes of the time Roberson called and he was sober. Roberson asked if Hood could make that judgment without a breathalyzer. He said officers apparently don’t need a breathalyzer if they can just ask if a person is drunk. Heminger said officers do a field sobriety check first and Roberson asked Hood if he had done that. Hood said that’s not his area of expertise and added it was a safety hazard for Roberson to be driving and making a video. Hal Williamson said Roberson needs proof if he wants to make allegation, and Roberson whipped out his video camera. Hood said they did not have time to look at it then.

Hood said the problem with the police department is that they’re enforcing the law and the people are finding fault with it. “I don’t understand it,” he said. Roberson said Hood is right to a point, noting his biggest problem is with the attitude of the police, who think they are above the law.

After the meeting, Heminger met with Daniels and looked over the radar certificates at issue. He said the serial number don’t match perfectly and noted that only copies were available. Daniels said Bowman should have the originals, or they should be at the police department.

In other business Monday night, Barbara Beavers reported that the city cemetery is officially on the National Register of Historic Places and encouraged with city and Sheriff’s Department to each spend a day a month to keep it maintained. Hood suggested area churches might be interested in helping. Beavers also said they need to set a day to begin trying to piece the smaller stones together. She suggested establishing an area for “unknown” for the stones that cannot be read.

Hood said Sheppie Dunn told him that attorney Laura Crawford was working on a quitclaim deed to give ownership of the cemetery to the city. Hal Williamson said the official position of the United Methodist Church was that it never owned the cemetery. Paul Perry said there is an 1873 deed stating that the church owns the cemetery and they could not find any other deeds.

Hood said he is checking on a sign for the cemetery and Beaver said she would be willing to pay for a plaque noting that it is on the National Register. Perry said he had found the cemetery listed on findagrave.com and it lists more grave sites than he was aware of.