I have lived in Jerome for twelve years now, having moved here after falling for the place back in 1986. I have always lived in a small town, and know quite well the virulent small town politics that are commonplace in every one of them.

So, here we come to our latest great adventure in "As Jerome Turns".

In December, the town of Jerome revoked the Certificate of Occupancy on the Jerome Grand Hotel due to a number of reasons including illegal construction (without permits or inspections) and other issues the town claimed were "significant public safety hazards". Now mind you this came about after numerous attempts to work with the building owners over a period of several months!

Well the day they were closed by the Building Inspector, all heck broke loose in the local paper (which shall remain nameless as they have demonstrated their propensity to place Jerome in a negative light) with an article that one could only describe as "one sided" on the side of the hotel.

Next came the bloggers on the newspapers site. Ripe with personal attacks on all involved on the town's side. Ridiculous, anonymous comments that were crude and personal without any regard to factual data. From the writing style it was apparent that many of the postings were from the same person(s) and due to the information they disclosed it was also apparent that they were present during the "closure" and I would bet you can guess who they are.

Well, even though I was not mentioned in the original news article, the anonymous bloggers attacked me and my family and my business! And when the paper was asked why it would allow such trash on it's site they claimed "the editor was out of town and a lowly staffer mistakenly allowed them to be posted". Yeah, right!

Then in January the Superior Court ordered the Jerome Grand back open. Again the papers had a wonderful time making the town out to be a bunch of idiots, completely disregarding the fact the judge upheld the Fire Chief's position and advising both parties to work it out. This was far from the one sided victory the Grand Hotel claimed. Oh, and in the newspaper acticle that came out I was personally brought up again without having any involvement in the hearing. The newspaper had to get something in to keep their conspiracy theory going so they put in a excerpt from the interrogatories (not the court hearing the article was about mind you) where the Building Inspector had said that he had "conferred with the police chief on the code". Yep, I have to admit that the Building inspector has in the past conferred with me on town code,as has the fire Chief, Town Manager, Mayors, Police Officers, Council Persons and citizens.

So, with all the crap that is getting slung around town, i came up with a challenge. Any time anybody wants to take the "Truth Challenge" I'm up for it! Here's how it goes, I'll take a polygraph and you can ask whatever you want, the only catch is I get to put Bob Altherr on it and you pay for it!

I personally believe that whenever something like this happens it hurts EVERYBODY who is involved, the businesses, the town, the people, employees, everybody. But remember, it is a two way street, and the owners know they have an obligation as well. This is far from over, and I only hope that EVERYBODY will work together from this point!

As the Chief of Police I am OBLIGATED BY LAW to assist the other departments in town. This means there are times that I do things that I wish I didn't have to do, however, that's my job! And in my 12 years in Jerome, I have NEVER treated ANYBODY unfairly, unethically or with any bias. Sure, there are people here I just plain don't like, but that has no place in my line of work and has NEVER effected any law enforcement related decision I have ever made..

And finally, stop with the personal attacks! It shows nothing more than your ignorance! Yep, I own the Ghost City Inn and have for ten years. So what? I am, and almost always have been, full prior to the Grand Hotel on any given weekend or special event. We were sending guest to them right up until they were closed, that is what all the hotels in Jerome do, they work together (or at least we used to) I also own AZJerome.com  and I didn't pull the Grand Hotels ads from my pages, and I refer more potential guests from that site than ANYBODY on the internet.

Stop the BS, lies and rumors. tell the truth or stay out of it. If you don't know the facts, don't post!

By the way, the "Ghost Hunters" did come and they DID film there anyway, the town allowed them to do that, so there is another FALSE STATEMENT

Allen Muma