Better That Deputy Dispenses Bias With Pen Than Gun

Agustin Alvarez is a full-time Orange County deputy sheriff as well as the editor of the Courier, the official publication of the deputies’ association. After receiving an editorial he wrote in the September/October, 1991, issue, I’m of the opinion he shouldn’t have both jobs.

The question is, which one is he least suited for?

Under the clever title, “Webster Was Wright,” Alvarez suggests that Noah Webster of dictionary fame was “never politically correct,” then notes that the meaning of some words changed over the years. It had the makings of a witty essay.

But then Alvarez got a full head of editorial steam.

“Good ol’ Noah had a problem in that he would call a spade a spade when he wrote his book about words and definitions,” Alvarez wrote. “An affair was an extraordinary event, gay meant joy and a queer was a homosexual.”

No more, says Alvarez. “Just look at the latest updated editions of Webster: all the definitions have been changed in order to be more sensitive to whatever new weirdo or practice comes down the pike. The classic is homophobic , which means that you can’t dislike homosexuals, the inference being that there is something wrong with you if you don’t accept their lifestyle. When I worked sex crimes and would arrest homosexuals for molesting little boys, was I being homophobic or just competent?”

He then refers to recent serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and says, “the one item the news media never mentioned was that he was homosexual. What harm could there have been if homosexuality is just another different lifestyle? Just ask Randy Kraft or Gordin (sic) Bonin.”

Alvarez ends by saying: “ . . . This modern enlightened society has been sold a bill of goods and, what is even more remarkable, is that they are willing to buy into it to avoid appearing insensitive. . . . I still think Noah Webster was right (originally): If you dress up a pig in all the fancy clothes and perfumes and bring him inside, despite all your good intentions, you still have a pig.”

Aside from sounding like the winning entry in the 1991 David Duke Essay Contest, Alvarez’s comments are appalling.

With deputies like him out on patrol, keeping a sharp eye out for homosexuals, we can all rest easy. He’s got it all figured out--he’s arrested homosexuals in molestation cases, so all gays are molestation suspects; Kraft and Bonin were serial killers, so all gays are potential serial killer suspects.

And you thought law enforcement was complicated.

Alvarez not only distorts the definition of homophobic , he’s flat-out wrong about media omission of Dahmer’s homosexual acts with his victims. Alvarez’s reference to “whatever new weirdo or practice comes down the pike” sounds like he thinks homosexuality was invented somewhere in the mid-1970s just to get his goat.

But the point is not to pick apart his essay. The larger backdrop is that the newspapers have been laden with stories of hate crimes on the rise. The Sheriff’s Department has even joined in on occasion to denounce such behavior.

Sheriff Gates, meet Deputy Alvarez.

Lt. Richard J. Olson, the spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said he doubted that anyone in the department would have anything to say on the matter. He said that the department is a separate entity from the deputies’ association with no “operational tie-in” with them and that “when they do that stuff, they’re on their own.”

True. The only connection is that they happen to be the deputies enforcing the law in Orange County. I was thinking maybe the sheriff’s office would want to denounce Alvarez’s comments, but not so.

I understand that Alvarez and some others will not understand what the big deal is. I even ask myself, why give him a wider audience for what was meant to be an in-house newsletter?

The answer is partly so the public at-large, most of whom don’t harbor such thoughts and don’t want their law enforcement people to do so, won’t think minority groups--gays and lesbians in this case--are always being paranoid when they talk about discrimination.

The other motive is just pure old-fashioned disgust for this kind of stuff. Sorry, deputy, different strokes for different folks.

Bob MacLeod, the general manager of the deputies’ association, said in a faxed statement: “Mr. Alvarez is an individual of strong and sincerely held Christian beliefs. His editorial reflects those beliefs. Mr. Alvarez’s views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the association or the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Whether our organization agrees or disagrees with Mr. Alvarez’s views, we defend his right to state those views without censorship.”

So do I. I’m politically incorrect enough to believe that people should be free to say what they want, especially on the printed page.

Which makes my original conundrum actually quite simple. I think Mr. Alvarez ought to stay on as editor of the Courier and give up his day job as someone supposedly protecting the safety and rights of all the citizens of Orange County.

Let him use his mighty pen to smite the heathens in our midst.

Better a pen than a gun and nightstick.