Jay GreesonNormally, in this space on Saturdays, I try to amuse.
The news business can be serious and sad and far too often filled with angst.
Heck, my original spin for today was about a Michigan chimpanzee who hit an elderly lady in the face with poop.
Yes, it was as funny as it sounds, until you realize the officials at the John Cook Zoo in Grand Rapids were already using behavioral specialists for said chimp. Yes. A behavioral specialist for a chimpanzee.
Well, the chance for chuckles took a backseat Friday afternoon when news that Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher announced his timetable for departure.
Fletcher has been a great leader and maybe an even better soldier. For that, his time here in Chattanooga will be missed. Greatly.
Heck, Chattanooga City Councilman Chip Henderson told this paper's Emmett Gienapp that Fletcher will be the measure by which all future police chiefs are measured. And it's hard to argue with that assessment.
Fletcher carried the unimaginable weight of leading a law enforcement charge against terrorism. He handled the threats of the growing and continual assault against decency that gang activity presents. He galvanized a police department that was handed a professional kick to the wallet early in the Andy Berke administration with the pension overhauls.
In short, Fletcher was very good at his job. Better than most realized, in fact, because he was quick to deflect credit and even quicker to pick up whatever task was needed.
He frequently posted on social media about walking a beat or doing a rank-and-file job that was assuredly below his pay grade. If you think that was for show, well, believe that if you want.
But that show was not for us, it was for the folks under his command that all jobs - be they standing before the national media with the FBI after the July 16 attacks or interacting with the public - of a police officer are important.
And that's good policing and, more importantly for that job, great leadership.
Fletcher was caught in the tug of war of politics that became the failed Berke initiative that is the Violence Reduction Initiative. The VRI was a disaster, but Fletcher did his best with a failing plan.
In fact, he became the rope in the political blame game tug-of-war between the mayor's office and District Attorney General Neal Pinkston, who also is very good at his job.
With that, Fletcher skipped stones across lily-pads and played hopscotch among minefields of public perception.
It was impressive, and it also was not surprising.
There is a lot of crime news that consumes us here in the Scenic City.
There's the witnesses deciding not to testify against Cortez Sims. There's the almost daily outrage of shootings among those on the east side of the city. There's the growing concern that gang activity is growing.
And of all that terrible news, truth be told, the fact that Fred Fletcher will no longer be leading the fight against it may be the most depressing of all.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/jgreesontfp.