I want to thank all the citizens and business that rallied to support the fundraising efforts for Sabre the K-9 dog.

Three generations of our family including my daughter and granddaughter all participated in making the event a success. I am proud to stand up for what I believe is important as a community member.

However, the real reason I am writing is to convey my disappointment in the Black Diamond mayor, once again putting her personal and professional goals before the citizens and the community that she was elected to serve by canceling the city-sanctioned K-9 event due to her incorrect belief that the business location supported a group that differed in political position.

She followed this arbitrary decision with an unsanctioned letter to the editor dated Sept. 5; this reflects poorly on our city and demonstrates how out of touch with the community the city administration is.

The mayor’s sole decision to politicize the police department and the K-9 fundraiser should make us all stop and reflect.

A government’s primary role is to provide safety to its people. Canceling this event and disallowing police officers from attending — even on their private time— puts all the police officers in a difficult position in our community, undermining the critical support and trust that is required for effective and positive policing.

Even though politics doesn’t have a direct impact on the daily decisions of police officers on patrol, the political culture of a community determines the style of law enforcement.

Form of government (commissioner, mayor/council, city manager) makes a difference in the extent to which politics shape policing. It has been shown that politics seep into police departments in cities that employ a mayor/council type of government. By contrast, a professional city manager makes political intervention into policing less likely.

The city attorney was required to create a new law in order to accept the funds raised by private Black Diamond citizens to support our law enforcement.

One of the basic tenets of America has always been individual rights and participation in government.

We must preserve and defend those strengths and freedoms. We as a country have fought against dictatorships in all forms throughout our history.

We are all responsible to maintain our freedoms, and it all begins on our individual and local level.

Vote yes Prop 1.

Susan F. Ball

Black Diamond