Valley Volatility: Recalls, Facebook posts, Sonic the Dog

In the last year, Valley has been sorting through some hard feelings.

Two recall petitions — one for Mayor Cindy Grove and another for City Council President John Batcher — are circulating, alleging the officials violated laws, disrespected the public and advanced costly projects while neglecting critical infrastructure, among other claims submitted June 9 to the Douglas County Election Commission.

In a response to the election commission, Grove wrote that the allegations were “politically motivated and unfounded.” The petition “ignores facts and proven progress,” reads Batcher’s response.

At an April 9 meeting, Grove accused three City Council members of violating the open meetings act. City Council member Linda Lewis said her lawyer’s fees so far well exceed her $3,000 annual council member salary.

Last year, the city went through a protracted custody battle over Sonic, a fully trained Belgian Malinois K-9 dog from Holland. After his handler retired, citizens pushed for the city to retire the dog with him. 

The back-and-forth sparked heated Facebook posts, local TV stories and the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.Sonic’s original handler eventually ended up with the dog.

By Chris Bowling

Chris Bowling is an investigative reporter for Flatwater Free Press. Prior to joining Flatwater Free Press Chris was an investigative reporter and editor for The Reader, Omaha's alternative monthly newspaper where he focused on issues like climate change, housing, health, criminal justice and social issues. A native of Cincinnati, Bowling graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2018.

2 Comments

First of all Valley never needed the dog Sonic as proof they gave him back to the policeman that Valley fired not retired. Instead of selling him for $10,000 the exact amount they paid for Sonic they sold him to the fired police man for $1. There is a very tangled sad story that should be made public about the mishandling of Sonic by Valley mayor Cindy Grove. She wouldn’t make a decision as to Sonic’s future & left the dog to languish in a kennel for a year at tax payers dollars.

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