Anarchy (Kind of) in the Heartland:
Okla. Mayor and Police Force All Quit

Feb. 27, 2009— -- A dispute – part personal, part political – among elected officials in a small Oklahoma town has resulted in the resignation of the entire police force, the police chief, town attorney, vice mayor and mayor.

On a very small and very sardonic scale, Ringling, Oklahoma's descent into anarchy mirrors that of failed states in places like Afghanistan and Haiti.

The town has been abandoned by its elected leader, forced out by an increasingly powerful opposition. Outside forces – namely, the Jefferson County sheriff -- have been called in to keep the peace. Allegations of influence peddling and cover-ups abound. An illicit narco-economy has sprung up, and the drug trade, from manufacturing to dealing, is booming. And the remaining city council members are conducting purges and "kangaroo courts to get rid of whoever they don't like," according to the outgoing mayor.

Depending on your perspective, it's either Mayberry meets realpolitik or they're all just a bunch of "dummies."

Jerry Reid, the mayor of Ringling, has yet to tenure his resignation in writing, but he has "had it with" small town politics and "the dummies involved" and intends to officially quit soon.

Reid said he decided to quit soon after police Chief Jeremy Wilson and his entire police force turned in their badges and guns on Tuesday, after weeks of being threatened with dismissal from some members of the town's council.

To hear the mayor tell it, the 1,200 folks in Ringling are good, hardworking Americans -- most of them farmers, but a few too many drug addicts.

"There's a lot of real good people in Ringling. But there's a lot of dope there too. They smoke pot and make crack cocaine. I've got word we've got several good crack cookers in town," Reid said.

In an effort to clean up what he calls the town's "dope problem," Reid hired Wilson four months ago to run the town's nine-member volunteer police department. As chief, Wilson was the only paid member on the force.

Wilson either did his job too well -- allegedly arresting on drug charges the relative of one city council member -- or not well enough, once hiring a felon to serve on the force and maybe botching an arson investigation.