Mercer County Sheriff pays Prof a visit

[Image from the Hamiltonian, complete with spelling]


In a local issue in Mercer County, New Jersey, Professor Mike Glass of Mercer County Community College lectured his class on the fact that Mercer County Sheriff Kevin Larkin is collecting $85,000 in yearly pension payments AND is collecting a $129,000 salary for his sheriff job. One of the students (apparently an employee of the sheriff) texted the sheriff, who proceeded to pay the professor a visit, apparently with his weapon.

Imagine if we resolved patent law issues this way!

The Newark Star-Ledger editorial people had this to say in a piece titled -- Mercer County Sheriff had no business in county college classroom --:

Much of what Glass said about him was already public record. All of it is protected under something called academic freedom. Even if the professor made inaccurate or insulting remarks, it did not give the sheriff the right to interrupt the lecture because he didn’t like the lesson.

The sheriff has apologized to the college for violating school policy. He might want to go a bit further and enroll there in a course on the First Amendment.

The Hamiltonian noted that Rich McClellan, now Mercer Democrat County Chair and once advisor to now-deposed Hamilton Mayor Gilmore, defended Larkin, as did Mercer County Executive Hughes.

See also Sheriff says he regrets actions