COURT WORKER CLEARED DURING HIS TRIAL, BUT OUT OF A JOB

CANTON - Donald Beadle walked into a bar and out of his
job.

For two-and-a-half years, he supervised defendants sentenced to
community service by judges of the Canton Municipal Court.

Then, last month, he found himself facing criminal charges in the same
court - accused of fighting with a police officer during a drug raid
on a Louisville bar. A jury heard the case and said Beadle, 51, wasn't
guilty of resisting arrest and obstructing official business.

But before the case went to trial, he already had lost his
job.

"If I'm guilty, I deserve whatever the hell I get. But damn it, I'm
not," said Beadle, who is looking for a new job.

The court stands behind its decision to fire Beadle. Unlike a police
officer or firefighter, he wasn't protected by a union contract.
Judges could release him for any reason, and his arrest wasn't his
first time being in trouble at work, said Court Administrator Michael
E. Kochera.

THE RAID

The Time Out Tavern. Regulars call it a neighborhood bar. Louisville
police say it's a dive known for drugs and guns.

Converted from an old, two-story brick home, the Time Out sits along
Main Street just west of the railroad tracks.

On April 22, state liquor agents and police officers from two
departments descended on the bar. Louisville police had purchased
drugs inside the Time Out and from the resident of an upstairs
apartment, court papers show. Warrants gave the 19 officers and agents
permission to search the bar and patrons and vehicles on the property.

The raid went down around 10:30 p.m.

With cruisers parked in front of the bar, several Alliance police
officers entered through the back door, while another team secured the
upstairs apartment.

That's where Beadle comes into the story, and versions of what
happened diverge.

THE TRIAL

Due to Beadle's employment with the court, a retired judge from
Barberton presided over the June 17 trial. Defense attorney Jeffrey
Haupt tried unsuccessfully to have the charges dismissed, arguing that
a trial would be double jeopardy because Beadle was fired after a
hearing before a court magistrate.

Beadle said he didn't know of drug problems at the bar prior to the
raid. It just happened to be near his home.

As he and a bartender testified at the trial, he walked into the Time
Out, slapped down a $20 bill and ordered a beer.

"Alls I got out of my mouth was, 'May I have a Miller?' and these two
guys just start screaming, and the one guy had his hat on backwards,"
Beadle told the jury. "... I thought they were a couple of hoods
jumping me because I work with these kind of people."

The "two guys" were Alliance police officers, called in to assist in
the raid.

Alliance detective Paul Vesco testified that Beadle was standing
inside the bar's rear doorway as officers approached in an unmarked
van. Sensing the team had lost the element of surprise, Vesco ran into
the bar, shouting, "Police! Search warrant! Get down!"

Beadle was about 10 to 15 feet away and walking fast toward the front
door, Vesco told the jury. The officer detailed what happened next:

Beadle looked over his shoulder, grabbed Vesco's arm and tried to
punch him in the head. Vesco pushed Beadle away. Beadle tried to put
Vesco into a headlock and punched him in the face. Vesco returned the
favor, before taking Beadle to the ground and cuffing him.

Beadle was one of six arrested. Police also found small packets of
suspected cocaine on two patrons.

When told he was being charged with misdemeanors, Beadle said he knew
the judges, and that the charges would go away, Vesco said.

Vesco and other officers were adamant that they identified themselves
as police. But bar patrons and workers said they didn't really know
what was going on.

"My first thought was we were being robbed," said bartender Georgina
Carson.

Beadle said Vesco was so close to him, he couldn't see the officer's
badge, but when a flashbang - an explosive device police use as a
distraction - went off, he realized he was in the middle of a police
raid and gave up.

"There was no swinging, no headlocks or anything," Beadle
testified.

He clarified his post-arrest statements as: "I work for the courts.
I'm a retired Marine. My record is squeaky clean. Why would I fight
you guys, knowing full well you're police? I work with you guys every
day."

The jury was out an hour. Not guilty.

THE JOB

"I've been proven in a court of law 'not guilty,' " Beadle said.
"Where does that leave me?"

Apparently, still out of a job.

As an at-will employee, Beadle could be dismissed at any time by the
judges, explained Kochera, the court administrator. And the threshold
for employment matters is lower than the proof-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt
standard in criminal cases.

On May 20, judges fired Beadle, affirming a magistrate's finding that
he engaged in behavior unbecoming an officer of the court. Beadle
protested that he didn't have a chance to round up witnesses on his
behalf for the employment hearing and hadn't taken his criminal case
to trial.

The magistrate noted Beadle's past disciplinary scrapes in reaching
his decision: In November, Beadle received a written warning for
allowing a woman sentenced to community service to give him a CD of
her modeling photos. Beadle said the woman had been talking about
posing for a motorcycle calendar and offered to bring in pictures, but
she never did, according to his personnel file.

A few months later, Beadle was disciplined for backing over the foot
of a community service worker with the court's van. Further incidents
could lead to termination, he was told, according to the file.

"His judgment was suspect, given the conduct he'd already been
involved in," Kochera said.

That leaves Beadle, a Central Catholic graduate who returned to Stark
County after 26 years in the Marines, looking for another career.