The police didn't do it

Yesterday, in our report from the Lewis Wheelan funeral, we told you about the service being interrupted several times by "cross-talk from police two-way radios that was picked up and loudly broadcast by the church's public-address system."

'Twasn't so, we're advised by Deputy Chief Bob Kates. And we believe him.

Yes, the service at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church was definitely interrupted by unwanted radio cross-talk.

By the nature of the communications, particularly one that referred to Police Chief Bob Davies, we assumed that the messages originated with the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service.

We assumed wrong.

Not that we were blaming the police.

But some of you did, and you phoned them to let them know your feelings.

A sound engineer of our acquaintance tells us that the problem is usually at the receiving end.

It can usually be fixed, he tells us, by adding an appropriate filter to the church's PA system or microphone cord, or by changing the frequency on the cordless microphone, if one is used.

But our engineering expert also advises that police communications in Sault Ste. Marie are scrambled and that the possibility of an unscrambled signal being picked up by a church public address system is next to zero.

We're not sure where the transmissions originated that caused the PA system to be shut down at yesterday's service, or for that matter, that it matters.

But it does matter to us that the police not be blamed for something they didn't do.

Notwithstanding anything you might have read here yesterday, they were in no way responsible for interrupting Ken White's tribute yesterday to an extraordinary young man.