By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ferrell

MASON - Police chief Ron Ferrell was arrested Thursday on contempt charges for refusing to transport prisoners from the Warren County jail.

It's the latest in a series of disputes between Mason Municipal Judge George Parker and local officials.

Parker told his bailiffs to arrest Ferrell after the chief rejected the judge's order to deliver an inmate from the county jail in Lebanon for a preliminary hearing on felony theft charges.

The inmate was being held on charges filed by the Warren County Sheriff's Office.

Two months ago, municipal court reported a dramatic decline in traffic tickets written by state troopers after complaints by local police that Parker treated them disrespectfully.

Ferrell, who was arraigned on the misdemeanor charges at 5:30 p.m. and released on his own recognizance, said he can't allow his department to be a transport service on another agency's cases.

That would jeopardize public safety because it would force him to take a working officer off the street, he said.

"Anytime we do that, it's at the expense of our community and our taxpayers," Ferrell said. "We can't just provide unlimited service at someone's beck and call. We just don't have that ability."

At least 20 officers and city staffers sat in the courtroom in a show of support as Ferrell, dressed in jeans because he was off sick, stood before Parker and entered pleas of not guilty.

Parker, who does not have to recuse himself from the case and did not indicate that he will, set a hearing for 2:30 p.m. on May 29 to decide the matter. The judge can fine Ferrell or send him to jail until he complies with the order.

The charges accuse Ferrell of directly disobeying Parker's order Thursday afternoon to transport the prisoner and for telling his officers to do the same.

Ferrell was arrested, though not handcuffed, by one of Parker's bailiffs sometime after 4 p.m., about an hour after the judge ordered him to deliver the prisoner.

Parker said it was the second day in a row that Mason had refused to transport prisoners from the county jail for separate hearings.

"It's a valid court order and he failed to comply," Parker, who has been on the bench just more than a year, told the Enquirer after the hearing.

"This isn't personal. All I want to do is operate the court," he said, even though he has been at odds with Ferrell in the past year over Ferrell's refusal to detail some of his 37 officers to court security.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com