The lack of information coming from the Basalt Police Department continued on Friday, when neither of the acting police chiefs responded to a simple request from ZG’s colleague in the newsroom for an arrest report.

A Basalt police officer arrested a man Sunday on a felony theft count and some other charges. With no response from the two top cops to a basic inquiry about the details involved, the reporter rang up the police department, got the communications center and was told a message would be left for the on-duty officer.

The officer returned the call, but said he was too busy to make the report public and to call back on Monday.

ZG wonders if the public will perceive that lack of response as related to the local media’s attempts to find out, on the public’s behalf, just what the hell happened to former police chief Roderick O’Connor, who resigned last month after a complaint was filed against him from someone within the department. Town officials seem bent on tossing the circumstances of his suspension and subsequent resignation into the valley’s equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.

They say they have their reasons, be they pending litigation, confidentiality agreements and the like.

The whole thing reminds ZG of the wisdom of the great Groucho Marx, who said, “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”