Feeling the Heat: The City Strikes Back

[XLFD]

You may be wondering after hearing that I was served on March 1st by a LPD LEO with a Notice that prevented me from going to City Hall, the Ludington Police Department, and an address I never went to before, and then having a piece in the local paper broadcast this news to everyone in the area, why I am getting such a sanction and why now.

Besides some E-mails to Torch member and City Councilor Wanda Marrison, I have not contacted anyone connected with the City via mail or phone since January 17. This was a E-Mail request to John Shay to receive an electronic copy of, or to come in and view, the compiled city ordinances, which he replied to in kind. Furthermore, the last time I visited City Hall was January 28th, at the behest of a friend who made a FOIA request and wanted me to come along to help scan the documents.  We wound up just picking up copies with nary a frown on anyone's face.
So why did I receive a  vague Notice of Trespass, and why did the Daily News print its unflattering attack on my character three days later?

Last summer, I retained the services of a lawyer who makes a habit of going after corrupt practices in government. His name is J. Nicholas Bostic, and he has a busy docket nowadays as there is plenty of government depravity going on everywhere. He took my case because he took the time to look at what happened in the aftermath of my simple bicycle traffic stop, and even noted other problems with the process than I did. He is familiar with the area, and with what passes for governance around here. 

I am not going to share the correspondence we’ve had, that would give the other side in this long story an advantage, but I am going to share with you some of Barrister Bostic’s letters to the City requesting some legal relief, as these would be available to all with a properly worded FOIA request on this topic.

After a period of getting extra documents and facts confirmed, Mr. Bostic sent the following 15-point stipulation and order to whom we thought was the City Attorney (and whom tried my case), John Bulger.

JNB letter p1

JNB letter p2

Stipulation p1

Stipulation p2

Stipulation p3

Order

 

For those people in Rio Linda who believe I blew past a stop sign and am just whining about getting caught, consider what the stipulation contends:
1) The City didn’t properly designate or notify me of the charge against me.
2) The City charged me with violating a state law, but the City prosecuted the case.
3) The stop sign involved was not placed according to the Uniform Manual of Traffic Control devices (it was 25 ft. beyond the crosswalk).
4) The City acknowledged there was no Traffic Control Order for the stop sign in question, as required by the Uniform Traffic Code for regulatory value.
5) The County has shown there was no proper assignment orders for Probate Court Judge Raven to serve as judge over my requested formal hearing.
6) The District Court changed the designation of the case without notice, motion, or hearing on my part.

The City violated my rights of due process in the first two, the City violated everyone’s safety by their negligence in the next two, and the County violated my due process rights in the last two.

But the City had quietly changed the ‘Criminal’ City Attorney to former Susan (Kasley) Sniegowski last January. Mr. Bulger apprised me of that fact in a reply, and said he passed it onto her.

Bulger Response

 
Two months had passed with no reply, but a FOIA request found out that Ludington's  Manistee City Attorney, Richard Wilson and his firm, had been given extra powers to try City ‘crimes’    Latest City Attorney Agreement   , so I passed this along. Apparently, CA Wilson did not want to handle it and he passed this assignment on to Susan, who apparently was still hired by the City.
It seems kind of redundant to have two ‘Criminal City Attorneys’ but apparently our City Manager believes we need them and can afford them both, even though we have not had two such attorneys assigned to that task in the past. Here’s her reply:
Sniegowski's Snub

 
I don’t know Mrs. Sniegowski’s informant, but the Attorney General and SCAO have not been contacted by me in regards as to any of the facts presented in the stipulation. Be that as it may, my attorney took her rejection in stride in this letter they received about a week before I got banned from the various places    JNB Lets roll letter   .   It portends a legal fight to set the record straight.

In the past, I seem to remember the former Building Inspector Jack Byers was roundly denigrated by city officials when he filed suit for ethical rule violations by the Ludington Government. I remember how lies were spread, by an agency where confidentiality and accuracy is required, about a bicycle traffic stop and because of that I was told that I would get a written reprimand from the LFD if I did not drop my formal hearing in court and admit responsibility for yielding properly at an intersection with an illegally placed stop sign with no traffic control order backing it up.

Ludington City Hall does not like being challenged, even when wrong, and needs an overhaul desperately so that honest citizens can live freely without fearing their government. Today it’s my rights taken away, my reputation besmirched; tomorrow, it’s yours.

[Willy]

I am pleased that you are pursuing this and not sitting still and taking the crap being doled out by Shay and whoever is behind him. I know what is involved with your situation due to some of my own experiances. Don't let them drag you down. From your recent letters I can now understand why "council lady" has disappeared from this forum. She is trying to distance herself from the action. If she had the integrity she tried to show here she would use her position to get to the bottom of this most unfortunate display of a "Government out of control".

[Sweater Cows!]

Maybe the councilwoman got a dose of reality by being here and fled? Seems like as likely a guess as any. Most people avoid conflict like its a plague. No backbone in most nowadays, and why is our country falling apart? yep, turn tail and run.

[XLFD]

Like it or not, Wanda is part of the system; and if she tries to go against the prevailing winds, she will find her political career around here much more difficult.  The CC meeting next week should give a clue as to whether any Councilor has the nerve to do what's right, over what is politically expedient.

[Willy]

He'll probably need a police escort to attend the CC meeting. Maybe the police will let him turn on the siren and flashers while they say wheeee! Seriously Wanda do you think the councilors will have any interest because they have had none up until now. They [you] even passed tougher requirements for citizens to obtain FOIA information. DId you bother to ask Shay if his recommendation for tightening FOIA was because of XLFD or was he having trouble with all the FOIA requests. Have you inquired about the water tower funding? What about XLFD allegation that stop signs are improperly placed and have been installed without authorization? As well as a myriad of other questions he has raised. I know you don't make much money for being a council member [ I think you folks deserve more] but isn't it about time you folks on the CC check into who is doing what and quit acting like LDN reporters.

[XLFD]

Unfortunately, the Notice of Trespass and the defamatory newspaper article are just the first public attempts at knee-capping me, RJE.  I pretty much figured I am not alone in my ordeals with this system-- many other good people have had to face the current City juggernaut-- most are smart enough to just walk away. 

Whatever the outcome of my ordeals, I hope you and any others that have witnessed wrongdoing by our local officials, continue to do the dumb thing.  To come forward and call them out on their actions.  LOL.

[AQUAMAN]

Very interesting, esp. the part where the stipulations and orders were sent to City Attrny. Bulger in October 2010, with no timely reply, and conveniently, and of course just coincidentally, he is dismissed and replaced in January 2011, by Susan K..  Another ousted official voted out, now able to regain the drawstrings of public legal position, just in time for this to be heard/replied to. All this and so much more to draw (realistic) conclusions from and about the proper authority and legal manipulations going on in Mason County for soooooooo long. I could add, false imprisonment, libel to your reputation, perhaps even slander to your family name, for your attorney Bostick to add to this already lengthy agenda. And it shall come to pass, eventually I would hope. Alot of broken eggshells to wipe clean, imho.

[Eve Alone]

Just a correction, Aquaman, John Bulger was let go at the beginning of 2010 with no fanfare, unlike the release of Roger Anderson, the CA-Civil back then and Susan was CA-Criminal then.  As X points out, both can handle criminal aspects now.  The question is why do we pay two attorneys for this while taxes and fees are higher than ever??? 

[XLFD]

Those eggshells are what I've been walking on all this time just trying to get the FOIA Coordinator (John Shay) to do his job according to the dictates of the law.  Well-timed egg reference Aquaman, being so close to Easter and all.

[AQUAMAN]

Hmmm, Rom, you're the expert, use the Webster version of two words, first false, then imprisonment, put the two together, get the idea? Many have served sentences that later have been proven to be innocent, i.e., if anyone lost time out of their lives for false prosecution, they would have been falsely imprisoned, dig? One guy in Fl. was in prison for 25+ years for a murder he didn't do, DNA proved it now, but he served anyhow, now he got a big settlement from the State for all that time out of his life that he can't get back, dig? Any day lost to life is a day you can't get back.

[XLFD]

Rom,

Hypothetically, would you say that a judge that didn't have proper assignment to a court (i.e. did not have jurisdiction) who found someone in civil contempt for not following a court order from the improperly assigned judge (which led to imprisonment) was a case of "false imprisonment"? 

[AQUAMAN]

If you got the time honey, X + me aint got the money, but I can get ya a beer, okey dokey? Btw, how did you arrive at $230/hr.? Isn't that the same fee CM Shay wants to charge X for FOIA requests by the City Clerk?..............LOL. Gotta admit, the kid has gonads....................rofl.

[XLFD]

Well Rom, if I respected your legal opinion I just might consider it ; )