City Council Meeting 9-24-2012: Psycho Stares, Crocodile Tears, and the Usual

[XLFD]

It was a rather eventful night at the Ludington City Council on 9-24-2012.  The usual opening occurred followed by the public comment period.  Bob Hannah, whose name is composed of two palindromes, started off (2:30 into the video, below) by venting that I like to spend  the taxpayers money, he then stated I haven't paid off a judgment to John Shay from this last lawsuit, which is pretty difficult when the judgment won by the City (not Mr. Shay) hasn't even been given to me yet from the court.  He then states my current lawsuit will cost the City between $50,000 - $100,000 (apparently, he has a crystal ball to see my victory and my judgment-- yet he does not comment on why I would win what he later calls a frivolous lawsuit). 

He continues defining my lawsuit as part of a vendetta against the City, which again presumes the City has wronged me, as such is the nature of vendettas.  Bob continues with noting that even now I do not stop at stop signs on my bicycle, a fact, and yet I still maintain as long as I follow the rules of the right of way, I am within the laws of Michigan.  He finishes:  "If he has the money to hire a lawyer for a frivolous lawsuit, then he has enough to pay the full amount of FOIA."  

Pretty profound coming from a City of Ludington loyalist.  I found out later, Bob is a current member of the Ludington Fire Department, Mayor Henderson's and Councilor Tykoski's fellow firefighter, who joined two months after I resigned.  He's where he's at from my bicycle riding, ironically enough.

Attorney Jeff Nellis then spoke about his candidacy for Probate Judge.  As most judicial candidates, he had to comment on bland stuff like his experience and family life.  My favorite, C. Dale Bannon, then spoke about how difficult it has been to get the City/MDOT to change the signs referring to Stearn's Park as "City Park".  Then it was my turn at the 7:00 mark:

"At the end of last meeting of this austere body, the City Manager commented on the local circuit

court finding in favor of the City for nearly $700 and dismissing two citizens' FOIA appeal. Until I

see a final judgment from that court, I won't comment on that aspect. But what he didn't bother to

tell you was the particulars of that lawsuit and what happened to get two citizens to that point. Here is a timeline and some facts, and the City has their opportunity at the end of the meeting for their rebuttal, if they deem to do so.

On September 7, 2011 we made a FOIA request asking for business records between the City and

Nick Tykoski's businesses. Six days later, John Shay gave a response that did not comply with

FOIA rules. He did not grant the request, deny the request, partially grant and deny the request, or

postpone the request. As such he violated the act.

After trying to get a lawful response from him again, we appealed to this body. The mayor sent a

certified letter to my ally inviting her to the meeting on September 27, 2011, but a request by me to also attend that meeting was denied by John Shay. You see, in his capacity as City Manager he has that right under the Workplace Safety Policy, a constitutionally illegal policy that will cost the City Manager (and unfortunately, our City's taxpayers) a lot of time and money to revoke and address injuries that it caused.

We sent our appeal rationale to each councilor, but neither of us showed up at the meeting, where

our FOIA appeal was taken off the agenda, never to be considered by this Council. The council

shirked their responsibility to hold a FOIA appeal. This was not surprising from the same City

Council that decided it had the right to bar citizens from public places at a City Manager's whim,

including the only two Ludington public places that citizens could inspect FOIA responses.

After this outrage, we pursued a FOIA in the local court system. Here we were assigned Honorable

Judge Richard Cooper, who effectively blocked us from getting any response until after that

November's election, which was significant because we eventually received some records that were

unfavorable to those concerned with ethics by now-councilor Nick Tykoski. But ethics were far

from any public servants minds as we found out throughout our court process.

The City's law firm, Gockerman, Wilson, Saylor, etc. came forth on November 8th as the City's

counsel. Little did the plaintiffs know that this lawfirm also had Judge Cooper's son as an associate

until four months later when the Judge admitted it as an appearance of impropriety. Judges, court

administrators, and the City's lawfirm had a responsibility to admit such impropriety immediately by

the Canons of Judicial Conduct and the Rules of Professional Conduct, but it took them over four

months. We immediately disqualified the judge, and sent a complaint to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.

During this time, we (and the court) received from the City, certified by the City Manager with an

affidavit, a set of public records that supposedly fulfilled our FOIA request. This was four months

into the process, and the records included only ones that we received through two previous

requests, the vast majority were not even applicable to our request under appeal, and said our lawsuit was moot. We knew from previous requests, there were many records not included. We made special requests for those records we knew of.

Amazingly, after City Attorney Saylor and City Manager Shay had seen these new FOIA requests,

they found the records we asked for a half year previously and and some more records that they had withheld, what they would say they 'overlooked'. This is why they would later also claim our lawsuit was moot, even after they perjured themselves and would not get us the full records until 6 months after we asked for them. The new judge, also on the 51st Circuit Court, agreed with them. So although we spent $210 on Court costs, received fraudulent records and perjured statements, and wasted countless hours trying to go through the legal hoops to get this 30 pages of non-exempt

public records we should have been given a year ago, our side is told our point is moot and we owe

the City money for other records we have never seen. You can conclude what you might about the

court processes here in Mason County, I know how we feel about it..."

That's where I was cut off, having expended my five minutes plus about a half minute.  Next days City of Ludington Daily News' (COLDNews) Kevin Barnishevowicz had this to say about my assertions:  "Rotta spoke for five minutes about the lawsuit he filed against the City and lost."   The 'news' that the Chief of the LFD said the usual disclaimer about my LFD shirt just after my speech merited more than twice the coverage by the COLDNews.  By the way, a loss in a local seemingly-dysfunctional trial court is just a setback, not a loss.  In my book of justice.

 

Speaking of which, Jeff Nellis, Probate Judge candidate, snuck out shortly after this without comment about my judicial references.  But I did promise you some other things:

 

Psycho Stares 

 

While City Attorney Richard Wilson was droning on about how everyone who attended the closed session was aware of what was going to be discussed at the closed meeting on 8-27-2012, (and neglecting to note that the Open Meetings Act requires that general information to be shared with those not attending from the public, before they move to go into closed session) John Shay began fixing his gaze at me.  It was a bit unsettling, particularly since I think he has done quite a bit to justify me taking out a "Letter of Trespass" on him, notwithstanding the four counts in my lawsuit that apply to him.

 

 

Take a look at John Shay's gaze as Wilson lulls you in the background, starting at 42:45 and extending all the way to 45:15, (two and a half minutes) focussing on the podium area, where I was perched at that time in case a question was asked of me regarding my FOIA appeal.  Off-camera, I myself was generally focused on Wilson, who was the only person talking, but I could not help but notice this fixed gaze, which would make a normal person feel nervous. 

 

Particularly, if that normal person had the MCSO serve the fixed-starer a Federal Court suit earlier that day, and even more particularly when one realizes that this man has ultimate control over the Ludington Police Department, and has utilized them against this normal person before.  They all carry guns; I don't.

 

Crocodile Tears

 

At 49:00 in, Gary Castonia says:  "When I first ran for office I knew I would be scrutinized and I'd be held accountable for any statements I made.  But the only way I can say this now is by quoting Mr. Rotta, I'm absolutely disgusted that you dragged my family, my grandson (breaks down), and my wife, and her business into this.  And I want the whole city to know how you treat people.  And the last comment I want to make is:  People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks." 

 

The rock-lobber strikes again, according to Gary.  He refers to this thread  karma-castonia  which relates court news placed out by the Mason County Press and the COLDNews, and I believe that 'glass house' comment should be reviewed by the senior Castonia.  During his long career as a law officer, I am sure he bagged his share of marijuana-possessors, and thought he was doing society a favor.  Now that his grandson is nabbed, and the irony of the situation is pointed out, he goes into pitied victim-mode. 

But this isn't why he won't get any sympathy from me for his theatrics, because I do think it is a tragedy that his grandson may now find himself with this charge plaguing him through his career.  What he will get is these questions:  Where was your empathy, Gary, when you passed the Workplace Safety Policy and effectively criminalized me in the eyes of my fellow citizens with the COLDNews when I hadn't done anything?  Why don't you have any empathy towards the emotional distress you have helped caused in others by your reluctance to do anything about this unconstitutional legislation?  And why is re-publishing factual information about this event in the Torch any worse than those other news groups doing the same, and why am I being held accountable for raising real concerns regarding kids that may have been exposed to illegal drugs at your wife's daycare facility?

Because, remember, the reason you said you voted against the Ludington MM ordinance was because you thought the Federal government drug policy was dominant, which made such possession illegal, no exceptions.  Do you honestly feel the same way now that it's your own flesh and blood, possessing it for non-medicinal purposes, getting the rap?  

 

Yes, there were other things that happened this night, including some weird accusations made by LFD personnel off-camera, but if time permits I will cover those later.  The quest for justice, freedom, and information goes on... 

[XLFD]

A good poet or author can pen something that means different things to different people.  You and CLFD are free to interpret whatever I say using your own viewpoint, but try not to attribute my intentions accordingly. 

I may be signalling a right turn.

[XLFD]

You might want to talk with more people beyond your close circle of friends, CLFD, as I hear of few regular citizens that have a favorable impression of John Shay or the LPD leadership.  Most just don't care, but the ones with opinions I've talked with over the last few years, with few exceptions, don't think highly of John and Mark, let alone have much faith in them.

If you search this website using "John Shay" or "Mark Barnett" you'll find several reasons why they evoke such antipathy.  Neither set a good example for their positions.  John Shay and Chief Barnett have shown repeatedly to me that they have little respect for the law, and that's what scares me, not the guns.    

[Jane]

Could you imagine an accident happening when the LPD do one of there 'fake' traffic stops so a kid can ask his desired date (gf?) to a dance? If not neccessarily his gf what if she had another guy in the car and he jumped out and tried to scuffle with the asker, where would the officer be in that situation then? Or what if she was a psycho and took off on a high speed chase? Anything can and does go wrong in traffic stops.

That is where we have to be afraid of them, doing thing outside their domain where accidents could happen under the approval of the COL upper echelon.

[XLFD]

I have continued to ask for the officer's name and the names of the special boy and girl who had the privilege of this public service.  Nobody's giving it out. 

Who is wasting the taxpayer's dime here?  The Chief and his dating service, or me for continuing to seek answers and running into dead ends?  CLFD?

[CLFD]

XLFD

My apology to you for not understanding why you inserted "CLFD?" at the end of your post there.

I do believe it was a waste of taxpayer money but I did not realize that the "special boy and girl" were part of this glare-stare discussion.

[XLFD]

Aren't you the least bit curious as to which boy could canoodle your police chief into wasting the taxpayer's money and causing a potential liability for the City, by allowing him to ride with a LPD officer on duty and make a faux traffic stop?  

This is why the boy's and girl's name is important in this investigation into horseplay by the Ludington Police Department Chief, and his written refusal to give out such information is a further insult to the people who pay his salary, or expect ethics in the person in his position.  This isn't an anomaly for the Chief.

[CLFD]

XLFD

Let me make this perfectly clear. I am not here to support John Shay or Mark Barnett.

[Eye On Ludington]

CLFD, If you are interested, I am in the process of starting a new NING website where people can openly ask XLFD questions on a neutral site without getting harassed by his few followers every step of the way. It should be up and running soon. Stay tuned.

[XLFD]

Eye,

Glad to hear that you're going to be running a neutral web site this time.  The last one seemed a bit biased against Torchers and their contributors.  But then, I may be biased in my opinion. 

Just to let you know, it took me a weekend to get the Ludington Torch on-line and ready for the people's business.  I'm sure the length of time you're taking to get your project underway will lead to a much better product.  Good luck.

[AQUAMAN]

It's hard to believe that someone, anyone, would specifically dedicate a special web site to trying to make XLFD look bad, and to ask more mundane questions that have already been answered here for several years by many many individuals trying to undermine his efforts in seeking information about the COL. Instead of providing a valuable information tool to get the inside scoop about all sorts of subject matters here around town, we now have a "team of outlanders" that will dedicate all their time to Tom bashing. Quite incredible and foolish imho. So, what real purpose will it serve? Will X be incarcerated or a riot happen if you can bash hard enough? Will they lynch him in mob style outside the courthouse by a big oak tree? Or will X simply get horrified enough to drop all his court actions for fear of reprisals on the streets? What exactly does such a notion and site actually expect to accomplish in the end? I see it as an immature juvenile way to relieve someone's libido ego, cause they can't face him in person, nor on the Torch, and look anything but foolish in the process. Talk about rock lobbers from under the stands, this is it imho.

[Eye On Ludington]

LOL at Aquaman.

[Willy]

Excellent points Aquaman