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... 

[Eye On Ludington]

I agree that Opinions are fairly useless. Unfortunately everybody does it.

I feel the same way about the hundreds of baseless opinions posted right here on your website, such as your opinion that the running of that daycare facility might have included illegal drug usage in front of kids. Totally not supported by fact or experimentation but viciously spliced together with illogical strands of imagination in order to attack a city citizen and his family.

 

I appreciate your Thanking me for my interest in you (LOL LOL). You know what they say, that imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery. Likewise, this is unto you:

Thank YOU for YOUR interest in me.

 

You have to know that I will be leaving this site soon enough and using my own site for anything I have to say. Just thought I would give you another opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion based not only upon your own distorted points of view but also consider opposing points of view. I had hoped you were capable of engaging in civil discourse wtih somebody who often does not like what you are! Obviously I was wrong. No need to worry yourself about any more questions or opinions from me here in this discussion, because my next questions and opinions on this topic will be on my own website. 

LOL LOL LOL

[Sean]

So what did Mr. Castonia's grandson do that is going to hunt him the rest of his life and why does it relate to Counselor Castonia?

[XLFD]

The thread head has a link to Karma Castonia, which tells the entirety of what he referred to.  Gary's grandson got nabbed for drug possession, which was a bit ironic since Castonia has a career of coming down hard on such offenders, and voted against the Ludington Medical Marijuana Ordinance on the grounds that he was against the State law, and believed in the federal stance on MM. 

As I see it, Mr. Castonia was more mortified by having this ironic connection, and his own seeming hypocrisy, brought out. 

[Sean]

So since, his grandson, got caught with Marijuana, it falls on Gary?  That doesn't make sense.  He isn't in control of what his GRANDSON does or is doing. So since he is against the medical marijuana issue in the city, everyone in his family has to be a saint and not slip up?  There isn't any logic behind your "Karma Castonia"  THis is why i have a huge problem with you, you try to find little things and a lot of the times, such as this, idiotic topics to cry about.  So if a LE officer in the city  had a family member get pulled over for drunk driving or an MIP, their credibility should be up in the air?  People only control their own actions, if one of your children O.D, then we should look at you as a bad parent and if you were on the LFD crew still, we should kick you off?  I mean your working for the city and your child was a drug addict.  Is that fair to say?

[AQUAMAN]

Your theoretical on this matter falls short, lacks merit, and is convoluted again Sean. ANY ELECTED OFFICIAL is ALWAYS held to a higher standard than the general public. Do YOU Understand that in and of itself? Methinks not. Cause if you did, you wouldn't have made your last post. And as usual, you, being a youngster, teen, short of worldly experience, short on education also as told by your spelling, can't digest what the dif between these are, right? And how do we know if the Grandson isn't living under the roof of the councilor, or a secondary house he owns? Any way you look at it, any politician knows that his family is under a microscope, and is fair game in the politics of the world for scrutiny and ethical observation. It may not be fair, I agree, but it's the way it is out here. Grow up and live with reality, instead of trying to invent excuses for life's daily problems. That's all I see in your posts.

[Shane]

So if you want to say, that because he is an elected official, nobody in is family can slip up? You think if an ELECTED OFFICIAL has a family member commit a misdemeanor, than their job and title should be on the line?  How is there any logic behind that?  Also, if you want to question if the grandson lives with him, why don't you guys do a little research and find out.  I would be he lives with his mom and dad, like normal families and made a mistake.  Dragging Castonia's name through the mud, because of a mistake his grandson made, to me, is childish and a sign of a person with a short education. 

This isn’t the President of the United States child selling crack or heroine at the White House.  This is an elected official’s Grandson, being caught with a little marijuana or MIP.  I haven’t seen any information to support the "crime"

[XLFD]

Sean, shane,

If you review the thread, there was no call for removing him from office or any other sanction.   I have heard some details of the case, and I truly feel sorry for Devin, but the irony alone makes this an item that is of interest to the public.  Good day, again.

[XLFD]

Sean said "So since, his grandson, got caught with Marijuana, it falls on Gary?  That doesn't make sense.  He isn't in control of what his GRANDSON does or is doing. So since he is against the medical marijuana issue in the city, everyone in his family has to be a saint and not slip up?  There isn't any logic behind your "Karma Castonia"  THis is why i have a huge problem with you, you try to find little things and a lot of the times, such as this, idiotic topics to cry about.  So if a LE officer in the city  had a family member get pulled over for drunk driving or an MIP, their credibility should be up in the air?  People only control their own actions, if one of your children O.D, then we should look at you as a bad parent and if you were on the LFD crew still, we should kick you off?  I mean your working for the city and your child was a drug addict.  Is that fair to say?"

Sean, you are an ass.  You are free to FOIA the coroner's report for my dead child, the death certificate, etc., and you will find that she died from the complications of being born with an enlarged heart.  Victoria didn't do illegal drugs, everyone who knew her, knows that fact.  Gary probably has nothing to do with his grandson's addictions, but the fact is his grandson did reportedly come to his daycare often which was licensed to care for older kids who may have been contacted by his grandson, and his record speaks for himself.   Good day.

[AQUAMAN]

Sean, just fyi, you won't get far in this world until you learn to get your opinions and points across with some ethical and polite conduct/behavior. If in fact you made that hit way below the belt on X to achieve some sort of muscle flex or elite advantage, you failed miserably. If I was a moderator, you would now be banned, but, I'll leave that honor to my fellow Torchers. SHAME on YOU SEAN!

[Willy]

What a nasty remark Sean. If there ever existed a lower life form than yourself it would be duly noted in the National Geographic study of worms. Your as sensitive as a dog that got it's tongue caught in Shay's zipper while having sex in Lance Armstrongs trophy case. 

[Lisa O'Brien]

I think that was taken out of context, at least I hope so.

[Shawn]

XLFD,

You posted that Gary's grandson "reportedly" went to that "daycare often".

Is that the truth?  Or is that only "your story and you're sticking to it" type of accusation? 

That's one of the major problems with a publication like this, anybody can claim anything they want to without any proof whatsoever.  How about you put your money where your mouth is and prove it?

You claim that Gary's "record speaks for himself".  What about you XLFD?  Does your record speak for you?  And does the public have a right to know about your record too?

You openly acknowledge yourself as a publisher of news important to the residents of Ludington.  Doesn't that open your own intergrity up to scrutiny by the public who reads your publication?

Do the people of Ludington have a right to air your own dirty laundry?  

Were you at one time employed by the City of Ludington as a fire fighter?

Were you at one time employed in the local public school system?

Is it possible that the local public might want to know why the City of Ludington would ever hire a fire fighter with a criminal record, and also why the local school system would ever hire a convict to teach the children?   

Does the shoe fit you XLFD? 

Do you agree that the public has a right to know if either of those public employers had hired a convict? 

Is it possible that the former employee did not inform those public employers of his criminal history?  Is it possible that those employers were lied to?

If that former employee lied to his employers during the hiring process, then that former employee is a liar and an "ass".

Does the shoe fit?