The Place Where Ludington Talks
Cole 'sLaw
Sergeant Kim Cole at the WMOM/MCP.COM candidate forum for County Sheriff held July 23 introduced himself by looking at the definition of "leadership". The definition he used said a leader had three qualities. A good leader is articulate, ethical, and humane. The insinuation was that the current sheriff, Jeff Fiers, lacked one or more of these qualities, and that he had more of these qualities. He then made some points to prove one or the other. I wasn't convinced either way.
Earlier this week, after this candidate forum, I finally got my password and subscription to PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) and witnessed, in some records, a troubling series of events that happened to a Mason County citizen on one day back in February 25, 2008 that led to a lawsuit filed against a Mason County Sheriff''s Department Sergeant, operating under Sheriff Laud Hartrum. That Sergeant was Kim Cole.
Those who were around over a couple of years ago may remember a thread I put out on Martin Schilling. He was standing up for property rights for people who may have been burdened by new zoning rules adopted by the County of Mason that were living in single-wide mobile homes. He had also been allegedly victimized prior to that by a County Sheriff's officer, and that made me label him as the-maverick-of-eastern-mason-county.
The first part of the thread referred to the incident and aftermath of the run in with the law, and even though I knew the officer's name when I wrote the piece, I had doubts that he may have done all that Mr. Schilling had said he had done, and my main source was the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) in this article. It said:
"Mason County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a settlement with Martin Schilling for $7,500. In a civil suit filed in federal court in May, Schilling sought $200,000 and attorney fees for two counts of unreasonable seizure, one count of false arrest and exemplary damages.
The sheriff’s office contends it did nothing wrong, but said the county has found it less expensive to settle than defend a suit... Although the county is settling the lawsuit, Mason County Undersheriff Tom Trenner said he believes the deputy in question did nothing wrong, and the settlement came down to a dollars and cents issue of the cost of defense likely being higher than the cost of the settlement.
“Our officer did absolutely nothing wrong and I will stand by that statement,” Trenner said."
This is the same Undersheriff Tom Trenner that a "Sheriff Kim Cole" would fire on day one, according to Candidate Cole. But what actually happened that day? I had the court records, but they were for the most part, telling me only one side of the story. I tried to get Sergeant Cole's side of the story, so I sent him an E-mail very early on Thursday:
And I replied at the end of that day, shortly after midnight:
ANSWER: Defendant admits.
ANSWER: Defendant admits.
24) Defendant did not have a warrant or court order authorizing the seizure or detention of Plaintiff. ANSWER: Defendant admits.
And yet: 25) The 7:00 a.m., February 25, 2008 seizure of Plaintiff was unreasonable and a violation of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution. ANSWER: Defendant denies as untrue.
Stopping someone without no probable cause, no warrant, no court order is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
B) In similar manner, Martin was stopped in his vehicle later. In the defendant's answers, they deny that Defendant had no probable cause to believe that Plaintiff had committed any offense to justify seizing or detaining Plaintiff. (#32). This probable cause has never been explained, but due to the previous stop and the lack of any probable cause there, one has to believe that their was no reasonable, articulable suspicion uttered by Sgt. Cole that Martin had or would have committed a crime. The defendant only denied the assertions, did not explain further, as per their right.
C) The false arrest charge is also contested by Defendant Cole when he denies that probable cause did not exist. That cause is once again not articulated or reasoned for the court in his answers.
D) Affirmative Defenses: One defense Cole relies on is qualified immunity for his position. This protects public officials from being sued for damages unless they violated “clearly established” law of which a reasonable official in his position would have known. The Fourth Amendment is clearly established, and is something all peace officers must be aware of at all times.
He also utilizes (#3) "the injuries about which Plaintiff complains were due in whole or in part to his own intentional acts or omissions." which also seems to be ridiculous considering the lack of any articulated probable cause anywhere.
Here is the answers to the Plaintiff, submitted to the court: Schilling v Cole Answers.pdf
There was a Request for Mediation then Mediation and then an Order of Dismissal after they wound up settling out of court for $7500. A good bargain for the County, a great bargain for Sergeant Cole. Three years later, it is all but forgotten, except by those with a long memory. Let's review.
Sergeant Cole publicly said a good leader is articulate, ethical, and humane. Was he a good leader on February 25, 2008?
Did he articulate any reason for what looks like two illegal searches and seizures, and the reason for a likely false arrest? Allegedly not to Martin Schilling, and since then, not to the public.
Was he ethical in his dealings with Martin Schilling? Stopping him without probable cause or any other valid reason. Detaining him and arresting him without any sort of reason made known. Violating his Fourth Amendment rights, admittedly, on the first charge.
Was he humane in his interaction with Martin Schilling, that is, did he show compassion or benevolence to this innocent man? Did he show him any mercy and kindness?
He was none of these, and he has unapologetically went on with his career since then without having to publicly explain his actions that day. Is that leadership?
One last note. When this came to light in 2009 (after Jeff Fiers became Sheriff) did Sheriff Fiers defend the action of his sergeant? No, only Undersheriff Trenner came out publicly defending what Sergeant Cole had done to the innocent father Martin Schilling. Sheriff Fiers remained out of it. He has admitted how much he respects the Oath of Office he took to defend the Constitution; was it out of this respect, that he remained out of the fray, as he saw it a violation of Martin's rights?
Has that abstention of support created the rift that exists between the two candidates? Has Sergeant Cole's criticisms of Sheriff Fiers generated from his abandonment during this incident and blossomed over the last three years? Do we want a sheriff who defends and supports the Constitution of the United States, or do we want one who will offend and undermine that same document? The difference is clear in this election.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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That is a possibility as the settlement is not a court document. But that would also present a red flag to me. Don't you want to know the truth, good or bad, three years later when we are planning on making him the County's chief legal enforcer?
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I also took Kim's advice and sent a proper FOIA to the Sheriff's Office that very day he suggested it. That info may not be back before election time, however. If it can add more to this, I will try to get it on as soon as possible.
I would also like to hear from Martin Schilling about this, as well.
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I doubt whether Cole's lawyers would, even if they could. I might be able to get something out of Barrister Bostic, but probably won't pick his mind on this unless I get some strong assertions made by the Cole partisans to confirm or refute.
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Permalink Reply by Angela on
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yes it is possible and that is probably the case. I was also involve in a lawsuit (among other staff including Laude) where the county settled even though no wrong doing was found..... I wish I could speak of the case beacsue the settlement is a bunch of BS and should never have happened, but its cheaper for the county to settle then to go to court - oh ya and I was also at the receiving end of a settlement against the county because they didn't want all the crap they did to me while I was preggo and worked there, to come out in court to the public.
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Angela,
That's why I didn't write off that possibility; but when you have publicly available court records showing you violated someone's Fourth Amendment rights on two occasions, and you admitted to it in your 'Answer', that silence can be deafening if you run for office later.
I will be posting the FOIA I get back from the MCSO on the Schilling incident as soon as I get it and can look through it. It might shed some light on some of the problems I see. But it may come too late, if they extend the response period.
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Wait for the title for my thread on the other candidate, if you liked that play on words.
Sergeant Cole needs to address this issue; it's a dealbreaker for me, and should be for anyone else who wants answers from their officials when wrongdoing is alleged.
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Permalink Reply by Willy on
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First of all, to settle a case by paying off the victim puts the stamp of "guilty as charged" on Mr. Cole. Why would anyone want this hanging over their head? If the victim had no grounds for a complaint then the County would have seen it thru in order to maintain a good reputation as being fair and just. This has definitely left a big stain on Cole's record. Second there would be no settlement unless Cole agreed to it, thus there must be some truth to the allegations and complaint. Now's the time for Mr. Cole to set the record straight. Third, in most cases a gag order is something agreed to by the person bringing the suit not the defendant. I'm afraid that if this gets out there will be many questions Mr. Cole would need to answer. But as we all know the LDN will not put any of this in print. Excellent job of reporting X. By the way I don't know either of the candidates personally so I'm not taking sides, I'm just commenting on this situation. I think both candidates are qualified to be sheriff and both would do a good job and Mason County is lucky to have 2 very qualified people for voters to choose from.
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I agree with you one, two and three, and I would add that Sheriff Fiers could not be unaware of this incident. It shows a certain amount of "class" on Jeff Fiers part that he hasn't made an issue of it throughout the campaign, when he very easily could have. With some of the things Sgt. Cole has brought up, I think he would be on Fiers about something like this if it had happened to him instead.
That's one thing I'd like someone to bring up tomorrow night at the secondary forum sponsored by the COLDNews. Ask Sheriff Fiers about why he hasn't brought up this incident (and how he felt about it), when it may be reflective of the type of leader Kim Cole would be. It may generate more interesting answers out of Candidate Cole in the rebuttal stage.
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If anyone made it down to the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) Candidate Forum, let us know how that went. I was thinking of going, but it probably would have been mostly repetitive of the WMOM/MCP Forum held last week, with an extra touch of COLDNews usual blandness.
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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I went, and for 2-1/2 out of the 3 hours it lasted. Fiers never mentioned this, and I'm just seeing it for the first time tonight. I must say, I agree, real quality man in Fiers for mutual respect and reasonable actions, a real leader to not help himself with something as critical as this on his opponent. Oh yeah, Cole did repeat most of his petty complaints and morale issues, Fiers replied with dignity, and quality answers for everything too, and in the end Cole had to agree with Fiers more than disagree, that alone should tell us quite a bit about this race for Sheriff. Cole's debate was weak and ineffectual for me, Sheriff Fiers stood his ground, with class, and very reasonable replies, which received many positive audience ovations in the process. I didn't see you there Phil, nor any other Torchers, what's up, summer? LOL.
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Check this out in detail, once you get the time, Aq. You won't hear it mentioned in the local paper when there's so many more important things like dripping showers and bad ceiling tiles to address. How each candidate respects basic civil rights is something the COLDNews does not find interesting at all, nor does it think you will.
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