Creating a Monster pt 3: Deconstruction, A PPO without POP

[XLFD]

In the thread Creating a monster pt 1, a process was described that started as early as 2-21-2011, with a letter from Ludington Police Chief Mark Barnett to City Manager John Shay about a reworking of a Letter of Trespass form that was made originally for private establishments.  The next day there was a bit of E-mail traffic between those two and the City Attorney, but there was also something else afoot.  A Personal Protection Order (PPO) was being applied for by Community Development Director Heather Venzke against a certain individual who not only happens to be the creator of this watchblog, but happens to be little ol' me.

I only found out about this because I had asked the prosecutor for an investigation to be conducted into why I was not permitted to vote in the November 8, 2011 City election without threat of arrest.  When the State Police told me the investigation was closed in December, and that they would not pursue any criminal charges in the matter due to the difficulty in showing an actual intent by the City Hallers to deprive me of the right to vote, I was mildly disappointed.  Particularly since I hadn't been asked for any input after my brief E-mail asking Prosecutor Paul for an investigation. 

But when I asked Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola with a FOIA to see the investigation records, I got this bombshell 2012 1-28 FOIA Reply PA PS  where I learned:

1)   "... after numerous non-consenting acts of a stalking nature by the complainant [me] against a City Hall employee"

2)  "Furthermore a personal protection order was entered against the complainant upon application of a City Hall employee due to his actions."

3)  "Complainant subsequently moved to another location..."

4)  "Complainant has furthermore failed to request relief from the no trespass letter for purposes of voting on 11-1-2011.  On four previous occasions he had asked for relief and it was granted to him."

 

All, and more, of which are factually inaccurate.  So I then fired back a FOIA request to inspect the PPO and to view E-mails exchanged between County and City Officials that had my name in them.  This request went ignored for over 5 business days, so I filed an FOIA appeal to the Circuit Court regarding the County's denial to respond to get these records I considered vital.  I wound up being successful in my endeavor-- but more on this later. 

I went with trepidation to see how bad of a monster I was at my appointment to review the PPO application (I had found out incidentally that it had been denied to CDD Venzke).  Here was the Petition for a PPO Against Staking (Non-domestic) signed by her on 2-22-2011, while her fellow City Hall officials were busy with the second prong of this very personal attack, producing the Workplace Safety Policy.  The affidavit she attached was a sworn statement:

 

 

In order, some critiques: 

1) "Malicious" and "anti-government" is assigning evil intent to my website and the people who post here.  Such is not my intent, or any others here-- our intentions are good and we want government to be the same. 

2)  The links she speaks of are links to the City Assessor site, accessible by anyone for free, provided by the very government she works for.  If you own property in Ludington, you can find maps, deeds, specifications of your property, and anyone else's.  If you don't like it, like Ms. Venzke didn't, are you "anti-government"?

3)  Information was posted concerning her relationship to Nick Tykoski, in the context that she was providing unbid, non-contracted payments to him with public funds, while being affianced to him while buying a house together at a great price.  This is public corruption no matter how you look at it, and a violation of several ethics laws, discussed previously.

4)  The rest is more of an indictment of our educational system, with her massacre of the words "insight", when she meant "incite"; "residents", when she meant "residence"; "directly" when she meant "directing", and some other grammatical and spelling gaffes. 

 

Nor am I clear as to me being "the author of the above statements." as I would not make such errors, LOL.  But the application continued with this three page "PPO Questionairre, Stalking"

PPO_QS p1

PPO_QS p2

PPO_QS p3

 

Let's sum it up thusly:  Never spoken to me, only knows me as a past employee of the City, one admitted contact with me involving a request for information [made by me and addressed to her and Shay about DDA Administrative costs jumping from $10,000 to $30,000 without any new programs or rationale], and I only communicate on my website. 

She intimates that she was perhaps targeted by me, but the DDA series I had made up to that point, prior to the fifth episode, was targeted on the use of public resources by public officials to the advantage of private interests, many of which were other members of the DDA.  Furthermore, the fifth episode indicted the full DDA for not recognizing the ethics violations or properly stopping it and/or reporting it.  But the DDA is her livelihood, so I can see her uneasiness.

 

She then included about 40 pages of 'supporting documents', which included the Ludington City Assessor's total website on her property address, part 5 of the above series, and various other entries by me and others that was supposed to display the mob mentality that was insighted {sic}, beginning with this entry by Aquaman where she highlighted the last two sentences, and put in the margin:  "threats they are capable of".  Pretty tame to what I see on Facebook, and not a threat, as I see it.  But the rest of the attachments were even less harmless, and made her point a bit absurd, by the end.

But I wasn't the only one who thought so.  The judge who received her PPO was one I have had a history with, that isn't good.  He sat in judgment at my bicycle/ stop sign hearing back in 2008 that I requested and promptly lost even though I had shown several points of fact that invalidated the legitimacy of the sign. 

I had requested the district court to show that this probate judge had jurisdiction over the hearing, and they failed to do so, and I was found in civil contempt of the court when I defied his court order, which was effectively illegitimate.  I had reported him to the Judicial Tenure Commission, an act which didn't endear me to him, a fact he made known in the next hearing.  All in all, we have had some differences.  But in spite of that he denied the PPO the next day, citing:  "Respondent has not engaged in conduct that falls within the statutory definition of stalking and/or is Constitutionally protected activity."

 And so Plan A was denied, thus Plan B ( the WSP) needed to be applied.  And even if you, I, or a Judge that has ill-feelings towards me can see that there was not any problems with what content was placed on the Ludington Torch by me and others, the full choir of City Hallers were all for calling my behavior "threatening and intimidating" and having the local paper publish that "fact", they also maintained to a person that it was necessary to do so, and not worth reconsidering.

 

 

This is how the City of Ludington operates; which is why I think the PPO placed on a Grand Rapids native in January who had the audacity to lead a protest against the way the Ludington Police Department conducted their investigation into the Baby Kate case in October, was created to discredit her  (in Re: April Reynolds). 

It worked darn well for me for a year, but I will snatch my good name back from these tyrants if I have to spend all the time, spirit, and money I've got.  And that fact alone, makes me the Most Dangerous Man in Ludington to those who wish to violate their Oath of Office as a public servant, if they even bother to take one, in Ludington.

 

 

[Marty Redman]

Larry you said  'If I was digging up trash on city officials and they decided to bite back I would deal with it without a lot of dramatic fanfare.'  If I was a city official and you said that I would feel more threatened by it than if you claimed 'disenfranchisement!' and sought legal remedies.  But thats me.  Unless you would deal with it by kissing their massive butts.

[XLFD]

Larry,

What do you mean exactly by "deal with it"?  That sure does sound like a threat to me Marty.  Larry, you also say "I just have a more discrete method of dealing with it."  More discrete method, that sounds like a possible threat as well. 

Maybe we should get Heather's interpretation of the threat potential of Larry's statements to herself and her husband, and get a LOT on him after filing a disorderly conduct police report with the LPD. 

If you are wiser than Judge Mark Raven and can find anything that resembles harassing behavior or anything that is beyond Constitutionally-protected speech on my part, your welcome to display it here whenever you wish.  The fact you and your friends don't, weakens any argument you have made on that side of the topic.

[Marty Redman]

Do you think taking out a PPO on someone without reason is not a form of harassment???  And then forcing the guv'ment you work for to deal with it by passing something like the WSP that requires just a nod of a CM beleagered by occasional FOIA requests and then putting a LOT on someone is not a form of harassment???  How about then splashing damming information in the local paper where the guy has lived most all of his life that makes him lose his job. 

C'mon.  Give me a break, Lanny.

[Lisa O'Brien]

While it may be true that the LDN has not printed any untrue "damning" information about XLFD - they have posted that a LOT was issued against him and I believe they printed information regarding his bicycle citation that he lost in court which is all true - I personally believe they should of contacted him for his side of the story. Maybe it's my liberal side coming out but without offering his side of it, the general public or whoever is not a member here or does not know of the reasoning behind all of this - would basically read the article and think any number of things: he's a crackpot, he's dangerous (only man in town to be sent a letter of trespass for city hall)it basically tarnishes his reputation. In my opinion the LDN did him a disservice by not printing his side. 

[XLFD]

If you want damming information, consult a beaver, but just in case you missed it here it is.  Try to empathize in your own way, Larry, by putting your real name into where my name is, instead of "making FOIA requests", substitute in "paying your water bill" or some other mundane legal activity you go to City Hall to do, and let's say someone in the front office didn't like your mug or your disposition or your political views you let slip as you pay your bill. 

Replace my misstated traffic incident (I was on a bicycle, and the stop sign was illegitmate, as  it had no traffic control order backing it, as John Shay well knew at the time of this article, and yet continues to allow to exist), with a parking ticket you mistakenly got back 3 years or more ago, and decided to challenge.  Then when you have made those substitutions, read the article.  I encourage anyone else to try this exercise as well.  It may not be damning, but it is, to borrow a phrase, "physically threatening and intimidating", by an entity much powerful than a blogger.

 

 

[XLFD]

Larry,

If you actually believe you are proving your points by throwing out unsubstantiated labels and reasoning that focuses on your underlying dislike of myself and the rest of what you and your ilk like to call 'the mob', you are, in the process, proving my points.  FOIA court is tomorrow at 10:30 AM.

[AQUAMAN]

I suspect the iks of Larry, Dale, & Robbie will be there in the wolf's clothing of Tricky Dick Wilson and his staff; also expect the Benoche factor with the LDN's blessings, to write another warped article that also continue to smudge X's efforts for a legal remedy.

[Sweater Cows!]

The proof IS in the pudding, and a statement in the newspaper is not the pudding. The LOT and WSP are the only relevant documents.

I would DARE X to call and let the receptionist or whoever answers the phone know that he is on his way over in a few minutes and to be expecting him and then show up with the above article in hand and see what happens. Do you seriously think that the officer they call when he shows up is going to say, Well gee Mr. Rotta, the newspaper say so and that is the proof we need that you only need to call. come on now. The newspaper article has no legal standing, it is only a article in a newspaper.

[XLFD]

Let's not forget, the newspaper put out on the front page three times that I was not going to attend the candidate's forum even though I was invited.  No written permission was given, and by that time I had made an oath to CM Shay that I was not going to ask permission ever again, because he had ignored requests three consecutive times during the election from me, and three letters from my attorney about the same concept, after I was shut out three times. 

So as you can see, the CM does not have a duty to respond to requests for entry, just as the WSP and LOT do not consider.  As I have said, this is incredibly bad legislation that could have been drafted better by most of the Third Graders that attended the April City Council meeting I did attend.

All I have received from the City (without counting FOIA, which got me in this mess, LOL) is the Letter of Trespass, three written permissions to enter before 5-2-2011, and an unsolicited E-mail saying I could attend a City Hall basement meeting with the engineers of Dowland Street in January 2012.  No unsolicited letters came for the Primaries.  Inconsistent acts done by inconsistent leadership.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Dale,

In Heather's own statement she said she feared the mob mentality - not XLFD. She should of had the mob issued a LOT. The lot against XLFD has not stopped the FOIC request's into the questionable spending of tax monies to her fiancee's company.

[AQUAMAN]

Larry, here's just one example, out of several to look at. Look at the LDN two days before last year's local elections, early November, and see the open forums page. The LDN staff themselves prepared a damning statement, "our view", against X running for City Council, and stated for all to see that "if elected, he would create a circus atmosphere, where no city business would be able to be accomplished", I'm paraphrasing here as I don't have that article at my fingertips, but that was the jest of it. Have you not read that?, and if you do now at long last, what are your newfound excuses for this obvious type character assassinations? It was obvious many months ago that the LDN was in liason with the COL, taking only interviews with Shay, and not giving citizen X his side in all fairness. Benoche has somehow felt scorned by X, and as such, continues to fog the air with misstatements and misrepresentations, to relieve his petty anxieties for being a flimsy flunky excuse for a reporter/editor.

[AQUAMAN]

Now let's just look at the PPO/Heather situation: it also has been delved into in crisp clear fashion with many many unexplained questions from X and others. Why did she issue so many city DDA contracts for 24 kt. gold signage, approaching $150K of non-bid work, while she is his fiance, and the COL refused to divulge the FOIA's to citizens right to this very day to cover-up the Tykoski scandal that is being withheld? Meanwhile, Heather herself never met X, never was threatened by phone nor in person, either at city hall, nor her residence either. She could not get Judge Raven to feel her fake flimsy pain, but she could bat her over-painted eyelashes at Shay and make him dribble and drool for her desired LOT.