At the beginning of the public comment period of the last Ludington City Council meeting Ludington Firefighter Bob Hannah got up and spoke of what he thought was the most pressing public issue in Ludington.  I managed to make a transcript of his speech and translate it here with commentary and fact check.  His speech starts at about 2:15 into the meeting, my comments are in burnt orange.

"Once again I'm up here to try to figure out why Tom Rotta gets away with spending taxpayer's money on a FOIA request.  I guess I haven't figured it out. {Not too surprising.  Perhaps, because  a person has a right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of any requested public record of any public body under a set fee structure.  Part of the public body's duties are to provide these records according to FOIA, not in a manner inconsistent with it, as the City of Ludington often does.}

I have come up with one thing, maybe because its because he is not a homeowner in Ludington and he doesn't pay taxes here {first Councilor Kaye calls me indigent, now I can't expect a FOIA request to be fulfilled because I don't own a home?  People who rent have the cost of taxes thrown into the mix when their rent is determined, so let's get rid of this prejudice against them.  Are renters second class citizens Bob?}.  So it doesn't hurt him in any way {I have paid my own money for all FOIA requests I have received, including $57 for 24 water tower records, showing oddly enough that the City Manager wasted $1.2 million of the taxpayer's money}.

I'd like to clarify some things up {government-speak for "I'm now going to cloud the real issue"}.  He had on his twisted {warped according to Councilor Holman} web site he's got that I evidently got a crystal ball and I'm predicting that you (looks at me) will win this lawsuit coming up {on this thread}.  Tom, that's not what I said, I said it was going to cost the taxpayers $50-$100,000 in just lawyer fees alone {this is a lie, he never said that (see 3:05 into video)}, it's not what they're going to pay you {I hope not, the minimal right now being asked is $150,000}; God help us, they don't pay you nothing {I could see them stiffing me on their payments, with their track record}

And another thing else is, he said I am in cohorts {cahoots?} with everybody who is on the city council because I am on the fire department {I said he was a "City of Ludington loyalist", a bit of a difference.  He shows at least that in his speech.  First he falsely reports his own words then mine.  Sign him up COLDNews.} .  Yes, I am on the fire department, but you're wrong about one thing, Tom, I didn't get on there because you lost your job {I resigned willingly, due to the direction the LFD was heading, if the LFD is telling you a different story, FOIA my resignation letter}.  Two people got hired before I did, so one of them must have got your job.  [Mayor interrupts:  "Keep your focus on the chair please."]  { LFD Roster, Join Times shows that after I resigned in 10-2008, two members joined before the year's end.  To my knowledge, Michael Bledsoe was already going through the process since we were down at least one, therefore Bob was the second one added at the very end of that year.}

And another thing is, he also said on his website that I said he had to pay John Shay for the lawsuit that he lost; what I said was that he had to pay the City with John Shay's lawsuit that you had against John Shay and you lost it {Confusing.  My only lawsuit against John Shay is the federal one; the FOIA appeal, which turned into a lawsuit against my wishes, was against the City, and I just received the judgment today from our court one month thereafter.}.  Has he paid his debt?  {there is no debt yet, Bob, nor will that judgment likely stand on appeal}  He says he does.  You know I'm not going to stoop any lower and come down {the actual direction is 'up'} to Tom Rotta's level {c'mon let's play handball on the curb, Bob}, and this is probably the last time that you're going to hear from me {good, because frankly you don't make much sense, and you're making some odd arguments withquestionable accuracy}, but I'm proud to be a Ludington firefighter, I'm proud to work with Mayor Henderson, Councilor Tykoski; they're both great firefighters {I will attest to that, but their other public service is tainted by corrupt behavior and the tolerance of the same}, they've taught me a lot {including how to write this speech}, we save lives together, I deserve to wear this shirt, not Tom Rotta.  Thank you."

In looking back at Bob Hannah wearing his shirt, making what appears on its face as a directed personal attack on a former LFD firefighter out to clean up the corruption in his city, he makes an excellent argument as to why I should not wear my Ludington Fire Department shirts anymore to the City Council meetings.  Why would I want to be associated with a group that includes crony-centric Mayor Henderson, corrupt Councilor Tykoski, and low-stooping newbie Bob Hannah?

I put two questions to the members of this site:  Should I continue to wear the LFD shirt to these meetings, reflecting my eight years of service to the community, or dissociate myself further from that group and change my apparel accordingly?  And do you think it is seemly for a city employee to use the public comment section of a City Council meeting to launch a personal attack against a private citizen?

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Well said Mr Hannah!...Kudos to you Robert for standing up and saying that. Remember back in the day, you wouldn't have made a statement we just would have went in the back of the barn and taken care of the problem lol......Bob, you are the one deserving of wearing the shirt not Rotta, Thank you Bob for standing up...

Chuck

Mr. Rotta served on the fire dept. for 8 years. You don't think he deserves to wear the shirt of the  dept. he proudly served? I guess, in your opinion, the only people who can wear that shirt is active fire fighters. So any ex-fire fighter won't be allowed to wear that shirt, right? From your viewpoint ex-military personal, or for that matter, anyone shouldn't be allowed to wear any clothing that has their particular area of service on them. Or they should ban shirts that have "Ludington State Park" on them unless you are presently employed at the Park. The Chief started this silly charade and foolish people like you and Hannah carry the flag for that idiotic idea. Don't let anyone catch you wearing a T shirt that bears the name of any organization that you are not a member of or employee of or someone may stand on a corner and make an  ass of themselves by  berating you for honoring your chosen organization. Just like the Chief, Hannah and the other fool who knows not of what he speaks. You included Chuck. And when Bob stood up he in essence lowered himself to the status of pettiness. By the way the only back of the barn you probably saw was your social life inside the sheep's pen.

Lol your stupid! First wearing a shirt that states an entity such as the fire dept police what ever makes some assume that you are a member there. If you were standing in the Wesco and something happened and you did respond and or do something wrong ( and we all know Rotta never dies anything wrong ever) makes the dept that your representing look bad. Which in turn in any other case give Ritta fodder to complain about. But I it were he who wore the shirt well I guess it's fine as long as no one else does it. But in the world of the torch it's ok. And for the personal attack about the sheep, well it's ok as long as I didn't say it about you. Again i was wrong you are right. Go ahead blast me with more slanderous rid bits of knowlage ill take it. You on the other hand would be in an uproar if it were I calling you a sheep lover.

Chuck

Some cities take pride in their fire and police departments and let citizens show that pride, http://nypd-fdny.com/index.html, however in Ludington, the Chief and silly people like you let simple minded ideas take hold. That's why Ludington may always remain a backwards thinking town. Not because of the taxpayers but because of the goofy people in charge and those that support them.

 

Your right I can't argue with you about that at all. We need to remove those leaders in local government that have backwards thinking and take pride in our fire depts and law enforcement again. I happy that we both can agree on one thing finally. That's why Kim Cole fits everything you just said about local government and Kim Cole has that forward thinking to get done everything you just said you wanted done.

Chuck,

I think you would be more at home at a website touting the achievements of Obama or one where it equates strength with giving mayors more terms to mess up Ludington's natural wealth of resources.  Here's a brief critique of your last post:

1)  In your attempt to answer Willy, you said "your stupid".  The grammar I think you wanted was "you're stupid."

2)  "what ever" should be "whatever", one word.

3)  People wore/wear NYFD shirts to show their support of the NYFD after 9-11, but many of these people were never trained firefighters or been to New York.  I have one myself.  Wives of Ludington firefighters wear shirts at times, drive their vehicles with LFD plates, and are not accosted by the LFD members.

4)  I have never claimed to be perfect, I have erred at times.

5)  More spelling problems:  "dies" for "does", "Ritta", "rid" for ?, "knowlage" for "knowledge", "ill" for I'll", not to mention some execrable grammar mistakes.

6)  Willy never said anything about you being a 'sheep lover', just insinuated that you liked to spend time in the sheep pen, perhaps due to some affinity you have to conversing with them, because they may be the only ones who listen to you.  Your reaction shows that you may have some secret of your own that you've been keeping penned up.

Bla bla bla when is the next time you are going to jail? I'm sure some one could hold you in contempt or bad biking.... Jay walking is a good for you too

I'll check you out on Visiting Day, Chuckles.  It's great to see they have granted you internet privileges. 

Obviously, Chucky (remember the movie?) is having a bad day, excitedly so, sadly. I heard Rush say something that tickled me today, I think it fits here: "no use wasting time talking this one off the ledge", hardy har har har.

It saddens me to relate that former Ludington Firefighter Bob Hannah passed away on July 30.  Ten years ago we verbally sparred a couple of times in comments at the beginning of city council meetings.  I respected Bob inasmuch that he was willing to defend city officials under fire at the time, and personally go after me as a city loyalist without being too clean with the facts and the rules of the council which supposedly prohibited directed personal attacks.  This quality actually set him apart from most of the corrupted city officials at that time who sniped from a distance and used proxies like Bob to cloud the issues.  

I never held it against him, I actually was disappointed when he stopped showing up, stopped reacting to the LT, and I can only hope that it was because he finally figured things out for himself when the City was going through some very corrupt times.  Let's raise our glasses filled with our favorite beverage and salute Bob Hannah for his service to the community.

Hannah passed at age 63. Sadly, he did not even collect on his SS. I did not know him and I'm not trying to be mean but people  like Hannah are why corrupt officials remain in power. A corrupt Government cannot survive without the help of their supporters and the voters. I'm curious X, did he ever apologize to you for his rude and insensitive behavior when he criticized you for stating the truth?

No, he never apologized, he just faded away, never to be seen again after John Henderson failed in his effort to get 5 terms and was term limited in his mayorship in 2013.  Before I ever showed up at a council meeting, firefighters like Henderson, Fred Hackert, Nick Tykoski, and Chief Funk would talk city hall politics regularly at our bimonthly LFD meetings.  It's reasonable to believe that Hannah got drawn into that and reasonable to believe that he could earn points by taking on the City's perceived nemesis, XLFD.

Despite his critiques and attacks, I appreciate that he did read this forum regularly, and that somebody very close to him eventually and secretly sought my help in regard to their own troubles with a public body.  So maybe, maybe, he came around and saw that I may have had some points and maybe even some usefulness.  

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