Saturday, May 17, 2014
Michelle O'Connell Inquest Petition Topped 120,000 Signatures Today
As Senator Albert Gore, Sr. said on Election Night 1970, "The truth shall rise again. Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Two anniversaries
Today is May 17, 2014.
It is the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Education desegregation decision by SCOTUS.
It is the 31st anniversary of the Oak Ridge mercury pollution declassification announcement, which our tiny tabloid Appalachian Observer weekly newspaper won in 1983, with a three paragraph FOIA/declassification request to the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office.
Today we're still dealing with Jim Crow law, as evidenced by:
(a) our U.S. Senator Mario Rubio attempting to halt a pending civil rights investigation, and
(b) our City of St. Augustine charging 25% extra to non-residents for water -- more than $1,000,000 a year -- a stench in the nostrils of our Nation's Oldest City, to be remedied. See below.
Today we're also still dealing with unaccountable polluting government agencies, from nuclear weapons plants (still being cleaned up, a process that may be complete by the time I am 93) to landfills.
We shall overcome!
It is the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Education desegregation decision by SCOTUS.
It is the 31st anniversary of the Oak Ridge mercury pollution declassification announcement, which our tiny tabloid Appalachian Observer weekly newspaper won in 1983, with a three paragraph FOIA/declassification request to the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office.
Today we're still dealing with Jim Crow law, as evidenced by:
(a) our U.S. Senator Mario Rubio attempting to halt a pending civil rights investigation, and
(b) our City of St. Augustine charging 25% extra to non-residents for water -- more than $1,000,000 a year -- a stench in the nostrils of our Nation's Oldest City, to be remedied. See below.
Today we're also still dealing with unaccountable polluting government agencies, from nuclear weapons plants (still being cleaned up, a process that may be complete by the time I am 93) to landfills.
We shall overcome!
Did Florida U.S. Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO Act Improperly...
by Pressuring U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Investigation of Florida's Bright Future Scholarships 2011 State Legislature Changes and Possible Discrimination Against African-American and Hispanic Students?
Today is the 60th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, but Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO found an odd way to mark it -- by trying to halt a civil rights investigation with a letter and a press release.
What's going on here?
Our federal Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA) and United States Senate Rule XLIII(3) (Rule 43) prohibit U.S. Senators from placing improper pressures on federal agencies.
Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO (Florida Bar Number 102946) reportedly demanded the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights dismiss a pending civil rights complaint, without further investigation. The Miami Herald reports that Senator RUBIO claims there is "no legitimate legal basis for investigating such a program." In a letter to the Assistant Secretary of Education, Catherine Lhamon, Senator RUBIO goes on to say, "forcing bureaucratic changes in in the parameters of eligibility for this scholarship would not only degrade (sic) the fundamental purpose of the scholarship, but also render the program financially unstable."
Data from the University of South Florida determined that the 2011 changes would slash the number of minority students receiving Bright Futures scholarships by 60-75%.
The Department of Education is looking at whether African-American and Hispanic students are being discriminated against by the 2011 changes in Bright Futures.
Senator RUBIO is just a tad too close to the subject, having been Speaker of the Florida House.
Fortunately, Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO is not deciding facts in administrative law cases.
Congress entrusted that to administrative agencies and administrative law judges, like the two for whom I clerked, Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge Charles P. Rippey and Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt.
Those judges, and administrative agencies, were too often subject to subtle and not-so-subtle pressure during the depths of depravity of the Reagan-Bush years.
Senator RUBIO's letter is about as subtle as a cockroach crossing a white carpet.
Hands off administrative law adjudications, Senator RUBIO.
Your ham-handed intervention is exactly why Congress enacted the APA in the first place, and why Senate Rule XLIII(3) is on the books.
This appears to be a demand to "fix" a pending federal administrative law case.
The case-fixing demand is in support of his former legislative colleagues, who amended Bright Futures in 2011, over Democratic opposition, in a manner predicted to adversely affect minority students by reducing the number of scholarships.
Whether this demand is illegal is up to others to determine.
Whether the Bright Futures scholarship changes violate civil rights laws is a question of law and fact.
It is not up to a young U.S. Senator who has no civil rights law experience to issue a ukase.
It should not be the subject of political pressure.
This is a pending administrative law case.
That case must not be be "fixed."
This is federal law in Washington, D.C.
This is a question of constitutional law.
This is a question of civil rights law.
Those civil rights laws were adopted in 1964 thanks to the courage of the people of St. Augustine and visiting helpers like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ambassador Andrew Jackson Young, who were beaten, jailed, fired, blacklisted and run out of town here in St. Augustine.
Here in St. Augustine, we now have two civil rights monuments in our Slave Market Square (Plaza de la Constitucion), one to Ambassador Young and the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers who helped to enact those civil rights laws.
Those civil rights laws are a national treasure.
Those civil rights laws are the light of the world, emulated everywhere, leading to equality everywhere for ethnic groups, religions, genders and gender preferences, and sexual orientations.
Those civil rights laws ought not to be a punch line in a politician's press release.
Those civil rights laws are a subject of the current Journey exhibit at our VIC, which just won honors from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation -- not one federal elected official, including Senator RUBIO, has yet shown up to see the exhibit.
This is not some Minor League zoning case in Hialeah or Palatka subject to influence.
This is not a moribund state agency in Tallahassee, subject to the "Whim of Iron" of our state legislators.
This is the Department of Education -- our United States Department of Education -- and its Office of Civil Rights.
Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO's longtime Chief of Staff is Cesar Conda. Conda was once domestic policy chief advisor to Vice President Richard Richard Cheney. This appears to be very much a Dick Cheney move -- if you don't like what the bureaucracy is doing, spew hatred and if you don't like whistleblowers, go after them with criminal investigations. Dick Cheney was not a lawyer. Senator RUBIO is a lawyer. We expect better from Senator RUBIO.
Has Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO stepped outside the role of a U.S. Senator to obstruct justice in a civil rights case?
Has Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO possibly violated Senate Rule XLIII, APA, his January 3, 2011 oath of office as a U.S. Senator pursuant to Article VI of the United States Constitution, and his Florida Bar oath as an attorney?
Senator MARCC RUBIO seeks to substitute the "pull" of influence for the process of administrative law investigation, seeking headlines in his race for the presidency.
This may be both unethical, and unseemly.
Senator RUBIO must drop the oyster and leave the wharf.
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan should tell RUBIO to "buzz off."
Senator RUBIO has much bigger fish to fry. He's running for president. But here in Florida, we need his help to enact the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, www.staugustgreen.com. "America's Best Idea" needs and deserves Senator RUBIO's sponsorship and support.
What do you reckon?>
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085
904-377-4998
Today is the 60th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, but Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO found an odd way to mark it -- by trying to halt a civil rights investigation with a letter and a press release.
What's going on here?
Our federal Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA) and United States Senate Rule XLIII(3) (Rule 43) prohibit U.S. Senators from placing improper pressures on federal agencies.
Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO (Florida Bar Number 102946) reportedly demanded the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights dismiss a pending civil rights complaint, without further investigation. The Miami Herald reports that Senator RUBIO claims there is "no legitimate legal basis for investigating such a program." In a letter to the Assistant Secretary of Education, Catherine Lhamon, Senator RUBIO goes on to say, "forcing bureaucratic changes in in the parameters of eligibility for this scholarship would not only degrade (sic) the fundamental purpose of the scholarship, but also render the program financially unstable."
Data from the University of South Florida determined that the 2011 changes would slash the number of minority students receiving Bright Futures scholarships by 60-75%.
The Department of Education is looking at whether African-American and Hispanic students are being discriminated against by the 2011 changes in Bright Futures.
Senator RUBIO is just a tad too close to the subject, having been Speaker of the Florida House.
Fortunately, Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO is not deciding facts in administrative law cases.
Congress entrusted that to administrative agencies and administrative law judges, like the two for whom I clerked, Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge Charles P. Rippey and Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt.
Those judges, and administrative agencies, were too often subject to subtle and not-so-subtle pressure during the depths of depravity of the Reagan-Bush years.
Senator RUBIO's letter is about as subtle as a cockroach crossing a white carpet.
Hands off administrative law adjudications, Senator RUBIO.
Your ham-handed intervention is exactly why Congress enacted the APA in the first place, and why Senate Rule XLIII(3) is on the books.
This appears to be a demand to "fix" a pending federal administrative law case.
The case-fixing demand is in support of his former legislative colleagues, who amended Bright Futures in 2011, over Democratic opposition, in a manner predicted to adversely affect minority students by reducing the number of scholarships.
Whether this demand is illegal is up to others to determine.
Whether the Bright Futures scholarship changes violate civil rights laws is a question of law and fact.
It is not up to a young U.S. Senator who has no civil rights law experience to issue a ukase.
It should not be the subject of political pressure.
This is a pending administrative law case.
That case must not be be "fixed."
This is federal law in Washington, D.C.
This is a question of constitutional law.
This is a question of civil rights law.
Those civil rights laws were adopted in 1964 thanks to the courage of the people of St. Augustine and visiting helpers like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ambassador Andrew Jackson Young, who were beaten, jailed, fired, blacklisted and run out of town here in St. Augustine.
Here in St. Augustine, we now have two civil rights monuments in our Slave Market Square (Plaza de la Constitucion), one to Ambassador Young and the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers who helped to enact those civil rights laws.
Those civil rights laws are a national treasure.
Those civil rights laws are the light of the world, emulated everywhere, leading to equality everywhere for ethnic groups, religions, genders and gender preferences, and sexual orientations.
Those civil rights laws ought not to be a punch line in a politician's press release.
Those civil rights laws are a subject of the current Journey exhibit at our VIC, which just won honors from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation -- not one federal elected official, including Senator RUBIO, has yet shown up to see the exhibit.
This is not some Minor League zoning case in Hialeah or Palatka subject to influence.
This is not a moribund state agency in Tallahassee, subject to the "Whim of Iron" of our state legislators.
This is the Department of Education -- our United States Department of Education -- and its Office of Civil Rights.
Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO's longtime Chief of Staff is Cesar Conda. Conda was once domestic policy chief advisor to Vice President Richard Richard Cheney. This appears to be very much a Dick Cheney move -- if you don't like what the bureaucracy is doing, spew hatred and if you don't like whistleblowers, go after them with criminal investigations. Dick Cheney was not a lawyer. Senator RUBIO is a lawyer. We expect better from Senator RUBIO.
Has Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO stepped outside the role of a U.S. Senator to obstruct justice in a civil rights case?
Has Senator MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO possibly violated Senate Rule XLIII, APA, his January 3, 2011 oath of office as a U.S. Senator pursuant to Article VI of the United States Constitution, and his Florida Bar oath as an attorney?
Senator MARCC RUBIO seeks to substitute the "pull" of influence for the process of administrative law investigation, seeking headlines in his race for the presidency.
This may be both unethical, and unseemly.
Senator RUBIO must drop the oyster and leave the wharf.
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan should tell RUBIO to "buzz off."
Senator RUBIO has much bigger fish to fry. He's running for president. But here in Florida, we need his help to enact the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, www.staugustgreen.com. "America's Best Idea" needs and deserves Senator RUBIO's sponsorship and support.
What do you reckon?>
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085
904-377-4998
Friday, May 16, 2014
Do Guns Recoil Forward?
Justice for Michelle O'Connell
As Senator Howard Henry Baker, Jr. Said During Watergate, "Coverups Never Work." What do you reckon? Do St. Johns County elected officials coverup for each other?
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Ms. O'Connell was shot to death with the service pistol of Deputy JEREMY BANKS in BANKS' home on September 2, 2010, shortly after she told BANKS she was breaking up with him.
The New York Times, "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich & Glenn Silber (November 24, 2013): http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/
PBS/Frontline, "A Death in St. Augustine (November 26, 2013):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/ NBC News Dateline, "Two Shots Fired" (April 18, 2014):
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816
Petition for Coroner's Inquest:
https://www.change.org/petitions/florida-governor-order-a-coroner-s-inquest-into-the-death-of-michelle-o-connell
As Senator Howard Henry Baker, Jr. Said During Watergate, "Coverups Never Work." What do you reckon? Do St. Johns County elected officials coverup for each other?
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Ms. O'Connell was shot to death with the service pistol of Deputy JEREMY BANKS in BANKS' home on September 2, 2010, shortly after she told BANKS she was breaking up with him.
The New York Times, "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich & Glenn Silber (November 24, 2013): http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/
PBS/Frontline, "A Death in St. Augustine (November 26, 2013):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/ NBC News Dateline, "Two Shots Fired" (April 18, 2014):
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816
Petition for Coroner's Inquest:
https://www.change.org/petitions/florida-governor-order-a-coroner-s-inquest-into-the-death-of-michelle-o-connell
Watergate Conspirator Jeb Stuart Magruder's Words Reverberate for St. Johns County Employees and Other Future Federal Grand Jury Witnesses
Jeb Stuart Magruder has died at 79. The New York Times today quotes him as writing," "Instead of applying our private morality to public affairs, we accepted the President's standards of political behavior, and the results were tragic for him and for us." Words for future federal grand jury witnesses to remember, before they consider committing perjury. The whole world is watching. So is God.
Preparing the Way for the Visit of Pope Francis to St. Augustine in 2015
Next week, on May 22nd, the Visitor and Convention Bureau will hold its annual Tourism public meeting at World Golf Village, 8-11 am, at our County government's $16.9 million Convention Center.
Open to the public.
No charge.
This year, let's approach it differently.
Rather than a focus on attracting the one percent to benefit money-grubbing business owners, let's focus on equality and justice.
Fair wages for tourism employees.
Let's focus on our values.
Let's focus on what St. Augustine has to offer the world during our 450th anniversary commemoration next year.
Pope Francis has been invited, and he will help to celebrate our cultural diversity -- America began here (not Jamestown or Plymouth):
The first Europeans.
The first Christians.
The first Roman Catholics.
First Hispanics.
First Jews.
First Africans -- both free and slave.
First encounters with Native American indigenous Indian tribes.
First families.
First town plan.
First multi-cultural city.
St. Augustine is the first "Compassionate City" in Florida and twentieth in the world.
We've had 31 progressive victories here since April 11, 2005, when our former City Manager told me he could have me "arrested for disorderly conduct" for speaking out on the civil rights of West Augustine residents under the Fifteenth Amendment.
See below.
We reject government based on fear or ignorance (or fear of ignorance).
The Ku Klux Klan, which once ran Our Town, no longer has a vote on our City Commission.
One day that will be true of our County Commission and other county-wide elected offices.
As JFK said, "Here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own."
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and sharing our values with the world.
Open to the public.
No charge.
This year, let's approach it differently.
Rather than a focus on attracting the one percent to benefit money-grubbing business owners, let's focus on equality and justice.
Fair wages for tourism employees.
Let's focus on our values.
Let's focus on what St. Augustine has to offer the world during our 450th anniversary commemoration next year.
Pope Francis has been invited, and he will help to celebrate our cultural diversity -- America began here (not Jamestown or Plymouth):
The first Europeans.
The first Christians.
The first Roman Catholics.
First Hispanics.
First Jews.
First Africans -- both free and slave.
First encounters with Native American indigenous Indian tribes.
First families.
First town plan.
First multi-cultural city.
St. Augustine is the first "Compassionate City" in Florida and twentieth in the world.
We've had 31 progressive victories here since April 11, 2005, when our former City Manager told me he could have me "arrested for disorderly conduct" for speaking out on the civil rights of West Augustine residents under the Fifteenth Amendment.
See below.
We reject government based on fear or ignorance (or fear of ignorance).
The Ku Klux Klan, which once ran Our Town, no longer has a vote on our City Commission.
One day that will be true of our County Commission and other county-wide elected offices.
As JFK said, "Here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own."
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and sharing our values with the world.
Former County Commissioner BRUCE MAGUIRE's Questions About Francis Field
Former County Commissioner BRUCE MAGUIRE wrote a column for thoughtful Michael Gold's "Historic City News" in which he complains about cheapskate day-tripping tourists who attend festivals at our Special Events Field, otherwise known as Francis Field.
BRUCE MAGUIRE rightly questions such irrelevant, noisy, noisome "festivals" as the "Bacon Festival," with a $4 admission, dodgy attendees, and no known linkage to St. Augustine history.
While no doubt bacon was smoked, cured and produced here, it is not heritage tourism.
BRUCE MAGUIRE asks valid questions about parking, sustainabilit and large crowds in a small town.
They are worthy of public debate, discussion and policy analysis.
The late Fred Francis, a Gay owner of the baseball team known as the St. Augustine Sains, deeded Francis City to the City of St. Augustine for baseball fields.
None survives.
WILLIAM BRUCE HARRISS plowed under the baseball fields for the massive parking garage, leaving the fields fallow unless there is a festival.
How uncool was that?
Francis Field needs to be renamed the Francis-Robinson field, after Fred Francis and Jackie Robinson, who was forbidden by "Jim Crow" segregation laws to play baseball there in 1946 as a minor leaguer.
Baseball fields need to be re-established at Francis Field.
When there are special events, let them be well-planned, with satellite parking, like Mumford & Sons concert in September 2013, so that our city's historic downtown neighborhoods are not invaded by dazed and confused daytrippers in search of a free parking place and a place to urinate.
They once said on Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod that there were tourists who "arrived with a $20 bill and a t-shirt and changed neither."
The same is tree of Special Events Field festival-goers.
The Amphitheater is a better venue, but it is owned by the County.
It seems our City of St. Augustine wants to maximize return on the parking garage by renting out the special events field.
That's understandable, except that it can be an unfair burden to residents, without benefits.
While we want to be open to everyone, our business model should focus on historic and environmental tourists, who appreciate Our Town.
Historic and environmental tourists spend twice as much and twice as long as fungible Florida tourists, party people, who know not that they know not that they know not.
The answer to our prayers is the St. Augustine National Historic Park and National Seashore.
www.staugustgreen.com
BRUCE MAGUIRE rightly questions such irrelevant, noisy, noisome "festivals" as the "Bacon Festival," with a $4 admission, dodgy attendees, and no known linkage to St. Augustine history.
While no doubt bacon was smoked, cured and produced here, it is not heritage tourism.
BRUCE MAGUIRE asks valid questions about parking, sustainabilit and large crowds in a small town.
They are worthy of public debate, discussion and policy analysis.
The late Fred Francis, a Gay owner of the baseball team known as the St. Augustine Sains, deeded Francis City to the City of St. Augustine for baseball fields.
None survives.
WILLIAM BRUCE HARRISS plowed under the baseball fields for the massive parking garage, leaving the fields fallow unless there is a festival.
How uncool was that?
Francis Field needs to be renamed the Francis-Robinson field, after Fred Francis and Jackie Robinson, who was forbidden by "Jim Crow" segregation laws to play baseball there in 1946 as a minor leaguer.
Baseball fields need to be re-established at Francis Field.
When there are special events, let them be well-planned, with satellite parking, like Mumford & Sons concert in September 2013, so that our city's historic downtown neighborhoods are not invaded by dazed and confused daytrippers in search of a free parking place and a place to urinate.
They once said on Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod that there were tourists who "arrived with a $20 bill and a t-shirt and changed neither."
The same is tree of Special Events Field festival-goers.
The Amphitheater is a better venue, but it is owned by the County.
It seems our City of St. Augustine wants to maximize return on the parking garage by renting out the special events field.
That's understandable, except that it can be an unfair burden to residents, without benefits.
While we want to be open to everyone, our business model should focus on historic and environmental tourists, who appreciate Our Town.
Historic and environmental tourists spend twice as much and twice as long as fungible Florida tourists, party people, who know not that they know not that they know not.
The answer to our prayers is the St. Augustine National Historic Park and National Seashore.
www.staugustgreen.com
Who Would Want to Build A Children's Museum on a Methane-Emitting Former Landfill Located At the Confluence of the Matanzas and San Sebastian Rivers?
Good question, because we asked for their curriculum vitae, and none have been provided.
Stay tuned.
Today's inept St. Augustine Record article by its "development" reporter, Stuart Korfhage, a former sports reporter, is biased, stating that keeping the south end of Lincolnville "green" means "vacant," as if development were superior to public parkland, in an area long treated by the City of St. Augustine as a dumping ground for solid waste and sewage, resulting in fines and consent decrees.
The only thing "vacant" is the brains of the conceptually bankrupt, who don't appreciate the value of open, public parkland -- the south end of Lincolnville is a beautiful spot where two rivers converge, and it must be preserved.
Today's dull Record article does not say "who, what or why" about putting a Children's Museum on a former landfill, a stench in the nostrils of our City.
Today's article does say "where," but does not state that FDEP guidelines forbid such projects on former landfills and for good reason. See below.
Today's article is a delayed and biased account of Monday's City Commission meeting, where misguided supporters of the Children's Museums from gated communities and the Junior League, sought to inflict their undercapitalized project on the Lincolnville community. Lincolnville neighbors and supporters had the best of it, and no logical person would risk children's lives building on a landfill.
There are better places available.
The St. Augustine Aquarium LLC project has dissolved, and is under investigation by the Small Busines Administration Office of Inspector General.
The St. Augustine Aquarium LLC's former partner, the St. Augustine Children's Museum can profit from their example.
Look elsewhere.
You will be glad you did.
The south end of Lincolnville will be preserved as a park in perpetuity through enactment of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Yes we can! www.staugustgreen.com8
Stay tuned.
Today's inept St. Augustine Record article by its "development" reporter, Stuart Korfhage, a former sports reporter, is biased, stating that keeping the south end of Lincolnville "green" means "vacant," as if development were superior to public parkland, in an area long treated by the City of St. Augustine as a dumping ground for solid waste and sewage, resulting in fines and consent decrees.
The only thing "vacant" is the brains of the conceptually bankrupt, who don't appreciate the value of open, public parkland -- the south end of Lincolnville is a beautiful spot where two rivers converge, and it must be preserved.
Today's dull Record article does not say "who, what or why" about putting a Children's Museum on a former landfill, a stench in the nostrils of our City.
Today's article does say "where," but does not state that FDEP guidelines forbid such projects on former landfills and for good reason. See below.
Today's article is a delayed and biased account of Monday's City Commission meeting, where misguided supporters of the Children's Museums from gated communities and the Junior League, sought to inflict their undercapitalized project on the Lincolnville community. Lincolnville neighbors and supporters had the best of it, and no logical person would risk children's lives building on a landfill.
There are better places available.
The St. Augustine Aquarium LLC project has dissolved, and is under investigation by the Small Busines Administration Office of Inspector General.
The St. Augustine Aquarium LLC's former partner, the St. Augustine Children's Museum can profit from their example.
Look elsewhere.
You will be glad you did.
The south end of Lincolnville will be preserved as a park in perpetuity through enactment of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Yes we can! www.staugustgreen.com8
Justice for Michelle O'Connell -- Our Elected St. Johns County Officials Have A Guilty Conscience, Blood on Their Hands and Are Avoiding and Evading Open Records Requests
I have been patiently trying to obtain communications from and to our St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners since March 20, 2014, some 56 days ago, about the Michelle O'Connell case.
Ms. O'Connell was shot to death with the service pistol of Deputy JEREMY BANKS in BANKS' home on September 2, 2010, shortly after she told BANKS she was breaking up with him.
The New York Times, "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich & Glenn Silber (November 24, 2013): http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/
PBS/Frontline, "A Death in St. Augustine (November 26, 2013):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/
NBC News Dateline, "Two Shots Fired" (April 18, 2014):
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816
Petition for Coroner's Inquest:
https://www.change.org/petitions/florida-governor-order-a-coroner-s-inquest-into-the-death-of-michelle-o-connell
In theory, under our Florida Constitution, our SJC BOCC exercises oversight and the power of the purse over the budget and conduct of Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR.
In practice, SJC BOCC is part of Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR's political machine.
In campaign finance filings with the Supervisor of Elections, SJC BOCC Chairman JOHN H. "JAY" MORRIS, JR. has identified Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR as one of the
"fundraisers" for his re-election campaign.
In response to the revelations about the O'Connell case, BOCC has done nothing, while concealing records on the case for some 56 days.
Pitiful.
We're still waiting on records from Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR and his captive SJC BOCC.
Pitiful.
If SJC BOCC had done its job, things might be different.
For example, if SJC BOCC members had courage, they would have asked questions of SHOAR before approving his budget.
Two prior Commission Chairmen did ask questions, and were defeated for re-election when SHOAR dropped the thermal equivalent of a Brinks truck full of money on them, with ads on Fox TV, even electing a 24 year old to replace Chairman Ben Rich in 2008 and a developer shill to replace Chairman J. Kenneth Bryan in 2012.
SHOAR has not faced an opponent since 2004, the year he was elected.
He is the Republican Lord of all he surveys in St. Johns County, with even our Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian Party, Tea Party, and League of Women Voters cowed by DAVID SHOAR's political power, and afraid of being pulled over by one of his many deputies, not standing up for justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Pitiful.
Not one (1) current elected official has stood up to SHOAR.
Not one.
Pitiful.
Not one (1) clergy member has stood up to SHOAR.
Pitiful.
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR abuses the clergy as bullets in his gun, with his Christian "Marketplace" using ministers as human shields.
Pitiful.
If SJC BOCC had ever asked tough questions of SHOAR about Officer Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV), Michelle O'Connell might still be alive today.
There is blood on the hands of our elected officials here in St. Johns County, Florida.
We need to question all BOCC members and candidates and examine them with a gimlet eye.
How close are they to SHOAR?
Is SHOAR raising money for them from wetland-filling, tree-killing developers?
What do they think about OIDV?
What do they think about SHOAR's removal of dashboard cameras from Sheriff's vehicles?
What do they think about SHOAR's keeping abusive deputies on the payroll?
What do they think about SHOAR's budget?
What do they think about SHOAR's deputies propensities to shoot civilians?
Do they think for themselves?
Or are they other-directed shills for wetland-filling, tree-killing developers?
You tell me.
Ask questions.
Demand answers.
Expect democracy.
This is our time, our town and our place.
St. Augustine is a Compassionate City, 20th in the world and first in Florida. We won't be embarrassed by a rebarbative County Sheriff who bullies employees and citizens, works as a shill for developers, and covers up crimes.
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
We shall overcome.
Ms. O'Connell was shot to death with the service pistol of Deputy JEREMY BANKS in BANKS' home on September 2, 2010, shortly after she told BANKS she was breaking up with him.
The New York Times, "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich & Glenn Silber (November 24, 2013): http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/
PBS/Frontline, "A Death in St. Augustine (November 26, 2013):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/
NBC News Dateline, "Two Shots Fired" (April 18, 2014):
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816
Petition for Coroner's Inquest:
https://www.change.org/petitions/florida-governor-order-a-coroner-s-inquest-into-the-death-of-michelle-o-connell
In theory, under our Florida Constitution, our SJC BOCC exercises oversight and the power of the purse over the budget and conduct of Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR.
In practice, SJC BOCC is part of Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR's political machine.
In campaign finance filings with the Supervisor of Elections, SJC BOCC Chairman JOHN H. "JAY" MORRIS, JR. has identified Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR as one of the
"fundraisers" for his re-election campaign.
In response to the revelations about the O'Connell case, BOCC has done nothing, while concealing records on the case for some 56 days.
Pitiful.
We're still waiting on records from Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR and his captive SJC BOCC.
Pitiful.
If SJC BOCC had done its job, things might be different.
For example, if SJC BOCC members had courage, they would have asked questions of SHOAR before approving his budget.
Two prior Commission Chairmen did ask questions, and were defeated for re-election when SHOAR dropped the thermal equivalent of a Brinks truck full of money on them, with ads on Fox TV, even electing a 24 year old to replace Chairman Ben Rich in 2008 and a developer shill to replace Chairman J. Kenneth Bryan in 2012.
SHOAR has not faced an opponent since 2004, the year he was elected.
He is the Republican Lord of all he surveys in St. Johns County, with even our Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian Party, Tea Party, and League of Women Voters cowed by DAVID SHOAR's political power, and afraid of being pulled over by one of his many deputies, not standing up for justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Pitiful.
Not one (1) current elected official has stood up to SHOAR.
Not one.
Pitiful.
Not one (1) clergy member has stood up to SHOAR.
Pitiful.
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR abuses the clergy as bullets in his gun, with his Christian "Marketplace" using ministers as human shields.
Pitiful.
If SJC BOCC had ever asked tough questions of SHOAR about Officer Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV), Michelle O'Connell might still be alive today.
There is blood on the hands of our elected officials here in St. Johns County, Florida.
We need to question all BOCC members and candidates and examine them with a gimlet eye.
How close are they to SHOAR?
Is SHOAR raising money for them from wetland-filling, tree-killing developers?
What do they think about OIDV?
What do they think about SHOAR's removal of dashboard cameras from Sheriff's vehicles?
What do they think about SHOAR's keeping abusive deputies on the payroll?
What do they think about SHOAR's budget?
What do they think about SHOAR's deputies propensities to shoot civilians?
Do they think for themselves?
Or are they other-directed shills for wetland-filling, tree-killing developers?
You tell me.
Ask questions.
Demand answers.
Expect democracy.
This is our time, our town and our place.
St. Augustine is a Compassionate City, 20th in the world and first in Florida. We won't be embarrassed by a rebarbative County Sheriff who bullies employees and citizens, works as a shill for developers, and covers up crimes.
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
We shall overcome.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Local Preparations for Ocean Level Rise in St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County, Florida as of May 15, 2014
Local leaders, please provide on your websites and we will print links.
Don't attempt to charge us a dime for asking question.
It is The People's Business.
Citizens: Do you know of any plans by local governments to cope with ocean level rise in St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County?
Discuss.
Activate.
Innovate.
Agitate.
Our Mayor (Joseph L. Boles, Jr.) and one Commissioner have been known to say, "We don't want to reinvent the wheel."
Monday I told Mayor Boles to stop using that God-awful cliche. It discourages creative people.
It insults our intelligence. The wheel is reinvented every day -- there are 500,000 patents on wheels. We reinvent democracy, reinvent technology and reinvent everything else. Al Gore wrote a book and sponsored innovation during the Clinton Administration under the rubric of Reinventing Government.
Yes we can!
On Global Warming, Commissioner Donald Crichlow has rightly raised the issue of Global Warming and Ocean Level Rise Preparedness.
We need to heed his call.
We are a coastal community, and could lose everything.
Our history.
Our nature.
Our wildlife.
Our culture.
Everything.
In 100 years, St. Augustine could be the southernmost point in the United States.
Parts of it could be underwater.
It makes sense to plan.
Now.
Part of our planning must be the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
www.staugustgreen.com
What do you reckon?
Don't attempt to charge us a dime for asking question.
It is The People's Business.
Citizens: Do you know of any plans by local governments to cope with ocean level rise in St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County?
Discuss.
Activate.
Innovate.
Agitate.
Our Mayor (Joseph L. Boles, Jr.) and one Commissioner have been known to say, "We don't want to reinvent the wheel."
Monday I told Mayor Boles to stop using that God-awful cliche. It discourages creative people.
It insults our intelligence. The wheel is reinvented every day -- there are 500,000 patents on wheels. We reinvent democracy, reinvent technology and reinvent everything else. Al Gore wrote a book and sponsored innovation during the Clinton Administration under the rubric of Reinventing Government.
Yes we can!
On Global Warming, Commissioner Donald Crichlow has rightly raised the issue of Global Warming and Ocean Level Rise Preparedness.
We need to heed his call.
We are a coastal community, and could lose everything.
Our history.
Our nature.
Our wildlife.
Our culture.
Everything.
In 100 years, St. Augustine could be the southernmost point in the United States.
Parts of it could be underwater.
It makes sense to plan.
Now.
Part of our planning must be the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
www.staugustgreen.com
What do you reckon?
Urbane Renewal at The New York Times
Dean Baquet was named Executive Editor of The New York Times yesterday, after Jill Abramson was fired.
Dean Baquet is an African-American, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter from a working class family in New Orleans. His father's Creole restaurant was boycotted after Mr. Baquet, the cub reporter, reported about legendary New Orleans corruption.
He won the Pulitzer in 1988 for exposing Chicago City Council corruption.
The first African-American Executive Editor of the Times, Dean Baquet was fired as editor of the Los Angeles Times in 2006 for First Amendment and union protected activity, refusing to fire hundreds of reporters. He stood on a desk after his firing, telling the newsroom staff, "We shall overcome."
We need more reporters and editors like him. Mr. Baquet never graduated college, having had so much fun investigating corruption in New Orleans that he never went back to Columbia University to complete his degree.
I can identify with all of that. I nearly didn't graduate college either and only did so because my mother insisted (I was the first in our family to graduate college). As Appalachian Observer editor, I needed to finish up three credit hours before I could start law school. Georgetown accepted my House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee testimony before then-Rep. Al Gore on Oak Ridge mercury as independent study after I added footnotes.
Too many newsrooms are run by snobs.
Too many newsrooms are run by cognitive misers, unenlightened people who know not that they know not that they know not.
Too many newsrooms are run by clubby people of the sort former Associate Editor and Washington Bureau Chief Tom Wicker of the New York Times wrote about in his 1977 book, On Press, who never dare investigate locally predominant organizations, whether Big Tobacco in North Carolina or the Tourism Business in Florida.
Too many newsrooms are run by people who Always Cower to Power, as with former New York Times editor William Keller, who spiked articles about illegal spying on Americans until after the 2004 election, depriving Americans of our Right to Know in the name of national security, ignoring JFK's statement that the Times should have reported what it knew in 1961 on the Bay of Pigs invasion planning, thereby preventing a disaster.
Too many newsrooms are run by Chamber of Commerce members, Babbitts, all-too-comfortable people who think their readers want to read what they hear at the Rotary -- hacks and sad sacks who know too few facts and don't share enough of those they do know with "We, The People," their readers.
I am confident that The New York Times will continue investigating Florida political corruption, as evidenced by the front page article and four (4) inside pages on the Michelle O'Connell case, "Two Gunshots On A Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich.
New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet should be interested in it stores about St. Augustine and Florida, e.g., primarily African-American residents of West Augustine paying more than A PREMIUM OF one million dollars a year EXTRA for water to subsidize the privileged Republican lifestyles of nearly all-white organizations like Northrop Grumman, Flagler College, Flagler Hospital, hotels, motels, restaurants, bars and laundries.
Three cheers for Dean Baquet for his leadership of the best newspaper in the world.
Viva!
Dean Baquet is an African-American, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter from a working class family in New Orleans. His father's Creole restaurant was boycotted after Mr. Baquet, the cub reporter, reported about legendary New Orleans corruption.
He won the Pulitzer in 1988 for exposing Chicago City Council corruption.
The first African-American Executive Editor of the Times, Dean Baquet was fired as editor of the Los Angeles Times in 2006 for First Amendment and union protected activity, refusing to fire hundreds of reporters. He stood on a desk after his firing, telling the newsroom staff, "We shall overcome."
We need more reporters and editors like him. Mr. Baquet never graduated college, having had so much fun investigating corruption in New Orleans that he never went back to Columbia University to complete his degree.
I can identify with all of that. I nearly didn't graduate college either and only did so because my mother insisted (I was the first in our family to graduate college). As Appalachian Observer editor, I needed to finish up three credit hours before I could start law school. Georgetown accepted my House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee testimony before then-Rep. Al Gore on Oak Ridge mercury as independent study after I added footnotes.
Too many newsrooms are run by snobs.
Too many newsrooms are run by cognitive misers, unenlightened people who know not that they know not that they know not.
Too many newsrooms are run by clubby people of the sort former Associate Editor and Washington Bureau Chief Tom Wicker of the New York Times wrote about in his 1977 book, On Press, who never dare investigate locally predominant organizations, whether Big Tobacco in North Carolina or the Tourism Business in Florida.
Too many newsrooms are run by people who Always Cower to Power, as with former New York Times editor William Keller, who spiked articles about illegal spying on Americans until after the 2004 election, depriving Americans of our Right to Know in the name of national security, ignoring JFK's statement that the Times should have reported what it knew in 1961 on the Bay of Pigs invasion planning, thereby preventing a disaster.
Too many newsrooms are run by Chamber of Commerce members, Babbitts, all-too-comfortable people who think their readers want to read what they hear at the Rotary -- hacks and sad sacks who know too few facts and don't share enough of those they do know with "We, The People," their readers.
I am confident that The New York Times will continue investigating Florida political corruption, as evidenced by the front page article and four (4) inside pages on the Michelle O'Connell case, "Two Gunshots On A Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich.
New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet should be interested in it stores about St. Augustine and Florida, e.g., primarily African-American residents of West Augustine paying more than A PREMIUM OF one million dollars a year EXTRA for water to subsidize the privileged Republican lifestyles of nearly all-white organizations like Northrop Grumman, Flagler College, Flagler Hospital, hotels, motels, restaurants, bars and laundries.
Three cheers for Dean Baquet for his leadership of the best newspaper in the world.
Viva!
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
Here in St. Augustine, we've achieved some 31 progressive victories in a place that former St. Johns County Commission Chairman said in 2008 was "one of the last bastions of the Ku Klux Klan."
We have excellent schools, among the best in Florida. Teachers, not businesses, are the true job creators. But our teachers are vastly underpaid, with an inept teacher's union that does not understand how to bargain, and an authoritarian school superintendent who thinks God appointed him to run a plantation. Teachers need a union that bargains collectively in a meaningful way. We need to raise teacher pay and make wealthy businessmen pay for the benefits of an educated employees. Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse was, "To whom much is given, much is expected."
We've got wonderful history, but we hide our light under a bushel basket, with mediocre, ethnocentric and dull historic interpretation for the most part.
We have beautiful beaches, state parks, forests and wetlands, but little in the way of interpretation, trails or federal protection, and only two small national monuments (Castillo de San Marco and Fort Matanzas). We need a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. www.staugustgreen.com
We've got cool people, and cool people keep moving here. But we've got some stodgy, dull, inept, uncompassionate government officials, employees and officials, some of the worst I've ever seen at the county level. In our City of St. Augustine, we've made progress, but our county commissioners remain a narrow-minded bunch of reactionaries, led by a former corporate executive whose company paid out more than $60 million in government contract fraud settlements lsat year -- a bunch of developer-driven Babbitts who know not that they know not that they know not, who actually voted against endorsing the National Park and Seashore on November 1, 2011, a date that will live in infamy.
Last night, I saw one of the answers -- a gathering of some 200 cool people under the auspices of the St. Augustine Initiative for Compassion, hearing and watching short presentations of the sort favored by Japanese business people and American architects, called pecha kuchu -- twenty powerful PowerPoint slides (mostly pictures), each accompanied by a powerful 20 second narrative.
These are not political speeches so much as conversation-starters, soulful monologues that invite dialogue.
Photographer Walter Coker and other local residents gave heart-felt presentations on topics ranging from protecting human rights to raising teacher pay to saving Florida's natural water and springs.
At least two City of St. Augustine City Commissioners were present.
How cool is that?
We have excellent schools, among the best in Florida. Teachers, not businesses, are the true job creators. But our teachers are vastly underpaid, with an inept teacher's union that does not understand how to bargain, and an authoritarian school superintendent who thinks God appointed him to run a plantation. Teachers need a union that bargains collectively in a meaningful way. We need to raise teacher pay and make wealthy businessmen pay for the benefits of an educated employees. Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse was, "To whom much is given, much is expected."
We've got wonderful history, but we hide our light under a bushel basket, with mediocre, ethnocentric and dull historic interpretation for the most part.
We have beautiful beaches, state parks, forests and wetlands, but little in the way of interpretation, trails or federal protection, and only two small national monuments (Castillo de San Marco and Fort Matanzas). We need a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. www.staugustgreen.com
We've got cool people, and cool people keep moving here. But we've got some stodgy, dull, inept, uncompassionate government officials, employees and officials, some of the worst I've ever seen at the county level. In our City of St. Augustine, we've made progress, but our county commissioners remain a narrow-minded bunch of reactionaries, led by a former corporate executive whose company paid out more than $60 million in government contract fraud settlements lsat year -- a bunch of developer-driven Babbitts who know not that they know not that they know not, who actually voted against endorsing the National Park and Seashore on November 1, 2011, a date that will live in infamy.
Last night, I saw one of the answers -- a gathering of some 200 cool people under the auspices of the St. Augustine Initiative for Compassion, hearing and watching short presentations of the sort favored by Japanese business people and American architects, called pecha kuchu -- twenty powerful PowerPoint slides (mostly pictures), each accompanied by a powerful 20 second narrative.
These are not political speeches so much as conversation-starters, soulful monologues that invite dialogue.
Photographer Walter Coker and other local residents gave heart-felt presentations on topics ranging from protecting human rights to raising teacher pay to saving Florida's natural water and springs.
At least two City of St. Augustine City Commissioners were present.
How cool is that?
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
National Response Center Report 1082767 re: Septic Tanks in St. Augustine, Florda
Just spoke to Mr. Threatt with the United States Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., reporting City of St. Augustine failing to regulate, map or monitor locations of septic tanks bordering our navigable waterways, including our Salt Run, Matanzas Bay and Matanzas River and San Sebastian River.
Why?
I asked City Public Works Director for a map showing septic tank locations yesterday, and received in response her usual clueless snootiness (about no data and not regulating anything).
Our overpaid City Hall denizens need to get to work. How do leaking septic tanks affect our waterways? Let us have data. Let us have questions answered.
Let justice be done.
Why?
I asked City Public Works Director for a map showing septic tank locations yesterday, and received in response her usual clueless snootiness (about no data and not regulating anything).
Our overpaid City Hall denizens need to get to work. How do leaking septic tanks affect our waterways? Let us have data. Let us have questions answered.
Let justice be done.
WATER RATE RACISM
Millions of Dollars in Overcharges to Low-Income African-American Residents of West Augustine for Water by City of St. Augustine Began 50 Years Ago, After Civil Rights Protests Here
The amount of the overcharge since 2006-7 fiscal year alone is more than $6 million dollars.
More than one million dollars during 2012-13.
This is Environmental Racism.
This is payback by the City of St. Augustine, for fifty years since Andew Young was beaten senselss and the Ku Klux Klan ran our town, in league with Sheriff LAWRENCE O. DAVIS.
These overcharges were part of why Florida Memorial University and so many West King Street businesses failed -- the City used Economic Warfare as part of its war on African-Americans and the poor.
These illegal overcharges must be ended at once.
These illegal overcharges will end after completion of the water rate study.
Prediction: Flagler College; Flagler Hospital; Northrop Grumman, Whetstone Chocolate and other factories; motels, hotels, restaurants and bars; laundries and other large water users will pay more.
They will pay their fair share -- the value of their water to their activities.
Conservation will finally be encouraged.
Water wastrels will conserve our precious Florida water, which comes from our City's deep artesian wells in the beautiful Twelve Mile Swamp, currently owned by St. Johns River Water Management District, soon to be part of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Those who are promiscuous consumers of water will start conserving it.
Hotels and motels will encourage their customers to conserve, as hotels and motels do elsewhere, in places where homeowners do not subsidize business water customers.
Those who need water just to survive will pay less.
There will be lifeline rates for the poor and elderly.
Average households will pay less.
Much less.
Perhaps half as much.
The illegal, discriminatory 25% premium paid by non-city residents will be abolished.
Successive City Managers, City Commissions and City Attorneys witnessed and permitted this outrage without question. Why?
Local clergymen did not raise a ruckus. Why?
We have too many local "leaders" who don't think for themselves, and who were co-opted.
Enough.
The dead hand control of the Ku Klux Klan over City of St. Augustine water ratemaking policy will end.
Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last.
We shall overcome!
The amount of the overcharge since 2006-7 fiscal year alone is more than $6 million dollars.
More than one million dollars during 2012-13.
This is Environmental Racism.
This is payback by the City of St. Augustine, for fifty years since Andew Young was beaten senselss and the Ku Klux Klan ran our town, in league with Sheriff LAWRENCE O. DAVIS.
These overcharges were part of why Florida Memorial University and so many West King Street businesses failed -- the City used Economic Warfare as part of its war on African-Americans and the poor.
These illegal overcharges must be ended at once.
These illegal overcharges will end after completion of the water rate study.
Prediction: Flagler College; Flagler Hospital; Northrop Grumman, Whetstone Chocolate and other factories; motels, hotels, restaurants and bars; laundries and other large water users will pay more.
They will pay their fair share -- the value of their water to their activities.
Conservation will finally be encouraged.
Water wastrels will conserve our precious Florida water, which comes from our City's deep artesian wells in the beautiful Twelve Mile Swamp, currently owned by St. Johns River Water Management District, soon to be part of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Those who are promiscuous consumers of water will start conserving it.
Hotels and motels will encourage their customers to conserve, as hotels and motels do elsewhere, in places where homeowners do not subsidize business water customers.
Those who need water just to survive will pay less.
There will be lifeline rates for the poor and elderly.
Average households will pay less.
Much less.
Perhaps half as much.
The illegal, discriminatory 25% premium paid by non-city residents will be abolished.
Successive City Managers, City Commissions and City Attorneys witnessed and permitted this outrage without question. Why?
Local clergymen did not raise a ruckus. Why?
We have too many local "leaders" who don't think for themselves, and who were co-opted.
Enough.
The dead hand control of the Ku Klux Klan over City of St. Augustine water ratemaking policy will end.
Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last.
We shall overcome!
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Equal Protection and Due Process Vindicated in St. Augustine (Again) --- Unanimous Vote for Water Rate Study, First in City's History
Last night, St. Augustine City Commission unanimously voted $35,000 for a water rate study.
There's never been one in the history of our Nation's Oldest City.
Our current water rates are double what they should be for small users, and less than they should be for large users.
Our current water rates are unconstitutional, violating Equal Protection and Due Process.
The poor pay more that they should.
Average households pay more than we should.
You pay the same each month whether you use one gallon or 3000 gallons.
Worse, low income and African-American residents of West Augustine west of the railroad tracks and elsewhere outside city limits pay 25 percent extra, and have done so for fifty years.
The amount of this consumer ripoff is $700,000 per year, from people who can least afford it.
It is a civil rights violation, one that occurs every time a utility bill is sent out to residents outside city limits.
This scandalous overcharge is one of the vestiges of Jim Crow law in the City of St. Augustine, and we're going to abolish it.
Meanwhile, very large water users are not paying their fair share, including Flagler Hospital, Flagler College, Norrhrop Grumman, hotels, motels, restaurants and laundries.
There is no incentive for conservation.
None.
There are no inclining block rates.
Again, there has never been a water rate study before.
Our water rates are twice what they should be, according to studies by the St. Johns Water Management District.
Once again, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process clauses live in our Nation's Oldest City.
Yes we can!
Thanks and praise are due to our City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E., Public Works Director Martha Graham, Comptroller Mark Litzinger, Assistant City Manager Timothy Burchfield, Mayor Joseph L. Boles, Jr., Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, Commissioners Leeana Freeman, Roxanne Horvath and Donald Chrichlow for doing the right thing.
The vote was unanimous.
5-0.
Three cheers
There's never been one in the history of our Nation's Oldest City.
Our current water rates are double what they should be for small users, and less than they should be for large users.
Our current water rates are unconstitutional, violating Equal Protection and Due Process.
The poor pay more that they should.
Average households pay more than we should.
You pay the same each month whether you use one gallon or 3000 gallons.
Worse, low income and African-American residents of West Augustine west of the railroad tracks and elsewhere outside city limits pay 25 percent extra, and have done so for fifty years.
The amount of this consumer ripoff is $700,000 per year, from people who can least afford it.
It is a civil rights violation, one that occurs every time a utility bill is sent out to residents outside city limits.
This scandalous overcharge is one of the vestiges of Jim Crow law in the City of St. Augustine, and we're going to abolish it.
Meanwhile, very large water users are not paying their fair share, including Flagler Hospital, Flagler College, Norrhrop Grumman, hotels, motels, restaurants and laundries.
There is no incentive for conservation.
None.
There are no inclining block rates.
Again, there has never been a water rate study before.
Our water rates are twice what they should be, according to studies by the St. Johns Water Management District.
Once again, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process clauses live in our Nation's Oldest City.
Yes we can!
Thanks and praise are due to our City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E., Public Works Director Martha Graham, Comptroller Mark Litzinger, Assistant City Manager Timothy Burchfield, Mayor Joseph L. Boles, Jr., Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, Commissioners Leeana Freeman, Roxanne Horvath and Donald Chrichlow for doing the right thing.
The vote was unanimous.
5-0.
Three cheers
St. Augustine Record lead story today, with banner headline on page one: "Commission votes in favor of utility study"
Commission votes in favor of utility study
Study to look at impacts of different rate structure, eliminating surcharge
Posted: May 13, 2014 - 11:38pm
By SHELDON GARDNER
sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
St. Augustine commissioners voted to fund a study into the utility rates in St. Augustine and surrounding areas.
The study will look at the possibility of lowering rates for some customers and possibly eliminating a surcharge over time, among other things.
The vote came during the commission’s regular meeting on Monday, when commissioners also delayed voting on further funding to the facilitator of the city’s visioning process.
City Public Works Director Martha Graham spoke briefly to the commission about the rate study, which would look at the surcharge that the city levies against customers who are outside of the city limits.
The study would also examine the base rates for utilities and water conservation.
Officials from St. Johns County and the City of St. Augustine met in November and decided to study the possibility of transferring sewer and water services to the county.
West Augustine representatives have been advocating for better sewer service for years.
The county recently supported a transfer of the utilities in exchange for adding millions of dollars worth of infrastructure to West King Street.
But city officials have said that the transfer would not extend any sewer to residential customers and would still cost millions of dollars.
West Augustine residents are also charged a surcharge since they are outside of the city limits. That surcharge adds about $15 to water and sewer bills combined on average.
A couple of commissioners voiced concern about rates being raised for other customers if the surcharge was eliminated.
“Somebody is going to pay more,” said Commissioner Donald Crichlow.
Graham said the objective of the study is not to lose revenue but to figure out how to transfer the cost somewhere else.
City Manager John Regan said the length of time that it took to eliminate the surcharge would affect rates.
Commissioners discussed the possibility of studying reducing the surcharge for certain areas.
The commission unanimously approved funding the study for $35,000, to be taken from utility reserves.,,,
Study to look at impacts of different rate structure, eliminating surcharge
Posted: May 13, 2014 - 11:38pm
By SHELDON GARDNER
sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
St. Augustine commissioners voted to fund a study into the utility rates in St. Augustine and surrounding areas.
The study will look at the possibility of lowering rates for some customers and possibly eliminating a surcharge over time, among other things.
The vote came during the commission’s regular meeting on Monday, when commissioners also delayed voting on further funding to the facilitator of the city’s visioning process.
City Public Works Director Martha Graham spoke briefly to the commission about the rate study, which would look at the surcharge that the city levies against customers who are outside of the city limits.
The study would also examine the base rates for utilities and water conservation.
Officials from St. Johns County and the City of St. Augustine met in November and decided to study the possibility of transferring sewer and water services to the county.
West Augustine representatives have been advocating for better sewer service for years.
The county recently supported a transfer of the utilities in exchange for adding millions of dollars worth of infrastructure to West King Street.
But city officials have said that the transfer would not extend any sewer to residential customers and would still cost millions of dollars.
West Augustine residents are also charged a surcharge since they are outside of the city limits. That surcharge adds about $15 to water and sewer bills combined on average.
A couple of commissioners voiced concern about rates being raised for other customers if the surcharge was eliminated.
“Somebody is going to pay more,” said Commissioner Donald Crichlow.
Graham said the objective of the study is not to lose revenue but to figure out how to transfer the cost somewhere else.
City Manager John Regan said the length of time that it took to eliminate the surcharge would affect rates.
Commissioners discussed the possibility of studying reducing the surcharge for certain areas.
The commission unanimously approved funding the study for $35,000, to be taken from utility reserves.,,,
Monday, May 12, 2014
Enacting the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore Act in 2015, in Time for our 450th anniversary
Yes we can!
Congress will likely enact yet another Ombnibus National Park bill in 2015.
It will include park projects and land legislation on a massive scale.
It will likely include a clause deeding some land on Orange Street to the City of St. Augustine -- land the federal government has owned sine Florida became a U.S. colony.
Prediction: It will also include a provision relating to the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Yes we will!
Congress will likely enact yet another Ombnibus National Park bill in 2015.
It will include park projects and land legislation on a massive scale.
It will likely include a clause deeding some land on Orange Street to the City of St. Augustine -- land the federal government has owned sine Florida became a U.S. colony.
Prediction: It will also include a provision relating to the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
Yes we will!
St. Augustine Children's Museum -- Pipe Dream or Nightmare on Riberia Street?
Why would anyone want to put a children's museum on top of a former landfill, barely covered with dirt, emitting methane gas?
Why would anyone want the liability?
Why would anyone want to put children in harm's way?
Methane gas is an explosion and inhalation hazard.
Locating a children's museum on top of it is asking for trouble.
FDEP guidelines won't allow building there.
FDEP is investigating the lack of ground cover, which violates permit parameters.
Why would anyone make such an unethical pitch to build a chidren's museum there?
Why join hands with SHAWN and KATHY HIESTER, whose bogus Aquarium proposal for the same site went belly up (and is under investigation by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Small Business Administration)?
Why would a children's museum have an agreement with the City that allows it to sell out to a profit-making company"
Why would a tiny group with less than $200,000 in the bank suppose they could build a lavish $6 million building on a former landfill site, and open "in 2014," as they shamelessly advertise on the Internet?
Why would anyone believe such claims from privileged characters who haven't even given City officials their resumes or curriculum vitae?
These are well-connected people who live in gated communities, who want to mess up the south end of Lincolnville, sometimes erroneously called "Riberia Pointe" (sic), an area the Spanish called Buena Esperanza in the 1600s.
Let them build their children's museum elsewhere. This area must remain a park, without buildings. "This land is your land," as Woodie Guthrie sang. Activists worked hard to spare it 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated solid waste that the City of St. Augustine wanted to dump back there. (It's now in a Nassau County Class I landfill where it lives).
Don't mess with Lincolnville.
We're not going to sell this land to anyone.
We might give it away -- to the National Park Service, as a component of St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, under National Park Service stewardship. www.staugustgreen.com
Why would anyone want the liability?
Why would anyone want to put children in harm's way?
Methane gas is an explosion and inhalation hazard.
Locating a children's museum on top of it is asking for trouble.
FDEP guidelines won't allow building there.
FDEP is investigating the lack of ground cover, which violates permit parameters.
Why would anyone make such an unethical pitch to build a chidren's museum there?
Why join hands with SHAWN and KATHY HIESTER, whose bogus Aquarium proposal for the same site went belly up (and is under investigation by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Small Business Administration)?
Why would a children's museum have an agreement with the City that allows it to sell out to a profit-making company"
Why would a tiny group with less than $200,000 in the bank suppose they could build a lavish $6 million building on a former landfill site, and open "in 2014," as they shamelessly advertise on the Internet?
Why would anyone believe such claims from privileged characters who haven't even given City officials their resumes or curriculum vitae?
These are well-connected people who live in gated communities, who want to mess up the south end of Lincolnville, sometimes erroneously called "Riberia Pointe" (sic), an area the Spanish called Buena Esperanza in the 1600s.
Let them build their children's museum elsewhere. This area must remain a park, without buildings. "This land is your land," as Woodie Guthrie sang. Activists worked hard to spare it 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated solid waste that the City of St. Augustine wanted to dump back there. (It's now in a Nassau County Class I landfill where it lives).
Don't mess with Lincolnville.
We're not going to sell this land to anyone.
We might give it away -- to the National Park Service, as a component of St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, under National Park Service stewardship. www.staugustgreen.com
102 Bridge Street Real Estate Closing Today -- City of St. Augustine Has Not Yet Disclosed Its Time and Location
Wonder why?
Sunshine law principles require it be open.
As the great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Sunshine law principles require it be open.
As the great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Who is DAVID BARTON CORNEAL?
Someone who threatened not to close on 102 Bridge Street unless the City of St. Augustine waived his archaeological excavation fee.
How rude.
How crude.
How crooked.
How narcissistic.
How Neanderthal.
A wealthy lawyer from State College, Pennsylvania, rated poorly by his students at Penn State, where he taught business law.
This shady supercilious millionaire who paid the archaeological fee for his mansion at 125 Marine Street, but lied to Commissioners May 7 that he did not know about archeological fee.
This miscreant one-percenter, a willful man who will close on 102 Bridge Street today, unless he makes more indecent demands.
Robber Baron DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is not to be trusted.
The City of St. Augustine should revoke is illegal approval of the fee waiver, and tell DAVID BARTON CORNEAL that we're not afraid of millionaires around here. Not the ones who have lived here for centuries, and not one who just registered to vote here on January 8, 2014.
In James Madison's words, "here, sir, the People govern."
Tell Commissioners to read JFK's Profiles in Courage, and stand up to the oppression of DAVID BARTON CORNEAL. Now.
How rude.
How crude.
How crooked.
How narcissistic.
How Neanderthal.
A wealthy lawyer from State College, Pennsylvania, rated poorly by his students at Penn State, where he taught business law.
This shady supercilious millionaire who paid the archaeological fee for his mansion at 125 Marine Street, but lied to Commissioners May 7 that he did not know about archeological fee.
This miscreant one-percenter, a willful man who will close on 102 Bridge Street today, unless he makes more indecent demands.
Robber Baron DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is not to be trusted.
The City of St. Augustine should revoke is illegal approval of the fee waiver, and tell DAVID BARTON CORNEAL that we're not afraid of millionaires around here. Not the ones who have lived here for centuries, and not one who just registered to vote here on January 8, 2014.
In James Madison's words, "here, sir, the People govern."
Tell Commissioners to read JFK's Profiles in Courage, and stand up to the oppression of DAVID BARTON CORNEAL. Now.
Friday, May 09, 2014
Mother's Day
Today is 7-year Old Alexis O'Connell's Fourth Mother's Day Without Her Mother -- Justice for Michelle O'Connell. NOW!See below.
More Than 75,000 Petition Signatures
(and Counting) on Petition to Florida Governor Richard Scott to Order Inquest in September 2, 2010 Shooting Death of Michelle O'Connell
Yes we can!
Click here to sign petition
Yes we can!
Click here to sign petition
Prediction: Lower Water Rates in St. Augustine's Future
There's a $35,000 budget item on Monday's night agenda for a water rate study.
After that study is done, an ordinance will be drafted, basing water rates on the value to the users.
Currently, St. Augustine has the highest rates around, double the county and double any other jurisdiction in the entire six county St. Johns River Water Management District!
Ir is outrageous, intentional invidious discrimination in favor of one-percenters.
It violates Equal Protection and Due Process.
Average consumers should expect a decrease in our rates.
Low-income and elderly consumers should expect lifeline rates.
Residents outside the City should see an automatic decrease, eliminating the outrageous 25% extra they pay over City of St. Augustine residents
Large water users will see an increase.
Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse is, "To whom much is given, much is expected."
It's the right thing to do.
It's required by the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection and Due Process clauses.
Under new management, our City Hall now reads and understands the Fourteenth Amendment.
Let justice be done.
There's apparently never been a water rate study in the 449 year history of the City of St. Augustine.
As Bob Dylan once sang, "The times they are a-changin'!"
After that study is done, an ordinance will be drafted, basing water rates on the value to the users.
Currently, St. Augustine has the highest rates around, double the county and double any other jurisdiction in the entire six county St. Johns River Water Management District!
Ir is outrageous, intentional invidious discrimination in favor of one-percenters.
It violates Equal Protection and Due Process.
Average consumers should expect a decrease in our rates.
Low-income and elderly consumers should expect lifeline rates.
Residents outside the City should see an automatic decrease, eliminating the outrageous 25% extra they pay over City of St. Augustine residents
Large water users will see an increase.
Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse is, "To whom much is given, much is expected."
It's the right thing to do.
It's required by the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection and Due Process clauses.
Under new management, our City Hall now reads and understands the Fourteenth Amendment.
Let justice be done.
There's apparently never been a water rate study in the 449 year history of the City of St. Augustine.
As Bob Dylan once sang, "The times they are a-changin'!"
IN HAEC VERBA: My E-mail re: "102 BRIDGE STREET FEE WAIVER CONTROVERSY -- Millionaire Buyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL Paid $14,490 Archaeology Fee for His Mansion; He Misled Commissioners When He Claimed Ignorance of St. Augustine's Archaeological Excavation Fee -- ACTION REQUIRED ON 5/12 -- PLEASE PLACE ON AGENDA FOR PUBLIC HEARING
Dear Mayor and Commissioners:
1. Please revoke your May 7, 2014 waiver of the archaeological excavation fee as improvidently granted.
2. Buyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL paid an archaeology fee of $14,490 for $966,000 of construction work on his mansion at 125 Marine Street. See attached PDF file.
3. Thus, lawyer and former Penn State University professor DAVID BARTON CORNEAL well knows of the archaeological fee.
4.His claim to the contrary at the May 7, 2014 special meeting was false. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL did know about the fees when he agreed to buy 102 Bridge Street, having paid them for 125 Marine Street -- a fee of $14,490 for work on his mansion.
5. The fee waiver is an unconscionable contract against public policy. No legal authority has been cited to waive the fee. Lawyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL's unsworn, self-asserted "ignorance of the law" -- while demonstrably false -- is utterly "no excuse. " See attached PDF file.
6. The selective fee waiver for this developer violates Sunshine, Equal Protection and Due Process.
7. Please place this urgent matter on the agenda for the May 12, 2014 meeting and vote to rescind the favoritism shown toward this millionaire.
8. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL must withdraw and recant his false representation to you. which could be construed as a crime.
9. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL must withdraw his demand for special privilege, nunc pro tunc, or be investigated.
10. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and the members of the St. Augustine City Commission must ask yourselves, your counsel and your PR advisors about the fee waiver: (a)"how would this look in the New York TImes?" and (b)"how would you explain this to Special Agents from the FBI and FDLE?
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998
1. Please revoke your May 7, 2014 waiver of the archaeological excavation fee as improvidently granted.
2. Buyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL paid an archaeology fee of $14,490 for $966,000 of construction work on his mansion at 125 Marine Street. See attached PDF file.
3. Thus, lawyer and former Penn State University professor DAVID BARTON CORNEAL well knows of the archaeological fee.
4.His claim to the contrary at the May 7, 2014 special meeting was false. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL did know about the fees when he agreed to buy 102 Bridge Street, having paid them for 125 Marine Street -- a fee of $14,490 for work on his mansion.
5. The fee waiver is an unconscionable contract against public policy. No legal authority has been cited to waive the fee. Lawyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL's unsworn, self-asserted "ignorance of the law" -- while demonstrably false -- is utterly "no excuse. " See attached PDF file.
6. The selective fee waiver for this developer violates Sunshine, Equal Protection and Due Process.
7. Please place this urgent matter on the agenda for the May 12, 2014 meeting and vote to rescind the favoritism shown toward this millionaire.
8. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL must withdraw and recant his false representation to you. which could be construed as a crime.
9. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL must withdraw his demand for special privilege, nunc pro tunc, or be investigated.
10. DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and the members of the St. Augustine City Commission must ask yourselves, your counsel and your PR advisors about the fee waiver: (a)"how would this look in the New York TImes?" and (b)"how would you explain this to Special Agents from the FBI and FDLE?
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998
Thursday, May 08, 2014
May 12, 2014: Come Speak Out for Water Rate Study to Reduce Consumers' Water Bills
The time has come for all good people to come to the aid of our City of St. Augustine.
On May 12, 2014, please come to the City Commission meeting.
Speak out against the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee for 102 Bridge Street millionaire buyers DAVID BARTON CORNEAL et ux.
Speak out in favor of the $35,000 water rate study, which will reduce water bills for average residents, discourage waste,a nd raise bills for large users.
Speak out in favor of keeping the south end of Lincolnville -- Riberia Pointe (sic) known since 1609 as "Buena Experanza" -- GREEN.
Speak out in favor of better relations with Flagler College, a bully that only pays some $123,000/year to our City, barely enough for two police officers. Tell Flagler College to agree to stop destroying our history, to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to have of what it would pay on the tax rolls, and to come clean and disclose its wo (2) future growth plans, adopt a charter of academic tenure, faculty tenure, and free speech rights.
Yes we can!
On May 12, 2014, please come to the City Commission meeting.
Speak out against the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee for 102 Bridge Street millionaire buyers DAVID BARTON CORNEAL et ux.
Speak out in favor of the $35,000 water rate study, which will reduce water bills for average residents, discourage waste,a nd raise bills for large users.
Speak out in favor of keeping the south end of Lincolnville -- Riberia Pointe (sic) known since 1609 as "Buena Experanza" -- GREEN.
Speak out in favor of better relations with Flagler College, a bully that only pays some $123,000/year to our City, barely enough for two police officers. Tell Flagler College to agree to stop destroying our history, to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to have of what it would pay on the tax rolls, and to come clean and disclose its wo (2) future growth plans, adopt a charter of academic tenure, faculty tenure, and free speech rights.
Yes we can!
IN HAEC VERBA: Letter to City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E., Requesting 102 Bridge Street Real Estate Closing Be Held in the Sunshine and Videotaped on May 12, 2014
Dear John:
Please have the real estate closing for 102 Bridge Street held in the Sunshine, on live streaming video, and videotaped for later replay, at a publicly announced time, in our City Commission meeting room, on May 12, 2014.
This will have a salutary effect on transparency.
It will also protect our City in the event of litigation, e.g., by the buyers, who sued a Pennsylvania township for civil rights violations involving a real estate transaction
Thank you.
Ed Slavin
Please have the real estate closing for 102 Bridge Street held in the Sunshine, on live streaming video, and videotaped for later replay, at a publicly announced time, in our City Commission meeting room, on May 12, 2014.
This will have a salutary effect on transparency.
It will also protect our City in the event of litigation, e.g., by the buyers, who sued a Pennsylvania township for civil rights violations involving a real estate transaction
Thank you.
Ed Slavin
IN HAEC VERBA: My letter asking St. Augustine City Commissioners to reverse special interest waiver of archaeological excavation fee for one (1) developer, without adequate public notce, without legal or policy memo, and without justification or excuse, in violation of the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2014/05/more-flummery-dupery-nincompoopery-and.html?m=1
Dear Mayor and Commissioners:
Please reconsider your hasty, ill-advised, possibly unconstitutional 5/7 waiver of archaeological excavation fee and kindly place on
5/12 agenda for public hearing with public comment.
Please don't violate our Sunshine and Open Records rights ever again.
Please reverse this unwise vote in favor of special privileges for a one-percenter.
There were no good policy reasons given, no legal or policy memo or advice, inadequate public notice, a bad precedent was created, and the beneficiary is a wealthy lawyer who can't claim to be ignorant of the law. His architect is Commissioner Crichlow, who well knows about archaeology fees.
In short: this fee waiver stinks.
It is void or voidable ab initio as a contract violation of public policy and a violation of Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution and our Sunshine law.
There could be state or federal criminal prosecution for Sunshine violations.
Please reverse this vote and hold an open public hearing on the issue on 5/12.
What do y'all reckon?
Thank you!
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998
Dear Mayor and Commissioners:
Please reconsider your hasty, ill-advised, possibly unconstitutional 5/7 waiver of archaeological excavation fee and kindly place on
5/12 agenda for public hearing with public comment.
Please don't violate our Sunshine and Open Records rights ever again.
Please reverse this unwise vote in favor of special privileges for a one-percenter.
There were no good policy reasons given, no legal or policy memo or advice, inadequate public notice, a bad precedent was created, and the beneficiary is a wealthy lawyer who can't claim to be ignorant of the law. His architect is Commissioner Crichlow, who well knows about archaeology fees.
In short: this fee waiver stinks.
It is void or voidable ab initio as a contract violation of public policy and a violation of Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution and our Sunshine law.
There could be state or federal criminal prosecution for Sunshine violations.
Please reverse this vote and hold an open public hearing on the issue on 5/12.
What do y'all reckon?
Thank you!
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998
St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR's non-investigation
of Michelle O'Connell's shooting has earned more than 63,000 petition signatures requesting Governor Richard Scott order an inquest: Justice for Michelle O'ConnellClick here to sign petition
Nothing in the St. Augustine Record. But there's an unhealthy-looking picture of Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR on the front page of today's St. Augustine Record, with two photos of officers honoring colleagues slain in the line of duty. Nothing on Michelle O'Connell. Not even after NBC News Dateline ran a one-hour program on the O'Connell case on April 18, 2014 (Good Friday and Passover).
Nothing in the St. Augustine Record. But there's an unhealthy-looking picture of Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR on the front page of today's St. Augustine Record, with two photos of officers honoring colleagues slain in the line of duty. Nothing on Michelle O'Connell. Not even after NBC News Dateline ran a one-hour program on the O'Connell case on April 18, 2014 (Good Friday and Passover).
Not "All the News That's Fit to Print" in the St. Augustine Record
Readers of my published column (below) in the St. Augustine Record his weekend noticed that several of the 30 listed items -- some 30 environmental justice, waste, fraud and abuse, Sunshine and Open Records, civil rights, environmental protection, consumer, and other public interest victories here since 2005 -- were never covered in our local St. Augustine Record newspaper at the time.
Do you know which ones?
Likewise, the Record did not properly cover yesterday's shocking giveaway by Mayor JOSEPH BOLES, et al. to lawyer DEAVID CORNEAL of the $7500 to $18,000 archeological excavation fee for 102 Bridge Street. See below.
In this morning's newspaper, there was only a blurb about the fee waiver.
It did not quote skeptical comments, including those of B.J. Kalaidi and Commissioners Nancy Sikes-Kline and Leeana Freeman.
However, this morning's Record carried a front page article about the utility discussion that followed during the unusual 8:15 AM Special Meeting outside the ordinary course of business (which took place only after Mayor BOLES rammed through the fee waiver and then abruptly left the meeting to appear in Court as a lawyer on a case in his private practice).
This archeological excavation fee waiver stinks.
See below
One of the two reluctant Commissioners who reluctantly voted for it, namely Nancy Sikes-Kline or Leeana Freeman, could move for reconsideration on Monday night, May 12, 2014. Please do so!
Do you know which ones?
Likewise, the Record did not properly cover yesterday's shocking giveaway by Mayor JOSEPH BOLES, et al. to lawyer DEAVID CORNEAL of the $7500 to $18,000 archeological excavation fee for 102 Bridge Street. See below.
In this morning's newspaper, there was only a blurb about the fee waiver.
It did not quote skeptical comments, including those of B.J. Kalaidi and Commissioners Nancy Sikes-Kline and Leeana Freeman.
However, this morning's Record carried a front page article about the utility discussion that followed during the unusual 8:15 AM Special Meeting outside the ordinary course of business (which took place only after Mayor BOLES rammed through the fee waiver and then abruptly left the meeting to appear in Court as a lawyer on a case in his private practice).
This archeological excavation fee waiver stinks.
See below
One of the two reluctant Commissioners who reluctantly voted for it, namely Nancy Sikes-Kline or Leeana Freeman, could move for reconsideration on Monday night, May 12, 2014. Please do so!
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
MORE FLUMMERY, DUPERY, NINCOMPOOPERY AND ANOTHER SUNSHINE VIOLATION BY CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE?
In a bizarre "Special Meeting" held this morning at 8:15 AM, without adequate reason or adequate public notice, the City of St. Augustine this morning granted special relief from the City's archaeological fee for the purchase of 102 Bridge Street, whose owners are DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and SANDRA Y. CORNEAL, whose builder is JON BENOIT of BEHST BUILDERS and whose architect is DONALD CRICHLOW, interim City Commissioner. The vote was 3-0, with Commissioner CRICHLOW recusing himself. Commissioner HORVATH was out of town.
The owners claimed to be unaware of the city's archaeological fee.
Owner DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, born April 9, 1946, who registered to vote here on January 8, 2014, resides at 125 Marine Street, St. Augustine. He was a State College, Pennsylvania lawyer and professor at Penn State University. CORNEAL's architect is a St. Augustine City Commissioner, DONALD CRICHLOW.
As developers, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and SANDRA Y. CORNEAL once sued Jackson Township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania over a development they planned, arguing their due process rights were violated. The CORNEALs lost in the trial court and lost in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with a panel that included Samuel Alito, now a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Local officials were alleged to have called DAVID BARTON CORNEAL "that trouble-making yuppie from over the mountain."
We "trouble-making yuppies" here at St. Augustine are glad they CORNEALs moved to St. Augustine and are fixingup a blighted bulding at 102 Bridge Street.
But DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is a sophisticated investor. Was his 13th hour renegotiation of the deal at 8:15 AM before a poorly-noticed City Commission meeting a stench in the nostrils of our Nation's Oldest City?
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, SANDRA CORNEAL and city staff were in an all-fired hurry to close their real estate transaction with our City on Monay May 12, 2014, the day of an evening City Commission meeting.
What's their hurry!?
The sales contract expires May 12th. It could have been extended for a day and allowed greater transparency, as Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline pointed out.
Did the CORNEALs threaten to walk away?
We don't know.
There are no records on the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee.
There are no legal or policy memoranda justifying waiver of the archaeological excavation fee.
Nada.
Zilch.
Three City staff, appearing to be tired, sleep-deprived and perhaps fearful for their jobs, inarticulately babbled and yakked the City of St. Augustine into waiving its fees because of their supposed misunderstanding.
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is a lawyer who taught business law at Penn State University, spending half a semester on contract law.
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and SANDRA Y.CORNEAL are experienced in real estate.
The notion that one-percenter, Pennsylvania lawyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL et ux could not afford the archaeology excavation fee or that they and their Florida real estate lawyer son (Seth David Corneal), their architect (DONALD CRICHLOW) and their builder (JON BENOIT) were not aware of it is, at best, facetious.
Even if it were true, the assertion was unsworn, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL was not sworn in as a witness, there was no adequate public notice, there was no public hearing, and there is no procedure for fee waivers.
Even if it were true, it does not justify the waiver.
It insults our intelligence.
It makes people very angry.
It is a subsidy to the wealthy and influential.
It is an appearance of impropriety.
It is unethical.
It may violate Equal Protection and Due Process.
It has angered everyone who hears about it.
Everyone else building in an archaeological zone has to pay the archaeological excavation fee.
It is only one percent of the construction cost.
But these new residents, two one-percenters, got a waiver because they and their architect and builder whined.
This appears to be flummery, dupery, nincompoopery, waste, fraud and abuse.
This is yet another instance of bad legal advice by City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN.
Is he inept?
Unscholarly?
Gullible?
This is yet another instance of St. Augustine city burghers acting like Gomer and Goober -- they are gullible, whether dealing with Florida Power & Light (30 year franchise renewal). COMCAST CABLE, or developers like ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD and the CORNEALs.
This appears to be a $7500 to $18,000 fraud upon the public fisc.
This is a very bad precedent.
Worse, it was done outside the ordinary course of business, in a Special meeting, which only one member of the public attended and spoke to, at 8:15 AM, outside the ordinary course of business.
How transparently lacking in transparency.
This is Florida, with strong Sunshine laws, not Pennsylvania, the home state of corrupt Governor and Secretary of War Simon Cameron, whose crooked Civil War purchasing deals resulted in the word "shoddy" being added to our language, and quickly led to the adoption of the False Claims Act (and his being sent to Russia as Ambassador).
How gauche.
How louche.
How invidiously discriminatory in favor of the one percent.
"Special Meeting" notices were faxed to "media outlets" but not e-mailed to anyone, including this one, and were posted on the City's bulletin board and on the City calendar. No notices were sent to the 800 recipients of the City's weekly News and Notes e-mail, issued each Friday.
The meeting was not announced at Saturday's visioning steering committee meeting. The meeting notice was not provided former Mayor George Gardner's St. Augustine Repor.
Citizen B.J. Kalaidi rightly spoke in opposition to the fee waiver. In response to her concerns, the developer agreed to a deed restriction that the property could never be owned by a non-profit organization, assuring that it will remain on the tax rolls.
He agreed to give archaeological dig finds to the City. He agreed to pay for an expensive bronze historical marker.
Still, the archaeological fee was waived at a "special" meeting because, well, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL thinks that he is "special."
What a self-aggrandizing narcissist.
This short notice and Special meeting outside the ordinary course of business is unacceptable.
It looks and sounds crooked.
We must do better, we can do better and we will do better.
No more secret meetings.
No more dodgy developers getting special interest exemptions.
No more special privileges for Commissioners' clients.
Enough.
5/8/2014 Postscript:
Tthere is no legal or policy justification document from the City of St. Augustine. There has been no response to a message left for DAVID BARTON CORNEAL with his son, attorney David Seth Corneal.
There are no construction drawings on file with the City of St. Augustine, hence the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee was based upon a price estimate from the CORNEALs, not an actual application.
The former home of Thomas Jefferson's great-granddaughter, Maria Jefferson Epps Shine, deserves better treatment. It will be stripped of its inauthentic additions and moved closer to the street, yielding a treasure trove of archaeological finds about her life, and that of St. Augustine. The city will conduct archaeological investigations and own the artifacts.
Only DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, the "trouble-making yuppie from over the mountain" (as they called him in rural Pennsylvania) was allowed to escape from paying the archaeological excavation fee.
Why?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL say, "please?" Listen to the archived video. I did not hear the word.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL throw his considerable weight around? You betcha.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL "make 'em an offer they can't refuse?" Apparently.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL say "Do you know who I am?" (As former Commissioner ERROL JONES said to SAPD).
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL threaten to file a bogus lawsuit against the City of St. Augustine? Did he threaten to refuse to close on 102 Bridge Street? No records exist.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL threaten or whine? On the tape, he sure sounds whiny to me?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL use Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW as a lobbyist? Yes. CRICHLOW recused himself. But he was present during public comment on the fee waiver.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL make a donation to anyone's campaign or to the secretive 450th fund?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL take anyone to dinner?
Why won't DAVID BARTON CORNEAL return my telephone message and answer questions?
This rich privileged one-percenter and recently registered St. Johns County Republican won't talk to me.
In the immortal words of the late William F. Buckley, Jr., "Why does baloney reject the grinder?"
The owners claimed to be unaware of the city's archaeological fee.
Owner DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, born April 9, 1946, who registered to vote here on January 8, 2014, resides at 125 Marine Street, St. Augustine. He was a State College, Pennsylvania lawyer and professor at Penn State University. CORNEAL's architect is a St. Augustine City Commissioner, DONALD CRICHLOW.
As developers, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and SANDRA Y. CORNEAL once sued Jackson Township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania over a development they planned, arguing their due process rights were violated. The CORNEALs lost in the trial court and lost in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with a panel that included Samuel Alito, now a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Local officials were alleged to have called DAVID BARTON CORNEAL "that trouble-making yuppie from over the mountain."
We "trouble-making yuppies" here at St. Augustine are glad they CORNEALs moved to St. Augustine and are fixingup a blighted bulding at 102 Bridge Street.
But DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is a sophisticated investor. Was his 13th hour renegotiation of the deal at 8:15 AM before a poorly-noticed City Commission meeting a stench in the nostrils of our Nation's Oldest City?
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, SANDRA CORNEAL and city staff were in an all-fired hurry to close their real estate transaction with our City on Monay May 12, 2014, the day of an evening City Commission meeting.
What's their hurry!?
The sales contract expires May 12th. It could have been extended for a day and allowed greater transparency, as Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline pointed out.
Did the CORNEALs threaten to walk away?
We don't know.
There are no records on the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee.
There are no legal or policy memoranda justifying waiver of the archaeological excavation fee.
Nada.
Zilch.
Three City staff, appearing to be tired, sleep-deprived and perhaps fearful for their jobs, inarticulately babbled and yakked the City of St. Augustine into waiving its fees because of their supposed misunderstanding.
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL is a lawyer who taught business law at Penn State University, spending half a semester on contract law.
DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and SANDRA Y.CORNEAL are experienced in real estate.
The notion that one-percenter, Pennsylvania lawyer DAVID BARTON CORNEAL et ux could not afford the archaeology excavation fee or that they and their Florida real estate lawyer son (Seth David Corneal), their architect (DONALD CRICHLOW) and their builder (JON BENOIT) were not aware of it is, at best, facetious.
Even if it were true, the assertion was unsworn, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL was not sworn in as a witness, there was no adequate public notice, there was no public hearing, and there is no procedure for fee waivers.
Even if it were true, it does not justify the waiver.
It insults our intelligence.
It makes people very angry.
It is a subsidy to the wealthy and influential.
It is an appearance of impropriety.
It is unethical.
It may violate Equal Protection and Due Process.
It has angered everyone who hears about it.
Everyone else building in an archaeological zone has to pay the archaeological excavation fee.
It is only one percent of the construction cost.
But these new residents, two one-percenters, got a waiver because they and their architect and builder whined.
This appears to be flummery, dupery, nincompoopery, waste, fraud and abuse.
This is yet another instance of bad legal advice by City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN.
Is he inept?
Unscholarly?
Gullible?
This is yet another instance of St. Augustine city burghers acting like Gomer and Goober -- they are gullible, whether dealing with Florida Power & Light (30 year franchise renewal). COMCAST CABLE, or developers like ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD and the CORNEALs.
This appears to be a $7500 to $18,000 fraud upon the public fisc.
This is a very bad precedent.
Worse, it was done outside the ordinary course of business, in a Special meeting, which only one member of the public attended and spoke to, at 8:15 AM, outside the ordinary course of business.
How transparently lacking in transparency.
This is Florida, with strong Sunshine laws, not Pennsylvania, the home state of corrupt Governor and Secretary of War Simon Cameron, whose crooked Civil War purchasing deals resulted in the word "shoddy" being added to our language, and quickly led to the adoption of the False Claims Act (and his being sent to Russia as Ambassador).
How gauche.
How louche.
How invidiously discriminatory in favor of the one percent.
"Special Meeting" notices were faxed to "media outlets" but not e-mailed to anyone, including this one, and were posted on the City's bulletin board and on the City calendar. No notices were sent to the 800 recipients of the City's weekly News and Notes e-mail, issued each Friday.
The meeting was not announced at Saturday's visioning steering committee meeting. The meeting notice was not provided former Mayor George Gardner's St. Augustine Repor.
Citizen B.J. Kalaidi rightly spoke in opposition to the fee waiver. In response to her concerns, the developer agreed to a deed restriction that the property could never be owned by a non-profit organization, assuring that it will remain on the tax rolls.
He agreed to give archaeological dig finds to the City. He agreed to pay for an expensive bronze historical marker.
Still, the archaeological fee was waived at a "special" meeting because, well, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL thinks that he is "special."
What a self-aggrandizing narcissist.
This short notice and Special meeting outside the ordinary course of business is unacceptable.
It looks and sounds crooked.
We must do better, we can do better and we will do better.
No more secret meetings.
No more dodgy developers getting special interest exemptions.
No more special privileges for Commissioners' clients.
Enough.
5/8/2014 Postscript:
Tthere is no legal or policy justification document from the City of St. Augustine. There has been no response to a message left for DAVID BARTON CORNEAL with his son, attorney David Seth Corneal.
There are no construction drawings on file with the City of St. Augustine, hence the waiver of the archaeological excavation fee was based upon a price estimate from the CORNEALs, not an actual application.
The former home of Thomas Jefferson's great-granddaughter, Maria Jefferson Epps Shine, deserves better treatment. It will be stripped of its inauthentic additions and moved closer to the street, yielding a treasure trove of archaeological finds about her life, and that of St. Augustine. The city will conduct archaeological investigations and own the artifacts.
Only DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, the "trouble-making yuppie from over the mountain" (as they called him in rural Pennsylvania) was allowed to escape from paying the archaeological excavation fee.
Why?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL say, "please?" Listen to the archived video. I did not hear the word.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL throw his considerable weight around? You betcha.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL "make 'em an offer they can't refuse?" Apparently.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL say "Do you know who I am?" (As former Commissioner ERROL JONES said to SAPD).
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL threaten to file a bogus lawsuit against the City of St. Augustine? Did he threaten to refuse to close on 102 Bridge Street? No records exist.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL threaten or whine? On the tape, he sure sounds whiny to me?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL use Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW as a lobbyist? Yes. CRICHLOW recused himself. But he was present during public comment on the fee waiver.
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL make a donation to anyone's campaign or to the secretive 450th fund?
Did DAVID BARTON CORNEAL take anyone to dinner?
Why won't DAVID BARTON CORNEAL return my telephone message and answer questions?
This rich privileged one-percenter and recently registered St. Johns County Republican won't talk to me.
In the immortal words of the late William F. Buckley, Jr., "Why does baloney reject the grinder?"
My St. Augustine Record Column, May 3, 2014: "The Bohemians have won"
Guest column: The Bohemians have won
St. Augustine Record
Posted: May 3, 2014 - 12:01am
By ED SLAVIN
St. Augustine
Nine years ago, on April 11, 2005, I spoke for the very first time to the St. Augustine City Commission, talking about civil rights concerns. Then-City Manager William B. Harriss spoke to me after the meeting, saying “I could have you arrested for disorderly conduct!”
Mr. Harriss is gone, replaced by new, enlightened management, John Regan. But Mr. Harriss’ words inspired activists to organize.
There have been a few victories:
1. Cleanup of city’s illegal dumping of 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated solid waste in the Old City Reservoir by consent decree.
2. Cleanup of city’s former contaminated landfill at the end of Riberia Street, by consent decree.
3. Cleanup of city’s sewage dumping in saltwater marsh at south end of Lincolnville, by consent decree.
4. Proper paving of Riberia Street for the first time in St. Augustine history.
5. Shutdown/prosecution of M&M Market at 102 Bridge Street (regional crack cocaine market).
6. Protection of neighborhoods from tree-killing, wetland-destroying developers.
7. Two civil rights monuments in our Slave Market Square.
8. The city’s “Journey” African-American history VIC exhibit.
9. Rainbow flags on Bridge of Lions, by federal court order, vindicating the First Amendment and Equal Protection.
10. Protection of visual artists, by federal court order, vindicating First Amendment rights.
11. Adding “sexual orientation” as protected class in St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach Fair Housing ordinances.
12. Employment nondiscrimination ordinance for both government and private employment in St. Augustine Beach.
13. Equal pension benefits for survivors of gay and lesbian St. Augustine retired employees.
14. Disapproval of inappropriate building across from St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica.
15. Protection of two historic neighborhoods from FSDB eminent domain.
16. Rejecting 7-Eleven’s 12 gasoline pumps at May Street and San Marco.
17. Cancellation of $1.8 million no-bid mosquito control helicopter. Winning deposit refund.
18. Ending rampant sunshine and open records violations by local governments.
19. Cancellation of illegal $25,000 sunshine-violating “business” trip by four city commissioners to Spain.
20. Ending First America Foundation (given $275,000 of city funds to run 450th celebration), winning refund of most of money.
21. Defeating proposed county charter twice.
22. Halting efforts to fire St. Augustine Beach policemen and delegate law enforcement to Sheriff David Shoar.
23. Resolutions opposing offshore oil drilling by St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach.
24. Resolutions opposing offshore sonar exploration by St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County.
25. Reporting of Sheriff David Shoar’s mishandling of Michelle O’Connell shooting case by New York Times and PBS Frontline.
26. Initiation of a diverse St. Augustine “visioning” committee in the sunshine.
27. Designation of St. Augustine as a “Compassionate City,” first in Florida and 20th in the world.
28. Encouraging diversity, equality and human rights.
29. Successful federal criminal prosecution of developer for cutting down of a bald eagle nest tree.
30. Encouraging our government officials to listen and to do the right thing.
We, the people, are everywhere! Our leaders are listening, as we “force the Spring.” As the late St. Augustine City Manager, Joe Pomar, once reportedly said, “the Bohemians have won.” Here in St. Augustine, we stand up for equal rights. We take care of our own. In John Winthrop’s words, we are building a “shining city on a hill.”
During our 450th next year, we look forward to sharing St. Augustine’s history and natural beauty with Pope Francis and other visitors from around the world.
Let’s preserve and protect what we love by enacting the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore (staugustgreen.com).
St. Augustine Record
Posted: May 3, 2014 - 12:01am
By ED SLAVIN
St. Augustine
Nine years ago, on April 11, 2005, I spoke for the very first time to the St. Augustine City Commission, talking about civil rights concerns. Then-City Manager William B. Harriss spoke to me after the meeting, saying “I could have you arrested for disorderly conduct!”
Mr. Harriss is gone, replaced by new, enlightened management, John Regan. But Mr. Harriss’ words inspired activists to organize.
There have been a few victories:
1. Cleanup of city’s illegal dumping of 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated solid waste in the Old City Reservoir by consent decree.
2. Cleanup of city’s former contaminated landfill at the end of Riberia Street, by consent decree.
3. Cleanup of city’s sewage dumping in saltwater marsh at south end of Lincolnville, by consent decree.
4. Proper paving of Riberia Street for the first time in St. Augustine history.
5. Shutdown/prosecution of M&M Market at 102 Bridge Street (regional crack cocaine market).
6. Protection of neighborhoods from tree-killing, wetland-destroying developers.
7. Two civil rights monuments in our Slave Market Square.
8. The city’s “Journey” African-American history VIC exhibit.
9. Rainbow flags on Bridge of Lions, by federal court order, vindicating the First Amendment and Equal Protection.
10. Protection of visual artists, by federal court order, vindicating First Amendment rights.
11. Adding “sexual orientation” as protected class in St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach Fair Housing ordinances.
12. Employment nondiscrimination ordinance for both government and private employment in St. Augustine Beach.
13. Equal pension benefits for survivors of gay and lesbian St. Augustine retired employees.
14. Disapproval of inappropriate building across from St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica.
15. Protection of two historic neighborhoods from FSDB eminent domain.
16. Rejecting 7-Eleven’s 12 gasoline pumps at May Street and San Marco.
17. Cancellation of $1.8 million no-bid mosquito control helicopter. Winning deposit refund.
18. Ending rampant sunshine and open records violations by local governments.
19. Cancellation of illegal $25,000 sunshine-violating “business” trip by four city commissioners to Spain.
20. Ending First America Foundation (given $275,000 of city funds to run 450th celebration), winning refund of most of money.
21. Defeating proposed county charter twice.
22. Halting efforts to fire St. Augustine Beach policemen and delegate law enforcement to Sheriff David Shoar.
23. Resolutions opposing offshore oil drilling by St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach.
24. Resolutions opposing offshore sonar exploration by St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and St. Johns County.
25. Reporting of Sheriff David Shoar’s mishandling of Michelle O’Connell shooting case by New York Times and PBS Frontline.
26. Initiation of a diverse St. Augustine “visioning” committee in the sunshine.
27. Designation of St. Augustine as a “Compassionate City,” first in Florida and 20th in the world.
28. Encouraging diversity, equality and human rights.
29. Successful federal criminal prosecution of developer for cutting down of a bald eagle nest tree.
30. Encouraging our government officials to listen and to do the right thing.
We, the people, are everywhere! Our leaders are listening, as we “force the Spring.” As the late St. Augustine City Manager, Joe Pomar, once reportedly said, “the Bohemians have won.” Here in St. Augustine, we stand up for equal rights. We take care of our own. In John Winthrop’s words, we are building a “shining city on a hill.”
During our 450th next year, we look forward to sharing St. Augustine’s history and natural beauty with Pope Francis and other visitors from around the world.
Let’s preserve and protect what we love by enacting the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore (staugustgreen.com).
Thursday, May 01, 2014
"The Fortune Cookie," The "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" and Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR's Barratry Practice
Sounds like barratry to me!
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR has now stirred up:
o two (2) bogus state court lawsuits against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and its invesigator, Rusty Ray Rodgers, one removed to federal court;
o one bogus federal complaint against them with USDOJ;
o one bogus state complaint against them;
o one bogus appeal of summary judgment in the Fourth Amendment violation by his deputies of atorney-client privilege; and
o a bogus Florida Bar complaint against the prevailing plaintiff, attorney Gennusa (who just won a Court of Appeals decision and trial court decision against SHOAR's deputies for illegal wiretapping and Fourth Amendment violations).
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR reminds me of the Walter Matthau shyster lawyer character in "The Fortune Cookie" -- a classic comedic shyster lawyer who pursues a bogus lawsuit, in cahoots with his brother-in-law, seeking money he is not entitled to, for non-existent injuries against a deep pocket (CBS, a stadium and a football team).
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR also reminds me of "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf."
SHOAR accused attorney Anna Marie Gennusa of filing the "most frivolous" lawsuit ever. He caused a Bar complaint to be filed against her.
His pal, ex-Judge ROBERT MATHIS, used the same words, as an anonymous hate poster on the St. Augustine Record websie.
Four federal judges proved them wrong -- the District Court Judge and a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit.
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR fires ethical employees.
SHOAR accused three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Bogdanich of being unfair.
What a whiner.
SHOAR refused to be interviewed by the New York Times and PBS Frontline.
Sheriff SHOAR is as lugubrious a goober as ever made a chair squeak, or held elective office in St. Johns County. A rebarbative reprobrate. SHOAR is a bad manager who knows not that he knows not that he knows not -- a man with a massive ego and a guilty conscience.
Sheriff SHOAR handed out $500,000 in hush money ($1000 bonuses) to deputies in October 2010, only one month after the shooting of Michelle O'Connell in the home of his deputy, with the deputy's gun, without ever recusing himself from investigating his own employee's possible homicide.
Sounds like chutzpa from a wannabee Nixon. SHOAR's birth name was "DAVID BERNARD HOAR." Of course, HOAR is a venerable, distinguished old Massachusetts name, one shared by a late U.S. Senator. Yet DAVID BERNARD HOAR changed his surname to "SHOAR" to enter politics.
It's time for him to exit, stage right.
Don't let the door hit you in the behind.
We're not laughing. This is no comedy. Sheriff SHOAR is a "disgrace to the human race," to borrow President Jimmy Carter's words.
USDOJ must investigate civil rights violations.
Now.
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR has now stirred up:
o two (2) bogus state court lawsuits against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and its invesigator, Rusty Ray Rodgers, one removed to federal court;
o one bogus federal complaint against them with USDOJ;
o one bogus state complaint against them;
o one bogus appeal of summary judgment in the Fourth Amendment violation by his deputies of atorney-client privilege; and
o a bogus Florida Bar complaint against the prevailing plaintiff, attorney Gennusa (who just won a Court of Appeals decision and trial court decision against SHOAR's deputies for illegal wiretapping and Fourth Amendment violations).
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR reminds me of the Walter Matthau shyster lawyer character in "The Fortune Cookie" -- a classic comedic shyster lawyer who pursues a bogus lawsuit, in cahoots with his brother-in-law, seeking money he is not entitled to, for non-existent injuries against a deep pocket (CBS, a stadium and a football team).
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR also reminds me of "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf."
SHOAR accused attorney Anna Marie Gennusa of filing the "most frivolous" lawsuit ever. He caused a Bar complaint to be filed against her.
His pal, ex-Judge ROBERT MATHIS, used the same words, as an anonymous hate poster on the St. Augustine Record websie.
Four federal judges proved them wrong -- the District Court Judge and a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit.
Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR fires ethical employees.
SHOAR accused three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Bogdanich of being unfair.
What a whiner.
SHOAR refused to be interviewed by the New York Times and PBS Frontline.
Sheriff SHOAR is as lugubrious a goober as ever made a chair squeak, or held elective office in St. Johns County. A rebarbative reprobrate. SHOAR is a bad manager who knows not that he knows not that he knows not -- a man with a massive ego and a guilty conscience.
Sheriff SHOAR handed out $500,000 in hush money ($1000 bonuses) to deputies in October 2010, only one month after the shooting of Michelle O'Connell in the home of his deputy, with the deputy's gun, without ever recusing himself from investigating his own employee's possible homicide.
Sounds like chutzpa from a wannabee Nixon. SHOAR's birth name was "DAVID BERNARD HOAR." Of course, HOAR is a venerable, distinguished old Massachusetts name, one shared by a late U.S. Senator. Yet DAVID BERNARD HOAR changed his surname to "SHOAR" to enter politics.
It's time for him to exit, stage right.
Don't let the door hit you in the behind.
We're not laughing. This is no comedy. Sheriff SHOAR is a "disgrace to the human race," to borrow President Jimmy Carter's words.
USDOJ must investigate civil rights violations.
Now.
There They Go Again I
You've got to hand it to the St. Johns County political machine. They hire relatives. They coverup crimes. They deserve federal investigation. They twiddle their thumbs when an average rsident asks for help, but boy are they busy.
Saint Pope John XXIII was once asked "how many people work at the Vatican?" He said, "Oh, about half of them."
Such is the case for the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners, which finally released incomplete data for a "limited time span" (undefined and awaiting further answers) about time-wasting at work.
Ever wonder how often your government employees goof off? ever wonder how many "hits" our BOCC employees make on social media websites?
The answer:
Facebook 5,434
YouTube 2,2204
Twtter 1,889
Other 510
It's our money.
Saint Pope John XXIII was once asked "how many people work at the Vatican?" He said, "Oh, about half of them."
Such is the case for the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners, which finally released incomplete data for a "limited time span" (undefined and awaiting further answers) about time-wasting at work.
Ever wonder how often your government employees goof off? ever wonder how many "hits" our BOCC employees make on social media websites?
The answer:
Facebook 5,434
YouTube 2,2204
Twtter 1,889
Other 510
It's our money.
There They Go Again II
You've got to hand it to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ).
DOJ NIJ awarded a no-bid contract to an expert on Officer Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV), Dr. PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, Sr., Ph.D., J.D., an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, valued at $261,480 of federal funds, matched by $133,899 of BGSU funds.
The resulting study was called "Police Integrity Lost: A study of law enforcement officers arrested."
Prof. STINSON's criminology research work has appeared in the International Association of Police Chiefs' journal, Police Chief Magazine.
In 2002, PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, SR., a former New Hampshire police officer who was then licensed as an attorney since 1993, pled guilty and was convicted of defrauding the parents of Eastern Pennsylvania special needs students of more than $33,000, and was incarcerated in prison for it.
STINSON, father of a special needs son, abused his son's status to win clients, talking about his son on his sophisticated website. Then STINSON defrauded the parents, stealing their money, including money awarded by courts for the children's tuition. STINSON also kited checks and wrote bad checks, including one to his former office manager.
STINSON pled guilty to theft in September 2002, blaming his thievery on sleep deprivation and the pressures of caring for his special needs son. He obtained advanced degrees after his incarceration.
DOJ NIJ has not responded to my query, as to whether it was aware, in awarding the no-bid contract, that Prof. STINSON was convicted of defrauding the parents of Pennsylvania special needs students and sentenced to 9-33 months in prison, placed on three years probation and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.
Bowling Green State University Prof. PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, SR. is the "Academic Honesty Chair" for BGSU and reportedly advised some 51 BGSU students this semester, which ends tomorrow. BGSU's spokesman told me today that Prof. STINSON was "completely candid" with BGSU about his conviction when he was hired to teach there. Rehabilitation is commendable. It's the American way.
But DOJ NIJ is not talking at all about its no-bid contract with STINSON, or what it knew or when it knew it.
Efforts to obtain comment from DOJ were unavailing, both about the STINSON contract and about DOJ's inept and nonexistent response to OIDV and civil rights violations in our St. Johns County Sheriff's Department, whose actions were portrayed in The New York Times, PBS Frontline and NBC News Dateline.
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Attorney General ERIC HOLDER: You have the right to remain silent, but we wish you wouldn't. Tell your press officer to respond to our inquiries. Do your job, without fear or favor. Call me now, please.
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
DOJ NIJ awarded a no-bid contract to an expert on Officer Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV), Dr. PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, Sr., Ph.D., J.D., an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, valued at $261,480 of federal funds, matched by $133,899 of BGSU funds.
The resulting study was called "Police Integrity Lost: A study of law enforcement officers arrested."
Prof. STINSON's criminology research work has appeared in the International Association of Police Chiefs' journal, Police Chief Magazine.
In 2002, PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, SR., a former New Hampshire police officer who was then licensed as an attorney since 1993, pled guilty and was convicted of defrauding the parents of Eastern Pennsylvania special needs students of more than $33,000, and was incarcerated in prison for it.
STINSON, father of a special needs son, abused his son's status to win clients, talking about his son on his sophisticated website. Then STINSON defrauded the parents, stealing their money, including money awarded by courts for the children's tuition. STINSON also kited checks and wrote bad checks, including one to his former office manager.
STINSON pled guilty to theft in September 2002, blaming his thievery on sleep deprivation and the pressures of caring for his special needs son. He obtained advanced degrees after his incarceration.
DOJ NIJ has not responded to my query, as to whether it was aware, in awarding the no-bid contract, that Prof. STINSON was convicted of defrauding the parents of Pennsylvania special needs students and sentenced to 9-33 months in prison, placed on three years probation and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.
Bowling Green State University Prof. PHILLIP MATTHEW STINSON, SR. is the "Academic Honesty Chair" for BGSU and reportedly advised some 51 BGSU students this semester, which ends tomorrow. BGSU's spokesman told me today that Prof. STINSON was "completely candid" with BGSU about his conviction when he was hired to teach there. Rehabilitation is commendable. It's the American way.
But DOJ NIJ is not talking at all about its no-bid contract with STINSON, or what it knew or when it knew it.
Efforts to obtain comment from DOJ were unavailing, both about the STINSON contract and about DOJ's inept and nonexistent response to OIDV and civil rights violations in our St. Johns County Sheriff's Department, whose actions were portrayed in The New York Times, PBS Frontline and NBC News Dateline.
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Attorney General ERIC HOLDER: You have the right to remain silent, but we wish you wouldn't. Tell your press officer to respond to our inquiries. Do your job, without fear or favor. Call me now, please.
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
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