Ideas Have Consequences....
As my Georgetown Political Theory Professor, Jose Sorzano (later Deputy UN under the recently departed UN Ambassador to Jeane Kilpatrick) taught, "ideas have consequences."
I was reminded of that this morning upon reading the kind letter from Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Retired) and the column by U.S. Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt (Retired), and Friday's letter from Hanford, Washington whistleblower Ed Bricker and last Sunday's column by Ms. Judith Seraphin.
We moved to St. Augustine at the end of the 20th century. I was busy trying cases and zealously representing whistleblowers. Meanwhile, Brian told me after a few months, "it's crooked around here." He was right.
I finally attended my first City Commission meeting in April 2005. I was shocked at how St. Augustine citizens were treated by City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS and City Commissioners, the Executive Committee of the clear-cutting overdevelopers in St. Augustine. I asked about abuse of annexations, violations of the Fifteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act and refusal to annex West Augustine. In response, City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS threatened me with arrest for "disorderly conduct." Welcome to the City of St. Augustine!
I asked questions then and I ask them to this day, much to the chagrin and annoyance of City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, new Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., Vice Mayor DONALD CRICHLOW, ex-Vice Mayor SUSAN BURK and Commissioner ERROL JONES.
In May 2005, I sked about discriminatory treatment of Gay people on Bridge of Lions flag-flying. Commissioners voted against equality, 3-2, on May 23, 2005. Fourteen days later, United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr. ruled for the St. Augustine Pride Committee -- Equality Florida lawyer Karen Doering's arguments were persuasive and the City's pretexts were not worthy of belief, ordering the Rainbow flags flown on BOL from June 7-13, 2005.
Undeterred, three bigoted Commissioners voted June 13, 2005 to ban all but government flag-flying on our bridge, ending the public forum.
Then four Commissioners voted January 9, 2006 to allow controversial New York ex-lawyer ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD to build a strip mall and condos where there is a 3000-4000 indigenous Indian village, ignoring concerns about archaeology, history, drainage, flooding and clear-cutting (see below).
Then on February 24, 2006, I reported our City's illegal dumping to the federal government, resulting in a proposed FDEP $47,248 fine (not announced until after the 2006 elections)(see below).
A recipient of campaign contribution largesse from controversial clear-cutting overdeveloper ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD,
our St. Augustine soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER attacked me publicly on November 13, 2006, at the last City Commission meeting over which he presided as Mayor, lambasting me for asking (unanswered) questions. (GARDNER will now be just another Commissioner, already announcing he won't run again in two years)(see below).
On November 19, the St. Augustine Record editorial defended me against GARDNER and his attack (see below), intended to chill free speech.
Then two of the Mayor's entourage -- an ex-Bush environmental advisor now implanted by Commission appointment on our PZB, and our City archaeologist's spouse, both attacked me, and Ms. Seraphin defended me.
Now the former CALJ of USDOL (1979-1995), a former federal lawman and a Hanford whistleblower have all three told the truth to power, explaining who I am to those who thought they could "run me out of town" (actual quote from "anonymous" St. Augustine Record "Talk of the Town" website postings, some of which were by City Commissioners, managers and their entourages, earlier this year).
As Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Retired) put it best, public officials who attack critics "demand to be investigated."
The idea that you can be a tinpot Napoleon and ride roughshod over peoples rights any longer -- in what St. Augustine Record reporter Peter Guinta described (in Editor & Publisher Magazine) as a "small but cosmopolitan city" -- has consequences.
St. Augustinians are fed up with the self-aggrandizing narcissists who run for City Commissioner and have no ideas, no inspiration and no respect for history, environment or people -- serving only the developers who feed their ca campaign kitties.
Today's NY Times Magazine has an excellent feature on the ideas of 2006, including "sousveillance," the idea that the public is watching government officials. It also discussed the idea that people are more honest when they believe they're being watched (discussed under "Eyes of Honesty, The"). America's Founders sincerely believed both these ideas and they are enshrined in the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Federalist Papers.
City Hall, the eyes of St. Augustine are upon you and we've got you under "sousveillance." Not only is everyone in the City of St. Augustine now paying attention to what once-unaccountable Commissioners are doing, they're watching them on TV (tomorrow night at 5 PM on cable channel 3).
They're talking about them at work the next day. More interesting than football, with real impact on peoples' lives, for good or evil.
In fact, as thousands have done since this blog began in April 2006, "the whole world is watching" the August City Manager and Commissioners of the City of St. Augustine, Florida.
Like former President Bill Clinton, "I still believe in a place called Hope." I believe:
1. Our questions will be answered.
2. Diverse people are united in wanting to Clean Up our City of St. Augustine, Florida.
3. Our environment will be preserved.
4. Clear-cutting by developers can be halted and regulated.
5. Parks will be designated, including a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore (SANHPS)(see below).
6. Our Nation's Oldest City will be preserved.
7. Our City government will serve "just us folks," or it will be replaced, with as many as twelve City Charter Amendments and reform candidates to choose from.
City Commissioners may lead, follow, or get out of the way.
As Ms. Judith Seraphin says (see below), in words of President Harry S Truman, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
As Mr. Tyndall says (below), "The First Amendment is not dead yet."
In the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, "I have sworn upon the altar of Almighty God enteral hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of [humankind]."
Tomorrow night is another City Commission meeting.
It is a golden opportunity for our new Mayor, JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., to show us what kind of a leader he intends to be: will he assure everyone "a seat at the table?" (See below). Or is he another person who makes promises, only to forget them?
Tomorrow night's meeting is also yet another opportunity for "we, the people," to ask our leaders questions.
As WOR radio talk show host, North Carolina native and onetime Congressional candidate Barry Farber always ended his New York radio broadcasts (heard in 38 states), "keep asking questions!"
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Letter: Slavin's work "saved" life of U.S. special agent
Letter: Slavin's work "saved" life of U.S. special agent
Publication Date: 12/10/06
Editor: I applaud your newspaper for defending Ed Slavin and the First Amendment. I could have told you that Ed is "brilliant." I am a retired former FBI Special Agent, and former senior Special Agent for both the HUD and EPA Inspectors General. One Sherman Antitrust case I supervised had 36 "defense" attorneys as my adversaries so I've known a lot of attorneys.
Late in my career, I would not and could not sign my name to a report that resulted in a cover-up of major criminal wrongdoing by highly placed EPA officials. I was left with no choice but to file an environmental whistleblower case. Other than Ed Slavin, I was encouraged to persist only by my wife, Lynda, Congressman John Dingell's office (whose investigator referred me to Ed Slavin), and then-journalist Tony Snow. Ed completely documented EPA's attempted cover-up of $100 million in acid rain research fraud, conflicts of interest, waste and abuse.
Ed represented me in my U.S. DOL environmental whistleblower case against EPA and its inspector general, winning a precedent-setting case that protected future environmental investigators' rights, reversing two DOL judges.
Ed has always been a fighter, especially against an unresponsive judiciary who cares little about ruined careers.
The unrelenting stress the EPA subjected me to nearly took my life. Thus, Ed's work was truly a life-saver. As a result of Ed's so-called "overzealous" work, the EPA IG abruptly resigned in December 1996, following a history of harassing whistleblowers.
Public officials, who retaliate against citizens for questioning their actions demand to be investigated. Public jobs belong to the "people" -- the occupant of such office is a trustee; a custodian -- always. We have forfeited our "rights" when we refer to the government as "them." No, never. It is "We" the people. Trust me, Ed Slavin is not for sale. The First Amendment is not dead, yet.
Robert E. Tyndall
Senior Special Agent (Retired)
FBI, HUD & EPA
Williamsburg, Va.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/121006/opinions_425497d.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Publication Date: 12/10/06
Editor: I applaud your newspaper for defending Ed Slavin and the First Amendment. I could have told you that Ed is "brilliant." I am a retired former FBI Special Agent, and former senior Special Agent for both the HUD and EPA Inspectors General. One Sherman Antitrust case I supervised had 36 "defense" attorneys as my adversaries so I've known a lot of attorneys.
Late in my career, I would not and could not sign my name to a report that resulted in a cover-up of major criminal wrongdoing by highly placed EPA officials. I was left with no choice but to file an environmental whistleblower case. Other than Ed Slavin, I was encouraged to persist only by my wife, Lynda, Congressman John Dingell's office (whose investigator referred me to Ed Slavin), and then-journalist Tony Snow. Ed completely documented EPA's attempted cover-up of $100 million in acid rain research fraud, conflicts of interest, waste and abuse.
Ed represented me in my U.S. DOL environmental whistleblower case against EPA and its inspector general, winning a precedent-setting case that protected future environmental investigators' rights, reversing two DOL judges.
Ed has always been a fighter, especially against an unresponsive judiciary who cares little about ruined careers.
The unrelenting stress the EPA subjected me to nearly took my life. Thus, Ed's work was truly a life-saver. As a result of Ed's so-called "overzealous" work, the EPA IG abruptly resigned in December 1996, following a history of harassing whistleblowers.
Public officials, who retaliate against citizens for questioning their actions demand to be investigated. Public jobs belong to the "people" -- the occupant of such office is a trustee; a custodian -- always. We have forfeited our "rights" when we refer to the government as "them." No, never. It is "We" the people. Trust me, Ed Slavin is not for sale. The First Amendment is not dead, yet.
Robert E. Tyndall
Senior Special Agent (Retired)
FBI, HUD & EPA
Williamsburg, Va.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/121006/opinions_425497d.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Column: It was the Tennessee court, and not Slavin, that overstepped bounds
It was the Tennessee court, and not Slavin, that overstepped bounds
NAHUM LITT
New Smyrna Beach
Publication Date: 12/10/06
The statements in a letter (Nov. 26) about "findings" of the Supreme Court of Tennessee about the disbarment of Ed Slavin, a St. Augustine resident, must be taken with more than a grain of salt. Readers can form their own conclusions about fairness and justice in a case involving free speech rights of whistle blowers.
First, this case was heard by a three-person tribunal appointed to sort out the charges and evaluate the evidence presented, particularly taking into account whether the testimony of the witnesses could be believed. One of the principle determinations of such a trial tribunal is the demeanor of the witnesses and it seldom that such a determination is challenged or overturned. That tribunal unanimously found that almost all of the evidence submitted, and particularly that of the current chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, was not credible. It similarly found that other complaints were not substantiated. It then determined that while Mr. Slavin was certainly outspoken, he was not guilty of most of the allegations. It recommended a slap on the wrist, a private reprimand for one minor violation.
The case then took an unusual turn in that it was appealed. Few such cases are ever appealed. And, lo and behold, the Tennessee Supreme court hand-picked as chancellor to "review" the matter, solely by chance we assume, turned out to be the son of a man who had been attacked and unmasked 20 years earlier by Mr. Slavin as taking gratuities as the purchasing agent for Anderson County, Tenn. (Oak Ridge). Mr. Slavin was represented in his own case by the same attorney who had been the county attorney who cross-examined this "impartial" Chancellor's father. Nothing wrong with "me" hearing the case he found and he then recommended suspending Mr. Slavin for three years ñ overturning the fact finding tribunal's findings of fact and making determinations that had been found wrong and factually inaccurate. The Tennessee Supreme Court found that this "impartial" chancellor committed no error, was correct in not recusing himself, and adopted his findings of fact as their own despite the fact that they were an appellate body and the facts before them were only those found by the fact-finding tribunal. That court then magnanimously reduced the suspension to two years. Remember, the Tennessee court's fact-finding body had thrown out all the "evidence." Then the Tennessee Supreme court disbarred Mr. Slavin without a trial, in absentia.
Now what were Mr. Slavin's alleged "failings?" He complained the Department of Labor has failed to enforce almost all of the labor protective positions it is charged to enforce, has spent years deciding workers' cases that were supposed to have final decisions within 90 days, and had so-called "review boards" deliberately sit on cases for over five years.
Mr. Slavin complained on behalf of his clients that they were entitled to decisions that could be appealed to courts, and that the delays were deliberate and unconscionable. There is ample evidence to support both charges, including that many of the delays were ordered by political appointees.
As far as being banned by the chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, all that required was referral to one of his other administrative law judges for a decision (no trial). I am sure you can draw your own conclusions as to the fairness of the process. Mr. Slavin was one of the few advocates of whistle blowers who did not demand large retainers in advance and took cases that only St. Jude would entertain.
Mr. Slavin can be both outspoken and annoying. He is opinionated and is not loved by everyone, but he has a right to his views, and free speech is more than sufficiently important to nurture and protect even when it difficult to like the person availing himself of the privilege.
What Tennessee and the Department of Labor did was get rid of a qualified advocate who was outspoken about the failings of the system and those who administered that system. It was they who have eroded the public confidence in the judicial system.
St. Augustine officials should listen respectfully and answer his questions about environmental crimes and other subjects.
Nahum Litt is a retired chief administrative law Judge, U.S. Department of Labor (retired)
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/121006/opinions_4257505.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
NAHUM LITT
New Smyrna Beach
Publication Date: 12/10/06
The statements in a letter (Nov. 26) about "findings" of the Supreme Court of Tennessee about the disbarment of Ed Slavin, a St. Augustine resident, must be taken with more than a grain of salt. Readers can form their own conclusions about fairness and justice in a case involving free speech rights of whistle blowers.
First, this case was heard by a three-person tribunal appointed to sort out the charges and evaluate the evidence presented, particularly taking into account whether the testimony of the witnesses could be believed. One of the principle determinations of such a trial tribunal is the demeanor of the witnesses and it seldom that such a determination is challenged or overturned. That tribunal unanimously found that almost all of the evidence submitted, and particularly that of the current chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, was not credible. It similarly found that other complaints were not substantiated. It then determined that while Mr. Slavin was certainly outspoken, he was not guilty of most of the allegations. It recommended a slap on the wrist, a private reprimand for one minor violation.
The case then took an unusual turn in that it was appealed. Few such cases are ever appealed. And, lo and behold, the Tennessee Supreme court hand-picked as chancellor to "review" the matter, solely by chance we assume, turned out to be the son of a man who had been attacked and unmasked 20 years earlier by Mr. Slavin as taking gratuities as the purchasing agent for Anderson County, Tenn. (Oak Ridge). Mr. Slavin was represented in his own case by the same attorney who had been the county attorney who cross-examined this "impartial" Chancellor's father. Nothing wrong with "me" hearing the case he found and he then recommended suspending Mr. Slavin for three years ñ overturning the fact finding tribunal's findings of fact and making determinations that had been found wrong and factually inaccurate. The Tennessee Supreme Court found that this "impartial" chancellor committed no error, was correct in not recusing himself, and adopted his findings of fact as their own despite the fact that they were an appellate body and the facts before them were only those found by the fact-finding tribunal. That court then magnanimously reduced the suspension to two years. Remember, the Tennessee court's fact-finding body had thrown out all the "evidence." Then the Tennessee Supreme court disbarred Mr. Slavin without a trial, in absentia.
Now what were Mr. Slavin's alleged "failings?" He complained the Department of Labor has failed to enforce almost all of the labor protective positions it is charged to enforce, has spent years deciding workers' cases that were supposed to have final decisions within 90 days, and had so-called "review boards" deliberately sit on cases for over five years.
Mr. Slavin complained on behalf of his clients that they were entitled to decisions that could be appealed to courts, and that the delays were deliberate and unconscionable. There is ample evidence to support both charges, including that many of the delays were ordered by political appointees.
As far as being banned by the chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, all that required was referral to one of his other administrative law judges for a decision (no trial). I am sure you can draw your own conclusions as to the fairness of the process. Mr. Slavin was one of the few advocates of whistle blowers who did not demand large retainers in advance and took cases that only St. Jude would entertain.
Mr. Slavin can be both outspoken and annoying. He is opinionated and is not loved by everyone, but he has a right to his views, and free speech is more than sufficiently important to nurture and protect even when it difficult to like the person availing himself of the privilege.
What Tennessee and the Department of Labor did was get rid of a qualified advocate who was outspoken about the failings of the system and those who administered that system. It was they who have eroded the public confidence in the judicial system.
St. Augustine officials should listen respectfully and answer his questions about environmental crimes and other subjects.
Nahum Litt is a retired chief administrative law Judge, U.S. Department of Labor (retired)
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/121006/opinions_4257505.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Memo to City of St. Augustine, Florida, City Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., VICE MAYOR DONALD CRICHLOW, Commissioners and City Managers:
Memo to City of St. Augustine, Florida, City Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., VICE MAYOR DONALD CRICHLOW, Commissioners and City Managers:
Will you agree to install a webcam on the illegal dumping site so we can check your progress as you test and remove the 30 million pounds of contaminants?
San Francisco has webcams on illegal dumping sites (the ones where people, rather than governments, are the polluters).
The whole world is watching.
Your illegal dumping of 20,000 cubic yards of contaminants into the Old City Reservoir -- enough to cover a football field 11.2 feet deep or fill six Olympic-sized swimming pools to a depth of six feet -- is neither "de minimis," nor "de micromis," contrary to the fallacious arguments that you and lawyer WILLIAM PENCE from the law firm of AKERMAN, SENTERFITT made to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (at our expense).
Will you agree to pay the fines personally and to institute structural-functional reforms in our City government, so that our environment will be protected, not neglected?
Will you agree that the City needs to adopt proactive pro-environmental policies before it's too late?
Otherwise, I intend to request an open public hearing under oath before FDEP, as the person who made the initial report to the National Response Center (Report No. 788280) on February 17, 2006.
I expect to call every single one of you as witnesses. This is your chance to shine.
You've refused to answer questions since February 24, 2006 -- you can now answer them under oath at a hearing before FDEP on the proposed consent order, in which you would be required to pay $47,248 of our money for YOUR mistakes.
Will you support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and Seashore (SANHPS)?
By the way, will your next trip to Aviles, Spain; Berlin, Germany; New York City or New York City be at your own expense, not ours?
Are you going to apologize for your illegal dumping? Or continue to insult people for doing our job in a democracy and asking you questions?
Will you agree to protect whistleblowers?
Will you support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore to protect what needs preserving?
I am appealing to what Lincoln would call "the better angels of our nature."
So far, all you've done is "play the angles" -- preposterous, bad faith, legal positioning ("de minimis" and "de micromis") delaying the FDEP fine until after the election was really clever.
Great pettifoggery, but poor public policy.
You let the contaminants sit for ten months.
Shame on you.
Commissioner ERROL JONES, you expressed concern about the "aquifer" in connection with the taxpayer-subsidized "brownfield" cleanup of the Ponce de Leon Golf Links, which speculator Chester Stokes seeks to turn into St. Augustine's version of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, a bowl into which he proposes to move wealthy homeowners.
Commissioner JONES, you mocked my "science experiment" and said "that's not coquina." You know not that you know not that you know not. You're often hotter than a two-dollar pistol.
So, speaking of "aquifers," what are you doing to expose the truth of the illegal dumping?
Will you support a webcam?
What about an open public investigation of environmental racism in St. Augustine, including our City's siting decisions?
The ball is in your court.
No more coverups.
No more pollution.
No more destruction of archaeological and historical treasures.
Will you agree to install a webcam on the illegal dumping site so we can check your progress as you test and remove the 30 million pounds of contaminants?
San Francisco has webcams on illegal dumping sites (the ones where people, rather than governments, are the polluters).
The whole world is watching.
Your illegal dumping of 20,000 cubic yards of contaminants into the Old City Reservoir -- enough to cover a football field 11.2 feet deep or fill six Olympic-sized swimming pools to a depth of six feet -- is neither "de minimis," nor "de micromis," contrary to the fallacious arguments that you and lawyer WILLIAM PENCE from the law firm of AKERMAN, SENTERFITT made to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (at our expense).
Will you agree to pay the fines personally and to institute structural-functional reforms in our City government, so that our environment will be protected, not neglected?
Will you agree that the City needs to adopt proactive pro-environmental policies before it's too late?
Otherwise, I intend to request an open public hearing under oath before FDEP, as the person who made the initial report to the National Response Center (Report No. 788280) on February 17, 2006.
I expect to call every single one of you as witnesses. This is your chance to shine.
You've refused to answer questions since February 24, 2006 -- you can now answer them under oath at a hearing before FDEP on the proposed consent order, in which you would be required to pay $47,248 of our money for YOUR mistakes.
Will you support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and Seashore (SANHPS)?
By the way, will your next trip to Aviles, Spain; Berlin, Germany; New York City or New York City be at your own expense, not ours?
Are you going to apologize for your illegal dumping? Or continue to insult people for doing our job in a democracy and asking you questions?
Will you agree to protect whistleblowers?
Will you support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore to protect what needs preserving?
I am appealing to what Lincoln would call "the better angels of our nature."
So far, all you've done is "play the angles" -- preposterous, bad faith, legal positioning ("de minimis" and "de micromis") delaying the FDEP fine until after the election was really clever.
Great pettifoggery, but poor public policy.
You let the contaminants sit for ten months.
Shame on you.
Commissioner ERROL JONES, you expressed concern about the "aquifer" in connection with the taxpayer-subsidized "brownfield" cleanup of the Ponce de Leon Golf Links, which speculator Chester Stokes seeks to turn into St. Augustine's version of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, a bowl into which he proposes to move wealthy homeowners.
Commissioner JONES, you mocked my "science experiment" and said "that's not coquina." You know not that you know not that you know not. You're often hotter than a two-dollar pistol.
So, speaking of "aquifers," what are you doing to expose the truth of the illegal dumping?
Will you support a webcam?
What about an open public investigation of environmental racism in St. Augustine, including our City's siting decisions?
The ball is in your court.
No more coverups.
No more pollution.
No more destruction of archaeological and historical treasures.
Friday, December 08, 2006
An Invitation to Sociologists, Anthropologists and Political Scientists to Study the City of St. Augustine, Florida and Social Control Mechanisms
St. Augustine, Florida has a reputation as a tacky tourist town, one we'd like to overcome with the proposed "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" (SANHPS).
Another way to draw tour, tourist and sightseeing dollars to our flagging economy would be to advertise tours for sociologists and anthropologists and political scientists, to study the mechanisms of social control in use in the Nation's Oldest City, which empower elites to stay in power no matter what they do.
Two prime examples are discussed by Ed Bricker in today's St. Augustine Record:
1. "Talk of the Town," the St. Augustine Record website, whereby politicians and their City Hall machine posted "anonymously," obscenely stigmatizing dissenters, seeking to blacklist them and run them out of town (see below).
2. Delay in disclosing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) fine of over $47,248 for illegal dumping of the contents of the old city dump into the Old City Reservoir, without permits -- 30 million pounds worth.
EPA and FDEP investigators were on-scene on February 27. FDEP caught the city dumping on March 1. FDEP issued a Notice of Violation on March 15. FDEP waited until November 14 to notify the City of the proposed fine. Wonder why?
Electronic blacklisting? Delayed fines" Stolen elections?
It's so much easier to perceive the truth in governmentin a small town. St. Augustine wasted our money kicking the artists, entertainers and musicians off St. George Street. The ecology of the all-pedestrian street changed. Now homeless people are there, which is not good for the business of the city -- tours, tourist and sightseeing.
So, anthropologists and sociologists and political scientists, come to the City of St. Augustine, Florida. We need anthropology tourism, sociology tourism and political science tourism to tell our City of St. Augustine's story to the world!
People wanting to learn about the mechanisms of social control need look no further than St. Augustine for social control tours and sightseeing.
Another way to draw tour, tourist and sightseeing dollars to our flagging economy would be to advertise tours for sociologists and anthropologists and political scientists, to study the mechanisms of social control in use in the Nation's Oldest City, which empower elites to stay in power no matter what they do.
Two prime examples are discussed by Ed Bricker in today's St. Augustine Record:
1. "Talk of the Town," the St. Augustine Record website, whereby politicians and their City Hall machine posted "anonymously," obscenely stigmatizing dissenters, seeking to blacklist them and run them out of town (see below).
2. Delay in disclosing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) fine of over $47,248 for illegal dumping of the contents of the old city dump into the Old City Reservoir, without permits -- 30 million pounds worth.
EPA and FDEP investigators were on-scene on February 27. FDEP caught the city dumping on March 1. FDEP issued a Notice of Violation on March 15. FDEP waited until November 14 to notify the City of the proposed fine. Wonder why?
Electronic blacklisting? Delayed fines" Stolen elections?
It's so much easier to perceive the truth in governmentin a small town. St. Augustine wasted our money kicking the artists, entertainers and musicians off St. George Street. The ecology of the all-pedestrian street changed. Now homeless people are there, which is not good for the business of the city -- tours, tourist and sightseeing.
So, anthropologists and sociologists and political scientists, come to the City of St. Augustine, Florida. We need anthropology tourism, sociology tourism and political science tourism to tell our City of St. Augustine's story to the world!
People wanting to learn about the mechanisms of social control need look no further than St. Augustine for social control tours and sightseeing.
The "Anonymice" No Longer Abusing "Anonymity" to Blacklist, Torment Dissenters in St. Augustine, Florida
Olympia, Washington nuclear and environmental whistleblower Ed Bricker has "blown the whistle" in today's St. Augustine Record (see below).
Ed has publicly revealed the appalling manners of certain government officials and their entourages, who hide behind "anonymity" to post racist, sexist, homophobic smears on the "Talk of the Town" website, even falsely impersonating Ed Bricker's wife and making remarks about peoples' mothers, references to body parts, and other comments that would never make it in a family newspaper.
One particular bone of contention was archaeological issues, with Willett Albright Boyer, III, City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt's spouse (Clara Waldhari) and others tormenting good and decent people for years, simply because they felt that indigenous archaeological resources were not being adequately protected.
They say in academia that the politics are so mean because the stakes are so small.
Peter Guinta wrote in a book review in July (of the book "Tortoise Soup") that the smaller the town, the meaner the politics.
This ToTT subgroup was like a little terrorist cell, making up rumors about people and spreading them maliciously, while hiding behind "anonymity." That's why we call them the "anonymice."
Then-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER even made public reference to ToTT earlier this year at a City Commission meeting, saying that he no longer enjoyed it because I was posting there, raising issues he did not want to address.
The level of discourse on ToTT was variable depending upon the hour of the day (or night) and the identity of the posters. Some were scholarly. Some were scurrilous. Some were sometimes both. Some made repeated obscene posts (over 32 pages of anti-Gay posts associated with Bridge of Lions Rainbow flags, which apparently influenced our City Commissioners two votes on the issue in May/June 2005.
Now we know that ToTT is more a "mouse in the Mayor's pocket" than the voice of the people.
Many ladies would not post on ToTT because of the blatant sexism and obscenity.
Kudos to the St. Augustine Record for ridding ToTT of several hatemongerers.
If the St. Augustine Record alters or abolishes ToTT next year, we can blame the politicians who thought it funny to subject concerned citizens to opprobrium and obloquy -- even writing about the need to "run people out of town."
To the minority of ToTTers (including political apparatchiks with pornographic-potty-mouths): "Your sins have found you out."
Ed has publicly revealed the appalling manners of certain government officials and their entourages, who hide behind "anonymity" to post racist, sexist, homophobic smears on the "Talk of the Town" website, even falsely impersonating Ed Bricker's wife and making remarks about peoples' mothers, references to body parts, and other comments that would never make it in a family newspaper.
One particular bone of contention was archaeological issues, with Willett Albright Boyer, III, City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt's spouse (Clara Waldhari) and others tormenting good and decent people for years, simply because they felt that indigenous archaeological resources were not being adequately protected.
They say in academia that the politics are so mean because the stakes are so small.
Peter Guinta wrote in a book review in July (of the book "Tortoise Soup") that the smaller the town, the meaner the politics.
This ToTT subgroup was like a little terrorist cell, making up rumors about people and spreading them maliciously, while hiding behind "anonymity." That's why we call them the "anonymice."
Then-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER even made public reference to ToTT earlier this year at a City Commission meeting, saying that he no longer enjoyed it because I was posting there, raising issues he did not want to address.
The level of discourse on ToTT was variable depending upon the hour of the day (or night) and the identity of the posters. Some were scholarly. Some were scurrilous. Some were sometimes both. Some made repeated obscene posts (over 32 pages of anti-Gay posts associated with Bridge of Lions Rainbow flags, which apparently influenced our City Commissioners two votes on the issue in May/June 2005.
Now we know that ToTT is more a "mouse in the Mayor's pocket" than the voice of the people.
Many ladies would not post on ToTT because of the blatant sexism and obscenity.
Kudos to the St. Augustine Record for ridding ToTT of several hatemongerers.
If the St. Augustine Record alters or abolishes ToTT next year, we can blame the politicians who thought it funny to subject concerned citizens to opprobrium and obloquy -- even writing about the need to "run people out of town."
To the minority of ToTTers (including political apparatchiks with pornographic-potty-mouths): "Your sins have found you out."
Ed Bricker Blows the Whistle on City Officials and Entourage Using "Talk of the Town" to Attack Dissenters; Grand Jury Investigtion of Pollution?
Letter: People demonizing Slavin, ignoring his work
Edwin L. Bricker
Olympia, Wash.
Publication Date: 12/08/06
Editor: Ed Slavin zealously represented me against Hanford, Washington nuclear weapons plant employers. Working for reforms to protect American workers, Ed Slavin put his career on the line to rescue others.
I was the daily victim of a hostile working environment (joined by the local union I served as steward). Federal OSHA's Assistant Regional Administrator John Spear uncovered illegal surveillance, sabotaged breathing-apparatus and daily torment. Hanford managers branded me a "mole" (spy) for reporting life-threatening environmental, safety and health hazards, working with Congressman John Dingell's investigators.
I was reminded of Hanford's hostility when I read the Record's "Talk of the Town" Web site, where Ed Slavin was attacked by "anonymous" postings by city officials and entourages, angry at Ed's disclosures about his reporting their illegal dumping. Mocking ToTTers tried to trivialize St. Augustine's environmental lawbreaking.
I wrote ToTT, defending Ed. ToTTers falsely impersonated my wife, accused me of being fictitious, posting threatening, obscene, homophobic, libelous comments.
Ed Slavin suggested voluntary ToTT civility rules (no obscenities, sexism, body-part references or remarks about posters' mothers).
Demanding Ed be kicked off, two ToTTers successfully lobbied the ToTT-administrator. They've now been banned for their abusiveness.
I agree with your editorial (November 19) -- government officials need "thicker hides." Ed Slavin is "brilliant" and deserves praise for exposing wrongdoing for decades.
Hateful officials (including President Bush's erstwhile environmental advisor, Nov. 26) have so much to conceal, like Hanford nuclear bomb factory managers.
As a former Washington State environmental regulator, I previously wrote the Record about St. Augustine's illegal dumping.
FDEP inexplicably delayed for eight months (until after elections), to recommend over $46,000 in fines. Will there now be grand jury investigations of city pollution and cover ups?
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120806/opinions_4255331c.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Edwin L. Bricker
Olympia, Wash.
Publication Date: 12/08/06
Editor: Ed Slavin zealously represented me against Hanford, Washington nuclear weapons plant employers. Working for reforms to protect American workers, Ed Slavin put his career on the line to rescue others.
I was the daily victim of a hostile working environment (joined by the local union I served as steward). Federal OSHA's Assistant Regional Administrator John Spear uncovered illegal surveillance, sabotaged breathing-apparatus and daily torment. Hanford managers branded me a "mole" (spy) for reporting life-threatening environmental, safety and health hazards, working with Congressman John Dingell's investigators.
I was reminded of Hanford's hostility when I read the Record's "Talk of the Town" Web site, where Ed Slavin was attacked by "anonymous" postings by city officials and entourages, angry at Ed's disclosures about his reporting their illegal dumping. Mocking ToTTers tried to trivialize St. Augustine's environmental lawbreaking.
I wrote ToTT, defending Ed. ToTTers falsely impersonated my wife, accused me of being fictitious, posting threatening, obscene, homophobic, libelous comments.
Ed Slavin suggested voluntary ToTT civility rules (no obscenities, sexism, body-part references or remarks about posters' mothers).
Demanding Ed be kicked off, two ToTTers successfully lobbied the ToTT-administrator. They've now been banned for their abusiveness.
I agree with your editorial (November 19) -- government officials need "thicker hides." Ed Slavin is "brilliant" and deserves praise for exposing wrongdoing for decades.
Hateful officials (including President Bush's erstwhile environmental advisor, Nov. 26) have so much to conceal, like Hanford nuclear bomb factory managers.
As a former Washington State environmental regulator, I previously wrote the Record about St. Augustine's illegal dumping.
FDEP inexplicably delayed for eight months (until after elections), to recommend over $46,000 in fines. Will there now be grand jury investigations of city pollution and cover ups?
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120806/opinions_4255331c.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Notice of Intent to Request Hearing on City of St. Augustine's Envirohnmental Violations
Dear Ms. Johnson:
Thank you for forwarding the two proposed consent orders, and for your courtesies and those of others in FDEP..
This letter is to notify FDEP that I intend to petition for an administrative hearing on the two proposed consent orders.
Our St. Augustine City Hall officials ordered the illegal excavation of the old city dump, illegal dumping of its contents in the Old City Reservoir by the City of St. Augustine, involving $47,248 in penalties, with no personal liability or admissions of who ordered the excavation and dumping and why.. None of our questions have been answered by City Hall since February, 2006 -- some 286 days ago. The consent order proposal was delayed until after the election. Without an open public hearing, our city would be sweeping its wrongdoing under the rug, with taxpayers paying the price. This is unacceptable.
"As Mr. Justice Brandeis correctly observed, 'sunlight is the most powerful of all disinfectants,' New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 305 (1964)(Goldberg, J., concurring), citing Freund, The Supreme Court of the United States (1949), p. 61. "Justice must not be done in a corner, nor in any covert manner." State ex rel Herald Mail Co. v. Hamilton, 267 S.E.2d 544,548 (W.Va. 1980), citing 1676 Charter of Fundamental Laws of West New Jersey, Ch. XXIII.
As Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote, when "government becomes a lawbreaker," it promotes disrespect for the law, and anarchy. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478 (dissenting) (1928). Our City of St. Augustine is a lawbreaker and a public hearing is required on the proposed consent decrees so that the public may hear all about it.
There is a strong public interest in exposing governmental wrongdoing. See, e.g., Baldassare v. State of New Jersey, 250 F.3d 188, 200 (3d Cir. 2001); Hitchens v. County of Montgomery, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2803 (E.D.Pa. 2002). See also United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S.c. 683 (1974), holding that "the law is entitled to every [person's] evidence"; University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC, 493 U.S. 182 (1990)(rejecting asserted university privilege to keep secret all manner of evidence regarding academic tenure decisions).
Please advise me if and when the proposed orders become final so that I may file a petition requesting an administrative hearing.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida
904-471-7023
904-471-9918 (fax)
Thank you for forwarding the two proposed consent orders, and for your courtesies and those of others in FDEP..
This letter is to notify FDEP that I intend to petition for an administrative hearing on the two proposed consent orders.
Our St. Augustine City Hall officials ordered the illegal excavation of the old city dump, illegal dumping of its contents in the Old City Reservoir by the City of St. Augustine, involving $47,248 in penalties, with no personal liability or admissions of who ordered the excavation and dumping and why.. None of our questions have been answered by City Hall since February, 2006 -- some 286 days ago. The consent order proposal was delayed until after the election. Without an open public hearing, our city would be sweeping its wrongdoing under the rug, with taxpayers paying the price. This is unacceptable.
"As Mr. Justice Brandeis correctly observed, 'sunlight is the most powerful of all disinfectants,' New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 305 (1964)(Goldberg, J., concurring), citing Freund, The Supreme Court of the United States (1949), p. 61. "Justice must not be done in a corner, nor in any covert manner." State ex rel Herald Mail Co. v. Hamilton, 267 S.E.2d 544,548 (W.Va. 1980), citing 1676 Charter of Fundamental Laws of West New Jersey, Ch. XXIII.
As Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote, when "government becomes a lawbreaker," it promotes disrespect for the law, and anarchy. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478 (dissenting) (1928). Our City of St. Augustine is a lawbreaker and a public hearing is required on the proposed consent decrees so that the public may hear all about it.
There is a strong public interest in exposing governmental wrongdoing. See, e.g., Baldassare v. State of New Jersey, 250 F.3d 188, 200 (3d Cir. 2001); Hitchens v. County of Montgomery, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2803 (E.D.Pa. 2002). See also United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S.c. 683 (1974), holding that "the law is entitled to every [person's] evidence"; University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC, 493 U.S. 182 (1990)(rejecting asserted university privilege to keep secret all manner of evidence regarding academic tenure decisions).
Please advise me if and when the proposed orders become final so that I may file a petition requesting an administrative hearing.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida
904-471-7023
904-471-9918 (fax)
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
DAY 286 -- WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR ANSWERS ON OUR CITY of ST. AUGUSTINE'S ILLEGAL DUMPING
Some 286 days ago, on Fefruary 24, 2006, we started asking our City questions about illegal dumping. Then-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers" at the February 27, 2006 City Commission meeting.
The "answers" never came.
FDEP cheated our City's residents out of a fair election by suppressing the fact of the proposed fine of over $56,000 until after the November 7 election. See below.
No on day 286, we deserve answers to the questions. No more insults or non sequiturs or flummery from our CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS, new Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., his golfing buddy and VICE MAYOR DonALD CRIcHLOW, or Commissioners GEORGE GARDNER, ERROL JONES and SUSAN BURK.
Some new questions for the politicians and putative "professionals" who got us in this mess.:
Do you agree it was foolish to dump illegally?
Will you agree never to engage in illegal dumping again?
Will you apologize to the people of the City of St. Augustine?
Will you start giving environmental protection of this beautiful place the priority that it deserves?
Will you agree to protect City whistleblowers from retaliation?
Will you bring CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS up on charges at an open public hearing?
The "answers" never came.
FDEP cheated our City's residents out of a fair election by suppressing the fact of the proposed fine of over $56,000 until after the November 7 election. See below.
No on day 286, we deserve answers to the questions. No more insults or non sequiturs or flummery from our CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS, new Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., his golfing buddy and VICE MAYOR DonALD CRIcHLOW, or Commissioners GEORGE GARDNER, ERROL JONES and SUSAN BURK.
Some new questions for the politicians and putative "professionals" who got us in this mess.:
Do you agree it was foolish to dump illegally?
Will you agree never to engage in illegal dumping again?
Will you apologize to the people of the City of St. Augustine?
Will you start giving environmental protection of this beautiful place the priority that it deserves?
Will you agree to protect City whistleblowers from retaliation?
Will you bring CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS up on charges at an open public hearing?
Monday, December 04, 2006
STOLEN ELECTION? Voters Deprived of Essential Information -- State Delayed Fine of More Than $46,000 for City of St. Augustine Illegally Dumping
STOLEN ELECTION? Voters Deprived of Essential Information -- State Delayed Fine of More Than $46,000 for City of St. Augustine Illegally Dumping 20,000 Cubic Yards in Old City Reservoir
In a republic or a democracy, full, timely information is essential to allow voters to make informed decisions. On the illegal dumping, St. Augustine voters were systematically deprived of adequate information on the state's intention to tine our City of St. Augustine more than $46,000. This places the legitimacy of our local and state governments in question.
There has been a coverup of major proportion, which has been referred to Inspectors General in Washington, D.C. and Tallahassee.
Here's how the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) delayed its penalty assessment for the City's illegal dumping, thereby depriving St. Augustine voters of essential information we needed to evaluate the nature, structure and performance of our City government in the November 7, 2006 City election.
One hesitates to say an election was stolen, but if St. Augustine voters knew our City was being fined more than $46,000 for the illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir, the Mayor's race and Commission Seat 3 race would have been won by Lincolnville's Peter Romano. Looking at the facts, one can only conclude that our City's election was stolen by the manipulation and suppression of information. Here's the timeline.
On February 17, illegal dumping was reported to the National Response Center (report No. 788280) -- the dumping involved over 30 million pounds of contaminants dumped in St. Augustine's Old City Reservoir in recent months (with more dumping suspected in prior years at the site, located on Holmes Blvd. between .
On February 24, FDEP did not have the information from EPA yet, arranging to send criminal investigators February 27.
On February 27, FDEP and EPA CiD investigators caught the City red-handed, illegally dumping. EPA CID washes its hands, claiming on-site that the dumping was "de minimis," even though the volume exceeds six Olympic-sized swimming pools filled to a depth of six feet, and the dumping is in the Old City Reservoir.
On March 1, FDEP caught the City illegal dumping again.
On March 15, FDEP sent a warning letter, ordering the City to remove its illegal dumping from the Old City Reservoir. The City has still not removed the contaminants as of December 4, 2006. The facts of DEP's letter were never denied (our City only quibbled with legal conclusions, falsely arguing the violations were de minimis and de micromis), when FDEP found they were "serious," and involved a "lack of good faith" on the City's part. Delay tactics by City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS & Co. and by the state's largest corporate law firm, AKERMAN SENTERFITT environmental partner WILLIAM PENCE (see below) succeeded in delaying the day of reckoning until after the November 7, 2006 election. While City officials stonewalled questions, they delayed the fine until one week after the November 7 election. You've got to hand it to these coverup artists -- they're not only smug, they helped to steal an election and delay democracy.
The pollution was reported February 17, investigated commencing February 27, continued after the criminal investigators arrived (photographed on March 1, 2006).
Yet it was not until October -- seven months later -- that the penalty assessment process was completed, thereby cleverly delaying public notice until after the biennial St. Augustine election.
On October 2, 2006, FDEP Northeast District staff forwards penalty calculation and consent
order to Office of General Counsel (OGC) for review
On October 16, 2006, FDEP Northeast District (NED) received memo from OGC that consent
order was received
On October 27, 2006, FDEP NED received comments from OGC (NED staff review)
On November 1, 2006, the St. Augustine Chronicle published a cover story about the City's illegal dumping.
On November 6, 2006, FDEP completed its initial review, sending the proposed consent decree back to OGC for final review and approval.
On November 6, 2006 at 8 PM, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER sent out hundreds of E-mails, falsely contending that our City done nothing wrong in the illegal dumping, claiming there was "no criminal intent," and that the City was cooperating. (See below).
On November 7, 2006, voters (deprived of information on illegal dumping fines of more than $46,000) elected JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, Jr. as Mayor with 57% of the vote, over reformer Peter Romano, while re-electing GEORGE GARDNER as a Commissioner, with 55% of the vote. Neither GARDNER nor BOLES had ever answered a single question about their illegal dumping from February 27, 2006 to November 7, 2006 (although GARDNER claimed to me on February 24, 2006 that what was being dumped was "clean fill," when EPA says "there are no bedsprings in clean fill."
On November 8, 2006, the proposed fine of more than $46,000 received final approval from OGC
On November 8, 2006, the proposed fine of more than $46,000 was sent to FDEP NED for review.
On November 13, 2006, Mayor GEORGE GARDNER uses his valedictory speech to attack Ed Slavin for asking "over 200 questions" about our City's illegal dumping, accusing him of "abusing" the process of public comments to ask questions.
On November 14, 2006, FDEP's NED District Director approves consent order package and issued the proposed consent order to City of St. Augustine, noting that penalties were higher for "serious" violations and "lack of good faith" of the City of St. Augustine..
On November 19, 2006, the St. Augustine Record newspaper editorial denounces MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER for violating free speech rights regarding the illegal dumping. (See below),
On November 21, 2006, FDEP releases information about the illegal dumping to Ed Slavin and the St. Augustine Record. (See below).
On November 22, 2006, the St. Augustine Record publishes a page-one story about the proposed fine of more than $46,000.
The EPA Inspector General's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is now investigating the EPA CID's false characterization of the violations as "de mimimis," and refusing to do EPA s job.
The Governor's Inspector General and the FDEP Inspector General are investigating the coverup and failure to bring any criminal charges against the City of St. Augustine for the current and prior dumping, coverup, obstruction of justice, perjury and other crimes.
On December 4, 2006, controversial St. Augustine Mayor GEORGE GARDNER will take another stab at another valedictory speech, and controversial St. Augustine Commissioner JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. will be sworn in as MAYOR. Meanwhile, MAYOR GARDNER has announced he is not seeking another term as Commissioner and appears to indicate that Commissioners ERROL JONES and SUSAN BURK are not running for re-election (or else he wants his supporters to run against them).
Mayor GARDNER admits there is "rampant corruption" in City Hall, yet never did anything about it. Voters were deprived of the information they needed to do something about it when DEP conveniently delayed assessing the penalty and issuing its $46,000 (and change) fine letter until after the election.
The system is broken. Change is urgently reqiured. The illegitimate government of the City of St. Augustine will be cleaned up, along with its illegal dumping.. Illegitimi Non Carborundum.
In a republic or a democracy, full, timely information is essential to allow voters to make informed decisions. On the illegal dumping, St. Augustine voters were systematically deprived of adequate information on the state's intention to tine our City of St. Augustine more than $46,000. This places the legitimacy of our local and state governments in question.
There has been a coverup of major proportion, which has been referred to Inspectors General in Washington, D.C. and Tallahassee.
Here's how the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) delayed its penalty assessment for the City's illegal dumping, thereby depriving St. Augustine voters of essential information we needed to evaluate the nature, structure and performance of our City government in the November 7, 2006 City election.
One hesitates to say an election was stolen, but if St. Augustine voters knew our City was being fined more than $46,000 for the illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir, the Mayor's race and Commission Seat 3 race would have been won by Lincolnville's Peter Romano. Looking at the facts, one can only conclude that our City's election was stolen by the manipulation and suppression of information. Here's the timeline.
On February 17, illegal dumping was reported to the National Response Center (report No. 788280) -- the dumping involved over 30 million pounds of contaminants dumped in St. Augustine's Old City Reservoir in recent months (with more dumping suspected in prior years at the site, located on Holmes Blvd. between .
On February 24, FDEP did not have the information from EPA yet, arranging to send criminal investigators February 27.
On February 27, FDEP and EPA CiD investigators caught the City red-handed, illegally dumping. EPA CID washes its hands, claiming on-site that the dumping was "de minimis," even though the volume exceeds six Olympic-sized swimming pools filled to a depth of six feet, and the dumping is in the Old City Reservoir.
On March 1, FDEP caught the City illegal dumping again.
On March 15, FDEP sent a warning letter, ordering the City to remove its illegal dumping from the Old City Reservoir. The City has still not removed the contaminants as of December 4, 2006. The facts of DEP's letter were never denied (our City only quibbled with legal conclusions, falsely arguing the violations were de minimis and de micromis), when FDEP found they were "serious," and involved a "lack of good faith" on the City's part. Delay tactics by City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS & Co. and by the state's largest corporate law firm, AKERMAN SENTERFITT environmental partner WILLIAM PENCE (see below) succeeded in delaying the day of reckoning until after the November 7, 2006 election. While City officials stonewalled questions, they delayed the fine until one week after the November 7 election. You've got to hand it to these coverup artists -- they're not only smug, they helped to steal an election and delay democracy.
The pollution was reported February 17, investigated commencing February 27, continued after the criminal investigators arrived (photographed on March 1, 2006).
Yet it was not until October -- seven months later -- that the penalty assessment process was completed, thereby cleverly delaying public notice until after the biennial St. Augustine election.
On October 2, 2006, FDEP Northeast District staff forwards penalty calculation and consent
order to Office of General Counsel (OGC) for review
On October 16, 2006, FDEP Northeast District (NED) received memo from OGC that consent
order was received
On October 27, 2006, FDEP NED received comments from OGC (NED staff review)
On November 1, 2006, the St. Augustine Chronicle published a cover story about the City's illegal dumping.
On November 6, 2006, FDEP completed its initial review, sending the proposed consent decree back to OGC for final review and approval.
On November 6, 2006 at 8 PM, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER sent out hundreds of E-mails, falsely contending that our City done nothing wrong in the illegal dumping, claiming there was "no criminal intent," and that the City was cooperating. (See below).
On November 7, 2006, voters (deprived of information on illegal dumping fines of more than $46,000) elected JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, Jr. as Mayor with 57% of the vote, over reformer Peter Romano, while re-electing GEORGE GARDNER as a Commissioner, with 55% of the vote. Neither GARDNER nor BOLES had ever answered a single question about their illegal dumping from February 27, 2006 to November 7, 2006 (although GARDNER claimed to me on February 24, 2006 that what was being dumped was "clean fill," when EPA says "there are no bedsprings in clean fill."
On November 8, 2006, the proposed fine of more than $46,000 received final approval from OGC
On November 8, 2006, the proposed fine of more than $46,000 was sent to FDEP NED for review.
On November 13, 2006, Mayor GEORGE GARDNER uses his valedictory speech to attack Ed Slavin for asking "over 200 questions" about our City's illegal dumping, accusing him of "abusing" the process of public comments to ask questions.
On November 14, 2006, FDEP's NED District Director approves consent order package and issued the proposed consent order to City of St. Augustine, noting that penalties were higher for "serious" violations and "lack of good faith" of the City of St. Augustine..
On November 19, 2006, the St. Augustine Record newspaper editorial denounces MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER for violating free speech rights regarding the illegal dumping. (See below),
On November 21, 2006, FDEP releases information about the illegal dumping to Ed Slavin and the St. Augustine Record. (See below).
On November 22, 2006, the St. Augustine Record publishes a page-one story about the proposed fine of more than $46,000.
The EPA Inspector General's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is now investigating the EPA CID's false characterization of the violations as "de mimimis," and refusing to do EPA s job.
The Governor's Inspector General and the FDEP Inspector General are investigating the coverup and failure to bring any criminal charges against the City of St. Augustine for the current and prior dumping, coverup, obstruction of justice, perjury and other crimes.
On December 4, 2006, controversial St. Augustine Mayor GEORGE GARDNER will take another stab at another valedictory speech, and controversial St. Augustine Commissioner JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. will be sworn in as MAYOR. Meanwhile, MAYOR GARDNER has announced he is not seeking another term as Commissioner and appears to indicate that Commissioners ERROL JONES and SUSAN BURK are not running for re-election (or else he wants his supporters to run against them).
Mayor GARDNER admits there is "rampant corruption" in City Hall, yet never did anything about it. Voters were deprived of the information they needed to do something about it when DEP conveniently delayed assessing the penalty and issuing its $46,000 (and change) fine letter until after the election.
The system is broken. Change is urgently reqiured. The illegitimate government of the City of St. Augustine will be cleaned up, along with its illegal dumping.. Illegitimi Non Carborundum.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Column: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," Mayor, City Commissioners, - Citizens' Report of Illegal Dumping Led to Proposed Fine
Guest Column: Reader agrees with editorial on dumping
JUDITH SERAPHIN
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 12/03/06
Thanks for your Nov. 19 editorial blasting "soon- to-be-ex-Mayor" George Gardner!
Gardner broke his prom-ise, refusing to answer questions about illegal dumping. Then Gardner disgraced himself, abusing his valedict-ory remarks to attack Ed Slavin, who reported our city's illegal dumping, resulting in a proposed $46,000 fine for "serious" violations and officials' "lack of good faith."
Mayor Gardner was egged on by four city commissioners and City Manager Harriss -- they started the non-spontaneous standing ovation, joined in by developers, lawyers, contractors, etc. Yacht Club members were embarrassed, induced to join the ovation while waiting to discuss the Salt Run community center lease.
Officials must pay the fines and give sworn testimony. St. Augustine city officials must be prosecuted for illegal dumping and ordering city employees to sort through 20,000 cubic yards of old landfill without training. Officials never apologized to workers (or thanked Ed Slavin). Instead they insulted him for months, showing hostility and prejudice on "Talk of the Town" and in meetings.
Ed Slavin won punitive damages against three federal agencies in environ-mental whistleblower cases during 2002-2003. City officials (and hangers-on) -- refusing to answer public questions about city operations -- now seemingly support angry nuclear weapons plant managers in Tennessee (which also criminally prosecuted teaching evolution and desegregation). Birds of a feather?
Since 1776, real Americans have stood up to bullies, like "King George" Gardner and those wasting your money on junkets to NYC and Europe and a White Elephant parking garage, while delaying and denying city funds for a civil rights monument.
So Mayor Gardner's mad about Ed Slavin asking hundreds of (unanswered) questions? As Harry Truman said, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Thanks again for supporting First Amendment rights and investigating what Gardner admits is "rampant corruption."
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120306/opinions_4240537.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
JUDITH SERAPHIN
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 12/03/06
Thanks for your Nov. 19 editorial blasting "soon- to-be-ex-Mayor" George Gardner!
Gardner broke his prom-ise, refusing to answer questions about illegal dumping. Then Gardner disgraced himself, abusing his valedict-ory remarks to attack Ed Slavin, who reported our city's illegal dumping, resulting in a proposed $46,000 fine for "serious" violations and officials' "lack of good faith."
Mayor Gardner was egged on by four city commissioners and City Manager Harriss -- they started the non-spontaneous standing ovation, joined in by developers, lawyers, contractors, etc. Yacht Club members were embarrassed, induced to join the ovation while waiting to discuss the Salt Run community center lease.
Officials must pay the fines and give sworn testimony. St. Augustine city officials must be prosecuted for illegal dumping and ordering city employees to sort through 20,000 cubic yards of old landfill without training. Officials never apologized to workers (or thanked Ed Slavin). Instead they insulted him for months, showing hostility and prejudice on "Talk of the Town" and in meetings.
Ed Slavin won punitive damages against three federal agencies in environ-mental whistleblower cases during 2002-2003. City officials (and hangers-on) -- refusing to answer public questions about city operations -- now seemingly support angry nuclear weapons plant managers in Tennessee (which also criminally prosecuted teaching evolution and desegregation). Birds of a feather?
Since 1776, real Americans have stood up to bullies, like "King George" Gardner and those wasting your money on junkets to NYC and Europe and a White Elephant parking garage, while delaying and denying city funds for a civil rights monument.
So Mayor Gardner's mad about Ed Slavin asking hundreds of (unanswered) questions? As Harry Truman said, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Thanks again for supporting First Amendment rights and investigating what Gardner admits is "rampant corruption."
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120306/opinions_4240537.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Column: Thanks for making our area great
Thanks for making our area great
DEREK MAY
St. Augustine Record Publisher
Publication Date: 12/03/06
If there's one thing I have learned since moving to St. Augustine early this year, it's that family and friends are always happy to visit. As a matter of fact, our home often felt like a bed and breakfast this summer.
Thanksgiving was no different. My parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece came down for the long weekend. We spent four days playing golf, shopping, riding bikes and enjoying the beautiful weather.
I ate way too much.
Saturday night, we decided to go downtown for dinner. After pulling into the brand new parking facility, we hopped on the free shuttle and arrived in the center of the historic district within minutes. Downtown was lit up like a winter wonderland -- minus the winter. After enjoying dinner in a restaurant courtyard, we listened to a guitarist who was singing tunes we knew by heart.
My family departed the next day, worn out from an outstanding weekend.
Folks, we live in one of the greatest places on Earth. Certainly we have our challenges, but many of them stem from the fact that our little secret is out. Every year, thousands of people decide to call St. Johns County home. That alone is bound to create some problems. My family jumped at the chance to move here, so I guess we are part of the problem as well.
But I also plan to be a part of the solutions, whatever they turn out to be.
Like many, I am concerned about where we are headed. But I'm not worried, because I have met too many bright people in this community -- people who care deeply about its future. I know there are many more I haven't met. Together, we can face these challenges.
Thanksgiving might be over, but I would like to say "thanks" to all of you who stick your neck out there to make this a great place to live.
Did I mention I ate too much?
Derek May is publisher of The St. Augustine Record.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120306/opinions_4245762.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
DEREK MAY
St. Augustine Record Publisher
Publication Date: 12/03/06
If there's one thing I have learned since moving to St. Augustine early this year, it's that family and friends are always happy to visit. As a matter of fact, our home often felt like a bed and breakfast this summer.
Thanksgiving was no different. My parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece came down for the long weekend. We spent four days playing golf, shopping, riding bikes and enjoying the beautiful weather.
I ate way too much.
Saturday night, we decided to go downtown for dinner. After pulling into the brand new parking facility, we hopped on the free shuttle and arrived in the center of the historic district within minutes. Downtown was lit up like a winter wonderland -- minus the winter. After enjoying dinner in a restaurant courtyard, we listened to a guitarist who was singing tunes we knew by heart.
My family departed the next day, worn out from an outstanding weekend.
Folks, we live in one of the greatest places on Earth. Certainly we have our challenges, but many of them stem from the fact that our little secret is out. Every year, thousands of people decide to call St. Johns County home. That alone is bound to create some problems. My family jumped at the chance to move here, so I guess we are part of the problem as well.
But I also plan to be a part of the solutions, whatever they turn out to be.
Like many, I am concerned about where we are headed. But I'm not worried, because I have met too many bright people in this community -- people who care deeply about its future. I know there are many more I haven't met. Together, we can face these challenges.
Thanksgiving might be over, but I would like to say "thanks" to all of you who stick your neck out there to make this a great place to live.
Did I mention I ate too much?
Derek May is publisher of The St. Augustine Record.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120306/opinions_4245762.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
What motivates misguided City Hall defenders to denigrate free speech rights, insult questioners and ululate?
Money? Ego? Politics? More?
What's their motivation? (Or, why do City Hall apparatchiks rage? Why do they seek to chill free speech rights?
Why do they make impertinent, untrue and bigoted remarks about me? I'm not the issue.
It reminds me of what St. Augustine Chief Operating Officer John Regan told me shortly after the criminal investigators arrived. He said, "because of what you have done," there will be a "long process."
I did not deposit contaminants in the Old City Reservoir. I reported them to federal officials. (National Response Center Report No. 788280, filed on February 17, 2006). Our City has such contempt for the environment that it broke the law. Our City Hall is guilty of "blaming the messenger," when it needs to have cleaned up its mess – starting nine (9) months ago, instead of shillyshalling, lallygagging and delaying the FDEP-ordered cleanup.
Our City officials lack the intellectual rigor or emotional maturity to answer any questions at all for nine (9) months on their possible environmental crimes – illegal dumping of arsenic-contaminated city dump contaminants – 20,000 cubic yards worth, or enough to fill in six Olympic size swimming pools or cover a football field to a depth of 11.2 feet? As the Bible asks, "why do the heathen rage?" Why do they use shills (now that the Record has blasted Mayor GEORGE GARDNER for his Philistinism)?
1. Who is William L. Leary? I have never met him. His expressing opinions on administrative-judicial retaliation (without benefit of a jury trial, including denials of due process and trials in absentia) is at best incomplete. Leary's driving under the inference regarding First Amendment violations by Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Labor range from the misguided to the misanthropic to the libelous to the supercilious.
Our society benefits from informed discussion of issues.
That's why I invited Bill Leary, who is a former George W. Bush Administration environmental policy advisor, working in the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Fish and Wildlife Service (F&WS) to appear on our podcast six days ago. So far, Bill Leary's not called me back.
Why not?
As William F. Buckley, Jr. once asked, "why does baloney reject the grinder?"
Mr. William L. Leary moved to St. Augustine last year and has already distinguished himself as a political patronage appointee (read: hack) to the Planning and Zoning Board, zealously defending in an October St. Augustine column the righteousness of developer Chester Stokes getting "brownfield" tax credits to construct homes on the former Ponce de Leon Golf Course, destroying wetlands and wildlife habitat in the name of "tax ratables."
Bill Leary's column in last Sunday's Record was unadorned with any identification as to the etiology of his sarcasm and ridicule. Again, I have never met the man.
When I called him last Monday, he said he was busy cooking for a dinner party and would call me back the next day.
He's not called back yet.
Last year, the Record printed an AP article quoting Bush environmental advisor Bill Leary as telling those concerned about delays in funding Everglades' cleanup to "be calm."
Mr. Leary is anything but "calm" in using a bludgeon to defend City Hall from questions.
Who put the idea of trashing me in Bill Leary's brain?
What do you reckon?
In any event, I wear this irascible scold's scorn as a badge of honor.
Unlike Leary, I've fought hard to protect environmental, nuclear and trucking whistleblowers, exposing corruption in our government and business, winning punitive damages thrice against federal agencies 2002-2003 (earning the hatred of nuclear weapons plants and DOL Chief Judge John Michael Vittone).
I've published seven articles on human rights issues in American Bar Association publications (two in the Judges' Journal), as well as publishing columns and letters critical of cartels and their co-opted political appointees in the Bush Administration, including the stolen 2000 election.
Bill Leary, come on down – we look forward to interviewing you for our podcast and will be following your new career as a coverup-artist here in St. Augustine.
2. Who is Clara Waldhari?
A different kettle of fish is presented by the seething the cauldron of emotions posed by one Clara Waldhari, wife of City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
I've never met nor talked with her, but we exchanged pleasant PMs (Personal Messages) on "Talk of the Town" before she evidently decided that I am a rat-fink.
I suppose my offense, in her eyes, was asking questions about her husband's actions (and those of his boss) on archaeology, and questioning the obscene, vulgar, crass and mean-spirited antics of one Willett Albright Boyer, III, who abused "Talk of the Town" for the purpose of advancing private agendas on archaeology. Boyer works for a Jacksonville consulting firm, has a Master's in Archaeology, and posted opinions and conclusions with which his UF Anthropology Department Chair and major professor for his Ph.D. disagreed with when I called their attention to them. Waldhari blames me for "ruining" Boyer's career. Boyer refused to behave civilly (or speak), while continuing to insult good and decent people who care passionately about preserving indigenous archaeology sites, including Red House Bluff, a 3000-4000 year old indigenous Indian village threatened by a condo and strip mall development (which our City Commissioners approved without Halbirt ever having seen the ESI report and without the ESI report ever having been forwarded to state officials).
Willett Albright Boyer, III allegedly took over and bossed an unsatisfactory "compromise" on the Tremerton site, one that left Native Americans and SAAA members uncomfortable (leaving indigenous graves behind a wall in a gated community, leaving SAAA responsible in perpetuity for monitoring it, without right of access or funding for legal activities). Willett Albright Boyer, III was the mentee of Ms. Waldhari's husband, City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
Ms. Waldhari knows her husband (and other city professionals) deserve independence and whistleblower protection against pressures from developers and City managers like WILLIAM B. HARRISS and MARK KNIGHT. Cognitive dissonance is such a powerful force. In her heart, Clara Waldhari knows I'm right. She was kind enough to sponsor me for SAAA membership – she's got good ideas and intuitions (though sometimes misguided).
The issues of illegal dumping involve right and wrong – it's wrong to pollute anywhere. It's worse to pollute without state or federal permits, violating SJRWMD orders, treating the land and people of this beautiful city and county as expendable. It's wrong to engage in environmental racism in dumping while denying annexation to West Augustine.
It's wrong to take a 3000-4000 year old Native American village archaeological site and turn it into condos and a stripmall without proper investigation. Go ahead – "Google" the words "Red House Bluff" to learn more about former NY lawyer Robert Michael Graubard's plans and the City's coverup. We've still not gotten answers about what Graubard and our City are trying to do to a 3000-4000 year old Indian archaeological site (Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, meekly dissenting). Never letting the facts get in the way of a rant, Ms. Waldhari and city officials abused confidential information to insult Mr. Harry Metz and other dedicated archaeological volunteers. In addition to Halbirt's wife, Ms. Waldhari, another of the people "piling on" Mr. Metz was possibly a City Commissioner.
"Talk of the Town" bullies practice blacklisting (see below for more on threats to activists), while abusing their cloying affectation of "anonymity" on "Talk of the Town" to torment, curse and ridicule anyone who disagrees with them. Ms. Waldhari's idee fixee is defending the indefensible – our City's warped priorities of destroying historic Native American archaeological sites. She's ab used venom and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with City Planning and Zoning Director MARK KNIGHT (her husband's supervisor). As in Waldhari's Record column today, she's generally acted on TOTT as an enemy of free speech, with a vengeance. Waldhari and friends posted pages of anti-Gay remarks on the Bridge of Lions Rainbow flags, with Waldhari and friends belatedly deleting three (3) of 32 pages them when I questioned them about it earlier this year.
Waldhari's friend, Willett Albright Boyer, III, was deleted from "Talk of the Town" earlier this year, even writing obscenities and vulgarities and other filth on Easter Sunday.
Some of Waldhari's "Talk of the Town" friends were reportedly deleted by the St. Augustine Record a few days ago as a result of hostile remarks, including one recidivist sexist, homophobic poster's calling a former County Commissioner a "whore." What passes for "dialogue" by some of the tatterdemalion termagants who post anonymously on "Talk of the Town" makes Rush Limbaugh look like a choirboy, G. Gordon Liddy look like a scholar, and Pat Buchanan look like a gentleman. Earlier this year, I found that "Talk of the Town" had degenerated into a forum for city and county officials to chill dissent. I posted on "Talk of the Town" and endured a heap of abuse. I stuck to inconvenient truths, starting with A (archaeology). On ToTT, I shared FDEP photos of our City's illegal dumping, rebutting City Hall spin that the dumping was "trivial," or a "mistake," or that it was never the "Old City Reservoir." And stuff and nonsense. I was congratulated by one ToTTer ("Phred") for posting zealously turning ToTT back into the forum for local issues that it was intended to be (with numerous, virulent hate-Ed threads springing up as part of City Hall's disinformation campaign, complete with obscene remark, remarks about my mother, homophobic remarks, obscenities and repeated ad hominem links to disbarment information and other irrelevancies.
When my former client, Hanford (Washington) nuclear whistleblower Edwin L. Bricker posted to defend my honor from the "anonymice," they attacked him with glee, with one of the "anonymice" even falsely personifying hself/herself as Ed's wife, Cindy, while spewing lies and anti-Gay remarks about Ed Bricker. There were false statements about Ed Bricker (by that sexist poster recently kicked off ToTT). There were even threats of violence.
It seems that some in St. Augustine have not advanced far since 1964.
Those in City Hall remind me of what was said 100 years ago by scholar Edwin Alvord Ross about "criminaloid" personalities (they're in a hurry and not particular about the means of achieving their goals.
I asked people on ToTT to agree to voluntary civility standards, including not making sexist, homophobic or obscene remarks, statements about posters' personal appearances, or statements about their mothers. The response was what you'd expect from an enraged mob.
I share Clara Waldhari's pain. I take her at her word in her E-mails that she's a victim of chemical sensitivity syndrome, the sequelae of working with old files as an archivist for the National Park Service.
Ms. Waldhari knows her husband (and other city professionals) deserve independence and whistleblower protection against pressures from developers. Cognitive dissonance is such a powerful force. In her heart, Clara Waldhari knows I'm right.
It's wrong to take a 3000-4000 year old Native American village archaeological site and turn it into condos and a stripmall without proper investigation. Google "Red House Bluff" and "Robert Graubard" for more information about what our City is trying to do to a 3000-4000 year old Indian archaeological site (Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, meekly dissenting). making some City Hall computers into full-time monitors of "Talk of the Town," with City officials and apparathiks angry. In fact, Mayor GARDNER told me at a City Commission meeting that he no longer enjoyed me this Spring that he no longer enjoyed "Talk of the Town." As Judith Seraphin said to GARDNER in today's Record (quoting Harry Truman), "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." I wear GARDNER's and other City Hall defenders' scorn as a badge of honor.
What's their motivation? (Or, why do City Hall apparatchiks rage? Why do they seek to chill free speech rights?
Why do they make impertinent, untrue and bigoted remarks about me? I'm not the issue.
It reminds me of what St. Augustine Chief Operating Officer John Regan told me shortly after the criminal investigators arrived. He said, "because of what you have done," there will be a "long process."
I did not deposit contaminants in the Old City Reservoir. I reported them to federal officials. (National Response Center Report No. 788280, filed on February 17, 2006). Our City has such contempt for the environment that it broke the law. Our City Hall is guilty of "blaming the messenger," when it needs to have cleaned up its mess – starting nine (9) months ago, instead of shillyshalling, lallygagging and delaying the FDEP-ordered cleanup.
Our City officials lack the intellectual rigor or emotional maturity to answer any questions at all for nine (9) months on their possible environmental crimes – illegal dumping of arsenic-contaminated city dump contaminants – 20,000 cubic yards worth, or enough to fill in six Olympic size swimming pools or cover a football field to a depth of 11.2 feet? As the Bible asks, "why do the heathen rage?" Why do they use shills (now that the Record has blasted Mayor GEORGE GARDNER for his Philistinism)?
1. Who is William L. Leary? I have never met him. His expressing opinions on administrative-judicial retaliation (without benefit of a jury trial, including denials of due process and trials in absentia) is at best incomplete. Leary's driving under the inference regarding First Amendment violations by Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Labor range from the misguided to the misanthropic to the libelous to the supercilious.
Our society benefits from informed discussion of issues.
That's why I invited Bill Leary, who is a former George W. Bush Administration environmental policy advisor, working in the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Fish and Wildlife Service (F&WS) to appear on our podcast six days ago. So far, Bill Leary's not called me back.
Why not?
As William F. Buckley, Jr. once asked, "why does baloney reject the grinder?"
Mr. William L. Leary moved to St. Augustine last year and has already distinguished himself as a political patronage appointee (read: hack) to the Planning and Zoning Board, zealously defending in an October St. Augustine column the righteousness of developer Chester Stokes getting "brownfield" tax credits to construct homes on the former Ponce de Leon Golf Course, destroying wetlands and wildlife habitat in the name of "tax ratables."
Bill Leary's column in last Sunday's Record was unadorned with any identification as to the etiology of his sarcasm and ridicule. Again, I have never met the man.
When I called him last Monday, he said he was busy cooking for a dinner party and would call me back the next day.
He's not called back yet.
Last year, the Record printed an AP article quoting Bush environmental advisor Bill Leary as telling those concerned about delays in funding Everglades' cleanup to "be calm."
Mr. Leary is anything but "calm" in using a bludgeon to defend City Hall from questions.
Who put the idea of trashing me in Bill Leary's brain?
What do you reckon?
In any event, I wear this irascible scold's scorn as a badge of honor.
Unlike Leary, I've fought hard to protect environmental, nuclear and trucking whistleblowers, exposing corruption in our government and business, winning punitive damages thrice against federal agencies 2002-2003 (earning the hatred of nuclear weapons plants and DOL Chief Judge John Michael Vittone).
I've published seven articles on human rights issues in American Bar Association publications (two in the Judges' Journal), as well as publishing columns and letters critical of cartels and their co-opted political appointees in the Bush Administration, including the stolen 2000 election.
Bill Leary, come on down – we look forward to interviewing you for our podcast and will be following your new career as a coverup-artist here in St. Augustine.
2. Who is Clara Waldhari?
A different kettle of fish is presented by the seething the cauldron of emotions posed by one Clara Waldhari, wife of City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
I've never met nor talked with her, but we exchanged pleasant PMs (Personal Messages) on "Talk of the Town" before she evidently decided that I am a rat-fink.
I suppose my offense, in her eyes, was asking questions about her husband's actions (and those of his boss) on archaeology, and questioning the obscene, vulgar, crass and mean-spirited antics of one Willett Albright Boyer, III, who abused "Talk of the Town" for the purpose of advancing private agendas on archaeology. Boyer works for a Jacksonville consulting firm, has a Master's in Archaeology, and posted opinions and conclusions with which his UF Anthropology Department Chair and major professor for his Ph.D. disagreed with when I called their attention to them. Waldhari blames me for "ruining" Boyer's career. Boyer refused to behave civilly (or speak), while continuing to insult good and decent people who care passionately about preserving indigenous archaeology sites, including Red House Bluff, a 3000-4000 year old indigenous Indian village threatened by a condo and strip mall development (which our City Commissioners approved without Halbirt ever having seen the ESI report and without the ESI report ever having been forwarded to state officials).
Willett Albright Boyer, III allegedly took over and bossed an unsatisfactory "compromise" on the Tremerton site, one that left Native Americans and SAAA members uncomfortable (leaving indigenous graves behind a wall in a gated community, leaving SAAA responsible in perpetuity for monitoring it, without right of access or funding for legal activities). Willett Albright Boyer, III was the mentee of Ms. Waldhari's husband, City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
Ms. Waldhari knows her husband (and other city professionals) deserve independence and whistleblower protection against pressures from developers and City managers like WILLIAM B. HARRISS and MARK KNIGHT. Cognitive dissonance is such a powerful force. In her heart, Clara Waldhari knows I'm right. She was kind enough to sponsor me for SAAA membership – she's got good ideas and intuitions (though sometimes misguided).
The issues of illegal dumping involve right and wrong – it's wrong to pollute anywhere. It's worse to pollute without state or federal permits, violating SJRWMD orders, treating the land and people of this beautiful city and county as expendable. It's wrong to engage in environmental racism in dumping while denying annexation to West Augustine.
It's wrong to take a 3000-4000 year old Native American village archaeological site and turn it into condos and a stripmall without proper investigation. Go ahead – "Google" the words "Red House Bluff" to learn more about former NY lawyer Robert Michael Graubard's plans and the City's coverup. We've still not gotten answers about what Graubard and our City are trying to do to a 3000-4000 year old Indian archaeological site (Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, meekly dissenting). Never letting the facts get in the way of a rant, Ms. Waldhari and city officials abused confidential information to insult Mr. Harry Metz and other dedicated archaeological volunteers. In addition to Halbirt's wife, Ms. Waldhari, another of the people "piling on" Mr. Metz was possibly a City Commissioner.
"Talk of the Town" bullies practice blacklisting (see below for more on threats to activists), while abusing their cloying affectation of "anonymity" on "Talk of the Town" to torment, curse and ridicule anyone who disagrees with them. Ms. Waldhari's idee fixee is defending the indefensible – our City's warped priorities of destroying historic Native American archaeological sites. She's ab used venom and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with City Planning and Zoning Director MARK KNIGHT (her husband's supervisor). As in Waldhari's Record column today, she's generally acted on TOTT as an enemy of free speech, with a vengeance. Waldhari and friends posted pages of anti-Gay remarks on the Bridge of Lions Rainbow flags, with Waldhari and friends belatedly deleting three (3) of 32 pages them when I questioned them about it earlier this year.
Waldhari's friend, Willett Albright Boyer, III, was deleted from "Talk of the Town" earlier this year, even writing obscenities and vulgarities and other filth on Easter Sunday.
Some of Waldhari's "Talk of the Town" friends were reportedly deleted by the St. Augustine Record a few days ago as a result of hostile remarks, including one recidivist sexist, homophobic poster's calling a former County Commissioner a "whore." What passes for "dialogue" by some of the tatterdemalion termagants who post anonymously on "Talk of the Town" makes Rush Limbaugh look like a choirboy, G. Gordon Liddy look like a scholar, and Pat Buchanan look like a gentleman. Earlier this year, I found that "Talk of the Town" had degenerated into a forum for city and county officials to chill dissent. I posted on "Talk of the Town" and endured a heap of abuse. I stuck to inconvenient truths, starting with A (archaeology). On ToTT, I shared FDEP photos of our City's illegal dumping, rebutting City Hall spin that the dumping was "trivial," or a "mistake," or that it was never the "Old City Reservoir." And stuff and nonsense. I was congratulated by one ToTTer ("Phred") for posting zealously turning ToTT back into the forum for local issues that it was intended to be (with numerous, virulent hate-Ed threads springing up as part of City Hall's disinformation campaign, complete with obscene remark, remarks about my mother, homophobic remarks, obscenities and repeated ad hominem links to disbarment information and other irrelevancies.
When my former client, Hanford (Washington) nuclear whistleblower Edwin L. Bricker posted to defend my honor from the "anonymice," they attacked him with glee, with one of the "anonymice" even falsely personifying hself/herself as Ed's wife, Cindy, while spewing lies and anti-Gay remarks about Ed Bricker. There were false statements about Ed Bricker (by that sexist poster recently kicked off ToTT). There were even threats of violence.
It seems that some in St. Augustine have not advanced far since 1964.
Those in City Hall remind me of what was said 100 years ago by scholar Edwin Alvord Ross about "criminaloid" personalities (they're in a hurry and not particular about the means of achieving their goals.
I asked people on ToTT to agree to voluntary civility standards, including not making sexist, homophobic or obscene remarks, statements about posters' personal appearances, or statements about their mothers. The response was what you'd expect from an enraged mob.
I share Clara Waldhari's pain. I take her at her word in her E-mails that she's a victim of chemical sensitivity syndrome, the sequelae of working with old files as an archivist for the National Park Service.
Ms. Waldhari knows her husband (and other city professionals) deserve independence and whistleblower protection against pressures from developers. Cognitive dissonance is such a powerful force. In her heart, Clara Waldhari knows I'm right.
It's wrong to take a 3000-4000 year old Native American village archaeological site and turn it into condos and a stripmall without proper investigation. Google "Red House Bluff" and "Robert Graubard" for more information about what our City is trying to do to a 3000-4000 year old Indian archaeological site (Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, meekly dissenting). making some City Hall computers into full-time monitors of "Talk of the Town," with City officials and apparathiks angry. In fact, Mayor GARDNER told me at a City Commission meeting that he no longer enjoyed me this Spring that he no longer enjoyed "Talk of the Town." As Judith Seraphin said to GARDNER in today's Record (quoting Harry Truman), "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." I wear GARDNER's and other City Hall defenders' scorn as a badge of honor.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
GEORGE GARDNER'S E-mAIL ANNOUNCES HE WON'T SEEK RE-ELECTION, MAYOR-ELECT CHASES VANDALS
Editorial: News flash!
From Staff
Publication Date: 12/02/06
News flash!
You heard it here first! George Gardner, who won a two-year term last month on the St. Augustine Commission, will not run again in two years.
Here's what he said in a confidential e-mail to 29 of his closest advisors, three of whom forwarded it to us, explaining why he decided not to run for mayor and instead went for the two-year commission seat:
"Bowing out, satisfied with what progress we've made this past four years, was a sensible decision. Turning it over to Joe (Boles, the mayor-elect), who's been active in our community, who's easy going, who's promised to bring everyone to the table, was sensible. Staying on the commission two more years, just to make sure, was sensible."
He then went on to urge people who want to run that they should start getting active now. He pointed that his seat and those now held by Susan Burk and Errol Jones will be up for election in 2008.
We like George even though we don't always agree with him, and wish him the best in his last two years on the City Commission.
Congrats to our Pee Wee champs Two First Coast teams will be representing the state of Florida in National Championships.
One is the Ponte Vedra Pee Wees, who won the SE Region Championship in Orlando on Thanksgiving weekend.
The other is the Junior Pee Wee Flagler PAL, which won the SE Region Championship in its division.
They have both advanced to the national Pop Warner Superbowl at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
That's great! Congratulations to both teams. We're proud of you.
Hizzoner is off and running!
We were sitting around the newsroom recently not doing much of anything when over the police scanner came a breaking news report that led us to the conclusion that Mayor-elect Joe Boles is off to a running start.
The cop on the squawk box said the mayor was running after some kids who had been throwing glass onto the street.
At first, we thought it was Mayor Gardner doing the running, one of his last acts as mayor.
We checked it out to discover it was Boles who was running after some vandals.
Needless to say the vandals, who were kids, ran faster than the soon-to-be hizzoner.
We guess the message here is that Boles' legs are not as fast as his tongue.
Doing good for the city
A seedy-looking man was sitting in the first row at a town meeting, heckling the mayor as he delivered a lengthy speech.
Finally the mayor pointed to the heckler and said, "Will that gentleman who differs with me please stand up and tell the audience what he has ever done for the good of the city?"
"Well, Mr. Mayor," the man said in a firm voice. "I voted against you in the last election."
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120206/opinions_4247366.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
From Staff
Publication Date: 12/02/06
News flash!
You heard it here first! George Gardner, who won a two-year term last month on the St. Augustine Commission, will not run again in two years.
Here's what he said in a confidential e-mail to 29 of his closest advisors, three of whom forwarded it to us, explaining why he decided not to run for mayor and instead went for the two-year commission seat:
"Bowing out, satisfied with what progress we've made this past four years, was a sensible decision. Turning it over to Joe (Boles, the mayor-elect), who's been active in our community, who's easy going, who's promised to bring everyone to the table, was sensible. Staying on the commission two more years, just to make sure, was sensible."
He then went on to urge people who want to run that they should start getting active now. He pointed that his seat and those now held by Susan Burk and Errol Jones will be up for election in 2008.
We like George even though we don't always agree with him, and wish him the best in his last two years on the City Commission.
Congrats to our Pee Wee champs Two First Coast teams will be representing the state of Florida in National Championships.
One is the Ponte Vedra Pee Wees, who won the SE Region Championship in Orlando on Thanksgiving weekend.
The other is the Junior Pee Wee Flagler PAL, which won the SE Region Championship in its division.
They have both advanced to the national Pop Warner Superbowl at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
That's great! Congratulations to both teams. We're proud of you.
Hizzoner is off and running!
We were sitting around the newsroom recently not doing much of anything when over the police scanner came a breaking news report that led us to the conclusion that Mayor-elect Joe Boles is off to a running start.
The cop on the squawk box said the mayor was running after some kids who had been throwing glass onto the street.
At first, we thought it was Mayor Gardner doing the running, one of his last acts as mayor.
We checked it out to discover it was Boles who was running after some vandals.
Needless to say the vandals, who were kids, ran faster than the soon-to-be hizzoner.
We guess the message here is that Boles' legs are not as fast as his tongue.
Doing good for the city
A seedy-looking man was sitting in the first row at a town meeting, heckling the mayor as he delivered a lengthy speech.
Finally the mayor pointed to the heckler and said, "Will that gentleman who differs with me please stand up and tell the audience what he has ever done for the good of the city?"
"Well, Mr. Mayor," the man said in a firm voice. "I voted against you in the last election."
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120206/opinions_4247366.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
View Podcast on St. Augustine's Environmental Crisis
Watch two brief podcasts on St. Augustine's environmental crisis and sequelae:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWh7u-RA-_4
Video Description
Discussion with Ed Slavin about Mayor's remarks.
YouTube™ – Broadcast Yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrSClOTgCM
Video Description
Discussion with Ed Slavin about Brownfield Project
AND ON GOOGLE VIDEOS:
TALKIN' ABOUT St. Augustine 1-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6280495555555604086&pr=goog-sl
TALKIN" ABOUT St. Augustine 2 -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6098661160160693860
Thanks for looking,
jdp
=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWh7u-RA-_4
Video Description
Discussion with Ed Slavin about Mayor's remarks.
YouTube™ – Broadcast Yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrSClOTgCM
Video Description
Discussion with Ed Slavin about Brownfield Project
AND ON GOOGLE VIDEOS:
TALKIN' ABOUT St. Augustine 1-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6280495555555604086&pr=goog-sl
TALKIN" ABOUT St. Augustine 2 -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6098661160160693860
Thanks for looking,
jdp
=
Sunday, November 26, 2006
HELP CHANGE HISTORY -- REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION OF LAND, AIR, WATER, WETLANDS and PEOPLE to National Response Center 1-800-424-8802 --
Help change history in the Nation's Oldest (European-founded) City of St. Augustine and in St. Johns County, Florida.
If you see a "developer," factory, government agency, or other organization or individual polluting, clearcutting, filling in wetlands, exposing workers and residents to toxic chemicals, destroying our homeland, then do something about it.
Call toll-free to report it to the National Response Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. You will speak to a young Coast Guard petty officer (or civilian employee), part of an organization that works with federal and state law enforcement. The Coast Guard petty officer or civilian will take your information and give you a report number. Save that report number -- follow up on your report. Don't take no for an answer.
The only reason that our City of St. Augustine is about to be fined over for its "serious" violations and "lack of good faith" in dumping in our Old City Reservoir is that a call was made on February 17, 2006 to National Response Center 1-800-424-8802. This report (report number 788280) deprived government officials of plausible deniability.
If you see pollution, take action, take pictures, take the time to care and call National Response Center 1-800-424-8802.
One call to 1-800-424-8802 (and followups) was all it took to expose our City's serious, toxic illegal pollution of the Old City Reservoir, with pollution continuing even after criminal investigators arrived and Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers."
Don't expect government agencies guilty of desuetude (nonenforcement) to do thier jobs without your help. Don't expect developers, their lawyers or City or County officials to do their job without your help -- report pollution.
Don't "let George do it" -- you make the call. Don't expect the FDEP, SJRWMD, EPA, City, County or other government agency to enforce the law if you don't report pollution when you see it.
Be prepared to answer a few pertinent questions about what you saw, including date, time, location, owner, air temperature, wind speed/direction, weather conditions. You can give your name or remain anaonymous. The most important thing is to make the call and get the report number, so that you and others can follow up.
Don't hang up without getting a report number -- it's essential and it is the job of the National Response Center to take the information and convey it to those who can do something about it, promptly, courteously and efficiently.
No more coverups.
Call the National Response Center and help change history and protect our environment. You will be glad you did.
Our beautiful City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County are worthy preserving, protecting and defending from greed and corruption and prejudice (see below).
If you see a "developer," factory, government agency, or other organization or individual polluting, clearcutting, filling in wetlands, exposing workers and residents to toxic chemicals, destroying our homeland, then do something about it.
Call toll-free to report it to the National Response Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. You will speak to a young Coast Guard petty officer (or civilian employee), part of an organization that works with federal and state law enforcement. The Coast Guard petty officer or civilian will take your information and give you a report number. Save that report number -- follow up on your report. Don't take no for an answer.
The only reason that our City of St. Augustine is about to be fined over for its "serious" violations and "lack of good faith" in dumping in our Old City Reservoir is that a call was made on February 17, 2006 to National Response Center 1-800-424-8802. This report (report number 788280) deprived government officials of plausible deniability.
If you see pollution, take action, take pictures, take the time to care and call National Response Center 1-800-424-8802.
One call to 1-800-424-8802 (and followups) was all it took to expose our City's serious, toxic illegal pollution of the Old City Reservoir, with pollution continuing even after criminal investigators arrived and Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers."
Don't expect government agencies guilty of desuetude (nonenforcement) to do thier jobs without your help. Don't expect developers, their lawyers or City or County officials to do their job without your help -- report pollution.
Don't "let George do it" -- you make the call. Don't expect the FDEP, SJRWMD, EPA, City, County or other government agency to enforce the law if you don't report pollution when you see it.
Be prepared to answer a few pertinent questions about what you saw, including date, time, location, owner, air temperature, wind speed/direction, weather conditions. You can give your name or remain anaonymous. The most important thing is to make the call and get the report number, so that you and others can follow up.
Don't hang up without getting a report number -- it's essential and it is the job of the National Response Center to take the information and convey it to those who can do something about it, promptly, courteously and efficiently.
No more coverups.
Call the National Response Center and help change history and protect our environment. You will be glad you did.
Our beautiful City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County are worthy preserving, protecting and defending from greed and corruption and prejudice (see below).
"It's A Dump, But We're Going to Turn It Around"
Like the line from the TV series, "St. Elsewhere," "it's a dump but we're goijgn to turn it around." New and longtime residents make this a "small but cosmopolitan city," in the words of St. Augustine Record reporter Peter Guinta in Editor and Publisher Magazine earlier this year. Our decidedly unhip City Hall, with its racist, ethnocentric, homophobic, anti-arts, anti-music, anti-iibertarian, andi-envirnmental animus has been caught illegally dumping and is fixing to be fined by the State of Florida for its "serious" envoronmental violations. It's been blasted by federal courts for violating the First Amendment. It's been blasted by the st. Augustine Record newspaper for trying to chill First Amendment rights. See below. Come on along, we're going to have lots of fun making this City better.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Andrew Young Incarcerated in St. Augustine, Florida, June 1964 -- From Dr. Bronson's History Tours
Our City of St. Augustine, Florida must apologize for its uncivil wrongs, as one individual and one church did in the movie, "Dare Not Walk Alone." Ten suggestions appear in the article below this one. Photo courtesy of Dr. Bronson's History Tours website. http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsonkingcivilrights.html
http://www.drbronsontours.com
http://www.drbronsontours.com
"A SEAT AT THE TABLE" FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS TRIBAL PEOPLE IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (AFTER 441 YEARS)
"A SEAT AT THE TABLE" FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS TRIBAL PEOPLE IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (AFTER 441 YEARS)
The new Mayor, JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. can do a lot to bring about healing ancient wounds in our Ancient City by proposing the following:
1. Canceling all future junkets/trips to Aviles, Spain, NYC, Germany and elsewhere and canceling all future government subsidies to fancy masqued balls and using the monies saved to erect a Civil Rights Monument in the Slave Market Square (instead of forcing Civil Rights Heroes to raise funds to pay for a public monument).
2. Enacting a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO)(see below) and using it and moral suasion to end de facto segregation by City Hall, St. George Street merchants, Realtors (R) and other local employers and to remove vestiges of racist stereotypes (visible from the Castillo);
3. Ending the de facto segregation in the St. Augustine Police Department (59 of 59 white officers) and Fire Department (28 of 28 white firemen).
4. National recruitment of the next City Manager, City Attorney, City Police Chief and other Department heads, ending all-white, all-male, all-political mismanagement structures that were so insensitive to our people and environment that they unlawfully deposited the contents of the old illegal city dump into the Old City Reservoir -- one of the most obnoxious acts of environmental racism ever seen.
5. Making preservation of the African-American community and ending poverty goals of our City government, with efforts to assure equity and fairness in providing City services (including restoring 1928 trolleys).
6. Establishing a Reconciliation Commission for the purpose of encouraging the sort of apologies and understanding seen in the documentary, "Dare Not Walk Alone," including a resolution of the St. Augustine City Commission apologizing to local and national victims of Civil Rights violations, inviting Rev. Andrew Young and other surviving victims to a celebration of diversity and brotherhood. This Reconciliation must necessarily include full, candid historical apprciation for indigenous tribal and Africa-American history, including a "St. Augustine National Historical Park" embracing our City and an "emerald necklace of parks," including Fort Mose.
7. Making preservation of African-American and other minority-owned businesses a priority, with efforts to develop talents and skills for true economic development.
8. Annexing the rest of West Augustine and providing full City services.
9. Providing for seven City Commissioners to be elected by districts, assuring every community is represented in City Hall;
10. Ending what soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER admits is "rampant corruption" in City Hall, a hidden tax on every resident and visitor..
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said St. Augustine was the "most lawless" city in America. Time to take action for reconciliation and brotherhood, to help recover
our city's tarnished reputation?
If we're going to attract and retain talented young people and become a world-class City, racism must be extirpated (just like homophobia). Cities are competing to attract and retain talented young people by being "hip."
Jim Crow and Apartheid never were hip and all vestiges of racial discrimination must be extirpated in St. Augustine, Florida.
What do you think?
The new Mayor, JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. can do a lot to bring about healing ancient wounds in our Ancient City by proposing the following:
1. Canceling all future junkets/trips to Aviles, Spain, NYC, Germany and elsewhere and canceling all future government subsidies to fancy masqued balls and using the monies saved to erect a Civil Rights Monument in the Slave Market Square (instead of forcing Civil Rights Heroes to raise funds to pay for a public monument).
2. Enacting a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO)(see below) and using it and moral suasion to end de facto segregation by City Hall, St. George Street merchants, Realtors (R) and other local employers and to remove vestiges of racist stereotypes (visible from the Castillo);
3. Ending the de facto segregation in the St. Augustine Police Department (59 of 59 white officers) and Fire Department (28 of 28 white firemen).
4. National recruitment of the next City Manager, City Attorney, City Police Chief and other Department heads, ending all-white, all-male, all-political mismanagement structures that were so insensitive to our people and environment that they unlawfully deposited the contents of the old illegal city dump into the Old City Reservoir -- one of the most obnoxious acts of environmental racism ever seen.
5. Making preservation of the African-American community and ending poverty goals of our City government, with efforts to assure equity and fairness in providing City services (including restoring 1928 trolleys).
6. Establishing a Reconciliation Commission for the purpose of encouraging the sort of apologies and understanding seen in the documentary, "Dare Not Walk Alone," including a resolution of the St. Augustine City Commission apologizing to local and national victims of Civil Rights violations, inviting Rev. Andrew Young and other surviving victims to a celebration of diversity and brotherhood. This Reconciliation must necessarily include full, candid historical apprciation for indigenous tribal and Africa-American history, including a "St. Augustine National Historical Park" embracing our City and an "emerald necklace of parks," including Fort Mose.
7. Making preservation of African-American and other minority-owned businesses a priority, with efforts to develop talents and skills for true economic development.
8. Annexing the rest of West Augustine and providing full City services.
9. Providing for seven City Commissioners to be elected by districts, assuring every community is represented in City Hall;
10. Ending what soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER admits is "rampant corruption" in City Hall, a hidden tax on every resident and visitor..
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said St. Augustine was the "most lawless" city in America. Time to take action for reconciliation and brotherhood, to help recover
our city's tarnished reputation?
If we're going to attract and retain talented young people and become a world-class City, racism must be extirpated (just like homophobia). Cities are competing to attract and retain talented young people by being "hip."
Jim Crow and Apartheid never were hip and all vestiges of racial discrimination must be extirpated in St. Augustine, Florida.
What do you think?
"A SEAT AT THE TABLE" FOR GAY AND LESBIAN PEOPLE IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (AFTER 441 YEARS)
City of St. Augustine Mayor-Elect JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. has stated that everyone should have a "seat at the table."
Based on that commitment, we expect Mr. BOLES to work to repeal the City's invidiously retaliatory, discriminatory June 13, 2005 policy banning all but government flags from being flown on the Bridge of Lions (BOL). He will also want to work to adopt a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO), as in some seven other Florida jurisdictions.
Mr. BOLES was the only St. Augustine Commissioner who had the courage to vote against Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's rude government-flags-only-Bridge of Lions (BOL) flag rule on June 13, 2005.
We salute Mayor-elect Boles for that vote and for joining VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, who voted with Mr. BOLES to support Rainbow flags at the May 23, 2005 meeting (but missed the June 13, 2005 meeting).
These two Commissioners, both lawyers, are the only consistent votes on our City Commission in favor of respecting the First Amendment
The government-flags-only policy abolished what a federal judge found was a public forum for freedom of expression. This is only one more outrage wrought by soon-to-be-ex-mayor GEORGE GARDNER, who brags of attending 36 churches but has seemingly learned nothing in any of them.
The government-flags-only policy is insulting to everyone who lives in this 441-year-old-city, which is saddled with a government still lacking decent respect for human rights in a place where the Declaration of Independence was burned in 1776, and where John Adams and John Hancock were burned in effigy in 1776 in our Slave Market Square).
Only one more vote is required to erase soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GARDNER's angry June 13, 2005 government-flag-flying only policy, as insulting a vote as ever held by any segregationist government anywhere in the world. Only because a federal court ruled that our Bridge of Lions was a public forum under the First Amendment did MAYOR GARDNER, COMMISSIONER ERROL JONES and Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW determine that they would end the public forum. Bigger homophobes have never before greased a chair in any City Hall -- the BOL flagflying vote is part of what Mayor GARDNER admits to be "rampant corruption" in City Hall..
Like GARDNER, his government-flags-only policy is an embarrassment to a great city, which St. Augustine Record's Peter Guinta calls this "small but cosmopolitan city (see below).
City Commissioners must adopt a Human Rights Ordinance, banning discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment and education, extirpating discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation from the Nation's Oldest City.
Our City of St. Augustine has an existing housing anti-discrimination ordinance on the books dating to 1964. It's time to update it, provide real remedies, cover more people, and add employment, education and public accommodations.
It's time and it's right. We must make amends for our City Founder's anti-Gay animus, which ended in murder in 1566.
It is fitting that such an ordinance be adopted here because St. Augustine was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, perpetrator of what is North America's first recorded anti-Gay hate crime, in 1566.
We spend public funds to "honor" Menendez, who is guilty of what may be the first, recorded anti-Gay hate crime in North American history: he admitted having a Gay man killed (the story was written down by Menendez's brother-in-law).
Are we "honoring" the first in a long line of dictatorial government officials?
Does that honor empower soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER to insult anyone who asks them questions?
Where does our City "honor" and celebrate the history of the people who did most of the working in its history?
In 1566, Florida's first Governor had a Gay man killed because he was a "Sodomite and a Lutheran." Florida's first Governor Pedro Menendez de Aviles is "honored" with a statue in front of City Hall, an oil painting in the Commissioner's secret inner sanctum (a gift of the Spanish government), Commissioners' annual visits to Spain (at public expense), festivals for his birthday and landing/invasion, streets and a high school.
That's rather like celebrating Cain, the first murderer in the Bible, by spending public funds and erecting statues, paintings, holidays and high schools in Cain's honor.
Meanwhile, our City does virtually nothing to honor the Native Americans and African Americans who did the work and paid the price for government abuses of power, 1566-2006. This is due to Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's Philistine concept of "positive" and "negative" history -- one that is not taught by scholars at any university -- yet another of GARDNER's open-mouth, insert-foot statements that will not be missed when he ceases to be Mayor of St. Augustine, Florida
Let freedom ring and diversity reign in the Nation's Oldest City.
We need to abolish the Bridge of Lions (BOL) government-flagflying-only policy aimed at discriminating against GLBT people and we need a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO).
By their votes on the BOL and HRO, Commissioners can help heal history's wounds and build a better City -- he sort of place that is attractive to young residents, who will help determine our Citys future. (See below)
Homophobia is decidedly unhip and is bad for business.
What do you think?
Based on that commitment, we expect Mr. BOLES to work to repeal the City's invidiously retaliatory, discriminatory June 13, 2005 policy banning all but government flags from being flown on the Bridge of Lions (BOL). He will also want to work to adopt a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO), as in some seven other Florida jurisdictions.
Mr. BOLES was the only St. Augustine Commissioner who had the courage to vote against Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's rude government-flags-only-Bridge of Lions (BOL) flag rule on June 13, 2005.
We salute Mayor-elect Boles for that vote and for joining VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, who voted with Mr. BOLES to support Rainbow flags at the May 23, 2005 meeting (but missed the June 13, 2005 meeting).
These two Commissioners, both lawyers, are the only consistent votes on our City Commission in favor of respecting the First Amendment
The government-flags-only policy abolished what a federal judge found was a public forum for freedom of expression. This is only one more outrage wrought by soon-to-be-ex-mayor GEORGE GARDNER, who brags of attending 36 churches but has seemingly learned nothing in any of them.
The government-flags-only policy is insulting to everyone who lives in this 441-year-old-city, which is saddled with a government still lacking decent respect for human rights in a place where the Declaration of Independence was burned in 1776, and where John Adams and John Hancock were burned in effigy in 1776 in our Slave Market Square).
Only one more vote is required to erase soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GARDNER's angry June 13, 2005 government-flag-flying only policy, as insulting a vote as ever held by any segregationist government anywhere in the world. Only because a federal court ruled that our Bridge of Lions was a public forum under the First Amendment did MAYOR GARDNER, COMMISSIONER ERROL JONES and Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW determine that they would end the public forum. Bigger homophobes have never before greased a chair in any City Hall -- the BOL flagflying vote is part of what Mayor GARDNER admits to be "rampant corruption" in City Hall..
Like GARDNER, his government-flags-only policy is an embarrassment to a great city, which St. Augustine Record's Peter Guinta calls this "small but cosmopolitan city (see below).
City Commissioners must adopt a Human Rights Ordinance, banning discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment and education, extirpating discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation from the Nation's Oldest City.
Our City of St. Augustine has an existing housing anti-discrimination ordinance on the books dating to 1964. It's time to update it, provide real remedies, cover more people, and add employment, education and public accommodations.
It's time and it's right. We must make amends for our City Founder's anti-Gay animus, which ended in murder in 1566.
It is fitting that such an ordinance be adopted here because St. Augustine was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, perpetrator of what is North America's first recorded anti-Gay hate crime, in 1566.
We spend public funds to "honor" Menendez, who is guilty of what may be the first, recorded anti-Gay hate crime in North American history: he admitted having a Gay man killed (the story was written down by Menendez's brother-in-law).
Are we "honoring" the first in a long line of dictatorial government officials?
Does that honor empower soon-to-be-ex-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER to insult anyone who asks them questions?
Where does our City "honor" and celebrate the history of the people who did most of the working in its history?
In 1566, Florida's first Governor had a Gay man killed because he was a "Sodomite and a Lutheran." Florida's first Governor Pedro Menendez de Aviles is "honored" with a statue in front of City Hall, an oil painting in the Commissioner's secret inner sanctum (a gift of the Spanish government), Commissioners' annual visits to Spain (at public expense), festivals for his birthday and landing/invasion, streets and a high school.
That's rather like celebrating Cain, the first murderer in the Bible, by spending public funds and erecting statues, paintings, holidays and high schools in Cain's honor.
Meanwhile, our City does virtually nothing to honor the Native Americans and African Americans who did the work and paid the price for government abuses of power, 1566-2006. This is due to Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's Philistine concept of "positive" and "negative" history -- one that is not taught by scholars at any university -- yet another of GARDNER's open-mouth, insert-foot statements that will not be missed when he ceases to be Mayor of St. Augustine, Florida
Let freedom ring and diversity reign in the Nation's Oldest City.
We need to abolish the Bridge of Lions (BOL) government-flagflying-only policy aimed at discriminating against GLBT people and we need a Human Rights Ordinance (HRO).
By their votes on the BOL and HRO, Commissioners can help heal history's wounds and build a better City -- he sort of place that is attractive to young residents, who will help determine our Citys future. (See below)
Homophobia is decidedly unhip and is bad for business.
What do you think?
Cities compete in hipness battle to attract young
In "Cities compete in hipness battle to attract young," reporter
Shaila Dewan wrote in the November 25 New York Times that the future of our economy and culture is being determined by cities determined to make young people 25-34 yars old comfortable. It appears that St. Augustine, Florida City Hall is doing everything else, including it decidedly unhip hostility to artists, musicians, entertainers, African-Americans, women, Gays, Lesbians, workers, and persons who veneate the First Amendment. Young people leave St. Augustine after college because there are not enough good jobs. Employers are not encouraaged to start new businesses that would attract and keep young people in St. Augustine.
Instead, we have a "rush to the bottom" -- who can construct the tackiets t-shirt shop with the most obnoxoius storefront in a historic building, with the fewest good jobs? My vote goes for the old F. W. Woolworth store on King Street, which instead of being used by the church that owns it for wholesome activities (like the old Toy Store and lunch counter) is now a venue for tawdry t-shirts.
We need the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to help save our City of St. Augustine with a "St. Augustine National Historical Park/." See below.
Shaila Dewan wrote in the November 25 New York Times that the future of our economy and culture is being determined by cities determined to make young people 25-34 yars old comfortable. It appears that St. Augustine, Florida City Hall is doing everything else, including it decidedly unhip hostility to artists, musicians, entertainers, African-Americans, women, Gays, Lesbians, workers, and persons who veneate the First Amendment. Young people leave St. Augustine after college because there are not enough good jobs. Employers are not encouraaged to start new businesses that would attract and keep young people in St. Augustine.
Instead, we have a "rush to the bottom" -- who can construct the tackiets t-shirt shop with the most obnoxoius storefront in a historic building, with the fewest good jobs? My vote goes for the old F. W. Woolworth store on King Street, which instead of being used by the church that owns it for wholesome activities (like the old Toy Store and lunch counter) is now a venue for tawdry t-shirts.
We need the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to help save our City of St. Augustine with a "St. Augustine National Historical Park/." See below.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Time to Investigate, Prosecute Threats to Environmental Activists
Time to Investigate, Prosecute
Threats to Environmental Activists
In St. Augustine and St. Johns County, government and corporate bullies have threatened environmental activists.
They've done it in the daytime and done it in the nighttime.
They've done it in writing and they've done it in televised meetings.
They've done it in sotto voce and they've done it by raising their voices.
They've done it by employment and business blacklisting.
They've violated federal criminal laws, including the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961 et seq.
They've done it directly and indirectly.
Our City Commissioners even passed a resolution, 5-0, to seek sanctions and attorney fees against Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D., for filing an open records request (after refusing to agree to mediation by the State Attorney General's office), with Mayor-Elect JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER, VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, COMMISSIONERS ERROL JONES and DONALD CRICHLOW voting to seek attorney fees to make Dr. HINES "pay the piper." It turns out that our City of St. Augustine lied in state court filings, claiming that requested documents did not exist. Our City has since produced 45 pounds of documents it claimed did not exist.
Our City Planning and Zoning Director, MARK KNIGHT, threatened to fireall of the members of the Street Tree Advisory Committee and abolish the committee if they did not vote to adopt a report he had written for Tree City USA application purposes. (See beloow).
Our former City Attorney, JAMES PATRICK WILSON, even threatened to have Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D. and I arrested for making requests for government documents. (See below).
City and county government officials' bullying and threats have only shown their lack of merit in winning approval of 80,000 new homes in this corrupt city and county.
Ideas have consequences -- the idea that greedy corporations get to destroy our environment and intimidate, coerce and restrain protected activity has consequences.
FDEP has found our City's illegal dumping was a "serious" violation and that our City of St. Augustine showed a "lack of good faith," which is to say bad faith.
Congressional investigations of Florida's corruption are inevitable.
Congressman John Dingell (D-Michigan), incoming Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently quoted the Lord High Executioner said in the Mikado, "I've got a little list."
Let's stand up to bullies. State, county and city legislation procured through fraud can be set aside to the wrongdoers. Excessiive congestion can be treated as a public nuisance. Time for a growth moratorium and state and federal grand juries.
Threats to Environmental Activists
In St. Augustine and St. Johns County, government and corporate bullies have threatened environmental activists.
They've done it in the daytime and done it in the nighttime.
They've done it in writing and they've done it in televised meetings.
They've done it in sotto voce and they've done it by raising their voices.
They've done it by employment and business blacklisting.
They've violated federal criminal laws, including the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961 et seq.
They've done it directly and indirectly.
Our City Commissioners even passed a resolution, 5-0, to seek sanctions and attorney fees against Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D., for filing an open records request (after refusing to agree to mediation by the State Attorney General's office), with Mayor-Elect JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER, VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, COMMISSIONERS ERROL JONES and DONALD CRICHLOW voting to seek attorney fees to make Dr. HINES "pay the piper." It turns out that our City of St. Augustine lied in state court filings, claiming that requested documents did not exist. Our City has since produced 45 pounds of documents it claimed did not exist.
Our City Planning and Zoning Director, MARK KNIGHT, threatened to fireall of the members of the Street Tree Advisory Committee and abolish the committee if they did not vote to adopt a report he had written for Tree City USA application purposes. (See beloow).
Our former City Attorney, JAMES PATRICK WILSON, even threatened to have Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D. and I arrested for making requests for government documents. (See below).
City and county government officials' bullying and threats have only shown their lack of merit in winning approval of 80,000 new homes in this corrupt city and county.
Ideas have consequences -- the idea that greedy corporations get to destroy our environment and intimidate, coerce and restrain protected activity has consequences.
FDEP has found our City's illegal dumping was a "serious" violation and that our City of St. Augustine showed a "lack of good faith," which is to say bad faith.
Congressional investigations of Florida's corruption are inevitable.
Congressman John Dingell (D-Michigan), incoming Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently quoted the Lord High Executioner said in the Mikado, "I've got a little list."
Let's stand up to bullies. State, county and city legislation procured through fraud can be set aside to the wrongdoers. Excessiive congestion can be treated as a public nuisance. Time for a growth moratorium and state and federal grand juries.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Our Town: We're Going to Clean Up Our Beautiful City of St. Augustine, and St. Johns County Florida (With Your Help)
The message of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town" was that most people don't even know they're alive until they're dead.
That is why most of us put up with environmental depredations, exploitation and corruption from our governments and our employers and our corporations.
Most people are too busy surviving from paycheck to paycheck to have the time to know or to care very much about what greed is doing to our planet. Life rushes by. Then we die.
In 1992, I purchased a copy of Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance," from a store called Dream Street here in St. Augustine, while we were on vacation. It is an amazing book that I started reading here in St. Augustine, at a crucial stage. Our Florida vacation was right after a three-week trial of an environmental and nuclear whistleblower case against the world's largest arms merchant (then called Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin). Punitive damages were awarded by District Chief Administrative Law Judge Theodor von Brand for this sadistic employer's retaliating by putting a cancer survivor with a suppressed immune system next to radioactive waste barrels and in toxic rooms, telling him to sit there when he was not out doing menial chores -- retaliation for appearing on CBS Evening news about cancer risks, raising concerns about environmental sample preparation and a pregnant secretary ordered to carry radioactive samples on the seat of a pickup truck at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations. (On appeal, political influence may have taken away the victory, but not the truth of the nuclear weapons industry and how it uses fear and smear to suppress truth-telling by employees).
Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance," and that Oak Ridge National Laboratory case changed me forever.
No longer did I do what most people do most of the time -- muddle through, cower to power and constantly worry about money, power, success and pleasing some uninformed lugubrious goober who doesn't know peaturkey about a durn thing.
After defeating Bush's beastly Senators and Congressman, we must be thankful.
Our nation, as one client said of his own situation at ORNL, has "nowhere to go but up."
Moving to St. Augustine, Florida at the end of the 20th century, we saw a beautiful, bucolic, natural paradise and were glad to be a part of it.
Brian was the first to notice and report -- "it's crooked around here." He was absolutely right.
Then we saw government officials working to ruin it at the behest of organizations that call themselves "developers." That's like calling arms merchants "government contractors" -- it's a smokescreen, a euphemism and damning with faint praise.
"Developers" that clear-cut every living thing must be stopped. These land-raping scalawags have bad taste in landscaping, bad taste in architecture, and seek to make up for it by clearcutting God's grandeur and to cover it all up by cultivating "friendships" with weak-kneed politicians. Look at the new, ugly buildings, including stripmalls, storage units, a garish three-story building, the monstrous 825 Anastasia Boulevard condos (marring the view from our city's wonderful Gypsy Cab restaurant).
We saw how County Commissioners and City Commissioners responded to neighborhood concerns, with disdain and eyerolling. We saw residents disrespected as one neighborhood after another fell prey to these "developers," Organization Men who want to clear-cut everything, know the price of everything and know the value of nothing.
Then we saw how public officials responded to illness caused by ASHLAND's polluting APAC asphalt plant on SR207 -- doling out county contracts despite FDEP fines and ASHLAND's status as a convicted felon violator of the Clean Air Act, while refusing to treat it is a public nuisance, with an Assistant County Attorney and DEP inspector claiming in two-part harmony that it was "just old people" and cold weather that was the problem. It turns out that the plant had a cracked kiln at a plant that should never have been located next to homes, schools, senior citizens housing and a nursing home) but was allowed to do so by county and state regulators guilty of desuetude -- nonenforcement of environmental laws. The plant must be moved -- there is no justification for putting an industrial plant next to existing homes and schools, where it poses a risk of explosions (not to mention ASHLAND's own fire-setting, which took place last year when managers ordered an employee to use a blowtorch to clean asphalt from a conveyor belt). A look at the 25 homes destroyed by a Massachusetts industrial explosion yesterday should persuade St. Johns County Commissioners to file a public nuisance lawsuit and make ASHLAND move the plant, as it said it was going to do last year.
We saw how North Florida public officials responded to free speech rights -- by violating them as to artists, entertainers, musicians and Gay and Lesbian people. We helped the St. Augustine Pride Committee apply to fly Rainbow flags for the third year last year, turned down by 3-2 vote on May 23, 2005. A federal judge ruled on June 7, 2005 that our City of St. Augustine violated the First Amendment, ordering Rainbow flags to fly June 8-13, 2005.
Earlier this year, we saw how our City of St. Augustine took the contents of the old illegal city dump on Riberia Street, dumping it into the Old City Reservoir -- 20,000 cubic yards, 30 million pounds, enough to fill in six Olympic size swimming pools to a depth of six feet or to cover a football field to a depth of 11.2 feet.
We saw how our City refused to answer questions, though Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers" at the February 27, 2006 Commission meeting.
Then we saw how our Mayor used his last comments as Mayor to denounce us for asking too many questions (and the St. Augustine Record defended our rights against the tatterdemalion political machine's attack)(see below).
Then we saw how our Florida Department of Environmental Protection proposes to fine our City the grand amount of $46,000 (and change) for major violations -- our City's illegal excavation and dumping of contaminants in water. Unfortunately, under current policies and failure to consider that the conduct in quo went on for years, the DEP proposed fine works out to $2.30 per cubic yard, less than the value of the coquina that was formerly in the "pits" in which people have fished and swam in clean water for years.
Greater fines must be provided for polluting this beautiful state.
Our legislature must increase fines, criminal penalties and enforcement capabilities for environmental crimes.
The suggested fine of $46,000 (and change)(or any higher amount that might be ordered after a hearing) must be paid out of personal funds by CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER, VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, COMMISSIONER ERROL JONES, COMMISSIONER DONALD CRICHLOW and MAYOR-ELECT JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. -- every single one of whom we attempted to contact in writing this article. None have returned our calls.
How is it that the proposed fine was kept under wraps until after the election?
Did someone owe favors to Messrs. BOLES and GARDNER? We're still waiting for a timeline from FDEP.
We're waiting for greater candor from DEP and the City of St. Augustine. Why were voters deprived of the information about the proposed $46,000 fine? Who is responsible for suppressing this information until exactly one week after the elections?
St. Augustine city government's unjust stewards can be recalled from office if they do not resign.
The $2.30 per cubic yard fine may be a token amount, but it actually represents a sea change in attitudes here in North Florida.
While $46,000 (and change) is not nearly enough, it signals FDEP concludes our City is guilty of several "serious" violations, with penalties enhanced for the City of St. Augustine's "lack of good faith," which is to say "bad faith" by bad managers and bad public officials who have contempt for our natural environment.
$46,000 (and change) is a large fine of a governmental agency that has been abusing its powers for 441 years -- longer than any other government in the United States of America.
Due to this 441-year history, St. Augustine makes a perfect laboratory for democracy because its people live in a "small but cosmopolitan town," in the words of St. Augustine Record reporter Peter Guinta's letter in "Editor and Publisher."
Governments in Florida long tolerated and perpetrated environmental pollution.
Governments in Florida devastated our wetlands and have still not stopped.
Florida even named Broward County after one environmental miscreant, Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who thought it was a cool rule to destroy wetlands.
Never again. Wetland destroyers must be exposed and prosecuted, as in Mississippi, where one "developer" built homes in wetlands, resulting in sewage backups (and was represented by a lawyer who is now EPA Regional Administrator, Jimmy I. Palmer).
DEP's official press spokesperson seems confused about criminal conduct, wanting to help the City of St. Augustine create the false impression it won't be prosecuted. DEP's flak does not speak for federal and state criminal prosecutors and investigators.
The November 14, 2006 draft proposed DEP-City of St. Augustine, Florida consent decree states in haec verba that it does not settle any City's criminal wrongdoing, which may include obstruction of justice (see below) and a pattern of illegal dumping on the same and other sites in the past.
Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's November 6, 2006 8 PM E-mail claiming that EPA and FDEP found "no criminal intent" is, at best facetious -- he wishes it were true.
FDEP's spokesperson had no grounds to state to the St Augustine Record newspaper that the criminal case was over, as Captain Stewart Roemack told me that the criminal case addressed only "a very narrow sliver" of the City's alleged environmental crimes.
More when we receive and review FDEP criminal investigation file on the "very narrow sliver" that has been investigated to date.
Federal and state agencies are still investigating dumping and coverup:
1. EPA CID telling the FDEP on February 27 that the violations were "de minimis when FDEP found them to be "major";
2. Possible obstruction of justice, discouraging witnesses from testifying, giving City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS an award expressing the Commissioners' "confidence" in him days after the criminal investigators arrived;
3. Our City's longtime dumping history;
4. Our City Commissioners' "willful blindness," continuing dumping two days after criminal investigators arrived and Commissioners were quizzed about the illegal dumping).
Expect Congressional investigators to be all over St. Augustine and St. Johns County to see what corruption creates -- clearcutting, ugliness and illegal dumping.
The proposed consent decree is negotiable and persons opposed can and will be heard through the administrative process. Read the proposal and tell us what you think.
On February 27, 2006, City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS was laughing when I asked questions about his illegal dumping. Did he already have fallguys in mind? Did he know that any criminal case would be fixed by his friends?
The proposed consent decree knocks into a cocked hat the old hat assumptions that the St. Augustine political machine is invulnerable.
As my friend and mentor J.D. Pleasant says, "they'll say and do anything."
The answer of FDEP and the people of St. Augustine and North Florida is, "enough."
Individual citizens can function as "private attorneys general," reporting pollution to the National Response Center, as we did in this case. Call 1-800-424-8802 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. Be sure to get the case number from the Coast Guard petty officer or civilian employee and use it to keep on top of it -- just as we did on pollution by our Nation's Oldest City. Don't take no for an answer.
Never again will anyone take seriously the dismissive, condescending assumption of St. Augustine city officials (and "developers") that they can do anything they want to Our Town and our county.
Those who said "you can't fight City Hall" were wrong.
The Rainbow flags flying on the Bridge of Lions last year, and the $46,000 (and change) proposed FDEP fine proves you can, and win.
There's no turning back. "Good government" must be a reality, not just a punchline for greedy developers' political action committees.
The whole world is watching.
The Old City Reservoir case has now also established that the St. Augustine Record newspaper is becoming a force for good in our community, exposing the illegal dumping and sequelae and standing up to Mayor GARDNER's mean-mouthed retaliation against asking questions about illegal dumping and what he admits is "rampant corruption" in City Hall (the number of which Mayor GEORGE GARDNER ever answered is exactly zero).
In yesterday's St. Augustine Record (November 22, 2006), the major headline was on the dumping fine proposed by DEP (below).
Yesterday, reformer Ben Rich became County Commission Chairman. A retired federal law enforcement officer, Mr. Rich doesn't exactly cower to power, either.
Organizations that pollute and destroy our environment -- including the City of St. Augustine -- are being exposed.
Investigations of Sunshine violations, Open Records violations, environmental violations -- and more -- will be pursued. United citizens working for good government are an unstoppable force, their wonders to behold and be thankful for. See below.
You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Happy Thanksgiving -- we're especially thankful that Europeans did not kill all of the indigenous tribes and haven't destroyed all the trees yet. We're thankful that everyone is watching the Nation's Oldest City now.
We're thankful that the "St. Augustine National Historical Park" and restoring 1928 trolley cars might help restore our city and its environment, with an "emerald necklace of parks." See below.
We expect our City to start honoring 11,000 years of history (not just 441 years) and to show dignity, respect and consideration toward all of our citizens, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, income, perceived social or economic status.
Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town," won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, inspiring generations with its message about how little most people appreciate the joys of life.
St. Augustine, Florida is a beautiful place that must be treasured and preserved from the greedy, the corrupt and the mismanaged clique in City Hall.
This is our Town.
We're working to save our Town from the polluters and corrupters and the bigots.
No more coverups in Our Town, please.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085
904-471-7023
That is why most of us put up with environmental depredations, exploitation and corruption from our governments and our employers and our corporations.
Most people are too busy surviving from paycheck to paycheck to have the time to know or to care very much about what greed is doing to our planet. Life rushes by. Then we die.
In 1992, I purchased a copy of Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance," from a store called Dream Street here in St. Augustine, while we were on vacation. It is an amazing book that I started reading here in St. Augustine, at a crucial stage. Our Florida vacation was right after a three-week trial of an environmental and nuclear whistleblower case against the world's largest arms merchant (then called Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin). Punitive damages were awarded by District Chief Administrative Law Judge Theodor von Brand for this sadistic employer's retaliating by putting a cancer survivor with a suppressed immune system next to radioactive waste barrels and in toxic rooms, telling him to sit there when he was not out doing menial chores -- retaliation for appearing on CBS Evening news about cancer risks, raising concerns about environmental sample preparation and a pregnant secretary ordered to carry radioactive samples on the seat of a pickup truck at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations. (On appeal, political influence may have taken away the victory, but not the truth of the nuclear weapons industry and how it uses fear and smear to suppress truth-telling by employees).
Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance," and that Oak Ridge National Laboratory case changed me forever.
No longer did I do what most people do most of the time -- muddle through, cower to power and constantly worry about money, power, success and pleasing some uninformed lugubrious goober who doesn't know peaturkey about a durn thing.
After defeating Bush's beastly Senators and Congressman, we must be thankful.
Our nation, as one client said of his own situation at ORNL, has "nowhere to go but up."
Moving to St. Augustine, Florida at the end of the 20th century, we saw a beautiful, bucolic, natural paradise and were glad to be a part of it.
Brian was the first to notice and report -- "it's crooked around here." He was absolutely right.
Then we saw government officials working to ruin it at the behest of organizations that call themselves "developers." That's like calling arms merchants "government contractors" -- it's a smokescreen, a euphemism and damning with faint praise.
"Developers" that clear-cut every living thing must be stopped. These land-raping scalawags have bad taste in landscaping, bad taste in architecture, and seek to make up for it by clearcutting God's grandeur and to cover it all up by cultivating "friendships" with weak-kneed politicians. Look at the new, ugly buildings, including stripmalls, storage units, a garish three-story building, the monstrous 825 Anastasia Boulevard condos (marring the view from our city's wonderful Gypsy Cab restaurant).
We saw how County Commissioners and City Commissioners responded to neighborhood concerns, with disdain and eyerolling. We saw residents disrespected as one neighborhood after another fell prey to these "developers," Organization Men who want to clear-cut everything, know the price of everything and know the value of nothing.
Then we saw how public officials responded to illness caused by ASHLAND's polluting APAC asphalt plant on SR207 -- doling out county contracts despite FDEP fines and ASHLAND's status as a convicted felon violator of the Clean Air Act, while refusing to treat it is a public nuisance, with an Assistant County Attorney and DEP inspector claiming in two-part harmony that it was "just old people" and cold weather that was the problem. It turns out that the plant had a cracked kiln at a plant that should never have been located next to homes, schools, senior citizens housing and a nursing home) but was allowed to do so by county and state regulators guilty of desuetude -- nonenforcement of environmental laws. The plant must be moved -- there is no justification for putting an industrial plant next to existing homes and schools, where it poses a risk of explosions (not to mention ASHLAND's own fire-setting, which took place last year when managers ordered an employee to use a blowtorch to clean asphalt from a conveyor belt). A look at the 25 homes destroyed by a Massachusetts industrial explosion yesterday should persuade St. Johns County Commissioners to file a public nuisance lawsuit and make ASHLAND move the plant, as it said it was going to do last year.
We saw how North Florida public officials responded to free speech rights -- by violating them as to artists, entertainers, musicians and Gay and Lesbian people. We helped the St. Augustine Pride Committee apply to fly Rainbow flags for the third year last year, turned down by 3-2 vote on May 23, 2005. A federal judge ruled on June 7, 2005 that our City of St. Augustine violated the First Amendment, ordering Rainbow flags to fly June 8-13, 2005.
Earlier this year, we saw how our City of St. Augustine took the contents of the old illegal city dump on Riberia Street, dumping it into the Old City Reservoir -- 20,000 cubic yards, 30 million pounds, enough to fill in six Olympic size swimming pools to a depth of six feet or to cover a football field to a depth of 11.2 feet.
We saw how our City refused to answer questions, though Mayor GEORGE GARDNER promised "answers" at the February 27, 2006 Commission meeting.
Then we saw how our Mayor used his last comments as Mayor to denounce us for asking too many questions (and the St. Augustine Record defended our rights against the tatterdemalion political machine's attack)(see below).
Then we saw how our Florida Department of Environmental Protection proposes to fine our City the grand amount of $46,000 (and change) for major violations -- our City's illegal excavation and dumping of contaminants in water. Unfortunately, under current policies and failure to consider that the conduct in quo went on for years, the DEP proposed fine works out to $2.30 per cubic yard, less than the value of the coquina that was formerly in the "pits" in which people have fished and swam in clean water for years.
Greater fines must be provided for polluting this beautiful state.
Our legislature must increase fines, criminal penalties and enforcement capabilities for environmental crimes.
The suggested fine of $46,000 (and change)(or any higher amount that might be ordered after a hearing) must be paid out of personal funds by CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER, VICE MAYOR SUSAN BURK, COMMISSIONER ERROL JONES, COMMISSIONER DONALD CRICHLOW and MAYOR-ELECT JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. -- every single one of whom we attempted to contact in writing this article. None have returned our calls.
How is it that the proposed fine was kept under wraps until after the election?
Did someone owe favors to Messrs. BOLES and GARDNER? We're still waiting for a timeline from FDEP.
We're waiting for greater candor from DEP and the City of St. Augustine. Why were voters deprived of the information about the proposed $46,000 fine? Who is responsible for suppressing this information until exactly one week after the elections?
St. Augustine city government's unjust stewards can be recalled from office if they do not resign.
The $2.30 per cubic yard fine may be a token amount, but it actually represents a sea change in attitudes here in North Florida.
While $46,000 (and change) is not nearly enough, it signals FDEP concludes our City is guilty of several "serious" violations, with penalties enhanced for the City of St. Augustine's "lack of good faith," which is to say "bad faith" by bad managers and bad public officials who have contempt for our natural environment.
$46,000 (and change) is a large fine of a governmental agency that has been abusing its powers for 441 years -- longer than any other government in the United States of America.
Due to this 441-year history, St. Augustine makes a perfect laboratory for democracy because its people live in a "small but cosmopolitan town," in the words of St. Augustine Record reporter Peter Guinta's letter in "Editor and Publisher."
Governments in Florida long tolerated and perpetrated environmental pollution.
Governments in Florida devastated our wetlands and have still not stopped.
Florida even named Broward County after one environmental miscreant, Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who thought it was a cool rule to destroy wetlands.
Never again. Wetland destroyers must be exposed and prosecuted, as in Mississippi, where one "developer" built homes in wetlands, resulting in sewage backups (and was represented by a lawyer who is now EPA Regional Administrator, Jimmy I. Palmer).
DEP's official press spokesperson seems confused about criminal conduct, wanting to help the City of St. Augustine create the false impression it won't be prosecuted. DEP's flak does not speak for federal and state criminal prosecutors and investigators.
The November 14, 2006 draft proposed DEP-City of St. Augustine, Florida consent decree states in haec verba that it does not settle any City's criminal wrongdoing, which may include obstruction of justice (see below) and a pattern of illegal dumping on the same and other sites in the past.
Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's November 6, 2006 8 PM E-mail claiming that EPA and FDEP found "no criminal intent" is, at best facetious -- he wishes it were true.
FDEP's spokesperson had no grounds to state to the St Augustine Record newspaper that the criminal case was over, as Captain Stewart Roemack told me that the criminal case addressed only "a very narrow sliver" of the City's alleged environmental crimes.
More when we receive and review FDEP criminal investigation file on the "very narrow sliver" that has been investigated to date.
Federal and state agencies are still investigating dumping and coverup:
1. EPA CID telling the FDEP on February 27 that the violations were "de minimis when FDEP found them to be "major";
2. Possible obstruction of justice, discouraging witnesses from testifying, giving City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS an award expressing the Commissioners' "confidence" in him days after the criminal investigators arrived;
3. Our City's longtime dumping history;
4. Our City Commissioners' "willful blindness," continuing dumping two days after criminal investigators arrived and Commissioners were quizzed about the illegal dumping).
Expect Congressional investigators to be all over St. Augustine and St. Johns County to see what corruption creates -- clearcutting, ugliness and illegal dumping.
The proposed consent decree is negotiable and persons opposed can and will be heard through the administrative process. Read the proposal and tell us what you think.
On February 27, 2006, City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS was laughing when I asked questions about his illegal dumping. Did he already have fallguys in mind? Did he know that any criminal case would be fixed by his friends?
The proposed consent decree knocks into a cocked hat the old hat assumptions that the St. Augustine political machine is invulnerable.
As my friend and mentor J.D. Pleasant says, "they'll say and do anything."
The answer of FDEP and the people of St. Augustine and North Florida is, "enough."
Individual citizens can function as "private attorneys general," reporting pollution to the National Response Center, as we did in this case. Call 1-800-424-8802 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. Be sure to get the case number from the Coast Guard petty officer or civilian employee and use it to keep on top of it -- just as we did on pollution by our Nation's Oldest City. Don't take no for an answer.
Never again will anyone take seriously the dismissive, condescending assumption of St. Augustine city officials (and "developers") that they can do anything they want to Our Town and our county.
Those who said "you can't fight City Hall" were wrong.
The Rainbow flags flying on the Bridge of Lions last year, and the $46,000 (and change) proposed FDEP fine proves you can, and win.
There's no turning back. "Good government" must be a reality, not just a punchline for greedy developers' political action committees.
The whole world is watching.
The Old City Reservoir case has now also established that the St. Augustine Record newspaper is becoming a force for good in our community, exposing the illegal dumping and sequelae and standing up to Mayor GARDNER's mean-mouthed retaliation against asking questions about illegal dumping and what he admits is "rampant corruption" in City Hall (the number of which Mayor GEORGE GARDNER ever answered is exactly zero).
In yesterday's St. Augustine Record (November 22, 2006), the major headline was on the dumping fine proposed by DEP (below).
Yesterday, reformer Ben Rich became County Commission Chairman. A retired federal law enforcement officer, Mr. Rich doesn't exactly cower to power, either.
Organizations that pollute and destroy our environment -- including the City of St. Augustine -- are being exposed.
Investigations of Sunshine violations, Open Records violations, environmental violations -- and more -- will be pursued. United citizens working for good government are an unstoppable force, their wonders to behold and be thankful for. See below.
You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Happy Thanksgiving -- we're especially thankful that Europeans did not kill all of the indigenous tribes and haven't destroyed all the trees yet. We're thankful that everyone is watching the Nation's Oldest City now.
We're thankful that the "St. Augustine National Historical Park" and restoring 1928 trolley cars might help restore our city and its environment, with an "emerald necklace of parks." See below.
We expect our City to start honoring 11,000 years of history (not just 441 years) and to show dignity, respect and consideration toward all of our citizens, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, income, perceived social or economic status.
Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town," won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, inspiring generations with its message about how little most people appreciate the joys of life.
St. Augustine, Florida is a beautiful place that must be treasured and preserved from the greedy, the corrupt and the mismanaged clique in City Hall.
This is our Town.
We're working to save our Town from the polluters and corrupters and the bigots.
No more coverups in Our Town, please.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085
904-471-7023
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
City faces $46,000 fine
City faces $46,000 fine
By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustinerecord.com
Publication Date: 11/22/06
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has proposed that the city of St. Augustine be fined more than $46,000 for dumping materials from an old landfill into a borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard.
Also, the consent orders have a litany of recommendations to clean and assess contamination at the sites that could cost the city more than $250,000, John Regan, city chief operations officer, said Tuesday. He said the money will come from the city's general fund.
"The city's plan is to be highly responsive to (Environmental Protection)," he said.
The agency sent two draft consent orders to the city this week of its findings in the criminal investigation of the dumping.
In January, the city took 20,000 cubic yards of material from an old landfill on Riberia Street and placed it in a borrow pit on an 80-acre site on Holmes Boulevard.
Jill Johnson, Environmental Protection spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the criminal investigation has been closed due to lack of evidence.
Regan was out of the office for the Thanksgiving holiday and said he had not reviewed the documents well enough to give thorough comments.
Bill Harriss, city manager, was also out of the office for Thanksgiving and did not return a call for comment.
The consent order on the Holmes Boulevard site says there are contaminants in the soil, sediment and groundwater in the area the Riberia Street materials were dumped.
Environmental Protection found elevated levels of arsenic, vinyl chloride and thalium, a metal similar to arsenic, that violate the state's water quality standards, Johnson said. The report also says the contaminants could "reasonably cause pollution of the surface water and/or further pollution of the ground water."
Ever since Environmental Protection sent a warning letter to the city on March 15 about the dumping the city has been forthcoming about its "errors."
The materials put into the borrow pit came from a 3.35-acre salt marsh creation project at the end of Riberia Street, Regan has said. The city is restoring wetlands at the Riberia site and it needed to remove the material promptly so seasonal trees could be planted, he has said.
Regan said Tuesday that the city was not surprised by the penalties, but it will "evaluate the monetary amount to see if they agree with it."
The city has 30 days to reply to the consent orders. Johnson said they are used as a negotiation tool and are considered drafts until signed by both the city and Environmental Protection.
Regan said the city will meet with William Pence, the city's environmental attorney of Akerman and Senterfitt in Orlando, and GeoSyntec Consultants, of Jacksonville, next week to review the consent orders.
"We want to do what's fair to (Environmental Protection) and to the city," he said.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/112206/news_4228011.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustinerecord.com
Publication Date: 11/22/06
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has proposed that the city of St. Augustine be fined more than $46,000 for dumping materials from an old landfill into a borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard.
Also, the consent orders have a litany of recommendations to clean and assess contamination at the sites that could cost the city more than $250,000, John Regan, city chief operations officer, said Tuesday. He said the money will come from the city's general fund.
"The city's plan is to be highly responsive to (Environmental Protection)," he said.
The agency sent two draft consent orders to the city this week of its findings in the criminal investigation of the dumping.
In January, the city took 20,000 cubic yards of material from an old landfill on Riberia Street and placed it in a borrow pit on an 80-acre site on Holmes Boulevard.
Jill Johnson, Environmental Protection spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the criminal investigation has been closed due to lack of evidence.
Regan was out of the office for the Thanksgiving holiday and said he had not reviewed the documents well enough to give thorough comments.
Bill Harriss, city manager, was also out of the office for Thanksgiving and did not return a call for comment.
The consent order on the Holmes Boulevard site says there are contaminants in the soil, sediment and groundwater in the area the Riberia Street materials were dumped.
Environmental Protection found elevated levels of arsenic, vinyl chloride and thalium, a metal similar to arsenic, that violate the state's water quality standards, Johnson said. The report also says the contaminants could "reasonably cause pollution of the surface water and/or further pollution of the ground water."
Ever since Environmental Protection sent a warning letter to the city on March 15 about the dumping the city has been forthcoming about its "errors."
The materials put into the borrow pit came from a 3.35-acre salt marsh creation project at the end of Riberia Street, Regan has said. The city is restoring wetlands at the Riberia site and it needed to remove the material promptly so seasonal trees could be planted, he has said.
Regan said Tuesday that the city was not surprised by the penalties, but it will "evaluate the monetary amount to see if they agree with it."
The city has 30 days to reply to the consent orders. Johnson said they are used as a negotiation tool and are considered drafts until signed by both the city and Environmental Protection.
Regan said the city will meet with William Pence, the city's environmental attorney of Akerman and Senterfitt in Orlando, and GeoSyntec Consultants, of Jacksonville, next week to review the consent orders.
"We want to do what's fair to (Environmental Protection) and to the city," he said.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/112206/news_4228011.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Monday, November 20, 2006
Thank you, St. Augustine Record for Editorial on Sunday (November 19, 2006(see below)
Thank you, St. Augustine Record
I am honored and humbled for your support and for exposing City Hall's animus toward even asking questions about its pollution and what Mayor GEORGE GARDNER admitted last month to be "rampant corruption." Both the First Amendment and our Ancient City are worth preserving, protecting and defending.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, FL 32085
904-471-7023
I am honored and humbled for your support and for exposing City Hall's animus toward even asking questions about its pollution and what Mayor GEORGE GARDNER admitted last month to be "rampant corruption." Both the First Amendment and our Ancient City are worth preserving, protecting and defending.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, FL 32085
904-471-7023
Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
St. Augustine Record
Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
From Staff
Publication Date: 11/19/06
Soon-to-be-former-Mayor George Gardner let one rip at the St. Augustine City Commission meeting last week when he went after city gadfly Ed Slavin.
For those of you who don¹t know, Slavin is a regular at City Commission meetings. He is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong with city government, which is plenty.
Slavin is not subtle. If he thinks you¹re a crook, he¹ll tell you to your face.
And, yes, Hizzoner is correct that Slavin can be abrasive, although he¹s always polite when he calls us, even if he is questioning our competency, which means he¹s not always alone in his views.
Hizzoner pointed out that Slavin has asked the City Commission about 200 questions, which the mayor thinks is an abuse of the public comment section of its meetings.
And he went after Slavin, pointing out that he was disbarred in Tennessee in part because of his harassment and intimidation of officers of the court. Slavin questioned judges¹ competency in court and hurled insults at other lawyers.
Well, that¹s true.
It¹s also true that without Slavin the citizens of St Augustine would not have known the city was illegally dumping waste material in a borrow pit off Homes Boulevard.
After the mayor spoke, he got a standing ovation from almost everyone in the room. Only our reporter and Slavin remained seated.
We¹re here to tell you this. Ed Slavin is brilliant. Not just bright, brilliant. The Supreme Court of Tennessee, in finding fault with him, acknowledged his ³intellect and legal skills.
Here¹s some stuff you may not know about Slavin. As the editor of the Appalachian Observer in 1982, he filed a request to get some federal documents declassified. Because of his persistence, he found out and shared with the world that the Department of Energy Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Operations had ³lost¹¹ 2.4 million pounds of mercury in Oak Ridge. Later it turned out they had actually lost 4.2 million pounds of mercury.
His work discovered widespread DOE and contractor misconduct. That became a national story.
He went on to become a public interest attorney, armed with his view of never giving up because individuals can change history.
Yes, Slavin is persistent. Yes, he overplays his hand a lot. Yes, he can be obnoxious. And, yes, we would not want to be on the receiving end of Slavin¹s barbs any more than we already are.
But we¹re happy that there are gadflies like Slavin in our world. They add texture to our public forums and, as in the case of the illegal dumping, get it right sometimes.
So, to our public officials, we suggest you get thicker skins.
To those of you who stood up to applaud the mayor after he lambasted Slavin, shame on you for trying to stifle free speech. All of us should defend people¹s right to express their views, even when they are unpopular.
And to Slavin, you may want to soften your delivery, but don¹t be hushed. Remember that it¹s not important to be popular; it is important to stick to your guns.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/111906/opinions_if83a3k.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
From Staff
Publication Date: 11/19/06
Soon-to-be-former-Mayor George Gardner let one rip at the St. Augustine City Commission meeting last week when he went after city gadfly Ed Slavin.
For those of you who don¹t know, Slavin is a regular at City Commission meetings. He is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong with city government, which is plenty.
Slavin is not subtle. If he thinks you¹re a crook, he¹ll tell you to your face.
And, yes, Hizzoner is correct that Slavin can be abrasive, although he¹s always polite when he calls us, even if he is questioning our competency, which means he¹s not always alone in his views.
Hizzoner pointed out that Slavin has asked the City Commission about 200 questions, which the mayor thinks is an abuse of the public comment section of its meetings.
And he went after Slavin, pointing out that he was disbarred in Tennessee in part because of his harassment and intimidation of officers of the court. Slavin questioned judges¹ competency in court and hurled insults at other lawyers.
Well, that¹s true.
It¹s also true that without Slavin the citizens of St Augustine would not have known the city was illegally dumping waste material in a borrow pit off Homes Boulevard.
After the mayor spoke, he got a standing ovation from almost everyone in the room. Only our reporter and Slavin remained seated.
We¹re here to tell you this. Ed Slavin is brilliant. Not just bright, brilliant. The Supreme Court of Tennessee, in finding fault with him, acknowledged his ³intellect and legal skills.
Here¹s some stuff you may not know about Slavin. As the editor of the Appalachian Observer in 1982, he filed a request to get some federal documents declassified. Because of his persistence, he found out and shared with the world that the Department of Energy Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Operations had ³lost¹¹ 2.4 million pounds of mercury in Oak Ridge. Later it turned out they had actually lost 4.2 million pounds of mercury.
His work discovered widespread DOE and contractor misconduct. That became a national story.
He went on to become a public interest attorney, armed with his view of never giving up because individuals can change history.
Yes, Slavin is persistent. Yes, he overplays his hand a lot. Yes, he can be obnoxious. And, yes, we would not want to be on the receiving end of Slavin¹s barbs any more than we already are.
But we¹re happy that there are gadflies like Slavin in our world. They add texture to our public forums and, as in the case of the illegal dumping, get it right sometimes.
So, to our public officials, we suggest you get thicker skins.
To those of you who stood up to applaud the mayor after he lambasted Slavin, shame on you for trying to stifle free speech. All of us should defend people¹s right to express their views, even when they are unpopular.
And to Slavin, you may want to soften your delivery, but don¹t be hushed. Remember that it¹s not important to be popular; it is important to stick to your guns.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/111906/opinions_if83a3k.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Letter: Journalists, get tough on corruption, Halyburton
Letter: Journalists, get tough on corruption, Halyburton
David Brian Wallace
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/19/06
Editor: Across America, we voted for change and against dishonesty/corruption, "thumping" Bush, electing Democratic majorities.
Two City Hall incumbents (Joe Boles and George Gardner) ran from issues, resembling N.Y. Congresswoman Susan Kelly, running from journalists asking about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (she was defeated).
After defeating Commissioners Maguire and Stern, St. Johns County voters rejected a proposal to elect county commissioners both from at-large seats and districts. Let's elect politicians by districts, as suggested by Lincolnville's Peter Romano, who nearly defeated City Manager William Harriss' machine, which allegedly pressured employees to remove Romano's yard signs.
Despite Boles' endorsements by 12 former mayors, Romano was nearly elected mayor, disgusted by what Gardner conceded to be "rampant (City Hall) corruption." In 2008, let's elect Peter Romano mayor and Ken Bryan county commissioner.
More than 1,000 people move to Florida daily, raising our consciousness, changing electoral math, rejecting public official corruption, exploitation and environmental devastation.
In 2008, Floridians will help elect a new president. No more stolen elections. Journalists must work much harder, investigating and holding officeholders accountable. Let's expose corruption and mismanagement.
Cynical right-wing Republican developer voter/candidate suppression efforts must be exposed and stopped.
In 2004, county/city officials were caught repaving Lincolnville's only polling-place parking-lot on election day when pollwatcher Peter Romano woke up Gardner and got it stopped.
We need more in-depth coverage, please, of election machinery and procedures.
Please investigate Election Supervisor Penny Halyburton. Question her self-promoting expenditures on freebies bearing her name and her attitude toward African-Americans, non-incumbents and persons with disabilities. No door-opening courtesies for seniors/blind/disabled unless requested? Once ordering a pollworker suffering a heart attack to keep working? Americans with Disabilities Act and civil rights violations?
Like Republican Katharine Harris, Republican Halyburton isn't independent (doing incumbents' bidding to exclude one St. Augustinian from ballots).
Let's retire Halyburton, replacing her with an independent professional.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/111906/opinions_let2.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
David Brian Wallace
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/19/06
Editor: Across America, we voted for change and against dishonesty/corruption, "thumping" Bush, electing Democratic majorities.
Two City Hall incumbents (Joe Boles and George Gardner) ran from issues, resembling N.Y. Congresswoman Susan Kelly, running from journalists asking about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (she was defeated).
After defeating Commissioners Maguire and Stern, St. Johns County voters rejected a proposal to elect county commissioners both from at-large seats and districts. Let's elect politicians by districts, as suggested by Lincolnville's Peter Romano, who nearly defeated City Manager William Harriss' machine, which allegedly pressured employees to remove Romano's yard signs.
Despite Boles' endorsements by 12 former mayors, Romano was nearly elected mayor, disgusted by what Gardner conceded to be "rampant (City Hall) corruption." In 2008, let's elect Peter Romano mayor and Ken Bryan county commissioner.
More than 1,000 people move to Florida daily, raising our consciousness, changing electoral math, rejecting public official corruption, exploitation and environmental devastation.
In 2008, Floridians will help elect a new president. No more stolen elections. Journalists must work much harder, investigating and holding officeholders accountable. Let's expose corruption and mismanagement.
Cynical right-wing Republican developer voter/candidate suppression efforts must be exposed and stopped.
In 2004, county/city officials were caught repaving Lincolnville's only polling-place parking-lot on election day when pollwatcher Peter Romano woke up Gardner and got it stopped.
We need more in-depth coverage, please, of election machinery and procedures.
Please investigate Election Supervisor Penny Halyburton. Question her self-promoting expenditures on freebies bearing her name and her attitude toward African-Americans, non-incumbents and persons with disabilities. No door-opening courtesies for seniors/blind/disabled unless requested? Once ordering a pollworker suffering a heart attack to keep working? Americans with Disabilities Act and civil rights violations?
Like Republican Katharine Harris, Republican Halyburton isn't independent (doing incumbents' bidding to exclude one St. Augustinian from ballots).
Let's retire Halyburton, replacing her with an independent professional.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/111906/opinions_let2.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
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