Other officials behaving badly

[RTH10260]

Veteran who TN insisted wasn't a U.S. citizen gets driver's license back

NewsChannel 5
18 Jul 2024

The Navy veteran who lost his driver's license after Tennessee insisted he is not a U.S. citizen gets word that state is giving license back

[RTH10260]

Lawmakers who banned police quotas to demand answers from Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

FOX 13 News Utah
20 Jul 2024

For the past month, wildlife officers who are afraid of retaliation have been revealing how they've figured out ways to inflate their numbers

[RTH10260]

well - it's the bodyguard

Federal indictment for New Orleans mayor's former body guard related to payroll fraud

WWLTV
20 Jul 2024

The government accuses Vappie of collecting city pay for official protection duties that were actually spent engaged in personal romantic encounters with his boss.

alternate reporting

► Show Spoiler

[RTH10260]

Savannah police employee logs 3,900 overtime hours she didn't work

[RTH10260]

Gov’t Will Garnish Man’s Benefits Unless He Proves He DIDN’T Get SBA Loan

Steve Lehto
28 Aug 2024

Part of the COVID loan mess.

[RTH10260]

Code Enforcement

Man's House Bulldozed—No Notice, No Compensation

Institute for Justice
18 Sept 2024

Eric Arnold stood in front of his property in Macon-Bibb County, Georgia, shaking in shock and disbelief. The house he had been painstakingly fixing up for months—the house he poured hours of work and thousands of dollars into—was being clawed into a pile of rubble by a backhoe.

The County had secretly labeled Eric’s house an imminent threat to the community due to its supposed state of disrepair. Under the County’s rules, that secret label gave the mayor and his Code Enforcement officers the power to demolish Eric’s house without any semblance of due process or a court proceeding. But Eric’s property was not a threat to the community. He had been lovingly repairing the fixer-upper with an eye toward giving his children and grandchildren a place to settle nearby. While he still had work to do, the yard was neat, the exterior was clean, the house was locked up, and, most importantly, it was in a vastly improved state of repair compared to when he purchased it.

Despite this progress, Eric first learned that his house might be on the chopping block a little over a month before the County demolished it, when a neighbor called him to say someone was placing a dumpster next to his house. Believing that the County made a mistake, Eric convinced the demolition crew to stand down and then rushed to County offices, begging officials to take his house off the demolition list.

Eric did everything he could to save his house, and County officials led him to believe that he had stopped the demolition. Behind the scenes, however, the County secretly sped up the demolition after Eric asked county officials for help. Less than two months after Eric learned about the potential teardown, the County sent a team of armed Code Enforcement officers to make sure that his house was torn down in the early hours of the morning. The code enforcement officers succeeded.

Unfortunately, much of Eric’s story is not unique. The County has leveled more than 800 homes in just over three years using the same secret procedure it used to demolish Eric’s house. But the Constitution doesn’t allow the County to simply destroy property —all property owners are entitled to notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard before the government tears down their home. The County has ignored and continues to ignore these constitutional rules.

Eric knew the County was in the wrong, so he teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to sue Macon-Bibb County in state court and protect the rights of all Americans to due process and to ask for help from government officials.

https://ij.org/case/georgia-home-demolition/

[Frater I*I]

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[sugar magnolia]

Exact opposite of what it is here. We've been fighting the owner/s of the property next door for 4 years now to have an uninhabitable, burned out house next door either rehabbed or demoed. Open a case, city has 30 days to take action, 1st action is a notice of violation, 30 days to respond, no action in 30 days, the city sends a 2nd notice, another 30 days to respond, then the city posts a final notice, another 30 days to respond, then a citation for a court date (a citation was filed against them last Monday, court date of Nov 12) in environmental court, and if the judge signs a demo order it goes to the city council to be heard and passed and then the demo order is issued. Then comes the bid letting for the demo if they can even get someone to bid on it they have 90-120 days for the actual demo, assuming the city budget isn't out of demo money, which has happened the last 2 times we've had this dance with the city. If the demo budget is dry by the time they get around to the demo order they simply CLOSE THE FUCKING CASE "DUE TO AGE" and we have to start at the beginning of the process of opening a new case. Meanwhile, their rotten tree takes out the power supply to my house in 2 stages, which cause a power surge that looks like it's going to cost us at least $20,000 to make right and safe.

I called AGAIN last week and cried at the woman answering the phone and the inspector happened to be in the office. She put him on the phone and I cried even harder. He came to do the inspection about an hour later, I showed him my 2" thick stack of photos and documents and sounded pitiful I might have cried again. he bypassed most of the shit and just issued the citation right away. That's how we finally got a court date that was in Nov instead of a court date in Sept for a case filed in Feb. Demo budget is allocated on OCT 1, so I made sure to time it right this time.

[Dave from down under]

Tears of frustration
Tears of rage
Tears of sorrow

Sometimes all three.

Hopefully it will have a good outcome

[Rolodex]

Ugh, sugar, that's awful. Hope they get it down.

Two doors down from our lake cottage, 2 houses that were hit really hard by Hurricane Michael are still sitting in disrepair. They are uninhabitable. That storm was in 2018. We offered to buy one of them, but they weren't interested in selling. After the storm the value is wiped out and they pay like $500/year in taxes so it's no skin off their nose (idk if they have a mortgage). I have been taking pictures and intend to get it to the county. I'm not sure of the process, but they are an eyesore and probably have vermin in them. You've inspired me to get going on that project!

We wanted to buy the one nearer us and just tear the house down and leave a lot (it's pretty small). Their dock is broken, too, and needs to be taken out. I don't know how a day visitor hasn't used it and gotten hurt. Surprised that meth cookers haven't made a lab out of the dilapidated houses.

[RTH10260]

The Georgia Prison System

Justice Department Makes Civil Rights Announcement Related to Georgia

The Justice Department
1 Oct 2024

Today, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia, U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia and U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg for the Southern District of Georgia held a press conference in Atlanta to make a civil rights announcement.

[RTH10260]

Governmental immunity means water tank explosion damage to homes isn't covered by MUD

KHOU 11
4 Oct 2024

Two families are trying to figure out what to do after a water tank exploded and flooded their homes.

[sad-cafe]

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[Frater I*I]

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[sad-cafe]

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oh you misunderstood...I meant is it really a surprise (targeting people of color)

[RTH10260]

Mabton Mayor brawls with man who filed petition to recall her

Apple Valley News Now - Official
12 Oct 2024

Emily Goodell reports:
Mabton Mayor Rachel Ruelas was caught on camera Thursday night getting into a brawl with citizens at a local restaurant, including Ruben Olivarez, the man who filed the second petition to recall her as mayor.

news article https://www.applevalleynewsnow.com/news ... c6e33.html

[bill_g]

I've been to Mabton. Worked there for months on the Fire Dist 5 system. That whole valley has undergone cultural change over the last few decades. Many immigrants stayed and grew roots there. Got married. Raised kids. Football was replaced with Futbol. As the English speaking newspapers, radio, and TV stations were closing, Spanish language versions thrived. Bakeries, butcher shops, barbers, and tire stores now boast a LatinX surname. They are increasingly purchasing the ag lands trying to create generational operations. And they now hold majorities in elected positions.

I think it's an amazing turnaround for the area.

[RTH10260]

Mayor, councilman charged with ethics violations over town water takeover vote

Jody Barr
on 23 Oct 2024

One year after our 'Unreal Deal' investigation, the S.C. Ethics Commission handed down ethics charges against McBee's mayor and vice mayor. It'll take a year before they're able to face the ethics commission to defend themselves.