But Chief Rizzo Wants an MRAP for Brunswick, Too

"I think it's important to remember that police are not soldiers and our towns are definitely not war zones." Alison Beyea, Executive Director of ACLU of Maine

The Forecaster reported "Brunswick council will screen police requests for surplus military equipment" (January 8, 2015), approximately seven years after Chief Rizzo had already been receiving such military equipment, and not reporting to the council (and perhaps not even the town managers), more than $120,000 worth of weapons and other gear [six 5.56 mm rifles, four 7.62 mm rifles, 16 high-tech sights, 16 night vision image intensifiers, and four laptop computers - according to Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) which operates the 1033 Program to transfer surplus military equipment to our local domestic law enforcement agencies].

From the same Forecaster article:

"Police Chief Richard Rizzo, who has run the department since 2008,...said he wasn't sure why (he) the department never brought its request to the council...And Rizzo said he wasn't sure if he told the town's previous two managers, Don Gerrish and Gary Brown, about the requisition applications."

Further saying, "I don't recall."

Also from the same article: "Under state law, elected town officials have to approve donations or 'conditional gifts' made to the town or its departments."

That said, John Eldridge had been Brunswick's Finance Director for 26 years prior to his current position as town manager; therefore, it's reasonable to believe Mr. Elridge has been aware of the $120,000 of military equipment transfers and the town possessed them. Moreover, Eldridge said, "...council review has been 'common practice'."


Some of the comments from the article include:

• "So the Brunswick Town Council, which has been responsible for the squandering of taxpayer dollars on multiple real estate transactions (Times Record Building) and been unable value estimated construction costs (town offices), created neighborhood problems (Boat launch and train station), now needs to "approve" Police benefits that are "free"? I cannot think of a more asinine concept... While the acquisition of products should in some way be monitored and documented, perhaps with an approval option, our Town Counsel has demonstrated for decades that they are incapable of being effective, transparent, or efficient, in this type of capacity."

• "Laptop computers and "rifles that were going to be purchased anyway" are hardly military equipment (unless you also count the toilet paper that the army purchases for its barracks). But their classification as such as they are acquired for Brunswick establishes a precedent. What is distinctive about military equipment is that it can cause mass destruction (inadvertently if you are just a weekend warrior). Now, in future our little town can acquire, (for example, as did police in Missouri) heavy armed vehicles with the justification that 'we have already accepted military equipment with town approval'." 

• "According to BDN, Police Chief Richard Rizzo of Brunswick has been running the department since 2008 when it began receiving 1033 military equipment, and under Maine State law elected town officials have to approve donations or 'conditional gifts' to the town or its departments. Rizzo says he's not sure why his department never brought its requests to the council; and says 'I don't recall.' Therefore, it seems Chief Rizzo doesn't know the law, doesn't follow the law, and/or feels he's above the law. Since Rizzo says municipalities rely on their police chiefs to make good decisions, following the laws is one of them. Other commentors may have a better idea about the value of the equipment listed in the article, but $120,000 seems high. That said, Police Cmdr. Marc Hagan (saying he doesn't know why anyone would have a problem with the requests), municipalities and citizens need to be fully aware of 1033 equipment donations because in some places some of its gone missing from the inventory; namely assault rifles. And when asked about the missing 1033 equipment, some of the other Police Chiefs are also saying things like 'I don't know (where it is).', and 'I don't recall'."

It'd be difficult to hide an MRAP; best tell the people now:

The Town Council meeting scheduled for March 2, 2015, includes Item 19, which is a request by Chief Rizzo for a "Peacekeeping" Armored Vehicle (aka MRAP, "Mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle") for Brunswick's SWAT team, called "Special Response Team" (SRT). See "Astroturfing the Lexicon" (January 23, 2015).

The Agenda Packet information wants people to know the black 1989 MRAP looks more like this:

And less like this:

Rizzo doesn't state in his memo to the town manager why he declined an MRAP last year when it was "offered", but writes 7 out of 9 SRTs/SWATs have an MRAP, along with "...the majority of this nation's police departments...", and he wants one, too. (The State Police, Portland, South Portland, Cumberland County Sheriff, Sanford, York, and Bangor police departments have MRAPs; but not Brunswick, nor Augusta).

The now available Jeepers Creepers-looking MRAP is being returned to DLA by the Bloomington, Minnesota police department, supposedly because Bloomington PD is getting a newer version MRAP. The available MRAP had some carburetor issues and it was rebuilt; but the vehicle is believed to be operating, "generally in good condition" (according to Bloomington PD Sgt. Bitney who admits to not being a mechanic) and has no rust because it was kept indoors. No information is offered in the packet as to the expense of maintenance for an MRAP that's almost 30 years old, cost and availability of replacement parts, nor if there's any shipping costs for transporting the MRAP from Minnesota to Maine.

The justification for Brunswick possessing the MRAP, according to Police Cmdr./SRT, SWAT Cmdr. Hagan's memo, is Brunswick Police responded to 11 "high-risk" incidents in a 5-year period; 6 of the 11 were armed situations.

Given the history then, the MRAP will be used approximately once a year for projected allegedly-armed suspects in high-risk situations. Cmdr. Hagan goes on to write that unlawful use/possession of firearms in Brunswick is "prolific" and BPD has 108 firearms taken for safety and/or evidence in its possession; notably 26 of the 108 were possessed by 1 person. Hagan writes the militarization of police concerns by the public are only political and his concern is for "public safety", "terrorist activity, barricaded criminals, hostage situations, and other scenarios with high risk of violence".

Going back to one of The Forecaster comments above, there's a disturbing prediction: "Now, in future our little town can acquire, (for example, as did police in Missouri) heavy armed vehicles with the justification that 'we have already accepted military equipment with town approval'."

Apparently, bigger is better, and some local communities starting with the "unreliable", "Peacekeeper/MRAP, specially-designed armored superstructure" soon look to replace it:

"Morgan County Sheriff Robert Downey and Maj. Jerry Pickett, head of Johnson County SWAT, said if they had $300,000 to spend, they would prefer a commercial "BearCat" armored vehicle — such as what the IMPD has — instead of a military MRAP. The BearCat is smaller, lighter and faster. The MRAP can't exceed 65 mph. But they don't have that money. So they used military surplus.

In Johnson County, the sheriff's department had been using a 22-year-old armored 'Peacekeeper' vehicle from military surplus before it became unreliable. It's much smaller than the MRAP and looks its age. Cox said maintenance for the MRAP will come out of the jail's commissary fund.
 'I think us having (the MRAP) in that barn is much better than the federal government leaving it rusting on a cement slab somewhere in Texas or
Virginia or wherever these may be  sitting,' Cox said." 

("Overkill? Small-town buys armored SWAT vehicle")

Similarly, given Chief Rizzo and the Brunswick Police Department's pattern of behaviors, it appears highly probable they're engaged in a system of gradualism; creeping toward their ultimate goals. It's psychological - getting the peopled accustomed to the ideas, and seeing the militarization of police, is to gain familiarity and acceptance along with the misconception we are powerless to change it.

Reviewing all the above by Rizzo and Hagan, one would think the little New England town of Brunswick is a hotbed of crime and violence. Nothing could be further from the truth as evidenced by the information to follow.

"The (1033) program has been plagued by messy bookkeeping, bureaucratic confusion and scores of missing weapons."("Fusion Investigates: How did America's Police Departments Lose Loads of Military-issued Weapons?" )

According to the Fusion article 184 state and local police departments have been suspended for missing weapons or failure to comply with other guidelines. "(The Program) is obviously very sloppy, and it's another reason that Congress needs to revisit this promptly," said Tim Lynch, director of CATO Institute's project on criminal justice. "We don't know where these weapons are going, whether they are really lost, or whether there is corruption involved." Lynch goes on to say there's a "...possibility that some of the missing weapons...given to local police departments...are actually being sold on the black market."

Weapons from the 1033 Program are "misplaced", lost, or stolen; 145 local law enforcement departments and 3 states have been suspended from the Program: Alabama, North Carolina, and Minnesota ("Dozens of police agencies report loss of Pentagon-supplied military weapons" ).

It's not only weapons the go missing; there are at least 2 cases of missing Humvees and with about 200 departments "losing" military equipment the trend is alarming. "...Many fail to comply with (the) program guidelines (and) routinely lose dangerous weaponry." And about $4.3 billion in military equipment, including weapons, under the 1033 Program has been administered since 1990.

As far as getting data on the Pentagon equipment transfers to police, Muckrock ("Only Thirteen states refuse to release data on Pentagon equipment transfers to the public") asked the states directly: 6 states refused to release the data, 6 claimed not to have it, and Louisiana falls into a category of its own. More than half of the states released the spreadsheets so far. The 6 states refusing are: Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. The 6 states claiming to have no spreadsheets are: Alabama, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wyoming. The state of Louisiana requested a fee of $5,000 for paper files.

Given the total items and controlling for population, it may be surprising that Maine ends up being one of the states using the 1033 Program more than others. "Using the FBI's 2012 violent crime rate per 100,000 people...and state's rank for crime and its items rank...while Maine's violent crime rate of 122.7 makes it the safest state in the union (ranked 51st when the District of Columbia is included), its items rank brings it to No. 11 on (the) list." Even FBI data, which Hagan mentions in his memo, shows Maine is the safest state in the union, contrary to what Chief Rizzo and Cmdr. Hagan want people to believe.

Retired USMC Colonel Pete Martino of New Hampshire warned the Concord local governing body about the militarization of local law enforcement with 1033 Program military equipment: We are pre-staging gear and equipment for a domestic military which is unconstitutional ("Posse Comitatus" )... the government is afraid of its own citizens. "Concord is just one cog in the wheel...We want more Mayberry and less Fallujah." 

Prisons for Profits and Kids for Cash

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism, as it is a merger of state and corporate power." Benito Mussolini

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are a key plan for financial gain and control of the masses, taking of the public's assets, and easily becomes fertile ground for corruption and fraud. It's also a method of changing government. Apparently, Italian dictator Mussolini, the Il Duce and minion of Hitler, knew that trick. We may believe we're far removed from the time period and dictators like Il Duce, but the observable patterns remain; it's just labeled and packaged differently to fool some of the people.

"The early twentieth century Italians, who invented the word fascism, also had a more descriptive term for the concept -- estato corporativo: the corporatist state. Unfortunately for Americans, we have come to equate fascism with its symptoms, not with its structure. The structure of fascism is corporatism, or the corporate state. The structure of fascism is the union, marriage, merger or fusion of corporate economic power with governmental power. Failing to understand fascism, as the consolidation of corporate economic and governmental power in the hands of a few, is to completely misunderstand what fascism is. It is the consolidation of this power that produces the demagogues and regimes we understand as fascist ones (David G. Mills).
 
If the definition of "entrepreneur" is "a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture", then entrepreneurs are defunct or, at best, just about nonexistent. The words related to articles about "parasite entrepreneurs" and "predator entrepreneurs" are oxymorons; as these are people who've discovered too many easy ways to get the taxpayers' dollars and assets risk-free. What we're really seeing are Public-Private Partnerships.

When looking at forgivable loans, and other pools of money created from taxpayer revenues (including TIFs, CDBG, and Redevelopment) clearly the receiving businesses aren't assuming the risk for business venture at all - rather it's the citizens carrying the risks. The numbers of total business failures reported vary, but start-up ventures are reported at about a 75% failure rate. And none of the businesses backed by taxpayers for Obama's green and solar companies have succeeded; we're at 0 for $6 Trillion input ("List of Failed Obama Green Energy and Solar Companies in the Billions" ).

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs):

The late Joan Veon, former Certified Financial Planner, business woman starting Veon Financial Services, Inc., an international journalist and author (Prince Charles, The Sustainable Prince, 1997; Global Straitjacket, 1999) educates us about the insidious change in government on all levels, and globally through PPPs. Veon tells us about Al Gore's state-sponsored "First Global Meeting on Reinventing Government" (November 4, 1999), and how Gore, when speaking with the delegates from foreign nations, referred to the taxpayers as the "customers". Some of the information from Veon includes:

• A PPP is a way in which corporations create new entities through PPPs to take control of government assets (the citizens' assets),
• PPPs are called "a solution for a government that is broke",
• We can call PPPs "global corporate fascism", "transfer of wealth", "the fleecing of the American taxpayers", a system of "deceit, deception, and distortion",
• Public = the government at all levels; Private = corporations, including multinational corporations, foundations [i.e. The William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, etc; Universities, Associations (i.e. Automobile, Timber, etc. "any entity with a lot of money"); and Nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, (i.e. Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, etc.)] with the bottom line of the "partnership" is taking control of the assets of government on all levels.
• The goal of PPPs is to make profits by using and taking public assets; and once the assets are transferred the citizens will not have any representation, and, therefore, no say in the operations of business in the PPPs 

Tax Increment Financing (TIF): "Imagine...a land where $500 million is spent to spackle the cracks of waste, bloat, patronage, and corruption...Welcome to the land of Tax Increment Finance districts (TIFs)". (Chicago, 2006 ). TIF, is a public financing method that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects; therefore, "by definition, TIF diverts money from schools, parks and other important services".

The caveat about TIF programs are some are "poorly designed" and "...can give government officials a tool to lavish subsidies on favored or well-connected developers"...and "can create 'slush funds' (indicates a fraudulent use of money; expenses disguised as legitimate expenses) that lack public oversight and accountability", and TIFs sometimes continue long after the project's TIFs funds completed ("Tax Increment Financing, The Need for Increased Transparency and Accountability in Local Economic Development Subsidies").

In one example, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania construction contractors bribed officials in exchange for helping secure a TIF. Former Commissioner, Greg Skrepenak, and former Redevelopment Authority Director, Allen Bellas, both pleaded guilty to accepting bribes associated with tax diversion programs approved by the county government. Because of the TIF, the county, township and Pittston Area School District would have to wait 12 years to start collecting taxes.

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG):
The CDBG was developed under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fund local community development activities to benefit low and moderate income people (i.e. affordable housing, anti-poverty, eliminating slums and blight, addressing urgent health or safety needs). 

"This program was created in 1974 with the stated objective of eliminating blight and providing affordable housing. In the nearly four decades since then, it has degenerated into a federal slush fund for pet projects of local politicians and politically connected businesses. It is plagued by profligate waste and outright fraud." (Tom McClintock, Congressman, CA, District 4). Further, Congressman McClintock says the billions of dollars in HUD's CDBG slush fund "...is an unauthorized expenditure, the legal authority for it expired in 1994, 18 years ago and congress has not bothered to renew it ever since. But we keep shoveling money at it." ("Draining a Slush Fund: Community Development Block Grants").

Redevelopment:
"Every once in a while, we need to remind politicians that "redevelopment" is supposed to be a tool for cleaning up blighted urban neighborhoods and improving the quantity and quality of housing – not a conduit for siphoning money from the public treasury into developers' pockets."("A Corruption of Redevelopment Law".

Redevelopment is referred to as the unknown government ("Redevelopment: The Unknown Government, What It Is, What Can Be Done"). The linked pdf is an easily understood format to educate the public regarding the pitfalls of redevelopment, including TIFs. Some of the chapter titles are:

• Corporate Welfare
• Predatory Redevelopment
• Follow the Money
• Housing Scam
• Eminent Domain for Private Gain
• The Myth of Economic Development

"'Economic Development' is a common cliche among city governments and redevelopment agencies. It refers to a belief that tax subsidies to selected private businesses can stimulate the local economy. It assumes that the free enterprise system alone is inadequate. It presumes that government planners can allocate resources more efficiently than can the free market. The legal purpose for redevelopment remains the elimination of blight. All economic acitivies must pay lip service toward that goal. Behind this facade, redevelopment has subsidized giant retailers, luxury hotels, golf courses, stadiums and even gambling casinos." (Ibid).

Prisons for Profit And Kids for Cash:
Without doubt, there are some people who should be imprisoned. But it seems reasonable to believe the numbers should be far less than what we're seeing in the U.S. and appear to be the result of PPPs in the prison industry and their profit-making goals. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of privately-owned prisons in the U.S. increased 1,600%. There are approximately 2.3 million people imprisoned in the U.S. alone, costing $55 Billion to the federal government, while generating $3.3 Billion annual revenue in 2012 for 75% of the private prison industry. The U.S. comprises approximately 5% of the world's population, and about 25% of the entire global prison population.

Private prison companies' contracts often include "Lock-up Quotas" at or above a specific level; some demanding a minimum occupancy level of greater than 90%. Also included are "Low Crime Taxes"; if occupancy rates are not fulfilled, the government pays for empty beds ("Shocking Facts About America's For-Profit Prison Industry").

Additionally, 50% or more of detainment facilities for immigrants are run by private prison corporations. More than 25,000 low-security non-citizens are detained at thirteen private prisons under Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) contracts (ACLU). "The federal government is in the midst of a private prison expansion spree, driven primarily by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency that locks up roughly 400,000 immigrants each year and spends over $1.9 billion annually on custody operations.

The two largest private prison companies are Corrections Corporation of America (CCA; operates 66 correctional and detention facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia), and the GEO Group (operates correctional, detention, and residential facilities in the U.S., Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom). Private prison corporations have enormous political clout through lobbying, providing campaign contributions, and cultivating relationships and associations (Justice Policy Institute). Combined, CCA, GEO (including its Cornell Company) contributed $835,514 to federal candidates, and over $6 million to state level politicians during the past 5 election cycles.

According to the Justice Policy Institute the private prison corporations are continually looking to expand in states, including Maine, "For Profit Prisons and The Danger of Corruption and Abuse" (above): "Former CCA Warden and Maine: Governor Paul LePage appointed former CCA Warden Joe Ponte as the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections. While Maine currently does not have any private prisons, according to news reports, CCA has been in discussions with the town of Milo for the past 3 years over the possibility of building a $150 million facility. The appointment of Ponte and the $25,000 in campaign contributions LePage received from CCA raise concerns of increased access for CCA to open private prisons in Maine."

The numbers only reveal part of the story because prisoners also provide a source of cheap labor; pay is $0.93 to $4 per day (some prisoners in Illinois receive no pay, rather the pay is used to reduce sentencing). Companies that pay inmates can get up to 40% of the money back in tax reimbursements. Cheap prison labor is contracted to companies such as: Boeing, McDonalds, Starbucks, Victoria's Secret, IBM, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Dell, Compaq, and Nordstroms. U.S. prison inmates produce about 93% of U.S. paints and paintbrushes, 92% of U.S. stove assemblies, and 100% of military helmets ("Are private prisoners the new slaves of the U.S.A.?"); and they make office furniture, work in call centers, fabricate body armor, take hotel reservations, work in slaughter houses, and manufacture textiles, shoes, and clothing "Prisoner Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits".

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, privately-owned corporations operate more than 50% of youth correctional facilities in the U.S. Profiting from imprisoned human beings also includes children, and a scandal as cruel and shocking as the documentary's title leads us to believe as evidenced by: "Kids for Cash" (2013).

Two judges were charged with a 48-count indictment of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations February 9, 2009 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr., and Senior Judge Michael Conahan received over $2.6 million in kickbacks through involvement with a scheme to build two new juvenile detention facilities co-owned by attorney Robert Powell and taking a $1 million in bribes from the builder, Robert Mericle. The two judges manipulated convictions; private prisons profit when more youth are incarcerated.

The Juvenile Law Center brought the cases to attention in early 2007 and petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court alleging violation of youths' civil rights, and was originally denied until January 2009 when it was reconsidered following charges of corruption surfacing after investigation of another judge, Anne H. Lokuta. Several hundred cases were tried without the youths receiving proper counsel, and children as young as 11 were being sent to jail for instances such as:

"...the 13-year-old incarcerated for throwing a piece of steak at his mother’s boyfriend; the 15-year-old for throwing a sandal at her mother; the 11-year-old for calling the police after his mother locked him out of the house; the 14-year-old for writing a satirical Myspace profile. Another 14-year-old, an A student, was sentenced for writing “Vote for Michael Jackson” on a few stop signs; she had a seizure while in detention, banging her head so hard she cracked her dental braces (The New York Times, Sunday Book Review).

Conahan was convicted on one count of racketeering on September 23, 2011 and sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison. Ciavarella was convicted on February 18, 2011 on 12 of 39 counts and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. Governor Ed Rendell said (August 7, 2009): Ciavarella and Conahan "violated the rights of as many as 6,000 young people by denying them basic rights to counsel and handing down outrageously excessive sentences. The lives of these young people and their families were changed forever."

This is the "reinvented government" Al Gore, the Corporatists, et al. want for us; and they're changing it piecemeal while selling us and our children for their profits. Even judges can be bought.

Nelson Mandela may have broken apartheid in South Africa, but those in charge "negotiated" to maintain a grip on the financial structures of the nation, and in doing so still control and enslave the people by controlling their assets (Naomi Klein's, The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, 2007). Our reinvented U.S. government has been occurring without a single shot being fired.

"The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members." Mahatma Gandhi

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."  Elie Wiesel

Lies, Bigger Lies and Granddaddy Drug Dealers

"Some folks are born to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays 'Hail to the Chief',
Ooh they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no Senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't, me; I ain't no fortunate one, no..."

"Fortunate Son", Creedance Clearwater Revival

Information received from an anonymous source, a little further down in the post, dovetails with observations on the increasing numbers of lies told to the people, and why we're lied to - whether it's outright, or by misinformation, disinformation, deflecting, omission, etc. Media Monarchy's James Evan Pilato, and James Corbett of The Corbett Report have a saying, "Don't hate the media, become the media." And something both encourage all of us to do, anyone of us - be an impetus for change by simply telling.

For years, the local print media and mainstream media cornered the information market; and that's way too much power in very few hands even on local levels. Some readers and watchers absorb it, and lies become the gospel entrenched in their minds (i.e. "global warming" fabricated by a crisis think tank in 1968; "Club of Rome and the Origins of Global Warming" Jan. 26, 2015). And that's exactly the way those few in control operate; but their lies go deep, permeating every level. Too many people are negatively impacted in various ways, and too many also die as a result of those lies.

An apt description by Mr. Poppycock (The Other Side of Brunswick blogspot) for the local Times Record is "the Ostrich". And some of us appreciate his observations, sense of humor, and self-described "bloviating", because the Ostrich lacks a close association with the truth. People aren't told the emperor really isn't wearing any clothes among many other things. Mr. Poppycock and others like him, who're not afraid to tell, have been an inspiration.

This writer particularly recalls Mr. Poppycock's post about how we all have to eat, but some are obviously eating more than their fair share. And one example concerning motivations was about a former town councilor's consumption of a forgivable quarter million dollar business loan by Brunswick Development Corporation (BDC, formerly BEDC), accompanied by a similar image seen here:

Yes, Everybody Eats goes hand in hand with Everybody Sleeps. A lot of malarkey goes on while we've been asleep.

That said, it wasn't surprising to hear from an anonymous source about a follow-up on a former long-time Ostrich reporter's article (now Bangor Daily News Staff reporter) regarding Gary Brown. From the article, "Former Brunswick town manager dismissed in February, hired in North Carolina", Nov. 5, 2014:  

"Brunswick’s former town manager, Gary Brown, who in February was dismissed by the Brunswick Town Council, has been hired as administrator for the town of St. James, in Brunswick County, North Carolina."

The source says Mr. Brown was hired as town clerk, and discovered this when recently perusing the website for St. James:

"Town Hall Staff:
4140 A Southport-Supply Road, St. James NC  28461
Phone: (910) 253-4730    Fax:  (910) 253-4732
E-mail:  tosj@atmc.net
Gary Brown, Town Administrator/Clerk, email: tosjadmin@atmc.net
Judy Hughes, Deputy Clerk/Assistant Zoning Administrator, email: jhughes@atmc.net
Sylvia Butterworth, Finance/Tax Collector
Barry Duncan, Finance Assistant, email: bduncan@atmc.net"

Why wouldn't the reporter just write it...or perhaps she missed the information due to lack of investigation ("St. James Town Council picks new clerk")? It's semantic dialectic, again, because the source, along with many of us, tends to think the title "administrator" akin to manager instead of town clerk. Likely, the word choice was all the more noticeable because it follows numerous vague reports and purposeful omissions in/by the newspapers concerning the former Mr. Manager's actions throughout his years in both the municipalities of Topsham and Brunswick. The town council also hides information from the public behind closed doors in executive sessions. There's a lot of information the government, on all levels, doesn't want us to know.

Then the Ostrich, and The Forecaster (not sure why it sometimes shows up as "The Donkey Forecaster" in searches), along with many local-level newspapers continue publishing the "police beat", "police blotter", etc. (other newspapers will not print names, but the police log is public information and if one feels compelled to find out the names they're legally entitled to do so).

The problems with the Ostrich, The Forecaster and other newspapers' choices are many: one is the person's innocent until proven guilty; another, it's fact that some police departments willfully redact certain identities in an attempt to keep those arrests a secret (a reporter has stated she didn't actually see the police logs but was told verbally, by phone calls, about the information from the documents); and perhaps the greatest concern, it's also fact that, across the nation, too many police officers have been falsifying police reports, logs, and other official documents with impunity.

Recently, at least one young man was negatively affected by the police beat publication. When reading his comment following one of The Forecaster's police beat, the commentor was obviously upset, and said his name was showing up, yet again, for a previously published but subsequently dismissed charge (see StinkyJournalism "Innocent of a crime but convicted on the web" and additional links within).

Not to say all court processes, and namely prosecutors' actions, are without corruption. Sometimes even the end results of the judicial system are illegal and unethical on either side of the issue - non-convictions or convictions (see The Innocence Project; Causes of Wrongful Convictions). But publishing without waiting for judicial process finalization contributes to an erroneous notion that 100% of police officers are "good" cops who are 100% correct and ethical in all their actions. Publication, therefore, also provides erroneous justification of taxpayers' expenditures for services not necessarily well-done, ethical, nor accomplished under the laws which include individuals' rights (see Police, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, and "Police State: To Serve and Protect, Feb. 11, 2015). Some newspapers' editors say instead of investigating all end results of charges to publish, they'll wait for the police department to notify them of any changes (i.e., dismissals, LEO misconduct, etc.). Wonder how often that happens?

It appears there are numerous reasons why some LEO falsify documents and reports, as evidenced by "Police State: To Serve and Protect". And, as a good friend reiterates, "follow the money". Falsification of documents may lead to monetary benefits such as: preferential job details, overtime pay, "justifying" employment, and maintaining numbers of LEOs for the department, etc. For example, in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) whistleblowers within the department had complained for months about collusion of some police officers (various ranks, shifts, and supervisors) in records falsifications reporting "ghost car" patrols - patrols which never occurred.

Additionally, falsifying reports by coding was common, and 1,200 violent crimes were purposefully coded as minor offenses. It appears these lying practices are happening in order for some LEOs to not only "justify" their jobs, but also give false appearances that violent crimes in their districts were decreasing. Hate Crimes, rapes, and any number of crimes against people and property would easily appear low or nonexistent in certain municipalities based on willful falsifications in reporting, coding, and purposeful omissions. The FBI maintains a Uniform Crime Report (UCR) which also becomes meaningless in light of falsifications and willful omissions, not to mention reporting to the UCR isn't even mandatory.

New Hampshire has attempted to address the issues of lying LEOs, first through the "Laurie List" which is a state policy whereby names of LEOs who've been accused of such actions as lying under oath, filing false reports, planting evidence, theft, fraud, etc. are kept by the attorney general and available to defense council in any criminal case. The Laurie List resulted from a 1993 case being overturned by the State's Supreme Court because state prosecutors failed to disclose evidence about a police officer who testified at the trial. But the list is secretive and LEOs' names are not available to the public.

According to an article (Oct. 6, 2012) there were over 60 LEOs employed in New Hampshire with serious credibility issues as evidenced by the Laurie List. And in the same article, Lincoln Soldati, a Portsmouth defense attorney and former Strafford County Attorney, "...remembers one police department years ago that deliberately kept two sets of personnel files to avoid Laurie disclosures." Nashua defense attorney, Roger Chadwick said, "If a police officer has a credibility issue, they need to find another line of work. They shouldn't be a police officer. Who are they protecting?"

Rep. Frank Sapareto - R-Derry, said he's in favor of honest police officers and honest legislators, and sponsored New Hampshire House Bill, HB 1204 in an attempt to also prohibit any police officer committing perjury and/or falsifications in official documents from serving in law enforcement employment for at least five years. HB 1204 was sent to an interim study which is tantamount to a death knell.

Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst and a retired judge said, "If you are on that list (because of no or diminished credibility)...you are worthless to the police department who cannot use (you) in any trial." Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, said, "The only people affected by the bill would be those who commit perjury and endanger the lives and well-being of innocent people...By failing to pass this bill, we send a message that we are condoning something we should never condone - lying under oath and getting away with it."

HB 1204, indeed, became "dead" October 30, 2014 and is not recommended for future legislation because it was deemed to potentially cause an increase in the state's expenditures for FY 2015 and beyond.

More Cops Caught Lying:

 And the lies continue:

 

Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst, a retired judge, said opposing counsel has to be told of any law enforcement office with no or diminished credibility.

“If you are on that list,” Rowe said, “you are worthless to the police department who can not use (you) in any trial.” - See more at: http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20140220/NEWS06/140229957/0/NEWS0602#sthash.CvHMJIEs.dpuf

Higher up on the pyramid, albeit not on top, are too many Pinocchios... But, yet, they're still there. None carry the badge, but they have many other ways to cause destruction and mayhem while on the U.S. taxpayers' dollar. Human lives seem to matter very little to these people. George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et al. - it doesn't matter, Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc. are all playing the same games.

Sibel Edmonds, Former FBI agent, Whistleblower:

It's impossible now, for this writer, to read the local newspapers about the big lie called the "war on drugs", and concerns about heroin use increasing in Maine without also thinking about the Granddaddy Drug Dealers making it possible - NATO, the U.S.A. et al.

Some of the recent local news regarding heroin:

• Heroin easy to get in greater Portland, treatment more elusive,
• Maine joins multistate task force working to stop heroin use,
• Drug cases dominate list of Hancock County indictments,
• Brunswick man charged with heroin trafficking,

Taking a critical look at any of the wars, including the elusive, unseen "war on terrorism" it's all about gaining resources [oil, minerals, gas, uranium, diamonds, human (trafficking), drugs, etc.]. Resources for money and power gains benefit the small group at the top of the pyramid and are achieved through purposefully created conflicts, and "never letting a crisis go to waste" (Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, and Smedley Butler's War is a Racket). And who would've thought the U.S.A. is part of a global drug ring and one of the biggest drug dealers?

Sibel Edmonds is a Turkish-American formerly hired by the FBI as a translator (Sept. 20, 2001). Having lived in Iran and Turkey, Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Persian, Azerbaijani, and English. It didn't take long for Edmonds to discover fraud, corruption, and Turkish Intelligence spies working for FBI agent Jan Dickerson (who has quit the FBI and lives in Belgium), inside the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon to obtain U.S. military and intelligence secrets. Sibel Edmonds was fired after blowing the whistle.

Senator Charles Grassley (member of the Judiciary Committee which has direct oversight of the FBI) said that Ms. Edmonds is credible and others have corroborated what she says, and he sees "The usual pattern...Let me tell you, first of all, the embarrassing information comes out, the FBI reaction is to sweep it under the rug, and then eventually they shoot the messenger." (CBS news, "Lost in Translation"). Further, retired Chief of the FBI's Internal Affairs Department, special agent John Roberts isn't permitted to speak about the Sibel Edmonds case (the FBI also retroactively classified information given to Congress about Sibel Edmond's case) and is "...outraged how little is ever done about investigating misconduct by FBI employees."

Sibel Edmonds discovered much more information than the aforementioned, and she speaks publicly through books, interviews on The Corbett Report, and her own site Boiling Frogs Post, and founded the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) August 2004. In a four-part series found at The Corbett Report and available on YouTube, Edmonds explains the extremely convoluted and global evolution of Operation "Gladio B". The summaries below provide a brief outline of Edmonds' interviews (because the information is vast), but reveals the depth and diabolical actions by those involved as a part of our U.S. government:

Part 1: An Intro to Gladio B:

Sibel Edmonds discusses with James Corbett the global field of ops (in the area encompassing Central Asia, Caucuses, Balkans - former Soviet block) for smuggling heroin, weapons, committing mass murders, false flag terrorist activities internationally. Turkey is an important player primarily because of its geographical location. But the U.S. is the base of operations (Chicago), and main arteries are the UK, Belgium, and Turkey, (NATO).

Two prime groups before the fall of the U.S.S.R. were (1) Western and Northern Europe, Eastern Block Nations, and (2) Former Turkish military intelligence forces and Turkey's paramilitary groups. Babas (godfathers) in Turkey were jailed; they had experience in blackmailing and heroin smuggling, etc. The Babas were released from jail, allowed to serve the Turkish state, and received training from U.S. and NATO forces, then were given diplomatic passports to continue heroin and weapons smuggling, mass murders, false flag attacks for NATO and the U.S. (and made copious amounts of money).

Abdullah Catli ("Chat-ly"), one of these Babas, was responsible for tens of thousands of murders by methods including bombings, and beheadings. Catli was on Interpol's 10 most wanted list; however, when arrested and jailed in Switzerland he made an amazing escape, by NATO-owned helicopter, and appeared in London. In 1989 Catli, still on Interpol's list, was granted UK citizenship, and around 1990-91 Catli went to Chicago and was given a U.S. Green Card and settled in Chicago. Based in Chicago, Catli traveled, using 4-5 diplomatic passports, to areas in Central Asia, Europe, the Caucuses, and Xinjiang, China and continued orchestrating false flag terror attacks, heroin smuggling, etc.

Operation Gladio B was taking root as NATO, and the U.S., began plans to use Islamic factions (aka Mujahideen, Al Qaeda) to get more former Soviet blocks on the U.S. side. Russia had lost its predominant share of the heroin and weapons smuggling operations in the 1990s. The Sursuluk, Turkey scandal (1996) occurred because Catli, the Chief of Police of Turkey, and other top political figures traveling together, died in a car crash. Local police forces and investigative reporters arrived onto the scene to discover one of Interpol's 10 most wanted international criminals dead along with high-ranking Turkish government officials.

Major Douglas Dickerson (husband of Jan Dickerson, former FBI agent mentioned above) was removed from Ankara,Turkey along with U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Marc Grossman, following the Sursuluk scandal. Dickerson had been working under Operation Gladio in directing paramilitary forces for NATO operations. Dickerson was sent to Germany, then Brussels, Belgium.

Part 2: Gladio B - Protecting Terrorists and Stifling Investigations: 

Sibel Edmonds discusses how Bin Laden's son-in-law and other top Al Qaeda "terrorists" end up being protected by the Turkish government; several have gone to Iran. Edmonds also talks about how some operatives are captured and sent to various places (Guantanamo, Italy, etc.) to be tortured.

Information is revealed how other FBI whistleblowers, Robert Wright, and John Vincent (retired) from the Chicago field office had come forward to reveal findings from their investigations but were not allowed into the 911 Commission's report. Further, both agents were involved in tracking Turkish terrorists, narcotics, criminal, and espionage entities who are not arrested in the U.S. because they have diplomatic immunity. Edmonds says the lower level drug-dealing homies and Joes get arrested and jailed, but the big-time drug dealers continue their activities unimpeded. Turkish-Albanian networks route heroin into Europe; from Turkey heroin is smuggled into the Balkans, to Brussels, Egypt, and then into the U.S. ("a huge market for heroin").

Edmonds warns that mainstream media is not focusing on the aforementioned; and she believes that too many in the U.S. frame their minds dichotomously, seeing things only in black and white. And the other part of the problem is not wanting to understand what doesn't fit in their paradigm; "a wall goes up". Additionally, there's a lack of critical-thinking coupled by disbelief these things are happening; and they don't want to hear it.

Warnings are made for the public to pay attention to some of the current areas of focus for the U.S. and NATO, and highly probable future crisis arenas for further false flag attacks, etc. in places including Baluchistan and the Xinjiang province of China. She also warns that typical psychological tactics to gain public support and hiding real motives include focusing on religion, and purposeful or manufactured humanitarian crisis issues. The goal remains the same - to gain resources.

Part 3: From Nationalist Terror to Islamic Terror:

Turkey is referred to as a butler nation to the U.S.; but it's well-paid by the U.S. taxpayers, and it "negotiates" as a player. High-level U.S. State Department and Pentagon officials, and the Turkish government, including Turkish government officials in the U.S. were discussing plans for attacking Iraq. The U.S. and UK had already decided and prepared to attack Iraq before 9/11. Some of the officials mentioned by Edmonds include: Brent Scowcroft, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz. Turkey's backing was needed for the attack, specifically Incirlik Base, but Turkey refused because it wanted Kirkuk (in northern Iraq that used to belong to the Turkish Empire and is oil-rich); but the U.S. said no because it was deemed too much of a big "mess".

Israel played both sides; providing Turkey with military equipment, and training and working with high-level Kurdish commandos in the region because it wanted a small base in order to spy on Iran. After withdrawing from Iraq, the U.S. gave Turkey the green light to begin aerial bombing of the Kurds.

Original Plan A Gladio participants (Grey Wolves) were causing issues for the U.S. because they weren't in-line with Gladio B plan; therefore, the U.S. wanted the Turkish generals arrested and jailed. These former ultranationalist/fascists previously working against Russia as the enemy then asked Russia for political asylum saying they would be jailed, tortured and assassinated. In return for political asylum, Russia was given information on how Chechen informants were trained by NATO, and the U.S., and the Turkish generals then began working with Russian FSB assassins (former KGB).

Huseyin Baybasin, aka "Escobar of Europe" (Kurdish Turk) is a drug lord worth billions who used to live in the UK, and was arrested in 1999 and put into a prison in the Netherlands (his clan/family continues the drug business for Baybasin after his arrest). Baybasin told Edmonds the heroin he handled went all over Europe and to the U.S. with explicit consent of Turkish government, Turkish military planes, Turkish embassies, and Turkish consulates all over Europe and the U.S. 

Part 4: Running Drugs and Laundering Money:

Yasar Oz is a heroin godfather who operated below Abdullah Catli's level. Oz managed multi-billions of dollars worth of heroin sourced from Afghanistan prior to 9/11; a lot of the heroin was coming into the U.S. via Brussels.

Oz was arrested in a joint DEA/FBI bust; he'd had several kilograms of pure heroin in his possession. But within the same day of capture, Oz "escaped", went to JFK airport and boarded a first class Turkish airliner and arrived in Turkey that evening. The U.S. State Department had Oz released because of his diplomatic immunity even though Oz wasn't connected with the Turkish embassy. Oz, however, in addition to carrying 4 passports, had NATO ID.

Yasar Oz owns casinos in the Turkish portion of Cyprus and is involved in the First Merchant Bank (main bank used by NATO, CIA, mafia people for money laundering).

The mujahideens fighting Russia in the 1980s, and loved by the U.S. for fighting communism, were the same Talibans later villified by the U.S. as Al Qaeda. But even after the Soviets left Afghanistan they maintained connections with the heroin resources through the Russian mafia.

Afghanistan poppies in raw form are shipped to Turkish labs to produce pure heroin. Heroin comes to the U.S. into Andrews Air Force base; planes loaded with heroin fly in from the Netherlands or Brussels. Alfred McCoy (The Politics of Heroin) provides statistics and graphs showing the correlation between our military, NATO, and CIA being highly active in places of drug production referred to as The Golden Triangle, and The Golden Crescent and includes Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Afghanistan. Post 9/11 Russia's heroin market share decreased dramatically, as the U.S.'s share increased.

Cyprus is the top center for money laundering, and financial transactions surrounding activities of both heroin and weapons smuggling aspects. Two other important branches are in Dubai and the Cayman Islands (the Cayman Islands being the intermediary station to the U.S.).  

"They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, 'Shit, it's raining!'" 

Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst, a retired judge, said opposing counsel has to be told of any law enforcement office with no or diminished credibility.

“If you are on that list,” Rowe said, “you are worthless to the police department who can not use (you) in any trial.” - See more at: http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20140220/NEWS06/140229957/0/NEWS0602#sthash.t651JJ9l.dpu

Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst, a retired judge, said opposing counsel has to be told of any law enforcement office with no or diminished credibility.

“If you are on that list,” Rowe said, “you are worthless to the police department who can not use (you) in any trial.” - See more at: http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20140220/NEWS06/140229957/0/NEWS0602#sthash.t651JJ9l.dpu

Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst, a retired judge, said opposing counsel has to be told of any law enforcement office with no or diminished credibility.

“If you are on that list,” Rowe said, “you are worthless to the police department who can not use (you) in any trial.” - See more at: http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20140220/NEWS06/140229957/0/NEWS0602#sthash.t651JJ9l.dpuf

Police State: To Serve and Protect

"A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Doublethink is what George Orwell described as "a vast system of mental cheating." And when people continue insisting we're not living in a police state or that law enforcement misconduct and use of excessive force are necessary to protect our freedoms they've engaged in doublethink.

Some will remember a time when police misconduct, brutality, and willful violations of citizens' Constitutional rights didn't occur on the scale of what we see today. And before this writer proceeds in giving some of the examples from the web, it's pertinent to say not all law enforcement officers (LEO) have engaged in such misconduct.

Moreover, those willing to point out police misconduct are not saying the entirety of law enforcement is involved. Rather, it's the totality of collusion by corrupt and unethical LEO, fellow officers, supervisors, and prosecutors who knowingly choose nondisclosure and refuse to remove and prosecute such LEO which represents the problem. And it's indicative of major failings, and lack of accountability to the public when multiple perpetrators on various levels are responsible for misconduct. This reveals a police state. Law enforcement officers engaged in actions under the color of law, and operating with impunity, are dangerous to all of us.

It appears a majority of citizens were unaware of the extent of militarization of police forces until the protests and riots occurred in Ferguson, Missouri last year following Officer Darren Wilson's shooting and killing of an unarmed 18-year old black man, Michael Brown. The militarization of LEO under the Federal 1033 Program wasn't a major focus of mainstream media prior to Ferguson.

Wonder how many have even contacted elected representatives requesting termination of the 1033 program and militarization of police forces, and immediate pursuit for police accountability. This writer has, and thus far received correspondence from only two: Senator Angus King, and Maine House of Representative Jethro D. Pease (a member of Maine's Joint Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee).

No acknowledgement to written concerns about the 1033 Program and police misconduct have yet been received (in approximately 6 months now) from any other elected representatives from my district, all the other representatives on Maine's Joint Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, Senator Susan Collins, and Representative Chellie Pingree.

However, past correspondence to Governor LePage, albeit on a different issue, resulted in response. Therefore, it's my opinion the majority of our representatives, although quick to request a vote, do little to nothing to represent citizens once elected; hence the moniker "sock puppet". Further, there doesn't appear to be enough concern by our elected officials regarding the militarization of local police and elaborate drills conducted in conjunction with military taking place in many areas across the nation.

Retired USMC Colonel, Mr. Martino from Concord, New Hampshire, has recognized the patterns and publicly warned people the U.S. government has been building a domestic army.

"We're building a domestic military because it's unlawful, or unconstitutional, to use American troops on American soil (see Posse Comitatus). So what we're doing is we're building a military...Homeland Security is pre-staging gear, equipment consistent (with building a domestic military)...what they're trying to do is use standardized gear, standardized equipment...Let's not kid about it; we're building a domestic army and we're shrinking the military because the government is afraid of its own citizens."

Along with equipping local police departments with military-grade weapons, night-vision gear, MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles), etc., the hiring methods of LEO has changed over the years and honed to ensure characteristics of individuals deemed more suitable for a police state as detailed by Jerome Skolnick's Theory of working personality (criminologist and author of Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement In a Democratic Society 1966). According to Skolnick three elements create a policeman's working personality: danger, authority, and efficiency (Ann Freeman, "The Working Personality of Police Officers"). From Ann Freeman's article we learn that Skolnick discovered:

"...there are 'distinct cognitive tendencies' in police as an occupational grouping. This analysis can be found similar among departments across the country and across the world (Skolnick, 1966). This 'working personality' creates the subculture of the police, which Skolnick continually refers to."

"...Skolnick further states, 'Deception is considered by the police to be acceptable in many aspects of their job. A cop learns to back up the stories colleagues tell to superiors and investigators; in turn he is confident colleagues will back him up (Skolnick, 2000). This is sometimes referred to as the “blue wall of silence.” A police officer may find himself stuck between the “blue wall of silence” and the need to notify his or her superiors of any police misconduct. An officer does not want to tell on another officer and be labeled a “rat”. This label can follow an officer for the length of his/her career if he or she would choose to reveal information about a co-worker and their misconduct. Skolnick states that the blue wall of silence can cover-up and possibly encourage violations of civil rights and small less extreme incidents of violence and abuse. These actions may only be uncovered if there is pressure from an internal investigation or the threat of prosecution (Skolnick, 2000).”

If deception is considered by police as acceptable, and this study by Skolnick is available, then an LEO shouldn't be considered more truthful than the ordinary person in court simply because he's employed as such.

Further, it would seem the courts and citizens would also prefer all LEOs to be intelligent. However, the hiring process instead appears to be a method of determining the desired "distinct cognitive tendencies" Skolnick refers to and as evidenced by the Wunderlic/Wonderlic (Personality and Aptitude Career Test). According to web news, some candidates were deemed too intelligent, and not considered for hire because it was said they'd become bored in their job as a police officer.

It's reasonable to believe that militarization of police coupled with purposeful search of people possessing distinct cognitive tendencies has lead to deceptions, cover-ups, abuses, fraud, violence, and violations of citizens' rights in a frightening combination. Perhaps this is why we're observing an escalation of LEO misconduct and the police state which continues to exist. The mandates are coming from the top down in order to reach a goal; and as USMC-R Colonel Martino observes it's obvious the goal is to create a domestic army against U.S. citizens.

Increasing police misconduct and use of excessive force appears prevalent; and the graphic images and news is extremely disturbing; one is in serious denial or doublethink not to see it.

SWAT raids began in 1969 in an LAPD shootout with the Black Panthers. There are approximately 50,000 SWAT teams across the U.S. predominantly used in nonviolent, misdemeanor drug cases. The number of SWAT raids increased from 3,000 in 1981 to 50,000 in 2005 with 40 innocent people and 20 nonviolent offenders killed in raids since 1995. Police brutality and misconduct occurs across the board, not just in SWAT raids; some examples of the police state include:

• Charlton Police Sgt. Dan Dowd going to the home of a 5-year old girl for overdue books;
• A 70-year old Utah woman is wrestled to the ground and arrested for failing to maintain her lawn in accordance with city standards;
• A 22-year old with Downs Syndrome is beaten by police;
• SWAT Raid on a Columbia, Missouri home; dogs shot, child in the house, no marijuana found;
• Former Marine, Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., 68-years old in White Plains, New York is tasered, hit with shotgun beanbags, shot and killed when a SWAT team was sent to his house after Mr. Chamberlain accidentally triggered his medical alert system;
• LEO (women and men deputies) are videotaped forcefully strip searching a woman after she requested help following an assault, LEO left her naked for 6 hours (no blanket), the woman said it felt like she'd been raped;
• Police in Hollywood, Florida caught on dash cam framing a young woman to cover for another officer who'd slammed his cruiser into the back of the woman's car;
• LEO caught on video threatening to make up evidence against two innocent young men in Seattle, Washington. LEO said, "You're going to jail for robbery that's all...I'm gonna make stuff up." Both men were assaulted by the officer, but no dash cam video was available; it's reported tens of thousands of dash cam videos are lost ("vanishing videos") by the department

And these incidents are just a very small fraction of LEO misconduct, brutality, and excessive force in our country. A police state isn't what most of us envision for the future of our children and grandchildren, but without some immediate changes and accountability for all LEO's behaviors, supervisors and prosecutors involved the police state will not simply go away - and best to begin locally. If anyone thinks Brunswick is really the Town of Perfect and police brutality and violations of citizens' Constitutional rights don't occur, start looking; there's a history which is covered-up.

This writer leaves you with another "disappearing" message from The Forecaster comments in December 2014 (similar to the one from "Smells Like Agenda 21 in Brunswick", January 13, 2015). Seems most would want to know what's going on, why there's no investigation, and why local newspapers (The Times Record and The Forecaster) are not reporting:

"Protect Brunswick Children • 2 hours ago
 

Chew H Bird - thanks for the post and sharing your own experiences with being bullied. When I read your comments about your own experience being bullied, it actually makes me sad for you. Somehow, you seemed to learn at an early age that if you spoke up and complained, it was going to make the situation worse. And for a young child, I always want kids to feel that adults DO care and they Will help. So, I wish you had NOT had your experiences and you will consider empathy with another child who like you was also bullied. If this were YOUR child or grandchild or perhaps the kid in your neighborhood who delivered your paper, you would fret about them. You would want to know they feel safe.

Most adults that were bullied clearly remember many of the incidents - very clearly - for the rest of their life. Decades later, they can often clearly remember where they were and exactly what the bullies looked like. All of us who care - truly care - about kids don't want anyone being bullied.

Perhaps the woman who contacted the Maine Human Rights Commission did so out of frustration that no higher authorities in the Brunswick school department were doing their job? The fact that this case has escalated to the Maine Human Rights Commission DOES indicate the Superintendent is clearly AT FAULT. The Superintendent should NEVER have allowed it to get so bad that the parent had to appeal to the Maine Human Rights Commission for legal assistance. If she asked for help to make it stop and if teachers were willing to help BUT the superintendent was the problem, place the blame squarely on the Superintendent. And let's not forget those publicly elected School Committee members. Between the Superintendent and School Committee, these folks can be more slippery than an eel greased in Crisco. Of course, the Superintendent and School Committee will practice their "hints" that the mother is suing for MONEY as this is what the taxpayers are worried about - and should be worried about. Just consider how small towns can have information - or misinformation - spread to benefit the public leaders in charge. It is called persuading the public.

The next question is: did the Superintendent contact Brunswick Police Chief Rizzo and did Rizzo investigate complaints of sexual assault involving a minor? If Rizzo was contacted, did he refuse to investigate? Were the bullies the children of "influential" people in Brunswick? Rizzo has a pattern of not investigating certain people in Brunswick - this is called 2 standards of justice. And Rizzo's buddy Brunswick Police Captain Mark Waltz is in charge of sexual assaults. Knowing the excellent men and women of the Brunswick Police Patrol, Sargeant and Lieutenant staff, they would have been very willing to help. We all know these folks - and they are GREAT. Every one of them would help out in a second.

But, if Captain Mark Waltz became informed, did he refuse to investigate a child being sexually assaulted? Were the aggressors children of "influential" families? There are already serious complaints involving Rizzo and Waltz "Dancing with the Stars" with their close buddies at the Brunswick Town Council and the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust. Angela Twitchell needs to be investigated - and should be for bullying Brunswick seniors and residents to she can financially exploit them to benefit a small group of residents in Pennellville and a small group of attorneys, real estate appraisal specialists and real estate title search services. Maine Human Rights Commission, pay attention to this story as it continues to unfold. There is violation of another Brunswick person's civil rights going on, right now and the female from Pennellville is NOT looking to sue. She is looking for public accountablility, a full and impartial investigation and justice.

Rizzo and Waltz have REFUSED to investigate persons who have targeted the female in Pennellville whlie she has appeared to be ALONE on her private property. The Brunswick Police Patrol staff have been very willing to help the woman BUT Brunswick Town Manager John Eldridge and the entire Brunswick Town Council have not responded. Is the new strategy, recommend by the newly hired (and taxpayer funded) attorney to "REMAIN SILENT"? And why exactly was former Town Manager Gary terminated? Did he refuse to go along with illegal activity?

Finally, the really big question is why hasn't publicly elected Cumberland County District Attorney Stepanie Anderson being questioned for why she refused to help this mother prevent her child from being sexually assaulted? Whoa...the DA refused to help? Sexual assault is a crime, right? And Stephanie Anderson, former Brunswick native, spent so much time in New York City investigating homicides. Does she forget she is NOT just an attorney in private practice, making money like so many local attorneys (including Brunswick Police Captain Mark Waltz!) but Stephanie Anderson is the pubicly elected DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

PS - Stephanie Anderson refused to return any phone calls to the female in Pennellville. Why not?

Prosecutorial bias anyone?"