Monday, May 28, 2012

From Jeff''s "sofa"


There have been quite a few references to obstruction of justice and reports that this evidence is on paper and investigations coming, so you the reader may look at this one with a grain of salt and doubt. Before you do that, you may wish to take a trip to the treasurer's office and ask for a copy of the weekly payroll warrant and a copy of the check payable to Jeff Ritter in the amount of $14,000.00. You then want to go to theselectmen office and ask for a copy of the legal bill from K&P for the month of April in the amount of $4,289.00 and pay attention to pages 3 & 4 as you will see reference to settlement agreement. You may also request a copy of employment settlement agreement and release of claims which should be public record since money from a salary account was used to pay it off. You can contact me if these requests are denied as I have copies of legal bill and settlement agreement which I did not sign nor vote for. You then might look to the town by-laws book of Templeton, page 6, Article VII - legal affairs, section 2. The subject is settle claims in excess of one thousand dollars. "settle any claim or suit to which the town is a party, which does not require the payment of an amount in excess of one thousand dollars. No settlement of a claim shall be made without town meeting vote. So if as Bob Columbus, Virginia Wilder and Patrick Mullins said and voted for, the $14,000.00 paid to Jeff Ritter so he could resign was not a settlement or claim, why was the town charged for legal services involving a settlement. My question is did those 3 selectmen obstruct justice, that is deny the legislative branch of the government of Templeton, ie: taxpayers, their right and authority to look over and vote on said settlement? If our by-laws which are approved by the attorney general are worth anything and are legal, how is it those 3 selectmen can get away with not following them? How is it they can interfere with the authority of the taxpayers, who by virtue of the town meeting system are designated the legislative branch in town government? The minutes of the selectmen meeting, including executive session minutes, legal bill, settlement agreement, town by-laws, payroll warrant and check are all there for any citizen to look at and request via a freedom of information act request. My contention is in their quest to bring back K&P law firm, get rid of Jeff Ritter and to bring back carolskeltoncolumbus, wilder and mullins did in fact obstruct justice, they did interfere with the government of the town of Templeton and they interfered with justice by going to town council to try and separate the response of the town and 3 selectmen involving the suit of carol skeltonafter she was let go by the BOS in October 2011. By trying to split the response to the complaint, it is my opinion and the opinion of the attorney hired by the town, through their insurance company, that the splitting of the complaint favored carol skelton thereby denying the town and equal chance in court with this case. At a meeting in early March 2012, attorney from K&P informed the BOS that he had been put in touch with the chairman about 3 weeks prior to this date by Len Kopelman. That date goes close to the date of February 16, 2012 when those same 3 selectmen voted to bring back K&P as the town law firm and at which time they stated they had had no contact with K&P. My opinion iscolumbus had been talking with K&P on this and other issues for a while. This is 3 selectmen by their votes which are on the record, denying taxpayers having their say and their vote, this is interfering and refusing to answer the questions of the taxpayers who were trying to see if the rules and laws were followed by the very people they think are representing them and their town responsibly. I have the green card that shows the AG office has received these complaints and we will now see who the AG works for and if there is a rule of law for the little guy. Hopefully we can read about these 3 people in court answering these questions.        Jeffrey Bennett

8 comments:

  1. It is believed that the treatment plant contract between The Town of Templeton and Erving Paper Mills was also settled without going to town meeting and what a coincident some of the same characters were involved with both incidents. That whole affair (WWTP contract) should be looked at by competent legal once Kopelman and Paige are shown the door.

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  2. Check out the letter from K&P Attorney John Giorglo dted October 22, 2008. In it, Mr. Giorglo writes that town meeting vote is not required because of the first sentence in article VII on page 6 in town by-law book, section 2; The selectmen may at their discretion compromise or settle any claim or suit to which the town is a party, My only problem with this opinion is he only uses the first part of the first sentence, because if my narragansett education does not fail me, a sentence generally ends with a period and not a comma, the rest of the sentence states which does not require the payment by the town of an amount in excess of one thousand dollars. Looks to me that the first sentence does indeed say any amount over $1000.00 needs to go before town meeting vote. My opinion is K&P back in 2008 was giving the opinion that the majority of the select board wanted, because if you check, Len Kopelman stated at an interview back in July 2011 that his firm does not work for the town, they work for the majority of the board of selectmen, which in my opinion is why K&P attorney denied the document involving Jeff Ritter was not a settlement because that is what columbus, wilder and mullins wanted Mr. Jenkins to opine on. Bob Columbus leading the way and ginny wilder following suit for her dear friend carol skelton and mullins just being the third vote. I wonder if jerry skelton pays for his breakfast every day for backing carol, columbus and jerry? Check out hostile takeover and read the above mentioned letter for yourself.

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  3. oopsie daisy, above should read "check out recountcoming.com and look at cassella & Kopelman & Paige link" the K&P letter is there. So much information getting me mixed up where what is

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    1. Jeff. If you keep on digging you may hit oil. Could be the information you have uncovered is what Mr. k. does not want uncovered..This could be the reason he got the other law firm out, and is desprate to stay in Templeton. This may be the hottest potato in the garden. I do not trust anyone. Sleep with one eye open. Bev.

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    2. Or don't sleep at all like me!!

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  4. (Olive speaking) Jeff, can concerned citizens sign a letter to send to the AG's office in support of the request to look into these violations? It seems they do not respond quickly to complaints. I just read the findings for a ConCom Open Meeting complaint from 2010 that was issued just this month. So, I was wondering if a signed letter from many people on the same topic would catch more attention and would be a little harder to ignore and delay. Is there a rule as to when there is supposed to be a ruling on complaints from the AG office? Thanks.

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  5. The feds pump up a checkbook with 25,000,000.00 yes 25 million with a M to operate the twwtp at the start when a shovel with silver plate was stuck in ground.I think many shovels were in that picture on the office wall! At Baldwinville Products. Polution control was the goal for with this came sewer control and river water that was better than ever.Clean up the enviroment and we will pay for expenses to do it. plan B , if failure than Templeton will have to deal with it. Not feds- So when Erving Paper mills lawyer left Erving off documents then kept 7+ million left in checkbook we were on the hook- remember 1000. each betterment fee to upgrade plant. New owner American Tissue Mills Of Mass was not happy about the loss of checkbook balance and could do nothing,The town should have recieved the 7+ million not the original contract signers!
    Charles Housen owner of Erving Paper Mills/owner of Baldwinville Products- Guess who the lawyers for them were?
    We believe the laws were broken to transfer the federal funds and the bos were involved to "overlook" things that should have been tender to. Interfear would be a harsh way to put it! You get the idea.We think s--t is bad now,can you imagine the frustration Pete Farrell was dealing with?
    As the BOS were totally against what he was trying to do for us and the town!Pete had it correct and his own team was playing for the opposite team.We should not just bulldoze this like the mill was, lets check into it first!
    just my "educated" opinion. 16 years worth.

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  6. Olive,
    List the concerns/allegations and ask for time on the selectmen's agenda. Ask the selectmen to write a letter to the AG's office asking the AG to conduct an investigation. Have lots of citizens sign the letter (not from the Nursing Home).

    If there is nothing wrong,then there is nothing to worry about. There is no reason for the selectmen to deny the request.

    I believe the request must come from the selectmen to the AG.

    Check all the websites...recountcoming...truth is out there Templeton, C4T website. There are many docs to go over. I've left a good trail...not with breadcrumbs!

    Casella settlement, Chapter 93 Acts of 2000, 252 Baldwinville rd., WWTP lawsuit, open meeting law violations, conflicts of interest issues...go wild!

    Good luck!

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