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The irony of this entire experience is the fact that the very people who
were elected or appointed to office from local, county, state and federal
governments to guarantee my rights under the Constitution would be the very
people to violate them. It must be something in the Constitution that they
didn't understand or agree with because they clearly violated any rights I had
whenever they felt like it.
My next point on this issue will be that when we were under arrest and at
the police station, the mayor walked in and boasted that he had us this time.
He was so proud and confident that he even offered to show us their evidence.
Well after showing us their phony evidence the mayor's temper got the best
of him. In the heat of conversation with my uncle in the courtroom, the mayor
knocked me through several rows of chairs and then attempted to come around the
chairs to finish me off. The only thing that stopped him was the police chief.
Granted, I probably shouldn't have referred to the mayor as a punk kid, but
did that give the right to the highest elected official in Rossford government
to physically attack me? The next interesting twist in this bizarre event
occurred after the police chief refused to arrest the mayor for assault. I
notified both of them that as soon as we were released we were going to the
Perrysburg prosecutor’s office and file an assault charge against the mayor.
The reason I mention this is that when we attempted to talk with the
Perrysburg prosecutor, he already knew why we were there and he refused to do
anything. He told us that he didn't want to get in the middle of my fight with
the mayor of Rossford.
You have to admit that it's fairly obvious that someone from Rossford talked
with the Perrysburg prosecutor before we arrived, and we were only twenty
minutes away. Now think about this. If the mayor didn't assault me and I didn't
tell him that I was going to Perrysburg to file charges, how would he have known
that we were going to the Perrysburg prosecutor in the first place? And if
nothing happened, there would have been no reason for them to contact the
Perrysburg prosecutor. I wonder if this could be considered obstruction of
justice? Unfortunately for me, the fat lady was far from singing on this one
because they were just warming up.
It's not bad enough that the elected officials in Rossford didn't agree or
understand the United States Constitution and their sworn duty to uphold it.
Some of the elected officials in Perrysburg didn't either, especially their
prosecutor and judge, and it didn't stop there. I found it strange but
consistent with the treatment I'd received in Rossford that the Perrysburg
prosecutor wouldn't even take the time to hear us out before making his
decision. I guess by law it's his call. Kind of makes you wonder how many times
prosecutors do favors like this.
I did feel a little more confidence in the legal system when we first went
to Judge Spore and he agreed to hold a preliminary hearing regarding the
assault charge. My confidence was short-lived though. I had already experienced
Rossford’s kangaroo court. Unfortunately for me I was soon to find out that the
kangaroos in the Perrysburg court were bigger and better trained. It just so
happened that the hearing for supposedly accepting hazardous waste was
scheduled in the Perrysburg court with Judge Spore before the mayor’s
preliminary hearing was held.
When I went into that hearing, I was under the assumption that we would have
an honest, full-time, reputable judge who would unbiasedly evaluate the case
and render a fair and just verdict. I was dead wrong. Remember, Art James was
the one who convinced us that we didn't need a trial by jury; with Rossford’s
evidence, supposedly no judge in his right mind would ever believe their story
or find us guilty.
Just so you don't think that I've jumped to conclusions about Judge Spore,
let me ask you to put yourself in his place for a moment. One of the first
things I think he would have considered was the fact that one day earlier the
mayor dropped charges against me in his court. The next thing might be: Who on
earth would be stupid enough to do something like this fully knowing that the
city of Rossford wanted to hang you out to dry? This was the only supposed
violation of our permit. To top that off, the Rossford prosecutor prosecuted a
case where he was his own chief witness. I'm not sure if that's illegal but it
sure as hell seems unethical. Then for some strange reason they never called Steve
Duly as a witness.
I think the most important issue should have been Rossford’s unbelievable
evidence and the fact that the Rossford prosecutor obtained it without a search
warrant. If that wasn't enough for Judge Spore then there were the two semi-drivers
who dumped the loads, and the job foreman who swore under oath that this box
never came off his job site or their trucks, and even if it had it would have
been impossible for the box and its contents to be where they said they found
it in the condition it was in. Let me ask you: What would your decision have
been?
As it turned out, Judge Spore simply overlooked everything phony about
Rossford’s case and found us guilty. I just sat there in amazement; I couldn't
believe it. This hearing was as rigged as the one in Rossford. This time though
they got their guilty verdict and that's all they needed to put me out of
business.
Meanwhile, I sat there watching everything I worked for go down the drain.
My business, possibly my marriage and family, our money, my uncle’s money. I
think the hardest part for me to swallow was the fact that we weren't guilty
and they knew it. I can tell you that it's a horrid experience when you watch
yourself being railroaded, not once but for the third time. Even more appalling
was that they were so obvious about it.
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