Saving Tens of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars (And Doing the Right Thing) Is the Public Purpose Served!

Defending employees wrongly accused of misconduct in the course of their employement while simultaneously saving tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills is always a vote and an expenditure of funds that serves a valid public purpose and that also is a lawful expenditure by the BCC

Not surprisingly, a blazing front page piece in today's pre-holiday PNJ completely misses the mark.

And it misses the point.

The purpose of the piece this morning is to vilify the BCC, former paramedic employee Matt Selover, and our attorney, and to lionize clerk of the court Pam Childers and our former medical director.  

This is accomplished via snippets of emails thrown into an article, adorned with subjective assessments of issues that were swirling around the EMS division at the time of this settlement vote-- where these snippets used by PNJ are not properly contextualized.

On its face and as presented, it doesn't look good.  That's the point for the PNJ.

But once the onion is peeled and all the facts are known, the rationale for the BCC's vote to pay Matt Selover's $6,900.00 fine is readily apparent to even the most casual observer/reader.  That is why the rationale, the basis for the payment vote by the BCC appears nowhere in today's hatchet piece by Jim Little.  But there is, was, and always has been a searing, unflinching and completely rational reason "why" the board voted to pay the fine-----it DID serve a very valid public purpose.

Saving tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars (and doing the right thing) is the public purpose served!

Here is the story behind the story you will not get in this garbage pile article this morning in PNJ.

Former Escambia County Paramedic Matt Selover was railroaded on trumped up charges, deprived of due process, deprived of pay, unfairly demoted, and vilified and bullied by a former employee that made it a habit of doing this to folks with whom she disagreed. Along the way, this meniachal former employee that attempted to ruin Selover's career threw a host of allegations at a raft of now former employees with whom she had various beefs with during her short tenure.

At the end of it, all but one of the 6 now former EMS personnel this former reckless employee fingered and attempted to ruin---all but one were never prosecuted.  5 of 6 have clean records and have not been convicted of doing anything illegal---even thoughtheir collective lives were turned upside down and careers were damaged. (we're still cleaning up the mess caused by this whole episode, paying another $90K settlement to another wronged former EMS employee at our last meeting)

In Selover's case specifically--the evidence was OVERWHELMING against the county and the way the county treated him.  It was so overwhelming and blatant---- the horrible way he was treated--- that the county's own outside counsel and insurance adjuster BEGGED the county to settle for $200,000 because they estimated a jury award to Selover could have exceeded $800,000.  They also acknowledged the county would likely lose a suit if it went to a jury due to the overwhelming evidence pointing to the horric way Selover was treated by EMS staff, HR, Public Safety Supervisors, and the former County Administrator.  It was a disaster for the county.

So we settled with Selover over his due process lawsuit and we did so with insurance money, not tax dollars.

But even after the settlement, there was a DOAH administrative complaint that Selover was fighting based upon the charges levied against him by the county's former medical director.

IMPORTANT:  The county owed an obligation to defend him (Selover) in this matter and to pay his legal bills if he prevailed at DOAH, and therefore we would have been on the hook to do so had the matter at DOAH proceeded all the way through the hearing process.  We settle things all the time, all day every day, to avoid geometrically increasing legal bills.  No difference in this case.

The medical director levied multiple charges and accusations against Selover.

An expert witness, a more experienced and well-respected Medical Director, wrote an expert opinion disputing every single allegation made against Selover, one by one. Expert witness against expert witness.  

And to sustain a sanction at DOAH, the evidentiary standard that must be met is "Clear and Convincing."  

So had the hearing at DOAH continued forward, it is highly unlikely that Selover would have faced a sanction because the evidence against him by a doctor was disputed factually by another doctor.  Add to this that testimony would have been entered on behalf of Selover about other employees targeted by the former medical director and how those allegations never materialized,---and most believe there is no way he would have faced a sanction.  It would have dragged out though.

And the one sure thing is that the legal fees would have kept on going, up and up like a hot air balloon.  It could have cost taxpayers $30, $40, or $50K more.

Instead, Selover graciously accepted the deal for $6,900--- in which he did not plead guilty to anything and which also allowed him to keep his license and move forward with his career in a neighboring jurisdiction.

Selover's  acceptance of the deal and the concomitant savings in legal fees to the taxpayer that accepted deal enabled IS THE PUBLIC PURPOSE which formed the basis for the payment by the BCC.

He'd been wronged by the county, a $200,000 settlement had been made, the atrocious way his due process was withheld and the damage to him personally would have also influenced this decision at DOAH--it all would have factored in so it was most appropriate for the BCC to pay the settlement to completely make this former employee whole.  I am proud I voted to do it, I would do it again in a heartbeat, because it is and was the right thing to do.

We have to stand by our employees when they are bullied, targeted, vilified, and wrongly accused by rouge employees.  Always.  Sure, lawyers are human and make mistakes, and sometimes they reverse their opinions as our attorney did when she advised us that to make the payment "lawful" we (the BCC) had to vote it served a public purpose.  Which we did, and which payment DID serve a public purpose.

Jonathan Owens Wants County Taxpayers to Fund His Legal Defense in a SECOND Matter He is Facing....

Former county employee Jonathan Owens, who worked for disgraced former commissioner Doug Underhill as his office secretary, has now sent the county a second request for taxpayer funded legal defense for a second matter he is apparently defending.  

He (Owens) sent this latest request in an email to Administrator Wes Moreno and County Attorney Alison Rogers yesterday evening at 6:30.

In the email he sent he describes this latest issue as some kind of new complaint that he is defending, and he references recent communication(s) with an "investigator" over this issue which he believes necessitates another taxpayer funded legal defense.

As I said in an earlier post when Jonathan Owens requested the taxpayers foot the bill for legal problems he has brought upon himself by unlawfully possessing personal identification information on five or more persons to which he is not entitled------------why should he be entitled to this?

I mean, when he proudly admitted reading, keeping, and disseminating personal identification information unredacted on five or more persons on Tallman McKay's Radio Show in August and also in the PNJ---he said he didn't need "no stinkin' lawyer" then!

Why does he think he's entitled to one now?

I don't think he'll get three votes for this, I don't think the taxpayers should fund his activities that appear to be criminal and NOT at all related to his former job as Doug's secretary.

Important Factual Details Must Not Be Overlooked, Part I

As we saw in the last meeting of the Board of County Commissioners where one commissioner, his secretary (who wants to run against me for my seat with the blessing and support of his boss), and one citizen (an ally of the current D2 commissioner and his secretary--as well as the former D2 commissioner and his secretary) teamed up to create a ruckus, a political stunt aimed at damaging me and creating a splash in the press---some important details never made it into the subsequent reporting on this issue.  Not surprising.

But important details must never be overlooked. To do so by one's political opponents is to be expected; to do so by the press is disingenous at best, deliberate and intentional with actual malice and in a false light at worst.  

So here is what is important for folks to know, in granular, factual detail.

1.  County records were stolen, this was investigated by the county, and is being investigated by Law Enforcement Authorities currently as I write this.

2.  Some of the records stolen are indeed bonafide, releasable public records.  However, many (if not most) of the files stolen and inappropriately disseminated are not public records and would never be released or released unredacted under any public records request made of the county, ever.

3.  The records within the stolen file that are bonafide public records were not requested of me by the lawyers representing Dr. Rayme Edler--otherwise they would have been provided.  We learned subsequently these texts were not requested because these lawyers opposing the county had already been provided this file by Jonathan Owens, unredacted, and outside of the discovery process in that case.

4.  On June 5th  the county attorney proactively reported this theft of files directly to the state attorney once it was determined that records had been stolen, disseminated by former employee Jonathan Owens unredacted, and subsequently possessed unlawfully by multiple individuals and entities.  

5.  An investigation into potentially criminal misconduct associated with this episode was launched and both the county and I have cooperated every step of the way.

6.  Florida Statutes, specifically 817.5685, provide that mere possession of another's personal identification information, unauthorized, is a misdemeanor.  If the unlawful possession by a person includes personal identification information on five or more individuals, it is a Felony.  The information within the stolen files contains such information on more than 5 persons.  A total of 23 citizens' information is contained in the stolen files.  Cancer diagneses and prognosis, medical information, personal identification information, and reams of files that would be unlawful to release.

7.  There does not appear to be an exception to this possession of personal identification information law allowing for the media to possess such information. (e.g. what specifically within 817.5685  would allow for the PNJ to possess the Driver's Licenses and Passports of my wife and children who are not even public figures?  What exception in that law allows the PNJ to keep my daughter's bank account number?)

8.  On June 14th County Attorney Alison Rogers, County Administrator Wes Moreno, and I met in my office with law enforcement investigators assigned to look into the unlawful theft of the property from the county and any other associated crimes.  The County and I personally signed a release on the spot allowing unfettered access to these files to investigate ANY crimes associated with these files by law enforcement.   (I have asked for a releasable copy of this signed waiver and would have published it here, but I have been told by law enforcement this is not releasable yet, until the investigation has been formally completed)

9.  I also provided my copy of my complete, unadulterated iPhone Download contained on a stick drive I had in my safe to law enforcement investigators as well----months ago.  And I consented--- by voluntarily providing this file--- for them to search it for any evidence of ANY crime.  I have nothing to hide, there is no "there" there as I stated at the last meeting.  

10.  An analysis of my downloaded phone file that I provided to law enforcement, originally produced in  February 2022, is an exact match of the file that law enforcement retrieved from the county's computer systemf a year and a half later in June of 2023--the hash files are identical.  This has been verified to me by the principal investigator in this case.

11.  I have also been told by law enforcement investigators that my file that I provided to law enforcement is NOT  an exact match of the file that Jonathan Owens provided to lawyers for Dr. Rayme Edler.  The hash files DO NOT Match, the original file has been manipulated.  This has been verified to me by the principal investigator in this case.

12.  The County's replevin/conversion  civil lawsuit for return of stolen county property from other entities (Jonathan Owens, Alex Arduini, Gannett, and others potentially via follow on amended complaints as necessitated by facts obtained in the soon to commence depositions in this case), authorized by the BCC via a 4-1 vote, will enable a comparison by law enforcement of the unadulterated county file to these stolen files

Where is the Replevin Case Going from Here?

Is the media always right?

The judge assigned to the County's Replevin/Conversion civil suit  against Gannett, Jonathan Owens, and Alex Arduini (and potentially others as discovery, interrogiaories, and depositions proceed) has now put forward a case management report, detailing an initial roadmap for how the case proceeds from here.

Interesting that it appears, from this initial case management report, that the case will continue into August of 2025.  I'm told this sort of a document is standard and is subject to change and revisions as the case progresses.  In speaking with multiple attorneys on this matter, I am told that it is a novel area of law--replevin of data-- and there is a lot of research to be done.

The Gannett motion for dismissal was filed as well, in addition to the assignment of an attorney for Jonathan Owens.

It will be interesting to watch how this proceeds and how the parallel investigation into the theft of the files from the county and the associated crime of multiple individuals' possession of personal identification information, which appears to be a Felony as the information possessed unauthorized contains records on more than 5 individuals, intermixes with this civil trial.

A lot of people believe the media can do anything they want, anytime they want, to anybody they want with reckless abandon and disregard for the truth and regardless of damage their actions cause.  After all, who holds them accountable?

Maybe they are right?

I believe that is too much power to give to anyone, even the media.  Others agree.  

Meanwhile that question simmers as this case is simply about retrieving stolen property.  People still have to answer questions though, under oath, so who knows what additional information comes from this civil case and bleeds over into other cases and investigations?  Remember, don't lie under oath in this case, or to investigators in another parallel investigation......

Back to the media's unfettered right to do anything they want----I don't know the answer to that question but I did follow the multiple lawsuits filed by one student against the titans of media for a combined total of nearly a billion dollars for the media's feckless, reckless, inappropriate way they collectively distorted the truth about what happened at a Washington DC rally in 2019.

Interesting that one by one, multiple media companies settled in that case, and of particular note. each settlement in that affair contained terms that were "confidential" .

The media also paid a large settlement when apparently baseless assertions about the accuracy of voting systems from one company were spouted by at least one large cable news network.  They paid a large settlement for the damage they caused in that case, too.

So sometimes the media don't get everything they want.  Sometimes they lose.

And I know this: most in this area have a negative perception of the PNJ and the PNJ know it.  Garbage like this current situation reinforces that sentiment, demonstrated also by PNJ's diminishing subscriber base and their associated revenue losses.

Gerrymandering?

Local Morning Radio Entertainment Host Andrew Tallman Mckay still doesn't know what Gerrymandering actually is...........Neither does Steve Stroberger, Mike Kohler, and/or their sycophantics...

Based upon Thursday's ridiculous spectacle of a meeting engineered by Mike Kohler's office secretary Steve Stroberger---a new "attack" they are attempting to level at me is that I have "Gerrymandered" my district.

He (Stroberger) is actually unhappy that the rushed 2021 process resulted in him being districted out of District 2.  

But that's the way it shook out, that's what happened.  It wasn't Gerrymandering though.

That fiction was disabused the last time it rearead it's ugly head on local radio fraud Andrew "Tallman" McKay's garbage morning show.  Read all about that here.

But here are the cliff's notes.  And, the context is important, too, Tallman, Stroberger, Kohler, and Conrad.  Pay close attention.

I wanted to wait, I did NOT want to rush redistricting in 2021, that is on the record and it is clear. Rather --I wanted to wait until 2023 in order to attempt to undertake the process without rushing and to do it right.  Doug Underhill demanded it be rushed and done in 2021.  He received support in that from the rest of the board--- so I reluctantly got to work and was able to pull it all together and work to get D1's part done..(Counties are statutorily prohibited from undertaking redistricting in even numbered years)

But make no mistake:  I voiced early and often, publicly, privately, on the radio, at workshops and BCC meetings-----that  I wanted to take back Perdido Key in the process (the 2001 boundaries) and  also I'd have to GIVE away precincts I had won in every election.   In doing so, I'd be taking  on precincts that Doug Underhill won.  That's not Gerrymandering, geniuses Steve and Tallman.  Do some basic research before you open your mouths with that garbage.

Gerrymandering = artificially manipulating a district for maximum political advantage.

NOT Gerrymandering = giving away precincts I had won in the previous 5 elections...

From my 2021 post on this topic--for your further edification:

"Apparently, at least one radio host locally is really unhappy with the D1 elected officials'  (Me, Kevin Adams, and Vicki Campbell) proposed re-districted map.  I've discussed this proposed map with each of them--my peer D1 elected officials--- on multiple occasions, and they are supportive of the draft map we completed on 10-5-2021.

In fact, in the week since the meeting I haven't received any negative constituent communications on the proposed new D1 map.  I've received positive feedback from several.  Most seem generally agreeable to the draft map.

But at least one lone radio host is not, though.

Andrew "Tallman" McKay, who has increasingly displayed a weird sort of soft-spot for Commissioner Doug Underhill, is apparently now attempting to gin up opposition (that does not currently exist) to the draft district map generated at the first joint meeting between the BCC and School Board early last week.  He, McKay, apparently doesn't like the maps. all the precincts we are giving back to D2 in our proposed map (61, 99, and 75) are precincts I carried by large margins in each of my last contested elections.  Look it up.  In addition to that, I'm taking a precinct where Doug won a slim majority in his last election and where I am not popular due to the fact I supported opening Beach Access #4.

If it was "Gerrymandering" (which it isn't, by the way) I would be looking to offload precincts where I lost or where I did not do well and looking to pick up where my enemies did poorly.  Think.

I'm not doing that.

So before anyone insinuates I'm "Gerrymandering" McKay, (or Tallman, or whatever his name is), the office intern, the secretary, the water shouldering Underhill sycophants, anyone---they  should look it up and figure out what it means before lapping-up and swallowing ridiculous insinuations not based in fact..."

Adding the Missing Pieces to the Puzzle for Context

Here's the context and the missing puzzle pieces to Thursday's  political stunt that turned what should have been a congenial, Christmas themed final BCC meeting of the year  into one of the worst spectacles any of us have seen in decades on a public dais.

Since the absolutely cringeworthy disaster of a BCC meeting last Thursday "happened"--I have been inundated with well wishes and curious questions from friends, supporters, and family alike--the jist of which has been "What the heck was that all about."  

The public is genuinely puzzled by that embarrasing, unprofessional, rustic, inartful, and utterly bush-league display at public forum and subsequently at the commissioner's forum at the follow-on regular meeting.  In answering an intelligent, reasoned comment to an earlier blog post--I felt it might be instructive to put a stand-alone post up with my answer to that poster's comment and request for the basis for that attack----in order to add some real, factual context that today's front-page hit piece conveniently left out.  

And to add the missing pieces to the puzzle.

Thursday's meeting spectacle was a calculated, coordinated hit on me by one commissioner, his secretary (who's currently running a shadow campaign for my seat), and one citizen (who himself is a rabid acolyte of disgraced formercounty commissioner Doug Underhill and ally of Stroberger and Kohler). 

Three people.  

Out of 340,000 citizens in Escambia County.  

Ho hum. 

Meanwhile the D2 commissioner, Mike Kohler, is very well aware (as is most of the 4th floor) that County Employee Steve Stroberger is running for my seat,  because Steve Stroberger himself (Kohler's Secretary) has widely made it known he intends to run against me for the D1 commission seat; he's been making the rounds on the fourth floor, he's asked attorneys in the County Attorney's office if he "really has to resign to sign up to run against Jeff Bergosh", to which he was told, "Yes."  I'm also told Stroberger has made inquiries of local campaign check writers downtown about their level of potential support for his candidacy, to which I'm told he received a tepid, flaccid response.  

I've heard anecdotally Stroberger had a lunch in the IPC with Clerk of the Court Pam Childers who was encouraging Steve to run against me.  "You can do it, Steve!" was the flavor I'm told.  Good for him!  He should immediately sign up and run against me.  I welcome that!

So yes, he's currently making feeble attempts at running a shadow campaign for D1 commissioner--Encouraged, condoned, and with complete support from his boss "Pious" Mike Kohler.  Perhaps Kohler should demand an investigation of that?? Last time I checked---- you must register at the SOE's office to start fundraising and campaigning for office?  I wonder if the new "paragon of virtue," "Pious" Mike Kohler will be so discriminating, demanding, and hypercritical about what's happening in his own office currently?  Probably not.  

Meanwhile, "Pious" Mike speaks for himself only, not for the board, with his outrageous, embarrassing spectacle of a "demand" for an investigation.  

One administrative employee said to me, after that spectacle, that he was personally embarrassed for the county and had never seen such a disgusting stunt pulled in a public meeting by a sitting board member or a board employee in decades.  Decades.   Others have expressed the same disgust. 

So here are the FACTS that are the missing "puzzle pieces":  

First off:  D2 Secretary Steve Stroberger speaks for himself only, not for the county and not for the Republican Executive Committee or the Republican Party--when for his personal political expediency only he blabbers and stammers at the podium with outlandish allegations which are baseless followed by calls for my removal from office.  It's all an attempt at a political hit, designed to gin up a hatchet piece in the PNJ which they knew would follow, to potentially score a right cross to my face politically, metaphorically speaking, in the court of public opinion.  (Interesting only PNJ did a piece on this, no WEAR story as of today, no NorthEscambia story,  and No Rick's Blog story.  It seems to me these other, legitimate local news sources--- by their not covering this mess--- are telling the PNJ, overtly, "Quiet, the adults are talking")

So it's an orchestrated attack by Kohler, Stroberger, one citizen and the PNJ.  Nothing more.   

That's what this is, was, and will probably be up until August 20th.  So be it.  

Meanwhile, I continue to find it fascinating that suddenly "pious" Mike Kohler (Has a ring to it, "Pious"

Jonathan Owens wants County Taxpayers to Fund his Legal Defense

Owens sent the County Administrator and the County Attorney the request yesterday.  I'll print it below.

I personally do not feel he is entitled to any taxpayer funded legal representation because what he did is potentially criminal, fell outside the normal course of his job, and he remains in possession of stolen county records that he is not authorized to possess and that are in fact illegal for him to possess under Fl. Stat. 817.5685.  Furthermore, Owens admitted to reading the entire file  (In a radio interview with Andrew Tallman on AM 1620),  he knew it contained private, confidential records, yet he not only never told any county employee he had the file while he was working at the county--he also kept the file upon leaving employment and he also provided it, unredacted, to others---including opposing counsel in an ongoing court case against his former employer---------knowing it contained attorney client privileged conversations about that case in particular.

As Ricky Ricardo from "I love Lucy" might have exclaimed:  "Someone has some 'splainin to do!"

When he "acquired" this file and knew exactly what it was, he should have immediately returned the property the owner and promptly notified the county attorney's office.  He didn't.  He read it, kept it, and gave it to others instead.  He didn't need no stinkin' attorneys then!

But now he wants an attorney??

Nope, I don't believe he'll have three votes for this if it even comes to the board for our action--because he clearly DOES NOT qualify, under our policy, to be able to receive this coverage.  Period. This was not a job related function he was performing, and no, he ain't no whistleblower--there are specific statuatory definitions of what a whistleblower is--and he is not one.  Good luck with that.

Looks here like Jonathan Owens is following in the footsteps of his best friend, soul mate, and former boss,  Disgraced Former Commissioner Doug Underhill.

And like his mentor, partner and former commissioner Underhill----Owens now is also requesting you, the taxpayer to fund a legal defense to his reprehensible, potentially criminal conduct.

I can't make this stuff up!

What D2 resident and former Underhill Secretary Jonathan Owens sent the county yesterday:

One Way Communications are NOT a Meeting Out of the Sunshine

Lots of ignorance on display at last night's meeting to foment ill-will on the board and to create chaos on the fourth floor.

At the center of the circus was District 2 commissioner Mike Kohler and his secretary Steve Stoberger--who both utilized their position(s) to make ominous pronouncements, bloviate on ridiculous conspiracy theories, and level baseless allegations against me to score points politically.

The ultimate goal for them is to see the D2 secretary, Strohberger, elected to D1--where he will have to run against me to make that happen.  

Reminds me of the type of garbage the former D2 Commissioner and his secretary tried to do.  LOL.

Similar to these previous attacks and machinations against me from the former commissioner and the last D2 secretary---- these new ones by the new guys will not be successful either--because at the end of it all I have done nothing illegal--never have and never will.

One citizen, Glen Conrad ( a loyal acolyte of disgraced former commissioner Doug Underhill), also made some salacious, unfounded, and ignorant allegations that were baseless.

At the heart of the targed attack last night was their (Conrad, Kohler, Stroberger) pious "feeling" that an investigation into what they believe to be a sunshine law violation "needs be initiated. " They set aside the fact that all information related to this matter has already been provided to law enforcement as a part of at least two currently ongoing investigations and now two court proceedings, one of which focuses on  the much more serious criminal allegations that protected records were stolen in violation of  Fl Stat. 817.5685.  And news articles and other information was out last week--so folks are aware of what was put in the PNJ article, and the important officials that would investigate any allegations of sunshine law violations already know about what's happening-----Mike, Glen and Steve.

But what Mike, Glen, and Steve need to read is this:  One way communications do not constitute a violation of sunshine or a meeting out of the sunshine.  As I stated at last night's meeting--I've been at this work a while now, and have a plenary understanding of these laws and requirements, unlike Commissioner Kohler who is new and continuously displays this.  

A number of years back I hired a powerhouse Tallahassee firm to provide an opinion on just this topic--one way communications between board members and potentially using an internet website as an intermediary--with controls.  It is legal as long as responses are not solicited back to the sender prior to an in the sunshine meeting and as long as a record of what is sent is maintained as a public record.  From the  opinion I independently solicited, paid for,  and received:

In the case of the PNJ hatchet job that apparently triggered the trio of individuals last night to call for an investigation----the PNJ article itself demonstrates there was no chance the sunshine law was implicated.  They should re-read it S-L-O-W-L-Y. 

There was an admonition NOT to solicit a response, and the record of what was given was maintained.   Moreover--under oath the citizen to whom I was speaking about my redistricting plan said he has not delivered messages between commissioners, and there is no evidence he did so in this case.  Finally,  no response ever came back, no polling was done of board members, and an alternate plan was adopted at the regular, advertised meeting that followed a few days later.

Be upset about what you want, but be careful about making baseless, unfounded, and frankly ignorant accusations about me.  

As I said in the meeting, Mike is a nurse, I am sure he is much more adept than I at inserting catheters, cleaning bed pans, giving patients shots, changing linen, inserting IV's and performing spongebaths.  He's probably very adept at doing these things at doctors' direction. Good, I'm glad that is his specialty (I say this in no way to denigrate him or his profession-----my own daughter is a nurse!) 

However, with respect to local board politics and board dynamics with his action, recent votes, comments, and antics last night----------it appears Mike is tone-deaf and has much to learn about getting consensus on the BCC.  Even last night he ranted over something chastising the board and encouraging us to vote NO!--Then we turned around and without a single word of debate voted to approve the item which was wholly appropriate and necessary.

Mike just doesn't know how to read a room.  He's starting to rack up a lot of these 4-1 and 3-2 losses.

Luckily he and his secretary have a few more years left to learn.  Hopefully they'll get it sorted.

In the meantime, some may not like my responses to this one citizens last night, Kohler, and his secretary Stroberger----so be it.  When someone is trying to stick my head in a political gullotine with pious ignorance, ad hominems, and dubious, unsubstatiated claims--never be surprised if I defend myself aggressively.

In fact, you can count on it.  😃

County and Sigma Complete 1st Two Master Plan Charettes in Beulah

The County is moving forward with the effort to master plan the Beulah community in District 1.

It is an effort that was years in the making but finally coming to fruition.

The county hired Sigma Consulting, who in turn compiled a team of design, traffic, and economic specialists to complete the master plan team for the greater Beulah area.

After a kickoff meeting in October, the first two design charettes were scheduled for The 5th and 6th of this month and last night we completed the first two of these meetings.

The team solicited input from the community members present, gave instructions on various exercises that would happen during the charettes, and then compiled all of the input from the citizens into a first rough outline of the plan.

The next steps will include another 2 day charette in Beulah in late January or Early February.

Citizens are encouraged to attend and provide input going forward.

Check out the meeting pictures , below.

I Can't Believe Someone would Sign Their Name to this Garbage

Someone has to clean up the disgusting mess of spilled jars of sauce on aisle 6 when they are dumped all over the place -----and the ones that dumped them and made the mess have left the store......

We had a tremendously disappointing issue in our EMS department a few years back.

A bad apple employee was running roughshot over subordinate employee due process rights. Vindictive, jealous, caustic, and tribal.

Folks were accused of things they didn't do, and the county has been playing "clean up on aisle 6" ever since.  To the tune of $Hundreds of thousands of dollars and counting.

All because the supervisors who were supposed to be in charge of the rogue bull in the china shop bad apple employee--------to prevent garbage like this from continuing-------- did not do their collective jobs.  Those now former employees who did not do their jobs then have all moved on, and we are holding the bag trying to fix the lives that were broken.

6 subordinate employees were targeted with a host of ridiculous assertions, accusations, and complaints to the state by one bad actor.  Lives were ruined, and of the 6 employees accused and deprived of due process and run out of the county--5 were never even prosecuted, never convicted of anything.  

We're fixing these past wrongs, just as we did for a former paramedic who was put through hell,  one by one.   Tonight on the agenda we will have another one we will make right.  

This one to the tune of $90 Grand.

I'm going to support it because I know what happened, how it happened, and how employees of the county in leadership, HR, and public safety FAILED MISERABLY to do right by the employees here in question at that time.  Glad those former supervisors are gone.  They stood watching a slow motion train wreck and did nothing.  

Now come ill-informed citizens in the peanut gallery sending garbage emails out telling us not to pay tonight to make this employee whole.

It is so ridiculous, I cannot believe someone would actually send it and sign their name to it.  

It is rank ignorance, arrogance and a lack of compassion for the "little guy" employees who had NOBODY standing up for them when they were having their careers ruined by a rogue employee supervised by a bunch of feckless do-nothings in HR, public safety, and the administrators office at the time.

Now it is up to us, those of us still around who know what really happened, to clean up the mess these former supervisory HR, Administrative, and Public Safety employees should have owned--regardless of a few voices of dissent piping up out of the woodwork today.  

Folks bloviating today just don't have a clue about what happened in the first place a few years back.

We'll clean up their mess and move on.

For Gannett's PNJ---- the Ends Justify the Means

Criminal conduct must not ever be induced, rewarded, or countenanced.  Otherwise it will continue and grow.

It's why when demand for catalytic converters by scrap yards, regardless of the origin of such parts, was remunerative for theives and the scrap metal markets alike--the expensive,exasperating issue of folks having their catalytic converters stolen from their cars swept the nation.  Scrap yards could buy boxes full of these valuable parts from anonymous, shifty, sketchy and unknown individuals, shrug their shoulders and say, "We followed the law--WE didn't steal these."  Then a raft of states dealt with the demand side of that illegal activity/trade  by passing laws that put the onus on the "buyers" of catalytic converters (scrap dealers) to verify the origin of the individual parts prior to buying them.  These laws also made unauthorized possession of such parts illegal.  Now these crimes are on the decline--because the inducement and normalization of the improper, unlawful conduct has been removed, appropriately, by legislators.

Ditto for scrap copper theft around the nation.

This is why it is important to deal in facts and ignore distractions as it pertains to the current issue in Escambia County of what appears to be criminal conduct by those who stole county files and disseminated them unlawfully, continue to possess them unlawfully without authorization, and disseminate them inappropriately. 

Words are important, too.  

These are stolen county records--the sort of records that mere possession of which is a crime. A theft has happened.  It is potentially criminal. PNJ minimizes and attempts to sanitize this by calling this an issue of "Leaked" files.

Worse, Gannett's PNJ condones the theft of these files by continuing to possess and publish stories from them--which will invariably induce and embolden others to inappropriately steal files in the future--  here and elsewhere--from those with whom they disagree politically.

So individual aspects of this whole sordid event must be dealt with separately.

The issue of these stolen files and their continuing, unlawful, unauthorized possession by multiple individuals and Gannett--- in contravention to state law--- is one stand alone issue that is being investigated , a court action has been filed, and soon this matter will be litigated.

A separate issue is Florida's Public Records law and how it meshes here with files that have been stolen from the county's computers while such files were in the care and custody of the county--creating a condition where multiple individuals and entities now have possession, apparently, of a complete file the majority of the contents of which are actually private and not public records. Much of  this file contains privileged, confidential, Personal Identification Information, and individual personal medical records on more than a dozen local citizens that would never be released under any public records request anywhere in Florida ever.  Gannett knows this.

1. Stolen records

2. Public Records Law

Two separate issues.  And again-- Gannett's PNJ know that.  They are also aware of the fact that in 18