November 12, 2024
To the editor,
Let us unpack together this sheriffs’ response to my letter of the past week.
First, Mr Williams begins upholding his action against me by stating that I failed to mention a court order. This is most certainly untrue as I state clearly that all items in that order had previously been removed from my site. On body camera, you can see I actually hold the written order out to the sheriff, demanding that he show me where any item on that order is remaining onsite. He refused, and quite likely had not read it. His answer was that “he had called the magistrate to protect himself” and claimed permission was given him to remove anything I owned. The county attorney response to this was “Well, that is not even protocol”.
It needs to be understood that while I had been cited for junk vehicles and vermin-containing trash, I had neither. This was an absolute boondoggle. So I appealed this ruling, but it was simply rubber-stamped by an appeal judge. The appeal process prohibits any further evidence be submitted. I could not make it known to the judge that we were fully grandfathered, having purchased the property prior to the existence of any official ordinance, which clearly prevented abatement action against us.
In fact, this “Ordinance” supposedly in play was an unregistered document proposed by Region 12 in Carroll. This is a faulty document that forces my commercial class buildings, former gas stations and all outlying farmsteads into a “restricted residential” status, such that they cannot be utilized as purposed. This category is defined to apply only to schools, churches and private residences….. not commercial buildings.
(Photo provided by Dean Hoskins of his property when a rack of steel was abated.)
This should be of great concern to everyone in our community. It effectively diminishes the value at the sale and restricts use of any such-named property. This 2018 document was created and cloistered in the city office and unavailable for reproduction. I actually had to use attorney FOIA action and travel to Carroll twice to access it. Last I checked this document has yet to be recorded.
Mr Williams makes a further flawed point that he allowed me to keep a van body trailer. This trailer was lined with test equipment on test benches that I used for electronic repair. It had never been mentioned by anyone as being offensive and was not under the purview of the sheriff, as it was not named in court order. It was not an eyesore and was neatly placed between buildings. He ordered that it be removed immediately or it was to be destroyed that very day. And several thousands of dollars of expensive instruments (oscilloscopes) were indeed damaged by the ordered removal, even after I showed them to the deputy. With no time to properly secure them, they crashed to floor. Joking is seen and heard between sheriff and excavator operator, on recorded footage at noise of my valued instruments crashing inside.
Across town, a vengeful city councilman, appearing to drive this abatement, had six such trailers on his site……and none of them licensed. I should add that this same council member was, at that time, on the sheriffs’ advisory board for proposed county jail.
Please read Mr Williams statement that the town wanted this trailer “gone”. This clearly shows the sheriff was marching to town desires and not the court order which had entirely been satisified, and verified by his deputiess, and himself on camera. He states that “But they (the town) are paying me to do this”.
He agrees multiple times (I have video) that the abatement was already over and his action that day had nothing to do with abatement and that this was malicious harassment. This is a felony action, and fully needs to be prosecuted.
Abatement being over clearly defines that the court order was no longer in effect. So why is this, the justification being presented? Mr Williams speaks, in his letter, about what my site looked like in the past. This is a testament to extent of my own cleanup. The fact remains that we had removed everything from what was, on that day, a bare property. I have complete photographs. Anyone is encouraged to view them. Now everyone knows steel is typically stored on outside racks and my racks were largely invisible from road. This was actually spoken about by Deputy Allen on his camera footage. In addition to $20,000 of new steel, one rack contained all of the conduit I was wiring my new building with. They even took the concrete tile the county had dropped off to repair my driveway. I had forbidden them to remove it. They took everything, even my garbage cans. This was totally maliciously orchestrated. Certainly the sheriff way overstepped his authority.
The sheriff’s letter implies that I misquoted my conversation with our county attorney. As I record conversation on my phone, due to being deaf, this is not the case. And then Mr Williams repeats what he said I misstated- that he feels the primary job of our county attorney is to protect him, a county employee, from lawsuit. Our county’s attorney, Mr Laehn, has told me my claims, which he believes are true (and which are fully authenticated by camera footage) put him in a difficult position, as he is charged with the legal protection of county employees. And that this puts him on opposite side of me, a county resident.
I would think the attorney’s office is actually established to prosecute criminal acts against all county residents, including employees. A sheriff cannot act with complete autonomy, outside the law, without oversight. Every resident of this county needs to hear this story. A story of complete overreach of city and county government. And then there is little recourse for justice when this occurs. This reinforces their abusive actions against us.
Dean Hoskins, Churdan
