Monday, October 17, 2005

Some main points...

I know that there are folks who read this blog for information on the ongoing lawsuit. It was a very long day and since we had an hour and a half drive and stopped for dinner as well, we are quite late tonight and thus, this will be an abbreviated version of what will come later.

The Court found in our favor on virtually all points and the following points will be incorporated into two separate orders to be entered and signed tomorrow.

  • Membership list must be on Mr. Winters desk by noon Wednesday, October 19, 2005 or Mr. Shantz must report to the Court by 1:30 PM on Wednesday with his toothbrush because he is going to jail.
  • They must comply in full with the order from September 1, 2005, which means that all data given must be up to that date, the database included.
  • Require all members of the Board of Directors to come up with a specific plan for bringing the organization into compliance with this Court's order.
  • It must be in writing, adopted by the Board and served on Mr. Winters on or before Friday, October 28, 2005 at 4:00 PM.
  • All records must be "up to date" to September 1, 2005.
  • All out of pocket expenses to Mr. Winters.
  • All attorney fees on this matter of contempt are to be paid on or before November 14, 2005.
  • Fines are continued at $100 per day and must be paid in full along with attorney fees and costs by 4:00 PM on November 14, 2005.
  • Some neutral party must be found to accompany me (and them) into the office to say whether the stuff they are giving me is "everything."
  • Defendants, MCRGO and Dale Shantz were found in "continuous and contemptuous lack of compliance with the Court's order."

There is one additional point I wish to address right here, right now.

Mr. Fleming, the MCRGO attorney, threatened to call my job and tell them that I was not sick today. Since my subpoena is already on file with our office and using a sick day is simply a matter of what we call a day I am forced to take off, I don't have anything to worry about.

On the other hand, should Mr. Fleming be so stupid as to make that call, I will see him up in front of the State Bar Association so fast his head will spin. Further consequences I will leave to our attorney, Mr. Kevin Winters, and whatever tort suit he chooses to file on my behalf.

I don't take to threats well, especially not from attorneys who cannot even manage to keep his own clients from being threatened with jail time, who has obviously not followed legal procedure and had his clients' appeal dismissed for failure to even file a timely brief, and who makes childish mistakes and then tries to blame them on others.

Here is an example.

Mr. Fleming made a point to complain to the Court that I had posted documents on my web site that revealed his clients' telephone numbers to anyone viewing those documents.

In fact, the documents I first saw did not have the phone numbers on them. However, when we retrieved the documents from the Court clerk, the documents that Mr. Fleming filed with the Court himself, those documents did have the phone numbers on them.

Mr. Fleming apparently wanted the Court, and his audience to believe that when I post court documents, which are a matter of public record, it would be acceptable for me to alter those documents. No doubt if I had, Mr. Fleming would then claim I had not posted a true copy.

You cannot have it both ways, now can you?

Mr. Fleming also complained to the Court that I was asking for documents from MCRGO that I should have been responsible for as the Secretary of MCRGO. In other words, since I was the Secretary and I was responsible for documents that MCRGO would not allow me to access and thus, I was forced to file suit to gain access, I was now supposed to be seen as unreasonable for not being able to produce the documents that....

If that sounds silly, it is.

As to the claim that I did not do my job, or somehow did not provide Mr. Berg, who did not take over the Secretary job from me as Mr. Fleming claimed in open Court, but rather, from Brad Foster (yet another Director who resigned), with documents necessary to do his job, well, that too, is bunk.

Example:




If Mr. Berg doesn't have that document, surely blaming me is the wrong path. But then it has been wrong and foolish all along to blame me for wanting our organization and its Directors and Executive Director to follow the law.

Time to do the right thing, members of the Board. Time to be the responsible Board of Directors that the Michigan Colation for Responsible Gun Owners membership deserves.

Past time, in fact. Two years past time.