I had a hard time with this. An 18 year veteran of the Albany police helped me out.
It was my first time filing a complaint with Internal Affairs (Office of Professional Standards). Six APD members, including the chief, who wasn’t even a cop (see the TU), made a false arrest of a man who led a protest at a Catholic church in the city of Albany. And then the next week Officer O’Brien was threatening everyone with false arrest, being a hero.
What was really stupid is the prior police chief, James Turley, cared about the exact same protest. As a Lt., he handled the Diallo protests, and he said no one ever complained about him then. He cared as much about this too, he said, and call me and tell me if there’s a problem. It got better. I stopped going because it was better.
And then comes Chief Tuffey, four months on the job (and not even a cop), tells the police to make a false arrest when no one did anything wrong, and protested within where the city lawyer put the boundary line, and six months of overtime cops watched the boundaries and never saw a reason to arrest anyone.
But boy, what came next……
A city lawyer started telling lies. He even said he did not paint the boundaries for the protest, when I was there and saw him (liar). Then he said he painted some, but not THAT one (liar). And then he said he painted it just because YOU ASKED him to (liar). Court order said where.
I thought the OPS detective was lying about it all, getting it wrong. And then the APD Lt. said “So only cops tell lies, not lawyers?”
All along, the really funky thing is the city of Albany wasn’t a party to the legal dispute that crime victims had with the church. Look at the papers, it was church vs the crime victims, nothing about the city of Albany there. The judge DID NOT ASK the city lawyer to paint any of the boundaries he painted and did not ask the Albany police to do anything about it. The city of Albany chose to do this, paint the boundaries. And the church paid $75,000 of police overtime to be there on Sunday mornings. (That’s a lot of money.)
Fine with Turley, but really bad with Tuffey.
And then the city lawyer starts lying after the false arrest. Never painted any boundary, he says. Then he changed it. Others I painted, he says, but not THAT one. Then that one too, he says, but only because you asked me to.
I did that little skit — it was fresh in my mind — for the FBI agent on September 11, 2006. “We’re not sending you back to OPS after that experience. We usually do.”
It made this case an orphan for awhile, not sending it back, but what to do with it?
Anyway, some city lawyers tell lies. Go do a skit for the FBI if it happens to you.
Just thinking of it cuz (some) city lawyers still tell lies. And sometimes another city lawyer — or a cop – lets you know.
I put that title in there, about “Being Philosophical”, knowing that’s the last thing I think I want to be. At this point in the long experience of being targeted by asshole criminals, and writing a blog that came out of first hand experience with law enforcement dysfunction, I really just want to boil my contact with this subject down to the essential facts and actions, and what I have to do, what the next steps are, and then go spend my time on something else.
Know what I mean?
But I don’t have that option. See, important things are happening. Like, I have to call my mayor a liar. I won’t be the first or last person to do that, but it needs to be done. I was personally lied to by the mayor of the city of Albany, Jerry Jennings. He promised me the city would look into problems with Chief Tuffey, but all the city did was look for a defense.
How do I know no one looked into it? I still have the recordings of the conversation with Officer McDade, who raised concerns about whether Albany police were the ones harassing me and burglarizing my home, asking if I thought so. He filed a report with multiple crimes — and Chief Tuffey threw it out. Chief Tuffey threw it out without even talking to his officer. How do I know? It’s simple. State law says I get a sheet with the incident number, and who to call a week later — the detectives. But the detectives said the computer says no report was filed, so call the officer. Officer McDade said he filed it — not “the chief talked to me and I changed my mind” — and he was irritated that I asked, because it took him a very long time. Sgt. Pickel confirmed it, backed him up, McDade filed it, and the Chief threw it out without talking to anybody.
Then, on the instructions of Internal Affairs, Sgt. Pickel and Officer Fletcher took the report again, multiple crimes and counts, and filed it. I have that recording and video too. But Chief Tuffey interfered again, without talking to the officers, other than sending down an order to throw it out, and telling them to write up an “investigatory report” instead — which no one ever followed up on. Criminals got away with the ASSISTANCE OF THE CHIEF.
See, I have the proof of what happened, and my mayor promised me he would look into it. NEVER HAPPENED.
The mayor lied to me.
Things like that make you get philosophical (and angry), when you realize the mayor only cares about winning, not the truth.
The other reason for being philosophical is meeting good cops again. My faith in cops went through a rocky period, with the ridiculous interference of my elderly parents and disabled brother who didn’t like that the DA ’s office told me to buy a shotgun — but never said a word to me about it. They told the DA. How’s that for a fucked up family? And in a lousy case like this where cops suspect cops and the chief loves to interfere, you can imagine where it led for awhile.
But no more. I am spending time with smart cops again. I’ve met many fine and capable Albany patrol officers, and I’ve sat down with a very experienced NYSP investigator. That NYSP investigator has pictures of Suzanne Lyall and Karen Wilson on his wall …. which made me catch my breath…….. And now more contact with Feds again too. See what I mean? On the one hand there’s Chief Tuffey and the criminals and the mayor lying to me, and on the other hand there’s smart cops.
That should make me feel philosophical, my nature, and it does. But why does this take so much time?
Okay, time for a sigh and a beer. There’s more work to do.
Be proud we live in a country where we can make a difference.
You can find more useful opinions and viewpoints on the dump somewhere else. What caught my attention is the town of Guilderland is planning not to renew its contract with the city of Albany to take the town’s trash, a direct response to the state of New York giving permission to the city to expand the dump into the Pine Bush. The Pine Bush is in Guilderland too. The town supervisor, Ken Runion, says it is an environmental decision, because people in the town care about the Pine Bush. There’s also a problem with dump smells not stopping at the dump’s borders, causing a lot of problems in Guilderland and Colonie.
I’m glad about the interest in protecting the Pine Bush now. A significant part of Guilderland was settled in and destroyed huge parts of the Pine Bush. The Pine Bush is sand (and a lot of other things!). I grew up in Westmere, which is basically across Washington Avenue Extension from the entry to the dump and south to the other side of Western Ave, Rt. 20.
We used to go tobogganing (spell check says I spelled that right!) down the Sand Hill (where Hewitt’s was later built) and have high hopes of going fast enough to get to Western Ave (never happened). I learned about tumble weeds and pricklers and praying mantises and a lot of butterflies and ants.
Communities take time to act on the lessons they learn through collective wisdom. It’s a pretty sad thing we waited until so much of the Pine Bush was gone.
It’s disappointing the state’s own Department of Environmental Conservation wants to see more of the Pine Bush carved into and used for city waste (i.e commercial haulers who travel here with sludge from somewhere else and money for the mayor). But I’m glad Guilderland finally figured out that if they care about the Bush, they should make sure their actions match their ideals.
As for city money and the landfill, my guess is it will take a citizen of the city of Albany — not the state, not the city government, not any official investigators — to find out what’s up with all that. Start a blog and tell the story along the way in daylight.
I’ve been away, and back, and away, and wanting to wait for a better time to collect my thoughts. This Wednesday morning is as good as any.
I think other bloggers are doing a better job of covering the issues around here. I hope to keep blogging about issues crime victims face with the DA and police, and where there are improvements and efforts and challenges.
Over at Albany’s Citizen One, I posted my advice on what to do when assholes target you after you blog or complain. It’s in the post where she writes about being targeted too, for burglary, when she says on the blog that she’ll be at a Common Council meeting that night and expects a burglary.
That’s part of the catching up. Some assholes are still criminally targeting me — must come with being a blogger in Albany? — but I am on top of it, learning about all sorts of things that I never would have chosen to learn about otherwise. Electronics? Me? Ha. But I did choose Industrial Arts over Home Economics when I was a kid in school in Guilderland. Electronics over sewing, any day. It’s just like anything else you don’t know about. Ask questions, learn, and ask more questions.
Here’s a bad thing about Albany. At least 15 Albany cops told me I had to drop the security company because there were criminal entries without causing an alarm, because we documented the system was already turned off when I got home, and because none of the other problems were ever addressed. All these capable cops told me this. But what does Chief Tuffey do? Throw out criminal reports filed by Albany cops, without investigating anything himself, never talking to witnesses or me, and apparently never talking to his own officers. (Every police report crosses the chief’s desk.) The Chief threw out two criminal reports, each with multiple crimes, even the one the Office of Professional Standards (Internal Affairs) made sure was filed. How’s that for hubris — or a scared chief that’s hiding something. All this started when I blogged about a false arrest he intentionally made.
Another part to catch up on is my “family” has stayed out of it for more than 2 years. None of them were ever witnesses to anything, but didn’t like that the DA’s office told me to buy a shot gun. Their not liking it was proved to be “unfounded” under NY law — but Chief Tuffey (notice the common thread?) used that (unfounded) to file false hot line reports about me a year later (which were also determined to be unfounded).
Meanwhile, there are capable Albany cops offering sound and useful advice. Guess what the chief did? (See the common theme?) He made sure the supervisor cop — the one INTERNAL AFFAIRS sent to address this — stopped contacting me.
What did I do? I’m a nice person — God, I used to hate it when people said that — I wrote to Mayor Jennings and told him we could resolve the legal issues I have with the city and police if we work it out that I advise the chief (as a consultant) on his many blind spots. We all have blind spots and work out of boxes on our vision. But it’s bad when a police chief does that, time after time.
I’m laughing. I never chose any of this, had no idea that I’d have to speak up about Tuffey making a false arrest. And now I’ve spent some time keeping track and speaking up about what the chief does when you catch him. I know he can do better.
There’s more to say another day.
Do what you can in your own work to make this place better. It’s worth it.
Kate
Shawn Morris has learned that Chief Tuffey is no longer certified as a cop, and has not done continuing education and other requirements. There was a story in the TU on Sunday, featuring Ms. Morris’ insights about it. Reporters contacted the APD, and were told to contact the mayor, who ignored the requests for comment.
I always knew Chief Tuffey lacked professionalism — didn’t you? — and here’s more evidence of that!
Kate
The Common Council may subpoena two more police officers to testify re the parking ticket scandal.
From the TU story:
First published: Thursday, May 14, 2009
ALBANY — The Common Council will vote Monday to compel testimony from two more police officers in its probe of no-fine parking tickets — one of whom is said to have not ticketed the police chief’s niece because her car bore a special decal.
Officers Daniel Condon and Joseph McDade will be subpoenaed to testify before the council’s investigative committee under oath on May 28.
Lawmakers also agreed Wednesday to invite five past police union presidents to testify voluntarily on the same night in hopes that they’ll share their knowledge of the decal system started by the Albany Police Officers Union.
The council’s interest in Condon stems from an April 5 Times Union story that reported he investigated an August 2007 car accident involving Chief James Tuffey’s niece but did not ticket her, even though she was allegedly found at fault, because her car bore a blue-and-red bull’s-eye sticker distributed by the union.
Condon’s testimony is potentially significant because Tuffey told the council under oath that he didn’t know that a second generation of the stickers — different from those distributed under his tenure as union president — had been produced and were being used to alert parking enforcement to issue special tickets that carried no parking fines.
The chief’s sister, Kathleen McGuire, later challenged the newspaper story, telling lawmakers that the Toyota, registered to her, never had a bull’s-eye sticker on it.
A series of Times Union stories starting in November revealed abuses in the sticker system, as well as the existence of a separate secret VIP list, that gave parking privileges to private citizens, including business leaders and police officers’ friends and spouses.
It was barely a footnote in one of Brendan Lyons’ stories and I did not see it reported anywhere else.
Documents the TU received under the Freedom of Information Law prove that staff members of the DA’s office also received unlawful parking perks.
Doesn’t the DA come under the Public Officers law too?
And doesn’t the county have a similar law?
From today’s TU:
The state Commission on Public Integrity is investigating whether state officials caught in the no-fine parking ticket scandal in Albany broke the public officers law, according to two people informed of the inquiry.
The investigation involves state officials who received breaks on their personal cars while parking in the city. A spokesman for the commission would not discuss the matter.
Public officials are not supposed to accept freebies. The gift ban is quite tight, prohibiting anything of more than nominal value. Parking tickets in Albany run about $40, and some on the secretive no-fine list escaped dozens of violations.
Here are brief excerpts from two news stories Jordan has at the TU. (He’s busy!)
1. State money to fight gun violence.
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
Eleven months after 10-year-old Kathina Thomas was slain by a stray bullet in West Hill, Albany has been selected as one of eight pilot sites for a $4 million anti-violence program.
The city could receive up to $500,000 for community-based violence prevention programs based on CeaseFire, a campaign in Chicago that has been credited with steep declines in shootings and other violence.
New York’s effort, spearheaded by state Senate Democrats, has been dubbed Operation SNUG (for “guns” spelled backwards).
2. Betty changed her mind about releasing parking ticket data
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
In a reversal, city Treasurer Betty Barnette now says she will provide the Common Council with copies of dismissed parking tickets but only with the condition that the lawmakers do not disclose the information to anyone else.
The news came Wednesday via letter from Barnette’s attorney as council members met to frame their response to Barnette’s rejection earlier this month of their request for copies of tickets dismissed last year along with the written explanations…..
Barnette, through attorney Brian Devane, denied the request citing possible violations of a federal protection of medical information, known as HIPAA, and the chilling effect that disclosure could have on people furnishing medical excuses.
The treasurer’s response angered some members of the council, who said HIPAA plainly doesn’t apply to the treasurer’s office and who saw it as an affront to their authority to oversee city agencies.
Is that any news? That the mayor’s people distort things?
Take a look at the TU Local Politics blog and read the mayor’s spokeswoman’s response to Corey Ellis. Ellis had faulted the mayor for not taking leadership on the many issues facing the police department.
The mayor’s people said it is not right to comment about matters “before the court”.
Before the court?
When did the Common Council become a court? Are the mayor’s people so stupid that they don’t know the difference — or is the TU reporter so stupid as to not catch the ignorance? And the McNally case — was the mayor arrested?
I’m watching this because the mayor will surely tell a similar lie when I question his failure to respond. See, the only thing I have in court is a Freedom of Information law petition. I had to file NOTICES of claim against the city for the chief’s failures, but A) that’s not in court and B) I had already filed NOTICES when the mayor promised his response.
Keep records and watch what people say. It’s interesting and our democracy relies on it.
Kate
This organization formed last summer to focus on issues affecting neighborhoods in Albany. They are hosting a People’s State of the City. Here is some of the TU article:
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
ALBANY — Albany Neighborhoods First, which coalesced last summer to prod city leaders to address the core issues in Albany’s neighborhoods, will host a People’s State of City tonight at the Albany Public Library.
Three members of the Common Council will give brief presentations on issues such as violence, economic justice and the city’s fiscal condition, preceded by a public forum on the group’s vision for the city and how it relates to this year’s elections of mayor, treasurer, chief city auditor and Common Council president and members. The group’s 10-page vision statement, which will be up for discussion, is available on its Web site, http://www.neighborhoodsfirst.net. Among other things, it calls for decreased reliance on borrowing, increased focus on community policing and a more assertive and coherent approach to code violations and blight.
The session will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the library’s main branch, 161 Washington Ave.
“We’re not talking about particular candidates. We want people to volunteer to get involved,” said Judith Mazza, a spokeswoman. “We’re not forming another political organization. We cross all lines. … We all vote differently. … Without viable, vibrant neighborhoods, then so goes the city.”
The forum is not about endorsing specific candidates but establishing the issues the group wants all candidates to address, Mazza said.
That’s my thought for the day.
It’s crucial to how our democracy functions.
Kate
After a morning spent outdoors and getting gardening gear in order and playing with my dog, I came back in to review the file of material that I sent to Mayor Jennings.
It is a well detailed inventory of the problems in the police department that I can document and of his broken promise to me to address them.
While I knew what was in this file, I had not looked through it from beginning to end — or end to beginning, which is what I just did.
I did that because there is a turn in the road ahead. As an APD commander mentioned to me, I have many investigatory options right now. The first option on the list is the mayor — Chief Tuffey’s boss. If the mayor addresses things, it stops there. Soon, I will knock that option off the list and move on to the option I put off. I’d file new claims against the city too, about the city’s and mayor’s failures.
I have very busy days ahead, so I wanted to draft the new claims and pick a day to serve them if the city has not taken steps to address the problems. I also have to think the way you need to think when you meet with investigators about a three year old case, with some key stuff in recent months.
It’s made me sad and wistful. When I talked to the mayor six months ago, I believed him when he said this would be addressed. I was thinking this week of all the steps I climbed to drop off the mayor’s campaign material and all the telephone numbers I called for his campaign in the past. I was never sad and wistful about anything connected to this police chief. But I’ve been fond of this mayor for some good reasons in the past, and I’m disappointed.
So we’ll see how it goes, and this Saturday afternoon I’m preparing for anything.
Do what you can in your own work to make this place better. It’s worth it.
Kate
Did you catch how the chief responded when it was disclosed that his niece had one of the “bull’s eye” stickers in the current parking ticket scandal? He said he doesn’t see his sister every Sunday for dinner, and didn’t know anything about his niece having a sticker. Sufficient explanation for the chief.
Take a look at what Tuffey did with my situation. He made my middle aged siblings, who I don’t see every Sunday (or every Christmas) the experts, when they were never witnesses in this case and I had not discussed this with them. Some years I see them twice, some years I don’t see them at all. They are irrelevant.
You should see how Tuffey works it. I got Tuffey covered.
Kate
You will hear in the media about police officers dealing with problems: family violence, alcohol abuse, sleeping on the job, etc.
I said in the past — for damn good reasons — that you can’t talk as freely about good cops as you can about cops with problems. Good cops will be honest, frank and open with you about the situation when you ask them questions about what is going on. We are fortunate to have good cops. We just don’t have the political structure to talk about them without hurting them. Our political structure squashes and retaliates against openness.
But there has to be a way to say this. We have to change the politics and stop recriminations against police who are honest.
I’ve met some good cops.
I was monitoring crime victims doing protests in Albany a few years ago. One protest was on Main Ave in front of the diocesan headquarters. The APD had a car there the whole day, different cops on detail. There was the expected church hassle, which an Albany cop handled well. I had predicted it — something about the parking. So, instead of parking my car on a side street, I parked right in front of the diocesan headquarters and knew I’d have to move my car for a protester to put his car there. (He had signs plastered on his vehicle and was targeted by the church.) It was easy. I moved so he could keep his vehicle close by. APD smiled.
Later that day another cop got out of his car and walked over. I was standing next to a crime victims advocate and asked if we should go see what the problem is. No, she said, look at the officer’s body language. He has an open stance. Sure enough, when I asked later about it, the protesters (who had come from Syracuse) said the cop wanted to learn more about the protest because he was interested and curious. Nice effort. It made an impression on visitors to Albany, and the rest of us who watched. (Memo to Chief Tuffey: protesting is not a crime.)
I won’t mention (yet) the supervisor who Tuffey is hassling. I’ll mention the officer who has come with him. He asks good questions, he listens, he grasps what’s going on, he does his job. He’ll be a cop for a long time.
There’s the good cop whose name has been in the news — and who I had a very similar experience with. He will do his job and follow policies, then get hassled by the chief who wanted policies to be VIOLATED. In the story in the news, the cop gave a ticket to a friend of the mayor (unknowingly, just doing his job). Officers told the media the chief hassled the cop who did that and made him violate policies. Exact same thing in my case — but I’m a crime victim. The same officer wrote up a report on an incident at my house. The chief threw out the report — violating APD policies. How did I learn about it? Officers were frank and honest with me too, just as they were in the media story. Why? The Detectives unit told me to ask Patrol what happened when there was no report. The chief interfered.
And the APD supervisor who the chief is messing with? You know who referred him to this case? The Office of Professional Standards. The commander of OPS (Internal Affairs) sent the sergeant to my house, to address the electronics crimes the APD was having problems with. The Sgt did his job, on the referral from the OPS commander. Guess who fucked up? The chief again. He tossed out that report too. And Albany cops were frank and honest with me again. And why? The APD told me to ask Patrol what happened when there was no report. So I did. The chief interfered.
This will be an ongoing issue with police officers in Albany while we have a political structure that interferes with the work of police officers. We either need a new mayor in this election, or Mayor Jennings has to show he was born again when it comes to police work in this city.
I personally know many people in Albany who can speak about these issues better than I can. Listen to them.
And by the way, the chief had not independently investigated either report — felony crimes — when he broke the law and threw out the reports. I’m confident a good reporter can look into how often this chief does that. He breaks the law and also reduces the crime stats.
I told the mayor about these problems six months ago, the day before Thanksgiving, and after I did, it got worse. So far, nothing from the mayor.
Kate
Through the Freedom of Information law, the Times Union obtained the 911 recording of an off-duty Schenectady cop tailing a drunk driver through Albany into Bethlehem a few months ago. The drunk driver was an Albany detective, George McNally. He and Sgt. Peter McKenna have been suspended since this incident. Sgt. McKenna drove his Albany police vehicle into Bethlehem and is alleged to have told the off duty Schenectady cop and Bethlehem cops to back off.
The TU story has many interesting details and is worth reading. The TU has the audio available too. It’s amazing Det. McNally didn’t kill anybody.
Mayor Jennings has two blogs going, repetitive, and I posted this comment at his blogs. I was not offensive and did not violate any posting rules. Let’s watch the Good Ole Democratic Party censorship at work. So-called “progressive” democrats engage in censorship too, but mayors should not.
Mayor,
Six months ago you told me emphatically that the problems I brought to your attention would be addressed. That was the day before Thanksgiving. But you never followed through and you have ignored the problems.
I question how you can find time to blog, and what your point is in doing so while you fail to address serious issues.
This is a polite expression of concern, and I would like to hear your answer. You can say it here, call, write, or stop by.
Sincerely,
Kate
It just hit me now, after playing with my dog.
The day before Thanksgiving, Mayor Jennings personally assured me, stressing this, that the issues I told him about would be addressed.
It never happened. Or, it hasn’t happened yet.
Today is six months, or thereabouts.
Six months of documenting the mayor’s negligence.
I wish it wasn’t so and I did not write this story. He did.
Kate
1. There needs to be tough laws to apply to city lawyers who do fraudulent things in Freedom of Information law cases. Heck, maybe there already are.
2. At last count, I have the Corp Counsel lawyers on six separate incidents of lying or withholding documents, beginning three years ago. Curious thing, when the DA prosecutes Lisa Shutter for lying to OPS. (Kudos to the city lawyer who perhaps inadvertently filled in the blanks.)
3. No movement on the Catholic humility scorecard. Still an extreme level of Catholic hubris.
4. It’s beautiful outside. There’s better things to do than write or read blogs.
Do what you can in your own life to make this place better. It’s worth it.
Kate
I had some more contact with the mayor’s office today about the city’s conflict of interest, which many officers have noticed, that the NYSP commented on, that the FBI pointed out, etc., but the command staff of the APD and the mayor have not addressed for three years.
I had thought that the mayor’s failure to respond to a request to meet would be the first way this case would find its way into the mainstream media. It looks like it will be the city’s conflict of interest instead. I can pull up the recordings of Albany cops about how they shouldn’t have this case, and all the recordings of officers about the chief.
I’d rather not do that, but it’s getting awfully silly. The mayor himself told me six months ago all of this would be addressed, but it did not happen. The city likes its conflicts and the control they have over information and manipulations.
So I am documenting, communicating, and continuing on.
Have a good weekend.
Kate
A few days’ worth of news:
1. Hero retired detective Stanley Nadoraski spoke up about Chief Tuffey lying to the Common Council and agreed to testify at the Common Council meeting this Monday. Days before he could offer his testimony, he was arrested on computer child pornography charges.
2. City Treasurer Betty Barnette is offering some funny excuses for not providing parking ticket information to the Council. She says there’s medical privacy with parking tickets.
3. Mayor Jennings announced he’s running for re-election because it’s his vocation to lead this circus.
Every so often I diverge a bit, like with the liberty I took to talk about my Catholic religion and its poor understanding of the US Constitution except when it wants its protection.
Today I am talking about water and waste. You will find better and more comprehensive stories if you look around for them. Frontline on PBS has covered this. Locally, the Albany Weblog, which has a link on this site, is covering this city’s issues.
When I bought property in rural Vermont (after my mother went haywire and said not to call 911 when I used their place because of the scene! the scene! the scene! – I hadn’t even called 911, but I said to myself it’s not my property, and I should get my own place — and peace), I noticed something very fast.
I am a city girl, with years of stories about the city water and sewer system. The basic version is this: the water tastes great, your neighbors’ lawns sink from slow water breaks, and the sewer backs up in your cellar. I was mindful of having to learn new things in a rural area, so I asked about the well and the septic, out in the country.
Here’s what I learned. My country water is high in iron — which the water lab says means it probably tastes good. Then you hear on the evening news (when you weren’t looking for it) that high iron count in water is linked to cancer in women.
But the main thing that got my visceral attention was the septic. “Where is it?”, I asked. “What does the system consist of?” “What regular maintenance does it need?” “How does it effect my use of the property?” “How does it work?”
Every time I learned more, I cringed. The leech field (every septic tank has one) drains toward the brook on the property. One day, out hiking with my dog, I wondered about the soap bubbles in the brook near the leech field….. and learned more. When I planted a plum tree next to the brook, and dug down 18 inches, I learned even more.
Then I heard on the news last week that the state of Vermont intends to delegate back to the Federal government the responsibility for ALL of its waterways and send back the money given to the states for this purpose. They made this decision due to litigation regarding Lake Champlain, but admitted they have the same problems with every waterway in the state of Vermont. Poor attention, poor laws, poor maintenance. All over.
I’m posting this to say from my own amateur perspective that this nation has a lot of water and waste problems, in the city and in the country. And the problems are basic and integrated into our lives.
Just felt like posting about it. Wish we had chosen a broader name for this site.
When you’re selecting a choice for mayor in the next election, think about water and sewer and the dump — some day I’ll do a post on country dump sites, for comparisons and similarities.
Kate
The Center for Law and Justice is expanding its efforts to help people who have completed their time in prison make a good re-entry into the community. Its efforts will be to help from the perspective of the person who is making re-entry, not from the perspective of perceived public interests. The main difficulty is expected to be finding jobs.
You can learn more about the Center for Law and Justice at their website. There are also stories in the news. The center also re-located its offices in Albany.
The Times Union has a story abut guns in the community today. Here’s an excerpt:
Shared guns hurt communities
Stashing weapons to be used in multiple crimes becoming a big problem
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published: Monday, April 20, 2009
Investigators knew a suspect in a federal cocaine trafficking probe living in Bethlehem had a handgun.
But they couldn’t charge him for it until his 13-year-old daughter told them her dad always stopped off at the empty house next door before coming home. Officers found the 9 mm semiautomatic swaddled in an oilcloth beneath the stairs. Charges are still pending against the man who said he was hiding the gun from his children for safety reasons.
Many criminals know that stashing a weapon instead of carrying it can reduce the consequences of being caught under New York’s strict gun laws. But such a ploy can have tragic results.
In the Bethlehem case, neighborhood kids could have learned about the gun from the suspect’s daughter or found it themselves, said State Police Senior Investigator Samuel Mercado. Fortunately, the authorities prevented the weapon from falling into the hands of someone else with bad intentions.
The stray bullet that killed 10-year-old Kathina Thomas on the sidewalk outside her home in Albany’s West Hill was fired from a .45-caliber gun that her convicted shooter said was kept in a spot known to many.
Jermayne Timmons, 16, told police “everyone in the neighborhood uses that gun.” He said he ditched the community gun in a garbage can because that’s “where we keep it.” Timmons is serving 15 years to life in prison. The lethal weapon was never found….
I started a website about Catholic hubris, where I will pick up on what I started to write about here.
Before I move on to other topics on this blog, I wanted to finish by saying I made contact again with Fred Boehrer and Diana Conroy, who failed to pay me back for purchases they asked me to make when I worked with them at the Catholic Worker in Albany — then lied about it to other people like adolescents. I reminded them they owed me the money and it’s all well documented.
In recent weeks, I made contact with the Catholic liars in my family of origin too, the ones who lied to law enforcement and, of course, never apologized, and caused so many other cascading problems that continue.
I made contact with other people too, and organized some things left to do.
But with the extreme Catholic hubris, I decided to do a little contest. I want to see who has the humility to own up to mistakes. All I see is arrogance and adolescence. I haven’t seen any humility in Catholics, so I thought it would be good to look for it and see if anyone shows it.
Since I had all these communications at about the same time, I want to do a little contest. The hubris is so familiar and expected. Let’s see who steps up with integrity and humility. I’ll be hopeful.
Chief Tuffey is Catholic too, which he’s mentioned in the media. No humility there.
Have a good week!
Kate
Through my own record keeping, conversations with cops, FOILed documents and news stories, I’ve been able to compile excellent records on the patterns of lying.
Take the situation I mentioned in the “Catholic Hubris” post below. I have excellent documentation that two people I worked with at the Catholic Worker in Albany failed to pay me back for purchases on behalf of the community. That did not stop these people, Fred Boehrer and Diana Conroy, from making false statements about it to other people. I documented other people doing the same thing, as though one lie makes it okay to tell another.
The same pattern was at work during the public protest in Albany that I’ve mentioned here. People who did not like the protest regularly told lies about what happened there. And even though cops had handled the protest okay for many months previously, six cops joined in telling lies to make a false arrest (on orders from the chief).
I documented that people lied about my right to own a gun under NY law — after cops told me to buy one for protection. People piled on, as if more than one liar made it truthful.
It’s a very real phenomenon, the lying patterns.
I’m overwhelmed with things to write about from this experience. Just decided to add a book on Catholic hubris too.
Okay, that’s enough on my experience here. On to writing about other issues with local law enforcment.
Kate
From the Times Union:
By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer
Last updated: 2:11 p.m., Tuesday, April 14, 2009
ALBANY – A top aide to District Attorney David Soares has been suspended.
Richard Arthur, the district attorney’s director of administration, was placed on paid suspension on April 3, said Mary Duryea, a spokeswoman for Albany County Executive Mike Breslin.
Details of his suspension or why the action was taken was not immediately available.
Heather Orth, a spokeswoman for Soares, refused comment when contacted this morning, saying, “We’re not going to discuss any personnel matters.”
Arthur, a one-time spokesman for Soares, received scathing criticism last summer in a county audit of Soares’ petty cash account. The fiscal probe by County Comptroller Michael Conners found Arthur displayed a “total disregard for fiscal management.”
It found more than $351,000 was placed into a petty cash fund not supposed to exceed more than $5,000. The audit found the work of Arthur, who operated the fund, “could jeopardize the overall mission” of the district attorney’s office.
I’m writing a letter to Mr. Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States — and asking him to send it to the right office in his department.
I am writing about Catholic theocratic Albany and the convictions of Yassin Aref and his co-defendant (who is more private, so I’m not naming him here).
I wrote because I knew intuitively awhile ago that my religious background and training in parts of the world are remarkably similar to Yassin Aref’s background and training in other areas of the world — theology and philosophy which is imbued with understanding of social justice. I know the misunderstanding that comes even among Catholics to my training and background, and can imagine the deep level of misunderstanding of Aref by people in the Northeast Catholic theocratic US. Add to that the fact that Boston (where I was trained in Catholic social justice) is likely as suspect to many people in other parts of the world as Pakistan or Syria or other places are to us.
If Catholics are not set up and “stinged” by Federal agents in Albany, why are immigrants of different religious traditions? And what safeguards are in place to stop cultural misunderstandings in the courtroom? None.
I expressed to Mr. Holder that this can be corrected without disrespecting anybody. Cultural misunderstandings are addressed with education.
(By the way, I also changed my mind and decided to stay Catholic. It shaped my language and ideas, and I can’t change that.)
I’ll let you know what happens.
Kate
“Just put it behind you” is a favorite of people who want to keep their heads in the sand. And of course there are people like Chief Tuffey who are keen on fabricating crazy talk.
Today when I was out doing one of the many things I prefer to this shit, I daydreamed about my “List of 50 things I Care More About”. I’ll post it some day, or have it ready when the City next wants to pull some crazy talk shit.
It’s a risk of blogging about one theme. That’s not all there is.
Have a good weekend everybody.
Kate
In case you needed an example of theocracy in this region of New York, here is a good one. I want to be clear I am not worried about Catholics, but the rest of society who can be harmed in this kind of set up. What about an Islamic religious leader and an Islamic pizza man, both never convicted before, who can be targeted and “stinged” under our constitutional system?
Montgomery County judge tosses priest’s conviction
Rev. John Broderick had faced jail time for endangerment charges
By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer
Last updated: 12:35 p.m., Wednesday, April 8, 2009
FONDA — The Rev. John Broderick is no longer convicted of anything.
This morning, Montgomery County Court Judge Felix J. Catena tossed Broderick’s February conviction on a child endangerment charge. A jury had also acquitted Broderick of child molestation charges.
The 48-year-old priest was expected to be sentenced today and faced up to a year in jail. But his conviction was vacated this morning by Catena, who agreed with a request by Broderick’s attorney to set aside the verdict.
The misdemeanor was the only charge the jury convicted him of at a February sex abuse trial.
Broderick, 48, had faced up to seven years in prison if convicted of molesting three Palatine boys — now ages 12, 10 and 6 — between late 2006 and early 2007.
He faced no more than one year in jail and could have been sentenced to probation.
It all came about accidentally, no planning, when friends and I reacted to being censored at the site DemocracyinAlbany which does not accept criticism of DA Soares. (DIA will say it’s because there’s no proof, but that is not true.) I’ve never been a big fan of so called “progressive” democrats, who seem to have a strong conservative/fascist bent, especially with criticism.
There were things to say, so this blog was born. It seemed a lot of the problems I saw in the DA’s office and in the APD were the same things many other people saw too. Well, that makes it more important to talk about and try to change things.
So on it went.
And now I’m writing books, with no concern at all about how marketable they are. I’ll also continue using the systems our society has for reporting corruption.
Since I started blogging after the Palm Sunday false arrest of Mark Lyman — by Albany police chief James Tuffey — this is a good time to look back on what’s happened.
I also want to explain that this is another time when I can’t give details. I can’t ask for the time of investigators and then make their work harder. If I talk about corruption in Albany, I’ll just hit the usual themes.
I want to focus attention here on other people’s stories, other crime victims, other people mistreated by law enforcement, cops who face retaliation and recrimination by this chief, and ideas for how to do better.
Do what you can in your own work to make this place better. It’s worth it.
Kate
One of the things I’ve carefully documented is how Chief Tuffey has manipulated, lied and broken the law in his efforts to call me names.
I found it useful to put all my records in order. It’s quite fascinating looking at the proof that Chief Tuffey lied and manipulated what was said and done. I’m glad I made recordings and saved communications. After breaking the law with false hotline reports that were unfounded, he interfered with officers taking reports and then tampered with witnesses. One legal violation after another, all in his efforts to obscure the facts.
I hope to make it public some day, perhaps in time for the election season. There have been many stories about Chief Tuffey recently, especially how he retaliates, and this one would fit in nicely.
Mayor Jennings still has not responded to my request to meet — which I have a hunch will be the first way this gets into the mainstream news.
Kate
There are very important stories in the news today.
1. Girls in high school in Schenectady are committing suicide even while the school district said it was paying attention! They realized more help is needed and are looking for it.
2. The Albany Common Council decided to subpeona the police union chief, re statements made by Chief Tuffey about the parking ticket scandal. Retired detective Stanley Nodaroski will also testify, on April 27.
3. Jovan Underdue was convicted in the horrific slaying of three people in Albany. He said he had been smoking pot and drinking vodka at the time.
Not in today’s media:
1. Do you think Yassin Aref and his co-defendant would have been targeted and arrested in the FBI sting operation if they were Catholic in Albany? Not a chance. What makes that constitutionally okay?
I’m leaving the Catholic church this Easter.
What does that have to do with this blog? Everything. My experience as a crime victim in corrupt Albany is intimately linked to Catholicism in Albany. Here’s how:
1. The Albany police made a false arrest of a crime victim when he protested about clergy sexual abuse at a church in Albany, Holy Cross Church on Western Ave. The church was being run by a priest many people had made accusations about, but there was iron clad proof that Bishop Hubbard was not responding to victims who contacted him, and the priest was still in his job at that parish, which has a school.
The protester was arrested by Chief Tuffey in his first months in the job, after former Chief Turley had already showed that Albany police could handle the protest with respect for the law during the previous six months. He said it mattered to him, in the same way it mattered to him in the Diallo case.
How did this happen? Extreme Catholic hubris. In theocratic Albany, the constitution does not apply if Catholics are uncomfortable. That’s right. In theocratic Albany, the Constitution does not apply if Catholics are uncomfortable. Many people from other religious traditions told me about their own experience with Catholic theocratic Albany when frank conversations allowed me to ask. A Lutheran pastor and an Islamic leader told me about their experiences and what they learned from their members.
There had already been hundreds of phone calls to the mayor to do something about the protest, as if Catholics do not have to respect and follow the US Constitution. Do something about it. Chief Tuffey did, breaking the law, because Catholic hubris does what it wants, regardless of the law.
2. The other major Catholic connection is more personal. My very Catholic family told lies and involved themselves in this case when they were not witnesses to anything, and actual witnesses were ignored, another legal violation. They used their positions of power with the DA’s office to communicate these lies, as if they knew anything about this case. For two years, they have completely failed to make amends or even communicate, while their lies spread like wildfire among corrupt members of law enforcement, and interfered in solving this case.
I experienced and loved the Catholic faith through my family when I was a kid. I found my own experience as a young adult. And now it’s time to leave, because these past years of experience have been very formative too. After they told lies about me, they ran for cover. No apologies, no communication, only hubris, just as a Lutheran pastor and Islamic leader had told me.
3. The third major Catholic connection is also local. I volunteered as a member of a group called the Catholic Worker, which was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in New York City in the 1930’s. Catholic Workers share community with marginalized people, by providing hospitality to homeless people, visiting people in prison, advocating for refugees and immigrants, and other similar activities. I’ve worked with and been a member of Catholic Worker communities in several cities since freshman year in college at the Mustard Seed in Worcester, MA.
When I was a member of the Catholic Worker community in Albany, the community failed to pay me back for over $2,000 worth of purchases and expenditures on behalf of the community. I had been asked to make purchases and was told I would be paid back for them, I had receipts, and I had a journal of my activities. Fred Boehrer and Diana Conroy lied over and over again and said I had left the Catholic Worker 45 days earlier than I had, which was easily disproved through municipal records, notes from them, my journal and the receipts. Every time I proved they lied, they came up with another lie, and then stopped trying, but still did not pay me back. They stopped communicating.
During the months before I moved into the community residence, I had misgivings about their handling of money. In conversation with Fred and Diana, I learned that they failed to pay some of the people who had done work on the house we were rehabbing in the South End of Albany. They voiced the hope that if they delayed paying people back, they would not have to pay people for their work; that people would not pursue payment owed to them or would ask for less. This unjust approach to paying workers was shocking to me, and it was inconsistent with the fact the Catholic Worker had raised thousands of dollars to pay for the rehab project, and supposedly stood for something else.
Fred Boehrer and Diana Conroy have still not payed me back. This experience happened during the same three year saga of dealing with corrupt Albany and Catholic hubris. Catholic hubris and failure to admit mistakes is everywhere in Albany.
In conclusion, everything bad about these three years of being a crime victim is deeply connected to the Catholic faith, especially its hubris, the need for power, and efforts to break the law.
I forgot if Canon Law has any rules for how to quit being Catholic. (I had lots and lots of years studying Catholic theology and ministry, and nobody made or asked us to study Canon Law.) It’s probably one of those situations where if you want out, you are automatically out. I want out.
This is a good time to make this decision, with Easter approaching. It’s a suitable time to say goodbye to a religion that always claims to be right, never says it is wrong, and won’t ever apologize. For a few days before Easter, it pretends differently, then simply carries on just like before, like hypocrites do.
Easter is a traditional time for the Catholic church to welcome new members through baptism or confirmation.
Easter is the time I will leave. No one will notice or care. Protestants, Muslims, and Jews look for their members who leave. Catholics don’t. That hubris again. (If you have reasons for leaving, we don’t want to hear it. Good riddance.) I’ve had enough of it.
And by the way, Mark Lyman was falsely arrested by Chief James Tuffey on Palm Sunday three years ago. Chief Tuffey had tried to engineer the false arrest the week before when Mr. Lyman was away. Why? Catholics were uncomfortable and wanted the protest to end before Easter, the hypocrite time.
Read the Bible and see how often people are falsely arrested because religious hypocrites are uncomfortable. Isn’t that the Easter story?
I can’t end without acknowledging some fine Catholic residents of Albany, especially the people who said I don’t agree with you (at the public protest), but I recognize your right to do what you do — an older man, an Army veteran, said that — and the words of an older woman who held my arm and said she stayed with the church because of people like me who do things that matter. “Go home!!” so many idiots had yelled. “I am home!!”, I replied. But a lot changed in three years, about home.
Kate
The Times Union story cited in the post below contains some very interesting material, all the way through.
Here’s some things I noticed:
1. Officer Joesph McDade was reprimanded by the chief for giving a ticket to a friend of the mayor. In my case, Officer McDade wrote a report that the chief threw out, outrageous misconduct by the chief. The chief’s lack of integrity is stunning, and interferes in the work of good cops.
2. Officers who told the TU about the incident where McDade was reprimanded made it very clear that it came down from the chief. Officers have been frank and honest with me also, disclosing that all the misconduct in my case originated with the chief.
3. Members of the Albany County DA’s office participated in and benefited from the parking ticket scandal too.
Kate
See the Times Union for the whole story.
Chief’s niece had sticker
Albany police sources say bull’s-eye on vehicles used to signal owners’ link to force
By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer
First published: Sunday, April 5, 2009
ALBANY — The police chief’s niece had a police-issued bull’s-eye sticker that hundreds of officers and others have used to skirt parking fines, police department sources said.
It’s unclear whether the young woman ever received any so-called ”no-fine” parking tickets, but several officers said the stickers are not just for parking and also have served as a way to signal to city police that a motorist is connected to someone on the force. Chief James W. Tuffey denies knowing anything about the bull’s-eye stickers or why his niece may have had one.
A city police officer who investigated an August 2007 crash involving the chief’s niece spotted the red-and-blue bull’s-eye sticker on the woman’s windshield and did not ticket her, departmental sources said.
Two police officers familiar with the matter said the officer, Daniel Condon, did not know who the young woman was at the time he was investigating her crash.
Tuffey testified before the Common Council last week that he had no knowledge of the numbered bull’s-eye stickers, or, of their use by police officers and others to obtain special parking privileges.
The officers had no information about how the woman may have obtained the sticker. Tuffey’s brother, Kevin, also the woman’s uncle, was chief of the department in the late 1990s. The stickers, which were privately distributed by the Albany Police Officers Union, are the subject of ongoing investigations by the Common Council and the office of the state comptroller…….
There’s been so many news stories about Chief Tuffey’s problems: false arrest of Mark Lyman, cover up of Albany cops buying illegal guns, lying about parking ticket scandals, retaliating against Albany cops. My own experience depicts the same chief the news stories describe: he does whatever he wants to do, even if it’s unlawful, then looks for ways to obscure it.
I have to file new claims against the city this week. I documented that Mayor Jennings, the chief executive, did nothing while problems continued. I provided evidence that Chief Tuffey interfered with officers filing reports last fall. And now I’ve documented that Chief Tuffey is tampering with witnesses. This fits with the modus operandi of Chief Tuffey that I documented earlier: the same day Commander Beattie referred me to Chief Tuffey, the chief closed my complaints rather than address my questions. Chief Tuffey also admitted the APD was behind false hotline reports.
I have excellent records and still have multiple options about what to do with them, since the chief keeps acting up. I’ll be filing the claims, writing about it in the future, and putting papers in order for corruption investigators.
I’ll say it again: keep excellent records of your dealings with Albany area law enforcement.
Kate
When I carefully documented unlawful witness tampering, I wondered aloud which agency of law enforcement would handle it: federal, state, county or city.
Since then I daydreamed about the Catholic principle of subsidiarity — how the most local competent people should address that community’s needs. No doubt Judaism, Islam and Hinduism have similar principles. Doesn’t it make a lot of sense?
As the principle recognizes, there are some relevant factors to consider when it comes to putting this tenet into practice here in Albany, with a police chief who unlawfully tampers, retaliates and interferes, a mayor who fails to do what he said he would, and a DA who calculates everything politically.
1. The city will defend, not look into unlawful activity. The mayor simply lies about being available. He promised me an investigation. There was no follow up. Instead the city engaged in unlawful witness tampering.
2. The county is not effective in dealing with unlawful city activity. There are too many political calculations, conflicts of interest, and tremendous hubris.
3. The state is far more broken down and dysfunctional than anyone could ever know. New York is a patchwork of multiple overlapping authorities and commissions and too many easy ways to say it’s someone else’s problem or to interfere in what happens. Lots of wasted taxpayer money in those jobs.
4. The federal government is more responsive and efficient than I knew. Give us federal grounds, they say, not what are the politics and who is fabricating that you’re nuts. What is the federal basis? One of the few fair questions I’ve heard in three years. I have the answer too.
Kate
Check out all the juicy stories in the media right now about cops calling Chief Tuffey a liar and rightfully stressing his habit of retaliation.
Mine is just one story to tell and I am working on it.
I wrote four chapters of my book on Albany law enforcement corruption in recent weeks. I began with the very recent unlawful witness tampering by the police chief, and then went back in time to start the chronology with the false arrest made by Chief Tuffey in April 2006.
I want to remind anyone dealing with issues of corruption to make sure you keep excellent records. Document everything. Include your observations of the modus operandi of individuals you have multiple contacts with. Make requests under the Freedom of Information law, which will provide some very helpful details about what happened.
I expect to make this book available to anyone who wants to use the democratic process to rid this city of its corrupt practices.
Do what you can in your own work.
Kate
I caught the Albany Police Department and Mayor Jennings red handed with witness tampering.
Let’s see what local, county, state or federal office addresses that.
The daring violation of law is stunning — and of course well documented. I got it covered from every angle.
I bet a classroom of second graders could figure it out.
Kate
