Team Beau- Update number 2 provided by Bryan Mauldin and people who attended the meeting the last night with a call to action! We know it it lengthy but we are printing it as provided to us. NEWSFLASH: The hearing in City Court that was to be on January 27th has been moved to February 3rd at 4:00 in the Municipal Building at 435 West Market St. Interesting. The Judge said that he didn’t know he had a hearing scheduled. Really???? His office set the hearing. This hearing is on our Motion to Vacate the Judge’s Order that Beau is vicious and to declare that the Ordinance is illegal. Note that now Judge Dedmon is not going to have to rule until after the hearing in Circuit Court at 9:00 a.m. on January 30th (Courthouse in Town Square) where we have also asked the Court to rule that the Ordinance is illegal. Apparently Judge Dedmon knows how to spell “hot potato.” NEWSFLASH: The Aldermen finally talked about Beau, and boy did they talk . . . and talk . . . and, they have a lot of questions. Beau still wasn’t on the agenda, but they must have heard him barking. They are very aware of his fanmail. Alderman Bob Kirk initiated the discussion and had a lot of questions. Let’s hear it for Alderman Kirk! A man who wants to do his job and look out for the people who elected him. All the Aldermen read this fb page! [Hi there, Aldermen, welcome to our page!] All the Aldermen are concerned that this case has dragged on too long. All the Aldermen are unhappy that they have boxes and boxes of letters asking them to free Beau. (Note to Team Beau: What does this mean? It means we send more letters!] Christine Coronado, one of the City Attorneys. was there to explain the bill for attorneys’ fees. (It must have been a whopper this time, or she knew the natives were getting restless!) So she was bombarded with questions. She was not exactly forthright or forthcoming. In fact, she was pretty vague and downright evasive on the big question. (Is the Ordinance valid?) She finally said, “Well, you never know what a Judge is going to do.” Note to Ms. Coronado: Nice try, but, yes, you do. The Judge is going to say that the Ordinance is illegal, and you know it. Ms. Coronado had a handout. It is posted below. The City’s attorneys are now all in on the “dirty tricks” game. First they threatened Beau’s pro bono attorneys with sanctions for filing a motion in a court they contended did not have jurisdiction. Sanctions are really, really serious. They are only to be used in the most egregious circumstances. They are unheard of against pro bono attorneys. Right after Defendant withdrew the “offending” motion, the City filed their own motion in the same court. Now there a real showing of good faith! And, the motion they filed is for $7,500 cash bond to secure the cost of Beaus boarding fees. That’s all, just the boarding fees. Beau’s boarding fees are a whopping $12 a day. Another great showing of good faith. No, they aren’t abusing the courts and prolonging this litigation, not at all. Then, last night, Ms. Coronado literally pulled their latest little dirty trick out of her pocket. She showed the Aldermen a video of Beau going ballistic and barking and growling at a uniformed police officer standing in front of his little cell. She told them that it proved he was vicious! First of all, it is not admissible in court. Second who knows what the officer had been doing before she shot the video? Third, the poor dog has been in that little cell for more than four months and he is currently suffering through treatment for heart worms that wasn’t even necessary (another one of their dirty tricks). Ever heard of kennel stress, Ms. Coronado? The City’s attorney’s are afraid to have the case tried in court, so they are feeding the Board of Aldermen unreliable and inadmissible evidence. A big, big thank you to Debbie Swacker for attending the meeting. She drove from Jackson, so come on you guys in Dyersburg, make your presence known. CALL TO ACTION: Write the Aldermen. Again and again and again. Emails don’t bother them. Letters do. They said they don’t like to look at them sitting there. They know this case has dragged on too long. They have now asked questions. They deserve straight answers. Let’s give them those answers. And we don’t bill them for doing it. You can call them too. Tell them: 1) Beau’s case has dragged on too long; he should not still be impounded. It is cruel. They should intervene. 2) The Ordinance really is invalid. Read it for yourself. Google T.C.A. § 44-17-120. It would be far better (and cheaper) to repeal the Ordinance rather than wait on a Court to strike it down. 3) The CIty’s lawyers are not being candid and are wasting your taxpayers’ money. They are not advising you as to the law and they are not advising you as to the City’s potential liability, both with regard to sending “vicious” dogs to other communities and with regard to the restitution that is potentially owed to people who have been prosecuted under the invalid Ordinance. 4) Take the case away from the lawyers before Beau dies in captivity and the lawyers bankrupt the City (Remember those potential damages). If you think the City looks bad now, just wait. It’s actually pretty easy. Take the pressure off the Mayor. Take the pressure off Judge Dedmon. Vote to withdraw the charges. You can do this. Put this on the next agenda, make a motion, and vote. Then the Mayor can direct the City Attorneys to withdraw the charges. They won’t be happy because they can’t bill you any more, but remember, they are supposed to be working for you. The Court will then simply dismiss the whole case and Beau will go home where he belongs. And the letters and phone calls will stop, people will know Dyersburg did the right thing, and you won’t have to keep paying ridiculous legal fees. THE ALDERMEN: Robert Taylor Jr Carolyn Norman Terry Glover (731) 285-6688 (731) 445-3308 (731) 285-5977 Dennis Moody Kevin Chaney Bob Kirk (731) 285-3005 (731) 285-2870 (731) 285-7445 Mike Morgan Bill Escue Mayor John Holden (731) 286-4302 (731) 287-8122 (731) 288-7600 (731) 445-8135 (Cell) Dyersburg City Hall 425 W. Court Street P. O. Box 1358 Dyersburg, TN 38025-1358 Note: Each Alderman and the Mayor has to have a separate letter. That’s nine letters. You can put them all in one envelope. Just fold them individually and write the Alderman’s name on the outside, and stuff them all in. City Hall will distribute them. CALL TO ACTION: The Mayor has been appointed Vice President of the Tennessee Municipal League. He is not qualified for this position. He is enforcing an invalid “vicious dog” Ordinance that is clearly illegal under both State law and the State Constitution and he has done nothing about it other than hire 4 lawyers to defend the Ordinance and kill one dog named Beau. He has so far paid those lawyers about $30,000 out of the taxpayers’ pockets. He has breached his Oath to uphold the laws and Constitution of the State of Tennessee and he has breached his fiduciary duty to the taxpayers. He is also directing the City to continue issuing invalid citations alleging dogs are “vicious,” unlawfully impounding them, and wrongfully collecting fines, fees and costs that the City is going to have to repay because the Ordinance is void ab initio. Furthermore, the minutes of the Board of Aldermen meeting on December 2, 2014, state that when Alderwoman Jewell Horner asked the Mayor for an update on the case involving the dog Beau, “Mayor Holden stated the most recent update was the information contained in an article in the State Gazette last week after the court hearing.” Mayor Holden is not keeping in touch with the attorneys he has hired and he is not keeping the Aldermen informed, even when they ask directly for information. Instead, Mayor Holden is relying on the information published in the local paper. Ironically, The Tennessee Municipal League was established by the cities and towns of the State for mutual assistance and improvement. The Leagues primary function is to work with the Tennessee General Assembly on behalf of city governments, promoting legislation helpful to cities, and opposing legislation harmful to cities. One extension of the League is the TML Risk Management Pool. Maybe Mayor Holden should ask his cherished Tennessee Municipal League to provide him a legal opinion as to whether his precious Ordinance is valid. Now there’s a thought. Mayor Holden is really proud of his position as Vice President of the Tennessee Municipal League. They need to know he is not qualified. He needs to go. Write them and tell them why: President Tom Rowland, 615-255-6416 Tennessee Municipal League FAX: 615-255-4752 226 Capitol Blvd., Suite 710 Nashville, Tennessee 37219 THANK YOU TEAM BEAU. Now pull out those pens and keyboards and envelopes and stamps and get moving. Dial those phone numbers. Go over the talking points. Give them the honest answers they have asked for. No one else is going to and they are starting to figure that out. We can help them and we can do this because we are, you guessed it, BEAU STRONG.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 21:55:22 +0000
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