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From Bradbury Township Mille Lacs County, Minnesota |
Mille Lacs News Since 4/18/07
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Friday February 05, 2010 |
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The Mille Lacs News an independent online news source. Bringing you information about the war between Bradbury Township citizens and the City of Onamia over the fate of a residential neighborhood and the sex offenders of the Nexus Corporation
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Top Stories
Hannabelle's Motion to Dismiss Denied Ex Mille Lacs Academy Director Paul Smith Sentenced! No Blood On My Hands - Peter D. Freeman
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 Mission Accomplished. Nexus Occupation Completed Read the Paul Smith Indictment Department of Correction Reports Court Documents: Poor, Troubled Boys
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Bringing you back to reality (whether you're ready or not)
Mille Lacs Academy Director Paul Smith Convicted |
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January 2010 NIMBY Appeals to MN Supreme Court – Free Speech Law in Jeopardy Acting as an agent for Nexus, a private corporation, the Onamia [MN] city council amended ordinances to allow their juvenile sex offender facility to build in a residential neighborhood next to day-care, children, elderly widows, and vulnerable adults. By doing so, the government stripped property owners of their rights. The land was annexed, purchased, rezoned, and sold to Nexus. The citizens most affected by the city council’s decisions are denied the power of the vote and are ineligible to hold elected office. They had no representation throughout the course of the events. Fighting City Hall Opponents of the sex offender facility formed a citizens’ activist group. The Onamia Area Citizens for Responsible Growth (OACRG) fought City Hall through lawful means, i.e. attending and speaking at public hearings, writing and presenting petitions, contacting government representatives and officials, used forums such as articles in the local newspaper, letter-writing, and other traditional activities. As a leader of the OACRG, one outspoken citizen activist created The Mille Lacs News, [ http://millelacsnews.com ] , a website acting as an online news source dedicated to disseminating information in order to gain support for the cause. The Bradbury Buzz, [ http://bradburybuzzz.blogspot.com ] is a personal blog created solely to further share information as well as personal viewpoints, all in an effort to stop the governmentally imposed sex offenders from moving into the residential neighborhood. SLAPP – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation In 2007, Nexus CEO Jim D’Angelo and Nexus board member Peter D. Freeman filed a defamation lawsuit against OACRG member Janette J. Swift, who was the primary spokesperson for the group and still maintains both the website and blog. With the filing of the first lawsuit, the OACRG disbanded, leaving Swift to continue the fight alone. Nexus then filed a second defamation against Swift. Both of these lawsuits were filed as part of a strategic campaign, using harassment and intimidation tactics, to stop Swift and her neighbors from their continued opposition to the Nexus corporation and its sex offender facility. The Minnesota Anti-SLAPP Law (MN Stat. 554) - Protecting Free Speech The Minnesota Ant-SLAPP Law was written to protect citizen activists such as Swift who are seeking to procure governmental action favorable to their cause. Speech that is aimed in whole or in part at influencing the government is protected speech. The law is also meant to deter corporations and developers who would strategically use the judicial system as a weapon to slap down First Amendment Rights, to silence their opponents by threatening them or following through with a frivolous lawsuit. A Case of First Impression –The Minnesota Supreme Court Marshall Tanick, Swift’s attorney, filed two Motions to Dismiss the cases under the MN Anti-SLAPP Statute. In both cases, the District Court judges ruled against Swift, but for different reasons. In the first case, the first judge incorrectly ruled that since Swift used the Internet, she was not addressing the government directly and therefore was not seeking to procure government action. The Appellant Judge affirmed, but stated that since the individual statements were not in themselves actually used in seeking government action, they are not immune under the law. This was also incorrect. In the second case against Swift, that judge questioned the Constitutionality of the Anti-SLAPP law, because in his view the law interfered with the corporation’s Due Process in the corporation’s right to jury trial. That Swift’s statements are defamatory has not yet been determined. (They are not.) What is at stake is a citizens’ First Amendment rights to Free Speech, and the importance of the Anti-SLAPP law that gives the citizen the right to engage in that Free Speech without fear of being destroyed by a bogus lawsuit. Free Speech is only free speech if it is expressed out loud. Otherwise, it remains just a thought. Harassment Lawsuits Succeed Swift is appealing the decision in the second case, and petitioning the Minnesota Supreme Court to review the first case. These landmark cases are “cases of first impression” which means that no Minnesota court has addressed the Anti-SLAPP law before. The reason might be that such SLAPPs succeed in obliterating any possibility of opposition from moving forward. Most people would rather accept defeat and disappear, rather than face the financial, social, emotional, and legal nightmare endured by Swift. Because of the first impression status of these lawsuits, Swift fears that the judges will pass on their responsibility to uphold the law, i.e. Anti-SLAPP law, but will send her back down to District Court to stand trial for defamation, letting a jury do their job for them. However, these cases represent exactly what the law is about. These are harassment law suits and must be addressed as such. The Impact These cases are complex and involved. The issues are important. The results could have a profound impact in Minnesota and the rest of the country. If Swift loses her Motions to Dismiss under the Anti-SLAPP law, corporations and developers will have free rein to do whatever they wish and no citizen will be able to oppose them. These cases could set dangerous precedence. If ruled against, no citizen will be able to speak to their government at a public hearing without fear of being sued for defamation by the corporation they object to. Summary That Swift tried and failed to protect her family, her friends, and her neighbors from a governmentally imposed unlocked correctional facility with 94 convicted sex offenders has been lost through proceedings which question Swift’s motivation. Out of the hundreds of articles Swift has written about the Nexus project, only a few phrases and individual words, (including one phrase in a YouTube video) have been questioned, and those few are being nit-picked to death. “Does she think she can just say anything she wants?” Judge Terri Stoneburner admonished. “I think she just sits at her computer making things up because she thinks its funny,” testified Victor Lund, the Plaintiffs’ lawyer. "She called the child's death a homicide!" "That's because the coroner ruled it a homicide. She just repeated what the coroner reported." Swift has exposed Nexus and many of its secrets. She has exposed the malfeasant Onamia city council. Everything she has done was to stop Nexus from building their sex offender facility in her neighborhood – because neither Nexus of the Onamia city council had the right to do so. And her motivation? “Ill-will”? no. “Malice?” no. “She’s a gadfly”? no. “She longs for attention”? no. no. no. She has indeed fought for the privilege of being left alone. Her motivation is her frail 86 year old mother, a kind soul who can no longer sleep at night with 94 convicted sex offenders right down the street. Swift has been accused of defamation because she called the Nexus CEO “Poopsie” and said he was “a snake.” She asked some social workers to help convince Peter D. Freeman, himself a professor of social work, something that he should have known - that putting sex offenders next to day-care is wrong. She got sued for embarrassing him. Nexus sued her for saying they were "getting away with murder" after the city council added 15 years of tax abatement to the long list of fulfilled Nexus demands while citizens' welfare was sacrificed in favor of corporate welfare. If Swift is allowed to be found guilty of defamation, by these standards of idioms, metaphors, and opinions, the courts will soon be full of second graders. Should Swift’s Motion to Dismiss under the Anti-SLAPP law be denied, there will surely be dire consequences for all private citizens. Nexus is subsidized through tax payer money. It is using tax payer money to finance two lawsuits against the private citizen who challenged their claim to her neighborhood. The Mille Lacs News has debunked Nexus on the website.
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 The Bradbury Buzzz
Caution: Not for the Politically Correct!
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"They say you can't fight City Hall, but that's not true. You can fight. Just don't expect to win."
~Hannabelle Free Speech is not Free Speech unless expressed out loud. Otherwise, it remains just a thought. ~Hannabelle
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"I
Voltaire You disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it. Hannabelle
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"Go fuck yourself." Dick Cheney Vice President of the United States of America June 245, 2004
When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders." ~Veterans Fast for Life
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So Nexus won the battle of Bradbury? Yes, they did. Oh no! I thought they'd go away. Why would they? They got everything they demanded. The land. Annexation. Rezoning. Conditional Use Permits. Tons of money. $9,500 off of their building permit. Free city tax abatement. Free county tax abatement. The list goes on and on. Will my taxes increase? Ha! YOU pay taxes so Nexus won't have to. What about the neighbors? The day care centers? The children? What about Hannabelle? What did she get out of all of this? Oh, she got what they demanded too. oh yes. And the bogus lawsuits. A SLAPP in the face. So the sex offenders are here to stay? They're already moved in. oh my! oh my! Wait! Where are you going? Sorry. I have to run. I left my keys in the car!
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"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." ~Voltaire "Free Speech isn't free. You have to pay your lawyers." ~ Hannabelle
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Free
Salman Rushdie
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