Publius, Please accept this as an article submission.
Selectmen DO NOTHING! AGAIN! Consentino free to continue Threatening Resident at his leisure!
Ok, we all now know about Chief Consentino's letter threatening me with legal action if I don't stop exercising my 1st Ammendment right of Freedom of Speech.
It really doesn't matter that I didn't write the Article he is whining about, What matters is that I and every one of you, have the ABSOLUTE right to question, or criticize your government in any manner in which you choose.
Look at it this way, President George W. Bush is burned in effigy every single day in every major newspaper in the country. Now just imagine how the public would react if he sent the Secret Service to threaten legal action against each and every one of his critics? He would be compared to Hitler with his Gestapo!
But that very same behavior seems to be ok, when it is committed by Atkinson's Chief of Police!
How would any of you feel, if you saw your selectmen or police chief do something you felt was inappropriate, and when you criticized them for it, they used the town to threaten you with legal action?
How about if you sent a sound off in to the Eagle-Tribune, or a letter to the editor, should you be in court if you spoke the truth, but your bully of a police chief didn't like it, and has the power to abuse his office to threaten you?
This type of behavior has to stop! The selectmen are evidently either unwilling, or lack the testicular fortitude to stop it. As long as he is allowed to continue with this abhorent behavior people in Atkinson will have to live in fear of pissing off the police chief, and that needs to STOP!
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ATKINSON's Vietnam HONOR ROLL as VOTED and PASSED by 2005 Town Meeting and re-approved at Special Town Meeting Sept. 12
EDITORIAL-
A voice of compassion, an example of fairness and reasonable government.
One who believes in the strength and comfort you, your children and your family can draw from good government leadership.
A person who knows Atkinson is our home -- our most important possession that must be preserved and protected through fair taxes and sound community planning and where our children must be safe to grow to become a new generation of leaders.
One who knows that the citizens of Atkinson are all neighbors with her leadership to be dedicated and responsive to all.
One who believes that when those from Atkinson have served our nation and honors are deserved, those honors must be given.
In Valerie Tobin, we now have a leader we know we can entrust with these responsibilities because they are part of her character.
It is our honor to endorse Valerie for election to Atkinson’s Board of Selectmen.
Just a note for those who wish to count the deer.
In January 08 this blog had 16,000 hits and 1,500 unique visitors (for the month).
In 2007 this blog had over 100,000 hits and 5,750 unique visitors (for the year).
In 2007 this blog had over 100,000 hits and 5,750 unique visitors (for the year).
EDITORIAL-
"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." [TP, 1776]
We take no small measure of umbrage at such a hostile official act against this BLOG’s patron. Therefore, a timely Editorial comment is both appropriate and necessary.
Discussion of Atkinson’s financial direction, from any viewpoint, is fundamental and encouraged and we will always attempt to limit and correct errors.
However, Righteous indignation towards purported error of such inconsequential nature is not appropriate.
The ENTIRE car deal is problematic. If it was caused by poor judgement, improper exercise of authority, neglect or mistake or even specious reasoning, this will never trump the facts that the entire questionable transaction started and ended within a very small circle of confidants.
We find the entire circumstances surrounding the disposition of the police Cruiser highly irregular at the least and the "explanations" somewhat trifling and exhaustive of our intellect.
Mr. Consentino: It’s time to go. Being Chief of Atkinson’s Police Department is NOT a birthright. That is a fabled legend of yesteryear.
Historically in Atkinson, police chief appointments were made "under the hand of the selectmen" for terms of one year at a time, as was also the case in the beginning of Mr. Consentino’s assorted and discontinuous stream of appointments to this position.
Your only remaining credential established on a claim of indispensability has faded.
So time is neigh. Plan a graceful exit, Clean out your desk, Accept the gratitude and tearful sentiments from some. We plan no editorial recriminations. It is time. Thank you for your service, We wish you a long and happy retirement. Bon Voyage.
LETTER
"To All Atkinson Residents,
I am writing to ask for your help. A member of the Atkinson Police Department needs our help. I am here to ask for your help in Corporal John Lapham's fight for his life. As you are aware, John has been diagnosed with Leukemia. He has been once again hospitalized with an infection that is threatening his life. He is one of the bravest people that I have ever met. He has never asked of anything from the residents of the town. Now is our chance to step up and help both him and his family out. As everyone is aware John has been out of work for a few months. His family has been busy helping John to get better. He needs our help, and I am hoping that this town can step up to the plate and help. From the moment that I met John, I have admired him. He does alot, but never asks for anything in return. He has helped so many people in this town. I for one am one of those people. Please help him.
There is a fund set-up in his name at TDBanknorth in Plaistow. Any amount will help John, while he is out of work. It would be great if this town could help ease a burden off his wife.
Thank You
Also if anyone would like to send a card, please address it to:
John Lapham
c/o Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Ctr.
Inpatient mail
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115
United States
Please show Corporal John Lapham, that this community can stand up and show our support to those in need. I for one, miss John and can not wait until he can get better and return to work. Please show him that we support him. "
33 comments:
I heard Jack state on Monday that they would notify Mr. Acciard by letter of the action they had taken.
Well I guess it is official, they took No Action! Not surprising.
On top of everything else, how much liability does THIS open the town up to?
just shows you what a bunch of spineless ass holes we have sitting on the BOS. as lennon once wrote "how do you sleep at night"
I assume Brian Kaye got his letter today, after 17 months of doing nothing, why are we suprized at the BOS's responce to Mr Acciard?
The BOS is the no action board, let's just suspend the Monday meetings (unless you like to see them degrade Ted Stewart)
Maybe at the town meeting the selectman's budget can be eliminated as they don't do anything...so why pay them!!
Maybe these letters should be auctioned off on E-bay and the proceeds given to the sue the chief/town fund. Rush Limbaugh is doing this and he his letter is up to $110,000.
Perhaps the letters should be donated to the historical society for all of our future generations to see what a bunch of spineless Selectmen Atkinson has.
I feel Mark has the right to know what discipline or action has or is being taken. Based on this letter, we have to assume nothing has been done. But why would Sapia and Childs allow any action to take place, if they did, then they would suffer the chiefs rath, and not get the elderly votes that the chief controls.They would have a hard time getting re-elected. Therefore, it is in Sapia and Childs interest to do nothing and hide behind the RSA so that everyone is in the dark as to the "action applied" to this behavior. The selectmen will say that they took action, but did nothing, otherwise we would know what was done.This also encourages people to think that Mark is the villian, not the victim if he pursues this issue for proper relief, costing us all money for legal fees, yet again, because our selectmen will not do the right thing. I applaud Mark for his courage and detest that the selectmen can't think beyond their personal agendas, thus the chiefs agenda, and not the rights- civil and legal rights- of the Atkinson citizens.
Juicy and yet unbelievable.......
I did not see anywhere on that letter as to what "Action" was taken. In fact, it only states that they are not going to tell you what they previously said they were going to tell you. Although it does say that if
phil chooses to, he could tell you himself, what action was impossed.
Which makes me think..............
Is this a sales technique. Go round and round and hopefully you will confuse the other party enough to drop it.
Mr Acciard, I hope you are not going to let this drop and go away.
MAKE THEM PAY!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
You know, at the meeting on Monday, Sapia looked so.... reasonable.... until he refused to let Acciard, Kaye, or Mrs. Zaremba speak at the end of the meeting.
But for most of the meeting, I am sure that anyone at home thought, oh see, he Is trying to do the right thing, But obviously THAT was all a charade, a lie, and he was intent on doing nothing! The Paper had it EXACTLY RIGHT!
No wonder Chief was so happy on camera, they refused to talk about it in the open, and refused to punish him.
One other thing I forgot to mention;
The selectmen voted in non-public session to seal the minutes of the non-public session!
So not only is it difficult to find out what they did, but it is difficult to find out if they actually voted to do that, or if they are merely lying again.
Let me see if I get this right. A resident gets a certified letter (on town letterhead) from our chief threatening him with personal litigation (our selectmen later state at a selectmen's meeting the letter was not authorized by the town). The resident alleges the chief broke 2 laws by sending these letters and formally complains to the selectmen.
Let's not forget this is the SECOND, recent complaint for a similar action the chief took when he sent letters to Mr. Kaye.
So after two incidents and two complaints, this is the selectmen's response for alleged illegal misconduct by a town employee? No investigation? Just sweep it under the rug and hope it goes away? What will stop the chief from repeating this behavior against other town residents?
Where I work, let's say someone makes a complaint about sexual harrassment. If after the FIRST complaint, the company takes no action to address the problem (creating a hostile environment)and a second incident occurs, then the company is assured of a lawsuit. It would be like a free meal ticket to sue the company at will.
This is what I see has happened. Our Selectmen refused to address the problem after the 2 most recent complaints (I understand there are many more documented complaints against the chief than these 2).
They just handed Mark Acciard a free ticket to sue the town for whatever he wants. Our chief and selectmen put the taxpayers in a position of OPEN ENDED LIABILITY.
This is going to cost the taxpayers a fortune in legal fees (again) and our town insurance rates will go up (again) thanks to the misconduct of our chief and incompetence of our selectmen. But town counsel is happy - more legal fees!
Consentino and Selectmen: You are costing the town A LOT, which will result in increased property taxes for us all. This is negatively impacting my ability to care for my family, save for my kid's college funds and pay my outrageous energy bills.
But you obviously could care less.
Mark: I hope you sue the town for everything because the residents of this town wont pay attention or do anything about it until they are woken up with a gigantic lawsuit.
WAKE UP ATKINSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Consentino, Sapia and Childs are one giant legal liability. The elderly voters have been had by a well orchestrated con job by CONsentino. You'll be paying for those "free rides" with higher tax bills. Hey elderly voters: Don't complain to me about your tax rates when you keep voting these men into office. Suckers.
If anyone deserves a pay day for the abuse heaped on him for no reason other than standing up to a bully, Mark certainly does. And though it seems the Chief has not directly harassed his wife and children, they have as much claim as Mark does.
Hay Mark, want to throw some of that lottery jack pot mt way ? Ha Ha. Just pulling your leg Mark.
Can't to see this headline in the Trib. "Atkinson Chief of Police indicted on Federal Charges."
You know, whenever Consentino and Acciard have gotten into it, I have heard Phil say that "my name is as clean as the day I took office". and he shouldn't have to put up with these "slanderous attacks against my good name"
Well if all that were true, I would think he would want this handled as publicly as possible so he could defend the honor of "his good name"
The fact that he WANTS this done out of the public eye, MUST MEAN THAT HE HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE!
WOW! The actions of the board week to week keep adding knots to the noose!
Dah................
To Anon 12:07
His "Good Name" will always be there because his cronies always take care of this sorted stuff for him. Thus proctecting his "Good Name"
To Mr Acciard
Can the BOS actually seal the minutes? That doesn't sound right to me. They should never be allowed to do that under any circumstances. One other question comes to mind. Was Mr. Sullivan invited and how did he vote? Also do you know if Mr. Kaye recieved him letter and if so what did his say?
Yes FISHYGUY 10:29 you may have hit the nail on the head.
They (Atkinson Gov.) seem to like "confession by mail".
Let them read and understand:
18 USC 241, 18 USC 242, 42 USC 14141
The Feds are like "junk yard dogs" when they get involved.
I dont remember any of this hapenning before Sapia, Childs was elected!
When Boyle, stewart, deRrosa was Selectman we didn't have these problems, didn't have the endless lawsuits, selectmen didn't scream at residents at selectmens meetings, police chief bullies didnt threaten residents.
I guess the character(or lack thereof) of the man IS the most important thing
THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY
One of the lasting impressions that stayed with me after all this reading is that Atkinson does not care about the appearance of impropriety. Sometimes, doing the right thing is not the cheapest, is not the easiest, and is not the way it has been done for years and years.
Another impression that remains is that the town is made up of a handful of small cliques that for monetary or ego/power related reasons feel the need to control the town. The vast majority of the town is not in these cliques and is made up of two groups, the hard working individuals who do not have the time to get involved in these issues and also the senior citizens.
The last item of concern for me is the blatant use of town resources and personnel for political, clique related or personal business. The idea that certain people feel that the town owes them or that they are entitled to special treatment is a very serious issue. Most while collar crime is committed by individuals that felt, “they are entitled” for their years of service or for their hard work.
Since when isn't the conduct of a PUBLIC SERVENT public knowledge?
Question......
Are "Bidg Phil, Senator Sapia or Fred C Church Childs" related to any of the Senters in Plaistow?
I cant believe that the selectmen are going to condone a chief of police that uses his own private gestapo, to stifle a citizens free speech.
I wonder how Sapia would like it if it were his opinion landing HIM in court, because of a rogue police chief
Follow the money. Oops I better not suggest that there may be a financial motive.
More likely a liberal (as in abundance of not political) sense of entitlement and addiction to personal power. There are plenty of Masshole examples of that. Maybe Sapia's mentor is Billy Bulger who used fear of this mobster brother to secure his political power.
Sapia and Chief knuckledragger feed off each other.
Makes me wonder though if Sapia is a transplanted Masshole. He sure acts like one.
Here's an idea............
Why don't we all start going to the BOS meetings and heckel them throughout the meeting.
I have been a reader of this blog for quite awhile and the most aggravating thing for me is how Jack and Fred back up the Chief as someone who has the best interests of the town in mind for how he acts. We need to replace Jack and get someone in next who will not cave to the chief.
Welcome Ralph,
And you are correct! This is not an issue of for or against Phil. It is an issue of doing what you SHOULD know to be right!
Sapia should be smart enough to KNOW that using the authority of the town to threaten someone for merely criticizing you, is wrong. And if he doesn't know that then he is too stupid to be an effective selectman.
Selectmen should be honorable enough to look at a given situation without the personalities, and decide if the action itself was right or wrong, but they either can't or won't do that.
Appearance of Impropriety:
Has anyone made mention of the fact that the chief's alleged lawbreaking was conducted using federal employees?
He used the USPS to send a certified letter that allegedly broke two RSAs.
Doesn't this raise it to a federal level?
Publius,
When I left the chief's letter to me in the library, there was also a copy of my complaint against him to the selectmen. If you would, could you please scan in those two pages, as you did with the original letter. I would greatly appreciate it, I will submit an article submission request in a bit to go with it.
Thank you for your support!
To Anon 2:55......
Stop talking like that. You're making me horny. That is one of the best little pieces of insight put forth on this blog in at least a couple of days.
You keep thinking on this stuff and eventually we will come up with a way to hang the chief.
Heres a thought............
Could we look up all of those obscure old laws still on the books. Maybe we could find somethig that would allow the denizens of Atkinson to linch "Big Bad Phil McCrackin" Or perhaps allow us to run around with pitch forks and declare him a witch and burn him at the stake.
Yahooooo! Good times a commin'
That last comment was terible. Should you have allowed that?
Satire, jest, and honest frustration all rolled into one harmless little post.
While a little satire and jest are not restricted, I don't think it adds much. OK, I got a chuckle out of it but after I stopped laughing I thought it does not add much to what is a real and serious situation. Those readers who are just realizing Sapia and Childs are corrupt and our police chief is a criminal get really turned off by stuff like that.
Oh give it a break! If people are turned off by that post they should be moving out of town or planning on it. Especially when this blog points out the "MANY" things that the citizens of this should be turned off about.
All right, all right keep your britches on. Just making it a little lighter. But I did mean that we should take a look at some of those old laws. Maybe there is something there that can be used.
I just watched the treatment by the board to Mr Acciard. Whom as far as I can see is one of the bravest people ever. It is appalling. For Sapia to say I have watched what you have done to this town for the last six years. done what? Fight back for being illegaly harassed, trying to take away his livliehood, by a corrupt offical. I don't want to pay the lawyers with my taxes but I hope he sues them. They are pathetic. Please set up an annomyous donation place for lawyers fees. We are afraid we could be next. And thanks, Jack, Fred and Paul for once again not representing your citizens. Just like the Vietman Memorial. I have lived here a very long time and you three are the worst selectman ever.
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