About F’ing time! Justice prevails!

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The cameras have been shut down and now if we can dismantle our unconstitutional code enforcement system things my start getting better;

At 2:30 p.m., Police Chief Doug Barthel announced that the automated system would be shut down indefinitely while the city awaits a final ruling in a 2006 lawsuit filed by Sioux Falls businessman I.L. Wiedermann.

This is a MASSIVE constitutional victory for the citizens of SF. Remember, this isn’t about running red lights and safety, this is about due process and your rights. You should be able to face your accuser in a court of law.

While I.L. Wiedermann is a little rough around the edges, I have defended him before, a week after he almost got thrown out of a council meeting, I showed up to the meeting and chastised the mayor about first amendment rights and told him and the council if they can’t take criticism they should resign. When I sat down, a plain clothes PO hovered over me, I turned around and gave him a dirty look, and he walked off. I.L. and Dan Daily have sacrificed a lot for our rights, and they deserve a big ‘Thank You’. Whether you agree or not, the US Constitution is there to protect you from big brother.

Get your Repeal Home Rule T-Shirts FREE!

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Home Rule T-shirts (100) wil be distributed free in Sioux Falls tomorrow (Thursday, July 1) between noon and 2PM at the city hall street corner (224 W. 9th).  They’re red-white-blue and in XL only.  Please wear them at city 4th of July events if you support 5th Amendment and SD Civil Procedures constitutional guarrantees Sioux Falls citizens are denied.

Another 10,000 will be perfected and sold on Ebay.  They’ll be $10 + SH for US residents (except South Dakota, free plus shipping & handling).  Proceeds go to Daily VS. City of Sioux Falls (Civ. 08-2478) legal expenses and state supreme court appeal.  Imperfect shirts will be distributed to homeless in Sioux Falls.

UPDATE: Daily vs. Sioux Falls

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The city has until July 1 when a 30 day right to appeal into State Supreme court kicks in.  They’re now represented by private council.  It’s a firm specializing in insurance litigation.  They’ve lost 2 lawsuits and are finding it hard to get/keep liability insurance.

Daily’s attorney has removed himself and the best appeals lawyer in the state has taken the case ‘Pro Bono’.  Mr. Dorothy still works as evidence assembler.  He rounded up new council from his contacts when he worked at the States Attorney’s Office in Pierre.  USD Law School is involved.  They’re doing ‘Pro Bono’ research.

It kinda sounds like if the city decides to appeal Caldwell’s decision they could be up shit creek without a paddle. Good thing they are raising the levees.

Why the delay?

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Something smells

I am still baffled why Judge Caldwell decided to delay the release of this verdict for so long?

Caldwell filed her ruling in November, but both the city and Dorothy found out about it only recently. Both parties said they asked the Minnehaha County clerk of courts office multiple times in the past six months and were told the judge had not made a decision.

“Quite honestly, that just blindsided our office. We had inquired before if there was a decision and had been told that there was not,” Tornow said.

WOW! I knew that Dan’s lawyer had asked for the ruling several times with no avail, but I was unaware that the city did the same. And while I’m no fan of Tornow, I truly believe he is telling the truth on this one, otherwise there would have been an appeal decision a long time ago.

Charles Fechner, Minnehaha clerk of courts, said normally the office doesn’t send such filings to the lawyers unless it’s requested.

“All I can say is we were never given notice to send them out. Unless we are told they want copies or to send them out, it’s not an automatic that we send copies to the attorneys,” he said.

HUH? Didn’t Tornow and Dorothy just say they asked for the rulings? While I think Luther is a decent journalist I’m curious why she didn’t pursue this a little more? I’m still clueless as to why Caldwell sat on this for so long. As I speculated before, I personally think it was an attempt to protect Munson, but who knows at this point. And was former SD Supreme court justice and city attorney ‘in the know’? Is there anyway to make a judge fess up?

This is all really fishy. You would think a decision as huge as city code violating the US Constitution that someone in the clerks office would have said something? Says a lot about our justice system, huh?

I would also like to give a piece of advice to Mayor Huether;

Mayor Mike Huether criticized the inefficiencies of code enforcement during his campaign and talked about consolidating the process, which spans multiple departments.

He asked the city attorney’s office to speak on his behalf regarding the lawsuit Wednesday, Tornow said.

While it was probably a smart move by Mike on such a delicate issue, I really encourage him to get directly involved. First off, fire everyone involved TODAY! Secondly don’t appeal the decision and thirdly change the city charter so it will allow due process, because as it sits now, you are violating the US Constitution and that isn’t very cool.

I would also like to thank Mr. Daily for his citizen advocacy on this issue and allowing South DaCola first hand access to the story. This was never about Mr. Daily, this was about you and your constitutional rights. Dan dropped $40,000 of his own money to protect your rights. At the least we owe him a ‘thank you’ at the most a contribution to his legal fund would be nice.