Here's the best part. The problems were mostly created by a man who wandered in noticeably late to the meeting that lasted only twenty-six painful minutes. Who was that man? Well, it was Dave Hilgeford. Yes, the same Dave Hilgeford who Villa Hills' malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin has just appointed to the City's Civil Service board.
So what did Hilgeford say? Committee chairman Jim Cahill asked, "does anybody have anything else?" After a different question, Hilgeford prefaced his next inflammatory comments by saying he wasn't trying to be "vindictive". But you wouldn't know that by the things that he said next.
Hilgeford continued, "I understand we have an officer who is on leave because of mental strain and anguish (an obvious reference to Assistant Police Chief Joe Schutzman. You remember him. Schutzman has been the main target of the malevolent Martin's several years-long vendetta against the local police department)".
Peppering in qualifiers like "I'm not trying to stir the pot" and "I'm not trying to make a big stink", Hilgeford went on to express concern that Schutzman may have a City-provided gun and taser. Hilgeford injected terms like "mental and emotional distress" and painted a scenario where Schutzman may show up at "a local elementary school". Man, oh man.
At least one other committee member jumped in to the roiling pot of very hot water. "The City might have to ask a judge to order Assistant Chief Schutzman to surrender his firearm". It was also stated that Schutzman should have to "prove his sanity".
We heard terms like "unstable", "irrational" and "suicidal" bandied about. All in all, that piece of the painful twenty-six minute meeting sure seemed like a desperate plea from Hilgeford and perhaps one or two others to "please, please, puh-leeeeaase sue me too!"
Our readers should consider this. How did Hilgeford even know about any of this? Protocol for an officer requesting any sort of leave would call for notice to be sent to his immediate supervisor (in this case, Police Chief Dan Goodenough) and the mallet-headed Mayor Martin. We seriously doubt that Chief Goodenough would share confidential employee information with Hilgeford. That sort of, kind of, leaves the malingering Martin as the primary suspect.
It doesn't take a huge leap of faith to conclude that Martin is out continuing his incessant campaign of slander and defamation against Schutzman. Why? To divert attention away from the fact that the misbehaving Martin continues to drag Villa Hills' taxpayers in to one costly lawsuit after another. Poor me. All they do is pick on me. Why won't anyone work with me?
Our readers should also consider this. What in the wide, wide world of sports were Councilmen (and Committee chairman) Jim Cahill and Rod Baehner possibly thinking? They said they couldn't discuss the matter because it involved "pending litigation". Fair enough.
But what both of them should have also done is tell Hilgeford to "shut the f^%k up!" Why? Because Hilgeford's inflammatory comments and the defamatory discussion it caused may very well have dragged the taxpayers of Villa Hills in to yet another lawsuit.
How much clearer does it need to be? The only way for Villa Hills' voters to fix this ongoing mess is to throw Martin and everyone else out this November 4. The problem is that Martin will continue to do very-hard-to-fix damage to the City between now and then.
291 days and counting.
