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June 2009
We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts
Hoist By Their Own Petard - Fuses get shorter in Laguna Woods Village
Posted by CotoBlogzz | 06/03/2009 05:00 PM
Laguna Woods Village, CA -So, exactly what happened during yesterday’s Golden Rain Foundation (GRF) board of directors meeting in Laguna Woods?
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If you ask property management company’s (PCM) executive
Milt Johns, “it
was Mr. Miller and I that were assaulted by
you, contrary to your accusations.
Numerous staff have made notations of their
observations of the incident.”, writes
Mr. Johns in an email responding to United
director Michael Curtis’ request to put a
lid on it:
“This is the third incident, since 2005, where you have physically pushed me around. Your 14 year old tough-guy mentality is too funny. Perhaps, coming out of your closed-door get-together with GRF Board members this afternoon, you had OD'ed on your Starbucks or something, thought you had hair on your chest, and just could not control yourself. |
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Mr. Michael Curtis |
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"I have a right to discuss the old Administration
Building land issues (click on link
for details) and investigation plans with
Bob Miller, GRF President, without your
interference and attempts to cut it off, and
until he decides it should end. Your interference and control techniques (pushing and
shoving me as you did) are physical assault.
I can assure you, if you try to physically
assault me again, I will file charges with the
OC Sheriff. Please stop it” |
Mr. Curtis then provides a blow-by-blow account of what
happened, and more importantly, provides a
possible motive – excerpts follow:
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"You (referring to Mr. Johns) purposely
interfered with the discussion between GRF
Board President Bob MIller and myself.
After listening from a distance, you walked up
and stepped between Bob and myself as we
were discussing his handling of a
requested investigation of the Old
Administration Building land sale, then
started backing up towards me (while
facing Bob) and physically pushing me
backwards. You kept it up even after I
asked you several times to not push me.
Bob was not "assaulted" as you say -
you were between he and myself. Why did you do this? Because the topic being discussed could potentially turn into a very serious investigation regarding your actions related to the land sale. I've attached my Nov. 9th letter to Bob - this was the reason he and I were talking together. You intended to put a stop to the discussion. Frankly, I was very disappointed to learn that Bob went
directly to you for guidance instead of
handling it outside of your office. It
would have been much smarter to go to Bill
Hart instead of you. Someone, at some point, will properly investigate the land sale and the truth will become known to our community. You pushing me around, now on this third occasion, will not prevent that" |
Is this a case of He Said-He Said or simply an illustration
of Hoist By Their Own Petard?
The expression "hoist by their own petard"
originated in the late middle ages and is illustrated
by the story of Clement Vallandigham , as told by Don
B. Kates, in
a book published yesterday with the same title.
According to Kates, Clement
Vallandigham was convicted of sedition and exiled.
After the War Vallandigham returned to the U.S. and
resumed his practice as a lawyer. In 1871 he was
defending a man accused of murder. Vallandigham
defended on the theory that the deceased had been
pulling his own pistol which had caught in his
clothing and discharged, killing him. Vallandigham was
demonstrating this by pulling his own pistol,
which caught in his clothing and discharged,
killing him. His client was acquitted.
From the perspective of Laguna Woods Village resident Delsie Zizak, perhaps the events might just be another illustration of hoist by his own petard.
According
to Ms. Zizak, the “..
GRF meeting was total Abuse against some of us
residents and total dictatorship of power displayed by
the General Manager & the President of the
GRF Board. We need to have Mr Stuller and
Milt John, General Manager removed from their powers as
President and exofficio Board Members. We as residents
were treated with threats to have us removed by
security just for trying to speak. It is a sad
day in the village when dictatorship has to be applied
to residents to cover up their abuse of power.”
Another Laguna Woods resident writes:
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"NOBODY believes these people. KEN HAMMER stood in
front of the opening elevator doors on the
second floor and tried to block a resident who
was getting off because he felt nobody was
entitled to be on the second floor other than
directors and employees. That resident was
actually trying to attend a meeting in the
Sycamore Room. If
you did ANY of the things they spewed about
today why didn’t they file charges THEN! In
2007? Oh, please. Bob
Miller has sat on the dais and said things
about me that are purely untrue and used my
name. EVEN WHEN CORRECTED at the same
meeting(s) he continued to remain silent and
unapologetic for what he said. I
just finished watching this bizarre spectacle
being passed off as a GRF Board meeting and am
simply aghast. I would love to know what went
on behind the “recess” slide when we were
unable to see what was actually going on.
More
threats, more intimidation. More lies. They
are attempting to defame you (Mr. Curits) yet
again. It was particularly entertaining when
Stuller said nobody could use names “but I
can.” I have to agree with the woman who
spoke last, Jane Craney (sp?) who said in
response to his snide aside about being
removed that it could be arranged. Johns threatened us and the OC Register" |
So exactly what happened during the meeting? I know what you are thinking: Yes, but you have only presented Mr. Curtis’ perspective and that of his supporters – how do we know that is what happened Good question. If you have a different perspective, let us know. However, please note that we have instant replay – watch the video clip coming to the Internet Café near you. Meanwhile, we will ask Mr. Johns and PCM Public Relations organization to see if they want to comment
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