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Children with guns (and badges) july 10th 2015
Children with guns. ( And badges.)
The allegations made in this piece are mine, not the owners of this paper. I wish to thank the paper for giving up the space. I was recently assaulted on my own porch by a Dresden police officer. I should think this might be of interest to the residents.
The past is another country, they do things differently there. Robert Heinlin. They certainly did things differently here in Dresden.
My girlfriend expressed an interest in a house she found on the internet which was scheduled to go for sheriffs sale. I told her I knew of it, and we drove there in her car. There were two dogs in the yard and obvious signs of occupation so we never got out. When we turned around and attempted to leave we were confronted by I assume the owner ( a Troy Lowe ), who approached from the bottom of the driveway in his car( approx. 50 yards )and could be heard screaming from that distance. He appeared to want to ram us. The invective coming from him I cannot print here. He came to a stop bumper to bumper to our vehicle which effectively blocked us from leaving, insofar as I had backed up to the house to avoid being hit. I told the girlfriend to stay in the car and was out of our car before he was fully stopped.
I told him who I was three times, while instructing him to back up. He attempted to get out ( not gonna happen). I relieved him of his glasses and offered a trade, we leave, you get them back. He grabbed me by my left hand, ( broke my little finger ), I turned him upside down in the drivers seat,( he had managed to get a foot out the door which gave me something handy to grab), and then we had a short conversation where I actually talked and he was not cursing. And then we were allowed to leave.
I went home and sent the girlfriend home shortly thereafter. Having solved one problem with a potential psychotic' until I knew who he was, and what possible history he might have, including mental, I wanted to make sure he did not know who she was or anything about her at this time.
I was shortly visited by one of Dresden's finest. I actually thought of calling them, having time to speculate that under the circumstances he' ( Mr. Lowe ) might be suicidal. Understand at this point I did not even know his name.
I told the officer ( one Kurtis Rodgers ) I would of course have to write a report. He got a clipboard. I invited him inside. He declined. I sat down on my porch and attempted to write. The officer began interrogating me, wanting to know who was in the car with me at Mr. Lowe's. I told him it was not pertinent to my report. He told me I had to tell him who my girlfriend was, where she lived, worked, etc.. I informed him I did not have to tell him anything. He threatened to arrest me for obstruction of justice and take me directly to jail. I said OK lets go, and offered to get in the back of the cruiser. He began repeating himself, and was yelling by now. At some point I decided to go into my house and call the sheriffs dept., and when I stood up and was looking at the end of the officers taser. Understand at no time did I verbally or physically threaten the officer in any way. This is collaborated by two different eyewitnesses. I was essentially sitting on my porch while the officer was yelling threats at me.
I was handcuffed to be transported in the car I had volunteered to get into a couple of minutes earlier, and then taken out ( ! ) of the car later to be handcuffed again in a manner intended to physically hurt me. One of the stops we made while being transported to Zanesville was back at Mr Lowe's house where they conferred for some time in the driveway. I was told I was being arrested for obstruction of justice. A couple of hours and 1100 dollars later I returned home.
Pay attention now, I have a witness to the first incident with Mr. Lowe, and two eyewitnesses to the incident with the officer. And at this point in the narrative I have been assaulted by two people in the span of about an hour, had one finger broken, been handcuffed in a manner intended to draw blood, and then charged with obstruction of justice and assault ( ! ) against Mr. Lowe by the village of Dresden, and I have not even written a report about the incident ( with Mr. Lowe ) at that time.
This happened on Tuesday June the 16th.
I was arraigned on Friday the 19th, the obstruction of justice charge somehow went away. Although they of course still have my bond money related to that charge. I now have a court date late in Sept. for the assault charge the village has brought against me on behalf of Mr. Lowe.
I made a suggestion under the circumstances I thought very reasonable in the presence of the mayor, the police chief and the council president that Friday. I suggested that it would be fair and wise for Dresden to drop its involvement in this case, send all further incident reports to the prosecutors office and let them do their job.
As of three weeks later this has not happened. What also has not happened is the village has not sought any written statements from the two witnesses who observed the incident between the officer and myself.
On Monday the 29th I presented the police chief with a six page incident report / complaint against the officer. The charge requested to be brought was assault. My allegations were his actions constituted assault, and police brutality. It further claims the officer has intentionally falsified a police report to justify an escalation of force issue which did not exist, and further states he lied about statements I made to him about the Lowe incident. Both of these allegations are supported by other witnesses, which again Dresden has not sought written statements from three weeks after the fact.
At the time I turned in this paperwork police chief Garver informed me that Mr Lowe had contacted him and requested he relay the message to me he was willing to drop his involvement in the case at that time. For 2000 dollars.
If you have been really paying attention up til now I have three words for you. Digital recording device. If you live here and want to be helpful it can be invaluable.
At this time I have personally talked to three other residents who claim they have seen the end of officer Rodgers taser. And two others who have had him enter their house unannounced and uninvited. I will be shortly taking video statements from these people, which is establishing what they call now a pattern of behavior. I found all of these with almost no effort in about two days. Imagine what I could uncover if I was being paid to do this eight hours a day.
If anyone has had an incident with officer Kurtis Rodgers that they believe demonstrates some improper or even criminal behavior please contact me. You may e-mail me at [email protected]. .
You may drop me a note at my mailing address, or if you wish just knock on my door, 32 west seventh, there is usually a motorcycle on the porch. If I am not home just stick contact info in the door, I will get back to you, and we will arrange to have you make your statement which eventually will be presented to the right authorities.
I understand that many of you will have had the belief that trying to bring attention to some of the things you have been subjected to would be stone walled or ignored. I am proof that this is a logical conclusion, insofar as how my incident has been stone walled and ignored. Trust in this, it will not be ignored much longer. I promise I will bring this to its logical conclusion and will personally stay on it until we achieve an indictment against officer Rodger s. Anyone who is willing to make a statement regarding any mistreatment or criminal action they know of perpetrated by this officer will be helping until I am ready to gift wrap this for a higher authority.
Again, R. K. Ripple / 32 west seventh / box 242 / Dresden Ohio / [email protected]
The allegations made in this piece are mine, not the owners of this paper. I wish to thank the paper for giving up the space. I was recently assaulted on my own porch by a Dresden police officer. I should think this might be of interest to the residents.
The past is another country, they do things differently there. Robert Heinlin. They certainly did things differently here in Dresden.
My girlfriend expressed an interest in a house she found on the internet which was scheduled to go for sheriffs sale. I told her I knew of it, and we drove there in her car. There were two dogs in the yard and obvious signs of occupation so we never got out. When we turned around and attempted to leave we were confronted by I assume the owner ( a Troy Lowe ), who approached from the bottom of the driveway in his car( approx. 50 yards )and could be heard screaming from that distance. He appeared to want to ram us. The invective coming from him I cannot print here. He came to a stop bumper to bumper to our vehicle which effectively blocked us from leaving, insofar as I had backed up to the house to avoid being hit. I told the girlfriend to stay in the car and was out of our car before he was fully stopped.
I told him who I was three times, while instructing him to back up. He attempted to get out ( not gonna happen). I relieved him of his glasses and offered a trade, we leave, you get them back. He grabbed me by my left hand, ( broke my little finger ), I turned him upside down in the drivers seat,( he had managed to get a foot out the door which gave me something handy to grab), and then we had a short conversation where I actually talked and he was not cursing. And then we were allowed to leave.
I went home and sent the girlfriend home shortly thereafter. Having solved one problem with a potential psychotic' until I knew who he was, and what possible history he might have, including mental, I wanted to make sure he did not know who she was or anything about her at this time.
I was shortly visited by one of Dresden's finest. I actually thought of calling them, having time to speculate that under the circumstances he' ( Mr. Lowe ) might be suicidal. Understand at this point I did not even know his name.
I told the officer ( one Kurtis Rodgers ) I would of course have to write a report. He got a clipboard. I invited him inside. He declined. I sat down on my porch and attempted to write. The officer began interrogating me, wanting to know who was in the car with me at Mr. Lowe's. I told him it was not pertinent to my report. He told me I had to tell him who my girlfriend was, where she lived, worked, etc.. I informed him I did not have to tell him anything. He threatened to arrest me for obstruction of justice and take me directly to jail. I said OK lets go, and offered to get in the back of the cruiser. He began repeating himself, and was yelling by now. At some point I decided to go into my house and call the sheriffs dept., and when I stood up and was looking at the end of the officers taser. Understand at no time did I verbally or physically threaten the officer in any way. This is collaborated by two different eyewitnesses. I was essentially sitting on my porch while the officer was yelling threats at me.
I was handcuffed to be transported in the car I had volunteered to get into a couple of minutes earlier, and then taken out ( ! ) of the car later to be handcuffed again in a manner intended to physically hurt me. One of the stops we made while being transported to Zanesville was back at Mr Lowe's house where they conferred for some time in the driveway. I was told I was being arrested for obstruction of justice. A couple of hours and 1100 dollars later I returned home.
Pay attention now, I have a witness to the first incident with Mr. Lowe, and two eyewitnesses to the incident with the officer. And at this point in the narrative I have been assaulted by two people in the span of about an hour, had one finger broken, been handcuffed in a manner intended to draw blood, and then charged with obstruction of justice and assault ( ! ) against Mr. Lowe by the village of Dresden, and I have not even written a report about the incident ( with Mr. Lowe ) at that time.
This happened on Tuesday June the 16th.
I was arraigned on Friday the 19th, the obstruction of justice charge somehow went away. Although they of course still have my bond money related to that charge. I now have a court date late in Sept. for the assault charge the village has brought against me on behalf of Mr. Lowe.
I made a suggestion under the circumstances I thought very reasonable in the presence of the mayor, the police chief and the council president that Friday. I suggested that it would be fair and wise for Dresden to drop its involvement in this case, send all further incident reports to the prosecutors office and let them do their job.
As of three weeks later this has not happened. What also has not happened is the village has not sought any written statements from the two witnesses who observed the incident between the officer and myself.
On Monday the 29th I presented the police chief with a six page incident report / complaint against the officer. The charge requested to be brought was assault. My allegations were his actions constituted assault, and police brutality. It further claims the officer has intentionally falsified a police report to justify an escalation of force issue which did not exist, and further states he lied about statements I made to him about the Lowe incident. Both of these allegations are supported by other witnesses, which again Dresden has not sought written statements from three weeks after the fact.
At the time I turned in this paperwork police chief Garver informed me that Mr Lowe had contacted him and requested he relay the message to me he was willing to drop his involvement in the case at that time. For 2000 dollars.
If you have been really paying attention up til now I have three words for you. Digital recording device. If you live here and want to be helpful it can be invaluable.
At this time I have personally talked to three other residents who claim they have seen the end of officer Rodgers taser. And two others who have had him enter their house unannounced and uninvited. I will be shortly taking video statements from these people, which is establishing what they call now a pattern of behavior. I found all of these with almost no effort in about two days. Imagine what I could uncover if I was being paid to do this eight hours a day.
If anyone has had an incident with officer Kurtis Rodgers that they believe demonstrates some improper or even criminal behavior please contact me. You may e-mail me at [email protected]. .
You may drop me a note at my mailing address, or if you wish just knock on my door, 32 west seventh, there is usually a motorcycle on the porch. If I am not home just stick contact info in the door, I will get back to you, and we will arrange to have you make your statement which eventually will be presented to the right authorities.
I understand that many of you will have had the belief that trying to bring attention to some of the things you have been subjected to would be stone walled or ignored. I am proof that this is a logical conclusion, insofar as how my incident has been stone walled and ignored. Trust in this, it will not be ignored much longer. I promise I will bring this to its logical conclusion and will personally stay on it until we achieve an indictment against officer Rodger s. Anyone who is willing to make a statement regarding any mistreatment or criminal action they know of perpetrated by this officer will be helping until I am ready to gift wrap this for a higher authority.
Again, R. K. Ripple / 32 west seventh / box 242 / Dresden Ohio / [email protected]
children with guns (and badges) part 2 july 24th 2015
Children with guns / Part two
Since the last installment chronicled in the Transcript which was printed on July 10th, an update.
At this time I have sent all previous incident reports to the Muskingum County Prosecutors office by registered mail. Both of the incident reports from myself and the eyewitness concerning the actions of Troy Lowe, ( the 2000 dollar man ), and the incident report / complaint made by myself against Officer Kurtis Rodgers.
Last Friday, on July 17th / 2015, I videotaped an interview with the two people who witnessed the incident between myself and Officer Kurtis Rodgers with an independent third party. In previous material sent to the Prosecutors office I indicated I felt it would be best if an officer of the court took their statements. This has not been done at that time. I feel that 31 days after the fact was long enough.
Among the points collaborated were the following. That previous to the taser incident the officer Rodgers was observed to be yelling and cursing at myself. That at no time during the incident did I verbally or physically threaten the officer. That the statements made by officer Rodgers about the escalation of force justifying the taser were false, according to what they witnessed. That at no time in those 31 days since the incident has anyone in any official capacity asked them for a written statement about this event.
On July 19th I made a videotape interview with the witness to the Lowe incident, which also collaborates the fact that Officer Rodgers has intentionally falsified his police report in other areas.
A synopsis to date. Over a month ago I reported a serious crime, I provided eyewitnesses to both incidents, I indicated I was to pursue charges against the officer, and 31 days later nobody acting in an official capacity sought statements from either the witness to the Lowe incident. She a week later provided her own. Or has sought statements from witnesses to the Rodgers incident, 31 days after the fact.
The number of stories that have been related to myself now about this Officer defies census. I have not been able to keep an accurate count or contact info for all of them. They are of course hearsay to myself, I did not observe the other incidents that have been described to me, but have endeavored to keep as much contact info and notes as possible for future reference, and have videotaped some of the stories for those so inclined.
At this time I would recommend the following course of action. Many of you who have had an incident with Kurtis Rodgers that you think represents behavior from improper to outright criminal in nature, write a formal complaint outlining the incident. Send it to the Muskingum County Prosecutors office by registered mail. The prosecutors office in and of itself is not a formal investigative body and can only consider what is presented to that office. Nobody representing the village of Dresden will act as an investigative body for them in this matter. You will have to do it yourself. Take the time to write it down, be concise, stay on point, and focus on the behavior of the officer that you wish to have them be made aware of.
For the record I have no knowledge that most of the village council are not trying to act responsibly in regards to this matter, but in all fairness to those members, I have been told they were unaware of these incidents until the Transcript came out on July the 10th, 21 days after these incidents occurred.
I again wish to thank the Transcript for the space to bring forth such serious issues, and I am sure the owners will not be hurt at this point that I feel the next step is to seek larger media coverage. The village fathers have had enough time trying to cover these issues up.
Off to Channel 4.
R. K. Ripple
Since the last installment chronicled in the Transcript which was printed on July 10th, an update.
At this time I have sent all previous incident reports to the Muskingum County Prosecutors office by registered mail. Both of the incident reports from myself and the eyewitness concerning the actions of Troy Lowe, ( the 2000 dollar man ), and the incident report / complaint made by myself against Officer Kurtis Rodgers.
Last Friday, on July 17th / 2015, I videotaped an interview with the two people who witnessed the incident between myself and Officer Kurtis Rodgers with an independent third party. In previous material sent to the Prosecutors office I indicated I felt it would be best if an officer of the court took their statements. This has not been done at that time. I feel that 31 days after the fact was long enough.
Among the points collaborated were the following. That previous to the taser incident the officer Rodgers was observed to be yelling and cursing at myself. That at no time during the incident did I verbally or physically threaten the officer. That the statements made by officer Rodgers about the escalation of force justifying the taser were false, according to what they witnessed. That at no time in those 31 days since the incident has anyone in any official capacity asked them for a written statement about this event.
On July 19th I made a videotape interview with the witness to the Lowe incident, which also collaborates the fact that Officer Rodgers has intentionally falsified his police report in other areas.
A synopsis to date. Over a month ago I reported a serious crime, I provided eyewitnesses to both incidents, I indicated I was to pursue charges against the officer, and 31 days later nobody acting in an official capacity sought statements from either the witness to the Lowe incident. She a week later provided her own. Or has sought statements from witnesses to the Rodgers incident, 31 days after the fact.
The number of stories that have been related to myself now about this Officer defies census. I have not been able to keep an accurate count or contact info for all of them. They are of course hearsay to myself, I did not observe the other incidents that have been described to me, but have endeavored to keep as much contact info and notes as possible for future reference, and have videotaped some of the stories for those so inclined.
At this time I would recommend the following course of action. Many of you who have had an incident with Kurtis Rodgers that you think represents behavior from improper to outright criminal in nature, write a formal complaint outlining the incident. Send it to the Muskingum County Prosecutors office by registered mail. The prosecutors office in and of itself is not a formal investigative body and can only consider what is presented to that office. Nobody representing the village of Dresden will act as an investigative body for them in this matter. You will have to do it yourself. Take the time to write it down, be concise, stay on point, and focus on the behavior of the officer that you wish to have them be made aware of.
For the record I have no knowledge that most of the village council are not trying to act responsibly in regards to this matter, but in all fairness to those members, I have been told they were unaware of these incidents until the Transcript came out on July the 10th, 21 days after these incidents occurred.
I again wish to thank the Transcript for the space to bring forth such serious issues, and I am sure the owners will not be hurt at this point that I feel the next step is to seek larger media coverage. The village fathers have had enough time trying to cover these issues up.
Off to Channel 4.
R. K. Ripple
open letter to the mayor July 31st 2015
An open letter to the Mayor
First off to those who have followed my recent battles with the village, I spent some time last Friday with a very professional sheriffs deputy who advised me I needed to talk to the Attorney Generals office. That office informed me he was wrong about that, ( it was an honest error I am sure ), and that the next part of the logical chain to lodge a complaint about relating to Officer Rodgers was the County Commissioners office. I do not believe this negates my advice to send written complaints to the County prosecutors office. Doing so may be having an effect upon how they look at any paper they have with Officer Rodgers name on it. But you can actually take up conversation with a Commissioner verbally which cannot hurt. After that your last recourse is the Department of Justice, which I am told could result in a full-blown investigation of both the Village Police department and the Village administration.
For the record / The president of the Village Council graciously allowed me into his home the day after ( June 17th ) these incidents occurred, and both incidents were related to him. For the record nobody ( I have been told ) on the council had heard about these incidents when the first installment of Children with Guns came out on July the 10th.
It would appear the president of the council did not feel a resident charging one of Dresden's Officers with assault was something they needed to know about.
For the record, Jeff Garver heard both incidents related to him on June 18th. I believe Jeff has been conflicted between his duty and pressure / apathy / intention of cover up by other city officials. Be that as it may, for the record Jeff told my father within a week of the incidents he would do what he could for me. Ten days after the incidents he refused to discuss the matter with a mutual friend, saying it was an open investigation.
After last week's council meeting he told the editor of this paper he in effect had no responsibility toward the issue because three weeks after the fact, I publicly through this paper indicated I would be seeking a higher authority in the matter. Over 30 years ago I was asked to consider the Police Chief's job in the village. In a perfect world where everybody is treated the same under the law this would not be the mess it is now. If you reported an incident of unprovoked assault upon your person, and provided two independent eyewitnesses which absolutely collaborated your complaint, that person you indicated to be at fault would be in a very short period find themselves in the county jail awaiting either bond or trial. For those of you who laugh at this as being unrealistic if a police officer is to be the defendant ,I suggest you have been drinking the Kool Aide too long. Political realities are what you make of them. If I was the Chief of Police in Dresden today, and had investigated this matter, Officer Rodgers would have made the trip to County jail 6 weeks ago.
I did not need for Jeff Garver to do me any favors. All he had to do was his job.
I attempted to relate the incidents to the Mayor on June 18th, but he refused to talk to me about it, pointing me at Chief Garver. Since that time it has been reported to me the following. At the end of a verbal altercation with my father on July 11th, (which my Dad no doubt was at fault for), he was heard to state in public that I was guilty, and should pay the fine (like a traffic ticket ?) and shut up about it. I will now call Dave on that statement through this podium. You may confirm or deny, Dad is getting hard of hearing.
If true, these statements are Libel. You have indicated guilt in a matter you know nothing about, regarding either the incident with Lowe or the incident with Rodgers. You were not there. Another individual has stated you told him I struck Lowe, and had myself stated that. For the record no blows were exchanged by myself or Lowe, I prevented that by not letting him out of the car. The eyewitness to that incident confirms that. I never stated that to anyone, and that never happened.
The person you were listening to was probably Officer Rodgers, whom has falsified his police report in other areas and I have witnesses who collaborate that toward both incidents.
Really Dave, a week ago I informed the public I had interviewed all three witnesses to both incidents on video. I doubt you have even read my incident reports. I can see your front porch from mine, all you had to do was walk down here, or invite me over, and I would be glad to show you what you have refused to look at for 6 weeks. At an administrative level everyone makes mistakes, everyone. But when the boat is leaking it is best not to shoot more holes in it. I asked you six weeks ago to get out from under this and I would have gotten rid of this cop for you. I am innocent of any criminal acts here but the inaction of the village is costing me time and money. And nobody owns the sweat of my labor. You have the opportunity here to not shoot more holes in the boat. Everyone gets fair warning with me, you are almost out of time. In another couple f weeks two things will happen. I will bring a media hailstorm down upon the town.
And you and the Chief, and the president of the council and Steve Baldwin will receive subpoenas to a court case where you can explain how it is the village has managed to wait six weeks ( so far ) to take statements ( or view the ones they have already made ) from eyewitnesses to a crime perpetrated by a Dresden police officer. Anyone representing the village from the council on up is free to view the transcriptions from these interviews and the taped interviews themselves. All you have to do is ask. This is an incredibly fair offer from someone who is close to being forced to spend the money to retain a lawyer over this issue. When that happens this offer will be gone and the gloves will come off. This is not a threat, it is a fact. The village has painted itself into a corner here through no fault of my own. If the Mayor refuses to ignore the evidence I have against this officer at this time there is nothing more I will be able to do to stop the bleeding. I will be glad to meet with you Dave, show you this evidence and see if we can together stop this bleeding, but the stance your administration has taken is running me out of time. This is a fair and genuine offer. Everyone makes mistakes, I am trying to help the village to quit shooting holes in the bottom of the boat.
On a lighter ( ? ) note, as you read this I am gathering signatures to run for Mayor. My slogan is I did not want this job. Sometimes when we listen to a higher power we find ourselves not getting what we asked for, but what is asked of us. My main motivation is to ensure what I have been subjected to in this matter is not visited upon someone else. The behavior of the village fathers has so far been morally reprehensible. Someone has to do more than point fingers in another direction. As stated before, I hope the Mayor will step up at this time in a leadership stance and try to correct a lot of what has occurred of late, but also hope he will see why I feel I am compelled to run for this office.
For the record, Kurtis Rodgers first training in uniform occurred in Utica. He was there for about three months. Reading between the lines, ( and only a little ), they were not thrilled with him there.
For the record, according to the last deed issued 21 west first street Dresden Ohio, Troy Lowe does not own the property where the first incident took place.
R. K. Ripple
First off to those who have followed my recent battles with the village, I spent some time last Friday with a very professional sheriffs deputy who advised me I needed to talk to the Attorney Generals office. That office informed me he was wrong about that, ( it was an honest error I am sure ), and that the next part of the logical chain to lodge a complaint about relating to Officer Rodgers was the County Commissioners office. I do not believe this negates my advice to send written complaints to the County prosecutors office. Doing so may be having an effect upon how they look at any paper they have with Officer Rodgers name on it. But you can actually take up conversation with a Commissioner verbally which cannot hurt. After that your last recourse is the Department of Justice, which I am told could result in a full-blown investigation of both the Village Police department and the Village administration.
For the record / The president of the Village Council graciously allowed me into his home the day after ( June 17th ) these incidents occurred, and both incidents were related to him. For the record nobody ( I have been told ) on the council had heard about these incidents when the first installment of Children with Guns came out on July the 10th.
It would appear the president of the council did not feel a resident charging one of Dresden's Officers with assault was something they needed to know about.
For the record, Jeff Garver heard both incidents related to him on June 18th. I believe Jeff has been conflicted between his duty and pressure / apathy / intention of cover up by other city officials. Be that as it may, for the record Jeff told my father within a week of the incidents he would do what he could for me. Ten days after the incidents he refused to discuss the matter with a mutual friend, saying it was an open investigation.
After last week's council meeting he told the editor of this paper he in effect had no responsibility toward the issue because three weeks after the fact, I publicly through this paper indicated I would be seeking a higher authority in the matter. Over 30 years ago I was asked to consider the Police Chief's job in the village. In a perfect world where everybody is treated the same under the law this would not be the mess it is now. If you reported an incident of unprovoked assault upon your person, and provided two independent eyewitnesses which absolutely collaborated your complaint, that person you indicated to be at fault would be in a very short period find themselves in the county jail awaiting either bond or trial. For those of you who laugh at this as being unrealistic if a police officer is to be the defendant ,I suggest you have been drinking the Kool Aide too long. Political realities are what you make of them. If I was the Chief of Police in Dresden today, and had investigated this matter, Officer Rodgers would have made the trip to County jail 6 weeks ago.
I did not need for Jeff Garver to do me any favors. All he had to do was his job.
I attempted to relate the incidents to the Mayor on June 18th, but he refused to talk to me about it, pointing me at Chief Garver. Since that time it has been reported to me the following. At the end of a verbal altercation with my father on July 11th, (which my Dad no doubt was at fault for), he was heard to state in public that I was guilty, and should pay the fine (like a traffic ticket ?) and shut up about it. I will now call Dave on that statement through this podium. You may confirm or deny, Dad is getting hard of hearing.
If true, these statements are Libel. You have indicated guilt in a matter you know nothing about, regarding either the incident with Lowe or the incident with Rodgers. You were not there. Another individual has stated you told him I struck Lowe, and had myself stated that. For the record no blows were exchanged by myself or Lowe, I prevented that by not letting him out of the car. The eyewitness to that incident confirms that. I never stated that to anyone, and that never happened.
The person you were listening to was probably Officer Rodgers, whom has falsified his police report in other areas and I have witnesses who collaborate that toward both incidents.
Really Dave, a week ago I informed the public I had interviewed all three witnesses to both incidents on video. I doubt you have even read my incident reports. I can see your front porch from mine, all you had to do was walk down here, or invite me over, and I would be glad to show you what you have refused to look at for 6 weeks. At an administrative level everyone makes mistakes, everyone. But when the boat is leaking it is best not to shoot more holes in it. I asked you six weeks ago to get out from under this and I would have gotten rid of this cop for you. I am innocent of any criminal acts here but the inaction of the village is costing me time and money. And nobody owns the sweat of my labor. You have the opportunity here to not shoot more holes in the boat. Everyone gets fair warning with me, you are almost out of time. In another couple f weeks two things will happen. I will bring a media hailstorm down upon the town.
And you and the Chief, and the president of the council and Steve Baldwin will receive subpoenas to a court case where you can explain how it is the village has managed to wait six weeks ( so far ) to take statements ( or view the ones they have already made ) from eyewitnesses to a crime perpetrated by a Dresden police officer. Anyone representing the village from the council on up is free to view the transcriptions from these interviews and the taped interviews themselves. All you have to do is ask. This is an incredibly fair offer from someone who is close to being forced to spend the money to retain a lawyer over this issue. When that happens this offer will be gone and the gloves will come off. This is not a threat, it is a fact. The village has painted itself into a corner here through no fault of my own. If the Mayor refuses to ignore the evidence I have against this officer at this time there is nothing more I will be able to do to stop the bleeding. I will be glad to meet with you Dave, show you this evidence and see if we can together stop this bleeding, but the stance your administration has taken is running me out of time. This is a fair and genuine offer. Everyone makes mistakes, I am trying to help the village to quit shooting holes in the bottom of the boat.
On a lighter ( ? ) note, as you read this I am gathering signatures to run for Mayor. My slogan is I did not want this job. Sometimes when we listen to a higher power we find ourselves not getting what we asked for, but what is asked of us. My main motivation is to ensure what I have been subjected to in this matter is not visited upon someone else. The behavior of the village fathers has so far been morally reprehensible. Someone has to do more than point fingers in another direction. As stated before, I hope the Mayor will step up at this time in a leadership stance and try to correct a lot of what has occurred of late, but also hope he will see why I feel I am compelled to run for this office.
For the record, Kurtis Rodgers first training in uniform occurred in Utica. He was there for about three months. Reading between the lines, ( and only a little ), they were not thrilled with him there.
For the record, according to the last deed issued 21 west first street Dresden Ohio, Troy Lowe does not own the property where the first incident took place.
R. K. Ripple
house of cards August 14th 2015
House of cards / Baldwin and Mortimer
On Thursday Aug. 6th I spent perhaps one half an hour with the County Commissioners, and an equal amount of time with Matt Lutz and Whiz news. It would appear that I may not have to resort to channel 10, but I am reserving that judgement for later. At this time as I understand it the Sheriffs department may be investigating matters concerning the conduct of Officer Rodgers,actually it seems may have been asked to before I got there myself.
Many people have indicated to me they are incredulous at how the village fathers have stonewalled and otherwise tried to cover up the issues I have brought forth through this public forum. It is the same on a local level as it is on a county, state, or federal level.
There are whole areas of psychology devoted to how Statist bureaucracy protects itself, and conducting itself in a moral and reasonable manner often has nothing to do with how the machinery reacts. The system only is as good as the level it will be perverted to by the people in office.
A house of cards. Predictably when called on their immoral acts they simply ignore the evidence and wait to see if you will go away. The actions of the village is no different than Hillary's blocking e-mail evidence forever. The reason they do this is because they are immoral, and because they are actually getting paid to stall, and because it works. Down here at at local government level it works for them all too often. People who have a spouse and kids, a dog and a job simply do not have the resources in time and money to fight them to a draw. The right or wrong of anything, the fact that their actions may be unjust has nothing to do with their actions at times.
The worst of it is they have no skin in it and they know usually you will give up. As I have often told friends of mine who are lawyers, this system (judicial), causes more injustices than it solves. Many of them have instantly agreed to that statement.
On Monday Aug. 3rd it was related to me that Steve Baldwin had been in a meeting with Chief Garver, and Garver had stated I had never formally asked that Officer Rodgers be charged. This is a bald faced lie, and of course I have both eyewitness and other means to verify that statement. Not the least of which is the incident / report complaint I turned in to Garver stated this plainly on the last page what I expected him to be charged with. Obviously neither Chief Garver nor Steve Baldwin have read it. They have had that document for over 5 weeks now.
A house of cards, and now they are lying to each other.
Baldwin up to this time still has plausible deny-ability. Baldwin can claim he has never seen any of the incident reports related to my altercation with either Lowe or Officer Rodgers. And that may be true, which is why I sent copies by registered mail to the county prosecutors office. Understand that if my case with Lowe went to court, Baldwin or Mortimer would actually prosecute the case.
So as we read this I suspect an investigation into my allegations into Officer Rodgers criminal actions may already be underway. And the overwhelming evidence I have had verifying both his assault against myself and the fact he has falsified his police report relative to both incidents, will hopefully be presented to the sheriffs department. Which has been there for the asking all along, eight weeks ago now.
This week a package containing yet more copies of all of my incident reports and the video interviews with the witnesses to both incidents will go by registered mail to Baldwin / Mortimer, and any deny-ability of knowledge of this will be gone.
At that time the towns solicitors will be guilty of persisting with an assault charge against me on behalf of Lowe ( the 2000 dollar man ) in spite of evidence that the officer it came through is lying about critical aspects in his report, in spite of evidence he himself is guilty of assault which is why he lied in the first place, and the fact he would be called as a witness against me in court.
If the legal counsel for the village has actually been kept in the dark over these issues, backed up by the fact we now know that Chief Garver is willing to lie to the town's own lawyer about these issues, then they may actually have been blameless up until now. If they persist beyond this point however, they are no longer. The main goal of anyone who is a prosecutor is to find justice, not to always bring forth a case. If the village does not at this time drop this I will be forced to talk to the Attorney General's office about what may constitutes unethical behavior relative to Balwin's handling of this case. Steve Baldwin may consider that I have now FORMALLY stated in a public forum that I wish to have assault charges brought against Lowe. Although Lowe's report is predictably full of falsehoods, all three people involved agree he blocked us in from simply leaving, which caused all further involvement. This is an illegal act. His manner indicated him to be possibly violent, and in the end. I have the only documented injury associated with the incident. Consider everyone now has been FORMALLY informed of my wishes.
Officer Kurtis Rodgers is guilty of assault, he displayed both verbally and physically the intent and ability to do me bodily injury with a potentially lethal weapon though there was no provocation whatsoever on my part to justify that. He is guilty beyond that of excessive use of force, police brutality, and intentional falsification of a police report.
Again, all of this is verified by eyewitness statements, that I myself had to take from them because Chief Garver refused to. Consider that you have been FORMALLY informed of what I expect you to charge the officer with.
Again, at no time have I alleged that I knew it to be true Baldwin was part of this cover up, just stating again for later documentation and the time line, in a possible court setting what I have done so far, to see to it he cannot say after this point in time he was unaware.
I need to make a correction. Two weeks ago in the Transcript the editor attributed the broken finger on my left hand to the incident with Kurtis Rodgers. This is not the case, and as I alleged in the first piece Children with Guns on July 10th, Troy Lowe actually broke my finger.
The past is another country, we did things differently there. My own Mother saw a young man tasered in her own backyard earlier this year. He was running around the back of her apartment trying to hide the fact he had an open can of beer in his hand.
He was shot in the back while trying to run and hide this can of beer from the police. He had not killed anybody or robbed the bank, he was drinking beer in public.
I was informed the mayor was pretty drunk at the end of the melon festival but nobody thought to arrest him for it, or taser him either for that matter. This would be funny if it were not so tragic. My Mother was horrified, and will lead off with a series of interviews on Youtube, titled Dresden Ohio under seige. She was eloquent and passionate, and stated how horribly ridiculous this has become better than I could hope to. I have never been more proud of her.
R. K. Ripple
On Thursday Aug. 6th I spent perhaps one half an hour with the County Commissioners, and an equal amount of time with Matt Lutz and Whiz news. It would appear that I may not have to resort to channel 10, but I am reserving that judgement for later. At this time as I understand it the Sheriffs department may be investigating matters concerning the conduct of Officer Rodgers,actually it seems may have been asked to before I got there myself.
Many people have indicated to me they are incredulous at how the village fathers have stonewalled and otherwise tried to cover up the issues I have brought forth through this public forum. It is the same on a local level as it is on a county, state, or federal level.
There are whole areas of psychology devoted to how Statist bureaucracy protects itself, and conducting itself in a moral and reasonable manner often has nothing to do with how the machinery reacts. The system only is as good as the level it will be perverted to by the people in office.
A house of cards. Predictably when called on their immoral acts they simply ignore the evidence and wait to see if you will go away. The actions of the village is no different than Hillary's blocking e-mail evidence forever. The reason they do this is because they are immoral, and because they are actually getting paid to stall, and because it works. Down here at at local government level it works for them all too often. People who have a spouse and kids, a dog and a job simply do not have the resources in time and money to fight them to a draw. The right or wrong of anything, the fact that their actions may be unjust has nothing to do with their actions at times.
The worst of it is they have no skin in it and they know usually you will give up. As I have often told friends of mine who are lawyers, this system (judicial), causes more injustices than it solves. Many of them have instantly agreed to that statement.
On Monday Aug. 3rd it was related to me that Steve Baldwin had been in a meeting with Chief Garver, and Garver had stated I had never formally asked that Officer Rodgers be charged. This is a bald faced lie, and of course I have both eyewitness and other means to verify that statement. Not the least of which is the incident / report complaint I turned in to Garver stated this plainly on the last page what I expected him to be charged with. Obviously neither Chief Garver nor Steve Baldwin have read it. They have had that document for over 5 weeks now.
A house of cards, and now they are lying to each other.
Baldwin up to this time still has plausible deny-ability. Baldwin can claim he has never seen any of the incident reports related to my altercation with either Lowe or Officer Rodgers. And that may be true, which is why I sent copies by registered mail to the county prosecutors office. Understand that if my case with Lowe went to court, Baldwin or Mortimer would actually prosecute the case.
So as we read this I suspect an investigation into my allegations into Officer Rodgers criminal actions may already be underway. And the overwhelming evidence I have had verifying both his assault against myself and the fact he has falsified his police report relative to both incidents, will hopefully be presented to the sheriffs department. Which has been there for the asking all along, eight weeks ago now.
This week a package containing yet more copies of all of my incident reports and the video interviews with the witnesses to both incidents will go by registered mail to Baldwin / Mortimer, and any deny-ability of knowledge of this will be gone.
At that time the towns solicitors will be guilty of persisting with an assault charge against me on behalf of Lowe ( the 2000 dollar man ) in spite of evidence that the officer it came through is lying about critical aspects in his report, in spite of evidence he himself is guilty of assault which is why he lied in the first place, and the fact he would be called as a witness against me in court.
If the legal counsel for the village has actually been kept in the dark over these issues, backed up by the fact we now know that Chief Garver is willing to lie to the town's own lawyer about these issues, then they may actually have been blameless up until now. If they persist beyond this point however, they are no longer. The main goal of anyone who is a prosecutor is to find justice, not to always bring forth a case. If the village does not at this time drop this I will be forced to talk to the Attorney General's office about what may constitutes unethical behavior relative to Balwin's handling of this case. Steve Baldwin may consider that I have now FORMALLY stated in a public forum that I wish to have assault charges brought against Lowe. Although Lowe's report is predictably full of falsehoods, all three people involved agree he blocked us in from simply leaving, which caused all further involvement. This is an illegal act. His manner indicated him to be possibly violent, and in the end. I have the only documented injury associated with the incident. Consider everyone now has been FORMALLY informed of my wishes.
Officer Kurtis Rodgers is guilty of assault, he displayed both verbally and physically the intent and ability to do me bodily injury with a potentially lethal weapon though there was no provocation whatsoever on my part to justify that. He is guilty beyond that of excessive use of force, police brutality, and intentional falsification of a police report.
Again, all of this is verified by eyewitness statements, that I myself had to take from them because Chief Garver refused to. Consider that you have been FORMALLY informed of what I expect you to charge the officer with.
Again, at no time have I alleged that I knew it to be true Baldwin was part of this cover up, just stating again for later documentation and the time line, in a possible court setting what I have done so far, to see to it he cannot say after this point in time he was unaware.
I need to make a correction. Two weeks ago in the Transcript the editor attributed the broken finger on my left hand to the incident with Kurtis Rodgers. This is not the case, and as I alleged in the first piece Children with Guns on July 10th, Troy Lowe actually broke my finger.
The past is another country, we did things differently there. My own Mother saw a young man tasered in her own backyard earlier this year. He was running around the back of her apartment trying to hide the fact he had an open can of beer in his hand.
He was shot in the back while trying to run and hide this can of beer from the police. He had not killed anybody or robbed the bank, he was drinking beer in public.
I was informed the mayor was pretty drunk at the end of the melon festival but nobody thought to arrest him for it, or taser him either for that matter. This would be funny if it were not so tragic. My Mother was horrified, and will lead off with a series of interviews on Youtube, titled Dresden Ohio under seige. She was eloquent and passionate, and stated how horribly ridiculous this has become better than I could hope to. I have never been more proud of her.
R. K. Ripple
open letter to the sheriff august 28th 2015
An open letter to the Sheriff
As related in an earlier piece some weeks back I had a meeting with Sheriff Lutz. Mr. Lutz was gracious towards me, listened attentively to my complaints and indicated he would send a detective ( or two ) to Dresden to look into my allegations.
On Tuesday Aug. 11th, one detective Todd Mahle turned up and I invited him into my house where we spent probably a half an hour going over both incidents I had with Troy Lowe and Officer Curtis Rodgers. I gave him several documents and copies of the video interviews with witnesses to both altercations. During the next two days he interviewed both of the witnesses to the incident I had with the officer and turned up another whom I was not aware of.
The detective indicated at the conclusion that he was on vacation the next week but expected a detective Welker to take over. Another interesting aside is it would appear that Officer Rodgers was pulled of duty less than half way through his shift on Thursday the 13th, the last day the detective was here. He was back on duty that Saturday.
Yesterday on Monday the 24th the detective returned and I had a chance meeting with Detective Mahle and asked what he expected to happen as a result of this investigation. He said they ( ? ) were waiting to see how my case with Lowe turned out.
My case with Lowe has nothing to do with charging Rodgers, and now we once again see some old boys' network in the tea leaves. At first we have a village administration and more pointedly, a police chief which refuses to investigate a very clear cut case. Then we have a Sheriff's department which does investigate, but then finds some unrelated reason to delay action nine weeks after the fact.
If anyone doubts the witness testimony should have caused charges to be filed at the conclusion of this investigation I will endeavor to enlighten the readership. First, with the permission of the witnesses, I will release their video interview on youtube so you can judge for yourself. Next, I will subpoena the file of statements the detective has compiled concerning this investigation and publish this file. Expect the Sheriff's office to resist this procedure, and be sure if they do resist it that should be proof enough of what is going on here. For last I will bet anyone through this public forum 1000 dollars if the officer is charged we will see a conviction in court for one or all of the charges I indicated he is guilty of. I will take that bet now. From any taker.
I have hope that Sheriff Lutz is unaware of how the investigation he started is being perverted. Mr. Lutz up front did what he told me he would do, I feel I need to reach out here before we find ourselves in the same place we were before. With yet another law enforcement agency which would knowingly have me in court as a defendant, holding onto evidence the charges against me came through an officer who has falsified a police report to bring the charges. And who is without question guilty of everything else I accused him of. Remember, I offered to let anyone representing the village see anything I had weeks ago. Nobody has asked.
In any police department I know of, including the Sheriff's department, here I am sure, allegations such as these would have an officer removed from active duty while an investigation was done. They would be put on a desk or on leave, and paid. This is proper and reasonable, and the presumption of innocence applies to everyone. Allegations of misconduct should not hurt anybody before enough evidence to pursue charges is established. I believe Officer Rodgers has been pulled from duty three times in the last nine weeks but now even the Sheriff's department is playing games concerning charging him.
Sat. night / Sunday morning ( 23rd ) three young teenagers were taken to Juvenile by Officer Rodgers. Somebody shoplifted some cigars . It was unclear that all three were involved. One of the teens was put in handcuffs ( later at their residence I believe ), and was told he could try to run for it if he wanted, I have my hand on my taser. All three were transported and treated as suspects, with no investigation, or witnessing of the store's video. The manager was called in the middle of the night. The manager informed Rodgers they would deal with it in the morning. The manager was threatened with an obstruction of justice charge. ( He likes that one evidently ). When they all got to juvenile at 4 O'clock the staff was confused why they were there because the store did not wish to bring charges. At least one of the kids did not get released until Monday morning.
Some of the parents are somewhat upset.
I wonder what the Mayor thinks. No, on second thought, never mind.
R. K. Ripple
As related in an earlier piece some weeks back I had a meeting with Sheriff Lutz. Mr. Lutz was gracious towards me, listened attentively to my complaints and indicated he would send a detective ( or two ) to Dresden to look into my allegations.
On Tuesday Aug. 11th, one detective Todd Mahle turned up and I invited him into my house where we spent probably a half an hour going over both incidents I had with Troy Lowe and Officer Curtis Rodgers. I gave him several documents and copies of the video interviews with witnesses to both altercations. During the next two days he interviewed both of the witnesses to the incident I had with the officer and turned up another whom I was not aware of.
The detective indicated at the conclusion that he was on vacation the next week but expected a detective Welker to take over. Another interesting aside is it would appear that Officer Rodgers was pulled of duty less than half way through his shift on Thursday the 13th, the last day the detective was here. He was back on duty that Saturday.
Yesterday on Monday the 24th the detective returned and I had a chance meeting with Detective Mahle and asked what he expected to happen as a result of this investigation. He said they ( ? ) were waiting to see how my case with Lowe turned out.
My case with Lowe has nothing to do with charging Rodgers, and now we once again see some old boys' network in the tea leaves. At first we have a village administration and more pointedly, a police chief which refuses to investigate a very clear cut case. Then we have a Sheriff's department which does investigate, but then finds some unrelated reason to delay action nine weeks after the fact.
If anyone doubts the witness testimony should have caused charges to be filed at the conclusion of this investigation I will endeavor to enlighten the readership. First, with the permission of the witnesses, I will release their video interview on youtube so you can judge for yourself. Next, I will subpoena the file of statements the detective has compiled concerning this investigation and publish this file. Expect the Sheriff's office to resist this procedure, and be sure if they do resist it that should be proof enough of what is going on here. For last I will bet anyone through this public forum 1000 dollars if the officer is charged we will see a conviction in court for one or all of the charges I indicated he is guilty of. I will take that bet now. From any taker.
I have hope that Sheriff Lutz is unaware of how the investigation he started is being perverted. Mr. Lutz up front did what he told me he would do, I feel I need to reach out here before we find ourselves in the same place we were before. With yet another law enforcement agency which would knowingly have me in court as a defendant, holding onto evidence the charges against me came through an officer who has falsified a police report to bring the charges. And who is without question guilty of everything else I accused him of. Remember, I offered to let anyone representing the village see anything I had weeks ago. Nobody has asked.
In any police department I know of, including the Sheriff's department, here I am sure, allegations such as these would have an officer removed from active duty while an investigation was done. They would be put on a desk or on leave, and paid. This is proper and reasonable, and the presumption of innocence applies to everyone. Allegations of misconduct should not hurt anybody before enough evidence to pursue charges is established. I believe Officer Rodgers has been pulled from duty three times in the last nine weeks but now even the Sheriff's department is playing games concerning charging him.
Sat. night / Sunday morning ( 23rd ) three young teenagers were taken to Juvenile by Officer Rodgers. Somebody shoplifted some cigars . It was unclear that all three were involved. One of the teens was put in handcuffs ( later at their residence I believe ), and was told he could try to run for it if he wanted, I have my hand on my taser. All three were transported and treated as suspects, with no investigation, or witnessing of the store's video. The manager was called in the middle of the night. The manager informed Rodgers they would deal with it in the morning. The manager was threatened with an obstruction of justice charge. ( He likes that one evidently ). When they all got to juvenile at 4 O'clock the staff was confused why they were there because the store did not wish to bring charges. At least one of the kids did not get released until Monday morning.
Some of the parents are somewhat upset.
I wonder what the Mayor thinks. No, on second thought, never mind.
R. K. Ripple
complaint September 11th 2015
This is a formal complaint directed at Detective Todd E. Mahle of the MuskingumCounty Sheriffs department. I fully expect it to be duly filed as such.
On Aug. 11th 2015 I was met at my home by the detective. He was there to investigate allegations I had made concerning a Dresden police officer. On June 16th of this year I had an altercation with another resident ( ? ) one Troy Lowe. Mr. Lowe appeared to be at least temporarily mentally unbalanced ( cursing and screaming ), and physically prevented us ( myself and Amy Mylander of Westerville ), from simply removing ourselves ( he blocked in our car ), from what to anybody would be considered a threatening situation. Efforts to reason with him proved futile and in the end there was a minor physical altercation during which I sustained a broken finger. At some point I persuaded him to let us leave. I do not believe he received any physical injuries as a result of this incident. He reported a scratch over one eye.
I subsequently, very soon after was visited by Dresden police officer Kurtis Rodgers.
At the conclusion of this incident I had been cursed at by the officer, assaulted by the officer, physically abused by the officer, and falsely charged by the officer. I have three eyewitnesses at this time to this incident. This has been placed on the timeline and documented to the nth degree as of eleven weeks ago as this is written. Evidence shows obvious collusion between the officer and Mr. Lowe to bring an assault charge against me. This was done to cover up the officers criminal actions. I have no doubt the body of evidence would convince any jury. Mr. Lowe then proved to be not only unbalanced but an opportunist as well and later tried to extort money from me. This made possible because the village of Dresden was / is holding an assault charge against me on his behalf. While Troy Lowe may be mentally unstable to a degree that is hard for me to judge, Officer Rodgers is not. In the last eleven weeks I have talked to dozens of residents about incidents with this officer and am prepared to state the following. While Rodgers is unquestionably guilty of the criminal charges I asked to bring upon him, he needs help as much as anything. While this is just a layman's opinion I refer you back to the other written complaints lodged against him which strongly suggest the same.
This Monday the 31 st of August a friend of mine came to me and related a story about Rodgers second hand. It pertained to him acting in the manner of a uniformed officer dealing with a traffic violation. He was off duty and described as having on nothing but a pair of shorts. The person who related this to me was incredulous at my lack of reaction. I had to explain I already had similar stories in my file for later contact. So much so that I am sure someone might read this and think I am talking about them.
Not necessarily.
Detective Mahle had obtained more than enough evidence to arrest Officer Rodgers on the spot by the week ending Aug. 15th. This will prove to be true later when yet a third investigative body from a State level engages this problem. The evidence is not going away, and neither am I. I had a chance meeting with Mahle on the 24th and asked him what was the status of the investigation. He told me they ( ? ) were waiting to see how my trial over Lowe turned out.
This is unacceptable. Charging Rodgers has nothing to do with my case involving Lowe, other than nothing. This is logically, ethically, and legally bankrupt. Allowing Lowe to go forward with evidence of collusion between Lowe and Rodgers, and overwhelming evidence that Rodgers falsified a police report to bring the charge to begin with is a serious matter. Dropping the Lowe case is a matter only the village of Dresden can address. Which as I pointed out eleven weeks ago the village could have done instantly and let the prosecutors office figure all this out. Charging Rodgers is now a matter the sheriffs department should have taken upon itself weeks ago. A twenty something year old can bring charges that are false against a resident here in Dresden, bully people, assault people, pretend to have authority he does not have out of uniform, make evidence evaporate, take possession of wheelchairs that belong to paraplegics , and harass witnesses against him, and months later, the legal stonewalling appears never ending. All of these acts and more have been alleged by various people here in Dresden.
A veteran detective is gift wrapped an open and shut case involving police corruption with possible felony charges and refuses to bring them, stating someone else has to make that decision. According to Mahle, the sheriffs department is so hypnotized by a non-related misdemeanor case they are incapable of bringing felony charges against against an officer from a different incident.
This is unacceptable, and it will not fly.
This is not only an ethics consideration but possibly a criminal matter. While you cannot charge an officer with anything I know of if they refuse to do their job, ( consider Dresden Police Chief Garver ), allowing someone to be held in a criminal case when you have evidence the officer that brought the charge falsified a police document to bring it may be a horse of a different colour altogether. At this time people in Muskingum County who are guilty of letting this happen start with the President of the Dresden council, the mayor of Dresden, the towns solicitor Steve Baldwin, the Muskingum County Prosecutors office, possibly Sheriff Matt Lutz ( I still have hope for him, I believed in him when we met ) and directly detective Todd Mahle. And of course police chief Garver. If the sheriffs department here has charged Rodgers or plans to I would suggest it might be in the best interest of all to let me know now.
Again, this obsessive interest in the Lowe case is just a waste of time. If I had went to court back in July over this incident and lost the case it would have nothing to do with the incident I had with Rodgers. But letting my case with Lowe go forward at this time without charging Rodgers is transparent and wrong. In the meantime everyone who has had a hand in stonewalling charging Rodgers is very lucky some terrible tragedy has not occurred, and as I have pointed out, he does not need to be in uniform to pretend to be acting as a working police officer in an illegal manner.
As of this week ending I believe I will be in possession of four formal written complaints concerning Rodgers. Three of them are not mine, and post date my involvement in this issue. They all describe a disturbing pattern of behavior. According to which lawyer you are talking to any of these cases could result in litigation against the village. Again all of these occurred after my incident with the officer and could have been avoided if the village fathers actions concerning this issue made any sense at all.
Last week I uploaded on youtube the interview with two of the witnesses to the incidents between myself and officer Rodgers. I will endeavor to do the same with the third, and hopefully keep the video shorter. Understand when I started filming stories there were for future contact and reference. There were not rehearsed or edited for future uploads on the net in our soundbite world.
Officer Rodgers appears to be off duty again this week, the fourth time he has been taken off in ten weeks if I am correct. Rumor is he has resigned or has been asked to. This would be predictable behavior of the village administration if true, and if true it will not fly. If charges are not brought against Rodgers he will be free to pursue a law enforcement job elsewhere and I predict there will eventually be a tragic incident and everyone who has stonewalled and tried to cover up this issue in Muskingum county should be ashamed of themselves. The most efficient way to prevent this is to charge him for crimes we know he has already committed. Eleven weeks ago I reported a crime. I provided witnesses to my allegations. Again, at this time you can see what two of them had to say, Dresden Ohio under Seige 111, in roman numerals, or google it if you have trouble. I am not a terribly vindictive person and if anyone thinks I am still here on this issue going on three months now because I am seeking retribution against the village you are wrong. Retribution against the village has never been my focus, and whatever pain may be caused later by the immoral and criminal actions of the Village fathers is secondary to my motivation. I care about what may happen to someone else at a later date because of inaction concerning this issue.
This is obviously not a concern of the Village fathers. It is a civic and moral duty to see this through no matter how much outside influences have tried to stop it for all the wrong reasons. I do not want any further incidents relating to this officer on my conscience. Again, the same cannot be said of the village fathers.
That also, is completely unacceptable.
Understand that today as you read this, over two months after I reported my incident with this officer, the chief of police in Dresden could still charge him, could have done so at any time, and as I assured the readership in the last installment, I am willing to bet money it would stick. I have had no takers. Instead of charging him they let him keep working. Insofar as the police chief refused to investigate the matter I guess there was no point in putting him on administrative leave. If I had not been involved he would eventually proved to be so much trouble they would have let him go without much noise. If they have not been paying attention, it is too late for that.
A few other points. Someone should inform Detective Mahle that I have at this time retained a lawyer. I know he seemed intensely interested in when I might do that. He brought it up on both occasions I spoke with him. I would hate to see him worry unduly about this, he seemed very concerned. Or maybe interested would be a more correct term.
Although Baldwin will get a copy of this, I would ask if detective Mahle might relay to him or Chief Garver if he should ( by pure chance), happen to see them or talk to them to look for this in their mail. I would hate for any of the three of you to miss it.
And for the benefit of detective Mahle.. When somebody without criminal intent finds themselves somewhere they are not wanted, and are prevented from leaving even though they wish to, that is not called trespass. It is called unlawful detainment. I thought for future reference I should help you with that.
Detective Mahle, Amy Mylander is without question, one of the best examples of humanity I have ever met. She, in the years I have known her, will go further out of her way to help someone than anybody else I have met in this lifetime. She does important work as an emergency room nurse, and is very good at her job. Which is more than I can say for you, you refuse to do yours. She is not a criminal, which is more than I might say about you, your inaction at this time is at the very least aiding one. Your treatment of her during her interview, which I have listened to , and she volunteered for without council, is absurd. If there is any further discourse between us it will be in a court of law, because otherwise you are not worth talking to.
R. K. Ripple
On Aug. 11th 2015 I was met at my home by the detective. He was there to investigate allegations I had made concerning a Dresden police officer. On June 16th of this year I had an altercation with another resident ( ? ) one Troy Lowe. Mr. Lowe appeared to be at least temporarily mentally unbalanced ( cursing and screaming ), and physically prevented us ( myself and Amy Mylander of Westerville ), from simply removing ourselves ( he blocked in our car ), from what to anybody would be considered a threatening situation. Efforts to reason with him proved futile and in the end there was a minor physical altercation during which I sustained a broken finger. At some point I persuaded him to let us leave. I do not believe he received any physical injuries as a result of this incident. He reported a scratch over one eye.
I subsequently, very soon after was visited by Dresden police officer Kurtis Rodgers.
At the conclusion of this incident I had been cursed at by the officer, assaulted by the officer, physically abused by the officer, and falsely charged by the officer. I have three eyewitnesses at this time to this incident. This has been placed on the timeline and documented to the nth degree as of eleven weeks ago as this is written. Evidence shows obvious collusion between the officer and Mr. Lowe to bring an assault charge against me. This was done to cover up the officers criminal actions. I have no doubt the body of evidence would convince any jury. Mr. Lowe then proved to be not only unbalanced but an opportunist as well and later tried to extort money from me. This made possible because the village of Dresden was / is holding an assault charge against me on his behalf. While Troy Lowe may be mentally unstable to a degree that is hard for me to judge, Officer Rodgers is not. In the last eleven weeks I have talked to dozens of residents about incidents with this officer and am prepared to state the following. While Rodgers is unquestionably guilty of the criminal charges I asked to bring upon him, he needs help as much as anything. While this is just a layman's opinion I refer you back to the other written complaints lodged against him which strongly suggest the same.
This Monday the 31 st of August a friend of mine came to me and related a story about Rodgers second hand. It pertained to him acting in the manner of a uniformed officer dealing with a traffic violation. He was off duty and described as having on nothing but a pair of shorts. The person who related this to me was incredulous at my lack of reaction. I had to explain I already had similar stories in my file for later contact. So much so that I am sure someone might read this and think I am talking about them.
Not necessarily.
Detective Mahle had obtained more than enough evidence to arrest Officer Rodgers on the spot by the week ending Aug. 15th. This will prove to be true later when yet a third investigative body from a State level engages this problem. The evidence is not going away, and neither am I. I had a chance meeting with Mahle on the 24th and asked him what was the status of the investigation. He told me they ( ? ) were waiting to see how my trial over Lowe turned out.
This is unacceptable. Charging Rodgers has nothing to do with my case involving Lowe, other than nothing. This is logically, ethically, and legally bankrupt. Allowing Lowe to go forward with evidence of collusion between Lowe and Rodgers, and overwhelming evidence that Rodgers falsified a police report to bring the charge to begin with is a serious matter. Dropping the Lowe case is a matter only the village of Dresden can address. Which as I pointed out eleven weeks ago the village could have done instantly and let the prosecutors office figure all this out. Charging Rodgers is now a matter the sheriffs department should have taken upon itself weeks ago. A twenty something year old can bring charges that are false against a resident here in Dresden, bully people, assault people, pretend to have authority he does not have out of uniform, make evidence evaporate, take possession of wheelchairs that belong to paraplegics , and harass witnesses against him, and months later, the legal stonewalling appears never ending. All of these acts and more have been alleged by various people here in Dresden.
A veteran detective is gift wrapped an open and shut case involving police corruption with possible felony charges and refuses to bring them, stating someone else has to make that decision. According to Mahle, the sheriffs department is so hypnotized by a non-related misdemeanor case they are incapable of bringing felony charges against against an officer from a different incident.
This is unacceptable, and it will not fly.
This is not only an ethics consideration but possibly a criminal matter. While you cannot charge an officer with anything I know of if they refuse to do their job, ( consider Dresden Police Chief Garver ), allowing someone to be held in a criminal case when you have evidence the officer that brought the charge falsified a police document to bring it may be a horse of a different colour altogether. At this time people in Muskingum County who are guilty of letting this happen start with the President of the Dresden council, the mayor of Dresden, the towns solicitor Steve Baldwin, the Muskingum County Prosecutors office, possibly Sheriff Matt Lutz ( I still have hope for him, I believed in him when we met ) and directly detective Todd Mahle. And of course police chief Garver. If the sheriffs department here has charged Rodgers or plans to I would suggest it might be in the best interest of all to let me know now.
Again, this obsessive interest in the Lowe case is just a waste of time. If I had went to court back in July over this incident and lost the case it would have nothing to do with the incident I had with Rodgers. But letting my case with Lowe go forward at this time without charging Rodgers is transparent and wrong. In the meantime everyone who has had a hand in stonewalling charging Rodgers is very lucky some terrible tragedy has not occurred, and as I have pointed out, he does not need to be in uniform to pretend to be acting as a working police officer in an illegal manner.
As of this week ending I believe I will be in possession of four formal written complaints concerning Rodgers. Three of them are not mine, and post date my involvement in this issue. They all describe a disturbing pattern of behavior. According to which lawyer you are talking to any of these cases could result in litigation against the village. Again all of these occurred after my incident with the officer and could have been avoided if the village fathers actions concerning this issue made any sense at all.
Last week I uploaded on youtube the interview with two of the witnesses to the incidents between myself and officer Rodgers. I will endeavor to do the same with the third, and hopefully keep the video shorter. Understand when I started filming stories there were for future contact and reference. There were not rehearsed or edited for future uploads on the net in our soundbite world.
Officer Rodgers appears to be off duty again this week, the fourth time he has been taken off in ten weeks if I am correct. Rumor is he has resigned or has been asked to. This would be predictable behavior of the village administration if true, and if true it will not fly. If charges are not brought against Rodgers he will be free to pursue a law enforcement job elsewhere and I predict there will eventually be a tragic incident and everyone who has stonewalled and tried to cover up this issue in Muskingum county should be ashamed of themselves. The most efficient way to prevent this is to charge him for crimes we know he has already committed. Eleven weeks ago I reported a crime. I provided witnesses to my allegations. Again, at this time you can see what two of them had to say, Dresden Ohio under Seige 111, in roman numerals, or google it if you have trouble. I am not a terribly vindictive person and if anyone thinks I am still here on this issue going on three months now because I am seeking retribution against the village you are wrong. Retribution against the village has never been my focus, and whatever pain may be caused later by the immoral and criminal actions of the Village fathers is secondary to my motivation. I care about what may happen to someone else at a later date because of inaction concerning this issue.
This is obviously not a concern of the Village fathers. It is a civic and moral duty to see this through no matter how much outside influences have tried to stop it for all the wrong reasons. I do not want any further incidents relating to this officer on my conscience. Again, the same cannot be said of the village fathers.
That also, is completely unacceptable.
Understand that today as you read this, over two months after I reported my incident with this officer, the chief of police in Dresden could still charge him, could have done so at any time, and as I assured the readership in the last installment, I am willing to bet money it would stick. I have had no takers. Instead of charging him they let him keep working. Insofar as the police chief refused to investigate the matter I guess there was no point in putting him on administrative leave. If I had not been involved he would eventually proved to be so much trouble they would have let him go without much noise. If they have not been paying attention, it is too late for that.
A few other points. Someone should inform Detective Mahle that I have at this time retained a lawyer. I know he seemed intensely interested in when I might do that. He brought it up on both occasions I spoke with him. I would hate to see him worry unduly about this, he seemed very concerned. Or maybe interested would be a more correct term.
Although Baldwin will get a copy of this, I would ask if detective Mahle might relay to him or Chief Garver if he should ( by pure chance), happen to see them or talk to them to look for this in their mail. I would hate for any of the three of you to miss it.
And for the benefit of detective Mahle.. When somebody without criminal intent finds themselves somewhere they are not wanted, and are prevented from leaving even though they wish to, that is not called trespass. It is called unlawful detainment. I thought for future reference I should help you with that.
Detective Mahle, Amy Mylander is without question, one of the best examples of humanity I have ever met. She, in the years I have known her, will go further out of her way to help someone than anybody else I have met in this lifetime. She does important work as an emergency room nurse, and is very good at her job. Which is more than I can say for you, you refuse to do yours. She is not a criminal, which is more than I might say about you, your inaction at this time is at the very least aiding one. Your treatment of her during her interview, which I have listened to , and she volunteered for without council, is absurd. If there is any further discourse between us it will be in a court of law, because otherwise you are not worth talking to.
R. K. Ripple
senior center september 14th 2015
Senior Center
A couple of weeks ago the president of the senior center, ( who I consider a very worthwhile addition to the community and a friend ), asked me my opinion about the present situation as to the ongoing operation and possible solutions.
I asked her to obtain a printout of the books which the clerks office kindly provided and we subsequently studied. Without sugarcoating the issue the bad news is there is /was a very simple math problem here. Going back over three years it was clear that the money would run out now. Perhaps without knowing what the situation of the Longaberger Company would be in the future at that time nobody thought to look ahead at this problem. I do not bring this up to be critical, this is human nature and the maintenance of the place has been established for a long time so anybody with a vested interest in the facility was lulled into a sense of security. I point it out now to offer an interim solution with the provision that if we can turn the clock back we still must address this issue at a later date.
The first thing that would have to happen is to find funding for at least a grace period to provide breathing room for a permanent solution. This appears to me to be very simple. The village as I understand it still retains significant property which was given to the village by Longaberger. Sell some of it and put the money towards the operation of the center. I am not putting myself out as a visionary here, this seems so obvious that I am sure someone else has thought of this by now. I think Dave would approve if he was here, and this has no political ties to robbing Peter to pay Paul or taking money from one group to give to another. I should think that this would be a very easy solution with little opposition and I cannot see how this is not a win in every direction.
If enough money is generated to fund the center for a year or two, and we are not talking about a lot of money here 13,000 dollars a year has been about average it would appear, then people who have a vested interest in keeping it open need to find residual income from the place. So that it may become self sufficient. It is a beautiful facility and I am sure it has the potential for wedding receptions, etc., to do exactly that without any village money being involved. Which I feel would be right and proper under the present circumstances.
Hopefully this or other equally sensible solutions will be considered by the village administration. Again this is not a lot of money for this building to generate. If we had discovered that it took 100,000 dollars a year I would have thrown my hands up and said this cannot be solved. Less than 15,000 a year at present levels of expenditure can surely be solved without stealing money from somewhere else or making a game of political football out of this issue.
R. K. Ripple
A couple of weeks ago the president of the senior center, ( who I consider a very worthwhile addition to the community and a friend ), asked me my opinion about the present situation as to the ongoing operation and possible solutions.
I asked her to obtain a printout of the books which the clerks office kindly provided and we subsequently studied. Without sugarcoating the issue the bad news is there is /was a very simple math problem here. Going back over three years it was clear that the money would run out now. Perhaps without knowing what the situation of the Longaberger Company would be in the future at that time nobody thought to look ahead at this problem. I do not bring this up to be critical, this is human nature and the maintenance of the place has been established for a long time so anybody with a vested interest in the facility was lulled into a sense of security. I point it out now to offer an interim solution with the provision that if we can turn the clock back we still must address this issue at a later date.
The first thing that would have to happen is to find funding for at least a grace period to provide breathing room for a permanent solution. This appears to me to be very simple. The village as I understand it still retains significant property which was given to the village by Longaberger. Sell some of it and put the money towards the operation of the center. I am not putting myself out as a visionary here, this seems so obvious that I am sure someone else has thought of this by now. I think Dave would approve if he was here, and this has no political ties to robbing Peter to pay Paul or taking money from one group to give to another. I should think that this would be a very easy solution with little opposition and I cannot see how this is not a win in every direction.
If enough money is generated to fund the center for a year or two, and we are not talking about a lot of money here 13,000 dollars a year has been about average it would appear, then people who have a vested interest in keeping it open need to find residual income from the place. So that it may become self sufficient. It is a beautiful facility and I am sure it has the potential for wedding receptions, etc., to do exactly that without any village money being involved. Which I feel would be right and proper under the present circumstances.
Hopefully this or other equally sensible solutions will be considered by the village administration. Again this is not a lot of money for this building to generate. If we had discovered that it took 100,000 dollars a year I would have thrown my hands up and said this cannot be solved. Less than 15,000 a year at present levels of expenditure can surely be solved without stealing money from somewhere else or making a game of political football out of this issue.
R. K. Ripple
criminals in suits october 14th 2015
Criminals in suits
Somewhere back in the 1990s I had a neighbor who related this story to me. A relative was stopped by a Frazeysburg cop at O dark o'clock miles from the officers jurisdiction. They did that a lot back then, at one point both Muskingum and Licking county quit responding to their calls for assistance. The relative of the neighbor was drunk. There was a verbal and then a physical confrontation, the inebriated driver was beat into submission with a nightstick. There were witnesses. A resident who lived on the property where this took place was cursed and told to go back inside and mind their own business. Also there was a passenger in the car.
The suspect was transported to County when he should have been taken to the hospital.
Within a day or two someone with a brain and a moral center came on duty and he was taken to the hospital with severe injuries and was there for a significant amount of time. When he was well enough he at some point found himself in a room full of criminals which presented him with two options. Sign these papers and go home of we will add charges until you might possibly go to prison. He was young and naive and scared. He signed.
You cannot legally sign away your civil rights. A point which does not bother some of the suits.
Somewhere in a similar time frame ( 2-28-1996 ) our village solicitor Steve Baldwin was publicly reprimanded for doing something lawyers are not supposed to, www.sconet.state.oh.us . Perhaps someone should ask him what that was about. Anyone can access a record of this reprimand but there is no mention of why the reprimand.
Criminals in suits. Last week I had a pretrial in court related to my court case over the Troy Lowe incident. If you came in late on that the website is rkripple.com. Everything we have publicly documented so far will be parked there. I checked today and the website is up. We should have everything downloaded by the end of the week. Baldwins partner Mortimer is handling the case. They, the town, Baldwin, Mortimer, threatened to add charges. They say I am guilty of trespass. This is the lawyers equivalent of the dog ate my homework excuse. I think it would be courtroom suicide to try to tell a jury if they turned around in their neighbors driveway they should be arrested, charged, and compelled to go to court for trespass.
The late Edward Abbey once stated that one man alone could be pretty stupid. But for real first class stupidity nothing beats a committee. There is obviously a committee at work here. I have heard this same absurd attempt at intimidation from Detective Todd Mahle of the sheriffs department twice now. They are barking at the wrong defendant.
I will be presently writing an ethics complaint against both Baldwin and Mortimer to be sent to the Ohio Supreme Court. This will be the second one we know of for Baldwin,. Mortimer is a virgin. Insofar as he was chosen as the whipping boy / messenger for this case and has agreed to this nonsense he is now putting himself at risk. I have no sympathy for him at this time. Just another criminal in a suit. When these complaints are finished I will publish both on the website.
Much the same as it was with the village administration, I will soon have them fighting among themselves. This is starting to be fun, other than the serious issue of the fact that Officer Kurtis Rodgers is still with us. Without which, none of this would have occurred. It also proves the point that the depths of committee-think stupidity knows no bounds. Especially when there is a criminal in a suit at the center of it. By now, even the most casual observer will have figured out the court case over the Lowe incident has really nothing to do with the merits of the case. It is somehow viewed as a way to keep from charging Rodgers. Which legally has nothing to do with the Lowe case. Because the Sheriff's department is in on this, nobody in this county will charge Officer Rodgers. Which in effect, is like telling a small child nothing you do will get you fired.
As I promised, someone will charge Rodgers, but it will not be anyone from here unless some tragic high profile incident takes place before I find the right state or federal agency to deal with this.
Thanks to all who are being supportive of the bid for Mayor. You will see signs up soon.
I am not much for self promotion, but I actually had little to do with them, and at the same time I think they are really sharp. I hope the name recognition leads to serious discussion about the issues.
Thank you,
R.K. Ripple
Somewhere back in the 1990s I had a neighbor who related this story to me. A relative was stopped by a Frazeysburg cop at O dark o'clock miles from the officers jurisdiction. They did that a lot back then, at one point both Muskingum and Licking county quit responding to their calls for assistance. The relative of the neighbor was drunk. There was a verbal and then a physical confrontation, the inebriated driver was beat into submission with a nightstick. There were witnesses. A resident who lived on the property where this took place was cursed and told to go back inside and mind their own business. Also there was a passenger in the car.
The suspect was transported to County when he should have been taken to the hospital.
Within a day or two someone with a brain and a moral center came on duty and he was taken to the hospital with severe injuries and was there for a significant amount of time. When he was well enough he at some point found himself in a room full of criminals which presented him with two options. Sign these papers and go home of we will add charges until you might possibly go to prison. He was young and naive and scared. He signed.
You cannot legally sign away your civil rights. A point which does not bother some of the suits.
Somewhere in a similar time frame ( 2-28-1996 ) our village solicitor Steve Baldwin was publicly reprimanded for doing something lawyers are not supposed to, www.sconet.state.oh.us . Perhaps someone should ask him what that was about. Anyone can access a record of this reprimand but there is no mention of why the reprimand.
Criminals in suits. Last week I had a pretrial in court related to my court case over the Troy Lowe incident. If you came in late on that the website is rkripple.com. Everything we have publicly documented so far will be parked there. I checked today and the website is up. We should have everything downloaded by the end of the week. Baldwins partner Mortimer is handling the case. They, the town, Baldwin, Mortimer, threatened to add charges. They say I am guilty of trespass. This is the lawyers equivalent of the dog ate my homework excuse. I think it would be courtroom suicide to try to tell a jury if they turned around in their neighbors driveway they should be arrested, charged, and compelled to go to court for trespass.
The late Edward Abbey once stated that one man alone could be pretty stupid. But for real first class stupidity nothing beats a committee. There is obviously a committee at work here. I have heard this same absurd attempt at intimidation from Detective Todd Mahle of the sheriffs department twice now. They are barking at the wrong defendant.
I will be presently writing an ethics complaint against both Baldwin and Mortimer to be sent to the Ohio Supreme Court. This will be the second one we know of for Baldwin,. Mortimer is a virgin. Insofar as he was chosen as the whipping boy / messenger for this case and has agreed to this nonsense he is now putting himself at risk. I have no sympathy for him at this time. Just another criminal in a suit. When these complaints are finished I will publish both on the website.
Much the same as it was with the village administration, I will soon have them fighting among themselves. This is starting to be fun, other than the serious issue of the fact that Officer Kurtis Rodgers is still with us. Without which, none of this would have occurred. It also proves the point that the depths of committee-think stupidity knows no bounds. Especially when there is a criminal in a suit at the center of it. By now, even the most casual observer will have figured out the court case over the Lowe incident has really nothing to do with the merits of the case. It is somehow viewed as a way to keep from charging Rodgers. Which legally has nothing to do with the Lowe case. Because the Sheriff's department is in on this, nobody in this county will charge Officer Rodgers. Which in effect, is like telling a small child nothing you do will get you fired.
As I promised, someone will charge Rodgers, but it will not be anyone from here unless some tragic high profile incident takes place before I find the right state or federal agency to deal with this.
Thanks to all who are being supportive of the bid for Mayor. You will see signs up soon.
I am not much for self promotion, but I actually had little to do with them, and at the same time I think they are really sharp. I hope the name recognition leads to serious discussion about the issues.
Thank you,
R.K. Ripple
life imitating art october 21st 2015
Life imitating art
This article is assuming that writing can be an art form. Last week in the Wed. addition, I all but predicted the next move that would be made by the Village administration in a Transcript piece titled Criminals in Suits.
It turns out that I am a prophet. Two days later, a very polite and professional Sheriff's deputy, (they do exist) presented me with papers listing a new charge. I told him to relax, I would not kill the messenger. He had to laugh. Serving papers sometimes upsets people. I have now officially been charged with trespassing relating to my incident with Troy Lowe. Again, if you came in late, the website is rkripple.com. There, all will be revealed.
I have been surprised by the number of laypeople who know that for trespass to occur, the property must be fenced off; it was not. The property must have signs posted; it did not. It most certainly must not be advertised for sale, but it was. When a property is advertised (by the Sheriff's department, no less), it is a legal invitation to inspect the property.
So I submit to the readership who has followed this story, and invite you if you have not, to refer to the website. Please ask yourself the following questions:
#1 A significant number of non-lawyers could correctly identify that the act of driving on to a piece of property advertised for sale, having no criminal intent while doing so, you cannot be guilty of trespass in any legal sense of the word. That being the case, does anybody believe that the Village solicitor/ attorney Steve Baldwin does not know this?
#2 The next obvious question. Has anyone thought to ask how much money the Village has paid Baldwin so far to prosecute this case; during an election campaign? Protracted harassment over a misdemeanor that often would not amount to a 500 dollar fine, which I am not guilty.
This is being written one day before a council meeting. I wish to remind everyone that a short while ago, the headlines in this paper were to the effect that the Village would do everything it could to preserve the senior center. I am going to submit this to the paper on Monday before the council meeting.
Most likely, the administration will not do everything it can for the senior center. There should have been a proposal submitted to the council, which would essentially solve this problem for a significant period of time. If the council does not adopt the proposal, it is of no consequence. It will come to pass that the Village will vote on it, if it comes to that.
I applaud the move to eliminate the real estate taxes on the senior center. This is logical and has a real effect toward the operating costs. It was a correct, but late, decision.
I seriously doubt if the money saved will even begin to total what solicitor Baldwin will eventually bill the Village for prosecuting me, relative to the Troy Lowe incident. Particularly, since we now have added a trespassing charge. Just for the record, the charge was filed by Officer Kurtis Rodgers.
R. K. Ripple
This article is assuming that writing can be an art form. Last week in the Wed. addition, I all but predicted the next move that would be made by the Village administration in a Transcript piece titled Criminals in Suits.
It turns out that I am a prophet. Two days later, a very polite and professional Sheriff's deputy, (they do exist) presented me with papers listing a new charge. I told him to relax, I would not kill the messenger. He had to laugh. Serving papers sometimes upsets people. I have now officially been charged with trespassing relating to my incident with Troy Lowe. Again, if you came in late, the website is rkripple.com. There, all will be revealed.
I have been surprised by the number of laypeople who know that for trespass to occur, the property must be fenced off; it was not. The property must have signs posted; it did not. It most certainly must not be advertised for sale, but it was. When a property is advertised (by the Sheriff's department, no less), it is a legal invitation to inspect the property.
So I submit to the readership who has followed this story, and invite you if you have not, to refer to the website. Please ask yourself the following questions:
#1 A significant number of non-lawyers could correctly identify that the act of driving on to a piece of property advertised for sale, having no criminal intent while doing so, you cannot be guilty of trespass in any legal sense of the word. That being the case, does anybody believe that the Village solicitor/ attorney Steve Baldwin does not know this?
#2 The next obvious question. Has anyone thought to ask how much money the Village has paid Baldwin so far to prosecute this case; during an election campaign? Protracted harassment over a misdemeanor that often would not amount to a 500 dollar fine, which I am not guilty.
This is being written one day before a council meeting. I wish to remind everyone that a short while ago, the headlines in this paper were to the effect that the Village would do everything it could to preserve the senior center. I am going to submit this to the paper on Monday before the council meeting.
Most likely, the administration will not do everything it can for the senior center. There should have been a proposal submitted to the council, which would essentially solve this problem for a significant period of time. If the council does not adopt the proposal, it is of no consequence. It will come to pass that the Village will vote on it, if it comes to that.
I applaud the move to eliminate the real estate taxes on the senior center. This is logical and has a real effect toward the operating costs. It was a correct, but late, decision.
I seriously doubt if the money saved will even begin to total what solicitor Baldwin will eventually bill the Village for prosecuting me, relative to the Troy Lowe incident. Particularly, since we now have added a trespassing charge. Just for the record, the charge was filed by Officer Kurtis Rodgers.
R. K. Ripple
amy's open letter october 28th 2015
An open letter to Kurtis Rogers, Jeff Garver and town solicitor, Steve Baldwin
My name is Amy Mylander, and until now, I have remained silent. Rob Ripple has been doing an exemplary service to the town and public at large with a continual stream of truth. Rob has been an unlikely anti-hero in this conflagration of events. Neither of us wanted this, which was thrust upon us.
I have been dating Robert Ripple and coming to Dresden for the last seven years, without reservation for the quaint town in which he lived. I am located in the “burbs” of Columbus, and have lived in larger population centers for the majority of my life. I have always wanted to live in a more rural setting, and recently, I was seeing that within reach.
There have been events of the past summer regarding Robert Ripple and myself, laid bare to the light of truth, that have already been deeply chronicled. It's all the buzz at the Circle K and Dollar General. These events have severely curtailed my benevolent thoughts towards the local infrastructure of the town, and several denizens therein. My good nature was further maligned by the leveraged charge of criminal trespass on October 14th by one Dresden police officer, Kurtis Rogers. Shame on you Mr. Baldwin to advise such preposterous charges. As if you've never turned around in someone's driveway who you didn't know.
I have been a nurse for in excess of 25 years with an unencumbered license. This means I've never been suspended for doing a bad job Kurtis. Over 10 of those years were spent in two different Emergency departments. Most recently, 7.5 years in an ED that sees over eighty thousand visits annually. As they say in the country, that ain't hay. While working full time I completed a Master's degree in acupuncture. Why? Because it's cool, and it took some brains, and I like a challenge….which brings me to the dilapidated house on First Street.
It sits at the back of an acre lot. It was listed on a real estate website, without great pictures, but it had potential and I like a challenge. I've heard about the No Trespassing signs that weren't there, but have been posted, so as to appear that we deliberately entered the property with wild abandon and wanton disregard. It's baloney and we have witnesses that those signs were not in place until very recently. It won't hold up in court gentlemen. Here's your sign.
When confronted by Troy Lowe, an individual I can only describe as needing sedation, we expressed the want to vacate his property, and that's where the unlawful restraint charge against the $2000 man will come into play. Shame on you Troy Lowe for not having a vocabulary that isn't laden with profanity, and the temper of a bull with a red flag in your face. To this day, I have no idea why Troy Lowe erupted with such vitriol. As I expressed to the Muskingum County Sheriff's detective, Todd Mahle, all we wanted to do is leave. The house is in dreadful repair, and I would not enter into a real estate contract with anyone in Troy Lowe's frame of mind.
I turned in an incident report to Jeff Garver, thinking that he embodied the police officer that I was taught to trust and respect from my parents' upbringing. Shame on you Jeff Garver, for harboring such an immature malicious loose cannon of an officer as Kurtis Rogers. Your hiring and training protocols should be made public at a town meeting, and suggestions should be taken to improve them.
I will explain MY life's mission to the “protect and serve” mentality shown by such an exemplary officer as Kurtis Rogers, that he has been removed from his on duty vehicle multiple times.
I help people.
Short sentence, small words; you should be able to grasp the concept. I hope the idea makes you edgy and uncomfortable, because in the back of your mind, maybe you should be doing the same thing, and your conscience is paining something fierce. Please feel free to fondle your taser if that makes you feel better. I have no praise for your behavior Mr. Rogers. You have proven to be of malicious intent toward multiple private citizens with premeditation and forethought. Hmmm, that could be construed as a felony charge.
Based on these incidents and findings, I will never, under pain of death, purchase a home in Dresden, Ohio. I would not take a house that was given to me in Dresden, Ohio, knowing the infrastructure that I would have to deal with. This circus of proceedings, including the farce of an interview with Todd Mahle, Muskingum County Sheriff's detective, has wasted far too much of my time. I have made friends in Dresden, and I am saddened that they must live amongst public servants who behave so regrettably.
Amy Kathleen Mylander BSN RN, Acupuncturist
My name is Amy Mylander, and until now, I have remained silent. Rob Ripple has been doing an exemplary service to the town and public at large with a continual stream of truth. Rob has been an unlikely anti-hero in this conflagration of events. Neither of us wanted this, which was thrust upon us.
I have been dating Robert Ripple and coming to Dresden for the last seven years, without reservation for the quaint town in which he lived. I am located in the “burbs” of Columbus, and have lived in larger population centers for the majority of my life. I have always wanted to live in a more rural setting, and recently, I was seeing that within reach.
There have been events of the past summer regarding Robert Ripple and myself, laid bare to the light of truth, that have already been deeply chronicled. It's all the buzz at the Circle K and Dollar General. These events have severely curtailed my benevolent thoughts towards the local infrastructure of the town, and several denizens therein. My good nature was further maligned by the leveraged charge of criminal trespass on October 14th by one Dresden police officer, Kurtis Rogers. Shame on you Mr. Baldwin to advise such preposterous charges. As if you've never turned around in someone's driveway who you didn't know.
I have been a nurse for in excess of 25 years with an unencumbered license. This means I've never been suspended for doing a bad job Kurtis. Over 10 of those years were spent in two different Emergency departments. Most recently, 7.5 years in an ED that sees over eighty thousand visits annually. As they say in the country, that ain't hay. While working full time I completed a Master's degree in acupuncture. Why? Because it's cool, and it took some brains, and I like a challenge….which brings me to the dilapidated house on First Street.
It sits at the back of an acre lot. It was listed on a real estate website, without great pictures, but it had potential and I like a challenge. I've heard about the No Trespassing signs that weren't there, but have been posted, so as to appear that we deliberately entered the property with wild abandon and wanton disregard. It's baloney and we have witnesses that those signs were not in place until very recently. It won't hold up in court gentlemen. Here's your sign.
When confronted by Troy Lowe, an individual I can only describe as needing sedation, we expressed the want to vacate his property, and that's where the unlawful restraint charge against the $2000 man will come into play. Shame on you Troy Lowe for not having a vocabulary that isn't laden with profanity, and the temper of a bull with a red flag in your face. To this day, I have no idea why Troy Lowe erupted with such vitriol. As I expressed to the Muskingum County Sheriff's detective, Todd Mahle, all we wanted to do is leave. The house is in dreadful repair, and I would not enter into a real estate contract with anyone in Troy Lowe's frame of mind.
I turned in an incident report to Jeff Garver, thinking that he embodied the police officer that I was taught to trust and respect from my parents' upbringing. Shame on you Jeff Garver, for harboring such an immature malicious loose cannon of an officer as Kurtis Rogers. Your hiring and training protocols should be made public at a town meeting, and suggestions should be taken to improve them.
I will explain MY life's mission to the “protect and serve” mentality shown by such an exemplary officer as Kurtis Rogers, that he has been removed from his on duty vehicle multiple times.
I help people.
Short sentence, small words; you should be able to grasp the concept. I hope the idea makes you edgy and uncomfortable, because in the back of your mind, maybe you should be doing the same thing, and your conscience is paining something fierce. Please feel free to fondle your taser if that makes you feel better. I have no praise for your behavior Mr. Rogers. You have proven to be of malicious intent toward multiple private citizens with premeditation and forethought. Hmmm, that could be construed as a felony charge.
Based on these incidents and findings, I will never, under pain of death, purchase a home in Dresden, Ohio. I would not take a house that was given to me in Dresden, Ohio, knowing the infrastructure that I would have to deal with. This circus of proceedings, including the farce of an interview with Todd Mahle, Muskingum County Sheriff's detective, has wasted far too much of my time. I have made friends in Dresden, and I am saddened that they must live amongst public servants who behave so regrettably.
Amy Kathleen Mylander BSN RN, Acupuncturist
Bargaining chips december 11th 2015
BARGAINING CHIPS
Last week on Wed., my lawyer called me and said, predictably, that Baldwin (Dresden's town solicitor/attorney) offered a plea deal. Up front, they did not ask me not to sue. They knew that would instantly land them in court. I would take an anger management class, ( I thought instantly perhaps I should get certified for teaching it), and plea out to a disorderly conduct and a $150 dollar fine.
They also wanted me to apologize to Officer Rodgers. I hope you are sitting down while reading this. There was nothing conditional about the statement. Those of you who know me, stay with that point, because I agreed.
The next morning I wrote this statement while waiting for court. Present were the mayor, Dave Matthew, Chief Garver, another officer, officer Kurtis Rodgers, and attorneys Baldwin and Mortimer, (I guess they get to bill the village twice as much), and of course Judge Vensil. The judge had stated in open court he did not believe there was hardly anything he thought I would have agreed to apologize for.
After reading the stipulations, he asked if I agreed to them and would read the statements. This is a matter of court record.
Regarding Rodgers: For the past 5 months I have been interviewing people (approximate number is 2 dozen now), who have had exposure to Rodgers both on and off duty. I had a concern that he suffered from some mental instability.
It is perhaps regrettable that I have made this belief public, thinking this should be a concern relating to the public safety. In retrospect, I probably should have tried to bring these concerns to the remaining village council members (3), that I have not talked to.
While I have stated these opinions were from a layperson, and I am certainly not qualified to render a professional judgment, the matter should have been addressed by someone who is.
While anyone who works in the public eye is open to scrutiny, I understand that my being vocal about my concerns may have caused Officer Rodgers some emotional distress. This was not my intention and if this were the case, I am truly sorry. I certainly would not want to make any situation worse.
I hope Officer Rodgers has not suffered unduly from my public speculations.
The Aftermath
Baldwin came out of his chair and sputtered like a fish out of water. My attorney restated that there were no parameters set as to the statement I was to make, The Judge said he thought it sounded pretty good, and then Rodgers himself stated he thought it was okay when asked about it. This is a matter of the court record.
At this time, Rodgers is on record as being okay with a statement made by a Village resident who has questioned his mental stability, and thinks a professional should have made this judgment at an earlier time.
I told you to hang in there, and this would start to get fun.
To wrap up what happened so far.
The village held an assault charge against me and later a trespassing charge against both Amy Mylander and myself. The beginnings of this were in June. The actor in the first incident (Troy Lowe) according to all four reports, blocked us in; an illegal act. After the first piece in the transcript came out on July 10th, Children with Guns, Rodgers took a second statement from Lowe which said he did not block us in.
Later, when the Sheriff's detective got involved (remember, a neighbor was brought to light who stated Lowe said we blocked him in. Are you dizzy yet ? After that, the detective talked to three different eyewitnesses to the incident between myself and Officer Rodgers. He then came to the conclusion we (Amy, the passenger) and I should be charged with trespassing for turning around in Micheal Flanigan's driveway. Mr. Flanigan has lived In West Virginia for the last two years.
There is nothing stated here that Baldwin did not know months ago. I know this because I have sent him these reports via registered mail. I will probably know a great deal more about civil law in a month or two. If I understand the present situation, not just Rodgers will be sued, but the Village will also be responsible for him as an employee. The entire administration, including every council member individually, can be considered actionable to this issue.
Last week I mailed every council member copies of seven written statements / complaints made against Rodgers. Any position a council member takes that sounds like, "I did not know anything about it", "We were told not to talk about it", and, "It is an ongoing investigation, (two lies for the price of one), I do not believe will amuse a federal judge in the least.
There remains the matter of libel and slander directed at me by the Mayor, which I have confronted him on before. This was added to in spades with untrue and slanderous statements made about me just before the election. If these statements are later attributed to Mayor Mathews, (a deposition is a wonderful thing), then this will add to the damages.
Last points:
The Mayor is guilty of theft in office. This is theft of Village employees' time and Village resources for the Mayor's personal gain. Do not confuse the term with theft of office, which is Officer Rodgers spending up to 5 hours at a time at his girlfriend's apartment while on duty. We will soon be addressing the former issue. The latter, concerning Rodgers, I brought to public attention long ago, Look up, "Youtube Dresden Ohio under siege IV". There are people I know all over the country that profess to know more about these issues than our Village council members. Lastly, when someone sees Francis tell him a resident who has contacted the FBI is nothing to joke about.
I intend to download more videos in a week or so.
Last week on Wed., my lawyer called me and said, predictably, that Baldwin (Dresden's town solicitor/attorney) offered a plea deal. Up front, they did not ask me not to sue. They knew that would instantly land them in court. I would take an anger management class, ( I thought instantly perhaps I should get certified for teaching it), and plea out to a disorderly conduct and a $150 dollar fine.
They also wanted me to apologize to Officer Rodgers. I hope you are sitting down while reading this. There was nothing conditional about the statement. Those of you who know me, stay with that point, because I agreed.
The next morning I wrote this statement while waiting for court. Present were the mayor, Dave Matthew, Chief Garver, another officer, officer Kurtis Rodgers, and attorneys Baldwin and Mortimer, (I guess they get to bill the village twice as much), and of course Judge Vensil. The judge had stated in open court he did not believe there was hardly anything he thought I would have agreed to apologize for.
After reading the stipulations, he asked if I agreed to them and would read the statements. This is a matter of court record.
Regarding Rodgers: For the past 5 months I have been interviewing people (approximate number is 2 dozen now), who have had exposure to Rodgers both on and off duty. I had a concern that he suffered from some mental instability.
It is perhaps regrettable that I have made this belief public, thinking this should be a concern relating to the public safety. In retrospect, I probably should have tried to bring these concerns to the remaining village council members (3), that I have not talked to.
While I have stated these opinions were from a layperson, and I am certainly not qualified to render a professional judgment, the matter should have been addressed by someone who is.
While anyone who works in the public eye is open to scrutiny, I understand that my being vocal about my concerns may have caused Officer Rodgers some emotional distress. This was not my intention and if this were the case, I am truly sorry. I certainly would not want to make any situation worse.
I hope Officer Rodgers has not suffered unduly from my public speculations.
The Aftermath
Baldwin came out of his chair and sputtered like a fish out of water. My attorney restated that there were no parameters set as to the statement I was to make, The Judge said he thought it sounded pretty good, and then Rodgers himself stated he thought it was okay when asked about it. This is a matter of the court record.
At this time, Rodgers is on record as being okay with a statement made by a Village resident who has questioned his mental stability, and thinks a professional should have made this judgment at an earlier time.
I told you to hang in there, and this would start to get fun.
To wrap up what happened so far.
The village held an assault charge against me and later a trespassing charge against both Amy Mylander and myself. The beginnings of this were in June. The actor in the first incident (Troy Lowe) according to all four reports, blocked us in; an illegal act. After the first piece in the transcript came out on July 10th, Children with Guns, Rodgers took a second statement from Lowe which said he did not block us in.
Later, when the Sheriff's detective got involved (remember, a neighbor was brought to light who stated Lowe said we blocked him in. Are you dizzy yet ? After that, the detective talked to three different eyewitnesses to the incident between myself and Officer Rodgers. He then came to the conclusion we (Amy, the passenger) and I should be charged with trespassing for turning around in Micheal Flanigan's driveway. Mr. Flanigan has lived In West Virginia for the last two years.
There is nothing stated here that Baldwin did not know months ago. I know this because I have sent him these reports via registered mail. I will probably know a great deal more about civil law in a month or two. If I understand the present situation, not just Rodgers will be sued, but the Village will also be responsible for him as an employee. The entire administration, including every council member individually, can be considered actionable to this issue.
Last week I mailed every council member copies of seven written statements / complaints made against Rodgers. Any position a council member takes that sounds like, "I did not know anything about it", "We were told not to talk about it", and, "It is an ongoing investigation, (two lies for the price of one), I do not believe will amuse a federal judge in the least.
There remains the matter of libel and slander directed at me by the Mayor, which I have confronted him on before. This was added to in spades with untrue and slanderous statements made about me just before the election. If these statements are later attributed to Mayor Mathews, (a deposition is a wonderful thing), then this will add to the damages.
Last points:
The Mayor is guilty of theft in office. This is theft of Village employees' time and Village resources for the Mayor's personal gain. Do not confuse the term with theft of office, which is Officer Rodgers spending up to 5 hours at a time at his girlfriend's apartment while on duty. We will soon be addressing the former issue. The latter, concerning Rodgers, I brought to public attention long ago, Look up, "Youtube Dresden Ohio under siege IV". There are people I know all over the country that profess to know more about these issues than our Village council members. Lastly, when someone sees Francis tell him a resident who has contacted the FBI is nothing to joke about.
I intend to download more videos in a week or so.
bargaining chips part-2 december 18th 2015
BARGAINING CHIPS / THE SEQUEL
First off, I would point to the Transcript as providing a public forum without which a lot of what has occurred would have been kept under less of a spotlight. As far as I know, any factual errors made by either myself or the paper during the last 5 months were corrected as we discovered them. Case in point. Last week, the paper reported my criminal case was in Mayor's court. This of course was just an honest brain slip on the editor's part, but we both have endeavored to be factual and correct, even these minor mistakes, when discovered.
Let us discuss facts.
One: I did not plead guilty to anything. I would not and will not admit guilt to anything I am not guilty of, no matter what is being bargained.
Two: Consider the obvious intimidation of charging Amy Mylander with trespass for being a passenger in a vehicle which turned around in somebody's driveway. This charge against her, which had a later court date than mine, was dropped as part of my plea deal.
Consider that carefully, and then think about how low a bar this administration can set when it will try to intimidate somebody by "beating up" on the girlfriend.
At no time did I consider the statements I made in court to be an apology for anything. I told the court I was sorry if Troy Lowe got hurt, but had no knowledge of him being hurt during our incident. Obviously, there was no intent to do so. That should be self-evident. In effect, I treated him like an escaped mental patient, which is how he presented himself.
The statement I gave the court concerning Officer Rodgers was printed in the paper. You be the judge. Why did the village pursue these minor charges with such zeal? Because I indicated to the administration 5 months ago I wished to pursue charges against Officer Rodgers, and I still do.
At that time, the administration, and later the county (through the Sheriff's department), circled the wagons around Officer Rodgers and displayed as fact, the intention to continue to prosecute myself and Amy Mylander through police reports, which were falsified by Officer Rodgers to begin with.
You can believe this, the mayor, and the police chief, and the Sheriff's detectives (that I requested), and Baldwin know it. There are many here who have seen a direct comparison between this situation and the latest national news story concerning the Chicago police officer, who murdered someone and then was protected by that administration for over a year. The only difference here, is that so far, no one has died. This administration, with the help of the Sheriff's department, has been intentionally harboring a criminal in a uniform with no signs of letting up at this point.
There are three reasons a prosecutor compels someone to spend time and money to go to court and then drops the case.
One: they had no idea what they were doing.
I understand this happens a lot, which will upset some people who wish to believe that does not happen.
Two: they are intentionally railroading someone.
This is frequently identified by the bullies adding charges they pulled from a dark cobwebbed corner.
Third: they did their job correctly but the case fell apart,
It is usually because they lost a witness.
The last one is not what applies here.
What are they not prosecuting here?
Charles Elliott was the third eyewitness to the incident between myself and Officer Rodgers. Remember the first two were interviewed and downloaded on Youtube months ago (thank you to Ray and Amanda Spurgeon for their courage). I had never met Charles before the incident in June with Officer Rodgers. Actually, I never met him until months later; after the Sheriff's detective took his statement. The following is an exerpt of what was in his written statement taken by the Sheriff's department. Charles saw the whole sequence of events.
"He walked up to the guy (Robert Ripple) who was sitting on his porch." (Sitting on the porch is 10 inches above ground level).
"The Officer was talking loud. The guy (Robert Ripple) had a clipboard (it was Officer Rodger's clipboard). At this point the Officer was yelling and cursing at Robert,"
"The guy (Robert Ripple) stood up. The cop pulls out his taser and points it at the guy. The guy then turned around, with his hands above his head, with the clipboard in his left hand. The cop said drop the f-ing clipboard or I will stun you. The guy dropped the clipboard and put his hands on the back of his head.
Charles said the whole time the guy (Robert), did everything Officer Rodgers told him to do.
Charles said the whole time Officer Rodgers used a lot of cuss words.
This excerpt is only a small part of Charles' statement. No statements have been taken out of context. All three eyewitnesses observed Officer Rodgers cursing at me. All three witnesses agreed that I never verbally or physically threatened the Officer. There is nothing in any witness statement
(four statements altogether), which in any way resembles the Officer's statement about the taser incident.
There is nothing related to these witness statements that Solicitor Baldwin did not have months ago. The course of action concluded on by the Village administration was to continue to prosecute myself and Amy. I am not aware that anyone has discussed charging Officer Rodgers
Two months ago, I indicated we would seek more media exposure. I was sidetracked waiting to see how deep in bed the Sheriff's department had become; the answer is really deep. I will be downloading at least two more videos on Youtube and linking them to the website. I felt that chronicling this religiously online first made sense. Then, I will continue to exhaust the resources at the State level to search for some police entity, which will actually do their job. The DOJ (Department of Justice) and BCII (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) are the next logical choices. We will document that we have exposed them to this problem. If they do not do their job, rest assured, some agency will, when enough media outlets bring it to light. Then, they will all point fingers at someone else, just like they will on a smaller county level.
Lastly, I will start returning calls from civil lawyers. In a world that made sense, someone at the Village level will be starting a conversation about what six months of my life (thus far) is worth; along with six months of lost potential income.
On June 16th of this year, I took a phone call from what is easily the most respected writer in his field in the country. He had asked me to write a chapter for a book he was contracted for. Ten minutes later I met Troy Lowe, "The $2000 dollar man", who believes it is ok to bear false witness against someone and then ask for money because of that. Troy was aided by both criminals in uniforms, and suits. The chapter copy I sent for the book was accepted, but every word I have written since has been to further public education.
I will be surprised if the Village's insurance carrier knows anything about any of this. This is a safe bet insofar as Officer Rodgers still has a job, as of this article's publish date. If the insurers knew, they would probably have had a stroke months ago. I would be, I imagine, the only reasonable person in the room to settle out of court. I have already decided on suggestions to make some sense out of this mess.
I have not seen any indications of any reasonable action coming from the Village for 5 months now. For the record, I have accrued approximately
$5,000 dollars in legal fees, I probably saved $2,000 dollars because we did not go to court. The obvious question remains as to how much the Village spent to maliciously prosecute Amy and myself for a $150 dollar fine. This expenditure may be a matter of public record, because it was taxpayer dollars "at work".
Given the past actions of everyone involved so far, my guess is the party is just starting.
R.K.Ripple / Dresden Ohio
First off, I would point to the Transcript as providing a public forum without which a lot of what has occurred would have been kept under less of a spotlight. As far as I know, any factual errors made by either myself or the paper during the last 5 months were corrected as we discovered them. Case in point. Last week, the paper reported my criminal case was in Mayor's court. This of course was just an honest brain slip on the editor's part, but we both have endeavored to be factual and correct, even these minor mistakes, when discovered.
Let us discuss facts.
One: I did not plead guilty to anything. I would not and will not admit guilt to anything I am not guilty of, no matter what is being bargained.
Two: Consider the obvious intimidation of charging Amy Mylander with trespass for being a passenger in a vehicle which turned around in somebody's driveway. This charge against her, which had a later court date than mine, was dropped as part of my plea deal.
Consider that carefully, and then think about how low a bar this administration can set when it will try to intimidate somebody by "beating up" on the girlfriend.
At no time did I consider the statements I made in court to be an apology for anything. I told the court I was sorry if Troy Lowe got hurt, but had no knowledge of him being hurt during our incident. Obviously, there was no intent to do so. That should be self-evident. In effect, I treated him like an escaped mental patient, which is how he presented himself.
The statement I gave the court concerning Officer Rodgers was printed in the paper. You be the judge. Why did the village pursue these minor charges with such zeal? Because I indicated to the administration 5 months ago I wished to pursue charges against Officer Rodgers, and I still do.
At that time, the administration, and later the county (through the Sheriff's department), circled the wagons around Officer Rodgers and displayed as fact, the intention to continue to prosecute myself and Amy Mylander through police reports, which were falsified by Officer Rodgers to begin with.
You can believe this, the mayor, and the police chief, and the Sheriff's detectives (that I requested), and Baldwin know it. There are many here who have seen a direct comparison between this situation and the latest national news story concerning the Chicago police officer, who murdered someone and then was protected by that administration for over a year. The only difference here, is that so far, no one has died. This administration, with the help of the Sheriff's department, has been intentionally harboring a criminal in a uniform with no signs of letting up at this point.
There are three reasons a prosecutor compels someone to spend time and money to go to court and then drops the case.
One: they had no idea what they were doing.
I understand this happens a lot, which will upset some people who wish to believe that does not happen.
Two: they are intentionally railroading someone.
This is frequently identified by the bullies adding charges they pulled from a dark cobwebbed corner.
Third: they did their job correctly but the case fell apart,
It is usually because they lost a witness.
The last one is not what applies here.
What are they not prosecuting here?
Charles Elliott was the third eyewitness to the incident between myself and Officer Rodgers. Remember the first two were interviewed and downloaded on Youtube months ago (thank you to Ray and Amanda Spurgeon for their courage). I had never met Charles before the incident in June with Officer Rodgers. Actually, I never met him until months later; after the Sheriff's detective took his statement. The following is an exerpt of what was in his written statement taken by the Sheriff's department. Charles saw the whole sequence of events.
"He walked up to the guy (Robert Ripple) who was sitting on his porch." (Sitting on the porch is 10 inches above ground level).
"The Officer was talking loud. The guy (Robert Ripple) had a clipboard (it was Officer Rodger's clipboard). At this point the Officer was yelling and cursing at Robert,"
"The guy (Robert Ripple) stood up. The cop pulls out his taser and points it at the guy. The guy then turned around, with his hands above his head, with the clipboard in his left hand. The cop said drop the f-ing clipboard or I will stun you. The guy dropped the clipboard and put his hands on the back of his head.
Charles said the whole time the guy (Robert), did everything Officer Rodgers told him to do.
Charles said the whole time Officer Rodgers used a lot of cuss words.
This excerpt is only a small part of Charles' statement. No statements have been taken out of context. All three eyewitnesses observed Officer Rodgers cursing at me. All three witnesses agreed that I never verbally or physically threatened the Officer. There is nothing in any witness statement
(four statements altogether), which in any way resembles the Officer's statement about the taser incident.
There is nothing related to these witness statements that Solicitor Baldwin did not have months ago. The course of action concluded on by the Village administration was to continue to prosecute myself and Amy. I am not aware that anyone has discussed charging Officer Rodgers
Two months ago, I indicated we would seek more media exposure. I was sidetracked waiting to see how deep in bed the Sheriff's department had become; the answer is really deep. I will be downloading at least two more videos on Youtube and linking them to the website. I felt that chronicling this religiously online first made sense. Then, I will continue to exhaust the resources at the State level to search for some police entity, which will actually do their job. The DOJ (Department of Justice) and BCII (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) are the next logical choices. We will document that we have exposed them to this problem. If they do not do their job, rest assured, some agency will, when enough media outlets bring it to light. Then, they will all point fingers at someone else, just like they will on a smaller county level.
Lastly, I will start returning calls from civil lawyers. In a world that made sense, someone at the Village level will be starting a conversation about what six months of my life (thus far) is worth; along with six months of lost potential income.
On June 16th of this year, I took a phone call from what is easily the most respected writer in his field in the country. He had asked me to write a chapter for a book he was contracted for. Ten minutes later I met Troy Lowe, "The $2000 dollar man", who believes it is ok to bear false witness against someone and then ask for money because of that. Troy was aided by both criminals in uniforms, and suits. The chapter copy I sent for the book was accepted, but every word I have written since has been to further public education.
I will be surprised if the Village's insurance carrier knows anything about any of this. This is a safe bet insofar as Officer Rodgers still has a job, as of this article's publish date. If the insurers knew, they would probably have had a stroke months ago. I would be, I imagine, the only reasonable person in the room to settle out of court. I have already decided on suggestions to make some sense out of this mess.
I have not seen any indications of any reasonable action coming from the Village for 5 months now. For the record, I have accrued approximately
$5,000 dollars in legal fees, I probably saved $2,000 dollars because we did not go to court. The obvious question remains as to how much the Village spent to maliciously prosecute Amy and myself for a $150 dollar fine. This expenditure may be a matter of public record, because it was taxpayer dollars "at work".
Given the past actions of everyone involved so far, my guess is the party is just starting.
R.K.Ripple / Dresden Ohio
dear mr. baldwin january 8th 2016
DEAR Mr. Baldwin,
On December the 22nd I kept an appointment with a licensed health professional at six counties in Zanesville. Prior to beginning any anger management sessions, they do an assessment. This determines what the professional opinion is as to future course of action. I have included a copy of the first page of the assessment. It shows clearly the opinion of the therapist is that I did not need to come back. I found the session (lasting two hours), enjoyable. The person I was assigned to was very intelligent and insightful.
You can only imagine the relief I felt, having been told by a professional that I have no real pressing issues managing anger. This is uplifting and I hope I do not let myself become prideful about this conclusion. For instance, I intend to address the next council meeting. It is hard not to feel superior in a group setting, where I am likely to be the only one in the room who has been professionally evaluated as not needing an anger management class. The frank truth is, I have had some doubts about some persons in Village administration, let alone some of our police.
This has left me conflicted, however, and I am seeking your guidance in this matter. At the conclusion of the assessment, the therapist told me they considered making me come back for anger management classes would be unethical. This is a very clinically weighty term for an assessor to use. I hope, Mr. Baldwin, you will now advise me on what I should do. In the first place, there would seem to be no point in being assessed if you are forced to take a class anyway. I agreed to anger management class as a stipulation in a plea deal. I certainly would not want to be involved in anything Six Counties considers to be unethical.
Also, the ethics complaint I have been compiling against you and Mortimer both, keeps growing at a rate which I can hardly keep up with. I feel you already have enough on your hands trying to cover up issues with not just a uniformed criminal in Dresden, but also a local con artist. I felt perhaps you might like to back out of piling yet more ethics violations on your plate. In any case, please advise me on what you wish me to do. Perhaps you might confer with Judge Vinsel. He also received a copy of the assessment.
Meanwhile, it has been recently reported that once again (twice, three times?) Kurtis Rodgers has proven to be mentally ill. He has reportedly tried to act as if he is in a position of some authority that he does not (again), at the Zanesville Roosters location, on the weekend of 12-18. The ZPD, according to witnesses, were very unimpressed.
Somewhere in the same time frame, Kurtis Rodgers was alleged to have been slugged by one of our own Dresden officers. I myself, cannot verify that, but he did have a black eye soon after this rumor broke. Lastly he was reported to have had a man out of a vehicle during a traffic stop, who had a broken leg. It was reported that he kicked the victim in the leg. I suspect, if there is a video recording from the cruiser, which actually shows this, it will evaporate. Also, I have been told there is a witness. Is officer Rodgers guilty of these last transgressions? I was not there and I am not being paid to investigate such matters. Somebody working for the Village is probably paid to address such issues. Maybe the Village administration should ask police chief Garver to look into it.
Okay, I admit that with the last segment, I have lowered myself to sarcasm. Dresden Ohio under siege VI, (capital V and I) is done. I know I have not always posted these quickly, but this one should be on Youtube in a week or so.
R.K. Ripple / Dresden
On December the 22nd I kept an appointment with a licensed health professional at six counties in Zanesville. Prior to beginning any anger management sessions, they do an assessment. This determines what the professional opinion is as to future course of action. I have included a copy of the first page of the assessment. It shows clearly the opinion of the therapist is that I did not need to come back. I found the session (lasting two hours), enjoyable. The person I was assigned to was very intelligent and insightful.
You can only imagine the relief I felt, having been told by a professional that I have no real pressing issues managing anger. This is uplifting and I hope I do not let myself become prideful about this conclusion. For instance, I intend to address the next council meeting. It is hard not to feel superior in a group setting, where I am likely to be the only one in the room who has been professionally evaluated as not needing an anger management class. The frank truth is, I have had some doubts about some persons in Village administration, let alone some of our police.
This has left me conflicted, however, and I am seeking your guidance in this matter. At the conclusion of the assessment, the therapist told me they considered making me come back for anger management classes would be unethical. This is a very clinically weighty term for an assessor to use. I hope, Mr. Baldwin, you will now advise me on what I should do. In the first place, there would seem to be no point in being assessed if you are forced to take a class anyway. I agreed to anger management class as a stipulation in a plea deal. I certainly would not want to be involved in anything Six Counties considers to be unethical.
Also, the ethics complaint I have been compiling against you and Mortimer both, keeps growing at a rate which I can hardly keep up with. I feel you already have enough on your hands trying to cover up issues with not just a uniformed criminal in Dresden, but also a local con artist. I felt perhaps you might like to back out of piling yet more ethics violations on your plate. In any case, please advise me on what you wish me to do. Perhaps you might confer with Judge Vinsel. He also received a copy of the assessment.
Meanwhile, it has been recently reported that once again (twice, three times?) Kurtis Rodgers has proven to be mentally ill. He has reportedly tried to act as if he is in a position of some authority that he does not (again), at the Zanesville Roosters location, on the weekend of 12-18. The ZPD, according to witnesses, were very unimpressed.
Somewhere in the same time frame, Kurtis Rodgers was alleged to have been slugged by one of our own Dresden officers. I myself, cannot verify that, but he did have a black eye soon after this rumor broke. Lastly he was reported to have had a man out of a vehicle during a traffic stop, who had a broken leg. It was reported that he kicked the victim in the leg. I suspect, if there is a video recording from the cruiser, which actually shows this, it will evaporate. Also, I have been told there is a witness. Is officer Rodgers guilty of these last transgressions? I was not there and I am not being paid to investigate such matters. Somebody working for the Village is probably paid to address such issues. Maybe the Village administration should ask police chief Garver to look into it.
Okay, I admit that with the last segment, I have lowered myself to sarcasm. Dresden Ohio under siege VI, (capital V and I) is done. I know I have not always posted these quickly, but this one should be on Youtube in a week or so.
R.K. Ripple / Dresden
smoke and mirrors january 13th 2016
Late Friday afternoon on Jan. 8th, just two days after the Transcript came out, I had a visitation at my home by none other than (drum roll please) Detective Steve Welker of the Muskingum County Sheriff's Department. He was here looking into allegations regarding Kurtis Rodgers. This was five months after I requested this. Except his stated purpose was that he was asked to do so by our solicitor, Steve Baldwin. Evidently, Baldwin carries more weight at County than I do. For those of you who remember, they sent Detective Todd Mahle in August, and his instructions were obviously not to do anything with Kurtis Rodgers, but to try to intimidate me by charging my girlfriend with trespassing in a non-related incident to my altercation with Rodgers. If you came in late, reading the first piece, Children with Guns, this will hopefully become clearer. It was also obvious at the time, that this earlier intimidation was orchestrated by Steve Baldwin, in what will eventually become the most knock-down, drag-out, solid-gold malicious prosecution complaint the Ohio Supreme Court has ever seen.
What was Detective Welker really doing here? He was on a fishing expedition for solicitor Baldwin, trying to get a handle on how deep a file I had compiled on Kurtis Rodgers. This much, I am sure of. He left understanding that they needed a bigger boat (think the movie, JAWS). He only wanted to discuss the incidents about officer Rodgers, as they were related in last week's transcript. These were more aberrant behavior, and not the sort of criminal acts with which my file is filled. Again, they are not talking about cut and dried felony charges related to my incident with officer Rodgers. The Sheriff's department had all they needed for that five months ago.
This is what I envision for their plans. Force retirement on Chief Garver, and give him a false sense of security that he will draw his pension and shut up about it. No one will be able to get back to him, which is not true. Then, I expect them to slap officer Rodgers on the wrist about something and let him slither away in some fashion. Solicitor Baldwin and the Mayor will point at Chief Garver during the fallout and hope the stench coming from themselves is not noticeable upwind. Last, but not least, the Sheriff's department will have some excuse for their non-involvement, but even though Detective Mahle's job here was to help railroad me into court over something, which had nothing legally to do with charging Kurtis Rodgers, he did take statements from three eyewitnesses to my incident with Rodgers and Brer Rabbit could not walk out of that briar patch of a court facing those witnesses. Of course, the Sheriff's department knows that.
For the benefit of Detective Welker, I know you talked to what I consider my favorite Kurtis Rodgers victim five months ago. You have no plausible deniability related to this matter. Neither does Sheriff Lutz. Mr.Lutz is said to have a desire to run for State office.
Not on my watch.
Also, on Friday night Jan. 8th, Micheal Mathew, son of Dresden mayor Dave Mathew, closed up shop at Patriot Pizza in Coshocton, cleaned house and walked away. He left behind the owner of the property, who had not received any rent money toward the lease in four months and employees who had not been paid. He took all of what could be taken, even the food stock, and allegedly, money which was being collected for a charitable cause. This is exactly the same fate which was visited upon the pizza shop he was involved with in Dresden. Prior to his involvement in these shops, he was running an obvious Ponzi scheme on local investors. When he started the pizza shop in Coshocton, he was obviously hiding out/living in that town to avoid those he scammed in Dresden. It appears he attempted to start the same scam in Coshocton, with little success. The fate of the Pizza shop and its employees were the same as Dresden's.
I have a great deal of sympathy for the victims, but the really sad truth to me is that I am past the point of any plausible deniability with either Steve Baldwin or David Mathew, to say they had no knowledge of Micheal Mathew being a criminal. Which begs the point, that they will go to any lengths to cover up the criminal activities of Officer Kurtis Rodgers or Micheal Mathew. If you take exception to these acts, they will also go to any lengths to prosecute an innocent man.
If we all live long enough, I will eventually uncover what Kurtis Rodgers knows and
about who. Those of you asking when I would start civil proceedings, I have a few surprises to affect first. Also I intend to address the council next Monday and attempt, to once again, help slow the blood loss.
R. K. Ripple / Dresden
What was Detective Welker really doing here? He was on a fishing expedition for solicitor Baldwin, trying to get a handle on how deep a file I had compiled on Kurtis Rodgers. This much, I am sure of. He left understanding that they needed a bigger boat (think the movie, JAWS). He only wanted to discuss the incidents about officer Rodgers, as they were related in last week's transcript. These were more aberrant behavior, and not the sort of criminal acts with which my file is filled. Again, they are not talking about cut and dried felony charges related to my incident with officer Rodgers. The Sheriff's department had all they needed for that five months ago.
This is what I envision for their plans. Force retirement on Chief Garver, and give him a false sense of security that he will draw his pension and shut up about it. No one will be able to get back to him, which is not true. Then, I expect them to slap officer Rodgers on the wrist about something and let him slither away in some fashion. Solicitor Baldwin and the Mayor will point at Chief Garver during the fallout and hope the stench coming from themselves is not noticeable upwind. Last, but not least, the Sheriff's department will have some excuse for their non-involvement, but even though Detective Mahle's job here was to help railroad me into court over something, which had nothing legally to do with charging Kurtis Rodgers, he did take statements from three eyewitnesses to my incident with Rodgers and Brer Rabbit could not walk out of that briar patch of a court facing those witnesses. Of course, the Sheriff's department knows that.
For the benefit of Detective Welker, I know you talked to what I consider my favorite Kurtis Rodgers victim five months ago. You have no plausible deniability related to this matter. Neither does Sheriff Lutz. Mr.Lutz is said to have a desire to run for State office.
Not on my watch.
Also, on Friday night Jan. 8th, Micheal Mathew, son of Dresden mayor Dave Mathew, closed up shop at Patriot Pizza in Coshocton, cleaned house and walked away. He left behind the owner of the property, who had not received any rent money toward the lease in four months and employees who had not been paid. He took all of what could be taken, even the food stock, and allegedly, money which was being collected for a charitable cause. This is exactly the same fate which was visited upon the pizza shop he was involved with in Dresden. Prior to his involvement in these shops, he was running an obvious Ponzi scheme on local investors. When he started the pizza shop in Coshocton, he was obviously hiding out/living in that town to avoid those he scammed in Dresden. It appears he attempted to start the same scam in Coshocton, with little success. The fate of the Pizza shop and its employees were the same as Dresden's.
I have a great deal of sympathy for the victims, but the really sad truth to me is that I am past the point of any plausible deniability with either Steve Baldwin or David Mathew, to say they had no knowledge of Micheal Mathew being a criminal. Which begs the point, that they will go to any lengths to cover up the criminal activities of Officer Kurtis Rodgers or Micheal Mathew. If you take exception to these acts, they will also go to any lengths to prosecute an innocent man.
If we all live long enough, I will eventually uncover what Kurtis Rodgers knows and
about who. Those of you asking when I would start civil proceedings, I have a few surprises to affect first. Also I intend to address the council next Monday and attempt, to once again, help slow the blood loss.
R. K. Ripple / Dresden
council address january 20th 2016
I come here tonight to address the council members about issues that should be considered to be of grave concern. It appears to me to be self-evident the council members have been lied to and misdirected by members of this administration. It is my hope that by addressing the council, we can find a way to minimize the damage to the Village and its residents.
On June the 16th of 2015 I was assaulted on my own property by a Dresden Police Officer in front of witnesses. I subsequently was falsely charged by
the officer to cover his own criminal actions, and he has been aided in this by members of this administration for over seven months. Subsequently, within weeks after this happened, I had talked to three other people who claimed this officer had also pulled a taser on them for no apparent reason. I talked to a young man who claimed the officer had arrested him on false charges, and after he was handcuffed behind his back, while leaning forward against the cruiser, the officer kicked his legs out from under him. Twice.
I was not there. Is this true? I have heard exactly the same story from three different people. You do the math. Sooner or later, someone is going to land head first, and be killed, or worse.
Having talked to about 30 people now to date, who have an incident to relate regarding Kurtis Rodgers, the bulk of these stories clearly indicate the following: his behavior is not going to change, and he is not merely abusive; which is true. He is not just a liar who will falsify a police document; which is true. He is obviously mentally ill. And as far as I know, he still works for the Village, and no one has discussed charging him with anything.
As an aside to this issue, we have been past the point of no return for a very long time, in admitting Micheal Mathew is a con-artist. He has been responsible for a string of broken financial bodies left behind him. This leads me to try to enlighten the members here to a very real worst-case scenario. The number of people who have been physically abused and mistreated by Officer Rodgers is hard to estimate. The written complaints that I know of now total nine. There is a very real undercurrent of hostility towards Rodgers and towards the present administration, which protects him. I fear that someone, or a group of people, will decide to physically take him in hand. I do not believe anyone here wants that to happen. As I pointed out before, he needs help. Allowing a grown man who acts like a small arrogant child to remain in uniform is mind-boggling, and frankly both stupid and irresponsible.
There is also a very real undercurrent of hostility towards Micheal Mathew, and ignoring that will not make it go away. And in spite of the way I have been treated by this administration, I do not wish the lack of resolving these issues to boil over into physical confrontations. Again, I do not want that,
you do not want that, and I am sure David Mathew does not want that. Surely, the council would like to see these issues resolved before someone reaches a tipping point with potentially tragic results.
The Village will face litigation related to my encounter with Officer Rodgers, insofar as, the debacle the administration has visited upon me has now
cost me seven months of my life. Do not blame the messenger. I told the so-called Village fathers how to resolve this 7 months ago. There is one thing here that I hope everyone understands before this night is over. There are threads here that go up and down the county, through the Village and its council, to corners which no one wants to look into. The knot in the middle is Steve Baldwin. It seems to escape everyone in this administration that Baldwin works for you, not the other way around. By now I would hope that everyone assembled here would have come to the understanding that the people who have led the Village into an ambush, are not going to lead you back out. The council has a veto-proof majority. Perhaps it is time they realized that.
If any of the council members wish to discuss how to resolve some of these issues, in a manner I believe would be easiest for all, I will be glad to talk to them. I believe these matters can be solved with less cost to everyone in the long run, rather than compelling half of the people in this room to go to a Federal court. I have provided my contact information to all of the council; more than once. Also, I would recommend to the council members that it might be wise to seek outside legal advice, for obvious reasons. If you consider this an intelligent decision, I advise you to talk to someone outside of Muskingum county. I would be glad to meet with anyone you have sought council with, without council myself, to help explain the situation. Again, my mission is to help resolve issues. The longer this goes on, the more costly for everyone, and not just in monetary terms.
David Mathew, for seven months you have libeled and slandered me behind my back. I am still here and I did not just go down to court and pay a
fine and shut up about it. Just before the election, you were overheard to say at a fundraiser to your entourage, that they should not pay any attention to the propaganda they have been reading in the paper. I have published fourteen pieces since July 10th in the Transcript. I am sure if you maintain there was something in any of those articles which was an intentional falsehood, Al Lewis would be glad to print it. Right out in the open, in a public forum, in print, where any allegations may be addressed, with facts supported by witnesses and/or documentation. Otherwise, I suggest you pay the price for your BS now, and just shut up about it. I will not be lied about and I will not be laid a hand on. I do not do these things to other people, and I will not have them done to me. For your further education, being the mayor does not give you the authority to tell anyone who they may talk to. That goes for you too Francis. Trying to motivate people through fear is stupid, and threatening to fire people at the drop of a hat, shows you to have a severe narcissistic self-image. What can only be seen, in light of the way you treat people, as a God complex. You need to get over yourself. I have a close personal friend who is a clinical psychologist, if you would like a referral. Before I forget, having a town employee hauling fill for two days to your leased lot in Martin's bottom is illegal.
Steve Baldwin, the problem with having someone like you in this position, is the discretion a prosecutor has, making it hard to come back at them when they are wrong. Of course, they have no skin in it. Hell, they actually get paid to screw people over. You know that both Troy Lowe and Kurtis Rodgers are a couple of flakes who dreamed up the charge you held against me. Then you made the mistake of pulling another one out of your derriere and trying to get at me through my girlfriend. I suggest you take a good look at who you are dealing with. None of your friends are going to undertake throwing me in the back of a van and hauling me to Pennsylvania. Everything which you had in discovery would hang Kurtis Rodgers. You know it, I know it, and you know I know it. Consider the irony of having a detective ask me about my file on Kurtis Rodgers, when you prosecuted me through Kurtis Rodgers. I know, “cover my ass”, when I see it. If you were serious about seeking justice in this, you would charge him with felonies related to my incident with him. Anything else is just blowing smoke.
Jeff Garver, I am not a criminal. I am not a drug dealer, or a wife beater, or a thief. I am also not a soft touch. I was guilty of nothing criminal here, and
you know it, and I know it, and you know I know it. You let them drag an innocent man to court, and you let a criminal in a uniform go free.
The three of you will pay a penance for you actions. On June the 18th, I had a conversation with Jeff Garver, and he indicated an arrogance which is prevalent in this administration. When told this kind of behavior can get the Village sued ( Kurtis Rodgers ), he said, “That is why we have lawyers and insurance companies”. The people responsible for this debacle feel that nothing they do will personally cost them anything. They are wrong this time. When any of the three of you want to get out from under this, contact me, but every day that goes by adds to your ledger. I will personally see to it that something resembling justice, by my accounting, is paid from each of you. Fines encompassing areas related to you professionally, personally, or monetarily will be levied. I will pursue this through the media, or through the court system, until I am happy with the results. The only thing which will stop this from happening is my death. The longer you put this off, the more flesh I will metaphorically extract from each of you. It is time for those who maliciously create problems for innocent people to pay for their arrogant stupidity.
At this point in time, I have lost more respect for many in this room than I
knew I had to begin with.
R.K. Ripple / Dresden Ohio
On June the 16th of 2015 I was assaulted on my own property by a Dresden Police Officer in front of witnesses. I subsequently was falsely charged by
the officer to cover his own criminal actions, and he has been aided in this by members of this administration for over seven months. Subsequently, within weeks after this happened, I had talked to three other people who claimed this officer had also pulled a taser on them for no apparent reason. I talked to a young man who claimed the officer had arrested him on false charges, and after he was handcuffed behind his back, while leaning forward against the cruiser, the officer kicked his legs out from under him. Twice.
I was not there. Is this true? I have heard exactly the same story from three different people. You do the math. Sooner or later, someone is going to land head first, and be killed, or worse.
Having talked to about 30 people now to date, who have an incident to relate regarding Kurtis Rodgers, the bulk of these stories clearly indicate the following: his behavior is not going to change, and he is not merely abusive; which is true. He is not just a liar who will falsify a police document; which is true. He is obviously mentally ill. And as far as I know, he still works for the Village, and no one has discussed charging him with anything.
As an aside to this issue, we have been past the point of no return for a very long time, in admitting Micheal Mathew is a con-artist. He has been responsible for a string of broken financial bodies left behind him. This leads me to try to enlighten the members here to a very real worst-case scenario. The number of people who have been physically abused and mistreated by Officer Rodgers is hard to estimate. The written complaints that I know of now total nine. There is a very real undercurrent of hostility towards Rodgers and towards the present administration, which protects him. I fear that someone, or a group of people, will decide to physically take him in hand. I do not believe anyone here wants that to happen. As I pointed out before, he needs help. Allowing a grown man who acts like a small arrogant child to remain in uniform is mind-boggling, and frankly both stupid and irresponsible.
There is also a very real undercurrent of hostility towards Micheal Mathew, and ignoring that will not make it go away. And in spite of the way I have been treated by this administration, I do not wish the lack of resolving these issues to boil over into physical confrontations. Again, I do not want that,
you do not want that, and I am sure David Mathew does not want that. Surely, the council would like to see these issues resolved before someone reaches a tipping point with potentially tragic results.
The Village will face litigation related to my encounter with Officer Rodgers, insofar as, the debacle the administration has visited upon me has now
cost me seven months of my life. Do not blame the messenger. I told the so-called Village fathers how to resolve this 7 months ago. There is one thing here that I hope everyone understands before this night is over. There are threads here that go up and down the county, through the Village and its council, to corners which no one wants to look into. The knot in the middle is Steve Baldwin. It seems to escape everyone in this administration that Baldwin works for you, not the other way around. By now I would hope that everyone assembled here would have come to the understanding that the people who have led the Village into an ambush, are not going to lead you back out. The council has a veto-proof majority. Perhaps it is time they realized that.
If any of the council members wish to discuss how to resolve some of these issues, in a manner I believe would be easiest for all, I will be glad to talk to them. I believe these matters can be solved with less cost to everyone in the long run, rather than compelling half of the people in this room to go to a Federal court. I have provided my contact information to all of the council; more than once. Also, I would recommend to the council members that it might be wise to seek outside legal advice, for obvious reasons. If you consider this an intelligent decision, I advise you to talk to someone outside of Muskingum county. I would be glad to meet with anyone you have sought council with, without council myself, to help explain the situation. Again, my mission is to help resolve issues. The longer this goes on, the more costly for everyone, and not just in monetary terms.
David Mathew, for seven months you have libeled and slandered me behind my back. I am still here and I did not just go down to court and pay a
fine and shut up about it. Just before the election, you were overheard to say at a fundraiser to your entourage, that they should not pay any attention to the propaganda they have been reading in the paper. I have published fourteen pieces since July 10th in the Transcript. I am sure if you maintain there was something in any of those articles which was an intentional falsehood, Al Lewis would be glad to print it. Right out in the open, in a public forum, in print, where any allegations may be addressed, with facts supported by witnesses and/or documentation. Otherwise, I suggest you pay the price for your BS now, and just shut up about it. I will not be lied about and I will not be laid a hand on. I do not do these things to other people, and I will not have them done to me. For your further education, being the mayor does not give you the authority to tell anyone who they may talk to. That goes for you too Francis. Trying to motivate people through fear is stupid, and threatening to fire people at the drop of a hat, shows you to have a severe narcissistic self-image. What can only be seen, in light of the way you treat people, as a God complex. You need to get over yourself. I have a close personal friend who is a clinical psychologist, if you would like a referral. Before I forget, having a town employee hauling fill for two days to your leased lot in Martin's bottom is illegal.
Steve Baldwin, the problem with having someone like you in this position, is the discretion a prosecutor has, making it hard to come back at them when they are wrong. Of course, they have no skin in it. Hell, they actually get paid to screw people over. You know that both Troy Lowe and Kurtis Rodgers are a couple of flakes who dreamed up the charge you held against me. Then you made the mistake of pulling another one out of your derriere and trying to get at me through my girlfriend. I suggest you take a good look at who you are dealing with. None of your friends are going to undertake throwing me in the back of a van and hauling me to Pennsylvania. Everything which you had in discovery would hang Kurtis Rodgers. You know it, I know it, and you know I know it. Consider the irony of having a detective ask me about my file on Kurtis Rodgers, when you prosecuted me through Kurtis Rodgers. I know, “cover my ass”, when I see it. If you were serious about seeking justice in this, you would charge him with felonies related to my incident with him. Anything else is just blowing smoke.
Jeff Garver, I am not a criminal. I am not a drug dealer, or a wife beater, or a thief. I am also not a soft touch. I was guilty of nothing criminal here, and
you know it, and I know it, and you know I know it. You let them drag an innocent man to court, and you let a criminal in a uniform go free.
The three of you will pay a penance for you actions. On June the 18th, I had a conversation with Jeff Garver, and he indicated an arrogance which is prevalent in this administration. When told this kind of behavior can get the Village sued ( Kurtis Rodgers ), he said, “That is why we have lawyers and insurance companies”. The people responsible for this debacle feel that nothing they do will personally cost them anything. They are wrong this time. When any of the three of you want to get out from under this, contact me, but every day that goes by adds to your ledger. I will personally see to it that something resembling justice, by my accounting, is paid from each of you. Fines encompassing areas related to you professionally, personally, or monetarily will be levied. I will pursue this through the media, or through the court system, until I am happy with the results. The only thing which will stop this from happening is my death. The longer you put this off, the more flesh I will metaphorically extract from each of you. It is time for those who maliciously create problems for innocent people to pay for their arrogant stupidity.
At this point in time, I have lost more respect for many in this room than I
knew I had to begin with.
R.K. Ripple / Dresden Ohio
Postcards from the edge january 27th 2016
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE / THE COUNCIL MEETING
Last week's headlines proclaimed the council meeting contentious. I agree. The question is, why should it be?
A friend of mine who knows as much about parliamentary procedure as anyone I know, gave his time slot to speak back to me, and was told by the Mayor, “We don't do that here “. Point of information to Mayor Mathew: There Is No “Here”. The rules and statutes that govern the conduct of the Village are the same everywhere.
When I addressed the Village council, the mayor called “time” after five minutes and asked to go in to executive meeting. A point of order was called and the person who called for it was threatened with removal. After this, I was given an additional five minutes and then they went to hide in the back room, in “executive session”. There are three reasons you may call for an executive session. I am afraid, whatever this one was called for does not apply.
When they returned, the Mayor made two mind-boggling statements, relative to the ongoing cover-up regarding Officer Kurtis Rogers. He stated that either he and/or the Village had asked for participation from the Sheriff's department investigating Rogers, in April of 2015. I will give Dave Mathew a pass on that as far as the date, I think he is just confused. One of the questions this begs for is why do we need an outside entity like the Sheriff's department to do this? I thought this was part of the role of the chief of police.
This is an account of what actually happened. Early in August, I had contacted the County Commissioner's Office about seeking outside help to investigate Kurtis Rogers. I made an appointment, which they canceled and rescheduled. At the time they rescheduled, they informed me that the mayor had been invited. I told them he would not be there, and he was not. I was told the press would be there, and they were.
By the time I got to the Commissioner's office and subsequently talked to them, and then Sheriff Lutz, the fix was in. I spent a half an hour with a film crew from WHIZ-TV and nothing was aired. The Sheriff's department killed that story directly, and I got that scoop first-hand. Thus, the Mayor could say later he asked for the Rogers investigation before I did, and the cover up was established to go through at the county level also, from that point on.
The second thing the Mayor stated at the end of the meeting was that I had never FORMALLY asked for the Village to charge Officer Kurtis Rogers. You have to suspend disbelief at this point. Those of you who keep your back issues of the Transcript, refer back to the August the 14th issue. Again, here is what happened.
Late in July, Steve Baldwin made a phone call to the law director of the City of Heath. There were points of other interest discussed, but one of the things stated, was that Chief Garver was in Village Solicitor Baldwin's office during this conversation, and Garver claimed I had never formally asked for Rogers to be charged. This was a bald-faced lie; one of many. As I pointed out in the paper, he was told verbally, in front of a witness, that I expected Officer Rogers to be charged. The incident report I submitted in late June spelled out my specific expectations of the type and breadth of charges to be levied against Officer Rodgers. August yielded a published statement in the Transcript, where I FORMALLY asked that he be charged. This is in response to these lies. I have proof of what I asked for and expected, those several months ago in June.
It has become obvious that the only constant here for seven months now is the subterfuge and outright lies told over and over by members of this administration. These lies have now come full circle, to the point that the actors involved seem to forget when they both made them the first time, and were called on those lies the first time.
Officer Rogers totaled his Jeep on Friday night Jan. 15th. Of course this could happen to anyone, but the rumor is he had a designated driver and he would not let them drive. Who knows; better yet, who representing the Village cares to try to find out? I freely admit I have not even bothered to see what, if anything, Officer Rodgers was charged with.
This is a last request for everyone to consider, particularly Detective Steve Welker of the Sheriff's department. I have been told that the last three Dresden Police Officers who gained employment elsewhere, are now working for the Muskingum County Sheriff's department. Officer Rogers applied to the Sheriff's department months ago. If you guys like him so much, why don't you hire him?
R. K. Ripple / Dresden, OH
Last week's headlines proclaimed the council meeting contentious. I agree. The question is, why should it be?
A friend of mine who knows as much about parliamentary procedure as anyone I know, gave his time slot to speak back to me, and was told by the Mayor, “We don't do that here “. Point of information to Mayor Mathew: There Is No “Here”. The rules and statutes that govern the conduct of the Village are the same everywhere.
When I addressed the Village council, the mayor called “time” after five minutes and asked to go in to executive meeting. A point of order was called and the person who called for it was threatened with removal. After this, I was given an additional five minutes and then they went to hide in the back room, in “executive session”. There are three reasons you may call for an executive session. I am afraid, whatever this one was called for does not apply.
When they returned, the Mayor made two mind-boggling statements, relative to the ongoing cover-up regarding Officer Kurtis Rogers. He stated that either he and/or the Village had asked for participation from the Sheriff's department investigating Rogers, in April of 2015. I will give Dave Mathew a pass on that as far as the date, I think he is just confused. One of the questions this begs for is why do we need an outside entity like the Sheriff's department to do this? I thought this was part of the role of the chief of police.
This is an account of what actually happened. Early in August, I had contacted the County Commissioner's Office about seeking outside help to investigate Kurtis Rogers. I made an appointment, which they canceled and rescheduled. At the time they rescheduled, they informed me that the mayor had been invited. I told them he would not be there, and he was not. I was told the press would be there, and they were.
By the time I got to the Commissioner's office and subsequently talked to them, and then Sheriff Lutz, the fix was in. I spent a half an hour with a film crew from WHIZ-TV and nothing was aired. The Sheriff's department killed that story directly, and I got that scoop first-hand. Thus, the Mayor could say later he asked for the Rogers investigation before I did, and the cover up was established to go through at the county level also, from that point on.
The second thing the Mayor stated at the end of the meeting was that I had never FORMALLY asked for the Village to charge Officer Kurtis Rogers. You have to suspend disbelief at this point. Those of you who keep your back issues of the Transcript, refer back to the August the 14th issue. Again, here is what happened.
Late in July, Steve Baldwin made a phone call to the law director of the City of Heath. There were points of other interest discussed, but one of the things stated, was that Chief Garver was in Village Solicitor Baldwin's office during this conversation, and Garver claimed I had never formally asked for Rogers to be charged. This was a bald-faced lie; one of many. As I pointed out in the paper, he was told verbally, in front of a witness, that I expected Officer Rogers to be charged. The incident report I submitted in late June spelled out my specific expectations of the type and breadth of charges to be levied against Officer Rodgers. August yielded a published statement in the Transcript, where I FORMALLY asked that he be charged. This is in response to these lies. I have proof of what I asked for and expected, those several months ago in June.
It has become obvious that the only constant here for seven months now is the subterfuge and outright lies told over and over by members of this administration. These lies have now come full circle, to the point that the actors involved seem to forget when they both made them the first time, and were called on those lies the first time.
Officer Rogers totaled his Jeep on Friday night Jan. 15th. Of course this could happen to anyone, but the rumor is he had a designated driver and he would not let them drive. Who knows; better yet, who representing the Village cares to try to find out? I freely admit I have not even bothered to see what, if anything, Officer Rodgers was charged with.
This is a last request for everyone to consider, particularly Detective Steve Welker of the Sheriff's department. I have been told that the last three Dresden Police Officers who gained employment elsewhere, are now working for the Muskingum County Sheriff's department. Officer Rogers applied to the Sheriff's department months ago. If you guys like him so much, why don't you hire him?
R. K. Ripple / Dresden, OH