Dan. From what I understand, this is not a new motion (?).. it is simply a response to Sigler’s response to the original motion. I’m not sure but I believe Sigler gets one more response before it goes to the judge to decide.

See wherewe end up when some people are willing to skirt the truth, and refuse to take responsibility for their own actions?

For those who might not know, a “scrivener’s error” is, in somewhat archaic language, a clerical error that results in a failure to record or reflect matters that are universally understood or beyond dispute. It is different from an error in judgment or a failure to use due dilligence in following a required course of conduct or action. If I select a plaster statue of the Manning family as a birthday gift for my wife, I’ve made an error in judgment and my wife’s scorn can’t be deflected by claiming “it’s just a clerical mistake.” That would compound my mistake by lying about it.

If, while walking to the cash register with my Manning bric-a-brac, I realize it is a poor gift for my betrothed, turn quickly to return it to the shelf and carelessly smash it into a display of Colt’s cookware, that’s my mistake, my negligence, and my failure to use the degree of care expcted of me. I can’t avoid the consequences by telling the irritated shopkeeper “Oh, scriviner’s error!” That would be a lie.

But, if in my embarassment and dismay over my mistakes, I inadvertently date the check that I write to pay for the damage I have done “january 24. 3007″, I’ve made a scrivener’s error. It’s meaningless.

Our esteemed special prosecutor, who will readily assure you that he is well-versed in all things prosecutorial, spent 10 days and tens of thousands of dollars with a grand jury of his selection, to obtain a nine count indictment against Mr. Kelty. Amazingly, each and every count issued by the grand jury is defective and fails to allege an actual crime by Mr. Kelty. Our special prosecutor admits this, as he seeks to amend EACH AND EVERY COUNT to correct the errors and substitute the defective charges that the grand jury voted for and signed for charges that the grand jury never even considered and that only Mr. Sigler has signed.

Scrivener’s error!

Yes, remarkable as it may seem, this is all a clerical mistake. The printer ran out of toner so some of the necessary elements to state a crime never made it into the original charges as intended by our special prosecutor. The copy guy put the paper in wrong so some of those essential elements got lopped off in the photocopying. The cleaning people moved some piles on Mr. Sigler’s desk, mixing up the stack that contained the charges that had been carefully reviewed to assure that they complied with Indiana law got mixed up with some preliminary drafts.

Scriviner’s errors are, by definition, harmless errors, subject to correction when discovered or, more often, simply ignored. If the charges were against “Matt Ketty”, we would have a scriviner’s error, subject to simple correction.

But what we have hjere is PROSECUTORIAL error. It may or may not be harmless. But the fact that our esteemed special prosecutor is mischaracterizing his own errors in judgment or lack of knowledge of Indiana law as clerical mistakes suggests that he is very concerned, and willing to mislead the public (at least) to deflect attention from his failure to follow the law.

Agreed. Further more, let the prosecutor’s office and their budget pay for their errors. Why the heck do we as taypayer’s allow this kind of incompentence? Who the hell is paying this “Special Prosecuting laywer”
the taxpayers. Who the hell is paying the bills of Kelty. He is with is home!

Thanks Mr. Scriviner, “But what we have here is PROSECUTORIAL error. It may or may not be harmless. But the fact that our esteemed special prosecutor is mischaracterizing his own errors in judgment or lack of knowledge of Indiana law as clerical mistakes suggests that he is very concerned, and willing to mislead the public (at least) to deflect attention from his failure to follow the law.”

Go Matt Go!!

My mind is still boggled that Matt is being so prosecuted/persecuted because he failed to describe as a “contribution” money that he had signed documents stating that he had to pay back, with interest (see “Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary”, page 265).

When a crime is committed, we need to look for motive. What’s Kelty’s alleged motive? Haven’t seen anything about that in print.

This town is so corrupt it makes my head spin. Kelty is the lamb and the career politicians and their machines are the lions. That such a smart, enthusiastic, moral young man can be so publicly sacrificed makes me ashamed to be part of this community. And how they make me PAY to be part of this community! But that’s a whole different story. . . .

Suzanne, if it’s so corrupt and you are tired of “paying” to be here, move away darlin’. I’m certain you will not be missed.

NOT BE MISSED???!!!! What are you talking about? You don’t know them. She will be missed, and people in Fort Wayne would miss the types of things her husband and she have provided and tried to create for Fort Wayne. We need more people like them. I’ll let it slide… I will elaborate when I get a chance…

Sheri….

I think I saw your picture in the dictionary “darlin” right next to Lamb. Yes and ANIMAL that blindly follows the lead of the pack. Sadly, Lambs are usually destroyed by wolves in “sheeps” clothing. A powerful government and back-room politics are the wolf that will destroy this blind city. But of course someone of that mindset would want those who think differently to move, because of the voice of dissent is silenced, then democracy will fail. If the voice continues to speak, then change is possible.

Sheri,

Suzanne and her husband, Dave, are on the same par with Spiece for me. I, as Fair Play Volleyball, pay my summer rent to them at River City to run beach volleyball leagues there. They have, and have had other projects, including the sweet little realistic putting course on the edge of Lakeside by the Tecemseh Street Bridge, that they had to push against the grain for quite a while to get approved.

I guess most notably, to me anyway, is they originated the River City Billiards/River City Beach Club out of some beat-up old buildings that were factories. Originally by just word of mouth they started drawing big numbers… the highest was almost 7500 patrons on a 3 day weekend in ‘95, ‘96. It did hurt Piere’s at the time although they denied it. The numbers multiply out, over their 9 months or so of big attendance, at this near downtown location, to more than the baseball stadium is even structured to draw in numbers in for a year. And this is them doing it on their own… no taxpayer money, no abatements and against the grain… just like Spiece.

Business seemed to go way down after a police chase of a drunk driver resulted in his death near the River City entrance. The multitude of police at the entrance seemed to scare away customers after that, as at that time, the area wasn’t perhaps perceived as safe as it is now. They sold out to a guy who ran the business terribly into the ground and who also gave the place a bad reputation, and the bar part of the property has yet to recover.

I stepped in to take over running the volleyball portion out of the shambles and have grown it into the largest adult leagues in participation in the state and in the tri-state area (167 teams in the first season last summer & 173 last fall). Expanding to Spiece, for me, wouldn’t have been possible without Suzanne, Dave and River City.

I am helping to support Spiece Fitness very nicely… many thousands of dollars of rent time and increasing every year. The Spiece Fieldhouse supports the economy of Fort Wayne very positively with their basketball tournaments. By just that little link alone I can tell you Dave and Suzanne would be missed.

Don’t get me wrong though. The Gym Rats at Spiece who run the basketball tourneys are the ones who bring in the ridiculous numbers. But to me they are a blazing example of something to shoot for… and we have already discussed the idea of making Fort Wayne a place for weekend volleyball tourneys. I have in the last few months started bringing together the youth volleyball crowd (through the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club and others) that is also surging in numbers, and it’s my goal to follow the example of the Gym Rats and Spiece with volleyball. Thanks again Dave and Suzanne.

I don’t know if I should mention this but it may be well-known in some circles… Spiece and the city has some sort of tussle around the time of the closing of the big store at the Fieldhouse… maybe something about the City changing the Fire Code out of spite. I could be wrong. It’s from an unofficial source. Nevertheless, look at what the Hell Spiece has done after that.

From Kevin Leininger’s article on Spiece:

“Spiece Fieldhouse received no public funds, but pumps millions of dollars into the local economy every year. It also generates an annual property tax bill of about $131,000.”

Dave and Suzanne mentioned to me some of the problems they have had recently with the idea of making it public, and getting through it that way somehow. Up to this point they have proceeded through proper channels and the legal rigamarole that’s necessary… So it’s almost cosmically funny… that is if pain was funny I guess, that the first thing Suzanne says “publicly” is jumped-all-over by somebody.

For me River City works good. I don’t want to rent anywhere else in the summer. I get a good draw from New Haven, Woodburn, Hoagland, Ohio and points east from that location.

FWOB picked up on my speedboat ride on the River last year after Tom Henry touted it as a resource to tap. It was one of Dave’s employees that took me. He’s been a river advocate for a long time. We’re trying to reach out. We want to be positive. But things I’ve heard behind the scenes from city planner friends and others is that they would prefer River City snuffed out. I have heard that at one time the city wanted the property to be turned into a park they would call “Thumbwaters Park” because it looks like a thumbprint on a map… Snuffed out by a thumb!

But like I said Dave’s a positive, big hearted guy who helps people out in need. I use that example as well. I only sub-contract refs as my only helpers. But when someone loses their job or needs some help I give them a job reffing to tide them over for awhile. So there’s another reason we would be missed. If they would be asked to leave then I don’t want to live here either… Screw Fort Wayne…

Dear Mike Harvey,

You are a gentleman and a scholar, Mr. Harvey, and what modest success River City enjoys is due largely to your efforts and your leadership. Your eloquence and your generosity leave me quite speechless. I will compose myself and write more later. Dave and I count ourselves lucky to be your friends.
Sincerely,
Suzanne

Thanks also to Shoeginmachine. My First Ammendment right to free speech guarranties that Sheri can’t throw me out of town, and I appreciate your support enormously. Most appreciated!

Sheri:

“So just move out of town if you don’t like how we operate!” That’s also what the FWPD representative told me when I complained about seizure of our cherry master machines in 1997. That advice came when I requested that the cherry masters be returned per Indiana Law in effect at the time. IC 36-33-5-5.1 states that “the property shall be promptly returned to the owner if the owner requests in writing that it be retuned“. I did. They did not.

The Internal Affairs Department of the FWPD, the Allen County Prosecutor, successive Mayors of Fort Wayne (I have continued to ask) and Chiefs of Police also don’t see any reason to comply with the law. No problem with lack of warrant for the search and seizure either. I guess they figure if they don’t have to follow Indiana Law, why worry about the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution? It’s as if the local power brokers feel they can pick and choose which laws to enforce.

I have recently renewed my efforts to reclaim this equipment. It seems to have disappeared. Of course there are laws that say that seized items should be “securely held” by the law enforcement agency that seized it, but again, the Allen County Prosecutor, Police Chief, Mayor, and Board of Public Safety don’t see a problem. The fact that FWPD personnel were running cherry masters in American Legions for years after mine were seized didn’t seem to raise concerns either.

So, Sheri, there’s your corruption. Add on $500,000.00 in property taxes paid and $808.60 a month in Stormwater Fees (property tax in disguise), and Suzanne and I think you might be right, maybe we should move away. We have 30+ acres on the Maumee River, just a mile from the courthouse. Any ideas on who might want to buy it?

Dave