Category Archives: Holly Hill Fl Commissioners

Park Employees Intimidated By Narcotics Anonymous And Alcoholics Anonymous Groups

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Even though there has been a smoking ban at Newport Beach for over 7 years, park employees were too intimidated to tell the AA/NA Groups to not smoke. Commissioners said that the AA/NA groups were just too confrontational for park employees, and need police to enforce the ban. First citizens asked the 12 steppers not to smoke and obey the law, but was brushed off. Typical behavior of 12 steppers acting like they are unique and special, and that they do not have to follow the law. The citizens of Holly Hill Florida certainly can relate towards this attitude of ‘Recovery Groups’. We have been dealing with The Sunrise Group, which is part of the Volusia County Intergroup Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the Daytona Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Holly Land Park, Centennial Park and Sunrise Park. We have to deal with parking issues, litter , vulgarity, cigarette butts, assaults, death threats and the list goes on.

Maybe the Holly Hill City Commission will listen to the all the complaints from our locals and take action!

Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups can’t smoke at Newport beaches

City Council
By JON CASSIDY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH – Recovery groups that smoke during meetings on the beach are facing a crackdown, after the City Council rejected a plan to give them smoking permits for their weekly meetings.Smoking on the beach has been banned in Newport Beach for more than seven years, but the City Council took up the issue Tuesday as part of a revision to its rules on parks and beach use.

Those new rules included a ban on smoking in parks, as well as broader language covering permits for park use.
Two groups, one from Alcoholics Anonymous and another from Narcotics Anonymous, have been gathering at the beach near 15th Street for years, City Manager Dave Kiff said.Many of the group members smoke, he said.

“A law is only as good as our ability to enforce it,” Kiff said, adding that parks employees were too intimidated to give tickets to the large recovery groups. His proposal was to allow the groups to apply for smoking permits that cover just their meeting time, but the idea was rejected.”There’s other people that (would) see them smoking there and think now it’s OK to smoke here,” Councilman Steve Rosansky said. Councilman Mike Henn said police would be needed to enforce the law.

“Clearly what we are left with is increased enforcement and we need to figure out a way to make that happen,” he said. “I don’t think it can realistically happen with park patrol people because the people that are smoking, I know, are just too confrontational when they’re asked to stop. So we’re going to have to figure out a way to get the proper police enforcement there.”

Two residents spoke against Kiff’s exception. Resident Denys Oberman said that she had been asking group members not to smoke for years, but that they usually ignored her or told her, “Get off of it” or “Go about your life.”

Two others came to ask that the basketball court at 38th Street Park on Balboa be closed at 7 p.m. rather than sunset; the council agreed. Those were the only two changes to a package of revised regulations approved on a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Ed Selich opposing and Rosansky not voting. The new regulations for parks include a smoking ban, a permit requirement for commercial use by coaches or trainers, and a permit requirement for “any games” played in the city’s 73 parks.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/smoking-340405-beach-smoke.html

Daytona Beach NA Member Busted For Meth Lab In Ormond Beach Florida

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Ormond Beach Florida resident Christopher Greenbaum and Daytona Beach Narcotics Anonymous member was busted for having a meth lab at his house. Christopher Greenbaum is a convicted felon with previous arrests for drugs and DUI’s.
When he was busted this week they also found a firearm.

Just the kind of dangerous criminal that you want going to NA meetings in our Holly Hill Fl parks and playgrounds. It goes to show that many who attend NA/AA meetings, have not quit drugs or alcohol at all. This one carried firearms and had a meth lab.

Christopher Greenbaum

Ormond man charged with manufacturing, trafficking meth
BY CHRIS GRAHAM, STAFF WRITER
February 22, 2012
Greenbaum
An Ormond Beach man was arrested today on multiple drug-related charges after deputies found a methamphetamine lab in his home, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Volusia County sheriff’s narcotics investigators along with agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raided the home at 73 River Beach Drive about 2:30 p.m. after sheriff’s officials received a tip about possible drug activity in the home, sheriff’s spokesman Brandon Haught said.

When deputies entered the residence, Christopher Greenbaum, 35, was quickly taken into custody. He was the only person inside the home.

Haught said agents found a meth lab in the upstairs bathroom of the home, which required a specially trained cleanup team to safely secure the chemicals. Investigators also recovered 95 grams of meth oil as well as a firearm and ammunition, Haught said.

Greenbaum was charged with manufacture of meth, possession of listed chemicals, trafficking in meth, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail and is being held without bail.

http://www.news-
journalonline.com/breakingnews/2012/02/an-ormond-beach-man-was.html

Next Article

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2012/02/23/ormond-man-charged-with-manufacturing-trafficking-meth.html

DAYTONA NA MEMBER SWINGS BASEBALL BAT AT FELLOW NA MEMBER AT HOLLYLAND PARK

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On September 10th 2011 Hollyland Park, Holly Hill Florida, The Daytona Beach Narcotics Anonymous Area Group sponsored a softball tournament that included NA Groups from other Florida counties. There was a fight that broke out between two Daytona NA members, and one of the members responded by swinging an aluminum baseball bat at this person. According to an inside source that was a witness, if the guy would not have ducked when he saw the bat coming at him, it would have killed him. NA members broke up the fight. There were many witnesses, and the victim called the police. Now wouldn’t you know that Holly Hill PD did not get the name of the person who tried to kill this guy? No official report was written on this incident. No charges were filed.

When the Daytona Beach Narcotics Anonymous Group reserved the field they did not take out a special use permit for this very large event with over 100 people. This happened in Hollyland Park / Centennial Park right across the street from the Holly Hill PD. With an event that size  there should have been a special event form filled out, and police present at the event. Failing to hold this event according to Holly Hill’s special use permit guidelines almost cost someone their life! It could still cost someone their life in the future, because this nut is still on the loose and has already shown he is capable of trying to kill someone.

There were no arrests made. I would bet Daytona Beach Narcotics Anonymous members talked the victim out of pressing charges, as an attempt to keep bad press down and not to expose members identity. They already know that much has been written about their horrendous behavior in Holly Hill Parks. Some things are hard to keep a secret when you have a ton of witnesses. It’s a good thing this NA member lived to tell about this fight, not all Narcotics Anonymous members do. Hiding this just enables this sort of behavior, letting dangerous perpetrators hide behind anonymity.

Is the City of Holly Hill going to wait until someones’ head is bashed in before they try to make the parks a safer place?

Here is an article where an AA sponsor was killed when attacked with a baseball bat by his court mandated mentally ill AA sponsee.

http://nadaytona.org/2011/10/02/aa-member-beat-sponsor-with-baseball-bat/

NA MEMBER-PEDOPHILE RAPES 15 YEAR OLD AT CENTENNIAL PARK HOLLY HILL FLORIDA

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Here we have a man James E.Walker, convicted sexual offender raped a minor again in Centennial Park back in 2007. James Walker is now a convicted sex predator after the rape of this boy. Holly Hill allows sexual offenders in their parks. Mark Barker of the Police Department stating that sex crimes in Holly Hill Parks are common. They had made 9 arrests already that year. Fast forward November 2011 and Holly Hill is having a sex crime sting in Ross Point. Four years later and the City of Holly Hill has not stopped allowing sexual offenders in our parks?

What is wrong with this picture? Daytona Beach has strict sexual offender/predator laws and do not allow drug rehab businesses like AA to set up shop in their parks.Why is the City of Holly Hill so laid back about protecting the citizens and allowing pedophiles and sex predators in our parks?


Denise-marie Balona
Sentinel Staff Writer
November 10, 2007

A registered sex offender is back in jail after Holly Hill police charged him with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in a park restroom Friday.
Police said the boy missed the bus and was walking to Mainland High School in nearby Daytona Beach when he stopped at Centennial Park about 8 a.m. to use the bathroom.

The boy had just sat down in a stall when police said James E. Walker, 38, of Holly Hill, slid underneath.

Walker pinned the youth to the wall, performed a sex act on him and then fled, said Cmdr. Mark Barker of the Holly Hill Police Department.

The boy, who was otherwise uninjured, alerted a groundskeeper at the lakefront park on 10th Street. Authorities said a police officer found Walker in the parking lot of his apartment complex about a half-mile away.

Parks in Holly Hill are not off-limits to sex offenders, only sexual predators, who have committed more violent crimes and can’t live near parks.

Walker got out of prison in April after serving less than half of a 15-year sentence for lewd and lascivious assault on a child under age 16, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

In 1996, he was among the Volusia County men who were the focus of a six-month Orlando Sentinel investigation of pedophiles in the Daytona area.

Walker was able to leave prison early in part because the laws in effect at the time of his offense allowed him to earn considerably more time off his sentence for good behavior, said Jo Ellyn Rackleff, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Today, prisoners cannot work off more than 15 percent of their jail time, she said.

Walker also has been arrested on drug charges in Bay County, in Florida’s Panhandle.

Barker said sex crimes in parks aren’t unusual. Police made nine arrests this year.

Walker is being held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 16, exposure of sexual organs, false imprisonment, simple battery and resisting arrest with violence.

http://florida-issues.blogspot.com/2007/11/holly-hill-man-charged-in-sex-assault.html

Another article about it-

Sex Offender Accused Of Assaulting Boy In Bathroom

HOLLY HILL, Fla. — November 10th 2007

A convicted sex offender sexually attacked a boy in a public bathroom Friday morning when the boy stopped to use the restroom at Centennial Park on his way to school, according to Holly Hill police. SLIDESHOW: Images Of Suspect’s Arrest, Park BathroomOFFENDER FLYER:Info On Suspect From FDLESEARCH:Do Sex Offenders Live In Your Neighborhood?The suspect already served a seven-year prison sentence for lewd conduct with a child and he just got out in April. He lived about a half-mile from the park restroom where police said he molested the 15-year-old boy.James Walker, 38, was defiant after his arrest.”I did not do this. You’re full of s***,” Walker told Eyewitness News as he was taken into custody, adamant that he had nothing to do with the sexual attack.

“Mr. Walker represents truly the worst of the worst,” said Mark Barker, Holly Hill Police Department.

Police collected evidence from the scene Friday where they say the registered sex offender attacked a 15-year-old boy. The teen was on his way to school, stopped to use the bathroom and investigators said Walker climbed up underneath the door of the stall. Once in the stall, police said, Walker struggled with the boy and held him against the wall while he touched himself.

After the attack, the boy found a park employee who called police.

“I can’t begin to tell you the level of frustration that I and my officers feel on the heels of this incident,” Barker said.

Police immediately spread out to look for the suspect and a sergeant noticed Walker at a nearby intersection. As soon as he stopped to try to talk to Walker, he ran. The officer tried to stop him with a taser, but missed the shot. He ended up catching Walker in the back parking lot of the apartment building where Walker lived.

Only out of prison for seven months, Walker faces five charges now that could put him back behind bars.

“I was never in no bathroom,” Walker insisted.

The news is already spurring calls for a change in Holly Hill. The mayor told Eyewitness News he will suggest changing all public bathrooms to single rooms with locking doors to prevent similar incidents.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/sex-offender-accused-of-assaulting-boy-in-bathroom/nD9mp/

POLICE CITE MEN IN HOLLY HILL BATHROOM SEX STING

This has been going on in Holly Hill Parks for years,including Sunrise Park that is still listed online as a place for men to hook-up.

http://www.cruisinggays.com/Holly-Hill/Cruising-Areas/17476-Sunrise-Park/

They even mention the bathrooms at Sunrise Park.Holly Hill PD need to do more to stop this.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/crime/2011/11/19/six-men-were-rounded-up.html

Rommel Scalf Quits Holly Hill PD After String Of Taser Abuses

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Now after one reads this article, one is left with more questions than answers about the internal affairs of Holly Hill PD. Rommel Scalf  had numerous previous complaints over excessive force using a taser gun. Instead of firing him for so many infractions he was instead given a desk job by then Commander Mark Barker, to head the Crime Prevention Community Relations Department. This included the ‘ Explorers’ , a youth group learning about police work. Barker is quoted as saying he ” thrived” in that position. That is until he used excessive force again with a taser gun he was not even allowed to have.

This story is not just a reflection on Rommel Scalf behavior. It draws a bigger picture of of the inner workings and mindset of the top brass in the Holly Hill Police Department. You certainly come away from the article feeling like there were many standards of professionalism not followed at the department for quite some time. I doubt Scalf thought he would even lose his job over it, but it did catch up with him.

This information was suppressed involving Janet Hawkins and Scalf during her trial when he arrested her. Holly Hill was withholding evidence to protect there own as long as they could.

Officer quits after Taser misuse

BY LYDA LONGA, STAFF WRITER

April 29 th 2011

HOLLY HILL — The Holly Hill policeman who scuffled with a Daytona Beach detective he arrested resigned after a string of incidents in which he misused a Taser, according to documents obtained this week.

In the latest incident, former officer Rommel Scalf pressed the trigger of his supervisor’s Taser — while it was still in the corporal’s hand — stunning a domestic violence suspect. But Scalf was not supposed to handle that weapon. Misuse of his Taser in other incidents prompted his supervisors to prohibit him from carrying one, according to Scalf’s internal affairs file.

Scalf, a 13-year Holly Hill officer, shot suspect Troy Foster the first time on a February afternoon. Following that, Scalf yelled for someone to give him a Taser and he shot Foster once in the side and again in the back while the handcuffed man was being led away by another officer, an internal affairs report shows.

Besides shooting a handcuffed suspect three times, Scalf also placed one of his colleagues in danger, the report shows.

Scalf, who resigned from Holly Hill police on March 17, declined comment for this article. But news of his resignation surfaced last week during the one-day trial of former Daytona Beach detective Janet Hawkins. Scalf arrested Hawkins on Sept. 22, 2009, at a traffic stop. Hawkins, 47, is awaiting sentencing on a charge of resisting without violence, a misdemeanor.

Testimony at the Hawkins trial and an internal affairs file at Holly Hill police revealed that the 45-year-old Scalf was not permitted to carry a Taser because of complaints about his use of force in the past.

In 2007, according to his internal affairs file, Scalf deployed his Taser 16 times. After that then-Police chief Don Shinnamon wanted him monitored closely, the internal affairs file shows.

In early 2008, Scalf met with trouble again, however.

On Jan. 12, Scalf blasted a handcuffed suspect with his Taser while the man sat in a patrol car. Scalf also kicked the man and punched him in the abdomen, his internal affairs file shows.

That incident prompted Police Chief Mark Barker — who was a commander at the time — to strip Scalf of his Taser-carrying privilege.

Shortly thereafter, Scalf was placed in the police department’s Crime Prevention Community Relations division, where Barker said Scalf “thrived.”

Then, on Feb. 28, police received the domestic violence call at the Foster residence on 10th Street.

Scalf responded as a backup officer for Cpl. Jeff Traylor — Scalf’s supervisor on that call — Cpl. Chris Yates and Officer Jason Weiss.

When police arrived at Foster’s home, he had bolted after striking his girlfriend on the chest. The suspect returned to the house then ran back out and Scalf gave chase. As Scalf ran, he tripped on some vegetation and cut his face when he hit the ground. Foster then ran into his home and locked himself in a bathroom.

That’s when Scalf — according to the internal affairs investigation — lost it.

He yelled at Traylor — his supervisor — to “kick in the door,” the report shows. Before the door was opened, Scalf yelled “When you see that mother (expletive deleted) shoot him!”

When the door opened, Foster was not violent; he verbally resisted when Traylor tried to handcuff him. At that Scalf yelled at Traylor: “Shoot that mother (expletive deleted) Jeff!” Traylor pointed his weapon at Foster as he assessed the situation, the report says. But that enraged Scalf even more, the report shows. He then yelled an obscenity at his supervisor.

At that point, Scalf advanced toward Traylor and pulled the trigger on Traylor’s Taser, the internal affairs report shows. A barb penetrated Foster’s torso, the report shows. As the suspect was handcuffed and being led away by Yates, Scalf yelled, “Someone give me a Taser!”

The officer who was leading Foster to the patrol car had to move to avoid getting struck by the Taser’s barb, the report shows.

At the time none of the officers at the scene knew Scalf was not supposed to have a Taser, the report says. It’s not clear whether one of the officers handed him the weapon or Scalf grabbed it, but Scalf was able to shoot Foster in the side as he walked away with Yates.

When Foster suddenly stopped, Scalf shot him again, this time striking him in the back, the report shows.

The officers who witnessed Scalf’s actions were stunned, the report says.

“It appeared to other officers and supervisors present that Officer Scalf was out of control, emotionally unstable and highly agitated during the encounter,” the report says. “His use of the term ‘Shoot that mother (expletive deleted)’ escalated an already tense situation.”

Barker said his officers are supposed to deploy their Tasers only when a person physically resists an officer’s commands.

While he said Scalf was “highly intelligent” and had received several commendations throughout his career with the department, Barker also said he cannot tolerate such behavior.

“His conduct at the scene that day was obviously unacceptable,” Barker said this week.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/04/29/officer-quits-after-taser-misuse.html

Holly Hill Police Department Has Complaints Of Excessive Force

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Even though Officer Rommel Scalf was not allowed to have a taser because of past abuses with using a taser, it looks like Rommel Scalf was allowed to use a taser indirectly by just ordering other officers to do his dirty work. It is outrageous that Daytona Beach police officer Janet Hawkins was tasered. Janet Hawkens claims excessive force was used again by Officer Rommel Scalf. Why did the Chief of Police Mark Barker allow this behavior from his officers for so long? Is this the blue wall of silence at work in the Holly Hill Fl police department?

‘Blue wall of silence’ crumbles

Written by Fcadmin | 28 April 2011

In Janet Hawkins’ resisting arrest case, former officer treated like just another ‘angry’ Black woman

BY JAMES HARPER

DAYTONA TIMES

Janet Hawkins believes there were several factors going against her during her resisting arrest trial last week at the Justice Center in Daytona Beach.

alt                                                       Janet Hawkins

She is Black, female, and she was facing an all-White jury.

Another factor going against her that seemingly should have been in her favor is that she is a former Daytona Beach Police officer.

Unlike what is seen in the movies, the so-called “Blue wall of silence” came tumbling down as one officer after another testified against Hawkins on April 21.

The “Blue wall of Silence” is an unwritten rule among police officers in the United States not to report on another colleague’s errors, misconducts or crimes.

 Officers testify

In September 2009, Hawkins was arrested on a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest without violence and careless driving.

The jury only found her guilty of resisting arrest without violence.

Two of the officers testifying against her were from the neighboring Holly Hill Police Department – Walter Melton and Rommel Scalf. The other officer was Lt. James Newcome from the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD).

Hawkins also had officers testifying on her behalf, including retired Sgt. Robert Smiley of DBPD. The officers testifying against her were White while those testifying in her favor were Black.

There are more than 270 police officers with the DBPD, but among spectators in the courtroom, a Daytona Times reporter counted only two DBPD officers who came to support Hawkins.

How it started

Hawkins’ concern for her son on Sept. 22, 2009, was the beginning of her fall from grace.

She was fired Dec. 4, 2009, after almost 15 years with the DBPD.

“The reason they cited was because I was untruthful, professional misconduct, I was arrested and I caused department morale to go down. Even the termination paperwork says ‘No Disciplinary History’ ” Hawkins told the Times this week.

The incident that led to Hawkins’ firing involved her son, Brandall, who was visiting friends at the Holly Point Apartments in Holly Hill on Sept. 22, 2009.

When he arrived at the apartment, a number of his friends, according to testimony, were being harassed and arrested by Holly Hill police officers.

Heeded son’s call

Holly Hill’s Melton was on the scene at the apartment and testified during Hawkins’ trial.

Brandall called his mother who told him to leave the apartment scene. Hawkins testified that she overhead Melton talking to her son before the phone went dead. That worried her so she left her Ormond Beach home to go to the Holly Point Apartments.

Melton said in court that he was told by Brandall that his mom was on her way. The Holly Hill officer also said under cross-examination that Brandall told Melton he didn’t have to tell him sh..”

“I told officers to arrest Brandall Hawkins,’’ said Holly Hill Police Officer Rommel Scalf, who testified that he was asked to assist at Holly Point Apartments by a shift supervisor.

“I didn’t have anything to do with the arrest (of her son),” said Scalf, when asked by the prosecutor during the trial.

Son’s arrest

However, on cross examination by Hawkins’ attorney Gail Graziano, a former Volusia County circuit judge, Scalf changed his testimony and said he did direct officers to arrest Brandall.

“He attempted to incite people.  He was talking on the cell phone (to his mother),” Scalf said last week on the witness stand.

But Graziano said to Scalf: “He was exercising his right to free speech.’’

On cross-examination, Scalf admitted he was told that Brandall Hawkins was the son of then officer Janet Hawkins.

Brandall was charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing and obstructing an officer without violence. Last year, a jury found him not guilty on all charges.

Mom followed

After her son’s call, Hawkins went to the Holly Point Apartments to discover that he was not there and that he had been taken to the Holly Hill Police Station.

She drove from 15th Street down Center Street to LPGA Boulevard to get to the Holly Hill station, according to testimony during the trial.

As she was driving, Hawkins said she noticed no lights behind her but she had a hunch a Holly Hill officer was near because as she pulled out of the apartment complex, she noticed a marked police car in the parking lot.

‘Are you serious?’

During cross-examination last week, Scalf said he was following Hawkins with no headlights because she was speeding but said he had no speed detection device in his car. Yet he pulled her over at LPGA and Enterprise Court.

Scalf, who has 17 years experience with Holly Hill, retired on April 1.

He said Hawkins jumped out of a red Ford Explorer and asked: “Are you serious? Are you serious? I can’t believe you are doing this.”

After giving Scalf her license, she headed back to her vehicle and was talking on her cell phone to now retired Sgt. Robert Smiley.

Scalf says he told Hawkins not to walk away from him and asked her to get in her vehicle and follow him to the Holly Hill Police station.

Hawkins said she told him she knew where the station was located and could get their on her own.

“She made the mistake of not obeying Scalf. He throws her down and breaks her cell phone. She is under arrest for not hanging up her cell phone,” Graziano said in court.

Tried to taser

In reference to Hawkins’ identifying herself as a fellow officer, Scalf said: “I gave her the option to follow me to the police station. She wouldn’t listen to me. Just because you say who you are doesn’t mean you are who you say you are.’’

On police radio, Scalf refers to a “hysterical Black female claiming to be Daytona Beach police officer.”

Melton also testified that Hawkins was “angry her son had been arrested.” He was called to the Holly Hill street scene by Scalf and later asked Melton to taser Hawkins.

Hawkins was accused of calling Melton and Scalf “corrupt and rednecks.’’

Graziano told the jury: “Words are not a crime.’’ Graziano also said that when Melton used a taser on Hawkins he did so illegally.

Hawkins’ attorney also got Scalf to admit on the stand that passive or verbal resistance from a suspect doesn’t allow an officer to use a taser.

“The taser was unsuccessful. She had him (Melton) in a wrist lock. I tripped her legs and knocked them both to the ground,” Scalf continued.

Graziano said she learned prior to the trial that Scalf had at least seven complaints for excessive use of force, which the state did not produce as ordered by the judge.

Hawkins will appeal

On the stand, Hawkins denied she resisted arrest.

Hawkins said she knew when Scalf asked her to get back into her vehicle that she had to do so. She stated that when she attempted to do so, she was arrested.

Hawkins said she also recalls Scalf saying, “Your son is a thug and you are a thug.’’

“What good am I to my son if I’m locked up?” Hawkins asked, stating that she has been stopped before by other officers and she knew the routine.

“She had the right to speak loud, cuss, express her opinion to police and not be arrested for it,” Graziano said. “A crime involves conduct, not speech. There is no evidence her speech constituted resistance no matter how offensive speech is to police office.’’

Hawkins said she does plan to fight last week’s misdemeanor resisting arrest verdict.

“I do plan to appeal the verdict I can’t say much more about that. The penalty can be up to a year in jail. As for my job, because it’s a misdemeanor I can fight for the job, but that’s on the back burner,” she added.

http://www.flcourier.com/fldaytona-times/5184-blue-wall-of-silence-crumbles

Commissioner Rick Glass Fired Amid Sexual Abuse Investigation

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Here is our City Commissioner Rick Glass who voted for a special election this November 8th 2011, to change the 2 year term for commissioners, back to 4 years.Last November Holly Hill citizens turned out and voted for 2 year terms for commissioners !

Also Rick Glass is just one of the Holly Hill Commissioners that have failed to protect the children and citizens from threats of violence, harassment, assault & battery from Daytona NA Narcotics Anonymous and AA Daytona Alcoholics Anonymous(also known as the Volusia County Intergroup) members.

Holly Hill commissioner fired from job amid investigation into sexual abuse
BY PATRICIO G. BALONA, STAFF WRITER send an email to patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com
 October 22, 2011 12:45 AM
Rick Glass

HOLLY HILL — A Holly Hill city commissioner was fired from his job at a local agency for disabled people after the state began an investigation into possible sexual abuse of a client, officials confirmed this week.

Clay LaRoche, spokesman for the Department of Children & Families, said the state agency is investigating a possible sexual-abuse incident at the Arc of Volusia involving Commissioner Rick Glass.

“I can confirm that we have an investigation going on,” LaRoche said. “I cannot discuss the details because it is an open and ongoing investigation, but I can tell you that we are investigating.”

DCF started investigating the incident Oct. 11, LaRoche said.

snip

‘According to the sheriff’s report, the incident was discovered by a Department of Environmental Protection police officer at Apalachicola Circle and Wachula Avenue in DeLeon Springs at 9:18 a.m. Oct. 10.

The DEP officer requested assistance from the Sheriff’s Office after checking out a suspicious vehicle, a silver Ford van, parked in the area and after discovering the possibility of a “potentially inappropriate sexual encounter,” also referred to as a possible sex offense in reports, documents show.

The Arc’s King said the organization does own a silver Ford van.

The suspect, according to the report, was read a Miranda warning and was placed in the back of a deputy’s patrol car.

Due to the nature of the incident, the deputies who arrived on scene to help the DEP officer called the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Sex Crimes Unit, the report states.

Holly Hill Commissioner John Penny said Thursday that he had no knowledge of Glass being investigated, and the commission has not discussed anything as a group.

City Manager James McCroskey said he only knows that Glass told him he had been fired.

“I am familiar with the fact that he was fired from his job,” McCroskey said. “He said it was because of some event that happened at his job, but he didn’t give any details.” ‘

Full story here-

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/10/22/holly-hill-commissioner-fired-from-job-amid-investigation-into-sexual-abuse.html

Glass Investigation Not On Agenda

Mayor Johnson thinks that Rick Glass being fired for sexual abuse allegations is a personal matter,that has has nothing to do with the City of Holly Hill! REALLY? WOW!

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/10/25/glass-investigation-not-on-agenda.html

City Hall Brawl Participants Keep Secrets-Like AA

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Richmond is taking a second look at allowing city employees to clam up to police after staffers refused to divulge details this week about a bloody brawl in their City Hall offices.

“Whenever you have your policies tested, that’s a time to evaluate them and see if they’re working,” said City Manager Bill Lindsay.

The issue arose Oct. 14 when paid participants in the city’s anti-violence program, the Office of Neighborhood Safety, fought at the department’s city office.

City policy allows that department’s employees to decline to speak with police in order to maintain the trust of the gang members they work with.

Police called to the fight found enough blood to indicate a felony-level assault might have occurred, but the apparent victim had left.

In the week since, Office of Neighborhood Safety employees have refused to divulge the names of all those present during the fight, police say.

The policy worked out between the office and the Police Department during the program’s formation in 2007 dictates that staff communicate with office Director DeVone Boggan, not police, in order to ensure confidentiality.

Boggan, the liaison between the office and police, has declined to speak with this newspaper for the past week.

Lindsay endorsed the existing policy this week in a letter to the City Council.

Snip

“We are not the police,” said peacekeeper Kevin Williams. “We have to use the same rules as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. If you give up the list of the people we’re trying to serve, then you erode the trust.”

Snip

*Here are government employees and the volunteers working for them keeping felony crimes under wraps to protect the criminals! This might explain why the Holly Hill PD protect the NA/AA members identity. Because they work with these people as well to obtain information. Even if citizens are threatened they protect criminals that attend AA/NA. This article shows to what extent Holly Hill City Hall and police will protect criminals. When will the City of Holly Hill put the local citizens and children first?

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19158519?nclick_check=1

Gun Confiscated From Holly Hill Commissioner Liz Towsley

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Liz Towsley Patton voted yes to change 2 year terms that voters voted for last November ! She fails to support citizens asking for relief from harassment from Daytona NA/AA members……..but wants to stay 4 more years!

Gun confiscated from Holly Hill commissioner Liz Towsley

By judge’s order, a Volusia County sheriff’s deputy went to Towsley’s house Saturday evening and confiscated a handgun, magazine and some bullets, sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said.

Circuit Judge William Parsons issued the injunction order on Friday after court documents described stalking and harassment Towsley has exercised over the past two years against Police Chief Don Shinnamon and Cmdr. Mark Barker.

In this case, the stalking and harassment was in the form of repeated complaints Towsley has filed against the chief and the commander, alleging conspiracy, bribery, extortion and misuse of public office, according to the injunction.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/special/hollyhill/

Holly Hill Fl Top Cops At Odds

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Many of the same players that wont protect the public from threats of violence from Daytona NA and AA Members. They want to force 4 more years in office!

Holly Hill official, top cops at odds

Holly Hill official, top cops Shinnamon and Barker at odds  By LYDA LONGA   Staff Writer Daytona Beach News-Journal    April 2008

HOLLY HILL — Fearing for their jobs in what they call a city commissioner’s vendetta to discredit them through accusations of criminal actions and unethical sexual conduct, the police chief and his commander are asking the city to pay for a private attorney so they can defend themselves.

The level of Commissioner Liz Towsley’s scrutiny of Chief Don Shinnamon and Cmdr. Mark Barker for the past several months has reached such a fervent pitch — according to city memos and letters — that Towsley even followed Shinnamon to Jacksonville in early 2007 and snapped a photograph of his city car parked outside a hotel.  

Governor Asked For Outside Investigation of Holly Hill Police

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Gov. asked for outside investigation of Holly Hill police By LYDA LONGA  Staff Writer      July 02, 2008

An attorney for Holly Hill’s top police brass is asking the governor’s office to appoint an outside state attorney to investigate criminal allegations hurled by a city commissioner at the two highest-ranking officers.

Towsley

Shinnamon

Barker

The three-page letter to Gov. Charlie Crist was sent Tuesday and in it, attorney Mike Lambert details the two-year saga involving City Commissioner Liz Towsley, Public Safety Director Don Shinnamon and Cmdr. Mark Barker.

“. . . the appointment by you of an outside state attorney to conduct this investigation will put an end to the turmoil that has been generated and perpetuated by these complaints,” Lambert wrote to Crist. “Whoever you would choose is acceptable to these two law enforcement officers and not someone Elizabeth Towsley could complain of or claim a special relationship.”

Holly Hill Florida Looks at AA NA Meeting Procedures in the Parks

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Holly Hill Looks at Park Meeting Procedures

AUDREY PARENTE – STAFF WRITER
January 10, 2011

HOLLY HILL – Children romping on playground equipment at Sunrise Park giggled and shouted in the dark recently, under the watchful eyes of their aunt, Beth Thomason.

On the same night a woman’s low voice nearby murmured about her drug problem. She sat at a picnic table with a camp lantern glowing on nearly 20 adult faces, many under hoodies and knit caps in the cold. Thomason said she knew it was a self-help group, because she once attended similar meetings in support of a relative. No incidents occurred Friday at Sunrise. But recent conflicts over park use by large groups caused citizens to request commissioners look at stronger regulations for the city’s parks.
Park rules and policies will be discussed at a public workshop 5 p.m. Tuesday in City Commission Chambers.
According to a flier on a City Hall table, anonymous self-help groups meet daily at Sunrise and other Parks in Holly Hill. AA Daytona Beach Meetings in Daytona.
In Holly Hill, park reservations by large groups aren’t required, but an option to assure a spot is available for $25, said Acting City Manager Mark Barker.
An individual at Friday night’s meeting, who didn’t want a name used because the group prefers anonymity, said the number of people at a meeting varies and many who attend are required to be there by drug court.

Commissioner Rick Glass said he’s anticipating help from the city attorney at the workshop. “I have had many, many people call, and I just got off the phone with a citizen who was talking about it,” Glass said. “They want (sign-up) procedures put in place for parties – basic policies like other cities have, where parties of 20 or 25 people have to pull a permit.” Park regulations for municipalities at municode.com show other cities, including Ormond Beach and Edgewater, regulate many issues from conduct and park hours to penalties. Barker said “right now, to control certain behaviors,” other regulations are used – not park specific – such as laws covering alcoholic beverages, firearms and public safety issues.

Commissioner Liz Towsley Patton said the issue has been discussed before – not at length. “We will look at all sides and decide,” she said. “I am open to that, but, do I think we need to shut parks off to groups or go through a certain process? No.” Commissioner Donnie Moore said: “As it stands right now . . . I do see some issues, and we can work on that.” Moore said requiring reservations by large groups might be considered, but he also hopes to designate playgrounds as non-smoking areas. Commissioner Roy Johnson said he aims to find “what is best for everybody,” but not “restrict people from using the park.” A local business operator across from the park believes the city should regulate park use. “I am in a little store where people stop to get their whatnots, and they say what’s on their mind. I have heard grumblings,” said Mr. Sanderford. He spends seven weekdays operating Holly Hill River Mart, and said local residents complain about meeting groups monopolizing the park and the parking. The complaints resulted in a petition asking city lawmakers to look at the issue, he said.

Former mayoral candidate Steve Smith presented the petition. Barker said an unsigned copy of the petition is on record. Smith said his trouble at the park began while running for mayor. He reserved the pavilion once a week for 10 weeks, having cookouts and campaigning, but encountered harassment and disagreeable persons in a group meeting at the park pavilion with no reservation, he said. “The city should limit (the number of) times,” of use by large groups, Smith said, and all groups “should be submitting some remittance to the city for the maintenance of the park.”

Smith also had a solution.

“The thing that is missing is, we don’t have a leisure services or parks director, so there is nothing scheduled.” Organized activities would help, he said.

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH AT HOLLY HILL Fl MEETING DISCUSSING NA AA PARK MEETINGS

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HOLLY HILL Florida — Holly Hill Police escorted two individuals pointing fingers and raising voices at each other out of a workshop on the issue of regulating public parks on Tuesday. The incident prompted Commissioner John Penny to remind the citizens attending the workshop the commission was “setting park policy irregardless of any individual group,” and that behavior and discussion should remain professional. In a rare move, the commission allowed the public to speak during the workshop, which is not the usual procedure. AA Daytona and NA Daytona Meetings in Daytona and Holly Hill Area.
Among 37 citizens who attended, some spoke their minds about wanting further and stronger regulations to include requiring any larger groups to reserve space and pay a fee for using the park, among other things. Steve Smith suggested having an educated and trained park director would help resolve some of the problems. Mr. Sanderford presented a petition with 88 signatures of citizens wanting stronger regulations. He operates a shop across from Sunrise Park.

A few individuals hinted at the value of self-help groups using the park often, and one person even said the groups using Sunrise Park on weekends had relocated. Not until the commission closed public discussion did the crux of the issue surface clearly. “This has turned into a battle of two worlds, and I don’t think we should be in the middle,” said Commissioner Liz Towsley Patton. “There’s no secret we are here because of the NA (Narcotics Anonymous) and AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings at the park. I don’t think we are here to micromanage public parks.”

But Commissioner Donnie Moore had a different take, and said he had spent two hours speaking with park officials in Daytona Beach. He recommended the city attorney, who was not present, get with the Daytona Beach city attorney and park staff to come up with rules applicable to all who use the park.

The policy being discussed encompassed 13 rules laid out by acting Police Chief Steve Aldridge. The rules included such items as smoking in designated areas, pet rules, no alcoholic beverages except by permit at organized events, no littering, no discharge of firearms, designated parking and no children on the playground before sunrise or after sunset. Penny said he was comfortable with Aldridge’s list and recommended the list be forwarded for action at a future commission meeting.

Commissioners agreed to look at giving designated smoking areas a 90-day trial, and to ask the city attorney to speak with park officials in Daytona Beach to better understand the issues.

Comment- Citizens are demanding stronger regulations for the local parks
because of the increasing problems that have arisen because of the presence
of Large Party Groups and Daytona Beach Area Narcotics Anonymous and Daytona Beach Alcoholics Anonymous- Volusia County Intergroup.  Interesting that the City attorney was not present.Still no action has been taken by the City of Holly Hill regardless of the pleas from numerous local citizens.
Citizens have had their life threatened by Daytona Beach Narcotics Anonymous members and been confronted by Daytona Beach Alcoholics Anonymous Volusia County Intergroup. Others have been cussed out. Police have been called numerous times- yet Holly Hill only protects the felons that attend the meetings that have been mandated by Drug Court and the Department of Corrections.
Update- Even though Holly Hill has passed NO Smoking in the parks- AA and NA groups continue to smoke in our parks with no repercussions.

Dangers Of Teenagers and Children Attending Holly Hill Fl AA NA meetings

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Local citizens have witnessed children and teens of all ages attend Daytona Beach AA and NA meetings.These minors are exposed to very detailed horror stories of drug and alcohol abuse. It is not healthy emotionally for children to be exposed to the adult nature of these meetings. Many people who attend are felons who have committed violent crimes, and even sexual predators that are mandated by the court system to go to Daytona Beach AA meetings.This is putting members at risk-but what is even worse is putting children and teens in harms way. Daytona AA and NA need to do what is in the best interest of children and teens, and protect them from emotional and physical harm. It is outrageous this is allowed to go on. These organizations know of the dangers minors are exposed to at meetings. Yet they turn a blind eye to this harmful practice of allowing young children and even encouraging teens to attend adult meetings. Your children or teenagers are NOT healthy or safe at Daytona Alcoholics Anonymous or Holly Hill Narcotics Anonymous meetings.Please do not take them to meetings.