CORRESPONDENCE WITH DAVE DONNELLY RE PROBLEMS WITH LOCAL HAMS
These are emails regarding a meeting I was trying to set up
with Dave regarding the problems that I was having with the local hams.
Apparently, Dave had made the mistake of sharing this information with the
very people I'd intended to be complaining about. Behind my back, without my
knowledge, Jeff and Melissa were apparently working closely with Dave to
create a "new" SKYWARN program, under Emergency Management's control,
using "Alachua County SKYWARN" as it's name. Melissa had apparently
implied to Dave that I had quit ACS and that I had made her the new
"Coordinator" and then evidently told him that I had handed the reigns over to
her. She got immediately to work with Dave in creating a "new" Standard
Operating Procedures Manual for ACS which detailed how ACS was going to be
controlled. No one had discussed anything about it with me and I was
completely unaware that it was going on. Jeff Capehart was aware though, and
at the time, was in contact with me, and he could have let me know at any time.
Instead, he had withheld all information about this from me. I had heard
rumors that Melissa was trying to create her own SKYWARN program, but
that was all that I knew. There was no mention about he name of the program.
Jeff actually knew all of the details, and was even - unbeknownst to me
- involved in calling meetings to discuss the "new Alachua County
SKYWARN program" with members of various Emergency Management groups such as
CERT and ACFR Reserves, as well as the general public - with Melissa
leading those meetings! But again...all of this was withheld from me.
Dave wasn't telling me anything either, even though I'd been complaining to
him about those two. I think Melissa must have given him the impression that
I was aware of everything and that everything she was doing was stuff I was
knowlegeable about and in complete agreement with.
I had had telephone conversations with Dave and described to him how I'd been
having problems with Jeff and Melissa. So Dave knew who the problem
people were. But I wasn't aware that they were all having these secret meetings
discussing where ACS was going to go, and under "new leadership". I think
Dave must have been taking every one of my complaints back to Jeff and
Melissa, asking them what was up, and then they probably told Dave that they
had no idea what I was talking about, making me appear like a nutcase.
We originally set up a meeting to discuss the problems I'd been having with a
number of hams - especially with Jeff and Melissa. When finally Dave did then
set a meeting date, for some reason unknown he told Jeff Capehart about it.
Jeff then told his wife Susan Tipton, who had also been a problem for me. And
on the day of the meeting, both Jeff and Susan showed up to what was supposed
to be a private meeting at Big Lou's Pizzeria with Dave. Feeling inimidated
now, and betrayed, I withheld my complaints until later. Meanwhile, knowing
what the intended conversation topic of the meeting was to be about, and taking
advantage, Jeff immediately proceeded to read off a list of a number of
"helpful improvements" for ARES and RACES that he had put together to show off
to Dave and to try to impress upon him that he was only there to be "helpful",
while simultaneously making me appear to be negative. Dave is such a
gullible idiot. After the lunch, Dave and I talked only extremely briefly
about the problems I was having. Now I was having to nutshell everything into
just a few minutes, while Dave stood in the parking lot with me, staring at the
ground and kicking his feet in the dirt. When I was done, all Dave had to say
was, "You know if people are harassing you, you should take it to the
police."
And that was that. After setting the appointment, and finally setting aside an
entire lunch time to talk about the problems, he spent an entire hour talking
with my harassers instead about improvements for ARES/RACES, and gave me three
whole minutes in a back parking lot. And then, all he was willing to do was
suggest that I call the police. That was as much "responsibility" that Dave
was willing to take over the problems occuring with his volunteers. He wasn't
even willing to talk to them. He believed in them too much, and quite
obviously wasn't willing to give me the slightest time of day.
Below are emails occuring some time after that, after the complaints got
worse. Dave asked to meet with me again to discuss what was going on. But
then, he kept cancelling and rearranging appointments. Over and over he did
this. We never did get to have that meeting, because...
Not long afer that, Dave sent me a copy of a portion of a "procedures manual"
which dictated how ACS was going to be controlled under ACOEM, and I flipped my
lid. Dave then became offended and ceased ALL communications with me after
that.
Dave...was so exasperatingly difficult to deal with, so unnecessarilly.
This was a serious situation, and he just could NOT be tasked to take it at all
seriously, or to follow through with the proper procedures for a complaint
process. (*sigh!*) There is not a single shred of paperwork regarding my
complaints filed anywhere within the doors of Emergency Management. And all
the while that I was telling him that people were stalking and harassing me,
Dave was actually cooperating with Jeff and Melissa without my
knowledge in creating documentation dealing with taking over Alachua
County SKYWARN.
[ Bangs head on table. ]
Rather than Dave facing the problem and asking the deeper questions from Jeff
and Melissa about how and why all of this was going on without the
knowledge of the actual Founder and Coordinator of the organization, I think
Jeff and Melissa must have interceded and convinced him that I had
wanted this and subsequently that I was renigging on my original "word"
or something. I have no idea otherwise why Dave would react the way that he
did. I was livid over that document! I had a right to be! Dave
had just been duped into trying to take over another organization using
the power of the County government to intimidate me into compliance with
it; and I was especially upset because he was ignoring me and working
against me rather than trying to work with me. He pressed on
with Jeff and Melissa's plans anyway, regardless of my
complaints; regardless of the fact that I'd just told him that
this wasn't something I had any knowledge of, or that I had ever approved. In
the end, I actually had to threaten a real lawsuit to get Dave Donnelly
to cease and desist, and back off. But I actually had tto work really
hard to get that man to knock it off, and to listen to me. I don't
know what was up that man's ass, but he was being an real, bonafide
jerk about the whole situation. To this day he refuses to confer with
me about what happened, or why.
But yah, lem'me repeat that so that it really sinks in, here... Ham
radio operators...from he Gainesville Amateur Radio Society, the
Gator Amateur Radio Club, and the Alachua County OEM's own ham
radio club...successfully convinced an Emergency Manager...to
illicitely abuse his powers of office and to use intimidation and
bullying tactics to try to take over another organization that didn't in
any way belong to the Alachua County Office of Emergency Management, or
to the County for that matter.
I saw Dave in a wholly different light after that. He wasn't the person I
used to respect and admire, anymore. I no longer saw him as responsible or
even capable of adequate managing skills after that. Instead of standing firm
and rising up to the problem, Dave Donnelly ran to the problem-makers
for answers, and avoided consulting with me at every step. Had Dave been more
diligently fair, more responsible, talked with ME, made sure that I was in the
loop, and that everything was actually kosher with me rather than making
assumptions and then getting angry when he'd made a mistake that made me
angry, he would be okay. Now Dave is open to a lawsuit, and so is the County as
a result because all of this happened using the County's name, with an agency
which was under the ownership of the County. I'll bet Dave never trusts hams
the same way after this fiasco. That's for sure! There was no reason
for Dave to treat me the way that he did, and to make matters so bad for
me, and then to get mad at me as if it were all MY fault. Dave, to me now, is
an immature child. This whole thing could have been handled way
differently. Dave drew lines against me where none were at all needed, and in
the end he ended up aiding and abetting the bad guys rather than
listening to the victim's complaints and making all due effort to
help him. My complaints, in fact, apparently, were ignored outright as
"ridiculous". And for that, Dave now has to try to hide this whole
situation from upper echolon and hope they never catch any wind of it.
Once the questions start from them, his career is done for. He'll be
forced to lie about a great many things in order to keep himself out of
trouble. And when you lie, you leave room for eventually getting caught.
I don't have any sympathy for him. He brought this upon himself. This is a
situation so hot that NONE of his friends will want to risk lying for him, or
getting anywhere near this one. This whole situation is a huge
minefield just waiting for those wrong steps to occur somewhere.
In the end, turned out that not only had Dave been duped far worse than I had
ever realized, but so had the American Red Cross! Apparently, without either
knowing the other was doing it, both ACOEM and the local Red Cross had
simultaneously written letters to Melissa basically removing her
positions within each. Apparently, Melissa had been in training at ACOEM to
become an Emergency Manager. (Oh my GOD!) As well, she had held some
other position inside the Red Cross. Both fired her simultaneously. Among
the reasons cited were - telling people she had titles she didn't have, forging
of business cards wherein she gave herself titles she didn't actually have, and
she used them to convince people. I cannot imagine the abusive
power that woman could have achieved - and USED against innocent
people - had no one ever caught on and she was able to obtain the
position of "Emergency Manager". ...With her sadistic tendencies?
This is a woman who ENJOYS causing people she hates great pain! Oh my god!
(sigh) Good lord!
JEFF, on the other hand, as always, miraculaously escaped reprimand for
anything by denying involvement in anything and blaming it on everybody else.
Below are emails between Dave Donnelly and I regarding the harassment...
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@afn.org]
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 5:03 AM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: FW: Hey dude!!
Dave,
Try typing in the second IP address in the below header. Just plug it RIGHT
into Internet Explorer, there. Tell me what you see.
I filed criminal charges against Scott West due to this email assuming that he
was harassing me again. (Still could be him or someone else as these IP
addresses could be forged but, I doubt it.) If Phil, Jeff tells me that he has
been repeating threats of meeting me in a dark alley, and I'm going to use
that.
GPD is investigating this and they're subpoenaing Yahoo's logs and that of
Bellsouth to determine which of their users was online at the time the Yahoo
account was created and deleted. Whoever it turns out to be, I've TOLD
people...I'm looking for examples to set. People were warned. Whoeer it turns
out to be, I'm pressing.
I WISH people would stop committing first degree misdemeanors in trying to
harass me. Harassment/cyberstalking is just that and brings a mandatory jail
sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to a grand. I can NOT understand
everyone's obsession with harassing me. Dave...between Susan Tipton calling
the Press "for" me whenever someone makes a typo and correcting them to the
point of real tears, setting her dogs on top of display tables and allowing
them to run across my 1-grand laptop, Jeff Capehart enticing others with cries
of what a lousy leader I am, Scott West sending me threatening emails, pager
messages and phone calls, Jay Lieberman threatening to have my best friend in
the Navy charged with "associating with a known security threat", Melissa Royce
calling me up ten times a day and getting ANGRY when I don't answer her calls,
implying to you and the NWS that I'm retiring, and now Phil sending harassing
emails forged in my own name...I've had it. That's SIX PEOPLE, now...ALL of
them...from GARS, GARC, and some from ACFR Reserves and CERTS. I don't want
anything to do with hams anymore. They're all really scary people. They're
proving to be a real danger. To try to make it all go away, I tried quitting
GARS, quitting GARC, ceasing attendance of ACFR meetings, staying off the air,
quitting my ham radio hobby altogether, DUMPING them all as friends. It hasn't
worked. They're not going away. They're getting worse, instead. I don't know
what else to do. I'm going to start filig complaints against GARS, GARC and
ACOEM next. I have no choice. What do YOU recommend when people don't stop
when they know what they're doing is wrong and they know that what they're
doing is bothering you? What? Tell me?
GARS, GARC, maybe even the Student Government, ACOEM...we ALLLLLL need to have
a NICE little emergency meeting to discuss the harassments of Todd and why
everybody thinks they're so justifiable; and then we need to write up an
agreement between ALL agencies on how we're going to prevent things like this
in the future from occurring with other people, and we'll call it the Sherman
Harassment Agreement. I'll invite TV-20. It'll be a ball.
I don't know where to go, Dave. I'm cornered against the wall, now. Where else
can I go and what else should I do? HOW do I make this stop? How?
Todd
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Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:10:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: todd sherman
Subject: Hey dude!!
To: skywarn@afn.org
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0-366352694-1156979434=:5732"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status:
Hey there,
You've been quite lately I see. Hiding from the masses as
usual. Well I was just writing to let you know change for Skywarn is coming
soon......
________________________________
Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 6:20 AM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: Sorry...
...I'm just...(sigh)...I've been dealing with this being incessantly
baton-handed from one person, to the next, to the next, to the next...for the
past 5 or so years. I've been experiencing it all...from harassment during
presentations, to people calling the Press, EM, the NWS, to make sure they
understand just how stupid Todd is. I've had people threaten me with
physical violence, threaten my friends in order to try to make me do things the
way they think it should be, try to email or call my friends in order to get
them to "talk" to me to make me see some light. They contact my personal and
professional relationships to try to effect some kind of change in me. ...And
all because people want me to use SKYWARN for some personal purpose...to gain
them money, to give them power, fame, limelight...whatever. I can't control it
and they're getting worse and worse. And these people who are doing it are
crazy sociopaths, like Scott West and Jay Lieberman. Scott brags on his
QRZ.com web page that he's going for a license to carry a gun and a license to
carry a concealed weapon. And these are the people stalking me. All because
of SKYWARN?????
When does it stop? ..When one gets crazy and grabs a gun and uses it on me?
When do people listen? ...After I'm in the morgue? I keep asking myself how
far this is supposed to go.
Todd
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Coordinator
Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH Alachua County SKYWARN
Gainesville, Alachua Co., FL http://alachuaskywarn.org
Email: *****@**************.org
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444 Project Manager/Coordinator
"Watching the weather for YOU!" Alachua County EMWIN Project
http://alachuaskywarn.org/emwin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 8:55 AM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: Re: Sorry...
Todd,
I would like to meet with you to discuss what is currently going on
with SKYWARN. Please let me know what your earliest convenient dates
are.
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
.-*** Message Scanned by Alachua County McAfee Webshield Appliance ***-.
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 10:15 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Sorry...
I'm pretty flexible in my schedule. So I can fit whatever you shoot at me, I
guess. Let me know where you'd like to meet.
Just this time...alone. No Jeff. Jeff will tell Susan, and Susan will make it
her business to tag along (like last time) and she has no earthly business
being there or even involved. She makes my life far too much her business and
she encourages Jeff to antagonize.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 12:24 PM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: RE: Sorry...
Are you open the 13th? Say 10 AM here?
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:42 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Sorry...
Yah, that sounds fine.
Anything in particular you need?
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 4:49 PM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: RE: Sorry...
sorry to change it on you, but something has come up for that day. How
about the 14th at 4 PM?
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:07 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Sorry...
No problem.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:12 PM
To: skywarn@fireline.org
Subject: Re: Sorry...
Thanks see you then?
Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:32 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Sorry...
> Thanks see you then?
Sure. At CCC?
> Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld
Well, aren't YOU special! :)
Yah, someday, when I'm rich, I'm gonna git ME one o dem. :)
I may look into purchasing Danny's WxPDA version of WxMesg, soon. It would
require a completely separate machine, though, because I understand it's pretty
processor intense and wouldn't do good running with another program
concurrently. The software is no problem...it's finding another computer that
can handle it. But then people with PDAs could run a PDA version of the WxMesg
map and message clients on their PDAs. But they have to be running certain
versions of software and I have to look into that.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 8:47 AM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: RE: Sorry...
At the EOC
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 12:17 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Sorry...
Okay. Sounds good.
Oh and according to Danny (WxMesg author), I've got it backwards. The software
on his site isn't SERVER software. It's CLIENT software. It's something the
user DLs to the PDA and uses it to connect to already existing WxMesg servers!
:) So maybe you can view the map/see the bulletins as they come in on your PDA
as if you were at home or at work watching the monitor there! :) Interesting.
I didn't know that. It's the PDA software that the WxPDA software works with
that I'm not sure about, tho. Don't know what it's compatible with.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 4:18 PM
To: skywarn@fireline.org
Subject: Meeting
Todd,
Sorry about last week. My fault for scheduling to close to another
meeting.
What's your calendar look like next week?
Thursday or Friday would be good....
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
.-*** Message Scanned by Alachua County McAfee Webshield Appliance ***-.
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 12:47 AM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Meeting
Nothing so far planned for either. So I'm free for either day.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 8:42 AM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: RE: Meeting
Thursday at 2 PM at the EOC?
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 2:11 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Meeting
Sounds good.
Todd
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 2:54 PM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Subject: RE: Meeting
ok see you then
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 12:58 PM
To: skywarn@fireline.org
Subject: Voice mail
Attachments: Alachua County SKYWARN Coordinator.doc
Todd,
Sorry to bow out on you again, but I am not feeling well and am leaving
work to go home. Hope you get my voicemail to that effect before you get
over here.
I will touch base next week and see if we can get together. I am
attaching a document for your review. Would also like to work on
re-working the SKYWARN manaual.
Thanks.
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
.-*** Message Scanned by Alachua County McAfee Webshield Appliance ***-.
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 1:28 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: Voice mail
(sigh) My right eye is kinda looking exploded right now due to a sty (sp?); so
it's probably best, anyway. :)
As well, my printer cartridge ran out of ink while I was printing up some docs
for you and in grabbing the refill cartridges I discovered I had purchased the
wrong ones. :(
I've actually been putting off hunting down these documents because they're so
depressing for me. I don't like going back through it all. But I have to in
order to show you what's been going on and who is involved and to show you that
I've been asking these people to stop and that my wishes haven't been listened
to or obeyed.
At this current point, someone sent me an email that was obviously meant only
to harass. This time I went to the police and filed a complaint, because I
just don't want it starting all over again, and the crap increasing again. I
just want it to stop, now. I *thought* it was Scott, because he'd pulled this
in the past before; so the police went over there and pestered him about it.
(Heh. Now he wants an apology, by the way. HAH! Right. If you don't want to
be blamed for first degree misdemeanors and third degree felonies then you
shouldn't engage in them PERIOD...which he did do.) Then I checked out the IP
address in the email MYSELF and discovered that the email apparently originated
from Phil & Melissa Royce. In talking with Jeff, it's becoming apparent that
it may well have been Melissa who sent it, because a couple of hours before,
he said he had had a conversation with Melissa about me and what I was up to
lately with SKYWARN.
At this point, it is now in the hands of GPD regardless and I don't give a damn
who sent it or why I've told them that when those logs come back no matter who
it points to I want an arrest. This is the only way that I can see to make
things stop. Apparently people are bent on harassing me and destroying my
reputation with everyone so... I've pulled all the stops and they didn't work.
I gave everybody chances. I warned everyone that I was going to get serious if
it didn't stop. And, if indeed it was Meissa who sent it this time, she once
TOLD me HERSELF...if people are doing this to you then you NEED to go to the
police. I said "yah, but some of these people have families which I could be
ruining if I took it to the police." She's like "So WHAT???" So, there you
go. ...By the harasser's own suggestion.
All told, over the past few years, this has involved people in Emergency
Management programs such as ACFR Reserves, the CERT program, and now someone
contracted out to the Alachua Co. Sheriff;s Office Communications Division.
Just to make sure we understand how serious this is...if word of this leaked
out to the press, it would be huge...that so many people - all of them hams -
involved in so many EM programs, were to be discovered to be involved in such
illegal practices towards one person. ...SO MANY people...harassing one
person! And for WHAT??? WHAT IS THE GOOD, LOGICAL, ACCEPTABLE REASON FOR ALL
OF IT? There won't be one. No one will be able to answer in any way that is
socially acceptable.
Todd
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 6:04 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Cc: 'Alisa Marchionno'
Subject: RE: Coordinator document, etc....
Attachments: Alachua County SKYWARN Coordinator.doc
Dave,
(Grab a cup of coffee because this is going to be long.)
Are you of the impression that this is something I've been AWARE of, that I've
agreed to, or was even INVOLVED in the creation of at ANY point, or something?
This is something that people have evidently been hiding from me for quite a
while, obviously; and now the harassing email that I received makes a lot
better sense to me.
I've told you before that I didn't want the ALACHUA COUNTY SKYWARN program tied
in with Emergency Management, or specifically, UNDER THE ***CONTROL*** OF EM,
for the sole reason that I did NOT want the program bogged down in a lot of
ridiculously unnecessary RULES and REGULATIONS, and spotters forced to have to
be trained for a whole bunch of things that are NOT important or necessary in
being a "storm spotter" (books and tests and obtaining a ham radio license,
books and tests and obtaining a Responder license, books and training and
obtaining some other kind of license or certification not necessary for
pointing at a cloud, identifying it, and calling the NWS)...and thus, the
chance of people being REPRIMANDED for any of a number of possible "violations"
of Emergency Management policy, which is what COULD HAPPEN if SKYWARN came
under the control of EM. That is what these people want to do. GARS has made
it clear that they will support the ham radio side of SKYWARN but that they do
not have the resources or the inclination to support the non-ham side of
SKYWARN, so the general public side would be left out in the cold. The spotter
program is NOT a military organization, and it should not be RUN like one. The
SKYWARN program is NOT a "amateur radio organization", either (though many
believe in that misconception; but if it were true, then how would non-ham
spotters be supported?). This doesn't mean ACS never wished to cooperate with
EM (as a number of people keep trying to imply). It just meant that I wanted to
protect the program from having unnecessary rules and caveats placed upon
spotters. Currently, there is a small group of people who object to my being
in the program as Coordinator because they believe I've "done a piss-poor job"
to quote from Phil Royce's email to people in EM, NWS-JAX, and NWS-HQ.
(However, it's just a blank statement which no one ever goes into in any detail
for some reason.)
This whole thing is apparently being devised behind my back, without my
knowledge. And apparently, I take it from a vague email Phil Royce sent me,
they also may be intending to take the "Alachua County SKYWARN" name, too. I
won't allow that. ACS has been around for ten years and cooperated with EM and
NWS without any problem or complaint or objection up until Phil and Melissa
moved up here, and it's accomplished SUCH a great lot in it's own name...and
I'll be damned if I'm going to let some other organization come in and take it
over and lay claim to every good thing we've done. (sigh) Melissa became a
harassing pain in the ass, calling me up all the time, talking about nothing,
gossiping, implying to EM and NWS that I was retiring and that she was taking
over ACS. She would hunt me down at home or on the cell and talk for HOURS and
I'd asked her to stop doing that on numerous occasions and she did not listen.
Finally she made my mother disconnect from her oxygen machine one day to come
get me while I was in the bathroom. While I was sitting on the john, my mother
walked 80 feet across the trailer off her O2 to come knock on my door and tell
me, in labored WHEEZING, that Melissa told her that it was an emergency and
that she wasn't getting off the phone until I answered. I took care of myself,
got up, stormed down to her room, asked what was wrong, and Melissa says "Oh
nothing; but I knew that if I didn't say it was an emergency then you wouldn't
answer the phone." That was SO _Play Misty For Me_-like that it's scary!!! I
complained to Phil about that in an angry email and asked that he PLEASE help
get control of his wife, and ever since then they've both been writing emails
to people in EM and on up to brass at NWS HQ in an effort to try to get me
forced out of SKYWARN. I guess this is their latest effort, and you're really
becoming a pawn here, it seems. Phil has apparently also joked to other people
about how he'd like to cause me physical ham (a third degree felony.) He's
also telling people that I've been attempting to control all SKYWARN operations
in the North Florida area (which is false), and that I've been claiming
"copyright" on the SKYWARN logo, which is also false.
From an email I received from Phil, it appears he is apparently going around
giving people in EM the impression that the name, "Alachua County SKYWARN", can
be taken and that it actually "belongs" to Emergency Management. He's also
apparently going around telling people that SKYWARN is "controlled" in some
imaginary rule book somewhere at the ***Emergency Management*** level. There
is no such rule in any book anywhere in Emergency Management, nor in any NWS
Instruction. I challenge you to find it. The man has NO idea of SKYWARN's
history, it's actual operations, or who controls it, and he's been touting his
own ideas on what he THINKS is how it goes as if it were fact. In fact,
SKYWARN is controlled at the NWS level, it's an NWS program, NWS-JAX has voiced
zero complaint with how ACS has been operated, they have no problem with us,
and they HAVE voiced opinion that they do not wish to get involved in any of
the problems going on down here. I was also told by Al Sandrik that NWS's
position is not to try to control any SKYWARN groups and that they will not get
involved. They do not dictate who runs a SKYWARN program nor HOW it is run.
So what Phil has been stating to people and to EM about how things are with
SKYWARN and ACS have been utterly false.
On the Coordinator document. ...And I STEADFASTLY object to any caveats on the
Coordinator position, anyway...especially it being mandatory someone have a HAM
RADIO license to be one. Sounds like a Phil caveat thrown in there, to me. I
do NOT believe one it must be MANDATORY that someone have a ham radio license
in order to be able to delegate and relegate and command. As it is
anyway...too many of the hams in this town are capable of first degree
misdemeanors and third degree felonies, they've proven that, they're scary, and
apparently the ham clubs condone the activity by their inactions when
complained to about it. Why would I wish to put any new spotter in danger of
harm in associating with those kinds of people (now 6 in number)? I refuse.
There is a problem. It needs to be dealt with in a way that is public and
noticed and so as to show that it will not be tolerated. Finally, if hams wish
to participate then they do it as hams, and general SPOTTERS will not be
demanded to acquire a ham license in order to become a member of SKYWARN. That
is not fair. I TOTALLY disagree with that idea. Some people just don't want
to become hams; and the ham groups want to force that caveat on them. That is
not right.
This whole thing is just people wanting to remove me from something I've been
doing for ten years and that up until now NO ONE wanted to get in there and aid
me with. Everybody wanted the POSITIONS...the TITLES. Everybody wanted the
GLORY. Everybody wanted the IMPLIED PUBLIC SERVICE. ...But no one wanted to
do the actual work. I DID that actual work. Everything you see on the web
page was done by me alone. The original SOP Manual...I did that. I arranged
all the classes from 1997 until now, and no one else would help me even when
asked. I've assigned and removed SO MANY Assistant Coordinator positions over
the past ten years...and REMOVED them because no one would ever DO anything or
help out when asked. The only person who REALLY did any actual work to HELP
ACS was, believe it or not...JIM CARR. Yes. I know. For such a long time,
that man was ALWAYS there to run a net when needed. I couldn't always do it
and people actually got PISSED if I had to work and couldn't run the net.
People suck. They want you to do all the work, but they don't want to help out
themselves. People have all the ideas in the WORLD on how you should run
things; but they don't want to do it themselves. But, I asked and asked for
help and no one wanted to get involved. But this whole power play thing is
just something these people are lately devising because I pissed them off by
asking them to stop harassing me.
Spotter Nets during hurricanes. If the hams want to run a weather net during a
hurricane then they will do it as an ***ARES/RACES*** function, but I will
never, EVER demand that ACS spotters participate in actively spotting ANY
storms IN THE PRESENCE OF A HURRICANE as I have REPEATEDLY told Jeff before,
much to his disagreement. I will NOT put ACS spotters under such danger. If
they want to do that then they can do it as an ARES/RACES group so that THEY
can be held liable and you can use EM insurance to cover any idiots who wish to
do that.
Jeff has long argued with me that spotters should spot during hurricanes, and
SKYWARN should run a weather info net. That is...you advise the latest
bulletins now and then as they come in - which can and should really be handled
by ***ARES/RACES*** during those times because really those are the people who
are going to be up and running anyway (SKYWARN takes a back seat during actual
ongoing emergencies and during shelter ops). When the hurricanes actually
arrive, spotting becomes a ridiculous and useless idea, and only puts people in
danger when the winds are at 75+ mph. People should NOT be near windows, or in
any position to be in the WAY of 75+ mph winds! ALL that one can do is perhaps
repeat bulletins or data over the air. That is IT. The ONLY people on the air
during times like that should be people running SHELTER NETS. That's how it
SHOULD be and that's actually how I've been handling it before...allowing
ARES/RACES to rightly jump in, and I'd lt SKYWARN ***stand down*** so that we
are not in the way of shelter ops and things like that. This is actually
acknowledged in real correspondence with me from the NWS. The NWS agrees.
When the hurricanes come, "spotting takes a back seat." Jeff has been
EXAGGERATING my objections here to make it sound like I object to spotters
doing ANYTHING during ANY severe weather event. Jeff has been twisting
EVERYTHING I say around, actually, and making people unnecessarily upset with
me, and allowing people to think that I've not been doing anything. This is
where Phil and Melissa get upset...in listening to him. These people hate my
guts and they don't really even know me.
When the harassments started, I tried to get Jeff to shut up and stop
antagonizing people and making them upset with me. But it's been like talking
to a fucking brick wall. He continues, on and on. His wife, too. They down
talk me and make me seem like a total irresponsible idiot, and people I don't
even KNOW then end up sneering at me. It's ridiculous. I've TOLD Jeff on
repeated occasions to stop harassing me about how SKYWARN should be run
(especially when he didn't want to take charge of most of his ideas in the
first place mostly because his wife didn't like me and she wouldn't let him),
and ESPECIALLY to stop making people upset with me and getting them so worked
up that they actually break LAWS. He ignored me and even to this day he
continues talking to these people and letting them know whatever they wish
about me. I told him that it would all stop if he would just shut up, but
instead he argues with me that if only I'd be a more responsible Coordinator
that people would stop, and that I bring everything upon myself. I have email
after email from him where he repeats this in one different way or another.
What it boils down to is...Jeff thinks SKYWARN should be run the way HE thinks
it should be run, and he's been doing everything he can in the meantime to ruin
my reputation and to get people to do what they are now apparently trying to
do.
I object to SKYWARN being controlled by EM and by ham groups for good reasons
that are backed up by historical examples where hams screwed up and broke some
EM rules and then EM intervened and either disbanded operations or confiscated
equipment. (Other counties have done this.) It's real. It happens. I want
to protect SKYWARN from such strict rules of operation. That's all. In my
idea, ACS would cooperate with EM in every way; but it would not be governed by
overly strict rules. No one would dictate how SKYWARN ran or who ran it. That
is what the few hams who don't like me are trying to force to happen. Locally,
the ham clubs have proven to be irresponsible in the handling of the more
radical hams which really puts the clubs in harm's way considering that I've
TOLD them about the problems and BEGGED them for intervention before and they
chose to do nothing at all. In choosing not to do anything they in effect
condoned the situation and the situation became WORSE, and as I see it those
clubs became culpably negligent. There ARE provisions in Roberts Rules for the
handling of members who cause harm to other members. They chose not to enact
them, or to do anything at ALL. For this reason, I quit GARS, GARC, and
stopped associating with people in ACFR Reserves and CERTS (because these
people are concurrent members of ALL of those groups), I stopped talking on the
air, and I literally went into hiding in order to protect myself (and my
friends). It did NOT apparently work.
One, possibly TWO people who associate with Alachua County Sheriffs Office, the
ACSO ham club, may go to jail, soon because I've filed a complaint with GPD
over the recent email I got. I've also advised them how long this has been
going on and how these people are involved with ham radio, EM, and Sheriffs
Office groups.
I COULD have put Scott West in jail when he once harassed me with email and
pager bombing and leaving threatening messages on my answering machine but I
didn't because I was thinking about his wife and kid. (...A tactic I'm not
falling for anymore because I've had it.)
I COULD have put Jay in jail for threatening to call up the Navy and get my
Navy friend in trouble. Had he done what he told Jeff he intended to do he
could have caused harm to me AND my friend Alisa, and perhaps harmed her
career. Jay was once arrested for arson in the past. He's a nutcase and has
threatened to use his gun on members of GARS in the past.
People are stalking and harassing me over this - crazy people, due to the
irresponsibility of others who CANNOT shut up - and I'm sick and tired of it;
and by the time I'm through, many of the people who are so hard pushing for
this "New SKYWARN Order" probably won't be around anymore, anyway. They'll be
in jail.
I want this nonsense to stop. I want it to STOP. I've put up with it for
YEARS and it's GOING to stop, any way that I can pull it off. I don't care
anymore. I've had it up to here. If I have to put people in jail to do it,
and if the Emergency Management name happens to get harmed in the middle of it,
it doesn't matter to me anymore. People are going TOO far. I've ASKED and
BEGGED people to stop. No one is listening and everyone is treating me like my
complaints don't matter, so I'm FORCED to get more serious. These people are
breaking laws with their actions and by their associations in ACFR, CERT, GARS,
GARC they are putting Emergency Management at GREAT risk of investigation,
criminal/legal problems and embarrassment on the level that they cannot
POSSIBLY explain with any good reason if it ever made it to light. That is the
ONE thing these people are failing to recognize. They are putting EM in great
danger and they don't even seem to CARE.
The ACS name doesn't have to be STOLEN to make SKYWARN work. (I'll fight it if
they try.) The ACS name doesn't have to be TRASHED by childish morons. The
Coordinator can be "coordinated with" easily if people want - WITHOUT rules;
and there's no reason to try to destroy a 10-year program that has been doing
JUST FINE in all that time (and which up until now has had ZERO problems
operating); and force a thousand ridiculous RULES upon the whole program. I
don't see the problem here. I see a childish vendetta set forth by people who
have harassed me in the past (and still are now), and whom I told to knock it
off.
You're falling prey to a stupid, silly ARGUMENT amongst some very childish
people here in the NAME of and under the GUISE of public service, and I don't
think you're even aware of it. You're being played like a pawn. I think you
need to do a little investigating, first. Even Kevin Rolfe is being sucked
into this, apparently, as I think he's the one devising the new SKYWARN
documents, if I understand things correctly. I'm told he doesn't like me and
he doesn't even KNOW me.
This is ridiculous and it's getting way out of hand.
Now, I want you to go BACK over that "Coordinator" document and LOOK at all the
rules and caveats and restrictions placed upon the Coordinator and the
deliberate favoritism towards ham radio operation and a guidance towards total
amateur radio control. This is EXACTLY what I was trying to avoid, and they
KNOW it. I want SKYWARN to be able to run smoothly and quickly - not have so
many rules that one would actually have to take a CLASS to understand it all!
That is REDICULOUS! SKYWARN is a CIVILIAN operation.
These people are just trying to make EM believe that they have some legitimate
reason to take control of Alachua County SKYWARN and to effect change in it's
leadership. There is no law that would support that. This group has been in
operation for ten years and I'm not allowing another organization to come in
and in a hostile action take control of it - especially just to forward and
satisfy the stupid, petty, childish quarrels of immature individuals.
Todd
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:01 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Cc: 'Alisa Marchionno'
Subject: I'm fighting this...
Dave,
Does Chief May actually know about any of this stuff going on? Is he aware
that EM right underneath him is attacking another organization that has been in
existence for ten years and which has had no problems before with EM or NWS and
which has otherwise run just fine?
I think it's time to tell him. Please also advise him of my complaints about
harassment from concurrent members of ACFR Reserves and in Alachua County
ARES/RACES.
I think it's time to file an official complaint. This is getting way out of
hand now and it's going way too far. My credibility and reputation in EM and
NWS circles is being utterly and deliberately DESTROYED by these people.
I'm going to be making some phone calls to a few lawyers, today, in the
meantime. I need to find out what my options are and how to effect them. I'm
tired of this.
I want to know what the EM admin reasoning is behind their apparent thought
that Alachua County SKYWARN can be taken over by ACOEM. If it's because it has
the words "Alachua County" in it then they have a real uphill battle with that
one because there are plenty of listings in the phone book using that which are
commercial even, and which have no obvious association with the County or with
EM; but EM never claimed right to the words "Alachua County" before or pestered
these people to stop using the words. In fact, EM had ten YEARS to bitch about
Alachua County SKYWARN's use of the two words together and no one said a word.
They set their OWN precedence that they didn't care...a ten YEAR precedence.
I believe I was told Kevin Rolfe is the person who is apparently putting
together this new "SOP Manual" of SKYWARN operations. I think Kevin Rolfe
needs to be sat down with because I think he's being gullibly used as a pawn by
Jeff, Phil, and Melissa into believing that he has the right to do this as he
pleases.
Todd
PS - The reason I've been CC'ing Alisa in this is because she's Asst.
Coordinator of ACS and I want her to be fully updated on what's happening, too.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Coordinator
Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH Alachua County SKYWARN
Gainesville, Alachua Co., FL http://alachuaskywarn.org
Email: *****@**************.org
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444 Project Manager/Coordinator
"Watching the weather for YOU!" Alachua County EMWIN Project
http://alachuaskywarn.org/emwin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Donnelly [DAD@alachuacounty.us]
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:52 PM
To: Todd KB4MHH
Cc: Will May
Subject: Re: I'm fighting this...
Todd,
Before you go further here is Chief May's response (he asked me to send
as he is in a meeting):
First, I request that everyone cool down until we have an opportunity
for us to meet. If everyone will commit to meet and discuss I'll begin
finding a time suitable for all to meet.
Todd, I assure you that all Alachua County Emergency Management is
interested in is to assure a high degree of professionalism and
accountability in all matters that impact (and potentially impact) on
countywide Emergency Management.
I know of no one officially associated with Alachua County Emergency
Management or the Alachua County Fire Rescue Reserves that is
specifically interested in "taking over" SKYWARN. There is great
interest in assuring that SKYWARN is closely coordinated with Emergency
Management planning and activities to assure that the citizens of
Alachua County are served to the highest level,consistently, and
professionally.
Please, all parties advise me of their interest in me providing the
platform for discussing the issues and moving forward to resolving the
problem(s).
Chief Will May
Emergency Services Director
Alachua County, Florida
David A. Donnelly, FPEM
Assistant Director of Emergency Management
Alachua County Fire Rescue
ph.: 352.264.6510
fax: 352.264.6565
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 5:07 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: RE: I'm fighting this...
(Dave, please pass this to Chief May. Thanks. -Todd)
Dear Chief May,
First, I DON'T WANT MEETINGS WITH THESE OTHER PEOPLE. They're explosive and
confrontational and vindictive towards me. It will not solve anything. I will
talk to you and/or Dave ALONE, however. I've tried talking with these other
people, though. It's not going to work. Their minds are set. They are
determined to pound my face into the dirt at all costs.
Second, I think you should take a better look at that manual Kevin et al ate
developing over there. It's going into FAR more detail than you apparently are
aware, and is using verbiage that does INDEED show a hard intent to do just
that..."take over" SKYWARN. I cannot interpret what I'm reading in any other
way.
Third, this whole thing has nothing at all to do with public service, and trust
me, it has EVERYTHING to do with getting back at Todd for some "wrongs" these
people feel I have done them. This actually goes FAR beyond just my
disagreement over documentation dictating how a ten year organization should be
"run by" an external agency, but digs deep into the world of harassment,
cyberstalking, threats of physical harm, and destruction of my reputation and
credibility inside of EM and NWS circles. It's not so simple...so cut and
dry...as JUST being a complaint against some documentation. People are USING
EM as an unaware "tool" to try to harass me with documentation purporting to
attempt control of a SEPARATE organization that EM actually has no control
over. ACS has been around for ten years now...on it's own. I get the feeling
the upper echelons of ACOEM don't fully understand that. I'm starting to get
the impression that upper echelons have thought all along that ACS was part of
EM, itself, internal to EM. Perhaps it was because Jeff Capehart, to my
objections over the idea, arranged without my permission or approval "meetings"
to occur concurrently with the ACFR Reserves Communications Division meetings.
(This is something Jeff has repeatedly done to me in the past, and VERY OFTEN
it comes back to bite me in the butt, while he runs away to avoid the angry
masses and leave everyone thinking his ideas were MINE and that everything bad
that happens is MY fault.) Anyway... No. ACS is a civilian organization of
it's own. It has run itself. It has COOPERATED with EM in the past. But it
was never RUN by EM.
I really don't understand why the need to have official rules and regs
governing the operations of Alachua County SKYWARN in the FIRST place - a
completely separate organization that was neither founded by nor ever operated
by EM in the past. I don't understand why anyone even thought they had that
RIGHT. I don't see it as an OPTION...without cooperation from ACS itself.
(holds up his hands) ...SEE the problem?
These newly composed rules and regs DO have the appearance of attempting to do
just that, to take over and govern the operations of another entity that has
been of it's own existence for TEN YEARS. It puts authority in the hands of EM
to dictate how that other organization is operated and what it can and cannot
do. It defines what people in the organization HAVE to do. SKYWARN is NOT -
in ANY NWS Instruction or document, or in any FEMA document - stated to be an
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT controlled project. Phil Royce has incorrectly given
people in EM the impression that that is so, and it is not. Phil talks loud,
and he sounds official, but one must learn that you have to QUESTION HIM
THROUGHLY to find the truth. It is a mistake not to, as you're now finding
out. In some locations, yes, EM controls SKYWARN. That's something the local
people DECIDED, not something that was MANDATED by FEMA or the NWS
or...WHOEVER. On others, they are non-profit CIVILIAN-controlled
organizations, such as has been the case here. The NWS doesn't CARE how the
SKYWARN programs work, as long as they serve the public, and there is SOME
COOPERATION going on with Emergency Management...which is something that I have
ALWAYS stated that I support. The NWS has NEVER stepped in to say "SKYWARN is
to be controlled by EM and EM only", or, "EM has the right to dictate how all
SKYWARN operations may be handled, regardless." This sounds suspiciously like
something that Phil Royce once said to me about how he thought SKYWARN was
operated and run, which was COMPLETELY wrong and is, I'm pretty sure, a
viewpoint garnered from the National SKYWARN Home Page. Not many people
realize though, that the NSHP page is a PERSONAL web page now run by a
COMMERCIAL COMPANY and that it is neither "official" not "officially SPONSORED"
by the NWS. It is not OPERATED by the NWS. It is a personal web page with
personal opinions, and in fact their list of other SKYWARN sites across the
country was lifted from my own site by their own admission. I have great
issue with that web site because it is EXCEEDINGLY misleading the public by
it's use of that title. Everyone assumes defacto by it's name that it is some
sort of official SKYWARN site and it is NOT. Phil, evidently, was also taken
in by that, and he must have gone to Kevin Rolfe with it, and gave Rolfe the
impression that he could create whatever document he wished to dictate how
SKYWARN will be run from this point forward. ...And Al Sandrik has NEVER
stepped in to say, as Phil purports, that ACS must be controlled by EM. Al
NEVER said that. Al has personally stated to ME...that it is NOT the intention
of NWS to dictate how SKYWARN groups are operated or who runs them, and that he
does not intend to ever get involved in that. Phil misstated some stuff there
and I don't know how he intends to back any of that up. The man sounds
authoritative and he's very pompous and confrontational and he is the only
person in my LIFE I have ever met and on FIRST ENCOUNTER KNEW that we were
going to end up butting heads in the very NEAR future. And sure enough, that
actually DID happen. I've NEVER come across a human being I felt that way
about but Phil has so much testosterone in him that he just EXUDES "I'm an
egomaniac and I'll be a problem in your life." I've NEVER come across another
human being so threatening and confrontational. He doesn't know what he's
talking about. And he's even been giving me the impression that Chief May
knows about this and that the Chief condones this. I don't think the Chief
fully understood what was really going on, if so. Then, it really BUGS me how
Phil tried to use the Chief's name to back up his arguments to me about how
SKYWARN should be run...as if Chief May's word was final or something and there
was nothing I could do about it. I quote: "and by the way it's not even your
program it's is governed by the Alachua County Emergency Management Office
under Chief May, the National Weather Service has stated that they do not
govern the Skywarn programs in the counties that they manage and if you don't
believe that as your Coordinator Al he is the one that stated it. So go away."
That is COMPLETELY false and I don't know where he gets that idea from.
The only reasonable explanation at this point for the existence of this
document (the "new" SKYWARN SOP) is simply an attempt by these individuals
within GARS and AC-ARES to con EM into unknowingly pressuring me into doing
things the way THEY personally feel it should be done. Often their ideas have
been rejected by me for one good, legit reason or another, and they could not
follow my wishes or directions. I like to put good thought into all decisions.
I think about the future repercussions. If I see a flaw or a possible problem,
I'll reject the idea. Jeff can't stand this, because he always has ideas. One
of the BIGGEST problems with his ideas would be that they were always lofty and
required a HUGE amount of time, and/or effort, and/or money...and when asked
how he would help he'd say "Oh no! I thought YOU would handle this! Besides,
my wife doesn't like you and she wouldn't allow me to help you because she
thinks it would only make you look good." That's not a joke. That's verbatim.
And when I'd reject his idea, he'd try to push it ANYWAY without my knowledge,
and FORCE it into my hands, somehow. He could NOT adhere to the chain of
command, and he had a PROBLEM with my authority and ACTIVELY, CONSTANTLY made
effort to subterfrack it. For example, he once told people in ACFR Reserves,
CERT, and other Fire/Rescue related programs that SKYWARN had TONS of pagers
that he was going to try to get Todd to GIVE to the admins of every group as a
"gesture" and "thanks" for the public service work that they do. He NEVER got
with me about it. NEVER asked me if I agreed with that idea. Next thing you
know, Michael Heeder, Van Wheelock, and other leaders in ACFRR were emailing me
wondering how they too could get one of those free pagers. (We only had a
limited supply and I originally intended to give them to
SPOTTERS....ONLY!.....as a thanks for THEIR work. So everybody in ACFR, CERT,
GARS, GARC, and you fill in the blank got their stupid pager, leaving SKYWARN
with smaller, minimal capability pagers. (If Jeff pulled this stuff with his
boss, he'd be fired.) Most recently, he arranged an "antenna party" that
would include working on the EMWIN satellite dish and tying in a TV antenna to
it so that the club station could receive TV. He called in the services of a
satellite technician to do the work and he never consulted with me or asked me
if I would approve it...AND I'M THE ONE WHO SIGNED FOR THE EQUIPMENT ON THE
FDEM PAPERWORK!!!!! I'M RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT EQUIPMENT!!! He looked shocked
when I actually arrived there that day (Dr. Garlitz asked me to come in to
disconnect some EMWIN equipment so that other people could do some "work", but
Jay didn't know that I wasn't aware of what was going on. So I got there and
disconnected the equipment and only AS things were already in progress and the
work was already done did I find out that Jeff had again pulled another project
without my knowledge. I am tempted to contact Dr. Garlitz and tell him that I
don't want the TV antenna attached to the EMWIN antenna because I don't like
the idea of the increased lightning risk. Jeff isn't responsible. If damage
occurred from a lightning strike to both the EMWIN equipment and to the station
equipment, Jeff would tell Dr. Garlitz that the club station equipment should
be replaced but to leave the EMWIN equipment to Todd because he's responsible
for it. And he's done that before. I repeatedly told him not to attach station
computers or equipment to the EMWIN UPS. He ignored me and hooked the Virtual
Weather Station computer to the EMWIN UPS. A power outage came along, and
neither computer had enough time to shut down and I ended up with a fried UPS
and a disk to defrag...while Jeff surreptitiously removed the VWS computer's
plug from the EMWIN UPS and then called me up to tell me what happened
and..."oh by the way, you'll need to get another UPS because this one's fried."
Later he accidentally admitted that he'd had the VWS computer connected. Jeff
always does things his way and I do NOT like working with him. As well, he's
constantly complaining to others about how Todd sucks as a Coordinator and
doesn't do what he needs to do to make SKYWARN go the way it COULD. What he
MEANS is, "the way *I* think it should work." In doing this, he encourages all
the more volatile people to focus on me. He's a freaking jerk.
I have suffered from real harassment and real harm by certain individuals
within Alachua County ARES/RACES and GARS. ALL are hams. Jeff is even Captain
in the ACFR Reserves. Jeff has been acting as the main antagonist in the
harassments, working other people who are already KNOWN to be rather explosive
and volatile up and then sitting back and watching while Rome burns and the
explosions happen. I'm just tired of it. At this point, I am developing a
real fear of ham radio operators because too freaking many of them seem to have
some sort of mental problem or fixation or another, and they ALWAYS gravitate
to ME because I'm in the spotlight.
It appears Phil or Melissa recently sent me a harassing email sent using a
Yahoo account forged in my own name, touting upcoming "changes" in SKYWARN
soon. It now makes COMPLETE sense. (So now it becomes apparent that indeed
the email I received DID come from SOMEONE INVOLVED in the creation of the
"new" SKYWARN manual.) The email by itself may seem trivial, but understand
that in the past I have been email bombed, pager bombed, and have had lots of
harassing and threatening messages left on my machine by Scott West...because
Jeff Capehart couldn't keep his mouth shut or avoid talking about me to Scott
even though I've REPEATEDLY PLEADED, BEGGED AND TOLD him not to, personally and
in verifiable emails. Every time I ask him to, he gives me crap, and excuses,
and tries to turn the blame around on me instead, touting that if only I was a
more responsible Coordinator, people wouldn't act like this. As well, Jay
Lieberman, again, while in conversation with Jeff Capehart, tried to get the
name and rank of my best friend who is an officer in the Navy, with intentions
of actually calling up the Navy and telling them that she was "associating with
a KNOWN security risk", so as to get her in trouble so that "Todd can
concentrate more in his SKYWARN duties." Now, understand, Jay is a mental
case. He's a diabetic. He doesn't take good care of himself. He's always
prone to diabetic, frenzied fits of rage. When he does, he goes nuts. He
makes threats. He once threatened to use a gun on people at a GARS meeting
when he got mad. He was apparently arrested (but for some odd reason not
convicted and he is VERY evasive about that story) for ARSON in the past. He
believes in UFOs. He is adamant that he was once abducted. He has an overly
extreme paranoia and distrust of the government. He's sure people are sitting
outside his home watching a monitor and reading everything he types on his
keyboard. The man is a fruitcake. He's UNSTABLE. I consider Jay capable of
ANYTHING...especially the older and the more irate he gets. That was an
attempted attack on a FRIEND, this time. That was an escalation, right there.
It went BEYOND me and started to include my personal friends. Jeff in the
meantime, has played down ALL occasions of the harassments, advising me that if
they haven't stabbed or shot you, then you're being "ridiculous." I hate that
man. He's an antagonist, and he hides behind his public service and his ranks
and titles and acts so confidently like he's got some sort of a RIGHT to cause
to happen what he has. Behind him is his wife, Susan Tipton, who by his own
admission bitches about me all day, in restaurants, at home, and even in BED!
She tells Jeff not to associate with me. She tells him not to help me in
anything. She admittedly does not like me. He advises that she thinks I'm
"taking away his glory." She is the background antagonize who keeps Jeff
going. If Jeff appears to "side" with me as he puts it, then, by his own
admission to me, his wife even goes as far as to withhold sex from him until
he caves. The man lives in an environment of psychological torture and abuse.
His wife is a sociopath who is obsessed with ruining my reputation. And he is
the "sleeper" who comes to her rescue if anyone challenges her. Jeff once told
me that she got ALL excited when the UF's College of Engineering Journal
arrived and in it was a photo and bio of my best friend, Alisa. Jeff came
home, and she met him, dancing up to the door, holding the magazine over her
head, so excited, touting "*I* know something YOU don't know! I know something
YOU don't know!" (This is just too weirdly, strangely OBSESSIVE...all this
attention to my LIFE, who I'm DATING, who my FRIENDS are, attacking my friends,
writing and calling my friends trying to convince them to make me see things,
trying to sabotage the ACS program...) At the hamfest, she once placed her
dogs on top of the display tables and pretended not to notice while her dogs
walked back and forth across my brand new $1000 laptop. A lot of people saw
that and shook their heads. She calls up the Press behind me. She calls up
professional contacts and makes sure people "understand" who Todd really is and
how irresponsible he is. During various presentations about EMWIN, she loudly
harassed me in front of everyone present. She tries to find every possible
error in my statements, and every time she catches them, she makes sure that I
am loudly embarrassed. Most recently was the misquote by the Gainesville Sun
on SKYWARN spotters' use of a special number during certain times of the day to
call in reports to EM. This was actually something arranged in the long past.
The press twisted my whole statement around to say "Mr. Sherman recommends
people don't call 911 during emergencies", or something to that effect. Which
was DRASTICALLY incorrect. Susan called up the paper and REAMED the reporter
and she called me up in TEARS telling me how mean that woman was. I apologized
and told her not to worry about it, that it was spilled milk and done with. I
even ASKED those people before it was printed, if I could SEE the final product
before it was printed to make sure there were no errors or misquotes. They
TOLD me that it wasn't possible. Next thing you know, Chief May is writing me
emails demanding I not speak "for" emergency Management or the 911 system. He
had it TOTALLY wrong, but he wasn't in the mood to hear the explanations. He
just wanted the problem taken care of. That is how *I* see things. That is
where I'm at now. I don't give a damn what everyone's personal reasons are for
harassing me and for making my life miserable and for destroying everyones'
opinions of me, or how this makes it okay to harass my friends. But it's GOING
to stop. NOW. ...Any way that I can make it occur.
I have filed a complaint with GPD over the recent harassing email, which
appears it may well have come from Melissa Royce in an effort to try to bug me.
At first I thought it was Scott West, and the police actually went over to his
residence and questioned him. So whoever did this affected a SECOND innocent
person, as well. Regardless of who did it, and regardless of how relatively
inconsequential the recent email may seem on it's own...it is, nonetheless,
"harassment/cyberstalking" and where I let Scott go the last time because he
had a wife and kid, I do not intend to use that same method of thinking this
time around. I have instructed GPD that regardless of who did it or their
family status, I wish to press charges. H/C is a first degree misdemeanor. It
is punishable by a mandatory jail sentence of up to a year, and a fine of up to
a thousand dollars. Repeat offenses are 30/$15. Now, I also have emails from
Jeff Capehart stating how Phil has been going around bragging how "(he) better
not catch (me) in a dark alley." That is a threat of physical violence.
That's mandatory jail of up to 5 years, and a fine of up to $5000. Florida law
takes this stuff pretty seriously. I'm awaiting word from GPD on what they
find in the logs subpoenaed from Yahoo and Bellsouth, Phil and Melissa's ISP.
Jeff thinks it was Melissa because two hours before I got the email, he and she
had talked about me and my latest activity on the AC-SKYWARN alert list,
publicizing the SKYWARN-L list, and introducing Alisa Marchionno as Asst.
Coordinator. I guess that must have bugged her. At this point, everything
must be considered circumstantial, but it’s not looking good for Melissa. And
if Phil gives me any shit, I'll press against him for the threats.
I'm just sick of this stuff, and I've had it. I don't want to sit down and
TALK. I don't want to come to "agreements." I want it to end. PERIOD. And I
want people to leave ACS alone. We've done just fine for ten years. And we're
celebrating our tenth anniversary. But then, I think the people pulling this
KNOW that.
But again, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN MEETING CONCURRENTLY WITH THESE PEOPLE. It
would only be intimidating and frustrating and it would accomplish nothing
because everyone would be interrupting each other and yelling and screaming.
Bottom line is...I am being harassed and there is no excuse for the things that
have been happening to me. My reputation is being completely destroyed in the
eyes of EM and NWS by these people. People have engaged in first degree
misdemeanors and third degree felonies to get to me and I want it to stop, to
halt, period. ...No more. I'm done with it. It's gone on for YEARS
now...from harassing me during presentations in public to threatening my
friends, to letter campaigns to people in my personal life to try to embarrass
me and to convince these people to force me into a certain way of thing about
certain things. They have destroyed friendships, caused other people to
question my intentions and my sanity, and caused definite, tangible and obvious
harm to my credibility and reputation with the NWS.
Chief, I'm sure this comes as a total shock and I've tried over the years to
resolve this by myself...including:
Telling everyone to stop.
Quitting the Gainesville Amateur Radio Society so as to be out of view of
the harassers.
Quitting associations with the Gator Amateur Radio Club except to maintain
the EMWIN system, for the same reason.
Ceasing attendance of the ACFR Reserve Comm meetings, for the same reason.
Ceasing association with anyone in the CERT program, fire/rescue, and police,
because I'm afraid someone will know me and someone will mention me to these
people and then it'll all start all over again.
Total abandonment of my favorite hobby, ham radio, and not using the radio at
all.
Cessation of all public appearances and presentations EXCEPT spotter training
classes.
Less bulletins to the ACSKYWARN Email Alert List (especially with my
signature tagline attached).
Not answering the phone whenever any of the above-mentioned people call, or
answering any emails when they email me.
...It has not worked. It has only apparently escalated. Meanwhile, my
personal life, I have noticed, has ended. I have become a hermit without even
recognizing it. I'm NOT succumbing to that. I'm NOT hiding for the rest of my
life, here.
These people have changed me. I used to be an INCREDIBLY patient, EASY-going,
amiable person. Now, I'm short with people, and I don't take crap, and I TRUST
no one. I don't like that. I hate that, in fact.
I can't wait to see who the NEXT oddball nutcase to appear out of the woodworks
to harass me is. The numbers aren't dwindling, here. They're INCREASING over
time. So far, it numbers SIX PEOPLE who have either now or in the past been
involved with harassing me, and stalking me. We have to use that word.
Because it applies. These people ARE obsessed with me.
Todd
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 5:16 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: Never mind...
I didn't realize the Chief was in the CC at first. I saw it. I sent him a
copy myself...a little modified and corrected.
But Dave...I REALLY don't want to talk to the other involved people anymore.
It doesn't work. I've tried that and it goes nowhere. There's no point
anymore. They see what they see and they've decided now that harassing me and
causing problems for me is the way to go. I don't know how to "bargain" over
that. It's not going to happen.
My stance is this...
No bargains.
No DISCUSSIONS. The talks cannot happen anymore. That's destroyed. The
discussions will only amount to "Todd WILL comply, or else." I've been down
this road before, already. I'm not doing it again.
These people by their own actions have pretty much destroyed their own plans
now, because I guarantee you...with so MUCH potential now for harm to come to
the credibility and reputation of EM as a result of everyone's actions over the
past six years (all the misdemeanor and felony activities towards me), I'm
pretty sure EM will totally abandon this group's ideas with the SOP. And I can
bet, the Chief's jaw is dropped right now at all this. I think some heads are
gonna roll. :) Phil implied the Chief knew about all this and that the Chief
backed all this up. Now I understand. If the Chief backed it all up it was
because he thought I was actually in the loop and that all was kosher. He had
no clue about the harassments, or how long it's been going on, who was doing
it, and that it all tied in to this action to create a "new" SOP manual. The
SOP manual is apparently being designed in ITSELF to be another extension of
the harassment by attempting to control me and ACS and to humiliate by forced
conformation. I LOVE the "Deputy SKYWARN Director". Who conjured that one?
Lemme guess. It's filled by Phil or Melissa or Jeff. Right?
As far as the recent criminal stuff that I reported to GPD...
No mercy.
The criminals get prosecuted.
I'm definitely adamant about that, now. I need a scary example for everyone to
see...REALLY badly. Else this just isn't going to stop. Today it's harassing
emails. Tomorrow it's threats of physical violence. Oh. Wait. Phil already
did that one.
This is just getting worse and worse, now, the more I discover.
Todd
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Coordinator
Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH Alachua County SKYWARN
Gainesville, Alachua Co., FL http://alachuaskywarn.org
Email: *****@**************.org
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444 Project Manager/Coordinator
"Watching the weather for YOU!" Alachua County EMWIN Project
http://alachuaskywarn.org/emwin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH [skywarn@fireline.org]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 4:12 PM
To: 'David Donnelly'
Subject: SOP Manual...
Dave,
Can I get a copy of that SOP manual? ...the whole thing?
Todd
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Coordinator
Todd L. Sherman / KB4MHH Alachua County SKYWARN
Gainesville, Alachua Co., FL http://alachuaskywarn.org
Email: *****@**************.org
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444 Project Manager/Coordinator
"Watching the weather for YOU!" Alachua County EMWIN Project
http://alachuaskywarn.org/emwin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE - 12/14/2009: I never did get a copy of the manual and had to fish it off their web page. -Todd