|
I.
See our
New Nomination for The Liberty Bell Award
From the Nassau County Bar Association
II.
Coalition Helps Defeat Babylon’s Kangaroo Court
Help
prevent this atrocity.
We had
been announcing on this website the plans of the Town of
Babylon to attain legislation from the state authorizing
it to create a “community court” with which it would
violate the due process rights of its property owners
and give Babylon control over the judges.
Despite the support of State Senator Owen
Johnson and Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, the State
Legislature never considered Babylon’s need to go after
unregistered parked cars enough of a priority to warrant
spending time on legislation.
Babylon’s response was to create a court all
on its own, without the support of state legislation,
and what it created was a disgusting monster in which
the prosecutor hired the judge and could fire him
whenever he wanted for whatever reason. The prosecutor
also made up the rules of the court, and the judge was
not bound by the rules of evidence. Not surprisingly,
there were also inequalities in the treatment of the
prosecutor and the respondent, the respondent having
until 24 hours before scheduled hearing to request an
adjournment while the prosecutor could request an
adjournment at any time before trial, for example.
Aware of what the existence of this kangaroo
court meant for the residents of Babylon, Paul Palmieri,
president of the Coalition, worked to bring the
“community court,” officially the Bureau of
Administrative Adjudication, to the attention of the New
York State Unified Court System, as a result of which
the court system sued the town, as a result of which
Babylon agreed to shut down its kangaroo court for an
alternative run by Court System instead of the town’s
prosecutor.
We encourage concerned citizens to contact their
legislators by phone, fax or mail to let them know how
disappointed you are that they have shown such a lack
of concern for our freedoms and to let them know
that you expect better of them, stressing the
fact that you are a voter and their actions regarding
the community court would influence your decision during
the next election.
We would like to thank those of you who did
contact your representatives or where otherwise active
in fighting against this kangaroo court. Whatever effect
your participation had on the “community court,” you at
least educated yourselves about the tools at our
disposal with which we can stand up for ourselves
against tyranny.
The fight does not end here, so we encourage
you to continue your vigilance in protecting your
constitutional rights and ours.
Contact
information for local officials can be found at
www.orps.state.ny.us.
The New
York State Assembly website is
http://assembly.state.ny.us/
The New
York State Senate website is
www.senate.state.ny.us
Residents of the town of Babylon are encouraged to
contact the
CITIZEN SERVICES
department in the Office
of the Supervisor to voice your opinion on any issue of
concern to them.
CITIZEN SERVICES
department
Contact: Patricia Kaphan - Citizen's Advocate
Phone: (631) 957-7474
Fax: (631) 957-7440
“This department …is responsible for handling
constituent concerns and acts in an advocacy capacity to
ensure that complaints are handled in a satisfactory
manner. The Citizen Services Department works closely
with all town departments and various levels of
government in an attempt to address issues of concern
for Town of Babylon residents.”
http://www.babylonli.com/departments/details.cfm?did=15-
Let’s hope the above statement on the Town of Babylon
website is true.
Also,
anyone who has had to pay a fine or who is on the hook
for a fine because of a verdict from Babylon’s kangaroo
court should contact the Coalition of Landlords,
Homeowners & Merchants, Inc. at 631-376-2110.
|
