From time to time, the dysfunctional town of Roseland, Indiana barges into my consciousness. Today, the Indiana Court of Appeals issued an opinion (pdf) having to do with the difficulties of town councilman David Snyder to pay his child support obligations.
The case was on appeal of a contempt finding by the St. Joseph Circuit Court. During one hearing, Snyder claimed his only asset was his potential winnings in a claim against Roseland Town Marshall. (Presumably stemming from the incident wherein he was ejected from a town council meeting.)
The Circuit Court found him in contempt for not paying his child support obligation and ordered him to serve 90 days in jail or pay $25,000 to reduce his arrearage. The Court noted previous contempt purge amounts that Mr. Snyder had apparently managed to pay and the court’s belief that Mr. Snyder still had not seemed to take the orders of the court seriously – coming into court with only vague assertions that he had been looking for work without bothering to bring his calendar which he said would likely document his attempts.
Snyder challenged the merits of the contempt order, arguing that contempt was only appropriate where the parent had the ability to pay but willfully refused to do so. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court was acting within its discretion by not believing Snyder’s testimony; noting Snyder’s previous ability to come up with large sums of cash to avoid jail time and his ability to assist his wife in purchasing property.
Don’t forget Bill Kruse of Roselawn! He is the frightened wingnut who just got his frivolous lawsuit about President Obama’s birthplace thrown out of court in Indianapolis…
As stated earlier your journalism leaves much to be desired. If you want answers ask them of the parties involved. Do not just sit back and create whatever sounds right by reading the paltry efforts of others. There is a real story here, but you are so far from it you cannot see it. Read the blue line I let some rather broad hints on that page.
I’m not a journalist; just a guy with a blog. Also too, this entry is more than four years old.
I guess he is so busy that it takes a while to catch up on stuff. It sounds like that water is still boiling and nobody has the sense to turn off the gas.
More tales from Roseland with new people. The “Clerk/Treasurer” is not even holding office legally and is being allowed to continue. There is no possible way that Butch Morgan could have appointed her as he resigned the year before, prior to going to jail. And the following chairperson did not appoint her either, nor the current one. Seems that someone would look into this instead of covering it up.