This story from the Associated Press has a few interesting angles related to Indiana politics. In the town of Roseland, Indiana, the town marshal has asked to be laid off after working months for reduced pay.
Apparently, the Town of Roseland has been experiencing financial pressures when it failed to receive tax funds. I don’t know if these are the same tax funds, but I believe the State is withholding or has been slow to pay some tax funds from St. Joseph County (in which Roseland is located). (Upon further review, this may or may not be the case, but Roseland’s financial situation seems to go well beyond anything done to it by the State.) Roseland was unable to obtain a loan though it has received some donations. As a consequence, the town’s four paid police officers, including Town Marshal Jack Tiller, had their pay reduced to $6 per hour, and even after that, officers haven’t been receiving full paychecks and insurance coverage has been dropped.
Marshal Jack Tiller said in a letter to the town council president that he no longer could afford to work for the partial pay officers have received since this summer due to the town’s financial crunch.
“I have a family, and it is imperative that I support my children as I have a moral responsibility to them,” Tiller wrote in the letter submitted to Town Council President Charley Shields on Tuesday.
In response, Town Councilman David Snyder said Wednesday in a letter to [Town Council President Charley] Shields that Tiller “had abandoned his post and his men” and demanded Shields convene an emergency council meeting.
It is interesting to see Councilman Snyder commenting on issues related to money, family, and duty since he has previously been in the news with respect to such issues. Snyder was prosecuted by St. Joseph County Prosecutor, Michael Dvorak for about being in arrears to the tune of $90,000 for child support. Subsequently, Michael Dvorak’s son, Representative Ryan Dvorak, introduced legislation that “Requires a state or local government officeholder who has been subject to a judgment: (1) of at least $15,000 for delinquent child support payments; and (2) for more than 30 days; to be removed from office.” That bill appears to have been passed by a wide margin but died in the Senate without getting a committee hearing.
Trying to research the “expected tax funds,” I came across some other news reports that indicate that council member David Snyder and wife/(former) council member Dorothy Snyder are otherwise involved in some Roseland turmoil:
David Snyder was put in jail after David Snyder was ejected from a budget meeting Friday night, before being taken to the ground outside by a Roseland police officer.
The melee started because David Snyder protested after being given only one minute to speak by council member Charlie Shields. After a heated argument, laced with profanities, Shields kicked Snyder from the meeting.
Snyder slowly walked from the meeting, escorted by Officer Jack Tiller. When he got into the lobby, turned and said something to Tiller who appears to shove Snyder who falls hard into the glass door and outside.
NewsCenter 16’s camera then shows David Snyder on the ground outside the town hall with Officer Tiller on top of Snyder. There are calls for Snyder to stop resisting as the officer pounds Snyder’s head.
Holy, hell. Anyone in the area care to elaborate on just what the heck is going on in Roseland? (The South Bend Tribune has a Roseland archive going up to April 30, 2007, but I can’t get the linked articles to load at the moment.)
For more “insight” on the turmoil in Roseland might want to check the Indiana Public Access Counselor’s website. Todate for year 2007 there have been at least 16 “commentaries” for the town. Out of 300 issued so far which means about 5%. In previous years there have also been some.
Local politics and interworkings can be interesting. Self defeating, perhaps.
If I recall, Roseland is a small chunk of South Bend on the other side of Notre Dame. I think it might be just about completely surrounded by South Bend. It might only be the businesses on both sides of 37 for all I know. A sign welcomes you there, and a while later another bids you farewell. I doubt if more than a couple hundred people live there, and have no idea why it hasn’t been annexed by South Bend.
My uncle was apparently the mayor of Roseland at one time.
I remember my cousin who lives in Mishawaka commenting on this when I was up there to visit them Labor Day weekend. Apparently the melee in Roseland has been going on for some time. There seems to be a problem with David and Dorothy Snyder. The perception up in St. Joe County is that the Snyders have been running some sort of fiefdom, hence the public meetings that have denigrated into brawls. It sort of reminds me Doug about your post regarding the brawls in Indiana courthouses in Tippecanoe and Clark Counties. Hilarious but dangerous, a friggin’ jungle. Your analysis of extended DST is on the mark Doug. For you folks in Indiana getting used to DST it is sort of like a double whammy this year with DST being extended by a month, it’s probably even worse for you guys up farther north than it is in Louisville. Sunrise will occur here in Louisville at 8:10 a.m. tomorrow morning, the last morning on DST, which is 10 minutes later than the sunrise at the apex of the Winter Solstice, which occurs here in Louisville from January 3-9, with sunrise coming at 8:00 a.m. It’s interesting, the sunset apex occurs here in Louisville with the maximum sunset occuring at 5:22 p.m. from December 6-10 before it starts back the other way, about 12-18 days before the official Winter Solstice on December 22 and the sunrise apex occuring in early January, about 12-18 days after the official Winter Solstice. We’ll be voting here in Kentucky next Tuesday, November 6 for a new governor, treasurer, attorney general, auditor, and will be voting here in Jefferson County, Ky. on whether to vote to establish a .02% tax increase to fund library improvements for the Louisville Free Public Library. Proponents for the tax say we need it to fund library improvements while opponents contend floating a bond issue. The issue of whether to fund library improvements via a tax or by issuing bonds has been compounded by Louisville-Jefferson County having gone to a merged government effective January 1, 2003, much like Lexington-Fayette County, Ky. and Indy and Marion County. It’ll be interesting to see how the election shakes out next Tuesday.
Doug
Here is the video and article for those incidents. I reported on it during the whole “Dont Taze Me Bro” incident in Florida:
F6: “Another case of police brutality this time in Indiana”
http://frfozybearftwin.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html
You should do interviews then you would know the whole sordid story of St. Joseph County politics*. With this kind of journalism I need to finish my book.
*(” . . . most corrupt political party machine in the county”, Fox National News)
Sounds like everyone in that bunch has a dog in the fight. I’ll bet there are old vendettas and “I’ll never forget when you…” stories in that mess that would take up the time of a whole negotiating team. Maybe someone there needs to think about the common good.