05312016 - News Article - State police look into missing court records

State police look into missing court records

NWI Times

May 31, 2016 

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/state-police-look-into-missing-court-records/article_56eb56d9-cdab-54bf-ae85-05c02bf83251.html

CROWN POINT — State police have begun looking into why the Lake Station City Court failed to report license restrictions to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Indiana State Police First Sgt. Al Williamson said Monday he has assigned Indiana State Police Detectives Chris Campione and John Holman to investigate drunken driving cases that were improperly handled between 2008 and 2012.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter requested the investigation last month after discovering the convictions and notices of suspension of a number of cases heard in Lake Station City Court weren't submitted downstate for inclusion in the permanent driving histories of the defendants.

Carter said his office uncovered the Lake Station City Court problem last month during an investigation into why the City Court failed to submit to the BMV a 2011 reckless driving conviction for Randolph L. “Randy” Palmateer, 37, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.

Carter said his office would have more vigorously prosecuted Palmateer's arrest at a Hammond sobriety checkpoint earlier this year if it had known it wasn't his first offense. Carter said the failure to submit convictions may involve hundreds of cases.

Carter and Mayor Christopher Anderson, who was Lake Station city judge at the time, said earlier that Miranda Brakley, clerk of that city's court from 2008 to 2012 and a stepdaughter of former Mayor Keith Soderquist, was responsible for transmitting convictions and driving restrictions to the BMV over that period and failed to do so.

Brakley already is awaiting sentencing for a guilty plea in January to embezzling about $16,000 from the Lake Station City Court. Soderquist, the former mayor and Brakley's stepfather, has pleaded guilty to trying to cover up the theft by trying to replace the missing money with other funds.

Thomas Vanes, a Merrillville attorney representing Brakley, said Monday his client, whose family has been feuding with Anderson, is being made a scapegoat without any proof. He said, "Why don't they look at all the courts? Why just Lake Station?"

Vanes said former Mayor Soderquist complained to Carter's staff four years ago about how drunken driving plea bargains were being handled in Lake Station City Court, including Palmateer's. Carter said Soderquist complained only about Anderson's performance as a judge, not about missing conviction records.

Vanes said Brakley spoke to the U.S. Attorneys office and the FBI about missing records, but said federal authorities only seemed interested in pursuing allegations against Soderquist and her.

Carter said earlier this week he is concerned the reporting failure could involve hundreds of drivers who should have had their driving privileges suspended.

State law requires courts to mail convictions for serious moving violations to the BMV, which assesses points for such convictions that remain on an individual’s driving record for two years and can result in license suspensions and higher insurance rates for the drivers.

The investigation is an echo of a federal probe, called Operation Bar Tab, which focused 30 years ago on allegations of fixing drunken driving tickets in Lake County Court in Crown Point.

Two county judges, a county clerk and a deputy prosecutor, bailiffs and lawyers were among several convicted of making court records disappear, so drunken drivers wouldn't receive points on their driving records.

05252016 - News Article - Council points to growth in choice of animal shelter location

Council points to growth in choice of animal shelter location

Post-Tribune

May 25. 2016

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-council-shelter-st-0526-20160525-story.html

The Porter County Council is satisfied with the location of the new county animal shelter and is considering the growth of the county, a council member said Tuesday.

Noting complaints from the Portage administration that the location on Indiana 49 between the Expo Center and the sheriff's department is too far from that city, Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, wanted confirmation that the site was the best place for a new shelter.

"We're confident that there's no location closer to Portage that works?" Whitten said.

A site under previous consideration at Sunset Hill Farm County Park, at U.S. 6 and Meridian Road, was dropped because that land was owned by the county parks foundation, Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said.

Council attorney Scott McClure said the project is too far along at its current site to pull back.

Future growth in the county will be south, said Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st.

"Twenty years from now, all those cities south of (U.S.) 30 are going to be saying the same thing Portage is now," Biggs said.

Portage is the only city in the county that hasn't signed on to bring its animals to the new shelter and currently takes its animals to the Hobart Humane Society. Portage City Councilwoman Sue Lynch, D-at large, said the location would not preclude the city from bringing its animals there.

"This location seems pretty logical to me," Whitten said, adding it's not in a cornfield between Hebron and Kouts. "People do go to the fair and the Expo Center, and there is easy access."

The facility will have the capacity to expand but is large enough as it's being built to handle Portage's animals, officials said.

On Tuesday, Larson Danielson Construction Co. of LaPorte presented plans for a 14,500-square-foot concrete block building.

Good, who sat on one of the committees for the project, said the shelter would take up about 1.7 acres of the 5-acre parcel.

The county will need to come up with about $2.25 million for the project, said McClure. The facility is about $2.75 million and the county has received a $1 million donation from Jacki Stutzman of Valparaiso toward that cost, McClure said, but the final figure includes soft costs, such as sewer and water service and extending a frontage road along Ind. 49 to serve the facility.

The new shelter would have the capacity for 114 dogs and 96 cats. The current structure, at 2056 Heavilin Road, can hold 50 dogs and 80 cats, shelter director Toni Bianchi said.

County officials deem the new shelter a priority, Whitten said, and discussion of how to fund it will come at the council's next meeting, when council members will have a better handle on operating costs and whether Portage is joining in, which would help boost revenue.

"We don't have to build a facility for the municipalities. We're building a nice facility because we want to," Whitten said, adding it's up to the municipalities to decide whether to be included. "We want everybody included if they want to come."

05242016 - News Article - Porter County Council pondering $2.25M request for new animal shelter

Porter County Council pondering $2.25M request for new animal shelter

NWI Times

May 24, 2016 

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/porter-county-council-pondering-m-request-for-new-animal-shelter/article_aa704629-896b-5c0e-92dd-1e196f9d283d.html

VALPARAISO — The Porter County Council seemed generally supportive Tuesday night of plans for a new 14,500-square-foot animal shelter along Ind. 49 near the Porter County Expo Center.

But it will not be known until at least next month if the group will be willing to free up the $2.25 million needed for the building in addition to a $1 million private donation announced late last week.

There was already discussion Tuesday about reducing the size of the structure by doing away with an interior courtyard designed to give cats the opportunity to be outside for greater mental stimulation.

A question was also asked about the operational costs of a proposed system that will replace the interior air in the kennel areas every six minutes.

"I think it's great, it's long overdue," said Councilwoman Sylvia Graham, D-at large.

Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st, said the proposal speaks volumes that, "This county is going to treat its animals with compassion."

The details of the project were presented by representatives of Larson Danielson Construction Co., which recently won out in the competition for the best overall proposal. The project design is now undergoing some tweaking to fit needs and the county's budget.

Porter County Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, has said the hope is to fund the project from money generated by the 2007 sale of the county hospital.

Part of the funding equation will depend on whether Portage decides to join every other municipality in the county in paying to use the new shelter, said Council President Dan Whitten, D-at-large.

He said concern has been voiced that the proposed site is too far from Portage.

Good said the preferred location for the shelter is further north at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Liberty Township, but no one from Portage came out to support the commissioners when they made an unsuccessful attempt to win approval for use of that location.

Sue Lynch, D-at large, who attended Tuesday's County Council meeting, said she did not believe the proposed location of the new shelter will preclude the city from using the site.

Portage currently takes its stray animals to the Hobart Humane Society.

05222016 - News Article - Portage, county officials at odds?

Portage, county officials at odds?
NWI Times
May 22, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/portage-county-officials-at-odds/article_40053fc8-9c84-564b-8315-6cc475141046.html

PORTAGE — Porter County officials say they are just as committed to helping Portage residents as any other in the county despite a recent rift with Mayor James Snyder.

However, they added, they may sidestep directly communicating with Snyder, at least for a while, and work with his staff and the City Council instead.

For his part, Snyder, a Republican, admits he needs to do better when communicating with county officials and said he wants to improve dialogue between the two governmental agencies, but feels it needs to go both ways.

"My entire goal has been to have an open dialogue with the county," he said, adding he believes Portage has not been consulted in instances of major decisions, such as the location of the new county animal shelter. "I'm trying to learn how to talk to the county and not be treated like a red-headed stepchild."

The latest friction began at the Portage City Council's April meeting when Snyder made comments regarding the county and why the city was considering a wheel tax.

Those comments prompted all 10 members of the Porter County Council and commissioners, Democrats and Republicans alike, to sign a letter rebuking Snyder's comments and giving their side of the spending issue.

The letter prompted Snyder to hire a Chicago-based law firm, at a cost of nearly $1,600, to research the role of county government and to make a formal request for county records regarding the generation of the letter. Snyder said he hired the outside firm because they are experts in open door laws.

"The mayor made comments that are blatantly incorrect," said Porter County Council President Dan Whitten, a Democrat, adding he brought up the comments at a meeting and wrote a letter to set the record straight. He said he doesn't believe there has been a rift between the two entities nor has there been a problem with communication.

"Newsflash. There has been dialogue between the city and county for years. The mayor made blatantly inaccurate comments," Whitten said.

Snyder said he believes county officials took the comments out of context and he didn't intend to blame the county for the city's adoption of the wheel tax. He said he was surprised to hear about the letter. He said county officials should have contacted him directly if they had an issue or question about what he said at that April meeting.


"I think the mayor is making it worse. He was attacking us on the wheel tax," said Councilman Jeremy Rivas, a Democrat representing Portage. "He just needs to tone it down. We need to focus on the projects we can work on together."

"I've got a relationship with the people in Portage," said Rivas, adding he has met with Director of Administration Joe Calhoun on issues and he and Whitten recently met with City Councilmen Mark Oprisko and Pat Clem and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham on the possibility of locating a county building in the city's downtown.

As for the possibility of the county constructing a downtown building, Snyder said this week he believes a deal can be reached by the end of the year.

County officials said that is just an example of Snyder's sometimes over aggressive manner of doing business.

Republican Commissioner Jeff Good said Snyder "needs to change his tenor, needs to change his tone" when he discusses such issues.

Whitten, Rivas and Good all said they have not made any decision on a downtown county building. All three said they are awaiting a study to be completed on all county facilities, which will determine if the North County Government Complex can be repaired or renovated or should be replaced.

"I've told the mayor 100 times I can't tell you what we are going to do until the feasibility study is done," Whitten said.

"Nothing he is doing is going to have any impact on what I do for the city," said Whitten, a Portage native whose law office is in the city. "Portage is the biggest city. I told the mayor a million times I want to see good things for Portage."

"I'm committed to working with Portage just as I am working with Valparaiso and Kouts," said Good, adding the county approved a stormwater fee and is looking at correcting issues on County Road 700 North and Willowcreek Road, which has been a problem for Portage.

"As far as I'm concerned, it is business as usual. There are no hard feelings," Good said.

05222016 - News Article - EDITORIAL: Outside agencies needed for BMV court probe

EDITORIAL: Outside agencies needed for BMV court probe
The Times Editorial Board
May 22, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-outside-agencies-needed-for-bmv-court-probe/article_32cd8c69-4dc8-5c5e-a11a-be0594eb002c.html

More than political embarrassment is emerging from the alleged drunken driving arrests — and subsequent plea deals — involving politically connected Region union official, Randolph "Randy" Palmateer.

The web became more tangled earlier this month when local prosecutors and court officials discovered potentially hundreds of cases out of Lake Station City Court in which driving infractions weren't reported to the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles, as is required by law.

Now Region officials are calling on the Indiana State Police to investigate.

The eyes of outside agencies are desperately needed to objectively sort through this mess, and the state police and federal investigators should dive in to the fray.

The Lake Station discovery followed a finding that Palmateer's 2011 drunken driving case — which was subsequently pleaded down to the lesser charge of reckless driving — never was reported to the state BMV as is required by law.

Palmateer received a nearly identical plea deal following a March drunken driving arrest, later pleaded down to reckless driving in Hammond City Court.

Now Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter tells us as many as 1,000 driving infractions possibly weren't reported from Lake Station court to the BMV between 2008 and 2012.

The Lake Station court clerk at the time, Miranda Brakley, already awaits sentencing on a federal theft charge for illegal actions she took when she held the office.

Now some local authorities, including Carter, are pointing fingers at Brakley.

Her attorney, Tom Vanes, told us she’s a convenient scapegoat for errors that could have been made by other clerk personnel.

Unraveling what really happened here is going to require the detail-oriented eyes of an unbiased outside agency.

Were special deals being cut to some clients in which records of driving fractions weren't sent to the BMV, and thus never went on those offenders' driving records?

How much did the clerks, judge, prosecutors, defense attorneys or other court personnel know about this?

In Palmateer's 2011 case, the charges initially were filed in Crown Point City Court. They were later moved by request of his defense attorney to Lake Station City Court.

If a change of venue truly was needed, why was the case moved to Lake Station and not the Lake County courts?

There are too many questions — and far too many potential conflicts at play — for this probe to be handled in house.

To state and federal authorities: Lake County taxpayers require your help.

05212016 - News Article - Animal shelter benefactor offers $1 million to county

Animal shelter benefactor offers $1 million to county
Post-Tribune
May 21, 2016 - 11:06AM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-animal-gift-st-0522-20160521-story.html#nt=related-content

Four years after an anonymous community member offered a substantial donation toward the construction of a new Porter County Animal Shelter, she came forward Friday night to reveal both her identity and the amount of her donation.

Jacki Stutzman, aunt of Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, addressed the 200 or so people gathered for a disco-themed fundraiser at the Expo Center and offered $1 million for the project. The Porter County Commissioners Ball raised money to buy equipment for the new shelter.

"This is just thrilling to me, knowing the animals need a better place. I congratulate Porter County for doing this," said Stutzman, of Valparaiso.

The forward movement of the project, after commissioners considered an assortment of locations and explored a partnership with the rescue group Lakeshore PAWS that didn't come to fruition, prompted Stutzman to go public.

"It's going to happen, and I was always the anonymous donor while it was in the planning stage," she said. "We just thought the timing was right and I'm excited to do it. It's going to happen finally. This has always been a passion for me."

Stutzman is making "a huge impact on the quality of life" in the county, Blaney said, and is on or has been on a wide variety of community boards, including serving as current president of the Memorial Opera House Foundation.

The new shelter will be built on county-owned land along Indiana 49 between the sheriff's department and the Expo Center. The county's highway department razed an old house and outbuildings on the site earlier this month to make way for the building.

The donation, Blaney said, ensures that the new shelter will become a reality. She expects the remaining funds for the project to come from $10 million from the 2007 sale of the county hospital that was held back from investment in a foundation to be used for capital projects.

"We still have to go in front of the council and see if that's where it should come from," she said, adding that conversation would take place during Tuesday's County Council meeting.

Larson-Danielson Construction is the likely firm for the project, and their proposed design will cost around $2.7 million. Commissioners are expected to finalize the details of a contract with the firm at their June 14 meeting.

Stutzman is no stranger to the Porter County Animal Shelter.

She was involved at the facility in November 2011, when former shelter director Jon Thomas first took over, and saw the need for a new facility to replace the one at 2056 Heavilin Road. County officials have long said was outdated and too small to handle the number of animals that come through its doors.

For shelter director Toni Bianchi, the house coming down was the first step in making the shelter a reality, and the donation is the second step.

"Now it's full steam ahead," she said.

05212016 - News Article - MARC CHASE: Stop feathering nest of political cronyism - ROBERT CANTRELL

MARC CHASE: Stop feathering nest of political cronyism
NWI Times
May 21, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/marc-chase/marc-chase-stop-feathering-nest-of-political-cronyism/article_d78ba5a2-ad34-569d-979a-00d48683f261.html
The feverish embarrassment perpetuated by Lake County cronyism burned just a little hotter on the faces of Lake County politicos earlier this week.

It's just the latest symptom of the political disease choking out the credibility of Region government leaders and providing a travesty of representation for residents and laborers who deserve better.

Let’s hope local government leaders, who can act most quickly and effectively to cure this recent sign of malady, aren’t too infected with the long-term illness to do the right thing.

Hammond police provided The Times with a video Tuesday of Region union official Randolph "Randy" Palmateer's alleged drunken driving arrest during a March police safety checkpoint. It’s an instructive documentary of what’s ailing the Region.

While being questioned at the checkpoint, Palmateer hit police officers with a barrage of name dropping — a clear sign he sought, and perhaps even expected, a break because of who he is and who he knows.

As the business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, Palmateer is the recognized public face of a number of labor unions under the council's umbrella. Over the years, he's ingratiated himself with a number of Region political leaders.

Some of the close government relationships and personal friendships include Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub.

It was McDermott's name bandied about by Palmateer at the Hammond roadside police checkpoint in March. Now it's Scheub who can take an important step toward doing the right thing.

The police video, taken from the body camera of a Hammond officer, shows Palmateer came right out of the gate with the name drop.

Early on in the video, Palmateer can be heard telling the officer that he only consumed one beer and was on his way to "Tom McDermott's house" after taking in a March Madness basketball game at the United Center in Chicago.

Palmateer even told the officer he knew about the OWI checkpoint because McDermott told him about it earlier in the evening.

After a series of roadside sobriety tests, and noting Palmateer appeared "borderline" intoxicated, the officer asks if Palmateer wants to blow into a portable Breathalyzer or just head downtown for an official alcohol breath test.

"I'd rather just leave and go back towards Tom's (presumably McDermott's) house," Palmateer can be heard telling the officer.

Ultimately, Palmateer blew a 0.15 on the portable blood-alcohol breath test. That's nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08.

"That's not too bad," he told the cop.

While police prepared to place a handcuffed Palmateer into a squad car, he asked, "Can you at least cuff me in front?"

The officer essentially notes that cuffing behind one's back is proper protocol and that Palmateer wouldn't be receiving any special treatment.

After noting the car he was driving — according to police, in an unsafe manner heading into the checkpoint — was a union vehicle, Palmateer told police he needed to speak with his girlfriend, who had been a passenger in his car at the time of the roadside stop.

"I want my phone so I can have her call Tom McDermott because I don't want this sh—. Don't send me to county," Palmateer said on the video.

Sheriff John Buncich would later hit the nail on the proverbial head, noting Palmateer no doubt didn't want to be taken to the county jail because his perceived friends and protectors aren't in charge there.

Now Palmateer's actual political friends ought to do some soul searching.

What kind of "friend" hauls the name of another "friend" into an embarrassing situation involving the police? McDermott told us earlier this week he was at a Boys II Men concert that night, not at the home Palmateer told police he was heading toward before being stopped at the checkpoint.

The Northwestern Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council should do some self evaluation as well.

Palmateer said he was driving a union car during this fiasco. This also is the second alleged drunken driving arrest for Palmateer since 2011, not to mention an unrelated 2011 incident during which a then-member of the Crown Point police force has alleged Palmateer pulled a gun on a cop.

Is this really who the trade unions want as their public face? Don't hardworking Northwest Indiana laborers deserve better?

Is Palmateer a union official the building and construction trades council wants to continue to elevate, giving Palmateer the foothold to sit on numerous local government and nonprofit boards and commissions?

Lake County Commissioner Scheub, another close political friend of Palmateer, has direct authority to do something about one of Palmateer's most powerful political appointments.

Palmateer represents county government — and therefore county taxpayers — on the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority Board, which funnels millions of dollars to community development projects throughout the Region.

Scheub is one of three commissioners who can — and should — put an end to some of embarrassment by voting later this year against reappointing Palmateer to a new RDA board term.

Some of the credibility damage already is done.

Earlier this month, Lake County prosecutors cut a deal with Palmateer, allowing him to plead guilty to the lesser misdemeanor charge of reckless driving rather than the initial charge of operating while intoxicated.

The plea deal was identical to one Palmateer received in the alleged 2011 drunken driving case, so history repeated itself.

Shortly after the most recent plea deal, the Lake County Council voted 5-2 to reappoint Palmateer to the RDA board, as if to show solidarity with their political friend. But that appointment won't stand without eventual approval by the Lake County commissioners.

We've all experienced the stain cronyism — spawned by machine-style politics — brings to our Region and its reputation.

Many people have seen the photos of Bob Cantrell, a political operative who recently completed a prison sentence for federal crimes against taxpayers, holding court at the Lake County Government Center during the candidate filing deadline in February.

We've written several recent articles and columns about Randall Artis, who served federal prison time after being convicted in East Chicago's concrete-for-votes scandal. Following his prison term, the East Chicago clerk's office hired Artis to the payroll of the same municipality he pleaded guilty to victimizing.

Our Region abounds with examples of unscrupulous cronies who have wronged or embarrassed local taxpayers and government institutions and then expected their political friends to either bail them out or feather their nests.

They expect this favorable treatment because it so often has been provided.

By statue, the Lake County commissioners have until Sept. 21 to confirm or kill Palmateer's reappointment to the RDA board. They may want to act sooner rather than later, ending Palmateer's time on the board and allowing time to find an able replacement.

It wouldn't cure the sickness of Region cronyism, but it certainly would be a measured dose toward convalescence.

05192016 - News Article - Prosecutor wants state police to join Lake Station DUI probe

Prosecutor wants state police to join Lake Station DUI probe
NWI Times
May 19, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/prosecutor-wants-state-police-to-join-lake-station-dui-probe/article_68ccfd41-a977-552b-b4ac-feb136259df2.html

CROWN POINT — The Lake County prosecutor is asking state police to investigate why a local court failed to report license restrictions to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

"I've asked them to investigate the Lake Station City Court in reference to the handling of the BMV suspensions," Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said Wednesday.

"The state police have the option of going to the U.S. Attorney's office and other federal authorities as well as our office," he said.

Indiana State Police Master Trooper Aaron Correll, commander of the Lowell post, referred all inquiries to First Sgt. Al Williamson, who is responsible for criminal investigations and was unavailable Wednesday.

"I welcome the investigation," Lake Station Mayor Christopher Anderson said Wednesday.

He said the results of such an investigation would help the city's new initiative to reduce the risk of fraud through internal controls that would divide up key duties, such handing driver's restrictions, so that no one individual controls all aspects of the transaction.

Carter said earlier this week he is concerned the reporting failure could involve hundreds of drivers who should have had their driving privileges suspended.

State law requires courts to mail convictions for serious moving violations to the BMV, which assesses points for such convictions that remain on an individual’s driving record for two years and can result in license suspensions and higher insurance rates for the drivers.

Carter and Anderson said earlier this week Miranda Brakley, who was clerk of that city's court from 2008 to 2012 and a stepdaughter of former Mayor Keith Soderquist, was responsible for transmitting convictions and driving restrictions to the BMV over that four year period.

Brakley already is awaiting sentencing for a guilty plea in January to embezzling about $16,000 from the Lake Station City Court. Keith Soderquist, the former mayor and Brakley's stepfather, has pleaded guilty to trying to cover up the theft by trying to replace the missing money with other funds.

Thomas Vanes, Brakley's attorney, said Wednesday any investigation should look beyond his client, who he said wasn't solely responsible for sending court records to the BMV.

Vanes said several clerks worked in the court, including Lake Station City Councilman Neil Anderson, a brother of the mayor.

Neil Anderson said Wednesday he worked for the court for two years, Brakley was his supervisor and she handled the court records sent to the BMV.

Carter said his office uncovered the Lake Station City Court problem earlier this month during an investigation into why the City Court failed to submit to the BMV a 2011 reckless driving conviction for Randolph L. “Randy” Palmateer, 37, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.

Vanes said former mayor Soderquist complained to Carter's staff four years ago about how drunken driving plea bargains were being handled in Lake Station City Court, including Palmateer's.

"So none of this should be news to Mr. Carter," Vanes said.

05192016 - News Article - Lake prosecutor calls for investigation of former court clerk - Stepdaughter of ex-Lake Station mayor allegedly failed to report OWIs to BMV

Lake prosecutor calls for investigation of former court clerk 
Stepdaughter of ex-Lake Station mayor allegedly failed to report OWIs to BMV
Post-Tribune (IN)
May 19, 2016
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF55BA48DD93B8?p=AWNB
The stepdaughter of former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist is facing a new criminal investigation connected to whether she failed to perform her duties as a court clerk for the city.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter Jr. said Wednesday that he asked the Indiana State Police to investigate whether Miranda Brakley violated state law by failing to notify the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles of people convicted of operating while under the influence.

Brakley pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing bond money from the city court and is waiting to be sentenced in federal court. Soderquist pleaded guilty to helping her hide the crime.

Miranda Brakley's attorney, Thomas Vanes, strongly denied any allegations against his client, saying Carter is trying to hide his own office's mistakes.

"The only thing this is going to do is distract from Bernie's office's screw-up," Vanes said.

The issue arose after it came out that Randy Palmateer, a local union official who sits on several public boards including the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving after an operating while intoxicated arrest earlier this year.

Carter's office had already given Palmateer a plea deal in a similar situation in 2011 and said that normally for a second case a defendant would not be able to plead down.

However, Carter said a week ago that Palmateer's prior record didn't show up in a BMV database, and the deputy prosecutor handling the case thought Palmateer was a first-time offender.

Carter's office started an investigation with the Lake Station Court, where Palmateer's first conviction took place, and sampled 12 random OWI files. Carter said none of them had been reported to the BMV.

"We found that the charges with Randy Palmateer and his lack of BMV record reporting was not isolated," Carter said.

Carter said his office has pinpointed Brakley as the likely culprit, saying that interviews with other people showed she was the one primarily responsible for reporting OWIs to the BMV.

"This is not an incompetence issue," he said. "It's willful, intentional."

Carter said the matter could become an official misconduct issue because anyone who works for a public office and whose duties include filing records with the state has a legal obligation to do so.

Along with asking the state police to investigate, Carter has asked Lake Station officials to go through all OWI records from about 2008 to 2012, when Brakley worked there, to determine the extent of the issue, he said.

Lake Station Mayor Christopher Anderson, who served as city judge during that time, said the city has already started an investigation and that it could take several weeks to go through all the applicable files, which he estimated at around 500.

Vanes defended his client, saying that she was not the only one responsible for submitting records to the BMV and that for at least some time, court clerks thought that a Lake County court program did it automatically. Brakley also previously brought the 2011 Palmateer conviction to Carter's attention, Vanes said, so he questioned why she would then purposely not report it to the BMV.

Vanes argued that Carter's office erred in failing to find Palmateer's prior conviction, noting they would have seen the prior conviction if they had looked at local court records.

"They just didn't check or didn't want to check," Vanes said.

Vanes also pointed the finger at Anderson, saying that as he served as judge at the time, he is ultimately responsible for any error.

Anderson said that it's possible he bears some responsibility for what happened but noted that the city judge is a part-time position whose primary duties are to oversee the court calls. Once the judge accepts a plea deal, the court clerks handle the case from there, he said.

Anderson said the city would likely look to whether changes need to be made to create more checks and balances but noted that it would be impossible to have every OWI record double-checked.

"We'll try to use this best we can as a learning experience and make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.

Brakley's plea deal with federal attorneys requires her to not commit any other criminal acts, and Soderquist's plea deal relies on Brakley following her plea deal. Vanes said he was not worried about Carter's allegations affecting the federal case.

"No one's going to buy Bernie's nonsense here," Vanes said.

Scott King, who is representing Soderquist, could not be reached for comment. Ryan Holmes, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Hammond, declined to comment on the case.

Carter said he did not know how long a police investigation into the issue would take but said that he would accept whatever their recommendations were.

05192016 - News Article - Portage mayor defends search of county email

Portage mayor defends search of county email
05192016
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-legal-fees-st-0519-20160519-story.html

Portage Mayor James Snyder defended hiring a law firm to dig up emails and correspondence between Porter County Council members and commissioners preceding an statement they signed last month criticizing him.

The firm, Bingham Greenbaum Doll, will continue its work until "a real dialogue" happens between his administration and county officials, Snyder said, something he claims may already have begun.

But, one county official and one city leader said the move was a bad idea, adding city and county officials have been talking on a number of key issues.

"I would say I'm having dialogue (with city officials) and continue to have dialogue with officials in the City of Portage," said Porter County Councilman Jeremy Rivas, who represents Portage, pointing to meetings he's held with members of Snyder's administration. "It's difficult when the chief executive of the city want to create conflict and call it dialogue."

As reported in the May 17 Post-Tribune, the city so far has paid almost $1,600 to Bingham Greenbaum Doll, which Snyder said specializes in Open Door law issues, from the city's legal fees budget item. According to its website, Bingham Greenbaum and Doll, offices in Indianapolis, Jasper, Evansville and Vincennes in Indiana, and in Ohio and Kentucky, specializes in a wide range of topics in business and government including Open Door laws.

Snyder contacted the law firm to shed light on why the County Council and Commissioners signed the letter, he said.

Rivas also criticized Snyder for using city funds for the information search. The city recently raised garbage collection and sewer rates and voted in a wheel tax.

Snyder described the payments to the law firm as an appropriate use of city funds "because many times we do different things, but especially if it creates an open dialogue and a better dialogue and gets all of us to operate in a more open and transparent manner."

"We're not done" searching, Snyder said, pointing to a stack of documents on his office table he said were from the county. He declined to share the documents.

Snyder did not get much backing from Portage Councilman Mark Oprisko, D-at large, who said County Council President Dan Whitten already has promised to include Portage on a committee to assess county buildings to determine their best locations and uses.

"I think there is dialogue, and I think James Snyder sometimes is too aggressive and ruffles feathers," Oprisko said. "I think the dialogue is going to be there, so, to me, the (Freedom Of Information Act requests) is like a waste of taxpayer money."

Snyder described years of Porter County officials allegedly overlooking Portage, the largest municipality in the county.

"Portage is not going to be pushed into a corner anymore," Snyder said. "We're not going to be the last people that hear about things. We are a large portion of the county. We are a large portion of the electorate, and my constituents need to be heard from."

The revelation of Portage's use of the firm has already caused some conversation, Snyder said. The mayor said he already has had more conversations with two County Council members since word broke of his document search.

"It's already worked to some degree," he said. "It may not be all positive talk, but, here in Portage, we have learned here how to take negatives and turn them into positives."

05182016 - News Article - Prosecutor calls for investigation of former court clerk

Prosecutor calls for investigation of former court clerk
Post-Tribune
May 18, 2016
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mjVfrm5rthsJ:www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-lake-station-bmv-st-0519-20160518-story.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

The stepdaughter of former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist is facing a new criminal investigation connected to whether she failed to perform her duties as a court clerk for the city.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter Jr. said Wednesday that he asked the Indiana State Police to investigate whether Miranda Brakley violated state law by failing to notify the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles of people convicted of operating while under the influence.

Brakley pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing bond money from the city court and is waiting to be sentenced in federal court. Soderquist pleaded guilty to helping her hide the crime.

Miranda Brakley's attorney, Thomas Vanes, strongly denied any allegations against his client, however, saying Carter is trying to hide his own office's mistakes.

"The only thing this is going to do is distract from Bernie's office's screw-up," Vanes said.

The issue arose after it came out that Randy Palmateer, a local union official who sits on several public boards including the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving after an operating while intoxicated arrest earlier this year.

Carter's office had already given Palmateer a plea deal in a similar situation in 2011 and said that normally for a second case a defendant would not be able to plead down. However, Carter said a week ago that Palmateer's prior record didn't show up in a BMV database, and the deputy prosecutor handling the case thought Palmateer was a first-time offender.

Carter's office started an investigation with the Lake Station Court, where Palmateer's first conviction took place, and sampled 12 random OWI files. Carter said none of them had been reported to the BMV.

"We found that the charges with Randy Palmateer and his lack of BMV record reporting was not isolated," Carter said.

Carter said his office has pinpointed Brakley as the likely culprit, saying that interviews with other people showed she was the one primarily responsible for reporting OWIs to the BMV.

"This is not an incompetence issue," he said. "It's willful, intentional."

Carter said the matter could become a official misconduct issue because anyone who works for a public office and whose duties include filing records with the state has a legal obligation to do so.

Along with asking the state police to investigate, Carter has asked Lake Station officials to go through all OWI records from about 2008 to 2012, when Brakley worked there, to determine the extent of the issue, he said.

Lake Station Mayor Christopher Anderson, who served as city judge during that time, said the city has already started an investigation and that it could take several weeks to go through all the applicable files, which he estimated at around 500.

Vanes defended his client, saying that she was not the only one responsible for submitting records to the BMV and that for at least some time, court clerks thought that a Lake County court program did it automatically. Brakley also previously brought the 2011 Palmateer conviction to Carter's attention, Vanes said, so he questioned why she would then purposely not report it to the BMV.

Vanes argued that Carter's office erred in failing to find Palmateer's prior conviction, noting they would have seen the prior conviction if they had looked at local court records.

"They just didn't check or didn't want to check," Vanes said.

Vanes also pointed the finger at Anderson, saying that as he served as judge at the time, he is ultimately responsible for any error.

Anderson said that it's possible he bears some responsibility for what happened but noted that the city judge is a part-time position whose primary duties are to oversee the court calls. Once the judge accepts a plea deal, the court clerks handle the case from there, he said.

Anderson said the city would likely look to whether changes need to be made to create more checks and balances but noted that it would be impossible to have every OWI record double-checked.

"We'll try to use this best we can as a learning experience and make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.

Brakley's plea deal with federal attorneys require her to not commit any other criminal acts, and Soderquist's plea deal relies on Brakley following her plea deal. Vanes said he was not worried about Carter's allegations affecting the federal case.

"No one's going to buy Bernie's nonsense here," Vanes said.

Scott King, who is representing Soderquist, could not be reached for comment. Ryan Holmes, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Hammond, declined to comment on the case.

Carter said he did not know how long a police investigation into the issue would take but said that he would accept whatever their recommendations were.

05182016 - News Article - Lake County investigating unreported driving suspensions

Lake County investigating unreported driving suspensions
Associated Press State Wire: Indiana (IN)
May 18, 2016
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF3697F1DD6180?p=AWNB
LAKE STATION, Ind. (AP) — Prosecutors in northwest Indiana are investigating whether a former Lake Station city clerk intentionally didn't send convictions in drunken driving cases to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Prosecutor Bernard Carter said he suspects that former clerk Miranda Brakley refused to send about 500 to 600 driving suspensions to the state from 2008 to 2012, The (Munster) Times reported (http://bit.ly/1rU58Ii ). Brakley's stepfather is former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist, who is awaiting sentencing on a federal theft charge.

"I am just appalled," Carter said.

Brakley pleaded guilty in January to embezzling about $16,000 from Lake Station City Court. Her attorney, Thomas Vance, says she is being made into a convenient scapegoat in the drunken driving cases.

"How do they know she did this?" Vance said. "There were multiple clerks in the (city) court system."

Lake Station Mayor Christopher Anderson, a former judge who was Brakley's supervisor and fired her in 2012, blames Brakely as well. He said the problem was uncovered during an investigation into why the city court didn't submit a 2011 reckless driving conviction for Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council business manager Randolph L. Palmateer.

"Now we are going to start going through all these old files and figuring out what the extent of it is," Anderson said.

Josh Gillespie, deputy commissioner of communications for the Indiana BMV, said the situation could mean headaches for motorists whose driving privileges were supposed to be suspended years ago but the paperwork was never sent to the state. If old suspensions weren't carried out, they will be enforced now, Gillespie said.

A city official alerted the state agency about the missing data and told them they may have to process as many as 800 previously missing records, Gillespie said.

05172016 - VIDEO - Lake County union official faces alcohol charge

VIDEO: Lake County union official faces alcohol charge
NWI Times
May 17, 2016
https://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=69016&siteSection=nwilanding_spl_fea_fro&videoId=30799971

Lake County union official Randolph L. "Randy" Palmateer, 37, of Crown Point, took a field sobriety test after entering a sobriety checkpoint on March 25. Officer T. Laurinec said Palmateer failed two out of three field sobriety tests and took a portable roadside breath test, which measured his blood alcohol content at 0.155, which is almost twice the legal limit of 0.08. He refused to take a second breath test at the police station.

05172016 - News Article - Police video shows union official dropping Hammond mayor's name

Police video shows union official dropping Hammond mayor's name
NWI Times
May 17, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/police-video-shows-union-official-dropping-hammond-mayor-s-name/article_6a67d78b-0591-5514-8109-cd132ee0a5a9.html

HAMMOND — A Lake County union leader dropped Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.'s name as he was trying to avoid arrest this spring on suspicion of drunken driving.

McDermott's office, responding to a request from The Times Media Co., released a police video showing Randolph "Randy" Palmateer mentioning the mayor, first casually and later pleading with officers, "I want my phone so I can call Tom McDermott. I don't want this sh--. Don't send me to the county."

McDermott said Tuesday, "I can't control what people say when they are being arrested. Randy is my friend, to this day. I don't think Randy should have done that, personally, but he did. I want to point out that the right thing happened at the end of the day, despite the fact that my name was dropped."

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Tuesday that he is sure Palmateer didn't want to go the county jail, "because he wouldn't get any special favors and would have to go through the same process as everybody else, especially with it being his second offense."

Police arrested Palmateer, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, and the prosecutor's office charged him with operating his union-provided vehicle while intoxicated.

He pleaded guilty May 2 to the lesser violation of reckless driving, his second such offense in five years.

The nearly 10-minute video is shot from the body camera of a police officer at a sobriety checkpoint 9:25 p.m. March 25 in the 7200 block of Kennedy Avenue.

The officer states, "You smell like you've had alcohol. There is alcohol in your car." Palmateer responds, "I had one beer. We just left the game. Came back. I'm meeting Tom McDermott at his house."

The officer responded, "Great. Tom knows we are having a DUI checkpoint."

Palmateer said, "I know. He told me that, too."

When the officers laughed, Palmateer said, "I swear. Jesus Christ. You can look at my text messages."

McDermott said Tuesday he was at a Boyz II Men concert that night when he heard from his police chief of Palmateer's arrest.

Officer T. Laurinec reports Palmateer failed two out of three field sobriety tests. When informed he was "borderline" and would be taken to the police station, he replied, "I'd rather you not do that. I'd rather just leave and go back toward Tom's house."

After being put in handcuffs, he agreed to take a portable roadside breath test, which measured his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.155, almost twice the legal limit of 0.08.

McDermott said Tuesday, "It was horrible timing. Little did I know when Randy got pulled over I would be sucked into the drama."

He said Palmateer was preparing a union endorsement of Marissa McDermott, the mayor's wife, at a crucial moment in her campaign for Lake Circuit Court judge. She won the May 3 Democratic primary.

"Randy was helping us, and the building and trades endorsement was huge for us," McDermott said. "That was pending when this all went down and we were afraid that it would affect the race."

05172016 - News Article - Construction company chosen for new animal shelter

Construction company chosen for new animal shelter

Post-Tribune

May 17, 2016 - 4:33PM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-commissioners-basic-st-0518-20160517-story.html

The new Porter County Animal Shelter inched closer to reality Tuesday as the Board of Commissioners learned which of three design/build teams is closest to hitting the parameters outlined for the project.

In a dovetailing of scores for facility designs and proposed cost, Larson-Danielson Construction Co. of LaPorte offered the best option, said Stephen Kromkowski with DLZ.

Larson-Danielson scored in the middle in the design rankings done by a technical review committee and offered a proposed cost of about $2.7 million, the lowest of the three teams competing for the project. The other two teams are Core, Epoc, Millies and Abonmarche, and Gairup/M2Ke design.

"Everything did meet the criteria that was established," Kromkowski said.

The next step, he said, will be for Larson-Danielson to sit down with a shelter advisory committee and fine-tune the overall design.

"They're not changing the scope and they're not changing the design," Kromkowski said, adding it's more of an "overall refinement" of the plans.

By the commissioners' next meeting on June 14, Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said officials would have "a really good idea" of the cost of a new shelter.

County officials have long said that the current shelter, at 2056 Heavilin Road off of Indiana 2, was outdated and too small to handle the number of animals that come through its doors.

Demolition is complete on the old house on the county-owned land for the new shelter, on a five-acre parcel between the sheriff's department and the Expo Center on Indiana 49, said highway superintendent David James, as well as demolition of the outbuildings on the property.

Additionally, the commissioners and Surveyor Kevin Breitzke, serving as the county's storm water board, unanimously passed a resolution against Great Lakes Basin Transportation's plans for a 278-mile freight train line, which would start in Wisconsin and end in LaPorte County.

The proposed line, an $8 billion, privately funded project, would run through southern and eastern Porter County.

Several other boards in Lake and Porter counties have come out against the plan.