|
On the morning of October 7, 2005 my wife and I
were visited by a gentleman who hand delivered to us two letters authored by Andrew Hailstone. He is the father
of Sara Hailstone, the Director of the Office of OECD for the City of Scranton. Both letters were identical. Both letters
demanded that we remove a page from our website entitled, "About Sara Hailstone", as well as a post on our message board entitled,
"Wanted, info on Sara Hailstone". The letter demanded that we remove the references to Sara Hailstone within four hours because
they somehow caused her to fear bodily harm, which was complete and utter nonsense. I responded with a fax to Mr.
Hailstone asking him to point out any language that was threatening. He didn't respond, but four hours after we
received the hand delivered letters, the Pa. State Police, through Trooper Fozard, made contact with the provider of
the secured message board and requested that the board be suspended. The provider complied and as a result of that
action all of the posters had their constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of association violated.
With our very popular message board out of commission, we immediately
went searching for a new secured board provider. We found one out of England and proceeded to create the message
board and make it available to the posters and readers of the site. It was up and running by Monday morning, but all
of the old postings on the suspended board were gone. Essentially, participants had to start all over again.
Everyone had to re-register. The flow of communication was interrupted. The spontaneity of message responses was
gone. And many facts and documentations simply disappeared.
By Tuesday morning, I was in the Federal Courthouse in
Scranton and filed a lawsuit against the State Police for violating our free speech rights and freedom of association rights.
It was served upon the State Police on October 19th, 2005. You can view the lawsuit by Clicking Here.
What prompted the State Police to take away our rights
to free speech and freedom to association? Apparently, it was something to do with Sara Hailstone. She was quoted
in the newspaper as saying it seemed like the language in the website was encouraging people to stalk her. Ridiculous,
of course. There was no language in the website or the message board that was threatening or could cause any kind of
situation where she could be threatened with bodily harm.
It's politics as usual in Scranton. Slay the Messenger.
The Sparklit message board has been shut down now for nearly two weeks as of today, October 21, 2005. I haven't heard
anything from the State Police and they have refused to return phone calls I made to them. I visited the barracks and
left a written message and left phone messages. No response. The conduct of the State Police was totally out of line. First,
above all, they could have conducted an investigation of the message board without shutting it down. Trooper Fozard
advised Sparklit that the investigation was harassment in nature. Well, harassment is a Summary offense in this state.
The city of Scranton has its own police force and that, I believe, is where jurisdiction lies in this matter. If you,
as a resident of the city of Scranton wanted to file harassment charges against anyone, you would not be sent to the State
Police. You'd be sent to the local magistrate, where it belongs.
Here's all that matters. They pushed. We pushed back.
They took our free speech away. We responded with legal action immediately. As long as they know that for every action,
there will be a reaction, we'll win the war. There's a conspiracy here, and as soon as I get something in writing from Trooper
Fozard relating to why he took the action he did, I'll know exactly who the players were. My Crystal Ball is a
little dreary from sleep deprivation, but I think I see some legal action heading Hailstone's way, Andrew's and Sara's.
|
