A wealth of misconduct

Time and a Word by Yes

In the morning when you rise,
Do you open up your eyes, see what I see?
Do you see the same things ev’ry day?
Do you think of a way to start the day
Getting things in proportion?
Spread the news and help the world go ‘round.
Have you heard of a time that will help us get it together again?
Have you heard of the word that will stop us going wrong?
Well, the time is near and the word you’ll hear
When you get things in perspective.
Spread the news and help the word go round.

There’s a time and the time is now and it’s right for me,
It’s right for me, and the time is now.

- Jon Anderson & David Foster

To be quite honest, I had no idea my brain would smash into a brick wall, causing my writing skills to atrophy. My word! Or lack thereof.  To say my life was a bit topsy turvy the past two weeks is an understatement. Generally, when I sit down to write, I like to do it with nothing in my way. I like my mind free from clutter. My mind has been anything but that lately. Even today, I can’t sit still. Too many responsibilities. I anticipate this post will take hours to write - hours to focus, too. To give you an idea, here’s how I began my post last week before sickness and death took it all away:

When I arrived on the 23rd floor on Monday, a handful of people were milling about. Sure, there are always journalists waiting for the courtroom doors to open, but I’m more intrigued by the new faces I see each time I attend a hearing. Among them this time were two of the friendliest people I had the privilege to meet, Suzie Jane and Roger, who came all the way from the great home state of our 16th, 18th and 44th presidents, Illinois. We had a very nice chat before the doors opened for us to enter. They sat to my immediate right. We glanced around the room before the judge entered at 1:30 sharp. Meanwhile, I had time to boot up my old laptop computer and crack open my old-fashioned notebook - no, not the electronic kind - it’s a simple and powerless device consisting of two covers, front and back, with lined paper inside. The only thing digital about it is the hand-held digits, also known as fingers, I use to grasp the necessary recording utensil that must accompany the notebook in order to work; a pen.

Suzie Jane quietly wondered where Cindy and her friend were. I whispered back that she is sometimes late, but she should definitely show up.

When…

And that’s where it ended. My father was in the hospital, my mother got quite ill with a bad flu virus, and my aunt passed away. I had a medical procedure done and I’m a little sore from that. Can I pick up where I left off? I guess so, but what’s the point? The motions are old and somewhat stale now, old in the sense that they’ve been discussed in the news and on blogs. Instead, I’ll look into another brewing storm, unrelated to the Anthony case, or maybe it is. I guess it depends on the way the cards are falling. You’ll see.

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In May of last year, I published a post about James Hataway, the young man sitting in the Seminole County Jail accused of strangling a woman. Fortunately, she lived. Hataway is also the prime and only suspect in the disappearance of Tracy Ocasio. They left a west side bar together on the night of May 26-27, 2009, and she was never seen again. I mentioned that I knew who he was because of a bar I used to frequent way back when, before I gave up my Bacardi & Coke days. Nights, actually. I never was one for drinking during the day. By golly, I have my scruples.

Daniel SaylorMcGuintty’s has been closed at least three years now, possibly four. He and several other skinhead types used to hang out there but I never socialized with them. No, my skinhead came naturally, and I never looked at myself as any sort of tough-guy punk like they did. One night, I was standing at the bar chatting with some of the other regulars. It was a slow night. Sitting nearby was a guy who eventually joined in on our conversation. I don’t recall what we were discussing, but we really seemed to hit it off. It turns out, he was the police chief of Windermere, a small town southwest of Orlando. He even showed me his gold-plated badge. I wondered why he would have been drinking so far away from where he worked, but he told me he didn’t live in Windermere. He commuted from Seminole County, where I live. Windermere is the wealthiest little town in central Florida, or, at least its residents are. You may remember the town because Chief Daniel Saylor’s police department initially investigated Tiger Woods’ accident. The department was criticized for not asking Woods to take a breath test when he was pulled from his wrecked SUV. Florida Highway Patrol eventually took over the case because all vehicular accidents are run through that agency. Tiger was later cited for careless driving.

I used to travel to Windermere all the time. That’s where one of my ex’s mother lives - inside Isleworth, the exclusive gated community where the mishap took place. The reason why I brought this up has nothing to do with Tiger, but it does have to do with police chief Dan Saylor, or should I say ex-police chief? You see, he was arrested on Wednesday and charged with giving unlawful compensation for official behavior, a second-degree felony, and official misconduct, a third-degree felony. I haven’t traveled there in years, but the town of Windermere had a reputation for writing tickets for going 1 mph over the posted 25 mph speed limit. It’s not a joke that the town hired hand-me-down cops, too. The word on the street has pretty much been that officers sworn to uphold the law had problems doing it elsewhere. Some were fired from prior positions, in other words. As it turns out, the police chief held no sterling record, either. According to the WESH Web site, records “show reprimands from the Melbourne Police Department dating back to 1991. He was suspended for lying to Melbourne police supervisors in 1994. The next year, he was given an unsatisfactory review for professional behavior. Then, three months later, he was suspended for 160 hours without pay and put on probation for a year for not being truthful during an internal investigation. Higher-ups noted that they considered firing him but gave him ‘one last chance.; During that one year suspension, Orlando police accused Saylor of soliciting a prostitute. Police pulled him over on Parramore Avenue. According to the incident report: Saylor first claimed to be giving the woman a ride, then admitted he had been at a strip club and employees told him where he could go to pay for sex. Windermere’s town manager, Cecilia Bernier, says the town knew about the investigation but decided Saylor was ‘good material for our chief.’ No charges were ever filed in the prostitution case.”

Scott BushIt’s very interesting, too, that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had an ongoing investigation into him and the police department he ran. Just what were those charges related to? I mean, what do unlawful compensation for official behavior and official misconduct mean? Here’s where it starts to get ugly, and I mean UGLY! He’s good friends with a guy by the name of Scott Frederick Bush. Bush was arrested on Wednesday, too, and held without bond, charged with sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12 years of age. This took place over a three year period, between 2000 and 2003. Here, we have a police chief allegedly granting several of his own officers time-off with pay and other incentives to stonewall the criminal investigation of an alleged sexual deviant who raped a child. Officer Irving Murr was handling the case. He was offered money, a promotion and a day shift to cover it up. According to Saylor’s arrest warrant, he destroyed notes related to the investigation and offered bribes to lie to FDLE. The FDLE special agent in charge, Joyce Dawley, said, “Chief Saylor used his position to hinder our investigation.”

Saylor was suspended from his job without pay and released on bond Thursday, but with one stipulation: He had to agree to turn all of his personal weapons over to authorities. The locks on the doors of the police station were changed and an OCSO captain was named the interim chief. More heads are expected to roll. Meanwhile, Saylor’s career is ruined, and rightfully so if he’s actually guilty. One thing cops can’t stand is a crooked cop. It gives them all a bad name. What’s worse is the fact that he shut down the investigation into his friend who is now charged with raping a child. Of all crimes, who in their right mind would do something like that, let alone a police chief or anyone else related to law enforcement, for that matter? It’s disgusting. Child molesters are the lowest of the low.

Bear with me for a moment, please. I’m veering off course. Do we recall the time, early on, when a lot of people had gut feelings that George and Cindy knew what Casey was up to? Why didn’t they act before it was too late? How could they not see what their daughter was capable of doing? Remember, I’m not talking about after the fact, this is before the crime. Today, the Tuscon murderer’s parents could be compared to George and Cindy in the same light. How could the parents of Jared Lee Loughner not know? Again, I’m not talking about after the fact. How many people never see something coming? Especially parents? In George and Cindy’s case, Mark Nejame was their first attorney. Then, he got fed up, left, and was practically deified. He could do no harm. Next came Brad Conway. Today, it’s Mark Lippman, and he seems to be keeping the family in check. After Conway dumped George and Cindy, his reputation in the public went up a few notches. In the case of the Windermere police department, it’s quite evident the political powers in charge are now in the same boat as George and Cindy. Why didn’t they see what was going on? Town leaders knew when they interviewed Saylor that he came with lots of baggage, yet they hired him anyway. That was back in 2002.

Remember, everyone is entitled to legal counsel, and that includes Casey. Who would ever want to come to her defense and why would anyone want to, for that matter? These have been some of the recurring questions made by many, and Jose Baez and the rest of her defense team have been vilified over and over and over because of it. They are evil incarnate! Yesterday, Daniel Saylor’s attorney was able to secure bond. What attorney in their right mind would be interested in defending an alleged crooked cop who squashed an investigation into the rape of a child? That’s downright disgusting, right? Well, his attorney downplayed the state’s case against his new client and urged the public to remember Saylor has only been accused - not convicted - of crimes. Sure, we’ve heard it all before. At the bond hearing, this attorney told the judge that Saylor should be released because he didn’t belong in jail. “He should be released and he should not be here. This is a travesty that’s occurred and continues to occur.”

Who is this attorney? Just who would want to represent a police chief that used his power to cover up a rape investigation against a friend? Who would it be? Why, none other than everyone’s favorite, Mark Nejame!

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I want to thank everyone who stood by me during my family’s recent setbacks. I got some lovely, caring comments. Also, I received quite a few e-mails and submissions through this blog. I have not forgotten you, I just haven’t had much time to respond. I will. As the dust settles, I will get back into writing about the Casey Anthony case, too. There’s plenty to discuss, including lots of motions and the sanction against Jose Baez. I had a good conversation with a very nice gentleman at the last hearing. I want to say hello to Jim Barthiaume who was visiting from Michigan. It was a pleasure meeting you. Today, I will not be traveling down to the courthouse.

Thank you for your patience.