Page 24 The Westchester Guardian
Letters to the Editor
in the Senate from 1998-2010. A radical
Progressive who never met a program
that wastes our tax dollars that he did
not support.
Thirty-five years of “service” is not
what the founders intended. Enough
already!
Vincent Emilio
Mt. Vernon, New York
To the Editor:
The Mt. Vernon City Council was
sued for allegedly violating the City
Charter and state law when the Council
eliminated the Inspector General’s
Office to thwart his investigation of
certain elected officials suspected of
illegal activities. The City Council
hired their friend, Nichelle Johnson,
International Kidnapping: Will You Ever See Your Child Again Continued from page 5
of the remaining 110 non-signatory
countries do not adhere to Western
cultural norms, such as Asian, Arab and
African countries. Arab countries, for
example, utilize sharia legal standards,
i.e., Muslim religious law, which gives
exclusive authority within the family unit
to the father. If an Arab man marries an
American woman, they have a child, and
the father then abducts that child to his
home country, chances are the mother
will never see that child again.
In general, if an American child is
abducted to a non-signatory country,
the chances that child will be returned
to the U.S. are quite slim. For example,
American children abducted to Japan
are virtually never returned here, even
though the U.S. and Japan enjoy strong
National Parks: Perfect for Tea Parties Continued from page 5
enjoy horseback riding. Visit this June
to witness the wondrous synchronized
firefly display where millions of insects
blink off-and-on in perfect rhythm
like something out of the movie,
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,”
a mystery to scientists and humbling
reminder of how little we truly know.
My list here is just a start. To find
out what’s close to home, go to the
National Park Service website, www.
Continued from page 4
as a part-time legislative assistant for
$85,000, plus benefits with taxpayers’
money. She then unlawfully signed a
certification to the state confirming the
Council’s ordinance eliminating the
Inspector General position was legal.
Ms. Johnson’s license as an attorney may
be in jeopardy because of this action.
The plot thickens. The Council
then transferred resources from the IGs
office to the $85k part-time assistant,
including the IGs secretary. It also gave
her records of the IG’s investigation for
destruction.
It gets better. The council retained
a law firm to defend it in the lawsuit.
An investigation by Mt. Vernon activist,
Sam Rivers, revealed that hiring this
firm was an illegal political payoff. Sam
economic and diplomatic relations.
Even signatory countries can be
problematic. The State Department
identified Convention non-compliance
problems with Austria, Brazil, Chile,
Mexico, and Poland, to name a few.
Judges in those countries often go
beyond the strictures of the Convention,
either because they fail to understand
their limited role in determining a
child’s habitual residence, or they resent
that limited role and decide custody
cases on the merits.
In addition, certain countries like
Austria have an extensive appeals frame-
work which causes lengthy delays over
many years before a final decision is
reached. In contrast, the Convention
requires a decision within six weeks after
nps.gov/findapark/index.htm, and click
on your home state. Many destinations,
like the National Trails system, can be
visited without a fee. Buy a National
Park annual pass for the price of dinner
out at a restaurant, and visit every park
for free.
So wake up, stop complaining, and
start packing. Get away from all the
noise for a day or week, and gain some
perspective on your country. Sure, your
Thursday, JUNE 10, 2010
warned the Council at its last meeting
the firm previously represented four of
the five Council members in their last
election bids, but was not paid for its
services. These council members are
Karen Watts, Roberta Apuzzo, Yuhanna
Edwards, and Dianne Munro-Morris.
The firm has no experience in municipal
law.
The firms billing and court records
show over fifty hours expended on
the election cases in Westchester
Supreme Court, the Appellate Division
in Brooklyn, and Court of Appeals
in Albany to keep the four Council
members on the ballot.
The estimated costs for legal
services and expenses based on the firm’s
regular billing rate for election cases was
over $25,000. The unpaid fees are now
being illegally funded by Mt. Vernon
taxpayers. The watchdog Comptroller is
commencement of a turnover proceeding.
Further, when one parent is a citizen
or permanent resident of a foreign
country -- usually the abductor -- or has
a support network of friends and rela-
tives outside the U.S., it is easier for that
parent to vigorously resist the abducted
child being returned here. Some foreign
countries show much greater deference
to their own citizens litigating against
American adversaries.
There is an important lesson here:
If you are having problems with your
spouse, ex-spouse, or co-parent of your
child, be vigilant in the face of a threat
your child could be taken out of the U.S.
for any reason. If your child is abducted,
seek competent legal advice imme-
diately. There are steps an American
government overspends from time to
time, but some things are worth what
we pay for them. If you are an angry
American, remember that spend-happy
politicians are responding to voters, and
that some of what they throw money at
are the things we demanded of them. As
for me, I’m willing to pay more for parks
and open space, and not willing to give
them up.
signing off on these bills.
It gets even better. These four
Council members filed inaccurate elec-
tion campaign disclosure forms by
failing to disclose this relationship. They
also filed false Ethics disclosure reports
under penalty of perjury.
Guess what? Nichelle Johnson was
involved in the election law case because
she was running for City Judge at the
time.
Does this smell like “conspiracy” to
defraud taxpayers? You bet ya! It should
attract interest from the U.S. Attorney’s
office.
John Jamerson
Mexico, New York
Editor’s note: The author is a private
investigator
judge can take, if given the opportunity,
to stop your child from crossing our
borders. The best international treaty is
the one you never to utilize.
Mr. Pascazi is an engineer, inventor and
lawyer. He obtained a degree in Electrical
Engineering from Manhattan College
where he also studied physics and theology,
and attended Albany Law School. For
twenty years before he practiced law, he
founded and was Chief Executive Officer
of a fiber optic communications company,
has three telecommunications inventions
assigned to IBM, and a patent pending,
“System and Apparatus for the Transmission
of Cell to Cell Communications Utilizing
the Internet.” He is fluent in Italian.
If you really want to play “tea party”
do it with your kids at a national park.
You can visit the site of the real tea
party at the Boston National Historical
Park. Go. Get out of the car, walk, and
enjoy the view. It’s yours.
David Lillard lives in Shepherdstown,
West Virginia. He is an editor at Blue
Ridge Press and managing editor of The
Observer newspaper in Jefferson County,
West Virginia.