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Venice
on the web
A semi-regular
column
Men
in Plaid
Muppets terrorize city hall, Emergency
Services Director Joe Slapp saves the day
-- John Patten, 12/30/02,
-- revised 01/02/03
jpatten@veniceflorida.com
Got a comment? Make
it here.
Related:
Anybody else wish to come forward and get
arrested?
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 09/28/02
Levine is out of trouble; Slapp is out of a job
-- Venice Florida! dot com, 12/15/02
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It's a Venice thing, you wouldn't understand
Herb Levine arrested. Ho hum. The rat bastard deserved
it and more. He went positively bonkers at a city council meeting back
on September 24, 2002, way out of control, and there was absolutely no cause
for it. These folks were having a civil meeting, everything was nice, and Levine
apparently forgot to take his meds that day. Went ballistic for absolutely no
reason at all.
If the only thing you know about the incident came from
the newspapers, that is the impression you would be left with. Media accounts
were quick to point out that Levine, 75, had called City Manager George Hunt a
liar and then-Vice Mayor Jim Myers a drunk and an idiot. They kind of forgot to
point out that in both cases, these were responses from Levine to similar
name-callings from the so-called victims of those barbs.
Earlier in the same council budget meeting, George Hunt
had gone off on an off-topic and unscheduled tear, trying to rip apart an
article that Levine had written. Hunt, in a verbal tantrum that ran close to
four minutes, stopped just short of accusing Levine of being a terrorist and a
child molester. Hunt's diatribe was glossed over in the papers, but Levine's 25
second retort of calling Hunt a liar was the lead item.
Myers had interrupted Levine's response, stating he'd
had enough of Levine's lies and innuendos and then compared Levine to a hyena.
Levine returned the favor, calling Myers a drunk and an idiot. Try and find the
word 'hyena' in any newspaper account: other than a column by Tom Lyons
in the Herald-Trib, you won't.
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Roy Stout (left) and
Herb Levine of The Venice Taxpayers League, as seen through the eyes of
one city employee
from the 1999 Muppet
calendar
Jim
Henson Productions
scan courtesy of
Muppet
Central
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That's all in the audio, and you can listen for
yourself right now at your computer (audio files are linked to above).
The end result was a short term public relations coup:
city hall had finally vilified Levine to an unprecedented level. The media went
along for the ride. For a while, anyway.
The ride ended when Assistant State Attorney Kurt
Hoffman couldn't figure out exactly what law Levine had broken that justified
his arrest. Levine did make a threat of sorts: when Mayor Dean Calamaras told
Levine "This time you've crossed the line," Levine responded with the
words, "Not yet I haven't." According to Calamaras' affidavit, this
constituted a threat and justified Levine's arrest. Problem: Levine was already
arrested and being led out the door when that exchange took place.
OK, so Levine created a disturbance, disrupting the
whole meeting. That there's a crime, right? Well, the State Attorney's Office
reviewed a hell of a lot of testimony and the audio tapes. There definitely was
a disturbance, but it didn't appear that Levine was the cause. One of the final
witnesses subpoenaed by the State quoted Hoffman as stating, "If the Venice
City Council would play by the same rules that they impose on everyone who comes
before them, they'd be in a much better position on this case."
That's it, ballgame over. Levine had to have either
created the disturbance or he had to have exhibited behavior that a
reasonable person would construe as an immediate physical threat. In the eyes of
the State Attorney's Office, the city couldn't even begin to carry the burden of
proof for either element of the case. There was nothing
that met any semblance
of legal criteria for making a threat, so that part of the city's case is toast.
As to whether or not Levine created the disturbance, if taken to
trial, a good defense attorney would argue, in all likelihood quite
successfully, that while there was a disturbance, members of city council
created it and not Herb Levine.
The decision to drop the charges against Levine has put
city hall in a major bind. While Levine is still staying mum about his options,
the plain fact is that he has had lawyers lining up to take him on as a pro-bono
client in a civil rights action that has all the indications of turning into an
extremely costly case, probably the most expensive tort that city hall has ever
faced.
The deeper you look into the Levine case, the weirder
and funnier it gets. The whole thing is as surreal as Northern Exposure or
Picket Fences ever got, arguably even more so. This is a great story, certainly
THE big political story of 2002 in our small little burg.
So what really did happen?
Well, listen to the audio (linked above) and judge for
yourself. Then you can read some of the accounts by witnesses to the event,
which are reprinted below from affidavits and newspaper accounts. The whole
thing has a cumulative affect, and leads to an obvious question: were any of
these folks in attendance at the same meeting that appears on the tape?
Note -- punctuation and spelling have been left 'as is'
-- no corrections have been made to the quoted text.
He called all the council members "idiots" and
referred to Vice Mayor Jim Myers as "you drunk!"
...Slapp tried to
remove Levine from his seat in the first row, but Levine resisted.
...Slapp
received assistance from Fire Chief Mike Johnson.
-- Patricia Garlausky Horwell, Venice Gondolier Sun, 09/25/02,
City
hall gadfly arrested |
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According to
the audio, Levine called Myers an idiot and a drunk after Myers
referred to Levine as a hyena. Levine made no comments of the kind to
any other members of council. The Gondolier would reprint this error
almost word for word in their next
issue. They never issued a retraction
or a correction.
Also of note is the fact that word 'hyena' has, to
date, never appeared in any reporter's account of Levine's arrest in The
Gondolier (it may have appeared in their anonymous reader rants section).
Numerous witnesses, in their affidavits below, all
insisted that Levine called all of city council liars or idiots, in spite of the
fact that nothing of the kind can be heard in the audio. It would be
easy to say that they compared notes before writing their affidavits,
but there is so much divergence in other details that would make such
note comparison unlikely.
Garlausky Horwell's story broke in the early morning
hours of the
25th. Most of the affidavits quoted below were dated later the same
day. The most reasonable explanation would appear to be that that Garlausky Horwell's error
became part of the collective psyche -- it was in today's Gondolier, it must be
true, oh yeah, now I remember.
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Congrats
to Mayor Dean Calamaras for causing an arrest of Herb Levine, who went
too far in his classless haranguing of council and George Hunt. Those
meetings deserve to be civil. Way to go, Dean.
-- Bob Vedder, Venice Gondolier Sun print edition, 09/28/02 |
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Mayor
Calamaras did not cause the arrest of Levine. In fact, Calamaras
actually made an attempt to prevent the arrest from happening,
specifically telling Slapp "I don't know as we want to arrest him,
just remove him from the hall." That's right in the audio, plain as
day. |
Levine
claims that Slapp hurt his arm when he tried to get him out of the seat.
Hunt acknowledged that the next day Slapp was in city hall wearing a
sling on one arm. "It was the wrong arm," Hunt said, "He
was wearing the sling on his left arm." Slapp said he grabbed
Levine by the right arm.
-- Tommy McIntyre, Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/05/02,
Top
cop contradicts Levine's version of bust |
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A lot of
things don't add up in Tommy McIntyre's story.
Levine's left arm and shoulder are most definitely
injured. Levine is going through physical rehab for a separated
shoulder. Levine states that he let the Gondolier take photographs of
the injuries and the bruising the very next day. He has not denied them
a request for medical info -- to date, they have not requested any such
info.
In his affidavit (quoted below), Slapp does indeed
state that he grabbed Levine by his right arm. Slapp goes on to
write that Fire Chief Mike
Johnson grabbed Levine by his left arm, a claim that Levine,
Johnson and Councilman David Farley dispute. It's almost as though Slapp
is trying to set up Johnson to be falsely blamed
for Levine's injuries.
Levine claims that Slapp grabbed him by his left arm
and then walked him out of the chambers with a thumb jacked up high and
hard into his left armpit. Levine has stated repeatedly that he has no
memory of Mike Johnson ever laying a finger on him throughout the entire
event. Other accounts state that Johnson at one point did have his hands
on one of Levine's arms. That said, it is well documented on paper and in
the audio record that Levine's cries of pain and his objections to being
grabbed were in reaction to Joe Slapp's actions and not Mike Johnson's.
As to why the Gondolier was reporting that Slapp --
the wrong person -- was wearing a sling on the wrong arm, well, chalk it
up to a humorous typo. It happens. |
Levine became very abusive and disruptive at a City of
Venice Public Hearing. Mayor Dean Calamaras requested that Levine stop
shouting insults to council and to leave The Council Chambers. Levine refused
to do either and stated make the cops make me leave. I approached Levine and
stated I am the cops.
...I had to physically remove him from The Chambers with
the assistance of Fire Chief Mike Johnson.
-- Public Safety Director Joe Slapp in his
initial affidavit |
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By the time
Slapp approached Levine, Levine was pretty much done with his part of
the show, it was council who were continuing the uproar, something
that Assistant State Attorney Kurt Hoffman took major note of in
deciding not to prosecute the case. |
Mr. Levine defied the mayor's admonishments to abide by the
rules of the Council Meeting. Levine defied this with oaths and called the
mayor and the city manager with derogatory terms.
-- Councilman Burton C. Brown, affidavit |
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Levine never
made any such statement to the Mayor, at no time did he call the Mayor
any names. Just listen to the audio. |
Mr. Levine called the City Mgr and others a liar. He called
Mr Myers a liar, a drunk and other inflamatory statements. Mayor
requested him to stop. He didn't.
-- Councilwoman Virginia C. Warren, affidavit |
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OK, for the
last time, folks: Hunt said Levine was fallacious, Levine then called Hunt a liar.
Myers called Levine a hyena, Levine then called Myers a drunk and an idiot. Oh, and
Levine was also rude to Slapp while Slapp was
trying to arrest him. If anyone else felt insulted, they must have heard
voices that are not recordable by current audio technology. Consult the
local Catholic diocese, maybe they have an exorcist on call. |
...called me a drunk -- called me a liar -- was generally
[illegible, possibly 'bombastic'] and violent.
-- Vice Mayor Jim Myers, affidavit |
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What the
heck does 'generally violent' mean? These are legal documents, folks,
witness/victim affidavits to be used in a criminal case. This isn't an
in-house city hall thing where you can get away with being deliberately
vague, this is the real thing. Playtime is over.
Levine was 'generally violent' how? What specific
actions or behaviors were observed that made you perceive that Levine
was 'generally violent?' Did he pound a table, did he throw something,
kick a chair, what? You folks are lawmakers, you are more than passingly
familiar with the concept of the law, right?
Hello? Anyone home? Anyone?
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He started our with sarcasm aimed at the city manager
and called council liars. This brought a response from Vice Mayor Myers and
Councilman Burt Brown to call for order as he was violating our policy of
civility that I read before each council meeting and Levine is well aware of.
I gaveled Herb to order and said you are done for now, your in violation
of our policy. He kept yelling back at Council Called Vice Mayor Myers a drunk
+ the rest of Council liars and generally creating a comation. I asked
him to leave the chambers saying you've gone to far this time Herb. He sat
down and continued to yell back.
...As he was being lead out by Joe Slapp
under arrest, I said you have gone over the line this time Herb + he replied
"Not yet I haven't" I feel this was a threat!
-- Mayor Dean Calamaras, affidavit |
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Eh. But here
we go again with Levine going off on a verbal tirade on all of council
-- it never happened. Just go back and listen to the audio for yourself.
And yes, this is letter for letter exactly what
Calamaras wrote in his affidavit. |
Joe Slapp called to Fire Chief Mike Johnson for help. Mike
did not have to put a hand on [Levine] that I saw.
-- Councilman David Farley, affidavit |
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Well, that
matches Levine's account anyway. Farley and Levine finally agree on
something -- there's a first time for everything. |
Mr. Slapp requested the assistance of Fire Chief Mike
Johnson who went to Mr. Levine and placed his hand on his other arm.
-- then-City Council candidate (subsequently elected) John K. Moore, affidavit |
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Then
again... |
Mr. Slapp continued his efforts to remove Mr. Levine, and
requested assistance. I got up from my seat to assist and before I got to
where they were, Mr. Levine got out of his seat.
-- Venice Fire Chief Mike Johnson, affidavit |
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OK, OK, OK
-- we believe you. |
[Levine] resisted Mr
Slapps efforts to get him to stand up and complained Mr Slapp was
hurting his arm, while laughing. ...I moved to a position about four
feet in back of Mr Slapp in case Mr Levine sucker punched or attempted
to take Mr Slapps weapon, I was intent on helping restrain Mr Levine.
...As he was exiting the chambers, the Mayor said you have pushed the
limit this time Herb. Mr Levine's reply was "not yet I
haven't" I consider this last comment to be a serious threat that
it is Mr Levine's intention to create a further and possibly more
violent disruption in the future. His extreme animosity toward myself,
several members of Council and the city government in general is a
widely known fact and I do not believe this is an isolated or one time
incident.
-- City Manager George Hunt, affidavit |
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Now this is
actually pretty darned funny.
In the second audio clip, several members of council
can be heard repeatedly ordering Hunt to sit back down. They are actually barking at
him in near panic to get back into his seat. The audio doesn't explain
what Hunt was doing, and for the longest time I was scratching my head
wondering what that was all about. Levine states he has no recollection
of Hunt getting out of his seat and close to the fray, but he was
understandably distracted at the time.
Hunt's own account clears up that minor mystery: he was off into some
fantasy G-Man trip itching for the chance to get some hard-core street
action experience. Later, in the third audio clip, he would lament not
having his gun on him.
What the hell was George Hunt thinking? And why did he
then admit to such a dumb act by putting it down on paper as part of a
sworn affidavit?
Then there's that threat allegation. The law states
that it has to be behavior that a reasonable person would construe as a
threat. In deciding not to prosecute Levine, the State sent a very
strong message back to city hall: George Hunt is not a reasonable
person.
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[Levine] was obviously
threatening me, and we've gone through the carry situation, and I don't
carry [a firearm], I have no defense of myself, and how stable he is or
how unstable he is I'm not sure.
-- George Hunt, minutes after Levine was arrested at city hall, city
council audio |
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Well, after reading the account above from George's
own hand, I sure hope George doesn't carry a weapon into city hall
anymore.
Does anyone know for sure? |
[Levine] gave a rambling but angry talk about City Manager George
Hunt's earlier presentation. He ended it calling Mr. Hunt a liar, and while walking back to his seat called the
whole council liars. The Mayor and several other council members stated that
Mr. Levine was out of order. Instead of sitting down, Mr. Levine stood, sort
of shaking his fist at the council and repeated that they were liars...
...Joe Slapp, who was seated behind and to my right, got up and went to
Mr. Levine and told him to sit down and be quiet, during which Mr. Levine
was still ranting.
...this was the most intense tantrum of [Levine's] which I have seen and
it actually made me afraid that the situation would escalate to physical
violence on his part before it was over.
-- City of Venice Citizen Liaison Pam Johnson, affidavit |
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Yeah, well, with George Hunt trying to
wriggle in close to get a few cheap shots in, Pam Johnson may not be off
the mark by much in fearing that violence might have taken place, and by
her account, she was only a couple of seats away.
Truthfully and without any exaggeration in the least,
I'd have been diving for the floor or the nearest exit in sheer panic, but
not for the reasons Pam Johnson stated. I'd have been scared to death that
Hunt might actually still be packing on-the-job heat. Council members
managed to get our rock-'em sock-'em city manager back into his seat
before Levine spotted him, so we'll thankfully never know what Levine's
reaction would have been had he noticed what else was going on around him.
As far as Levine's actual behavior goes: "Sort
of shaking his fist at the council?" Sort of? That must be that 'generally violent' thing that Myers
was talking about. And that's the worst behavior that Johnson has ever
seen from Levine? Sort of shaking his fist?
I can now readily see why Slapp was quaking in fear
that violence might erupt at any moment (although Slapp, like Levine,
apparently never noticed Hunt in lurk-and-hover mode). Why the Sheriff's SWAT team
wasn't brought in will remain a mystery.
Again, the collective hallucination that Levine was
ranting away at all of council rears its head. It's not on the tape,
folks, it didn't happen. It's not out of the realm of possibility, it
plausibly sounds like something Levine might do, but the plain fact is:
IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!
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HIS OBNOXIOUS BEHAVIOR HAS BEEN STEADILY BECOMING MORE
AGGRESSIVE. SO MUCH SO, THAT CITY OFFICIALS HAVE EXPRESSED CONCERN FOR THE
SAFETY OF EVERYONE IN ATTENDANCE, INCLUDING THEIR OWN SAFETY.
...INSTEAD OF
STOPPING HIS VERBAL ATTACKS, MR. LEVINE BECAME MORE VIOLENT BY REMAINING
STANDING VERY CLOSE TO WHERE THE COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER WERE SEATED,
...ALL
DURING THIS TIME, MR. LEVINE WAS WAVING HIS HANDS AND POINTING AT THE COUNCIL
AND SHOUTING...
...[FIRE] CHIEF JOHNSON TOOK MR. LEVINE BY THE LEFT ARM AS I HELD ONTO
HIS RIGHT ARM.
...PRIOR TO MY MAKING CONTACT WITH MR. LEVINE DURING THIS INCIDENT, I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF MY INTERVENTION TO
PREVENT SOMETHING VIOLENT FROM TAKING PLACE. AGAIN, I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS MAN
REACT IN SUCH AN AGGRESSIVE, VIOLENT MANNER.
-- Joe Slapp, in a later addendum to his original affidavit, typewritten in
all capital letters |
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Levine
became more violent by continuing to stand still.
When exactly
did Levine get violent to begin with? What violent act did Levine do or
almost do? Did he sort of start shaking his other fist?
Slapp's account here has Levine standing apparently at
the dais in threatening proximity to council members when Slapp intervened, while other accounts place him back at
his seat in the front row. The audio of clip number 2, other statements and even other
portions of Slapp's own account tend to indicate that Levine was in
retreat, having returned to his seat by the time Slapp intervened, not
in any threatening proximity to members of council, and certainly not
standing.
Moreover, the only person that has indicated any
thoughts or behavior of violence was George Hunt, who stated in his
affidavit that he was nobly and bravely taking up the rear position
behind Slapp, hoping he would get the chance to help 'restrain' a
75-year-old man.
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These two gentlemen [Levine and fellow Taxpayers League
officer Roy Stout] were acting like the old guys in The Muppet Show.
...Joe [Slapp] was trying to be very nice and just escort [Levine] out, but
Herb wanted to be handcuffed. Herb tried yelling as if he was being hurt, but
that was not the case. Joe never used any force.
-- City of Venice Information Systems Director Charles "Steve"
Randall, affidavit |
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Hunt thinks
Levine is a serious threat to the safety and security of city hall and
its employees. Slapp is convinced that his intervention saved council
members from a catastrophic and violent fate.
Now we find out that this dire threat to life, liberty
and the pursuit of gravy city contracts originated from...
MUPPETS??????
In one sentence, city hall's top geek killed that whole 75-year-old
terrorist image that everyone else was working so hard to develop.
This comparison of Stout and Levine to the plush
puppet characters of Waldorf and Statler had them rolling on the floor
at defense attorney Derek Byrd's office. It became one of the standout
quotes of the case and would probably have ended up as a cornerstone of
Levine's defense. You can safely bet that it caused more than a few
snickers over at the State Attorney's Office as well.
How threatening can you possibly be when one of the
potential victims of a violent terrorist act compares you to a Muppet?
That's a question that was guaranteed to be thrown to a jury should the
case have gone to trial.
More importantly, how did Joe Slapp let this one slide
by and become part of the official record? While the city's case against
Levine was admittedly weak from the start, this little gem of an
affidavit -- from one of their own -- played strongly against their
case.
Look for a new directive from Hunt's office in the
coming days: Muppet artwork and plush toys will be henceforth banned
from city hall. Say goodbye to the Miss Piggy posable action figure that
sits on top of your monitor.
Nice
work, Steve. Now go back to your room and please: don't repeat this to
anyone. Ever. |
John
Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative
Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also
be incredibly rude at times. |
