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| Sondra Thompson (from Bradenton Herald Photo) |
- May 9th, 2009- Ruben had an accident with a company vehicle and incurred damages causing a small claims suit.
- April 10, 2010- Nearly a year later, Ruben had a more serious accident with injuries in which there's an open lawsuit still in progress.
- Sometime in between or during all these, there was the accident that completely totaled his truck out.
- September 2010- Ruben failed to make a fire district meeting because of, yes, you guessed it , ANOTHER vehicle accident! We only know this because he informed the board of the reason of his absence. It wasn't reported publicly.
- January 30. 2011- Ruben killed a bicyclist on Whitfield, not too far from his home. Charges are pending against Ruben according to the FHP. And family & friends are grieving an untimely loss that most likely could have been prevented.
"Misappropriation: That's a big word for misusing things or funds that aren't a persons. When someone is in a public office or position it's important to remember that what you have is provided by the taxpayers and you must remain above reproach. It's always good to be held accountable but often times from the inside looking further in, if you're not in the management end of things, you really don't understand the big picture."
I further explained the reasons for my comments about this misappropriation thought and how it applied to Commissioner Mark Ruben in particular, i.e. the birthday party at the firehouse for his child (which would obviously would have fully impeded the function of that house that day), the use of the fire department credit card by a deputy chief for Mark Ruben's child's birthday cake, and making promises to that same deputy chief that he'll make him the next chief (which he has already foolishly publicly attempted to fulfill that promise during the December Fire Meeting). However these pale in comparison to what would be the precursor to this tragedy on Sunday afternoon, January 30th, 2011 when Sondra Thompson lost her life bicycling near her home because Mark Ruben was on the same road as her.
