Some say justice is blind. Others say there is no justice. For an abused child, involved in the lifesucking state of ANY abuse, they are sure that both are true. This blog's purpose is to bring awareness to the citizen's of this FIRE DISTRICT about it's elected commissioners and what was going on with the Union's push behind the last elections - which was regardless of all their propaganda and self-promotions NOT in this districts best interests.
Since it's inception, this blog as tried to be as honest as possible with as many facts as possible. Admittedly, I have not always succeeded at that and where possible have conceded & remanded whatever discussion I may have been inaccurate about.
But recently, everything took a sordid turn down a road no one wanted to travel. I have posted the charges brought forth by the State of Florida against former Commissioner Mark Ruben on 8 counts of CHILD sexual molestation and Lewd & Lascivious behavior with a minor.
At this point, I want to make myself perfectly clear:
This blog will not discuss these charges or this case or venture any further opinions about Mark Ruben than has been said already in the comments. I am incredibly apalled and deeply disgusted just as any moral human being (and especially those of us who are parents) should be. However, in order to allow the justice system that suffers terribly from every loophole there is, to work to it's fullest and most responsible extent, this blog cannot become the media playground for discussing it. It will only HELP Ruben's case, could cause a mistrial or in some manner interfere with the due process.
Therefore, please, stop posting ANONYMOUS posts of miscellaneous information that I will not post that is too personal and can affect the case directly Please don't email me with info to send out, or expect me to make waves where there are none to make. Without anyone's help, Mark Ruben has plenty to think about and figure out for himself.
Better now to focus on exactly what this commission has been up to, whether the firefighters' judgment is all that trustworthy after this recommdation and what the future holds for Southern Manatee Fire District. It IS an election year. It's time to choose new seats again, please Voters, Beware and Choose wisely!
really!! when this child is close to you there is plenty to say!! No waves to make ,I can make plenty of waves one of these kids is my Grandchild!! DONOT protect Manatee County stupity for electing a child molester!!! You want my name I will be happy to tell you Terri Lewellyn
ReplyDeleteUnderstandably, you are personally close to this situation,"Grandma". And you are rightfully upset but by no means accuse me of protecting him in any manner, far be it from me that I should and this is the reason why I won't discuss this situation: Let the LAW convict him. Anything else, anymore noise, any other brouhaha will look contrived and be admissable to court as personal vendetta and taint the potential for conviction. Let the process make the case.
ReplyDeleteOK, so what happen to "let the process make the case" I can not believe that I hear that this guy is out of Jail. God help us all, keep your kids at home. Don't ride a bike on the roads of manatee county.
ReplyDeleteUnknown to me what happened... I know I let it sit in order not to interfere... my only guess is that the time it took, the age of the children and the final threat of reliving the nightmare on the witness stand under the brutal cross exam of a defense attorney for him, would be intimidating to any child and better to let it go and let them move on if there was no other way to convict this terrible person... higher powers than any human on earth will have His way with him one day... and were I him, I would rue that day!
ReplyDeleteDebbie, Debbie, Debbie.....When will you ever admit that you were wrong as to the motives of the SMFR firefighters? I've seen you in the commission meetings. I know you can see that we now have a board and a chief that has put more time and effort into this dept. in the last few months than the previous administration did in ten years! Our commission meetings now go on for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (like they should) compared to the 15 min. meetings YOUR old commissioners held! Our new chief is OBSESSED with making our department financially sound! As a so called "conservative", It's mind boggling to me that you've yet to acknowledge that his desire is to get our dept. to "zero debt"! Isn't that a conservative value? Why is that? Is it because your devotion to your commissioner friend has clouded your judgement or is it something a little more sinister.... maybe you just simply hate firemen.
ReplyDeleteYou have page after page of blasting "union" firefighters and their motives. Yet, after the dust settled, none of what you said would happen has come true. We don't have lavish contracts. As a matter of fact we haven't had any increase in pay/benefits for almost 7 years now. Actually I misspoke, we lost $2100/yr over a year ago. While the other departments around us got pay increases over the last few years we stayed exactly the same. Why do you think that is? Because you were wrong about us, that's why! We care more about this fire department than YOU ever will! This is our life, not just some ridiculous blog! We were told the dept. was hurting financially and we did our part. As it turns out we were lied to but that is a whole different story. Funny, I don't see you mention that in your blog?
When I read your little "pre-amble", it sickens me to think that this is what the world thinks a christian is like. Someone who spews hate and lies, and won't admit when she is wrong. Debbie, you we're wrong. It's ok, we make mistakes. It's how you learn from and correct those mistakes that gets you closer to God. I challenge you to look back at all of the blog's and things you've said about SMFR's firefighters (union or not) and their intentions, and ask yourself "Have you helped or hindered SMFR in becoming a great fire department"? I think we both know the answer to that because there is NOT ONE positive sentence about SMFR or it's firefighters in this entire blog! Now that's Christ like!
One more thing, I know this would kill you to do but could you at least admit in your blog that Chief Gorski seems to be the right guy for the job? Sorry, what was I thinking..... Never mind.
I'm a tax payer in manatee county and I appreciate having a blog that informs the public what is happening in our fire departments. From what I have read in her blog and looking into things for myself she is stating the facts. I'm assuming you are a fire fighter in manatee county and as a tax paper, I'm
Deleteappalled at how you would post a comment like
this to someone who is trying to help southern manatee fire department to be the best fire dept. it can be.
To say she's not Christian like, and she spews hate and lies I think is so uncalled for. Why are some of the firemen getting so upset with her blog? Is it because she is revealing the truth ? When reading her blog I couldn't understand why the firemen where attacking her personally.
Her personal life really has nothing to do with what is going on in the fire dept. and I felt she didn't need to explain any of her personal information.
All of the mean comments on this blog from the firemen makes me think there must be truth to what she is saying and the firemen are upset the truth is being revealed.
Thank you for this blog and please keep on informing the public what is going on. We have the right to know.