inyati13
Well-known member
In the thread, "With stories like this why does someone do meth" Larry Shoat ask a question that reminded me of one of my experiences in court. I like stories. Maybe someone will enjoy this:
In 1979 as a duly sworn agent of the Secretary of the Interior for the Office of Surface Mining, I was sent to a surface coal mine in Pike County, KY to investigate a citizen complaint. It took me all morning in a pouring rain to find the shack of a home where the person filing the complaint lived. It was in a deep mountain holler. I have been on the Ospika River in British Columbia and the Umzingwane in Zimbabwe but upon my oath, this was the most forsaken area I have ever been in my life. Before I got to the door I could see that the creek that ran down the holler was running wild and yellow with mud. A hard looking man stepped out onto the porch and ask what I wanted. I told him I was there to investigate his complaint. He said come in. I stepped into a dark depressing home. The man stepped back into the middle of the room as if he wanted to distance himself from me. In the kitchen was a hard looking woman with two toddlers clinging to her dress. The man began his story. He broke into tears several times. But the story was simple. There was a large earthen sedimentation basin in the holler above his place. The mining company had feared the structure was going to fail with the excessive rains that had been falling all fall and into the winter. They cut the water loose according to the man and it washed his barn away with all his livestock. He said in a trembling voice, " I lost my mules."
He put on a coat and took me to where the barn had been. I began taking pictures. He left me. I walked down the creek and found the body of one of his mules. I photographed the debris of the barn caught up in trees. I found ducks and chickens far back from the creek in driftwood debris. I found two hogs.
I then started my hike in a steady rain up to the sedimentation basin. It was maybe a half mile up the holler. I saw the dam rising above me. It was a large sedimentation basin. I was fortunate that I was on the side of the dam where the company had slotted the dam. On the far side was the emergency spillway which was cut back into solid rock and rip rapped. The primary spillway was a standpipe with a trash rack. The primary spillway was not discharging because debris had totally obstructed it. Not just small debris but floating trees and logs. It was not possible under the conditions to put it back into service. When the water began discharging through the emergency spillway, the company realized the threat of a dam failure. They had walked a tracked hoe down to the structure and attempted to mitigate the danger by slotting the dam. The combination of precipitation, water discharging from both the slotted area and the emergency spillway had caused the flood that took out the man's barn and killed his livestock.
At the time of my visit, the primary spillway, emergency spillway and the slotted area were all obstructed by debris including floating logs and whole trees. I returned to my government dodge ram charger. I was soaked. I pulled out my aluminum clip board, got a blank Cessation Order and proceeded to write 79-II-00-01. The year was 1979. I worked in Region II. The next number was my badge number (I don't remember it) and last was the number of cessation orders I had written. I wrote the cessation order for a "significant threat to public health and safety." But more important, I included in the stipulations that the entire mine was shut down and all equipment necessary was to be employed to abate the threat.
I left and proceeded to the mine headquarters. I entered the superintendents' office, explained my order and he kindly told me that this was above his pay grade. He said Ron, you need to serve that to the Operations Manager. He went with me. I was surprised at how humble he was. We walked into the OM's office and Mr. Doyle looked up. The superintendent was timid in explaining what I was there for.
Mr. Doyle: What is this?
Ron: Cessation Order.
Mr. Doyle: What does it do?
Ron: It orders the immediate cessation of all activities related to the production of coal.
Mr. Doyle: What to He$$! How long?
Ron: I have stipulated that you are to immediately cease mining and move any equipment necessary to abate a threat to public health and safety.
At this point the superintendent explained to Mr. Doyle that they knew the dam was in danger but they had not been able to get equipment to it. They had stuck one track hoe and a dozer trying to get the track hoe out.
Mr. Doyle: How do you expect us to remedy the situation.
Ron: For liability reasons, I cannot provide you direction on how you implement the remedy.
Mr. Doyle: You crazy SOBs come out here and tell us we need to do something that any dunbazz knows cannot be done. I tell you what, I will call every elected official in the state. I will sue your azz. And I ain't signing this.
He threw the order on the floor at my feet. I picked it up. I laid it on the edge of his desk. I said, sir, it is considered to be legally served. Your signature only acknowledges the service.
Mr. Doyle: Well Bye God it ain't served as far as I'm concerned. I ain't doing a dam thing until the weather permits. We tried and dam never lost our equipment.
Ron: Mr. Doyle, failure to comply with the stipulations of this order is a criminal act because it involves a threat to public health and safety. In addition, there is a fine for every day the order goes unabated. Because it is a significant threat to public health and safety, it carries triple damages.
Mr. Doyle: Well I'll be GD if I can believe they can send a smart azz teenager out here and shutdown a mine.
Ron: Mr. Doyle I am under obligation to remain on the mine until I see evidence that you have intentions to abate the threat.
Mr. Doyle: (to the superintendent). Go out there with this azzhole and get something down there to start fixing that dam. (to me). Bye God, you will lose you job over this. I will abate this under protest. I will have my attorneys working around the clock to vacate this order and seek damages.
I got home way after dark. My wife gave me a phone number to call. I called the Regional Administrator in Knoxville TN, David Short. David was an attorney by profession. He said Ron did you shutdown so n so mine. I said yes. He said did you have to? I explained that I identified a significant threat to public health and safety. He said every elected official in the state of Ky had called the Director of the Office of Surface Mining and complained about the cessation order. He said Ron I hope you were on solid grounds. - I never, never cry. But for a 29 year old, that was the last straw of a long day. I didn't say anything for a minute. Federal agents can be personally liable for malfeasants. I carried two million dollars of professional liability insurance for the last 20 years of my federal service. If that dam broke and any of the residents down stream were killed or injured, I would be serving time in Leavenworth. I had taken the risk that the system might fail me.
True to their threat, they took my order to court for vacation. Winning that would put them in line for damages. Lost production and expenses. John Williams was assigned to defend my order. The case was tried in the Pikeville Federal court before an Administrative Federal Judge.
We put on our case, stated my credentials, and introduced my physical evidence. I had over 40 photographs. I introduced the engineering drawing and identified how the structure was not operated in accordance with its design. The guy who lost his barn came in and testified.
When they put on their case, the superintendent got on the stand and lied like a dog. They provided "eyewitness" testimony that the structure was being operated as designed. Their eyewitnesses presented a description of the construction and condition of the slotted area that was an absolute fabrication.
John Williams put me back on and I refuted what he said. I was able to show the track hoe tracks in the mud to refute his statements that it was the result of erosion. I had the picture of the trees and debris in the emergency spillway which they said was working as designed.
They had said there was no danger to the public. I used the pictures of the mules and hogs to emphasize that the same thing could happen to people.
The Judge vacated my Cessation Order. John Williams appealed it to the federal administrative Judge board (consists of three judges who only review the transcript of the trial) and they overturned the vacation and reprimanded the Judge who vacated.
The Board had found that the eyewitnesses were not credible due to the prejudicial nature of their testimony and that the physical evidence was more credible.
In 1979 as a duly sworn agent of the Secretary of the Interior for the Office of Surface Mining, I was sent to a surface coal mine in Pike County, KY to investigate a citizen complaint. It took me all morning in a pouring rain to find the shack of a home where the person filing the complaint lived. It was in a deep mountain holler. I have been on the Ospika River in British Columbia and the Umzingwane in Zimbabwe but upon my oath, this was the most forsaken area I have ever been in my life. Before I got to the door I could see that the creek that ran down the holler was running wild and yellow with mud. A hard looking man stepped out onto the porch and ask what I wanted. I told him I was there to investigate his complaint. He said come in. I stepped into a dark depressing home. The man stepped back into the middle of the room as if he wanted to distance himself from me. In the kitchen was a hard looking woman with two toddlers clinging to her dress. The man began his story. He broke into tears several times. But the story was simple. There was a large earthen sedimentation basin in the holler above his place. The mining company had feared the structure was going to fail with the excessive rains that had been falling all fall and into the winter. They cut the water loose according to the man and it washed his barn away with all his livestock. He said in a trembling voice, " I lost my mules."
He put on a coat and took me to where the barn had been. I began taking pictures. He left me. I walked down the creek and found the body of one of his mules. I photographed the debris of the barn caught up in trees. I found ducks and chickens far back from the creek in driftwood debris. I found two hogs.
I then started my hike in a steady rain up to the sedimentation basin. It was maybe a half mile up the holler. I saw the dam rising above me. It was a large sedimentation basin. I was fortunate that I was on the side of the dam where the company had slotted the dam. On the far side was the emergency spillway which was cut back into solid rock and rip rapped. The primary spillway was a standpipe with a trash rack. The primary spillway was not discharging because debris had totally obstructed it. Not just small debris but floating trees and logs. It was not possible under the conditions to put it back into service. When the water began discharging through the emergency spillway, the company realized the threat of a dam failure. They had walked a tracked hoe down to the structure and attempted to mitigate the danger by slotting the dam. The combination of precipitation, water discharging from both the slotted area and the emergency spillway had caused the flood that took out the man's barn and killed his livestock.
At the time of my visit, the primary spillway, emergency spillway and the slotted area were all obstructed by debris including floating logs and whole trees. I returned to my government dodge ram charger. I was soaked. I pulled out my aluminum clip board, got a blank Cessation Order and proceeded to write 79-II-00-01. The year was 1979. I worked in Region II. The next number was my badge number (I don't remember it) and last was the number of cessation orders I had written. I wrote the cessation order for a "significant threat to public health and safety." But more important, I included in the stipulations that the entire mine was shut down and all equipment necessary was to be employed to abate the threat.
I left and proceeded to the mine headquarters. I entered the superintendents' office, explained my order and he kindly told me that this was above his pay grade. He said Ron, you need to serve that to the Operations Manager. He went with me. I was surprised at how humble he was. We walked into the OM's office and Mr. Doyle looked up. The superintendent was timid in explaining what I was there for.
Mr. Doyle: What is this?
Ron: Cessation Order.
Mr. Doyle: What does it do?
Ron: It orders the immediate cessation of all activities related to the production of coal.
Mr. Doyle: What to He$$! How long?
Ron: I have stipulated that you are to immediately cease mining and move any equipment necessary to abate a threat to public health and safety.
At this point the superintendent explained to Mr. Doyle that they knew the dam was in danger but they had not been able to get equipment to it. They had stuck one track hoe and a dozer trying to get the track hoe out.
Mr. Doyle: How do you expect us to remedy the situation.
Ron: For liability reasons, I cannot provide you direction on how you implement the remedy.
Mr. Doyle: You crazy SOBs come out here and tell us we need to do something that any dunbazz knows cannot be done. I tell you what, I will call every elected official in the state. I will sue your azz. And I ain't signing this.
He threw the order on the floor at my feet. I picked it up. I laid it on the edge of his desk. I said, sir, it is considered to be legally served. Your signature only acknowledges the service.
Mr. Doyle: Well Bye God it ain't served as far as I'm concerned. I ain't doing a dam thing until the weather permits. We tried and dam never lost our equipment.
Ron: Mr. Doyle, failure to comply with the stipulations of this order is a criminal act because it involves a threat to public health and safety. In addition, there is a fine for every day the order goes unabated. Because it is a significant threat to public health and safety, it carries triple damages.
Mr. Doyle: Well I'll be GD if I can believe they can send a smart azz teenager out here and shutdown a mine.
Ron: Mr. Doyle I am under obligation to remain on the mine until I see evidence that you have intentions to abate the threat.
Mr. Doyle: (to the superintendent). Go out there with this azzhole and get something down there to start fixing that dam. (to me). Bye God, you will lose you job over this. I will abate this under protest. I will have my attorneys working around the clock to vacate this order and seek damages.
I got home way after dark. My wife gave me a phone number to call. I called the Regional Administrator in Knoxville TN, David Short. David was an attorney by profession. He said Ron did you shutdown so n so mine. I said yes. He said did you have to? I explained that I identified a significant threat to public health and safety. He said every elected official in the state of Ky had called the Director of the Office of Surface Mining and complained about the cessation order. He said Ron I hope you were on solid grounds. - I never, never cry. But for a 29 year old, that was the last straw of a long day. I didn't say anything for a minute. Federal agents can be personally liable for malfeasants. I carried two million dollars of professional liability insurance for the last 20 years of my federal service. If that dam broke and any of the residents down stream were killed or injured, I would be serving time in Leavenworth. I had taken the risk that the system might fail me.
True to their threat, they took my order to court for vacation. Winning that would put them in line for damages. Lost production and expenses. John Williams was assigned to defend my order. The case was tried in the Pikeville Federal court before an Administrative Federal Judge.
We put on our case, stated my credentials, and introduced my physical evidence. I had over 40 photographs. I introduced the engineering drawing and identified how the structure was not operated in accordance with its design. The guy who lost his barn came in and testified.
When they put on their case, the superintendent got on the stand and lied like a dog. They provided "eyewitness" testimony that the structure was being operated as designed. Their eyewitnesses presented a description of the construction and condition of the slotted area that was an absolute fabrication.
John Williams put me back on and I refuted what he said. I was able to show the track hoe tracks in the mud to refute his statements that it was the result of erosion. I had the picture of the trees and debris in the emergency spillway which they said was working as designed.
They had said there was no danger to the public. I used the pictures of the mules and hogs to emphasize that the same thing could happen to people.
The Judge vacated my Cessation Order. John Williams appealed it to the federal administrative Judge board (consists of three judges who only review the transcript of the trial) and they overturned the vacation and reprimanded the Judge who vacated.
The Board had found that the eyewitnesses were not credible due to the prejudicial nature of their testimony and that the physical evidence was more credible.
