Two officers of the Environmental Police at the farm

Back in September of 2009, James P. LaMountain was arrested for allegedly violating the law for holding three wild turkeys on the farm.
The Environmental Police were not called because of the three turkeys nor the fires, the Environmental Police were there to assist DEP inspector Tim McKenna during an inspection of the LaMountain property.

While on the property, the two officers of the Environmental Police noticed the turkeys and the two fires. They called the Holland Fire Department and the State Police. The two fires were extinguished by the Holland Fire Department, and James LaMountain arrested. The Holland Blog covered the incident with the piece, ”Judge scolds Selectboard and DEP officials.”

Ignoring two prior court rulings and unimpressed by the scolding of Judge Rooney, selectman James Wettlaufer made a third attempt to have a court overturn the two prior rulings.
The verified complaint by the town filed by Super Lawyer Tani Sapirstein on September 25, 2009 was to ensure “public safety” and did claim that Karen Raymond’s house is in danger to catch on fire. Sapirstein saught an injunction to enjoin the LaMountains’ from conducting any open burning of brush on their farm.

The criminal charges for allegedly violating chapter 131 of the G.L. in connection with the three wild turkeys were dismissed in Palmer District Court on Monday, April 12, 2010.

The Board of Selectmen, James Wettlaufer, Earl Johnson, and Christian Petersen now for the third time, yes, THE THIRD TIME, failed with their attempt to have a court ruling in their favor which would deny LaMountain to burn their brush on the hillside farm.

As farmers, the LaMountain’s are exempt from restrictions that apply to non-farmers, a concept Wettlaufer and his two colleagues have a hard time accepting despite unambiguous provisions in the General Laws of the Commonwealth and two prior rulings by two different courts.

This past Wednesday, April 21, 2010, Superior Court Justice, Honorable Cornelius J. Moriarty II, denied the town’s request for a permanent injunction to enjoin the LaMountains’ from open burning of brush and issued his ruling the following day. Justice Moriarty’s ruling was again in favor of the LaMountains’ and once again defeated the three men holding the highest office in our town and did so in a most embarrassing manner to the three selectmen.
On other occasions I called them the three stooges; but wasting tens of thousands of dollars by hiring a super lawyer at the taxpayer’s expense to pursue a personal vendetta against a member of this community is no laughing matter, it is appalling.

Justice Moriarty opined in his seven page “Memorandum of Decision and Order on the Plaintiff’s Request for a Permanent Injunction:”

A dispute has arisen as to whether or not Northeast [Concepts Inc.] is exempt from the statutory and regulatory constraints prohibiting open-air burning. To that end, and for the purpose of a decision on the present request for injunctive relief, I must determine whether or not Northeast was or is presently engaged in agricultural activity at the site.

Page 3, Memorandum of Decision.

Justice Moriarty then recognized the Legislature’s unambiguous expression to exempt farmers from certain prohibitions applicable to non-farmers (one of the many laws Wettlaufer’s twisted mind is unable to accept):

According to the above statutory language, the Legislature has expressly authorized agricultural burning, effectively exempting activities falling within the purview of G.L. c.111 s.142L, from any statutory or regulatory prohibitions on open-air burning.

Page 6, Memorandum of Decision. What was left to decide one more time, was the fact that the LaMountains’ are farmers and have the legal right to burn brush in the open; Justice Moriarty made this point unequivocally clear again by opining:

I find that the defendants were engaged in agriculture within the broad meaning of G.L. c.128, s.1A. Furthermore, I find that the defendants are entitled to an exemption from the agency’s air pollution control regulations for activities falling with the purview of G.L. c.111, s.142L,

Page 6, Memorandum of Decision.

To read Justice Moriarty's “Memorandum of Decision and Order on the Plaintiff’s Request for a Permanent Injunction:” click here!

The trial which begun January 28, 2010, was continued on two other days and the town was represented by Super Lawyer Tani Sapirstein.

The video on the right demonstrates the frivolous nature of the complaint filed by the selectboard and paid for by the taxpayer and not the Liability Insurance Company of the town.

It is refreshing to see that not all judges are corrupt and that some prudent men in black robes are willing to deliver justice even so elected officials and their hired (high paid and well connected) super lawyers think they can play their evil games with impunity.

While the press covers arrests and other negative news about James P. LaMountain, the final outcome and the exonerating decision by the Superior Court Justice Moriarty are not covered and the public left uninformed.
The same is true for the selectboard. Earl Johnson and James Wettlaufer are quick to tout unjustified arrests and erroneous rulings by lower courts during televised meetings but never inform the public of their embarrassing defeats during trials or lost appeals; appeals of rulings achieved through their lies and their conniving lawyers and super lawyers, all paid for by you, the taxpayers of Holland!

Law produces order by the articulation of rules of conduct or prohibited behavior, enforceable by some authority - developed from man's growing recognition that a certain state of affairs is unsafe for individuals or communities. It is the rule of law which distinguishes civilized society from anarchy. Everything which we have today, and which we cherish in this free and democratic nation, we have because of the rule of law. Without the rule of law there is only the rule of might and our civilized society ceases to exist.

I wrote at the end of the piece Police Chief Kevin Gleason resigned under duress:
“The moral bankruptcy of our town government claimed its first victim in Gleason, the next targeted individual by the Holland Blog is Gleason‘s buddy Earl Johnson.”
Earl Johnson will soon be history, next targeted individual by the Holland Blog is James Wettlaufer!

April 26, 2010, Peter Frei

James P. LaMountain exonorated again, this time by Justice Mortiarty II.

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