Johnson, Kowalski, Wettlaufer recall; please don't be fooled!

As you may remember, James Wettlaufer was booted out of office last year by the voters by a large margin after it became public that he secretly financed a private law suit filed by Brian Johnson against me, and lost.
The very same day chairman of the Board of Selectmen, James Wettlaufer, was booted out of office, Dana Manning was elected with the most votes any candidate received running a contested race. Dana Manning shortly thereafter was sworn in. The oath of office which Dana Manning answered with "I do", does read like this:

“Ddo you solemnly swear that you will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon you as a member of the Board of Health in accordance with the bylaws of the town and the laws of the Commonwealth?"

The “equal protection” clause of the U.S. Constitution mandates Dana Manning in her role as a municipal officer to ensure that she treats everybody the same and that she does so by applying and upholding the Law.

Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning, to this day, did not sell out as most officials do in order to “belong.” They were given the opportunity but refused …

The very same individual, Brian Johnson who was found guilty of violating the Constitutional Rights of a resident by lying to the police in an attempt to criminalize that resident, is now behind another unlawful attempt to criminalize Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning.

Reader, please be aware that all you are reading here will be scrutinized and I will be sued for libel by the accused if anything you read here is not truthful.

Brian Johnson was found guilty in the lawsuit he himself filed! After a three day trial, the jury found Johnson guilty of defamation (he lied to the police!), attempting to inflict emotional distress, and violating the civil rights of the very person he accused of wrong doing! The majority of the voters of this town elected such a thug to the position of Highway Surveyor!

If that would not be bad enough, the unassuming taxpayers of Holland paid for it all! Brian Johnson has not paid a dime for his deplorable actions, you, the taxpayer paid every dime of it (and there will be more to come once the appeal Johnson filed gets denied as the taxpayer will have to finally pay my attorney's fees too on top of what the town paid for Johnson's attorney's fees).

The reason why Brian Johnson is now behind the recall effort is the same; Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning do what they solemnly swore to do, they are upholding the laws and the Constitution, and they do not sell out as so many do. Instead Kenneth Ference and Dana. Manning are protecting the people who trusted them with their vote.

The very same people who trusted Ference and Manning with their vote, the very people Ken and Dana protect from risks to their health, are now lied to and recruited to support disgruntled Brian Johnson, Dave Kowalski, and James Wettlaufer's recall initiate with a smear campaign the town has not seen before.
You may think, that can't be …

Nothing has changed in Holland. Johnson, Kowalski and Wettlaufer, still act with impunity. There is no need for them to change, you are still paying for it all ...
I learned from a reliable source, close to Brian Johnson, that all Johnson is doing right now is spending his time on this recall instead of doing what the taxpayers are paying him to do.

What exactly did Dana Manning do wrong? What is the “single very serious matter” Kowalski and the other two accuse Ms. Manning of doing ??

I can tell you what she did wrong. Dana Manning, in response to a Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) inquiry to the BOH, offered her comment on what is proving to be another illegal land use project Johnson was trying to sneak through our town boards (just the night before Christmas eve, when nobody usually pays attention! To learn more, click here!).)

As reported in my piece “Johnson Landgate,” Jonson's entire family is and/or was involved in illegal land deals and were granted several permits by the Planning Board of Holland (“PBH”), the ZBA, and the Building Inspector of the Town of Holland, going back 35 years and counting!

Just a few month ago, Brian Johnson applied for a variance and a special permit to add a garage to his residence on 61 Stafford Road and convert an existing garage into an accessory dwelling unit. Brian Johnson has to get confirmation by the BOH on his procedure sheet that his septic system is up to par. Once all the boards have signed the sheet, the Building Inspector eventually will issue a building permit. On September 23, 2014, Johnson went to the BOH as a walk in, very much expecting that his procedure sheet would just be signed-off by the BOH (I guess Johnson didn't know his “sign-off buddy,” Dave Kowalski, still wasn't attending any BOH meetings. Kowalski was removed from the seat of BOH chairperson on August 26th, 2014, by the other two BOH members for not doing his job to the point of significantly compromising the BOH.) The BOH did not sign off on Johnson's procedure sheet that night as Johnson expected and is used to.... To read the minutes to that meeting click here!

In late October 2014, the BOH was notified by the ZBA of Johnson's project, and as required by M.G.L. and town Zoning Bylaw. The ZBA letter to the BOH (which also went to all the other town boards) requested: “Any board or department that may have questions, comment or recommendation regarding the Special Permit Application from Brian Johnson must do so no later than December 1st, 2014 per G.L. c.40A, s.11.”
To read the ZBA memo, click here!
M.G.L., c.40A, s.11, par.3 provides:

Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that petitions for special permits shall be submitted to and reviewed by one or more of the following and may further provide that such reviews may be held jointly:—the board of health, the planning board or department, the city or town engineer, the conservation commission or any other town agency or board. Any such board or agency to which petitions are referred for review shall make such recommendations as they deem appropriate and shall send copies thereof to the special permit granting authority and to the applicant; provided, however, that failure of any such board or agency to make recommendations within thirty-five days of receipt by such board or agency of the petition shall be deemed lack of opposition thereto.

The notification mandated in the Zoning Bylaw of the town of Holland are to be found under section 8.6.2, which provides in part:

The Special Permit Granting Authority shall within (14) days of receiving a Special Permit application, transmit one copy each to the Building Inspector, Board of Health, Conservation, Highway Department, Fire Department, Police Department, Planning Board, Zoning Baord of Appeals, Select Board, and Assessors Office, as appropriate, who shall review the application and submit their written recommendations and written comments to the Special Permit Granting Authority [...]

Dana Manning still refused to sell-out by simply signing Johnson's procedure sheet. Instead she did research and reported in an email to the ZBA that Brian Johnson's property is non conforming and not “grandfathered” as claimed by Johnson and the building inspector Jack Keough. Ms. Manning had most of the facts at the time, she had more than enough to prove her claim, and to alert the ZBA that granting Johnson's two applications would be contrary to M.G.L. c.40A, s.6 and s.11, and the local zoning bylaws, and hence outside the law.
If you are among those who can predict the outcome of a bad movie after five minutes you already know what comes next.

The team Brain Johnson, Dave Kowalski, and James Wettlaufer, are taking Ms. Manning's exemplary actions and turning them into a crime; the very conduct Ms. Manning is obligated to perform and mandated to do in order to follow her oath of office, is now distorted and she finds herself accused of a crime! (Official misconduct is a crime!)

First, the team recruited the goat farmer, Jennifer Poirier, to accuse Ms. Manning of being unprofessional. That incident ended not as expected; Jennifer Poirier complained that Ms. Manning would delay the issuing of her pasteurization license even so she admitted in her letter and at the February 17, 2015 Board of Selectmen meeting ("BOS") that Kowalski in the past issued it as late as April. Poirier went on to state during the BOS meeting that she actually doesn't even need the permit yet because “she is not in production” (her words). In fact since Manning also discovered that pasteurization licenses are good for 12 months from the issue date, Jennifer Poirier's license would be good through April. (The pasteurization license does not expire on December 31st as Kowalski thinks, claims and tells Jennifer... you only need to read M.G.L. to discover this.) The BOH was planning to issue Jennifer Poirier her pasteurization license at the February 24, 2015, BOH meeting. Ms. Poirier stated that she was afraid not to have the needed license once she needs the license, yet Jennifer Poirier couldn't be bothered to attend the February 24th 2015 BOH meeting to get the license that she was afraid not to have.
Ms. Manning's research revealed that for the past 11 years, Ms. Poirier never even had the license she needed to pasteurize her goat milk, because Dave Kowalski never issued her the license she needed, he issued her the wrong license, a license she did not need!
And that is not even the only issue here! Unbeknownst to Poirier, Kowalski for the eleven years she has been in business has significantly overcharged for issuing the wrong license; M.G.L. c.94, s.48A sets the fee at $10 for a pasteurization license. Kowalski charged Poirier $150 this year, a 1500% overcharge! Sometimes he would charge $50 or $100, but all the fees he charged were overcharges. Dana Manning discovered this simply by doing her due diligence and by finding and READING the Massachusetts General Law that covers pasteurization licenses; and Jennifer Poirier calls Manning unprofessional?
To conduct official business in a passionate correct way requires some research and commitment, some of the readers would call it professionalism; an attribute obviously Kowalski is lacking. Manning does the work. If Dave Kowalski put as much effort into the BOH as he puts into the smear campaign that he is helping Wettlaufer and Johnson run, his issuing licenses for incorrect M.G.L. and assessing improper fees would not have happened!

Next was an attempt to smear Ms. Manning name was an appearance by Brian Johnson during the televised BOS meeting in January. Johnson accused Dana Manning of an open meeting law violation. Johnson's appearance was followed by a written formal complaint to the Attorney General's office. Johnson cowardly omitted signing his complaint as he must have known from the beginning that his complaint was frivolous! Click here, to see for yourself...
His "complaint" was based on the fact that Ms. Manning signed her email to the ZBA informing them of the fact that Johnson's property is none conforming, with “Dana Manning, Board of Health.” (The purpose of the email is described in detail below.)

Johnson, not very familiar with the written word, failed to realize that Ms. Manning's entire email was written in the singular or first person form; “I ask that the … “ “here are my concerns … “ “I conclude … “I am concerned … “

If Ms. Manning would have intended to mislead the ZBA into believing that she represented the opinion of the entire board, she would have used the plural form in her email; “We ask that the … “ “here are our concerns … “ “We conclude … “”We are concerned … “

Johnson's complaint was dismissed by the Attorney General's office. Johnson was notified of the Attorne General's office decision by letter dated March 10, 2015. To read the Attorney General's office letter, click here!
Where are the ”numerous OML violations” that team Johnson, Kowalski and Wettlaufer, accuse? A complaint from Johnson which was dismissed is not numerous complaints. By the way, Manning was once subpoenaed and had to testify against Johnson in court for his attempted assault on me. Could that be what really has Johnson seeing red?

Dave Kowalski now claims in his smear campaign that, “Ms. Dana Manning attempted to use her position on the Board of Health to influence the outcome of a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on Mr. Brian Johnson's home construction project.”

Kowalski and his cohorts are so far gone that they probably do not remember their own oath of office, or what is more likely, never did.

If you are interested to read Ms. Manning's email to the ZBA, click here! Since she wrote the email (I never said that I wrote that email and I did not write the email as falsely claimed by Kowalski,) I myself did some research and found some more unbelievable facts.

The voters of Holland increased the frontage requirement for a residential lot from 100 feet to 200 feet at the special town meeting on September 29, 1986. The Attorney General's office approved this bylaw amendment on November 13, 1986. Approval Not Required (“ANR”) plans submitted thereafter could only be endorsed if each of the created lots showed the required 200 feet frontage and the required acreage.

More than three years after this bylaw change, Woods submitted an ANR plan to the Planning Board of Holland (“PBH”), (book 272, plan 26). With his plan, Woods illegally further divided already subdivided land utilizing the ANR procedure per M.G.L. c.41, s.81P and created two unconfirming lots.
Woods plan was and still is outside the law as both created lots have less than the required frontage which is now and was then 200 feet.
The parcel Johnson later bought, July 19, 2001 (deed book 11769, page 476,) was created by this plan.
Wood's plan was endorsed by the PBH on December 11, 1989. Walter Woods took a sudden interest in zoning as he was appointed to the ZBA only nine days later. One of the individuals who signed the illegal ANR plan was Elizabeth J. Rozema, the lady who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars while she was the tax collector of the town of Holland, (Brian Johnson's father was one of the members of the Board of Assessors at the time.) Rozema was appointed to the PBH on April 10, 1989, just eight month before she signed Wood's ANR plan. Rozema resigned on June 11, 1990, to go to jail. The two other members of the PBH who signed the ANR plan were Daniel Secor (which resigned September 1, 1990,) and Arthur J. Quimet, Jr.

Johnson's property on 61 Stafford Road is NONE CONFORMING and NOT GRANDFATHERED! For this reason, Ms. Manning was obligated to do the right thing and put the ZBA on notice.

Brian Johnson's only option would be to get two variances from the ZBA which he is unable to; it is impossible for Johnson to reach the required treshold to meet the “hardship” necessary for the ZBA to even consider granting a variance pursuant to M.G.L. c.40A, s.10.

Since Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning refused to become one of the corrupt members of the “good ol' boys” club, they have to be eliminated and any thing goes … even smearing their reputation, lying to the community, and accusing the two of a crime. One of the very few public officials I have ever personally know who serve with integrity are the two being recalled by three individuals who should and could be recalled for legitimate reasons!

Kowalski claimed in his lengthy tirade on his smear website: “Local Boards of Health have been given a great deal of authority by the Massachusetts Legislature, zoning issues, however, are not within their purview and should be left up to the boards designated to handle zoning issues.

Kowalski's opinion is misconceived, municipal officer's not only have the right to involve themselves with matters which are before other boards and their municipal officers; municipal officer's have an obligation to step in when situations arise which jeopardize the equal protection of every individual. Johnson is asking the ZBA for something that is outside the law. Equal protection under the law entails both, not allowing a benefit outside the law as well as not denying a lawfull benefit. This is a principle totally unfamiliar to the Johnson's.
The principle of checks and balances is one of the pillars a civilized society rests. In recognition of this principle, the legislature explicitly gave municipal officer's standing to appeal decisions made by Planning Boards and Zoning Boards of Appeals, see M.G.L. c.41A, s.17, which provides in part:

Any person aggrieved by a decision of the board of appeals or any special permit granting authority or by the failure of the board of appeals to take final action concerning any appeal, application or petition within the required time or by the failure of any special permit granting authority to take final action concerning any application for a special permit within the required time, whether or not previously a party to the proceeding, or any municipal officer or board may appeal to the land court department, the superior court department. [...]

I know Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning, they will not be bullied, neither by Johnson, nor by Kowalski, nor by Wettlaufer. However, Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning can't do it all themselves; they need your help.
Kenneth Ference and Dana Manning will not sell out and will fight for the rights of every individual and ensure thereby equal protection under the laws for everybody. Being true to the oath Mr. Ference and Ms. Manning gave, they will prevent injustice by fighting against preferential treatment and oppression.

Should the ZBA or the PBH issue a permit outside the law, either to deny an applicant his/her right to the benefit he/she is entitled to, or, to grant preferential treatment and issue a permit outside the law where an applicant can not rightfully claim his/her right to the benefit, I would imagine that Mr. Ference and Ms Manning will not allow this to happen as the oath of office does not allow them to just tolerate such unequal treatment. True devoted leaders like Ference and Manning are a threat to individuals like Johnson, Kowalski and Wettlaufer. However, they can't do it alone; they deserves your help. Please inform your friends and neighbour about the true motivation behind this recall and vote accordingly in the future!

There will be more; my next piece will give you an account about what Ms. Manning faced at the time she started attending meetings to serve the public on the BOH.

March 29, 2015, Peter Frei

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