Karma, reflecting on last week's events...

As we all know, last Thursday the City of South Miami commission adopted a resolution that stated that former police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro's employment contract was voided when he took on the position of acting city manager.  A couple of hours later city manager, Steven Alexander, issued a memorandum appointing Major Rene Landa acting police chief since he concluded that he "had no police chief in place".

Shortly after the commission meeting, de Castro's son, Christopher Martinez de Castro, confronted me and accused me of "writing bullshit about his family, wrecking his family, putting his family through hell, etc" and ultimately concluded his tirade by calling me a "bitch ass nigger" then tried to physically attack me.  That's all well and good, its understandable that the friends and family of the de Castro clan would be upset, after all their patriarch just lost a formidable position within the community as well as six figure salary, in part because of my actions.  

This must be a traumatizing experience for the former chief and his family, I can only imagine.  Somehow though, I know what it feels like to be publicly humiliated and accused of all sorts of wrong doing, I know the shame that is visited upon a family after being written about in the local media for your alleged nefarious deed.  I suspect that the three tellers that were framed for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from de Castro's wife's tag agency have some idea of what this feels like as well, accused of wrongdoing, humiliated in public, thrown out on the street with no job, etc.  How about Warren Papove?  I suspect he knows how it feels?  Taken away from his home and thrown into detention for months on end then deported, for what?  Some bullshit immigration charge trumped up by some bogus code enforcement violation that the former chief de Castro dreamed up?

I could go on and on with stories of people getting screwed by former chief de Castro, the one distinction that Mr de Castro enjoys when compared to these other folks is that he wasn't falsely arrested, striped of his rights then had to fight the criminal court system for months if not years to clear his name.  Next time the members of the de Castro clan are sitting around thinking about how unjust everything that has happened to them is and what an asshole I am for writing about their misdeeds, think about the people that you've fucked over and just how bad you've altered the course of their lives.  

Consider that the girls from the Airways Auto Tag case were/are facing 190 years in prison for the crimes that you've accused them of committing, consider how you racially profiled and victimized prominent attorney Joe Klock's law clerk countless times for no other reason than his skin color, consider the different city employees, constituents and former elected officials whose lives were shattered because of your political machinations.  Take a moment while you're stewing over what happened to you over the last year or so culminating with the loss of your beloved job as chief and think about the people I've mentioned and the countless numbers of people I haven't mentioned and contemplate what you've done to them before you lash out at me or any of your other critics.  Only then can you come to peace with yourself and your actions.

The ultimate irony, ICE freeing detainees because of budget cuts!

Literally just days after ICE deported former South Miami resident Warren Papove to his native Canada, they turn around and release all sorts of people they were detaining because of looming budget cuts!  From the Huffington Post article...

WASHINGTON -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement released some people from immigrant detention facilities across the country on Monday in response to looming federal budget cuts.
"In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding," agency spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are analyzing spending as congressional inaction increases the likelihood of so-called budget sequestration -- across-the-board spending cuts that begin on March 1. Detaining immigrants is an expensive business, with an average daily cost of $122 to $164 per person, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Alternatives, including ankle bracelets and parole, are far cheaper.
Christensen declined to say how many undocumented immigrants were freed on Monday or to give their locations. She said they have been "placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release." ICE did not drop the cases against the individuals and will still deport them if ordered by an immigration judge, she said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano foreshadowed the announcement earlier in the day at a press briefing. She said ICE "will be forced" under sequestration to reduce detention and removal of undocumented immigrants.
"All I can say is, look, we're doing our very best to minimize the impacts of sequester," Napolitano told reporters at the White House. "But there’s only so much I can do. I'm supposed to have 34,000 detention beds for immigration. How do I pay for those?"
Immigrant rights groups began buzzing Monday with reports from detention centers, where they said low-priority detainees had been released in large numbers. Activists have long called for ICE to release some detainees, either to allow them to stay in the United States or to keep them out of prison-like detention centers until they are deported. The rights groups have argued that the Obama administration has violated its stated principle of focusing on the most dangerous undocumented immigrants in favor of padding numbers by going after low-level offenders instead, as reported by USA Today earlier this month.
The Obama administration has repeatedly said it will apply more prosecutorial discretion to immigration, releasing immigrants deemed low-priority so it can focus resources on those who are potentially dangerous or otherwise a high priority. The administration also implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that has so far allowed more than 150,000 undocumented young people -- often called Dreamers -- to stay in the United States, work legally and drive.
According to ICE, the administration has increased the proportion of criminal immigrants it has expelled, while setting a record for deportations overall.
Advocacy groups said they were pleased that ICE released some detained undocumented immigrants.
"The people being released today are people ICE could have released months -- or in some cases, years -- ago," Mohammad Abdollahi, a member of the Dreamer-led National Immigrant Youth Alliance, said in a statement. "If ICE adhered to its own policies, they would have. As the president continues to push for immigration reform, his record on deportations will only stand in greater contrast with the policies he has proposed."

Honestly folks, WTF!  Consider how many tens of thousands of dollars our government spent on the detention of Mr. Papove over the last eight or so months, needlessly I might add, is it any wonder they're going broke?!  To think, if Mr Papove's detention was delayed a few weeks, they may have released him!

A happy end to the Warren Papove story...

As we mentioned last week, former South Miami resident Warren Papove is finally back in his native Canada after being detained at the Krome Detention Center for seven and a half months.  Mr. Papove was kind enough to send us this message via email regarding his detention, the people that put him in Krome and his subsequent return to Canada...

Orlando Martinez de Castro must be proud. Fidel and Raul - not so much. my younger sister, Melissa  had an easier time leaving Cuba  she didn't get there until the 10th of February and was home free on the 18th. This was most fortunate for me because on the 19th when i was finally allowed to leave she was able to finish de Castro's job for him. After spending dozens of thousands of tax payers' dollars keeping me on ice for 7.5 months they were frugal enough to save $4oo for transportation for the last leg of my departure.  I was left at the Vancouver airport at 8:oo pm b.c. time with 65 cents and a bag of clothes that bob had left for me in July, they were July clothes. They wouldn't allow him to bring anything like, for instance, a jacket for me. They even denied a final visitation.  The information provided for 20 odd previous visits was suddenly insufficient. 
So, after flying to la and then to Vancouver that was it. Mr  Schoepp of the Canadian consulate had assured me that i would be sent to Edmonton ab. which is my original hometown.  Ice's Nunez also assured me the same. iI guess that's so i wouldn't resist although i had  willingly signed consent on Aug 9 after being denied access to a judge. I also signed again on Dec 17 after finally seeing a judge and asking him to order my removal.  This was because transcripts of a previous court hearing' which would have secured a Miami release were denied to me.  I don't know why anyone would resist release to anywhere after 7.5 months of unnecessary detention,but de Castro and his ice buddy Romon Bado have names to live up to. 
Luckily Luis had recently located my sister for me and lucky for me that the real Castros aren't as rabid about illegally holding Canadians as the wanna-be de Castro.  A lady at the Vancouver airport let me use her phone and my sister, having arrived home from Cuba late the night before, was awake and able to arrange a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton and pick me up from the airport 20 miles south of  the city at 12:30 am local time with my other younger sister and a jacket it was 10 degrees f.  
Note to the Canadian consulate--- lying about  destinations might be a necessary precaution' i suppose. lying about a Canadian based assistance  package might be necessary, i suppose, but i would suggest that including means for a phone call and a jacket be included for any Florida to Canada re;locations in the future, especially if they take place in February.  After having spent close to 100 thousand dollars on an unnecessarily long detention it would be wrong to saddle the tax;payers with the additional cost of a jacket.  Would any of them really opposed allowing bob to having brought me one as he tried to do?  Hey Castro I'd also respectfully like to suggest that as a courtesy to other otherwise law abiding, stadium subsidizing Canadians you do the math first. When acting on a future Newman mc kane tip, remember it takes 9 months to act on it and 7.5 months to execute. please time this for summertime arrivals if jackets aren't included in the equation.

What a mess.  At least Mr. Papove is now with his family, out of reach from the scumbags in South Miami that started this whole debacle.  Good luck to you Mr. Papove!

The Warren Papove saga comes to an end.

We've discussed the bizarre case of Mr. Warren Papove several times over the last year, a South Miami resident who was somehow detained for doing work without a permit but was then picked up by I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and was sitting at the Krome detention center for nearly seven months waiting to be deported back to his native Canada.  Unfortunately for Mr. Papove, he was collateral damage in the war between police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and the folks in South Miami that are trying to oust him.  Despite the charges against Mr. Papove were dropped several months ago and the fact that he was supposed to be released, he remained in custody until just recently.  Last night, we got this email from one of our readers...

They sent him to Canada this morning with only a sweatshirt to keep him from freezing. Seven months ago I took to Krome a carry on bag with clothes in it, which they did not give him. They sent him to Vancouver, 1600 miles from his home, with no money, no clothes in the middle of a Canadian winter, Thank you Orlando Martinez de Castro, Ramon Bado and crew. You kept him far longer than any of the other Canadians who came and went through Krome in the 7 1/2 months he was there. You put him in the gay wing there. Your witch doctors treated his ailments...

Fuck.  Why in the hell would they send this man to Vancouver broke and penniless in the dead of winter?  Honestly, what the fuck kind of barbaric immigration system do we have here?  What happened to Warren was just wrong, wrong on so many levels that it can't be explained here, from the back room scheming by the South Miami Police that got him detained to the archaic legal records system that somehow was unable to find a single document or transcript to help get this poor man out of Krome.  I don't wish what happened to this man on my worst enemy, all I can say to those involved with putting this man in Krome and subsequently having him deported is that payback is going to be a bitch.

Tales of extended detention and botched penile implant surgery from Krome detention center...

You all may remember the story of former South Miami resident, Warren Papove, the local handy man who as a result of the war between the police chief and several of the towns residents was unjustly detained and subsequently sent to Krome detention center for deportation because of an old minor drug possession charge.  Despite the fact that the deportation case against Mr. Papove was dismissed back in August of last year, Mr. Papove is still sitting in Krome.  

Mr. Papove has managed to send us a few letters during his detention, most recently he wrote us about a botched detainee penile implant surgery, from his letter...

Against my strongest warnings a friend has done it. Self surgery bordering on self mutilation. Listening to jerks who've spent most of their lives in prisons, a friend has gone ahead with penile implant surgery, inserting a heart carved out go dice using the concrete wall to shape it. Instead of using a razor he used a semi-sharpened fork to make the incision. I've seen the wound. It's a botched job and he's torn up. he now listened to my advice and removed it. I've told him to stop touching it with anything after using "the cream" as a disinfectant and to pray like hell it doesn't get infected. If it does he'll have to go to medical for proper antibiotics. I've told him that infections that make it up to the heart kill you and prevention can mean loss of limb. He's scared now and the jerks are mostly laughing at him.     If ICE gave a crap about safety they'd institute a one fork tray in, one fork tray out procedures in the cafeteria. One or two people could do this. Instead we have 1/2 dozen or more guards in a search line outside the cafeteria.      After passing through the search line the birds are fed bread, lots of it. Back at the Pod 1/2 chickens, burritos, Jamaican patties, Pop Tarts are eaten or traded. I could smuggle as many utensils as I wanted to. There's food machines (profitable) on the Pods so the search lines are not about health/hygiene issues. Job securitty? Prioritizing profit and job security over detainee safety leads to the ultimate release of a detainee needlessly infuriated and humiliated. Is that to society's benefit? It also leads to self-performed surgeries using plastic forks as scalpels.

Jesus christ!  What the fuck?!  Mr. Papove goes on to say...

As for myself, I'm starting to come out of a 'Holiday in Krome' depression, I think. Every day brings new challenges to my sanity and composure. This is Day 182. People who've served time might laugh, but they might not fully understand. They knew their sentences. They weren't subject to multiple unannounced transfers to unknown places. Their reason for incarceration was being found to be guilty of something, so they shouldn't be laughing too loudly.

Incredible.  This poor man has been sitting in Krome for over 200 days now and still no idea when he's going to be released or deported.  Needless to say, there are several South Miami residents as well as a few good attorneys working diligently on getting Mr. Papove out of the hell that he's currently in.  I can't fathom how the political operatives who got Mr. Papove to where he is right now can possibly live with themselves, especially since one of them is a known drug user themselves and considering that it's a minor drug possession charge that has Mr. Papove where he is today.

An interesting comment regarding the firing of City of South Miami city manager Hector Mirabile...

Early this morning one of former City of South Miami city manger Hector Mirabile's supporters left this comment on yesterdays blog post...

As we type, there is a countermeasure developing where the Governor was asked to intervene and investigate. When wrong doing is found, negative consequences will follow for those implicated in the manager’s dismissal and the conspiracy to remove the police chief.

We got friends too!

Whoever wrote this post would want us to believe that our Governor, Rick Scott, is going to intervene in city politics and get involved in the firing of the city manager?  LOL!  

That's some of the funniest shit I've heard in a while, this guy expects the governor to get involved in reinstating a city manager that was fired by the majority of the city commission.  Good luck with that!

I'm going to cut it short today as I'm on the way to meet an old friend of Mr. Mirabile who promises to be an entertaining source of information regarding the chief and his pal Hector's escapades during their tenure as City of Miami cops...

More on the City of South Miami's firing of their city manager, Hector Mirabile and his "farewell speech"

If you were either unlucky enough to have attended the City of South Miami's special commission meeting last Friday or because of some sort of morbid curiosity actually sat down and listened to the hearing online, you wold have heard former City of South Miami city manager Hector Mirabile repeat again and again how he was the greatest city manager the city (or any other city for that matter) had ever had and how he single handily reformed the city and turned it into the flourishing town that it is.  He goes on further to say that he was being fired for no reason whatsoever other than as a retaliatory measure for filing an ethics complaint against one of the commissioner and for refusing to fire his buddy, the police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro.

That's all well and good if it was true, but it's not.  There are things that I know about that I can't reveal at the moment that will further disprove the former managers claims of being the greatest thing since sliced bread, for a moment, put aside all the bullshit and high faggotry from last Friday's commission meeting and read the City of South Miami's mayor's response to Mr. Mirabile's allegations.  From his blog...

An explanation
In his “good bye and good luck” speech, outgoing City Manager Hector Mirabile made a final series of statements about me and my colleagues on the City Commission that have typified the attitude he has expressed in public and in private over the past year.  I present one example here by way of illustration.
In explaining my termination decision to the Commission and residents of South Miami, I stated that the City Manager had not followed a Commission directive to identify possible alternative revenue sources to replace revenues provided by the expiring FPL Franchise Agreement.  Here is why this directive was important and remains important:
Beyond the regular utility tax, the FPL franchise agreement tacks an additional 6% tax called a “franchise fee” onto your monthly bill.  FPL passes most (but not all) of that money through to the City.  The franchise fee is a hidden tax on the residents and businesses, but an important revenue stream for the City.  When FPL raises your rates, the City gets its cut.  A darker side is that the franchise agreement gives FPL the right to put infrastructure anywhere it chooses in the city.  Under a renewed franchise agreement, FPL will claim the right to locate transmission lines on US 1, on SW 80th St, or anywhere else it chooses, which is predicted to lower adjacent property values and economic activity by about 12%.
So, I sponsored a resolution to the City Commission that would direct the Manager to explore alternate ways to cover the franchise fee revenue stream, and let the City get out from under FPL’s thumb when our franchise agreement comes up for renewal in 2014.
The City Commission unanimously passed the resolution on 19 April 2011, as indicated in the  4.19.11 After Action Summary prepared by the City Clerk.  But here’s what the Manager said on his way out the door:
“Now let’s go with the allegation that really – you thought that this one set me off – the allegation of not following his PERSONAL directive.  By the way, this Commission never told me to go out and find an alternative to franchise fees; that was just the Mayor.  But I did it anyway.  Why?  ‘Cause, hell, who wants to piss off the Mayor.  I guess I did.  So, but really, that’s the only reason I went ahead and asked Mr. Riverol, ‘Hey, can you come up with any alternative to the franchise fee?’  The answer was ‘No, we can’t.’  Not unless you want to make another fee that YOU all are going to have to pay, and basically chew me out, cause we ran out of things to charge you for.  There’s so many things we charge you for.  If you want to, read it [the schedule of fees].  We went ahead and approved it.  They did, anyway.  All I did was come up with it.  So I gotta come up with more things?  What do you want me to charge you for?  Every time you come in here and look for the information booth, I gotta charge you a penny like the bank does?  When you go into the Internet, I gotta charge you?  I mean, granted, the one thing that turns out to be a cash cow turns out being the public records request.  And Commissioner Welsh, I’ll keep taking your money if you’ll keep hiring me because, aside from the lawyers that just paid $5000, you’re number one on the collections, so I appreciate that.  Now, I personally explained those fees to the Mayor, and I told him ‘No, we couldn’t do it’.  So I don’t know why.  I guess he didn’t like my answer, but now he’s accusing me of violating the Charter because HE PERSONALLY directed me, which, by the way, is against the Charter.  It’s the Commission, through resolution and ordinances – that’s the only way.  So I’m being fired because I gave him the information and he didn’t like it, and now, because I followed the Charter, he didn’t like that.”
However, as evidenced by the resolution and 4.19.11 After Action Summary:
1. Direction to Manager to explore alternative revenues to the FPL franchise fees was by resolution of the City Commission, not by my personal request.  Nor did the Manager pursue it as a personal favor to the Mayor.
2. I followed Charter by bringing forth a resolution through the City Commission.
3. Finally, the Manager did not report to the Commission on the viability of alternative revenue streams that other municipalities have used to replace franchise fees, typically a mix of utility taxes, special assessments, and ad-valorem taxes.
The Manager did report to the Commission that the law firm Weiss Serota had opined that if Bay Harbor Island refused to renew their franchise agreement with FPL, that FPL would continue to collect the revenues from their residents and turn them over to the County.  I researched the matter and obtained a copy of a Miami-Dade County Commission resolution promising not to interfere in local franchise agreement negotiations, i.e., the county would not take our money if we cancelled our franchise agreement with FPL.  I submitted the County resolution to the Manager.
Ultimately, the Manager never provided the Commission with a report showing careful research on alternate revenue options as directed by the Commission in its adopted resolution.
So I stand by my assertion that the Manager did not comply with a written directive of the City Commission.  In addition, in making the false claims detailed above, the Manager violated the Citizen’s Bill of Rights, Truth in Government provision detailed in the City Charter.
This example is just one of many in which the Manager dismissed or undermined my efforts to do the job for which I was elected, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly.  I don’t see the benefit of going through every instance, but hopefully I have made the point that my decision to terminate was not personal, capricious, or vindictive.
Under the City Charter, a City Manager can be terminated with cause for failing to carry out a Commission directive.  I chose instead to terminate without cause, also provided in the Charter – the financial cost is equivalent, and the recovery can begin much sooner.
Dr. Mirabile is smart and talented, and he has done many good things in the City for which I am grateful.  But you cannot undermine the elected officials (your bosses) indefinitely and expect to keep your job.  My problems began when I voted to extend the Manager’s contract.  My bad.  Commissioner Beasley voted against the contract extension and subsequently came under so much pressure and persecution that he declined to run for reelection.
I was elected to give the city my best.  I could not do that while being undermined at every turn.  I gave the Manager many opportunities to reform his behavior, yet he persisted.  I truly hated to move for termination, but after a year of sleepless nights, I acted in my best conscience.  Friends and neighbors, that’s the best I can do.  I doubt many in my position would have held out so long.
It’s time to support our fine City staff, find a new manager, and move forward.  This time we have higher standards and raised expectations.  I believe we can meet them.

Well, that puts a different spin on things, now doesn't it?

Now, on another note, last Thursday, after the city commission already put forth the question of firing the city manager, City of South Miami's police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro, decided to take off on a hunting trip.  Wouldn't you call the timing of that trip slightly suspicious   Look at it this way, even if the trip was scheduled before all this went down, isn't it strange of him to take off right when his good buddy, the city manager, was getting fired?  For the sake of his friend the manager and the stability of the town he presides over, wouldn't you think it would have been prudent of him to have stuck around?  After all, the city manager painted a picture of a town that would have descended into chaos without him at the helm, wouldn't it have been smart for the chief to have been at his job to make sure nothing went awry?  On the other hand, considering how tight the chief and the manager are supposed to be, wouldn't you think he would have stuck around to help support his friend in his time of need and perhaps to quell the rumors of his own demise after his friends firing?

Strange, isn't it?  I would have thought that any police chief of a major suburb or city like South Miami would have remained at his post after a change like the city manager getting fired, regardless of whether or not he had a hunting trip planned before hand.  Perhaps his rational for taking the trip regardless of what happened in the city was the fact that he knew his days were numbered?  Something to the effect of "I know I'm fucked so I might as well take my vacation now while I still can?"

Regardless of why the Chief took his vacation, we hope that he has a great time hunting and we can only pray that he's a better shot than Dick Cheney...

Meanwhile at the City of Miami special commission hearing...

Good lord, after nearly three hours of sitting through some of the most boring and slow moving city business I've ever seen, the special meeting ended with City Manager Hector Mirabile getting FIRED!

Our friend, Andrea Torres, from the Miami Herald covered it here...

Fired South Miami city manager says treatment was worse than Iraq

BY ANDREA TORRES

South Miami commissioners fired their fourth city manager since 2009 during a contentious meeting Friday night.
Outgoing City Manager Hector Mirabile said Friday that his last year working for South Miami was far worse than being under daily attack as a lieutenant colonel in Ramadi, Iraq, where he was stationed in 2009.
With tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, Mirabile told the crowd at the commission meeting that he was proud of his team and all that they had accomplished during the two years in the city.
“Part of my management leadership style is to surround myself with the best available leaders that have the same drive and focus as I,” Mirabile said. “I am reporting to you that I accomplished that and more. The team of directors and managers currently working for the city are probably the best group.”
Some city employees, including South Miami’s director of human resources LaTasha M. Nickle, walked out of the meeting crying. Others filed up into his office to hug him.
Commissioners voted 3-2 to fire Mirabile without cause. South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, a biology professor turned politician, led the effort after accusing Mirabile and “his friend,” South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro, of turning the city into a “hostile” place.
“The situation has become intolerable,” Stoddard said.
Commissioners Bob Welsh and Walter Harris supported Stoddard’s effort. Vice Mayor Josh Liebman and Commissioner Valerie Newman dissented.
The city charter entitles a manager fired without cause to a month’s salary and benefits as severance, but Mirabile’s contract stipulates that a firing without cause before Sept. 20, 2015, required the city to pay his full salary as a “consultant” with benefits for six months. Under the contract’s terms, Mirabile received $140,000 in salary, and benefits included a $150 cellphone and $650 car allowance each month, plus a monthly $680 for health insurance coverage. Mirabile also receives benefits from the city of Miami.
Mirabile came to the city loaded with experience as a former Miami police major, Army National Guard veteran, and Miami’s interim director of community development and director of employee relations. He is also board chairman for the United Police Federal Credit Union, which represents police departments, including Miami, West Miami and the Miami-Dade County school district police.
In 2010, Mirabile replaced former acting city manager Buford “Randy” Witt, a retired Air Force general and former Miami-Dade chief information officer. Witt had replaced interim city manager Roger M. Carlton, who took Ajibola Balogun’s place after he was fired in 2009. A year ago, commissioners extended Mirabile’s three-year contract to two more years.
“I feel it was a mistake,” Stoddard said at a meeting Wednesday.
Before being fired, Witt chose Martinez de Castro as one of three finalists. Martinez de Castro, who worked in the Miami Police Department in the early 1980s with Mirabile, held several posts in South Miami, including public works director and assistant city manager before then-City Manager Maria Davis appointed him as police chief in October 2003. Martinez de Castro resigned in March 2006 and returned in 2010.
One of Mirabile’s biggest accomplishments: He restructured the police pension plan and moved toward a defined-contribution plan.
On Friday, commissioners named Kelly Barket as the acting city manager, while they look for an interim manager.

What she doesn't mention among other things is just how nasty Mr. Mirabile got during his "farewell speech", aside from his self aggrandizing babble that lasted over 45 minutes, he managed to show some hypocritical character traits while he was busy patting himself on the back.   He went on to tell us that...

"You had certain managers from the past hiring personal friends you had the human resources director hiring family member (sic), come to find out we had ended up having an IT person being a uh a cousin of the city mana..., one of the city managers in here and on and on and on.  Well that doesn't happen here any more."

You sure about that Mr. Mirabile?  Really?  Last I checked it was under your watch and in some instances with your approval that the city sent the chief's wife's tag agency business, unless you too are going to claim that you had no idea that tag agency was owned by the chief's wife.

Regardless, to get the full grasp of how nasty former city manager Mirabile's diatribe was, go on over to the City of South Miami's website and you can here it all for yourself.  Here's a link to the hearing, the "farewell speech" starts at around 1:46.

In his final parting shot, former city manager Mirabile plays the veteran card and accuses Mayor Stoddard of somehow not being patriotic or in someway shape or form being disrespectful of veterans by firing Mr Mirabile (an Iraq veteran) on the weekend of Veterans day.  That sounds pretty shitty doesn't it?  Reality is quite different than Mr. Mirabile wants us to believe as the commission had originally called his firing to vote on Wednesday, November 7th.  Remember, it was Mr. Mirabile's staunchest supporter, Commissioner Valerie Newman, who went ahead and blocked the vote last Wednesday and therefore pushed the vote onto the Friday of Veterans day weekend.  

So while we understand Mr. Mirabile's disappointment and perceived disrespect for being fired on this particular weekend, his animosity is aimed at the wrong person.  In fact, the person he should be pissed off at for ruining his Veterans day weekend is none other than Commissioner Valerie Newman!

Valerie Newman

That's enough for this week, more coming next week, we've found a new witness in the chief's ethics case that claims he's been lying and we've got a whole desk full of new ethics complaints against him as well.  So till then, have a great Veterans day weekend!

For whom the bell tolls...

As we mentioned yesterday, today at 3:45 pm the City of South Miami will convene a special meeting whose  sole purpose is to vote on whether or not to fire city manager Hector Mirabile.  So how did city manager Mirabile find himself in this mess?  Well, I'm told it's for two reasons, first off for being an overall DICK, second and most importantly my sources tell me it's because he refused to terminate (aka FIRE) his good buddy the chief of police, Orlando Martinez de Castro.  Interesting, huh?

So by the end of the day today, we're going to have another victim to add to the long list of victims that Orlando Martinez de Castro has left in his path of destruction.  While I don't feel bad for this latest casualty of the Martinez de Castro clan, I think it's worthwhile to look back at some of the innocent people that we've spoken about in the past...

The three innocent tellers that worked at the chief's wife's tag agency that were railroaded by the chief and falsely accused of stealing money or worse, Warren Papove, the South Miami handyman that was also railroaded by the chief and has been sitting in Krome detention center now for over four months.  These are just four innocent people whose lives have been destroyed by Chief (soon to be ex) Orlando Martinez de Castro, you have to ask yourself, how the hell can anyone live with themselves knowing that they've maintained whatever semblance of a life or career they may have by destroying the lives of innocent people and their families?  

I guess when you're someone like the chief somehow perhaps the power has gone to your head and you get a feeling of being untouchable.  I suppose that feeling of being untouchable must give the chief the license to fuck with people the way he does.  With all the rumors swirling around of the chief being fired or even the more laughable rumor of the chief resigning if the city of South Miami buys out the remaining term of his contract, I got a piece of advice for the chief.  After your friend and protector, Hector Mirabile, gets thrown out on his ass today, sit back and think about what you've done over the last few years, think long and hard and realize that it's in your best interest to walk away and do so rather quickly.  

See chief, you have no idea what I have on you and I'm just getting started.  You think you have a chance at beating the ethics case and keeping your job?  Think again.  I got enough to keep Joe Centorino and his gang busy for months and months to come, some of which I know is going to rise to the level of criminality.  So do yourself a favor, walk away now cause what's coming down the pike for you is no good, bad enough where even your friend over on NW 12th Avenue isn't going to be able to help you out.  

So think on it chief, think back on how we've gotten where we are, think long and hard about the three girls whose lives you turned inside and out, think about how you railroaded Warren Papove and who knows how many other people who are too scared to come forward and tell their stories.  And last but not least, think about the harm your antics have caused your good buddy Hector who is going to walk away in disgrace this afternoon with a permanent shit stain on his resume.

Stay tuned, we'll update as soon as we have news from the hearing this afternoon.

Dispatches from Krome Detention Center

As those of you following our story on South Miami handyman Warren Papove know, Mr. Papove is still sitting in Krome Detention Center awaiting deportation.  From what I'm told he's been there now for over 100 days.  We received a letter from Mr. Papove back in September describing the conditions over at Krome...

Greetings from Krome; a legal limbo land where rights aren't given by the constitution, but by ICE agents. After 68 days I haven't seen a judge or my deportation officer. Apparently I have the right to neither. You see in 1988  I signed a voluntary deportation order in California. It was explained to me that I couldn't return for 5 years. In Nov'93  I returned via Amtrak from Montreal to Mobile, Alabama where I continued working with my employer. Later in Florida he abandoned myself and another worker. He owed us both bonuses.      On the word of a snitch and a single ICE officer this deportation order was reinstated denying me any right to see a judge. The deportation officer assigned to me has left her job and did little prior to leaving. I've not spoken to her or her replacement. The officers  come on UNIT for about 10 minutes on Thursdays. 5-7 officers for 60-65 people. Mine doesn't show although the others claim he/she is downstairs and will be up shortly.        Allow me to clarify my most serious offense,Cocaine possession. Threre was no cocaine, there was a pipe with residue. I was sentenced to 24 HOURS OF PROBATION !!       After having access to me denied by a Canadian Consular official I visited  with MIAMI HERALD REPORTER ANDREA TORRES.She was physically removed part way through our visit. I was transferred the next day to Glades facility in Moore Haven. Transfers are not only due to overcrowding. They are also used as punishment for those who dare fight their case.      Transfers involve hours of waiting, shackled  at both the departure and arrival sites besides shackled traveling. All non-local calls are $2.85 connection fee and 50 cents / Minuit. Visiting is hindered , envelope procurement is interrupted and money earned ( $1.00 /day is possible ) is partially transferred and partially confiscated. Case defense suffers. The day after my transfer to Glades I was charged Federally with REENTRY and returned to Krome for a few hours before being sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in downtown Miami.      I saw a judge for bail purposes only. Only a quarter of a million dollars. One week later the charge was dismissed. I didn't get to see the judge. While  in Federal prison I was hungry. Lunch was often a sandwich and soup. If you hadn't somehow already bought a bowl you couldn't get the soup! No drink without purchase of a cup either. No water fountain. There was a sink, remember I was not convicted of anything, nor had I seen a judge regarding case merit.       Now I'm back at Krome where the guards are privately contracted (DOYON)  but ICE makes all relevant rules and decisions so there is a layer of separation.          Hundreds of people have passed through since I've been here have been deported before. I know two others charged with RE-ENTRY. One has twice served 4 year sentences, the other has a more lengthy record.          After  90 days they must review my case. They could renew the 90 day process in perpetuity. Unlawful confinement?          Most people I've talked to here have children and either wives, finances or girlfriends/ ex's. Most will be leaving voluntarily or by force. Your tax dollars hard at work here now will undoubtedly be working hard in the future.       Thanks for everyone who has supported me. Warren Papove, Krone Detention Center, Sept 12,2012

If that wasn't bad enough, the next letter we got last week certainly was...

Greetings  from Krome,      Well CO [Corrections Officer] Summers caught some homosexual activity in the shower last night and the one guy was shipped out hours later. A start. The other guy is the problem. He sings. A lot. In a fake feminine voice.       While I was in the bathroom with the regulars working out with a bag of water in a laundry bag he came up o the chest high wall and poked his head over. As I'm curling the bag he smiles at me demonically and says, "Look Killer's working out". Then he comes around. I tell him to get the ______ out of my space. He refuses. So I put down the bag and charge him. He bails out and runs to the center of a foreigner prayer circle. It's like a mix of Santeria and other religions. They're all talking in foreign languages at the same time  laying their hands on him, but in this exorcism the poltergeist is running the show. Then there's CO Foote. Severely overweight, bad hair and a bad attitude. A spinster in the making. In the cafeteria line she wants me to close a 3foot gap with the poltergeist, I refuse, she threatens "Sergeant" ( for discipline) but the other Canadian intervenes and prevents me from being boxed. Foote is left drooling. She smelled blood and was denied. I sense denial is a recurring theme in the nightmare that must be her life.      There's CO Garnett, the mail call guy, who's pretty civil and will go out of his way as much as he can to help people send or receive mail and use the library. There's also CO C. Hinson who disrespected "Chihuahua" and a dozen others so severely I thought he was about to get hurt. He was lucky. If he's smart he'd change career paths. He won't stay lucky forever.       There's Brito, the ICE agent who tries to intimidate people as if people who've endured this crap can be scared by his death stare. Yeah Brito, you're a tough guy. Everyone's impressed. The ICE guys who do shakedowns along with the DOYON private security are a comedy of intimidation techniques. Like drunken NY Jets fans, you know the ones I'm talking about with their Joe Klecko jerseys that are 5 sizes too small because it ain't the 80's anymore, puking in a trash can while their 10 year old son holds their beer for them. Substitute arms for beer bellies.       The poltergeist is singing again. I'm trying to write. My eyes are blurring. A surgical glove nearby stops him/her cold. Thank you CO Summers. I finally spoke to my deportation officer on Thurs Sept 20 to ask about my status. He said I had pending charges of re-entry they were going to prosecute. Those charges were dismissed August 22, a month ago. At any point does a confinement become unlawful when they don't have to follow their own rules? I was hoping you could bring this to the appropriate people's attention, particularly because they see no need for judges in certain cases. Thanks for your help. Warren Papove

YIKES!  Incredible that this poor man, who was nothing more than collateral damage in a political war at the City of South Miami, is still sitting in detention.  What purpose does it serve at this point not to deport this man back to Canada?

Another letter from Krome...

Warren Papove

Those of you who follow our blog know all too well the story of Warren Papove, the South Miami handyman that got caught in the crossfire of a nasty political battle between City of South Miami commissioner Valerie Newman, Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and Commissioner Bob Welsh.  Based on what we've seen Mr. Papove became a pawn in the quest to discredit Commissioner Welsh and as a result he was picked up by the police and handed over to ICE who then transported him to Krome Detention center where he remains to this day awaiting deportation.  Mr. Papove managed to get us a message the other day and over the weekend we received yet another message from Mr. Papove outlining his current situation in Krome.  Here it is in it's entirety...

Greetings from Krome; a legal limbo land where rights aren't given by the constitution, but by ICE agents. After 68 days I haven't seen a judge or my deportation officer. Apparently I have the right to neither. You see in 1988  I signed a voluntary deportation order in California. It was explained to me that I couldn't return for 5 years. In Nov'93  I returned via Amtrak from Montreal to Mobile, Alabama where I continued working with my employer. Later in Florida he abandoned myself and another worker. He owed us both bonuses.      On the word of a snitch and a single ICE officer this deportation order was reinstated denying me any right to see a judge. The deportation officer assigned to me has left her job and did little prior to leaving. I've not spoken to her or her replacement. The officers  come on UNIT for about 10 minutes on Thursdays. 5-7 officers for 60-65 people. Mine doesn't show although the others claim he/she is downstairs and will be up shortly.        Allow me to clarify my most serious offense,Cocaine possession. Threre was no cocaine, there was a pipe with residue. I was sentenced to 24 HOURS OF PROBATION !!       After having access to me denied by a Canadian Consular official I visited  with MIAMI HERALD REPORTER ANDREA TORRES.She was physically removed part way through our visit. I was transferred the next day to Glades facility in Moore Haven. Transfers are not only due to overcrowding. They are also used as punishment for those who dare fight their case.      Transfers involve hours of waiting, shackled  at both the departure and arrival sites besides shackled traveling. All non-local calls are $2.85 connection fee and 50 cents / Minuit. Visiting is hindered , envelope procurement is interrupted and money earned ( $1.00 /day is possible ) is partially transferred and partially confiscated. Case defense suffers. The day after my transfer to Glades I was charged Federally with REENTRY and returned to Krome for a few hours before being sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in downtown Miami.      I saw a judge for bail purposes only. Only a quarter of a million dollars. One week later the charge was dismissed. I didn't get to see the judge. While  in Federal prison I was hungry. Lunch was often a sandwich and soup. If you hadn't somehow already bought a bowl you couldn't get the soup! No drink without purchase of a cup either. No water fountain. There was a sink, remember I was not convicted of anything, nor had I seen a judge regarding case merit.       Now I'm back at Krome where the guards are privately contracted (DOYON)  but ICE makes all relevant rules and decisions so there is a layer of separation.          Hundreds of people have passed through since I've been here have been deported before. I know two others charged with RE-ENTRY. One has twice served 4 year sentences, the other has a more lengthy record.          After  90 days they must review my case. They could renew the 90 day process in perpetuity. Unlawful confinement?          Most people I've talked to here have children and either wives, finances or girlfriends/ ex's. Most will be leaving voluntarily or by force. Your tax dollars hard at work here now will undoubtedly be working hard in the future.       Thanks for everyone who has supported me. Warren Papove, Krone Detention Center, Sept 12,2012

This is fucking crazy.  I hope the people responsible for putting Mr. Papove where he is are proud of themselves.

On another note, check out the Miami Herald article regarding absentee ballot brokers and the Miami Dade Judicial races.  Am I the only one thinking that all the absentee ballots from the recent election should be thrown out?

A disappointing turn in the Warren Papove story...

From what we'd heard last regarding the story of South Miami handyman Warren Papove who was used as a political pawn by certain factions of South Miami politics, Mr Papove was supposed to be released from Krome detention center and was going to be going back to South Miami.  In fact the federal inmate locator website already shows that Mr. Papove has been released...

Sadly though, this is not the case.  Although the governments case against Mr. Papove was dismissed, it turns out that he is still going to be deported because of a minor drug possession charge from a few years back.  That's rather unfortunate, at first I was told that Mr. Papove was going to fight the deportation but now I'm told that he's going to voluntarily leave and go back to his native Canada.  It's an unfortunate turn of events, especially when Mr. Papove had nothing to do with the political undercurrents that got him where he is today.  

With that said though, Mr. Papove managed to get a message to us from Krome that he asked be published on our blog.  Keep in mind, these are his words and not ours...

Warren Papove's Good Bye to South Miami

Warren tells South  Miami , "I am not a crook"!

Warren hopes Sharon McCain achieves her goal by wrecking just one life and not any more.

Warren says that if Valerie Newman watched her diet maybe she would be happier with herself, and maybe if she worried about her own well being she would be less abusive toward others.

Warren says that Chief Martinez's guayabera is too small and to not knock on Connie's door, she is 91 and to please keep the jackboots away from her. Warren says that the streets of South Miami are safer now that he is gone. He asks chief Martinez if he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Warren says that if detective Mendez would have explained that not having an ID was not a criminal offense he would have walked in the back yard and closed the fence gate behind him.

When asked how he feels about Latins deporting Anglos he says next time he wants to be deported by someone who speaks English.

He says now that Hispanic officers are deporting Anglo tree guys, will the few Anglo officers be in charge of deporting Hispanic tree guys?

He says that as racially tense as the City is at least the Code enforcement officer (who stopped him and went on and on about clear cutting oak trees) can be of a different sexual persuasion than most in South Miami and still keep his job.

God speed to you Mr. Papove and good luck with your new life in Canada, at the rate we're going down here, you might be better off!

It's official, the government drops it's case against Warren Papove...

As the title states, it's now official, the federal magistrate presiding over the Warren Papove deportation case has signed an order dismissing the case that the City of South Miami Police concocted to get Mr. Papove deported from the United States.  The order was recorded this morning...

Warren Papove Order of Dismissal

Congratulations to Mr. Papove and his supporters and shame on those involved with the detention and subsequent arrest for making the last six weeks of this mans life a living hell.

MAJOR BREAKING NEWS!! Warren Papove to be released!!!

For our readers that have been following the Warran Papove deportation story that arose from the ongoing nefarious activities of City of South Miami commissioner Valerie Newman and the city's police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro, you'll be glad to hear that Mr Papove's six plus week stay at Krome Detention center is going to be coming to an end very shortly.  We were informed yesterday through Warren Papove's federal public defender, Samuel Randall, that the federal prosecutor assigned to Mr. Papove's deportation case has decided to recommend to the presiding judge that all criminal charges against Mr. Papove should be dropped!

The dismissal of the criminal charges against Mr. Papove is huge news as it completely upends the efforts of Commissioner Newman and Chief Martinez to humiliate the people who took care of Mr. Papove while he lived in South Miami.

Now that this ugly chapter in South Miami politics is coming to a close, the question that we're left to ask is whether or not the entire detention and subsequent arrest of Mr. Papove was done legally.  From the original police report written by Detective Mendez of the South Miami Police Department, we were told that an anonymous caller placed a call to code enforcement alleging that Mr. Papove was doing work on someones property without a permit, allegedly a code enforcement officer came out and while all this was going on detective Mendez drove by and recognized Mr. Papove from a wanted poster.  As we discussed a few days ago, that entire scenario seemed highly unlikely, what seemed far more likely.  We seemed to think the whole thing went down like this...

• Commissioner Valeria Newman and Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro scheme and try to figure out a way to embarrass their nemesis on the commission, Bob Welsh.
• A friend of Newman's tells her about Mr. Papove working in the neighborhood and Newman relays this information to the Chief who does a quick background search on Mr. Papove then finds out that he's not supposed to be in the United States. A light goes off in the Chief's mind and both he and Newman concoct this plan to arrest Mr Papove and humiliate Commissioner Welsh.
• A sucker in the police department is picked to put together this bogus case and to write a false police report in order to further Commissioner Newman and Chief Martinez de Castro's plot.

Doesn't that seem more realistic?  If indeed that is the way it went down then the whole police report is a fabricated pile of bullshit.  Tomorrow we're going to compare the police report written by the City of South Miami police department to the report that the feds wrote and see if we can point out any inconsistencies in the reports.  Until then, congratulations to Mr. Papove and his attorney!

The Miami Herald follows up on our Warren Papove story...

A few weeks ago we told you the story of Warren Papove, a South Miami resident/handyman that was allegedly doing work on someones home without a permit then somehow found himself behind bars at the Krome Detention Center.  In our opinion, since Mr. Papove was found to be doing nothing wrong, his detention and subsequent trip to Krome doesn't seem like it was above board.  The whole thing stinks and smells of a setup whose sole intention was to embarrass South Miami Commissioner Bob Welsh.  From our post a few weeks back...

PAPOVE SAID THAT HE WORKED FOR BOB WELSH IN SEBRING, FLORIDA HELPING HIM BUILD A HOUSE FROM THE BOTTOM UP. PAPOVE STATED HE WORKED THERE FOR APPROXIMATELY TEN (IO) MONTHS.

PAPOVE SAID HE LIVED IN A BARN ON THE PROPERTY AND USED A BUCKET AS A RESTROOM.

As we mentioned before, what does any of this have to do with Mr. Papove getting questioned for doing work on someones property without a permit?

Now, check out the Herald story, our friend Andrea Torres went down to the Krome Detention Center to visit Mr. Papove and ask him a few questions, what's most interesting though is how the police came to find out about Mr. Papove...

South Miami police Maj. Rene Landa said the complaint on Papove came from Newman.

That would be Commissioner Valerie Newman, the same commissioner that called me a "scumbag" a few months ago.  That creates a bit of a problem though, lets go back to the original police report that we posted  a few weeks ago...

AN ANONYMOUS PASSER BY, OBSERVED PAPOVE WORKING IN A YARD AT THE INTERSECTION OF SW 74 ST AND SW 63 AVE AND BECAME CONCERNED THAT HE WAS THERE WORKING WITHOUT A PERMIT.

That doesn't sound like what the cops told the Herald reporter now does it?  It gets better, back to the Herald article again...

Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro found out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had wanted him for entering the United States after a previous deportation to his native Canada in the 1980s.

Huh?  According to the police report, I thought it went like this...

WHILE DRIVING PASS (sic) THE SCENE, DET. MENDEZ, RECOGNIZED PAPOVE AS A PERSON WANTED FOR AN IMMIGRATION VIOLATION, FROM A WANTED FLYER.

Lol.  So that's not how it happened at all now, is it?  And even better, according to the original police report, all of this mess arose because of a code enforcement complaint, but then again according to the Herald...

The code enforcement department, which is under the authority of the police department, doesn’t have an official record of the complaint.

WUT!?  No record of the code enforcement complaint?  How the hell can that be possible?  This is the best part though...

“I read the narrative of the police report. It went into too much detail about him working on Commissioner Welsh’s house. It was pretty rehearsed,” said Todd Ostergard, an immigration lawyer who visited Papove as a favor to friends who live in the neighborhood. “This whole thing has the hallmarks of a set up.”

No kidding?  Of course it was rehearsed.  The whole damn incident and subsequent police report was staged and rehearsed.  Let's look at how things really went down, for a moment forget about the police report and follow my theory of what happened...

• Commissioner Valeria Newman and Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro scheme and try to figure out a way to embarrass their nemesis on the commission, Bob Welsh.
• A friend of Newman's tells her about Mr. Papove working in the neighborhood and Newman relays this information to the Chief who does a quick background search on Mr. Papove then finds out that he's not supposed to be in the United States.  A light goes off in the Chief's mind and both he and Newman concoct this plan to arrest Mr Papove and humiliate Commissioner Welsh.
• A sucker in the police department is picked to put together this bogus case and to write a false police report in order to further Commissioner Newman and Chief Martinez de Castro's plot.

The rest is history.

It's too bad that despite their intentions, Commissioner Newman and Chief Martinez de Castro's plan was so poorly executed.  I'm even going to go out on a limb here and suggested that the fabrication of this police report may have even risen to the level of criminality, the question that begs to be asked though is why the hell would Detective Mendez do something like this?  Perhaps the chief's got something on the detective that he used to pressure him to be involved in this circus?  Who knows.  The other thing that I'm told that makes this all the more puzzling is that Mr. Papove stated several times that Chief Martinez de Castro was present and very involved with his case while he was at the South Miami PD, you have to wonder, if the chief wasn't up to his eyeballs in this mess, why would he bother being involved in the detention of a poor handyman that wasn't doing anything illegal?

The most telling part of this whole ordeal is that when the folks down at Krome realized that Ms. Torres was from the Herald, they quickly escorted her out of their facility and apparently Mr. Papove is now being transferred out Krome and to another detention center in the middle of the state.  I'm honestly embarrassed for the residents of South Miami as these goings on seem to be the signature of a petty third world tyrant.  Congratulations Commissioner Newman and Chief Martinez de Castro, you guys would have made the other Castro down south proud...

More on the Warren Papove story...

Krome Detention Center

We left off last week discussing the bizarre case of Mr. Warren Papove, a South Miami resident who was somehow detained for doing work without a permit but was then picked up by I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and is now waiting at the Krome detention center waiting to be deported back to his native Canada.  We discussed how strange all of this was and how his detention may have even been illegal. 


Mr Papove has been sitting in Krome now for several weeks awaiting a deportation hearing I presume, the other day I got an email with someone who visited Mr Papove at the detention center.  What's bizarre about this whole case besides how the cop who arrested Mr. Papove wasn't called to the scene of the incident but was instead "just driving by and happened to recognize Mr. Papove from a wanted poster", what's really bizarre is what the person who visited Mr. Papove says he told them during there visit.  Allegedly I.C.E. agents repeatedly asked Mr. Papove whether or not people in South Miami knew that he was an illegal alien, specifically city commissioner Robert Welsh knew about his immigration status.  Mr Papove also told the visitor that he heard an I.C.E. agent tell one of the security guards that his case was a "high profile case".  Now, what exactly does that mean?  How can the detention of a guy doing yard work be a "high profile case"?


Based on what we know so far, the line of questioning during Mr. Papove's detention and most notably the law enforcement's peculiar obsession with where Mr. Papove takes a shit during his stay at Commissioner Welsh's farm "PAPOVE SAID HE LIVED IN A BARN ON THE PROPERTY AND USED A BUCKET AS A RESTROOM", one can only conclude that this is some sort of nefarious scheme by the powers that over at the city of South Miami to get commissioner Welsh into some sort of trouble.  If this is the case then it just goes to show how far these people are willing to go to further their agenda, first railroading the three tellers in the Airways Auto Tag agency case and now having Mr. Papove detained and subsequently deported under some very suspicious circumstances.  


This is some very dirty, nasty shit folks, if this is really how go down in South Miami then it's best to steer clear of the place...

Honestly folks, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN SOUTH MIAMI?!

For fucks sake, just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger in South Miami, the word on the street is that there is an all out war going on between rival factions within the city government, as we discussed earlier this week the first real victim was this poor Canadian citizen named Warren Papove.  Even Maricopa county's Sherrif Joe Arpaio wouldn't be able to figure out what's going on in South Miami.  In Arizona the Anglos deport hispanics, in South Miami the Hispanics deport Anglos!  


Mr Papove found himself caught in the crossfire between two groups within the city, one group that seems hell bent on turning over every leaf in an effort to root out corruption and backroom dealing while the other group seems be operating on the outer fringes of legality (IE illegally steering city work to businesses owned by friends and family).  I know labeling Mr. Papove's arrest and subseqent detention as some sort of politcal revenge may be rather far fetched, that is till you read his arrest report.  Take a look for yourselves...

Warren Papove Arrest Report

Now honestly, who's the target of this arrest report?  I don't know but to me it seems like it's more about Commissioner Bob Welsh than it is Mr. Papove.  Besides that, the whole report seems like something out of the Twilight Zone...

AN ANONYMOUS PASSER BY, OBSERVED PAPOVE WORKING IN A YARD AT THE INTERSECTION OF SW 74 ST AND SW 63 AVE AND BECAME CONCERNED THAT HE WAS THERE WORKING WITHOUT A PERMIT.

No shit, really?  

CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STRUDER, D. RESPONDED TO THE SCENE IN ORDER TO CONDUCTAN INVESTIGATION.

Fuck me, around 5 pm on a Friday no less.  Way to go Officer Struder, while most city employees are either getting ready to leave work or on their way home already, Officer Struder is out and about looking for code enforcement violations?  Ok...

UPON ARRIVAL HE MET WITH POPOVE AND DETERMINED THAT POPOVE WAS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY CITY ORDINANCES.

Ok, this is where the entire interaction should have ended, that is until...

WHILE DRIVING PASS (sic) THE SCENE, DET. MENDEZ, RECOGNIZED PAPOVE AS A PERSON WANTED FOR AN IMMIGRATION VIOLATION, FROM A WANTED FLYER.

This is where I have to call bullshit.  Here we are having this lovely interaction between a code enforcement officer late on a Friday afternoon when Detective Mendez just happened to drive past these guys and he just happened to recognize Mr. Papove from a wanted poster.  Bullshit, I believe this interaction is much more likely to have happened than Detective Mendez recognizing this guys face from a wanted poster...

Now this is where things start to get really sketchy...

WHILE AT THE SCENE PAPOVE BEGAN SPEAKING TO DET. MENDEZ AND STATED THAT HE HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI SINCE 2OO2 AND HAS RESIDED IN SEVERAL RESIDENCES WHILE DOING HANDYMAN WORKAROUND THOSE
RESIDENCES. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE IS FRIENDS WITH MANY RESIDENTS IN SOUTH MIAMI TO INCLUDE BOB WELSH, CONNIE STREIGER, AND CONNIE BINGERMAN TO NAME A FEW. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE WORKS FOR THESE RESIDENTS AS A HANDYMAN DOING ODD JOBS. 

Ok, and?  What exactly does this have to do with anything?  Now let's go back to the conclusion that code enforcement officer Strudder came to just a few moments ago...

...DETERMINED THAT POPOVE WAS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY CITY ORDINANCES.

That's it, end of story.  From this point on, if Mr. Papove was detained, in my opinion his detention was illegal and any statements that he made can be suppressed.  Plus, we have to ask, was Detective Mendez cross deputized with ICE?  If not, I don't even think he had the legal standing to detain Mr. Papove, let alone ask him any kind of questions.  Remember, this is just my opinion as a lay person but I suspect that I'm not far off the mark.


Moving on...

PAPOVE SAID THAT HE WORKED FOR BOB WELSH IN SEBRING, FLORIDA HELPING HIM BUILD A HOUSE FROM THE BOTTOM UP. PAPOVE STATED HE WORKED THERE FOR APPROXIMATELY TEN (IO) MONTHS. 

So what?  Why does this incident report have any mention of working for Welsh or anyone else if not to harm Mr. Welsh in some way shape or form?  See what I'm getting at here?

PAPOVE SAID HE LIVED IN A BARN ON THE PROPERTY AND USED A BUCKET AS A RESTROOM. 

And what the fuck difference does it make where Mr. Papove takes a fucking shit?  

Why exactly is the matter of where Mr. Papove drops a load included in a police report unless he's being cited for doing something with his shit that's illegal?!!

HE STATED THAT HE DID YARD WORK AND DELIVERED FLYERS. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE TRIMS TREES AND BUSHES AND DOES YARD WORK FOR CONNIE STREIGER AND CONNIE BINGERMAN. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE GETS PAID IN CASH OR IN CASES OF BEER.

I'm not sure what the hell any of this has to do with why Detective Mendez detained Mr. Papove other than to create a record of some sort of alleged wrong doing by the other people mentioned in the incident report. As I mentioned before, my opinions are just that, opinions of a lay person.  What I do know is that there are at least two very, very good immigration and criminal law attorneys going over this incident right now, I can only hope that the law enforcement officers involved conducted this detention by the book otherwise there's going to be hell to pay.  In the mean time, if you're driving through  South Miami, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PAPERS!