JACC "New Majority" Goes Head To Head With Old Majority Over The Issue Of "Who Is The True JACC?"

John Hoff stock photo, some members of the "New Majority" getting stuff DONE

At 9:30 a.m. today, in the courtroom of Judge Porter, Room 1853, Hennepin County Government Center, the battle over the fate of a neighborhood began as the "New Majority" faction--led by Kip Browne--faced off against the "Old Majority" faction, which has E.B. Brown as its figurehead but is plainly headed by attorney and well known public figure Ben Myers.

One must be careful not to make the match up sound too terribly even; though both sides have their moments, the contest appears fairly lopsided. Sitting in the bride's corner, the first thing one notices as you enter the room, is Peter Richard Stephenson ("Pete The Pedophile") observing the proceedings intently.

Yes, somebody has...

...called Peter's case worker/probation officer/whatever to ask, in effect, "What the (expletive) is a Level 3 Sex Offender doing at all these court proceedings revolving around Jordan neighborhood controversies, arguably putting himself in a position to report back to WHOEVER he might report back to?"

Yeah, somebody called the boss of Peter's worthless carcass. But that doesn't appear to have produced results. So the worthless carcass sits, with that look of citizen concern on his face, that grimly interested expression on a mouth that has...good god, you don't even want to THINK about what that mouth has done.

Let us turn our collective minds to the purity of testimony at depositions.

"Old Majority" Plaintiff Attorney Jill Clark wanted, first of all, to make the record about the depositions of "New Majority" officers Anne McCandless and Michael Browne. Clark mentioned she didn't manage to depose Megan Goodmundson, and made defense scheduling difficulties sound like a nefarious plot to shuffle Megan all around, like a card in a card trick.

Watch my hands. Watch my hands shuffle the cards. Now...can you find the JACC of Hearts?

Ha!!!!!!!!!!

Well, actually, the scheduling difficulties didn't sound like that at all. Except when Jill Clark was talking.

Jill Clark, the plaintiff attorney, appears to be literally the "walking wounded," with her right hand in some kind of support device. If you sit near Clark and watch her, you notice what seems to be a hideous second heart beating inside her jaw, as she (apparently) clenches, unclenches, clenches, unclenches her teeth, and her lips seem to kibble-kibble-kibble at times like the nervous lips of a squirrel.

I thought, MY GOD!!! Am I the first one to notice this overt sign of churning internal who-knows-what? But some board members who were hanging around getting themselves sued waived off my observations. They'd seen it. Everybody had seen it, that thing Jill Clark does with her jaw and her lips while forced to sit and listen to an opposing attorney. One board member wished aloud for an opportunity to play high stakes poker with Jill Clark and her clenching jaw.

The Plaintiffs put forward a series of Motions In Limine, (limm-in-ee) which are designed to prevent testimony which would prejudice by its simple mention. (Like the details of the "fracas" involving Jerry Moore, and "fracas" was actually Jill Clark's term.

There was much talk about the missing JACC equipment, and how Ben Myers should not be compelled to answer where the equipment is. Clark mentioned how the "McCandless board" (her term and the court's term for the "New Majority") has been calling for a forensic audit and/or criminal investigations or sanctions.

So what does THAT invoke? Come on, I know some of you want to go to law school. Come on, my ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON knows this, mostly because I went out of my way to tech him.

THE FIFTH AMENDMENT!!!! Ben Myers is invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege over questions as to the missing office equipment. (Though, actually, from what I'm told about Ben's deposition---and I was told a whole lot, by a confidential source--the actual question which caused Myers to invoke the Fifth Amendment was whether JACC even HAD office equipment, not "where the heck is it, Ben?"

Using the term "internet" synonymously with "Johnny Northside Blog," (too high a form of backhanded praise!) Clark said the call by Anne McCandless for criminal sanctions was "all over the internet" and therefore--FIFTH AMENDMENT FOR BEN MYERS. Clark also tried to argue that something nefarious and possibly illegal had taken place because Anne McCandless had gotten her hands on a police report which is now--and here's that carefully chosen word--all over "the internet."

By which she means that darn Johnny Northside blog.

Defense Attorney David Schooler--sharply dressed and reportedly harboring a dislike of "nice people" who need to be cross examined on the stand, because nice people are perfectly capable of telling big fat harmful lies and it's his ugly job to get the truth out of them, no matter how annoyingly "nice" they may be--argued that NRP requires boards to perform audits. It is normal practice. In any case, it is not completed, yet. Schooler said "a seminal issue is how the Myers board (Old Majority) spent money."

The evidence, Schooler said, is that McCandless asked Myers if he knew where the equipment was, and Myers said "No," so a police report was then made. Schooler emphasized several different ways that Myers has A FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY to say whether he knows where that property is.

In a counter argument which produced soft titters of bitter, mocking laughter from the "groom side" of the court room, Jill Clark said it was "our theory" somebody from the "McCandless group" took the property in question.

And then a lot more happened after that, but proceedings resume in about five minutes, so I must leave this comfortable law library with wireless internet and return to my bloggy post. This was not proofread.

Forgive any typos, dear readers.