AND the fact that the County and the Sheriff's office made this right at the final hour for no other reason than a court order (show cause and writ of mandamus) after more than a year just made Troy Durham's $5 million Federal lawsuit against them even stronger.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
To Law enforcement:
ReplyDeleteOh what a tangled web we weave , when first we practice to deceive .
All of government has turned to be idiots.
Congrats Troy!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Justice will be served to Fire Chief and Mayor and City Council in the near future!
ReplyDeleteWay to go! The best news I have heard all week and I don't know, have never met and wouldn't know Troy Durham if I saw him today. But he has fought the good fight and finally got a part of his due reward. Government needs to be taken to their knees and I am including every aspect of it. Bad things are going to happen if the government continues to totally control every aspect of our lives. I'm so concerned about the Trucks moving into Washington today that there will be violence. People of fed up.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for this young man!!
ReplyDeleteHe bucked the "system" & WON!
Way to go!
The 2 cases are radically different in nature,but for who knows what reason the Sussex County Sheriff has been closely following Troy's progress.The problem is that Md and Del are like 2 different countries in some ways.Somerset and Sussex are worlds apart in their method of operation.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, someone finally prevailed in getting justice in Somerset County. We have seen cover-up after cover-up by elected officials for years. I'm still not sure that they will be transparent and operate a truly open government. For some reason they like to operate in secrecy. I would strongly suggest that the commissioners get a new county attorney because they have certainly received horrible advice from the present attorney and to make matters worse the attorney is one of the commissioners brother. Am I the only one that thinks that is just plain wrong?
ReplyDeleteIt should be strongly demanded by the Somerset County citizens that the following three individuals be required to resign immediately due to obvious conflicts of interest as noted:
ReplyDelete1. Kirk Simpkins - County Attorney
2. Rex Simpkins - President of the Somerset County Commissioners and the BROTHER of Kirk Simpkins the County attorney.
3.Ralph Douglas Taylor - The Somerset County Administrator who is FIRST COUSIN to Rex Simpkins, the County Commissioners President and Kirk Simpkins, the County Attorney.
These three closely related family members form the top three officials making decisions for all of Somerset County. Besides being closely related family members, all three grew up in Mt. Vernon together and lived less than one tenth (1/10) of a mile from each other. Another interesting fact is that the County sheriff (Bobby Jones), the cause of this illegal action against Deputy Durham, is also from Mt. Vernon and had close ties with this family since birth. I can't believe that there are not more nonrelated citizens in this County that could not do a much better job plus being equally or more qualified than these three family members. And please don't forget that these three family members are the top three decision makers for Somerset County. At the very least, Kirk Simpkins and Ralph Taylor should resign immediately due to VERY OBVIOUS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST that creates an extremely serious BREECH OF ETHICS issue in addition to placing the County in an obvious liability position due to any action requiring involvement from any two of these family members. It's hard to believe that nepotism has progressed like a cancer in our County government. Change must be initiated immediately to protect the citizens from the type of liability issues as what happened with Deputy Durham. Don't forget that every time a lawsuit is initiated against the County for unlawful actions, the County's liability insurance rate rises and must be paid for by the citizens. We need competent nonrelated leaders who not only abide by the rule of law but also the rule of common sense. We can't be this blind.
10-11-13
ReplyDeleteWho dares to question Rex Simkins`judgement? If you ASK him he`s the foremost authority on everything in the World. Along with his inept brother Kirk, they managed to blow the Durham case out of proportion and again cost WE the taxpayers another bundle through LEGIT the County insurance company. This could have been settled and put to bed had Rex not been such a natural ass as he is and the two FOLLOWERS Boston and Fisher backing him up. Rex has said this time around he`s going to run for somthing County wide and I hope he does so part of the Simkins choke hold on Somerset Co. can be eliminated. Along with the other tentacles of the FAMILY, Betsy Shrock,Taylor,Kirk,and ALL their leiutenants should be shown just exactly HOW SMART they are.
Huge legal expenses to fight the allegations of an employee? Remind you of anything in Wicomico County?
ReplyDelete11:57 that's how Somerset functions. only employee friends and family so no one can correct the system.
ReplyDelete12:48 - Please let us focus on Somerset County. Would the citizens of Wicomico County put up with such obvious and in your face nepotism?? I think not. And Joe, can you please place this letter/issue at top so Somerset County citizens can see same this evening. It looks like this may be placed in the "Older Posts" file real soon because of so much activity on your blog site. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAgree, agree, agree! I'm sure the insurance has skyrocketed from all the lawsuits. Don't forget there was a lawsuit filed over Jim Henderson when he was Warden and the commissioners were dump enough to rehire him and then had to fire him again for more wrongdoing. It would be interesting to know how Somerset insurance compares to surrounding counties.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be nice to see this at the top. Somerset doesn't get a lot of recognition on this site.
The citizens lost in this case.
ReplyDeleteCourt records show that this settlement of Durham's back pay, benefits and retirement, etc. was finally made
ReplyDeleteright "at the final hour" because the Commissioners were due back in court THE NEXT DAY -- on Friday, Oct 11. It took extreme legal measures (a show cause and writ of mandamus) at Durham's expense (more legal fees) to force them to do what they admitted was their "statutory obligation". This was not a "come-to-Jesus-let's- do -the-right-thing"
moment and they are not off the hook because there is still a federal lawsuit against all of them. It's great to see that citizens are fed up and speaking out. With an election coming up next year, it will be the perfect time to clean house. Durham should be commended for his persistence and professionalism throughout this ordeal.
These commissioners need to start coughing up some money for legal fees instead of depending on the county insurance company to pay all the bills. They would probably try to do the right thing if they knew that they would be held personally responsible.
ReplyDeleteI guess we will be in for another tax hike next year to pay the insurance premium.
Finally, a lawyer not afraid to buck the system. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteSomersets legal representation sucks!