When they first moved to Moscow. They were excited. It was a small
community, the people seemed nice, and it felt good. They purchased a
home and begin to settle down with their three youngest children.
They began making friends, building their support system. They'd
become good friends of their next door neighbor. She was a widowed
parent trying to get through law school. When my friend and her
husband started to notice none of the children came outside during the
day. It was summer time, the weather perfect for being children in
the sun. They were told by their friend that if any of the kids were
out during the day while their parents were at work and there was no
one babysitting them they could be evicted from the trailer court. Of
course, my friend and her husband were aghast. She had gotten a job,
but he was still looking so acting as the chief chef, housekeeper and
all round house person. But, there with the kids during the day (the
reason they hadn't been officially told by the landowners about this).
As you can guess, my friend and her husband could not stand by and
let this happen. So they told their friend next door that the kids
were welcome at their house during the day. My friend's husband was
there and if any one had a problem he would take responsibility for
being their daycare person.
Pretty soon my friend and her husband had made friends with other
people in the trailer court. Several other of the kids began joining
their kids during the day. Her husband taking responsibility for any
one who was there. Was there a charge for this? Not on your life.
Taking care of your neighbors and the children around you does not
always fall under the category of money. It's a responsibility all
too many people forget. They also organized a Neighborhood
Association.
Then the nightmare began. My friend and her family were targeted.
They were viciously attacked by a neighbor. This neighbor threatened
their son's life and threatened him with bodily harm. They watched
every day at least 18 hours a day, and then lied about thing he
supposedly did. My friend knowing how dangerous this type of paranoid
personality is defended and protected her child. The horror they
suffered for the next year is clearly documented in files with both
the State of Idaho Housing Authority and the Federal Housing Authority
in Seattle, WA. Including verbal abuse and physical intimidation by
the landlord of a 12-year old child (small for his age). These are
people who retaliated against their tenants for having a tenant
association and winning a case against them. They began collecting
$15.00 a month from each tenant saying it was to pay for the loan they
were taking out to put in a new septic system¼.approximately 15 years
later (approximately $463,500 collected) they still had not put in the
septic system they claimed had to be put in¼..fraud???? In most
people's eyes, but not the legal power structure in Moscow. It took
DEQ from Couer d'Alene coming in and making an official request and
setting a date to get it done. There is also documentation on this.
Because they were them¼..(what ever that is suppose to mean)
outsiders..they were viciously attacked and taken advantage of. They
were told and have since found to be common knowledge (and a joke) to
the Latah Sheriff's Office that the judge handling their case was an
alleged cocaine user. Still they continued to stand up for themselves
and their children and continued on with their case in court. They
then found out that the opposing attorney was also an alleged cocaine
user and long time friend of the judge and the former prosecuting
attorney of this community. His father was prominent in the state as
a former state senator and regent at the University of Idaho. They
consulted with their attorney and she reassured them that they did not
need to worry.
The next thing they knew, their attorney was telling them (off the
record) that she had been threatened by the other attorney's brother.
She said that at least one of the conversations (involving the
threats) had been recorded. This same brother of the other attorney,
had then in the following days managed to show up and physically
intimidate our attorney. The only witnesses against my friend and her
family were a family related to the landlord. They were lying and
there was proof of these lies in the documentation sent to the Housing
Authority. Even under these circumstances my friend continued to
fight the legal battle before them. Then they were called in by their
attorney and told that they didn't have a case all of a sudden. That
the best they could do was to sign a settlement that at least gave
them some time to sell their mobile home. But they would have to be
out of the home in 30 days.
They were also told that signing this agreement would not prevent them
from the filing of their federal claim. They were also told that the
other attorney had agreed to charge only $500.00 for his services, and
they would receive back $250.00 out of their attorney's fees so that
we would only be paying $250.00 for the other attorneys supposed fee.
Our attorney sent a letter to the other attorney informing him that
the settlement agreement would not be filed until she received a
written statement of the outside agreement regarding his fees. The
attorney did not want this put in writing because he did not want his
clients to find out about it or so he said. Under the urging of their
attorney and against their better judgment my friends signed this
agreement which included the fact that the landlords could not harass
or interfere with the selling of their home. They moved their family
within the 30 days, and worked on selling their home. Under constant
harassment from the landlords (documented in court records) who were
not to harass them they finally sold their trailer, losing money and
taking a great financial loss all tolled in attorney fees, and other
damages.
Upon sale of their home they went to collect their share of the sale
money from the title company. They were informed by the clerk that
they had received a letter from the other attorney and they were to
hold out $700.00 from the sale of my friend's home for his legal fees.
No legal document was executed. Upon the notice from the Federal
Housing office to the landlord saying complaints had been filed
against him and there would be an on-going investigation. Suddenly,
the other attorney files the copy (not the original) of the settlement
agreement as the original still sat in my friend's attorney's office
awaiting the opposing attorney's letter confirming the outside
agreement. This attorney lied to the judge about the reason a copy
was being filed. My friend and her husband called their attorney's
office only to find out that 3 days after they had signed the
agreement she had left her job and gone to work for another office in
another town nearby in a completely different field of law. Odd she
had just started with the firm she was working with not even much more
than a few months before my friends hired her as their attorney. What
would make her leave so quickly? The threats against her, the
political pressure for standing up to the judge and the other
attorney? I don't think she would reveal the true reasons unless it
was to an outside force that would protect her from the power and
retaliation of this group of supposed professionals.
My friend was then told by the Housing Authority that because my
friend and her husband had signed the settlement they had to close the
case. Upon requesting an investigation of the Housing Authority party
who had done the investigation of their case (they had found out this
HA person had spent a large amount of time conversing and meeting with
the opposing attorney). Upon calling his superiors and requesting
they look into this, HA did investigate. My friend was then informed
that this investigator had been fired and would never again work for
the Housing Authority because of unprofessional and unethical
practices, but because the settlement had been signed there was
nothing they could do, unless it was overturned.
So my friend and her husband tried to have the settlement put aside by
going pro se (there was no money left to hire an attorney and no
attorney willing to go against the power structure). They had
called and gotten an appointment at the University of Idaho College of
Law and one hour after finding out who the opposing attorney was they
were informed no one could assist them in any way at all. (wonder
what connection caused this to take place - the father of the opposing
attorney who was a former state senator and regent at the
university?). They then found out about another attorney who was
known to have the courage to stand up to this legal power structure.
He agreed to $500 to assist my friend and her husband in going pro se.
But he was given the treatment my friends' original attorney had been
threatened with¼..his professional reputation was publicly called into
question and ruined and he was run out of town. Who made these
accusations? You got it¼..the opposing attorney the former
prosecuting attorney. All the documentation of the violations of the
agreement by the landlords and their attorney are court record and my
friend has copies also. What took place was a travesty. That Moscow
and/or Latah County should claim to have a fair and just, even ethical
court system is a laugh!!! A mockery of what justice should be in
America.
My friend later learned that the knowledge of the judge's alleged
cocaine use was so prevalent that when the Sheriff's office was asked
by someone about "going in front of the cocaine judge" they responded
laughingly, "Oh, you mean ____." This was said in front of four
witnesses. It would seem that apparently the judge has been allegedly
caught in possession at least twice and the reason nothing has been
done is the worry regarding the expense of having to review all his
cases. Add to that the expense of having to review all the former
prosecuting attorney's cases and the cost would be staggering. But
it's not a reason to leave a community subject to these people.
Because of her own experience and the alleged drug use by these
supposed legal professionals, my friend became an advocate in the
community for the Youth Center and still works advocating for a Youth
Outreach. Her feeling is that any community who has a legal power
structure such as Moscow's needs to have a legal outreach for the
youth in the community.
Then a friend of my friend's son opened up to her after she had met
his father. He said that he had been trying for years to get to stay
with his father rather than his mother, but no one would listen to him
or let him do it. He went on further to tell my friend that it was
not only possible but most likely that the judge and his mother had a
long standing alleged cocaine connection. My friend of course became
even more concerned. To know that this was possibly affecting the
decisions made on children's lives. It was not until after an article
in the newspaper about this boy's situation that all of a sudden he
was allowed to live with his father.
My friend had also found out that about seven years back the judge's
alleged cocaine dealer (his name can be obtained with the other
documentation) had been brought to court on drunk driving charges
(seventh offense). He had registered over double the legal limit when
he was arrested. The judge not only gave him an outrageously lenient
sentence but chastised the arresting officers for harassing this young
man. Now, I would wonder who the prosecuting attorney was on this
one¼..you guessed it¼.the opposing attorney was working as prosecuting
attorney at that time. My friend also further found out that the
landlords family and the opposing attorney's family go back several
generations making it a possible personal vendetta for him.
My friend has brought up the judge's alleged addiction at many public
meetings, and finally on the community e-mail site. No one has denied
it. They have tried to change the subject, acted surprised, treated
it like it might be a rumor¼but not one person denied it. And then
someone anonymously tried to get my friend in trouble at work with the
very same e-mail messages.
I would have you know also that my friend and her husband did file a
complaint with the Idaho Bar against the attorney, including the
information about the judge. She said she had to find out if this was
just at a community level or was the state covering this up also.
Sure enough she was sent back a letter saying, thank you very much,
but we prefer not to pursue this matter. They also said my friend
must file a complaint with the judicial replica of themselves in
Idaho. Well as you can imagine, my friend and her husband decided
that with children still in school and living with them, they could
not risk their safety doing what the community should be doing.
So my friend dedicates herself to working on the task force for the
Youth Center and speaking out loudly for the community to include a
Youth Outreach that has reality-based counseling and a safe house so
that those children left in danger by these legal entities can have
some semblance of safety and help. And a legal advocacy office for
the youth to bring questions and problems to. If she can't stop what
is happening at least she can work to bring about some type of
protection for the youths in the community. The fear in the community
is evident and there are individuals who have kept well-documented
records, who would only make them available to a safe, outside
investigator as trust of state and local officials is not advisable.
I would ask now for an Easter miracle for my friend. When her husband
and baby got lead poisoning, and the union and the company responsible
told her there was nothing she could do about it. She shut them down
a year later. Did she sue them? No. Her worry was for the children
in the neighborhood and their health¼.the company refused to change
these dangerous practices so with the help of OSHA and the Health
Department they shut them down. When a crack house moved down the
street from her home, and they pulled a gun on her children¼.she and
her husband organized the neighborhood and shut them down¼.and then
with the help of friends and neighbors completely stripped down,
cleaned and completely refurbished the crack house and lived in it for
one year, before moving out of the neighborhood that had been home to
their children for over 10 years. They'd raised their three oldest in
that neighborhood. They'd kept the gangs off the street and out of
the homes. The year after they moved out gangs and robberies and
murder had risen 100%. (Including, an elderly former neighbor of
their's being brutally beaten to death with a bat.) Can one or two
people make a difference. These two can.
So from you I ask a miracle. Please, use your influence to bring
justice for my friends. They do deserve it and the community deserves
better than what it is getting. Is there not a way to have this
investigated and stopped? I know you helped those people in Florida
with the judge who was preying upon women¼..up here they are preying
on families and children¼the people who can't afford to fight back.
How many homes will be stolen, how many children left in dangerous
homes based on alleged cocaine connections? How many drug dealers and
drunken drivers will go free or unpunished because they allegedly sell
to the judge or the attorney? If you contact me through the following
number I can give you a list of the of the people involved and where
the documentation can be found, a list of witnesses and other people
with documentation that may be helpful. The number is (425) 837-0598,
leave a number and I will phone you back.
Moscow is a college town and a survey of the records will very likely
show that an inordinate amount of court decisions are fines. My
friend wondered why, especially after a young woman told her about
going in front of the judge for domestic violence. The young woman
had actually done the hitting, but when the police arrived her husband
took the blame to keep her from spending a night in jail. When the
couple went in front of the judge, the young woman explained what had
happened. The judgement in his ultimate wisdom (?) or was it greed.
Rather than requiring that they attend anger control classes and
family counseling and return to him in six months with a certificate
showing they had completed the anger control class and a note from
their family therapist noting their progress in therapy, he fined them
$1,000. This is a couple struggling to live on little more than
minimum wage. What was served by this fine. Well, as it would turn
out a tidy little percentage of all fines and fees go to the judges
retirement fund. So does lining the little nest egg take precedence
over truly serving the community? This too needs investigation.
There is something rotten in the State of Idaho and it appears to be
the legal power structure in the City of Moscow. An investigation of
this system and the people running it is all that is asked. A system
that allows fraud, child abuse, discrimination against families,
harassment for forming a neighborhood association, attorneys who are
free to lie and steal and alleged drug use addiction by a judge and
former prosecuting attorney ¼..no wonder this community is afraid. A
copy of this letter is being sent to the Moscow Community e-mail
listserve in the hopes that more people may feel encouraged to e-mail
you privately with their experiences at the hands of this system.
Praying you will help,
Mary Jane Gaughan