Latest / Chuck Douglas / Whitehall City Councilman discussion

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Whitehall City Councilman discussion · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This indictment from the suburban community of Whitehall, Ohio. A
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: few years ago, I was singing the praises of Whitehall.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, they were really being aggressive when it came
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to bringing in new residents and and down payment assistance
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: programs for bringing first time home buyers, and they were
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: beefing up the esthetics of the community, landscaping and roadwork
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and so forth. Whitehall was something. But then, you know,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, I have questioned. I've
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: questioned some things about Whitehall, namely, with the the the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: beginnings of the Kia Boys saga here in central Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed that far too often, every time a Kia
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: or a Hyundai was stolen, it ended up in Whitehall.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't understand why. No matter where it was stolen,
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  Speaker 1: it ended up in Whitehall. And I questioned that it
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  Speaker 1: seemed to me that there had to be something, some
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  Speaker 1: some yeah, gravitational something that was taking these kids to
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  Speaker 1: Whitehall with their stolen vehicles, and and it made me say, hmm,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. And then we had this latest event
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  Speaker 1: with the city councilman who uh the night before I
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  Speaker 1: guess he was. He was being sworn in is that
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  Speaker 1: when they picked him up the first time. No, they
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  Speaker 1: charged him again with something added a charge that night
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  Speaker 1: as he was being sworn in for his next term
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  Speaker 1: on city council. This, this guy apparently has been kind
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  Speaker 1: of a pain in the butt to city administration in Whitehall.
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  Speaker 1: I've had it from a few people now that he
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  Speaker 1: has actually asked for some investigations into things in Whitehall.
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  Speaker 1: He has said himself that the mayor has a big
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  Speaker 1: issue with him. He's he called himself the Mayor's biggest enemy,
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  Speaker 1: I believe at one point, and suddenly all these charges
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  Speaker 1: are upon now understand, Please, don't even get confused. Don't
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  Speaker 1: even try to get confused. In no way, shape or form,
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  Speaker 1: am I would I ever defend a pedophile dirtball piece
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  Speaker 1: of garbage. But the court has yet to decide that
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  Speaker 1: he is aile dirtball piece of garbage. He's been accused
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  Speaker 1: of these things, they say in fractions dating back to
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, from what I have read in fairly
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: numerous media accounts. But now that the dust has settled,
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  Speaker 1: we've had a chance to think about this. There are
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: some questions of reasonable, logical, pertinent questions that really need
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to be asked, such as where's the grand jury indictment?
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  Speaker 1: Think about this. If you have an ongoing investigation into
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  Speaker 1: an elected official who is accused of doing such heinous things,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: this is going before the grand jury. But I have
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  Speaker 1: heard of no grand jury indictment. One member of the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Whitehall City Council last night voted to keep him in
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  Speaker 1: his position, saying that there's too many questions that have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to be answered yet. And you know what, I agree.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I agree with him. Now, if this guy has proven
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  Speaker 1: to be guilty in a court of law, as is
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  Speaker 1: the right of every accused American, hang him high, no
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  Speaker 1: doubt about it. If you know anything at all about me,
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  Speaker 1: you know the protection and nurturing of our children and
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: raising them into good and responsible members of society as adults.
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  Speaker 1: That that is the point of our existence, and anyone
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  Speaker 1: who hurts them deserves the maximum penalty that can be
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  Speaker 1: imposed by our legal system. But for right now, we
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  Speaker 1: have a bunch of accusations with as far as I've seen,
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  Speaker 1: no evidence. Can you honestly tell me that there wouldn't
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: be some evidence at this point leaked out? You know
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  Speaker 1: how everybody is. Everybody's got video everywhere we've seen nothing.
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  Speaker 1: He was released from court on his own recognisance the
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  Speaker 1: morning after his arrest because the prosecutor couldn't even speak
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  Speaker 1: to the charges in open court. The prosecutor said, we
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: didn't get anything from the white Hall Police Department. We
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  Speaker 1: need information in order to make the presentation to the
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  Speaker 1: judge in order to ask for a remand they said
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  Speaker 1: they had nothing. Does something smell like a forgotten carp
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: on the shore right now? Something seems a little fishy
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  Speaker 1: to me. This should not just be a matter of
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  Speaker 1: pointing your finger and eliminating somebody from their position, from
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  Speaker 1: their livelihood, from whatever, just because you said it. Where
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  Speaker 1: is the proof we need more than just the pudding.
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  Speaker 1: Where is the proof and where is the process that
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  Speaker 1: should have existed in order to get us to the
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  Speaker 1: point where this guy was arrested. They served to search
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  Speaker 1: for it on his home when they arrested him. I
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  Speaker 1: did see I believe two reports that said there was
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  Speaker 1: artwork confiscated. One source called gay and possibly pornographic art.
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  Speaker 1: You know what, that's that's not illegal? May not be
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  Speaker 1: my cup of tea. I hope it's not illegal, you
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  Speaker 1: I know, but it's not illegal. Art is in the
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  Speaker 1: eye of the beholder. What evidence is there? The police
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  Speaker 1: chief in Whitehall said he's one hundred percent convinced that
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  Speaker 1: this man should be arrested and prosecuted. Why am I
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  Speaker 1: being confrontational? I'm trying not to be, but I am
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  Speaker 1: being logical when the arrest was first made and you
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  Speaker 1: know when they said, yeah, we got him, and since
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six and one hundred percent sure, I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: get him. But as we've had a week and nothing
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  Speaker 1: remotely resembling evidence has reared its head, I think it's
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  Speaker 1: it's time to reasonably ask those reasonable questions. Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: that's just me A two one nine eight eighty six
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  Speaker 1: the number eight two one double UTV and or eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred and six to ten double UTV. And you're welcome
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  Speaker 1: to disagree with me. I you know, explain yourself, lay
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  Speaker 1: the case out. But I would say that he is
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  Speaker 1: deserving of the same thing I would expect for myself,
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  Speaker 1: or for you, or even for Zach on a good day,
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  Speaker 1: the presumption of innocence, thank you, until proven guilty. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't think he should have to give up his seat.
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  Speaker 1: You could accuse anybody of anything anywhere as the old saying,
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  Speaker 1: goes you can indicet a ham sandwich. They didn't even
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  Speaker 1: bother to get the indictment. They just arrested, accused, and
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: released and then attempted to eliminate by getting this city council.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Is it a city council or a town council in Whitehaw?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what you would call it. I guess
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  Speaker 1: it's a city council. But trying to get that vote
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  Speaker 1: to remove him, they needed unanimous agreement. All but one
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: member of council, who could turn out to be the
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  Speaker 1: hero in this whole thing, voted to remove this guy
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  Speaker 1: from council. One member of council stood up and said, no,
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  Speaker 1: we've there are too many questions to be answered. It
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  Speaker 1: is city council, okay. I wasn't sure if they called
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: a city or a town council. One member of council
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: stood up, said there's too many questions to be answered,
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  Speaker 1: and he's not comfortable voting to remove this man without
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  Speaker 1: answers to those questions. Again, I would expected for myself,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I would expect it for you, that presumption of innocence. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: if found guilty of these these just absolutely vulgar things
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  Speaker 1: of which he's been accused. Throw three or four books
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  Speaker 1: at him, hit him hard, don't hurt children. My rule
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  Speaker 1: is simple, A two, one, nine, eight eight six peat.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: You are on six ten WTV and Hi.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Hey, so I agree with everything you're saying. Oh I'm sorry,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: what did you say about nineteen ninety six?
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  Speaker 1: Again, the original reports when they made the rest the
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: first time, said that they have infractions that they're accusing
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: of back to nineteen ninety six, and I believe they
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  Speaker 1: said as many as eight was it eight boys that
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: they said in the initial reports, Zach, Yeah, it was
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  Speaker 1: eight boys.
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  Speaker 2: And how long has he been on the city council?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I think this would begin his second term, so I
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: think he's served four years now.
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  Speaker 2: So why was he even elected to city council? Did
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  Speaker 2: anybody not bet the guy and see that these things
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  Speaker 2: are going back to nineteen ninety six?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? Exactly? Where where is everything that leads up to
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  Speaker 1: this moment? There's a big vacancy there in the process.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Somebody somewhere should have raised a red flag at some point,
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  Speaker 1: and before you got to this moment, there should have
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  Speaker 1: been grand jury testimony and an indictment and an entire process.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: You don't just make an accusation and go arrest the guy.
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  Speaker 2: So this stuff that's going back to ninety six, is
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  Speaker 2: this not public.
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  Speaker 1: Records, It's not something for which he has been arrested.
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  Speaker 1: He's accused of doing things back to nineteen ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: but he's not been charged or arrested for anything.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand. Do we know when the accusations first
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  Speaker 2: came to light? How many years are?
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  Speaker 1: I have no idea. This all just came out in
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  Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay. I was starting to think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if these accuvations have been around before he was elected,
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  Speaker 2: then that's a problem.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, what they're charging is that he has been
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  Speaker 1: doing things to minor age boys since nineteen ninety six at.
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  Speaker 2: Least, So that obviously that begs the question why are
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  Speaker 2: these just if it's been going on since ninety six,
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  Speaker 2: then why are we just hearing about this stuff now?
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  Speaker 2: Like why does it take so long for people to
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  Speaker 2: make this stuff public?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's just another one of the question
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  Speaker 1: marks in this entire process.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I appreciate you tackling this.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: All right, Pete. I appreciate the call. Thanks very much