From the News Sentinel
Letter to Dan SiglerYour pompous protestations with regard to honest speculation about the charges against Matt Kelty are laughable. You claim such comments could “undermine public confidence in the … criminal justice system.” That ship has sailed, brother. It was far at sea long before you answered his motion to dismiss with threatening harrumphs.
Greater Fort Wayne is consumed by violent, drug-rooted crime, but that doesn’t draw the imperious attention of a special prosecutor. Instead, if I read news coverage of your motion correctly, you’re hounding this man because he was having money trouble and too embarrassed to admit it – even to you and your Star Chamber of nodding heads.
That’s essentially it, isn’t it? Well, so what? Who in Fort Wayne – apart from puffed-up prosecutors and various other overpaid empty suits – isn’t strapped? Struggling taxpayers have to bankroll everything from top-dollar school-construction consultants to lumbering white elephants like Harrison Square.
While you’re selectively unsealing grand jury testimony, unseal the price tag for this charade. A full accounting should be made – under oath, so every word can be parsed for potential perjury. Whatever the cost, the money would be better spent repairing our antique sewers, among other needs addressed by Kelty’s mayoral campaign.
I don’t know the man. We have no dealings personally, politically or professionally. I know a vendetta when I see one, however, and an abusive prosecutor intoxicated with his own importance. Frankly, your intimidating methods seem worthier of investigation than his financial reports. Do something useful and resign.
Bill Forsythe
You go Bill!
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Whoa what part of town does this guy live in that is “consumed by violent, drug-rooted crime?” I have lived in nearly every part of this city in my 30 something years and never- not one time- been exposed to violent crime in any form. Neither has anyone I know. God, we must be lucky that somehow we dodged this rampant crime wave. There’s bigger crime out there to be concerned with, you say? The cop that gave me a speeding ticket didn’t buy that excuse, and neither should Sigler.
What, Kelty didn’t know he had to report his campaign finances? Was embarrased to be broke? What???
Take $100,000 plus “loans,” just don’t lie about it. Seems pretty simple to me. As usual, the cover-up is what kills you. I wish Kelty luck but I must say I find Forsythe’s letter insulting to the intelligence of the people of the Fort.
You need to pick up a paper or watch a local newscast once in a while, Phil. The old “not me or anyone I know” routine has been debunked as statistically worthless since the beginning of time.
Phil, Have you lived at the corner of Oxford and Warsaw, They have had three murders in that area in the last week? Your post is insulting!! Do you move yearly, every couple of years, Monthly?? You have never been my neighbor so you must have never lived by me!! What an idiotic statement. Your post is insulting!!
Really because I know literally hundreds of people, haved lived on the south side most of my life, work off Pontiac Street etc… One might think I would have at least ONE encounter. I guess I’m just really lucky or you’re either paranoid or fear-mongering.
Are you honestly supporting his claim that this town is CONSUMED by violent crime? This is Fort Wayne, not Fallujah.
Scare tactics have been around since the beginning of time too. So have alarmists, extremists, and those who are frankly out of touch with reality.
I agree that this has the appearance of a vendetta and has from the beginning. I don’t live in the city so it doesn’t matter to me who the mayor is. There were 2 murders just this week….think maybe drug-rooted crime may have been involved?
You did not answer my question. Have you lived in the innder city (not the south side) Like Hanna and Creighton or Oxford and Warsaw?? I am not supporting his claim that we are consumed by voilent crime, however Your picture of a perfect Utopia you are painting is rediculous. Ask the people in those neighborhoods if they are scared or just paranoid. Go ahead and insult them like that.
I once bought a repo house on Bowser Ave, to fix up and resell. The three months I owned it, it was broken into twice and a family member was robbed getting out of his car there. I guess I am an alrmist, extremist and out of touch with reality.
So Phil, it is to bad the rest of us can’t live the Norman Rockwell setting that you find yourself in.
Also, your name dropping of Fallujah is in very poor taste!!
Phil …
You apparantly missed John Wonderly’s point that personal experience and observations are not statistically valid in determining trends or occurences of violent crime. However, you did mention Pontiac Street as if there was frequent crime in that area. Seems to me that you are now arguing with yourself.
“Really because I know literally hundreds of people…”
Name ‘em.
I will walk down any street in Fort Wayne any time- day or night. The rest of you can lock yourselves up out north or southwest… I’ll be out living my life.
And no sam fan sorry I didn’t answer your question but the delay on this site is really prohibitive of having a real dialogue. No I have not lived at that specific intersection but I drive through it daily… and how do you know I have not lived by you? I don’t know who you are any more than you know me so I can’t say.
I’ve moved on average every six years, so that’s six different locations if I’m 36 so I don’t see your point that I must be relocating monthly. Please go back to math class before you call me idiotic.
Furthermore, YOU all are missing the point. Are you suggesting that Dan Sigler stop investigating campaign finance violations and instead personally patrol the southeast side of Fort Wayne? That guy doesn’t even live here does he? Again, like I said, when I get a ticket for speeding and argue that the cop’s time would be better spent looking for REAL crime it gets me nowhere. That is essentially what Forsythe has resorted to in the letter; A juvenile attempt to deflect attention away from the real issue which is campaign finance- not drugs or violence (those are red herrings.)
But I’m sure all you experts have the answers. We should let white collar criminals off the hook- don’t even bother to investigate them. Let’s keep throwing poor people in jail while rich white guys are embezzling money, lying under oath etc. Sadly, it seems that those in power would exploit your ignorance by flagrantly disregarding the laws you must follow and they’re supposed to enforce. Matt Kelty’s “creative accounting” puts him on a level with other arrogant upper-classers like Kenneth Lay. From the rhetoric I’ve witnessed spewing from this crowd I would say you deserve a mayor who will lie to you to save his own skin and work the system like a true con artist.
As true Christians you should know that “turn the other cheek” never meant “look the other way.” But as they say, ignorance is bliss so let’s call off the investigation and reward unethical, and illegal tactics. Maybe you would rather not know what really happened because the truth hurts sometimes, but I for one want to know what laws were broken and what lies were told. If Kelty is innocent then the truth will set him free. Let Sigler do his job and then let’s hire Kenneth Starr to investigate Tom Henry.
I’ll take my answer off the air.
I’ve got to go with NSF on this one…
I’ve lived here 11 (long) years, and have seen break-ins (have to testify next month in court for a criminal trespass I witnessed), had stuff lifted from MY garage, had a car vandalized, had several neighbors houses broken into, as well as the several drug buys per month in our neighborhood, assorted gunshots, business robberies, and even had a gun pulled on me (still wondering how that didn’t turn out a lot worse).
We’ve had our house BBed, paintballed, egged and had a rock tossed through a window. I’ve been threatened several times, only because of the color of MY skin.
Yeah, I feel perfectly safe…ROFLMAO!
People walk solely in the streets, toss trash anywhere, and smoke weed openly (when not engaging is some sexual act in a van in some alley).
Tell me that isn’t all that much different than a 3rd world country.
Crime holds court on the south side…make NO mistake about that. And as long as there are those that either refuse to acknowledge it, or refuse to do anything about it…it will REMAIN down here. And it will only get worse.
I predicted at least 25 homicides this year…and we’ve got 26. Talk about nailing the “pool”.
Getting back on topic…Bill said it, I believe it, that settles it.
B.G.
Phil’s slight of hand worked, he’s disputed a single fact from one man’s opinion in an effort to invalidate the man’s entire argument, and most everyone commenting has hit the hook.
Focus! This is not about crime, it’s about bringing the full weight of Government down upon a single person who offered himself up to the people as a public servant, who simply was the pick of primary voters and not the pick of other elected officials and his Party.
Whether or not he is guilty of any crime has yet to be determined.
The real issue Mr. Forsythe is making is, is this really as important murders in the last week, or a child beaten to death by parents, and yes, drugs, drugs houses, and drug related violence? Law enforcement and the local judiciary make these choices everyday based on priority and available resources. His question seems to be, why all the energy and resources on the very dangerous alleged criminal mastermind, Matt Kelty? How does this fit given priority and available resources? His conclusion, it doesn’t, and the motivation is suspect. He contends it’s a vendetta, and perhaps it is, but not by Dan Sigler, he is just the tool of destruction set in motion by others.
Mr. Forsythe, like many others, questions the motivation behind this entire theater of the absurd. So do I, starting with members of the former so called GOP Executive Committee, and finishing up with Andy Downs, Common Cause of Indiana, and Karen Richards.
If half the energy, time and resources wasted on this prosecution was focused on how things got this far to begin with, who was involved and engineered it, it would most certainly be a more interesting story than anything the media has continued to resuscitate over the last six-months regarding Kelty.
Phil,
I can’t explain our difference of opinion over the crime in this city. All I can do is relate my experiences. I have lived near Pontiac & Hannah for twelve years. While the drug activity here does fluctuate, at times it could easily be described as being an open air drug market.
Last year, drug dealers threw three molotov cocktails at my house. This was in retaliation for my requesting police assistance with the problems here. The next day, I called FWPD to report information that I thought might be relevant to their investigation of the incident. The officer who answered the phone laughed at me and told me I should quiet down and quit stirring up trouble. This officer is a Deputy Police Chief!
I filed a complaint about this incident and it was summarily dismissed the following day. I filed an appeal to their response. I sent a copy of my appeal to (among others) Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards. Her only response was that her office holds no jurisdiction over FWPD.
But what about the violent criminal activity that goes on here? And what about the way the FWPD has allowed, and possibly even encouraged, this activity to continue relatively unabated for years? I know that last year the FWPD arrested two of the most active dealers in this neighborhood. And Karen Richards, the one who say’s she doesn’t make deals with these guys because “drug-dealers don’t change”, let them walk. Less than a year after their arrest, they were back in front of my house selling drugs!
Now, Matt Kelty may be foolishly spouting off a lot of B.S., but I’m not paying his salary so I say let him be. I think Karen Richards and Dan Sigler are also a couple of talking fools, but their actions are more offensive because I am paying their salary.
Dan Sigler should concentrate on the court room. If he’s that concerned about popular opinion, then maybe he should go to work for the newspaper. Karen Richards responded to my supposition that a high ranking FWPD officer may be actively engaged in illegal drug activities by simply saying that it’s none of her business.
Like I said – Talking Fools!
Phil, You stated that you have lived in every part of the city in one time or another. 6 different locations is a far cry from every part of the city, but hey I can’t count. Also, I am glad you live your life as do I, Live it very well actually. I am just not naive enough to think that violent crimes don’t exist in the town or any towns our size. Isntead of discounting all of the people, who unfortunately, have experienced it, maybe you should just be thankful it has never happened to you.
I have spent a lot of time watching Disney movies and I think the world is filled with talking animals. Yes Dan Sigler has every right to be the Punctuation Police. Get that Webster’s Dictionary out Dan and Prosecute them silly.