I have struggled for years with talking about this and just ended up choosing not to. What was the point? The damage had already been done. My word against theirs. I had just had enough and wanted to just walk away. I have felt guilty about keeping quiet about this. Very guilty about my part in helping/allowing this to happen and in keeping quiet about it.
What is that crazy woman talking about now you are probably wondering. Here is what I am talking about:
Let's go back to 2015-2016, to the Bridgeport Spaulding School Board and a lawsuit brought by a resident against Martha Sageman and the school board. I'm not sure how many of you remember that whole debacle, but I will provide my last post about the outcome of it all at the end of this post. So local resident John Rhines brought the lawsuit against the school district. During this process, in my opinion, based on what John Rhines told me personally, and text message exchanges, and from my observations, and participation in conversations, John Rhines became very close to school board member Pat Nelson. At the time my mother (who attended all meetings with me and saw some of this also) and I laughingly referred to their friendship as a "Bromance". Actually my late mother tried to raise the alarm with me about her being uncomfortable with the closeness of their relationship and the things that were going on. Sadly I didn't listen to her. A Bromance probably isn't the proper term for the closeness of their relationship, some people now might have the opinion that "Co-conspirators" is a better description. I will leave that up to you to decide what your opinion is.
At first John Rhines was just "insinuating" to me that he was actually getting inside information from Pat Nelson. Information about what was happening inside closed school board meetings, and meetings with their lawyers concerning the lawsuit. At some point in this whole debacle it went from just insinuating that it was happening to outright saying it was. Saying that Pat Nelson was telling him exactly what was happening in those school meetings and in meetings with the school district lawyers. At one point he told me that Pat Nelson was going to give him a copy of a document or documents either from the school district or from the lawyers? I can't remember exactly what the document was supposed to be, just that it involved the lawsuit. Of course John Rhines could not ever tell me exactly what he was being told by Pat Nelson or what the supposed document was, you know, because it was all "confidential". This "working relationship" if that is what would be the appropriate description, between Pat Nelson and John Rhines supposedly went on the whole time of this lawsuit. So supposedly the school district that was being sued had a board member that was helping the person suing the school district? According to John Rhines that is what happened. From my observations of their interactions with each other and conversations with the two of them, I believed it to be the truth. John Rhines also told me that there was another school board member that on at least one occasion contacted him after a closed school meeting to tell him what transpired. When I asked because I was shocked that that particular board member would also do this his reply was just that it really wasn't important information.
I still have so many questions. How many school board members knew what was going on between Pat Nelson and John Rhines concerning that lawsuit? How many board members may have also helped John Rhines? Did these people truly believe John Rhines accusations or did everyone have their own hidden agendas? Pat Nelson was the Bridgeport Fire Department Chief during this time and suddenly retired as fire chief and just spent his time then on the school board. I always wondered why he left the fire department? I have a several questions now I keep asking myself about why he left the school board and now is on the township board. I don't have just questions, I have some serious concerns about him being on the township board. Based on what I believe about Pat Nelson then I hope you understand why I am concerned.
I will say that I am not the only person that knows about what went on between Pat Nelson and John Rhines and the lawsuit, but I am probably the only person that will speak up and say it.
The Bridgeport residents deserve to know the truth. They deserve to know and then decide if Pat Nelson is someone that they want on their township board, if he is someone they can trust. You residents are demanding accountability and transparency, so go and ask for the truth!!! They may say that I am crazy, that I am lying. Maybe one will call the other a liar and say it never happened. You residents need to ask how many other people know. I have always wondered if the reporter for the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald knew what was going on? He also seemed to become very close with John Rhines during their coverage of the accusations and lawsuit. Did John Rhines also tell him the things he told me?
This is possibly the most important time ever for me to go back to covering all things involving the township government, but I am not going to. I am just walking away. The residents of this township need to demand answers and hold the township officials accountable.
You can read the story of the dismissal of the lawsuit by the courts here:
Dismissal of John Rhine Lawsuit
