WHEELING, IL. (ECWd) –
Last night’s Village of Wheeling’s Board of Trustees meeting is one that will surely be forever remembered.
During the public comment of the liquor commission, speakers talked about what they believed to be bad advice given to the board by their attorney,Β James V. Ferolo, of Klein Thorpe Jenkins Law Offices, and the vicious attacks on a citizen for her comments.Β Ferolo immediately went on the offensive and started interrupting and attacking the speakers.
This type of behavior on behalf of the village board and the village attorney is inexcusable. Recent weeks have been met with attempts at censoring the public. Ferolo appears to be leading the village down a path of incurring billable hours as a result of his advice.
We recently wrote about the insulting letter sent to a citizen and how it was filled with purported rules which violate the law (here). We assume he had a part in writing those rules and advising the board of what they can get by with. Which, by the way, will surely result in more billable hours for his law firm.
Other articles covering this out-of-control village board include:
- Trustee Mary Kreuger saying the First Amendment doesn’t cover offending speech that she doesn’t like (here)
- Trustee Ken Brady telling disabled woman to “Shut up” (here)
- Village President Horcher praising the Constitution, then trampling all over the First Amendment (here)
- Village coming up with their definition of what a public record is (here)
- Endorsing thru enabling former Mayor Argiris’ illegal use of public credit and public vehicles for his personal business purposes – and still have not asked for his prosecution – even though they know laws were violated
- Authorized a liquor license for the funeral home where the now-former Mayor Argiris was employed
- Allegations that they committed criminal intimidation thru crafting and endorsing an attack letter, and sending it to over 100 people.
- Public Comment Rules that violate law (here)
Several weeks ago, the Village Board published a letter viciously attacking a citizen for her public comments at board meetings. They wrote a several page letter and sent it to all of the surrounding communities and local media. This letter was a clear-cut case of intimidation against a citizen, with the power of government behind them.
In our opinion, the letter met the definition of criminal intimidation and should be charged as such (definition here).
Video from the Wheeling Liquor Commission:
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