"Truth, and what it is Worth"

Reading through the Feb. Board minutes, I find that the truth has been altered once again.

Matt Marose spoke to the board and stated the village alleys had not all been taken care of, just to get told by the President that there has been vacations causing this, yet when speaking to Mr. Marose, he states that he directly was spoken to by the Village Worker and told that they have changed the way they take care of things, after he tried jumping Mr. Marose’s throat for allegations told to him by the Village President. Instead of this being a simple question to answer, the President turned it into a complaint about the workers, to the workers. Nice Job Bill Stewart. (Mr. President) Mr. Marose then asked how many people applied for the position of Clerk, to be told 40. This again is not believable, because I asked Stewart the morning of the meetings, and he told me 30, in front of the Village Clerk and her help.

Robert Rupakus then told the Board that Rick Stohr was interested in being a write in candidate for Village Trustee. Is this his personal pick, being he is not re-running this year. It seems to me that Mr. Stohr should have done this himself, not have a board member speak for him. But this is common to happen in Elmwood, Right Board Members? Those who are chosen by the board usually go on to the positions, as it has been documented for years by my involvement. Public Records requests that have been denied to me several times. OH, but you all know about violating the open records laws now, RIGHT?

The Approval of the new Clerk came up, and the one individual that should have never spoke, Rupakus was the one to tell the Board how they should continue. Why would he have any say ion the matter, when his wife was involved?

I also noticed that the Board Committee used Greg Nelson in their interview process while in Closed Session. This is not proper for the laws of closed session meetings. Only the Committee members and possible other board members are allowed in these meetings.

Again after the Closed Session meeting during the board meeting, the board was to decide the clerks position, and guess who, Rupakus was the one to make the motion to hire the new clerk.

In Early March then it was learnt that the Eau Claire Leader Telegram had filed a Lawsuit against the Village Board for Violating the Open Records Laws of WI, by refusing to provide the information in regards to the past Village Clerks Suspension that was reported to only be a Resignation due to Stress, due to my family and the past Chief. This was known to be LIES to begin with, being Rupakus was the provider of the Information as Head of the Personnel Committee. He has been the head of many controversies in the Village including the termination of the past Chief, in which Rupakus was the Head of the Police Committee at the time. The resignation was filed on Dec. 28th, 2009. The Suspension happened Dec. 18th, 2009. That was never spoke of, until the Elmwood Argus received the information after Rupakus explained that happened in the Jan. Village Board Meeting. The Village refused to provide the information to the Paper, as did Village Attorney Robert Loberg

Matt Marose requested Public Records pertaining to the Budget, and he was told the computers were not working, and the clerk wanted his phone number. When he told her that the number was unpublished and he would simply return for the information, that was not good enough. Robert Rupakus, head of the Finance Committee called him that same evening and began threatening Mr. Marose. This was documented by a Police Report to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Dept. Somehow this board member was able to get a non published number, then call and harass a citizen for wanting the information. Mr. Marose never did receive this information.

On March 10, 2010 the Pierce County Herald wrote an article in regards to the information, but chose to leave Robert Loberg’s name out of the article all together. (It is my belief that the Herald will not write anything about Loberg, being he is also the County Family Court Commissioner, and they have been advertising his candidacy for County Judge heavily in the papers and Online. He has had direct involvement in these violations of the Citizens Rights in Elmwood. If you watched the paper, you will notice how much more money Loberg spent in his campaign in the attempt to attract the peoples attention. He spent double his opponent, yet received less votes. He claims to be law abiding and the perfect choice for Judge, yet he has shown me many times, he cares less for the rights of people. Money talks to and for him.

Again the Leader Telegram wrote another article, explaining how they received information from the Village Board and Robert Rupakus. Now it has become that Jodi Pulk was stealing from the Village and doing all kinds of bad things. This all coming from Rupakus mind you. Accusations going back to 2006, yet the Village Board used the Village Attorney Robert Loberg to file a false Restraining Order against me, claiming harassment of this person. Then again when I was assaulted by Robert Rupakus in the Street, they again used Robert Loberg to file a reverse Order when I filed one for the ASSAULT. Loberg went to the County DA, and the two of them manipulated the laws for Rupakus, taking away my Victim Rights for the ASSAULT. Yes, Loberg respects the law, my BUTT. He violates every law he can get away with. He even created a Policy against my family taking away our rights to equal protection by law enforcement. This was created Jan. 2006, and was one of the reasons for Chief Meyers loss of his job. He did not follow the POLICY, as they directed him to. He was verbally threatened in the event he was to ignore there directives.
Again, by the Head of the Police Committee. In the article , Rupakus stated he felt it was the right thing to do, releasing the information on Pulk, yet he was the one refusing the records to the Leader, when he gave them a false Story to begin with. It was later found out, by a direct statement from Pulk, that Rupakus was the creator of the Resignation cause, telling her to was her best way of dealing with the trouble she was in. This continues to prove he likes to lie, as he did when he assaulted me, claiming he never touched me, and my kids planted red substances on the ground to look like blood. The Police Report proves all of this, and when he filed his order against me, all the TRUTH came out, with more continuous lies added of course. The Papers really need to investigate the entire Board for violations, especially Rupakus, when he has headed all the problems when they came about, always being the head of the committee with the problem. He goes to every Board Meeting claiming knowledge that everything is just fine, the records are correct, and all looks good. This is NOT the truth now is it, as to his own claims now. It seems that the Board never even gave Pulk the list of Accusations, yet they had it ready for the Leader after the suit was filed against them. CONVENIENT…

The Accusations listed seem to be really convenient now, stating things that they could not have proven, unless she admitted to it, such as destroying an application, who seen her do this? She gave herself a check, that she proved she should have received, yet this is claimed to be the final straw. She was suppose to get it, who was not paying her for her reimbursement then? Trustee Rupakus was responsible for verifying the records, and claimed they were always ok, why now is that False. I believe his hands are just as dirty, if not more. Village President Stewart should also be responsible for the actions that happen under his watch, I believe. The Elmwood Village Board loves to take target on people, and use any one they can for the scapegoat when problems arise, this is a proven fact, that I have documented for years. That’s why they continuously attacked my family and I. They began with the direct statement that they would get my family and business out of the community within three years, back in 2004. This is on audio tape, and anyone can listen to it, if they would like to.

Now the March Village Board Meeting has been written up by the Pierce County Paper, and more of the Village non-sense is heard. Matt Marose questioned the Board and the blame went to Village Attorney Robert Loberg advising them that this was a law that is ambiguous (Confusing). This is a regular word for them to violate the laws. They have a different opinion when interpreting the laws, Their own !!!

Stewart then claimed that no one contacted them about the records, yet the requests where denied by the Village Office, and their Attorney Office.


There is plenty more coming Elmwood Citizens, and you really need to stand up against the LIARS you have in place. The Attorney is just as bad, and has no place to be in the Courthouse as a Judge. I hope the Leader brings out much more information about Elmwood Board Members, and all they have done in the past. I will for sure, DO MY PART.

Remember, April 6, 2010

VOTE-------Rick Talford


Thank You readers !!!


Keep watching for updates, I am kept informed, even though I am not right there now.


UPDATE 3-26-10

The Sun-Argus released an article this week in regards to the ongoing issue of the Village Board's actions with Jodi Pulk. Now Rupakus claims that they thought about Criminal Charges against Pulk. He states that she finally caused the TRUST factor to disappear. He goes on to state that Pulk, decided to resign instead of being fired, yet he does not state, this was his direct statement to her to do, Claim stress as reason. He adds that they did not want to hurt Pulk's reputation, so he gave her the excuse to use about my family and the ex-chief to do damage to their reputations instead. He also stated that the resignation was made in Open Session, yet the minutes show that the resignation was made in Closed Session, and voted on during the Open Session. He also claims that the Board was not able to react to the filing of the suit , due to it happened between meetings, yet they could have called an emergency meeting, as they have many times before to get resolution. They just refused to do so. Rupakus then claims that the members are not able to check in the office to deal with everything on a regular basis, yet they are seen downtown daily at the Bars for sure. Rupakus himself was seen at the office on a regular basis, and the other members could stop in easily if they kept decent hrs. for the Village Office.

The Pierce County Herald wrote up a Correction in regrads to Sari Gordon's article. Mr. Marose asked the board why they violated the Open Records Laws, and Rupakus gave a story on how they felt this was all confidential, by their feelings and Village Attorney Robert Loberg.


3-31-10 Clerk's Minutes printed in the Elmwood Argus Update

It has now been stated by the Village Clerk, through the Board Minutes, that indeed Village Attorney and Judge Candidate for Pierce County Robert Loberg was involved by telling the Village Board not to give the Eau Claire Leader the information they requested through the Open Records Laws of Wisconsin. Robert Rupakus gave this statement when questioned why the Village would violate the laws, during Public Input.

It was noted also that the Village has sold Lot #6 in the Industrial Park to Russel Gere for an Automotive Repair Business that will be started once Building has completed.

Spring Clean-up is coming, and Bruce Hartung commented that everyone should be getting rid of those un licensed vehicles as well as tearing down old buildings. (This should be directed to the high and mighty of the community) thery are the biggest violator of the ordinance, as reported in the past. just because they are demo cars, does not mean they are ok, they are un-licensed.

School Forest Property and Village Property Exchange may happen in the future, with the School having 7 acres of land they would exchange with the Village for 5 acres of land the Village has. The Forest property by the school and the land near the old dump site are the areas of thought.

Eau Claire Leader Telegram pending lawsuit- Now Village President says the Leader should have to pay for the records as everyone else does. (Maybe when they first requested the records. The Village should give them over without charge, being a suit had to be filed to get them to respond the right way. This shows just how professional and respectful they and Attorney Robert Loberg are! They think that the Leader will drop everything and pay them all they want, Don't Believe that Myself..The Leader should continue their actions against the Village and make them an example for the rest of the State to not violate their Laws!!! This is exactly how the village has reacted to citizen's requesting information in the past, so it is very nice to see that someone has stepped it up against them.)

Payment of Bills- once controlled by Rupakus and always spoken about by him as well. This is an area the citizen's need to get alot more involved with, asking for budget statements, as well as reviewing the open records that go along with them. Maybe if there are more people looking into the spending of the Village Board and Employee's, there won't be the problems that have happened. This is a must for the community to reboand from the issues they face now. Do not believe them that Jodi Pulk was the only person involved in teh missing funds they are claiming now. I have been stating the feeling that this was happening along time ago, and it can't possibly be just the Clerk. The Head of the Committee needs to be investigated for sure, and even the Village President should be held responsible by the Citizens.