Michael Allison Harassed By Abandoned Vehicle Ordinances Part 1 Of 2 [lUcssBTIfjQ]

00:00 Hello, is this Mike Allison? Yes it is. Hello sir this is Jeff Davis the long-running Jeff Davis show here in Austin Texas thanks for joining us I'm glad to be here thank you for having me on Now we just played a couple news clips where those are those news clips and they coming from Illinois media sources or well the area that where I'm located is right on the Indiana, Illinois line and We don't have any big TV stations on the Illinois side. So The story originated from Terre Haute Indiana and it's a channel 2 It's a WTWO channel two out of Terre Haute, Indiana

00:45 and Patrick Fazio was the one that did the reporting. What's that, an NBC? ABC? NBC affiliate. NBC affiliate out of Terre Haute Indiana Right Okay Michael so we got some of the gist there from the newscast tell us exactly your story Well, basically it started back in 2001 and an incident in 2003 and an incident in 2005 which took place in Bridgeport Illinois which is where I live. And it originated over a city ordinance that the city put into place

01:26 and the false pretense of the ordinance was basically to get rid of any junk, eliminate any junk cars from the city limits. And why I say it's a false pretense is because they're not using that ordinance in that manner In my own particular case, I had three classic cars on my private property and two of them were in the process of being restored. And I had already rebuilt and restored the motors in both of them they were classic Buicks 60s Buick's and The third car was a sixties Oldsmobile

02:09 and it had been wrecked, and the wrecked parts had been dismantled. And it was not drivable and it was in pretty rough shape. All three cars were not registered and their ordinance requires current and valid registration and insurance on the vehicle for it to settle on private property, even if you're not driving it. And in 2001 whenever this all came up I went to City Hall to meet with the mayor and chief of police to find out what my rights were and what I might need to do comply with them

02:47 And the way it all turned out was I ended up having to buy registration for all the vehicles on the property regardless of the fact that I wasn't even driving the cars. Yeah, yeah. It's important and I want to emphasize this Mike you were in compliance with the ordinance? They were saying that I was in violation of the ordinance because my cars were not registered But you did register them eventually uh... in in two thousand one i that was my uh... them my only way to comply with the register of the cars and then i i talked to another local attorney to find out what my rights were after they are in in two thousand three three they had sent me another notice saying that i was in violation once again

03:29 So, uh... How were you in violation? They were saying because they were in my driveway and not completely enclosed within a building. They had access to be able to see the license plate and they just run the plate and find out that it's not valid, not current And if its not valid and up-to-date registration then they say you can't have that car on your property and the only way to comply with the ordinance is to put registration on the car. And then that still isn't a complete fix because after the chief of police basically threatened me, after I said that I would just register all the cars he said if you think you can put registration on those cars

04:18 And just let them sit there, I'll still haul them off for an operable vehicle. And he... and now I said that every one of them starts! And they said but you can't drive him out on the road? And I said no I can't drive him out on the road that's why I'm working on em'. Now I said there is little things wrong with each one of them and I am repairing and restoring the car And so he said, if you can't drive them out on the road then they're inoperable. And I'll still haul them off. So I didn't know what to do at that point. So I tried to go over his head to the Sheriff's Department in Lawrence County and ended up getting threatened over there too

04:57 So initially you were terrorized over these cars sitting on your property? Yeah, they were basically saying that they wanted those cars and I had no right to keep them because they were in violation of the ordinance. So in 2003, I purchased the registration and just hoped for the best. And then because I was threatened at the Sheriff's Department and I knew there was no other authority that I could go to, I decided to go back to the Chief of Police and have him sign off on the notice saying that I complied and that that was the end of the matter.

05:33 so he did sign up and uh... in it nothing happened until two thousand three when they send another notice saying that the registration but i bought into thousand one had expired and uh... so the in two thousand three i'd talk to a on attorney and he said don't worry about the ten-day notice wait until they write a ticket you know who want to write a ticket you can you confide if you bring it to me will take care of it So I was waiting for a ticket to be issued and For any due process that I should be entitled to under the Constitution and the laws of the land. And so when they Sent the first notice, I basically ignored it waiting for a ticket and it was May of 2003 and Three months went past and in August 8th of 2003 they sent out a second notice

04:57 So initially you were terrorized over these cars sitting on your property? Yeah, they were basically saying that they wanted those cars and I had no right to keep them because they were in violation of the ordinance. So in 2003, I purchased the registration and just hoped for the best. And then because I was threatened at the Sheriff's Department and I knew there was no other authority that I could go to, I decided to go back to the Chief of Police and have him sign off on the notice saying that I complied and that that was the end of the matter.

05:33 so he did sign up and uh... in it nothing happened until two thousand three when they send another notice saying that the registration but i bought into thousand one had expired and uh... so the in two thousand three i'd talk to a on attorney and he said don't worry about the ten-day notice wait until they write a ticket you know who want to write a ticket you can you confide if you bring it to me will take care of it So I was waiting for a ticket to be issued and For any due process that I should be entitled to under the Constitution and the laws of the land. And so when they Sent the first notice, I basically ignored it waiting for a ticket and it was May of 2003 and Three months went past and in August 8th of 2003 they sent out a second notice

06:29 saying with a handwritten threat that I had, uh... that they had sent me notice on May 1st and that i did nothing. And then ten days from now if you don't show proof of valid registration on your vehicles they will be towed away is the way they put it. So I basically ignored that notice also because I was still waiting for a ticket And the 10 days had came and went, and they didn't take the cars. There was no action taken. The three more months went past and no action was taken. So in November of 2003 on November 9th I was planning to leave the state

07:10 to go to arizona on the construction job so uh... are on november ninth i was preparing to leave and i left on the night and i found out later because in now you know i've already gone that on the tenth of november of two thousand three they came onto my private property uh... and illegally seized two of the cars They took the two Buicks, the ones that were more valuable. The ones that ran and the old Oldos mobile that had been wrecked and it was in rough shape and everything It was parked 50 feet

07:48 away from one of the Buicks they took. And it stayed right there on the property. So this is more than just recording police, this is... They've actually...they're actually thieves? That's exactly what the... After they took action against me in 2003 and you know and this continued I eventually filed a lawsuit and with that lawsuit I discovered that there was more to it then what seemed on the surface And so backing back up, in 2003 when I got my cars back after they were illegally seized my mother actually did it because she got them back for me because I was in Arizona on my way to Arizona. So she came to get my mail on the 15th to pick up my mail

08:39 And she noticed the cars were gone and assumed that the city was responsible because of all the threats that were leading up to it. So she tried to get in touch with the city, there was nobody at City Hall She tried calling City Hall no one would answer so she called Illinois State Police and reported the car stolen And the state police officer came and did an investigation, found out where the cars were at and why they were taken. He told... The state police officer told my mother and her brother, my uncle

09:15 on a couple of occasions during that whole investigation, that what the city had done was illegal and that a good attorney could fight this. Who said it was illegal? The Illinois State Police officer who showed up to do the investigation for the stolen vehicle report and uh... i don't have his name right here in the uh... okay but uh... he told my mother on a couple of occasions during that investigation but they had acted improper and and that they didn't have the authority to do what they did and that they were enforcing the ordinance illegally and uh... he said that i've got a turn it could fight this so um

10:00 In 2003, we got the cars back. She found out where they were and she had to pay all kinds of fees and everything They call them towing fees and impound storage fees But they're not towing fees because we didn't call to have them towed. They were illegally seized without the legal authority to do so, and then we had to pay extortion fees to get them back." Yep that's about right! So we got him back she got him back and had him put back on the property And I forced her to buy registration as a condition to even get them returned

10:37 If she didn't comply with everything they told her she had to do, that they was going to keep those cars and they even threatened to do so. They said we can get a title for these cars within 20 days and So she was concerned about that She knew she didn't want to allow them to get the titles of the cars So she would doing everything she could to get him back in 2003 the registration was valid again and uh... so they sat there for uh... i'll i stayed out in arizona working for six months straight and uh... so when i got back uh... in two thousand five this whole situation started all over again the issue than other ten day notice saying that um... from the registration that was purchased and then november of two thousand three had expired and they were we're in violation of the ordinance

11:33 So I took the attorney's advice once again. I ignored the notice and was waiting for a ticket Well, they decided that they weren't going to issue it take it once again and with no tickets issued No warrants, no search-and-seizure warrants, no order by judge They illegally seized the same two cars in 2005 I and was able to deal with the situation. And when I got my cars back the second time, I was searching for an attorney to file a civil lawsuit in the federal court and challenge their action and the constitutionality of the ordinance that they were using to get my cars. So what I ended up doing was in discovery that took place, depositions

12:37 in two thousand seven i asked for some uh... some specific questions to the uh... tow truck operator and i want to find out how they were obtaining titles to these cars that people were or not able to either afford to get back or uh... we're not able to get back one way or the other these people working being these cars and even told my mother that he was obtaining titles to look at the car so uh... i wanted to know how they were getting these titles So I asked him and he answered, and then I had a follow-up question. And he answered that question. Based on his answers, I have requested documents from the state of Illinois vehicle services department in Springfield based on the information that's on those documents—the ones that he would have to use to obtain a title for those cars that he is keeping illegally

13:33 He has to fraudulently and illegally submit an affirmation swearing that he obtained the lien on a car by performing some service, some service provided or work performed on the vehicle done at the request of the vehicle owner. So, in other words the legitimate lien would be generated if I requested my car to be towed from one place to another and then didn't pay the bill. He would have a legitimate lien and would be able to obtain a title against my car for that lien

14:14 Michael because this testimony that was that recorded in this deposition? It's a it wasn't recorded. It was under oath, okay and I have the transcripts for that and so the basically whenever The way that they if you were going to legitimately obtain a title through mechanics lien or storage lien like he was suggesting That affirmation says that the lien was done at the request of the vehicle owner. I didn't request my vehicles to be removed from my private property, and he did it anyway at the request of law enforcement that was involved

14:56 And so that makes it an illegitimate lien. He sends the fraudulent paperwork to Springfield swearing that its not a fraudulent lien and its actually a legitimate lien to get these titles