INCOMPETENT GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATORS DON’T EVEN KNOW THE LAWS – AND THEREFORE IGNORE THEM! |
An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann Published July 8, 2014
I
always have to wonder why certain government employees think that they are
above the laws – and can make their own rules – because they obviously
just feel like it. That
recently happened again when Pamela Guerrier, Director of the Palm Beach
County Office of Equal Opportunity, filed a NOTICE
OF DETERMINATION OF REASONABLE GROUNDS in the case of Peklun
v. Tierra Del Mar Condominium Association. In
reality this is a very simple case of an owner bringing a dog into a
no-pet community. The owner didn't file an official application or
supplied any kind of certification regarding the dog, but was obviously
under the impression that he was entitled to keep the dog. The
dog is clearly an EMOTIONAL
SUPPORT ANIMAL with no special training or qualifications. This
dog clearly isn't a service animal, even if at a later point the owner
provided letters from doctors making the dog look like a trained service
dog. The
background of the whole issue can be best explained by the AFFIDAVIT
OF MARIA VERDUCE, the president of the board of the Tierra Del
Mar Condominium Association, Inc. in Boca Raton. Whatever
you do in a Florida condominium, there are certain rules you have to obey
by. And in a condominium with a no-pet rule an owner, who wants to keep an
emotional support animal in his home, should have the courtesy to file an
official application to keep the “pet” in his home. Bringing
a dog into a NO-PET community is official business – and has to be
treated as such. The application has to be accompanied by the necessary
documents to show the necessity of an emotional support animal. The board
has the obligation to deal with this application in the proper manner,
meaning checking the “credential and then bringing the application to a
vote of the full board in an officially noticed board meeting where a
quorum is present with minutes of this board meeting available for all
other members. Ignoring
rules is creating problems – in this case a full-fledged lawsuit with no
end in sight. But
it gets even worse when incompetent government employees – in this case
Pamela Guerrier, Director of the Palm Beach County Office of Equal
Opportunity -- get involved and make DETERMINATIONS that totally ignore
existing rules and laws. How
can a simple government worker ignore the fact that there was never an
official vote of the Board of directors in regards to the accommodation of
this pet – because no matter what has been said, the dog is nothing else
than a “FEEL-GOOD” animal, even if a Dr. Paul Murry stated:
"There is the danger of respiratory arrest and respiratory failure
compounding his [Peklun] other medical conditions" and "for this
reason he requires 24 hour monitoring. His pet dog has been trained to
detect respiratory arrest in him and to stimulate arousal to present
dangerous consequences. His pet is identified as a certified service
animal." I
really have to wonder how the doctor got this “knowledge” of the
qualifications of the dog, a dog neighbors described as a permanently
barking nuisance. Make
no mistake: If the dog really has all the qualifications as described in
Dr. Murry’s statement, there would be written certifications, describing
the special training of the dog. I
would be really curious if this “doctor” would be willing to repeat
these statements under oath on a witness stand in a court room. But
obviously Pamela Guerrier takes all these statements for granted and
determined that even the fact that there was no official board meeting –
with minutes – in regards to the accommodations of the dog -- some talk
among certain board members behind closed doors was sufficient to grant
the dog owner permission to bring his dog into the NO-PET
community. I
doubt Guerrier ever read FS 718, because otherwise she would have thought
twice about writing such a nonsense. In
a LETTER DATED JUNE 30,
2014 I did ask the Office of Equal Opportunity for a comment
on their findings and their – in my opinion – pretty weird
interpretation of rules and statutes. But,
as expected, I never heard back from them. This office, like many other
government entities, feels that it shouldn’t be held liable for their
actions and that they can ignore rules and laws because they are part of
the government. Do
we really need government employees who feel that they are above the law? |