Justice 4 John Craig 

If you Love Justice, then show your support for Mr. John Craig by contacting the Department of Justice, The White House and the Ohio State Attorney General and request an investigation in this unjst situation.

I am requesting your help to support Mr. John Craig.  Imagine if he was your father or grandfather.  It takes courage to stand up for what is right. 

Sincerely,

Charles E. Campbell
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To Watch the iReport
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-262087

Mr. John Craig is a 79 year old African American honorably discharged as an Army Veteran and has owned a C&D Construction and Demolition landfill for over 40 years.  He is a prostate cancer survivor and a current patient receiving glaucoma treatment due to partial blindness in one eye.  Mr. Craig lives in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Craig contacted President Barack Obama and Senior Advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett to assign a federal probe and investigation in Columbus, Ohio on the charges alleged.

The charges are pretty serious. He claims the following: Intergovernmental corruption, and threats made to him by Franklin County Officials in Columbus, Ohio; local Caucasion owned landfill companies who are partnered with county, state, and local governmental officials in the administration and control of rules, regulations, oversight, contract awards, and monitoring of landfill business while receiving federal funds and posing a conflict of interest; failure to properly handle and manage federal/state/and local environmental protection grants/funds which have been used to eliminate Mr. Craig as a minority owned contractor with historic evidence of disparate treatment; continuous pattern of historical retaliation after he reported in a recent town hall meeting, that Minorities in Columbus, Ohio have been purposely excluded from bidding on county, state and city governmental demolition projects due to patterns of unbid or individual agreements for sole sourced contracts that exceed $25,000.00; a settlement bribe offered to Mr. Craig by county officials to pay them $10,000.00 for reissuance of his applied license with the stipulation that the county prosecutor would find a judge to sign the paperwork with an appearance of a fine; Mr. Craig's business customers over the years have been threatened by County officials with citations and removal of their licenses if they used Mr. Craig's landfill.

Third parties informed Mr. Craig, that former Prosecutor Joe Durham (who now serves as a county advisor) admitted using "character assassination strategies" before the Franklin County Board of Health Commissioners to frame and deny him the opportunity to continue landfill operation and use. A recent demand from Local county governmental officials, i.e. County Prosecutor, Municipal Environmental Judge Harland Hale, and County Board of Health members who plan to sell Mr. Craig's commercial property (also known as a Riverfront Treasure) with the stipulation that none of his family members be able to purchase nor own the land; and Mr. Craig's recent arrest on April 27th, and later house arrest with ankle monitor which is used to keep him from going to his landfill as outsiders come to survey the land.  An assigned Probation Officer told Mr. Craig that he's been hearing that the only reason he had this ankle monitor on is because "he's a black man and also to keep him out of his landfill where he was authorized to run a  transfer station" which was later recanted according to Mr. Craig by County officials.

There has been no offer of any technical assistance or support from county officials who receive federal and state dollars to assist small businesses on environmental issues.

On Friday May 22, Mr. John E. Craig was released from the  Ohio State University Hospital East. He had an Intracardiac electrophysiology study (EPS) which is a test that allows doctors to determine the details of abnormal heartbeats, or arrhythmias and further weigh out if he has had a stroke to determine if a pace maker was recommended due to his recent dizzy spell which I am sure is related to the stress associated with the way he has been treated by the court. The doctors had ordered that Mr. Craig would need an MRI to further investigate whether a stroke had taken place and the possible source of his recent medical issues. Due to the ankle monitor on his leg, the MRI was not done since the hospital advised that it would have literally blown up the MRI machine and killed Mr. John E. Craig had he been placed in the MRI machine for this much needed test. Judge Harland Hale would not authorize the removal on his ankle monitor and said it was not needed since he felt it was not a matter of life or death. Mr. Craig stated that this Judge has repeatedly called him a liar and told witnesses that he did not like him and on one occasion, hated Mr. Craig pre and post sentencing.

The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct establishes standards for the ethical conduct of judges and judicial candidates. The code is not intended as an exhaustive guide for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates, who are governed in their judicial and personal conduct by general ethical standards as well as by the code. The code is intended, however, to provide guidance and assist judges in maintaining the highest standards of judicial and personal conduct and to provide a basis for regulating their conduct through disciplinary agencies. Talk about violating the ethical oath of Canons that a judge takes (he clearly violated Canons 1.0, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9 and 2.10 and 3)!  It is alleged that this Judge personally contacted Head Nurse (Nora Weigerg) at OSU East during his recent hospitalization, who told the Judge there was nothing wrong with Mr. Craig. She is currently under investigation as Mr. Craig, nor the family authorized release of his medical condition. It was later confirmed that Mr. Craig in fact did have a major medical issue that needs to be dealt with.  This is a 79 year old man that has served his country and honorably discharged and poses no threat to society, nor is he a flight risk, yet they felt it necessary to put shackles on his feet.  Once again, this is another form of continued harassment prior to his scheduled court date. Mr. Craig is denied the ability to shop, bank, visit family, friends, and denied access to business property.  Mr. Craig often cries at the thought of how he was treated and sprayed like a dog on weekend visits when the county officials had him placed in weekend jails years ago because of unwarranted environmental charges that no one seems to have records of these violations amongst the county officials.

On May 28, 2009 @ 1:30 pm there was an unprecedented pre-sentencing environmental landfill matter, the "site visit" was described as an "off the record" unofficial site visit. Location: Craig Landfill - 1600 Deckenbach, Columbus, Ohio 43223. Around 2:00 pm., Judge Harland Hale arrived. Other attendees included the Franklin County Board of Health Inspectors, Jeff Gross, Jeff Gibbs, County Prosecutor, Heather Robinson, Assistant County Prosecutor, Probation Officer, Don Witt, and at least 3 arresting Sheriffs. Defense Attorney, Adrian Frederick represented for Mr. John Craig. Family members, son of defendant, Steve Craig and wife Mrs. Marian Craig were present.

Judge  Harland Hale: Elected official demonstrated abuse of power and threatened to arrest with no probable cause.

At approximately 2:15 p.m., Steven L. Craig, son of Mr. John Craig snapped a photograph of the group of county officials who were descending down the hill at the rear of 1600 Deckenbach Rd. When the group came within arm's length of where he was standing, he then extended his right hand to greet Judge Harland. Judge Harland returned the handshake. While shaking his hand, the attorney for Mr. John Craig was introducing him at the same time, as Mr. John Craig's son. The Judge said "taking pictures of me is the best way of getting on my bad side...and you do not want to get of my bad side, do you?" he then is said to have quoted, "no sir." After that point, the Judge looked to his right where the county prosecutor was positioned. The Judge made a grimacing face and clinched his teeth. The Judge then looked at him and said, "you are just like your no- good incorrigible daddy - do you do your daddy that way? The Judge said "you can answer."  Steven Craig then paused and replied "no sir."  The Judge then said to him, "I ought to have you arrested and lock you up until all of this is over with... and don't take anymore pictures." The Judge then yelled out, "when I am down here, I am the captain of this ship!" The Judge then said to the defense counsel "Matter of fact, get this guy out of here, I don't want him walking through with us." The attorney then directed Mr. Craig's son to go sit in the car. While still standing, the Judge asks the attorney, "Why are we here? This is a waste of time, my time, your time and everyone's time! The Judge turned to walk toward his vehicle and the attorney then convinced the Judge to begin the walk through. The walk through was then completed.

At the conclusion of the walk through the attorney and others in attendance commented the Judge's behavior was out of order and unnecessary. Mr. Craig's son was threatened by the Judge's behavior and a hostile environment was very evident. Given's the judge's attitude and disdain for Mr. John Craig, he is not appropriate for any judicial determination on Mr. Craig's case. Mr. John Craig was not present due to house arrest.  The family is outraged and plans to elevate this behavior to much higher sources. While at the same time on this same date, Mr. Craig received anonymous phone calls of gun shots from an unknown source. This too has been reported in the past without remedy. Mr. Craig has received guns shots off and on for close to three years.  Family members suspect foul play by one of the county sherriffs.

Proper confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible conduct exhibited by Judge Harland Hale and other governmental officials. We'll hear more about this hot case!  The Justice Department will be notified.  Mr. and Mrs. Craig are no strangers to Civil Rights cases as Columbus, Ohioans know they have spoken out on many injustices in Columbus, Ohio for the past 40 years and values the core tenets of education while financing the education of his children and some of his grandchildren to attend public and private institutions of higher learning, i.e., Ohio State University, Florida A. & M., Berklee College of Music, Capital University, Ohio Dominican College, Oral Roberts University, Spelman College and Central Michigan University; and Mr. Craig has two daughters completing doctoral degrees in 2009 and 2010. The Craig's have also spoken to county, city and local government officials concerning House Bill 592.  As we celebrate the 55th Anniversary of Brown vs. Brown, we need to confront any and all forms of hypocrisy, dishonesty, and address discrimination on all fronts!

Update:  Thanks to the media for giving Mr. Craig a voice since his voice had been taken away, Mr. Craig's ankle monitor is now off.  It was determined that the County had no right to arrest Mr. Craig.  Further, we found out that Mr. Craig never even had his Miranda rights read to him when he was initially arrested!  As we hear more about the Summit between President Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Sgt. James Crowley, let us not forget that racism exists and is alive and well in the United States.  While I respect our great President, racial profiling or the mistreatment of minorities be they Hispanic, African American, Chinese, etc., is not to be placed under a rug or settled over a few bottles of beer!

Let's have a actionable strategic plan to address this issue and not give the appearance that we'll kiss and makeup and everything is well.  Racism harms all races on many fronts.  The government can start by holding all officials responsible for their actions and penalize officials for failing to report progress with all EEOC MD 715 requirements; and regularly audit and address all questionable racially disparate patterns of bidding for county, state and city governmental demolition projects due to patterns of unbid or individual agreements for sole sourced contracts that exceed $25,000.00. Don't let Mr. Craig's case be in vain.  He and his family have suffered greatly at the hands of over zealous individuals!