Something smells
I am still baffled why Judge Caldwell decided to delay the release of this verdict for so long?
Caldwell filed her ruling in November, but both the city and Dorothy found out about it only recently. Both parties said they asked the Minnehaha County clerk of courts office multiple times in the past six months and were told the judge had not made a decision.
“Quite honestly, that just blindsided our office. We had inquired before if there was a decision and had been told that there was not,” Tornow said.
WOW! I knew that Dan’s lawyer had asked for the ruling several times with no avail, but I was unaware that the city did the same. And while I’m no fan of Tornow, I truly believe he is telling the truth on this one, otherwise there would have been an appeal decision a long time ago.
Charles Fechner, Minnehaha clerk of courts, said normally the office doesn’t send such filings to the lawyers unless it’s requested.
“All I can say is we were never given notice to send them out. Unless we are told they want copies or to send them out, it’s not an automatic that we send copies to the attorneys,” he said.
HUH? Didn’t Tornow and Dorothy just say they asked for the rulings? While I think Luther is a decent journalist I’m curious why she didn’t pursue this a little more? I’m still clueless as to why Caldwell sat on this for so long. As I speculated before, I personally think it was an attempt to protect Munson, but who knows at this point. And was former SD Supreme court justice and city attorney ‘in the know’? Is there anyway to make a judge fess up?
This is all really fishy. You would think a decision as huge as city code violating the US Constitution that someone in the clerks office would have said something? Says a lot about our justice system, huh?
I would also like to give a piece of advice to Mayor Huether;
Mayor Mike Huether criticized the inefficiencies of code enforcement during his campaign and talked about consolidating the process, which spans multiple departments.
He asked the city attorney’s office to speak on his behalf regarding the lawsuit Wednesday, Tornow said.
While it was probably a smart move by Mike on such a delicate issue, I really encourage him to get directly involved. First off, fire everyone involved TODAY! Secondly don’t appeal the decision and thirdly change the city charter so it will allow due process, because as it sits now, you are violating the US Constitution and that isn’t very cool.
I would also like to thank Mr. Daily for his citizen advocacy on this issue and allowing South DaCola first hand access to the story. This was never about Mr. Daily, this was about you and your constitutional rights. Dan dropped $40,000 of his own money to protect your rights. At the least we owe him a ‘thank you’ at the most a contribution to his legal fund would be nice.
l3wis 
