- In Tiny Courts of N.Y., Abuses of Law and Power
http://www.coolon.net/listtoassistant
- Obstruction
of justice, conspiracy and racketeering by the local
Monticello
District Attorney
-
Stephen
F. Lungen and his
assistant Bonnie M. Mitzner, detective F. Sticco and local
judges,
-
caused
Kulon to be
falsely accused, prosecuted, imprisoned, tortured, threatened
with death
-
and
be a victim of an assassination attempt on his life.
-
-
(Judge
Hon Keith Zanetti.
- family member of Stephan Schick; Managing Attorney,
- Local Legal Aid Bureau INC.)
-
The
local wisdom has it that Detective F. Sticco, with the help of
his friends: local judges,
-
including
Hon Keith Zanetti and
District
Attorney Assistant B. Mitzner,
-
hired
a man to shoot Kulon.
- Fortunately the would be assassin missed his target.
-
- The following to your attention the artist painter, an immigrant to this country, needs help with a serious matter,
- which just does not fit well with obvious avenues of help,
- such as seemingly appropriate civil rights
organizations, watchdog groups,
- federal and state offices; and the like. He has
tried, but receives, at most, only form letters in return.
- These usually say that the matter is of a type the organization does not deal with,
- or they suggest that he
should hire an attorney.
- However, he cannot afford to hire an attorney
capable and sophisticated enough to solve that problem.
- It seems that someone or some organization ought to be as angry as he is about the following,
- and might offer to help.
- Franciszek C. Kulon is a painter and an immigrant
to this country.
- He studied painting in the traditional manner in
his native
- He has a free soul and could not stand the
oppression he experienced under the communist regime,
- so he came to the
- He was well on his way, until he came to live in
the small town of
- There, Kulon’s life has been threatened, his property placed in jeopardy,
- and his rights as an
artist under the First Amendment have been
- and to the perverse pleasure of,
- members and friends of the local legal community.
What happened here should not be allowed in this country.
- When Franciszek Czeslaw Kulon came to Parksville, he bought an old house in disrepair.
- He worked hard on it
and it now serves as his home and studio.
- Buying this house caused him to run afoul of
Jeffrey Altbach,
- a local general practice lawyer and Justice of the Peace, who had personal interests in the property.
- Altbach, through his friendship with various locals,
- imprisoned, physically mistreated, attacked, and
threatened with death.
- At the same time,
- In hindsight, Kulon believes that he knows
what was happening, and who was behind it.
- Altbach wanted Kulon’s property, and wanted him
out.
- Kulon fought back by first seeking help to no
avail, and then using the only power that he thought he might
bring to bear:
- He used his brush to make his persecutors, especially the public figure Altbach,
- satirical subjects of some of his paintings.
- Altbach's response was immediate, relentless, and
harsh.
- He sued for $1,500,000.00 over Kulon’s painting
"Our Honorable Judge of
- " which portrayed Altbach as a smug devil sitting with
his law books.
- But this is how Kulon remembered Altbach, after he had local police officers break into Kulon’s home,
- drag
him to Altbach’s office,
- was not legally empowered to do so.
- Kulon’s painting was temporarily confiscated,
and injunctions were issued to keep him from displaying this work.
- He was held in contempt of the order by Sullivan County Judge Anthony Kane,
- and again went to jail when he could not pay the fine.
- Meanwhile, Altbach, despite Kulon’s rights of free expression, continues with his lawsuit,
- and Kulon is faced
with having to defend himself,
- Meanwhile too, oppressive cronyism still reigns
in Parksville and
- Kulon’s immigration to this country was not
easy.
- He spent almost year living in camps and
detention facilities before he gained entrance to
- Like many immigrants, Kulon first lived in inexpensive
- Kulon found that he was able to afford an old house in Parksville, in a serious state of disrepair.
- Never
mind its condition - He could afford it, and it had promise.
- Renovations to the house competed with
painting for all of his time, but Kulon was happy.
- Then the troubles began. In September 1997, Detective Sticco, accompanied by another officer,
- kicked open
Farnk’s front door.
- Then they began to search Kulon’s house. When they found nothing of interest,
- Sticco began a show of force in
front of his apparently surprised young colleague.
- Waving his revolver in front of Kulon’s face,
he promised to shoot Kulon on the spot if he made
anunexpected move.
- Sticco used Kulon’s telephone, made some calls, pushed Kulon out of the house with his knee,
- and took him
away in a car. Kulon had no idea what was happening.
- You see, twenty years ago in
- But in Parksville he could think of no reason for what was being done. There was no explanation,
- Miranda readings, or anything of the sort.
- Kulon asked the officers where they were taking him. The response was "Shut up you fucking Russian asshole,
- or I'll shoot you down."
- Kulon tried desperately to understand why Detective Sticco, someone he had never even seen before,
-
apparently hated him.
- The police took Kulon to the troopers' barracks.
Detective Sticco made some phones calls, fingerprinted Kulon,
- and forced him to sign his name at the bottom of some form.
- Then the officers put him in a private car and took him
to the private office of Jeffrey Altbach.
- Never mind that Altbach had no authority or
jurisdiction over the matter.
- They joked a while at Kulon’s expense. Altbach asked if Kulon had $2,500.00 on him and said that if he did not,
- he would be going to jail.
- Kulon explained that he could make a phone call and get the money, but was told that he could not.
- The artist was
taken to jail.
- First though, the police took him back to their
barracks to get a police car for the trip to Sullivan County Jail
in
- On the way to jail, Detective Sticco cursed and insulted Kulon continuously.
- The artist learned that he was
"trash... a fucking unwanted
- "I could not help feeling I was being provoked to show the slightest sign of physical resistance which
- would result in even worse abuse"- says Kulon.
- In jail the artist was not allowed to contact anybody until the next day. Despite that, he was optimistic.
-
-
he was
allowed to make a collect call to Mr. Halkias, the owner of
-
where artist had helped with
renovation and artwork
- Mr. Halkias was, to say the least, surprised when Kulon told him
that he was calling from the
-
- The artist spent two days in jail, and then was taken to the courthouse in Grahamsville to face Judge
- (and
automobile mechanic) Zanetti.
- Judge Zanetti asked about the charges against Kulon.
- Ms.Bonnie Mitzner Executive Assistant District Attorney's office responded,
- "He has no respect."
- She also said that Altbach had caused the artist to be locked up, and had the "papers,"
- but unfortunately was on vacation that day.
- Judge Zanetti ordered that Kulon be returned to
jail until proper "papers" were produced.
-
Kulon now understands this to mean papers that
state formal charges.
- Two days later he was brought back before Judge Zanetti who posed the same question
- to Ms. Mitzner - where are the
papers?
- Mitzner replied that she still had nothing from Altbach. Judge Zanetti then released Kulon, stating,
- "I can't keep him locked up forever without a cause."
- A sort of peace lasted until Kulon learned of a court appearance date. It was, however,
-
- At the time, he did not
connect these phone calls with his arrest - Kulon was merely
surprised,
- because he had no plans to sell and never
expressed such intentions to anyone.
- Despite being uninformed about the nature of the case against him
- (no formal court appearance documents were
ever provided).
- The proceedings ended immediately thereafter.
- a lawyer in case the ugliness returned.
- This turned out to be a very good decision.Two State Troopers showed up at Kulon’s house.
-
They explained that they were there following the orders of a
Detective Sticco,
-
and their job was to bring Kulon to Sticco's
office in the troopers barracks.
- And so they did, but Detective Sticco left soon.after he learned that artist had retained a lawyer.
- He
learned that they were waiting on Judge Zanetti.
- Yet, when Zanetti finally showed up in
Grahamsville, he merely told the troopers to let him go.
- It was at this point that artist decided that he
must fight against what obviously would be continuing injustice
and harassment.
- He tried at length to obtain help from various traditional sources of legal aid (the Department of Justice,
- human rights organizations, and many others),
- but Kulon could not do so. So, He then decided to create paintings about his experience with local "justice.
- " Soon, a nasty satyr with a vicious smile,
- looking very much like Justice of the Peace
Altbach, decorated a folder advertising his newly open gallery.
- Soon too, Kulon was served with papers telling
him that Altbach was suing him for $1,500,000.00 for defamation.
- The court ordered the artist to stop displaying
the painting, called "Our Honorable Judge of Liberty."
- The artist asked himself, "Why did all this
happen?" Why did I fall into such disfavor with the local
powers?
- He could think of no reason, so he investigated. Luckily, Parksville is a small village and people talk a lot to one another,
- about one another.
- This helped. Here is what Kulon learned from the
people of Parksville:
- is a friend of Altbach and Detective Sticco. Altbach's wife, without his
knowledge, sold the house to Kulon.
-
This made Altbach furious and deprived his real
estate company of a possible commission.
- D'Ambrose, who is Altbach and Stcco good
frand, began a campaign against the artist.
- He sued Kulon in small claims court for various
things over ten times. All of the cases were dismissed.
- This success, and court's refusal to explain the
underlying reasons, are hopefully unique to this local legal
system.
- Altbach, a Justice of the Peace and general practice lawyer, wrote the order.
-
- Things got worse. After about a year after Kulon’s first arrest,
D'Ambrose tried to shoot him.
- One day, when Kulon was mowing my lawn, he fired a shotgun at him.
- Fortunately he missed but his shot pierced the
tire of Kulon’s mower.
- The artist called the police and D'Ambrose was arrested but, to Kulon’s shock and dismay,
- he was released the very next day. Kulon learned he was freed by court order.
- The artist was worried that D'Ambrose might try
to shoot him again, but his request for protection was denied.
- D'Ambrose should have faced trial in court in
- Kulon was asked to testify even before a Grand
Jury. , bat now one knows noting for now.
- to obtain documentation of the case
have been fruitless.
- The local wisdom is that Altbach, with the help of his friends Detective Sticco and Judge Zanetti,
- wanted to
remove Kulon from his house at any costs.
- The artist also learned through locals why, when
Detective Sticco arrested him for the first time,
-
Kulon was so mysteriously taken to Altbach’s office
in a private car, and then in a police car to a Sullivan County
Jail:
- The Parksville area within
- Kulon can only conclude at this point that there
exists, in this part of
-
a dangerous cronyism similar to that seen in the
movies about stereotyped small towns in the
- If you cross the wrong path, you can be harassed, fined, jailed, threatened,
and attacked. Your rights mean nothing.
- There is no recourse if this happens. The perpetrators are the powers that be.
-
They will protect themselves, and their
personal interests, at all costs and at your expense.
- Kulon now thinks that his paintings, having attracted much publicity,
- ironically are the only thing that have stood between
himself and continued danger.
- I end this with Kulon’s thoughts of what he see
as very wrong, and for which he seeks help.
- First, those who wield power in this part of
- and they do so with seeming impunity.
- Second, Kulon faces a liability of $1,500,000.00 for acting in objection to this, and in his defense,
-
- Thank you so much for your time and
consideration. If you would like to see some of the paintings
mentioned here,
- and review a collection of public documents and news accounts relating to this matter,
-
-
-