Tulelake, the untold story... Chapter Three
*The late Joe Cordonier a longtime resident and past City of Tulelake, City Clerk and USFS employee. Joe Cordonier used to have a saying for when it came to things or ideas for Tulelake getting done.
"It is not the message but the messenger as to rather it gets done or not in the city of Tulelake."
I first met Joe Cordonier at the old city hall when it was next to Veterans Park. I would go in there and pay my water and garbage bill and got to know Joe over the years as he would share with me the history of Tulelake. I kept suggesting he write a book about Tulelake and its history but unfortunately, he never did and I don't know why he never did. As it would have been a good book in my opinion. So a lot of history has been lost and for others to write about Tulelake now.
As time passed Joe and I became very good acquaintances and I would not say good friends, but a friend that if I needed to ask a question about Tulelake's past, Joe was the person to go and ask. This was before I met his brother Tom Cordonier and his wife Margie who moved to Tulelake in 2008. About the same time, I came back and rented a one-bedroom trailer on 5th street for my dog "Feisty" and me, after my Mom passed away in February 2007, in Redding, CA. But before she passed away we were living in Alturas, CA, where I had her flown by helicopter and bi-plane to Redding, CA with a 50/50 chance she would survive but she didn't and passed away in Redding Mercy Hospital with a heart attack.
So I ended up back in Tulelake, CA. Where my whole life had been turned upside down after her passing in 2007. I did not know Joe's wife Donna as she always kept to herself. I didn't get to know Tom and Margie until after I started the first issues of Tulelake/Newell Times aka TNT.
In fact, what gave me the idea to start a local newspaper was a situation where something was going on in the Tulelake area and no one was sure what was going on in February of 2010. So for the fun of it, I decided to make a joke out of it and I did. I then created a flyer about it and the rest is history in the creation of TNT aka just Tulelake News now.
Where I began printing TNT and posting and sharing each issue around town and with people in town everywhere I went in town or met on my walks around town. I would print about 25 or 30 copies of each issue which was beginning to get costly as I was giving them away for FREE.
During the time I first met Joe and before I met Tom and Margie. I met Iva Rogers, who was the mayor of Tulelake at the time in 2004. That is when my Mom was going to the senior lunch program at the Honker where Alice would keep an eye on my Mom while she was there and on and off Bob's tour bus. Where it was set up that Bob of Fe's Bed and Breakfast would pick up the seniors on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to take them to the Honker and return them home after their lunch.
Iva and Joe did not always see eye to eye when it came to Tulelake. But both in their own ways were trying what they felt was good for Tulelake. The same way I did by getting the truth out no matter the cost. Because I never played favorites with either one and never will. But over the years like Joe, Iva and I are just good acquaintances too, along with Councilmember Richard Marcillac. Where presently Iva Rodgers is the City of Tulelake's City Clerk now
And in the same way Tony Ross loves to make the following statement when people are asked what they think of me. And the same can be said about Tony Ross. "It depends on who you ask." And that the same can be said of both Joe and Iva as well. "It depends on who you ask about them or what people in Tulelake think of them. That goes for all of us and our reputations rather it be in Tulelake, or elsewhere.
Then as time went on Joe's little brother Tom Cordonier ran for city council and won a seat on the city council, Ivy's Friend Richard Marcillac then lost his seat by a few votes, but just enough for Tom Cordonier to take his seat. Richard Marcillac who was a councilmember and lost on his bid for his own seat in the election in 2010. Where he lost his seat and Tom Cordonier became the present Mayor, during the time after Randy Darrow stepped aside after the recall when Tom was just a councilmember before the recall.
Which at the time there was an issue of this might be a conflict of interest because his brother was the city clerk Joe Cordonier, but it was eventually decided it was not a conflict of interest when Tom Cordonier was first elected city councilmember.
I also ran in that same election and received 49 votes. Where Tom Cordonier received 93 votes and with Richard Marcillac 91 votes. I was interested in making a change and by doing so I ran to be a city councilmember too. Since I had been covering the city council meetings and reporting on them I had an idea where changes needed to be made before the city of Tulelake died and there would be no town left if it kept going the way it has. And it seems it is almost at that point now by pretty much the same leadership not getting things done as they have promised they would, and supported by the same group of Vigilantes as were there when I was there.
Before Tom was elected to the council Tom and Margie Cordonier spent a lot of time attending Tulelake city council meetings and that is about the time I first met Tom and Margie when I was writing stories about city council meetings. And since then we have become great friends. Joe was always at a distance when it came to friendships but Tom is much different than his brother. Tom does not know the history of Tulelake the way Joe did but that is OK, too.
Who needs to have people looking at you with daggers in their eyes for all the hate they have towards you while only trying to report the news on city council meetings. It just came to the point it was not worth it anymore. It was not my loss but the city of Tulelake loss for not being updated as to what was going on at city council meetings besides the bland version from the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, OR.
Before Joe's passing, Joe had decided it was time to retire as city clerk after all the years he spent doing it. And after Randy Darrow stepped down as Mayor and Tom Cordonier was appointed Mayor. Where the vigilante group that tried to recall Randy. They lost that bid when Randy was not removed. This same group that went after anyone who I happened to be friends with on the council, no matter who it was. They even went after Bob Hugebanks If they were friends of mine they went after them. Including Tom Cordonair now the mayor of Tulelake during that time.
During the recall for Randy Darrow: "TIME FOR CHANGE in TULELAKE, WRITE IN: “James Garland” --> ON June 3rd, 2014. The recall election to remove the present mayor, Randy Darrow and remove him from the council on June 3rd. I did it just to piss off the vigilante group and it did.
Write-In James Garland as a qualified write-in candidate member, City Council Short-term on June 3, 2014.
Joe Cordonier who worked as a National Park Ranger at the "Lava Beds National Monument Joe Cordonair a ""Lava Beds National Monument National Park Ranger as well as the City of Tulelake's City Clerk.
At one of the meetings, Joe stood up and called out the hypocrisy as well as Margie Cordonier at a different meeting which is all on record. The same way Tony Ross made false accusations against me as well during another meeting at the Tulelake city council. And this vigilante group would go out of their way to try and get me violated at a city council meeting because the judge ruled I was allowed to attend city council meetings as that was my right to do so, rather Teresa Williams (whose father is John Crowe, a former mayor of Tulelake) and sons or Jackie Gow or family were there or not. They tried their best to intentionally try to get me arrested. My first amendment rights came first over any civil restraining order so I was not denied my rights to be there. Which pissed them off even more at the time.
"The city clerk of Tulelake, Joe Cordonier during the comment section of elected and city employees make updates and comments about city issues. Joe Cordonier not only spoke about past history of Tulelake and other historical events, as Joe Cordonier always does during the comment section of the agenda. Joe Cordonier had a few more things to add about how embarrassed he was and that people have the right to free speech and are allowed to readdress their government officials entrusted with power. Getting THE TRUTH OUT about Tulelake City Council Meetings on May 06, 2014 Where the Mayor, Randy Darrow limited one party to 3 minutes on an agenda item, and others all the time in the world with their "Community Concerns" on the agenda at a different meeting held on February 18, 2014. "Demands the city of Tulelake cannot legally do" and then in the process limit one person to three minutes on an agenda item and then start off by speaking out about the agenda item and how it got on the agenda as indicated by Dar Carroll at the April 21, city council meeting before the complainant even opened his mouth and had a chance to begin the process of presenting his agenda item on April 21, 2014, Tulelake city council meeting.
Starting with Mayor Randy Darrow, followed by council member Dar Carroll and the Chief of Police Chief, Tony Ross complaining about the agenda item being on the agenda and that it was against the "Policeman's bill of rights", at the meeting on April 21, 2014, according to Tony Ross. How all the public documents about the complaint were on the table for the public to view at the last two city council meetings. Tony Ross made the following comment, directed at James Garland."I hope that puts an end to this and that is the last of it with all the documents on the back table during the last two meetings that have been placed public for the public to read them."
Another council member apologized at the city council meeting on May 5, 2014, on how the complainant was treated at the Tulelake City Council meeting on the 21st of April meeting. During his comment section on the agenda on Monday, May 5, 2014. Council member Tom Cordonier felt the Mayor, Randy Darrow had not treated James Garland correctly and that Councilmember Tom Cordonier felt guilty for not speaking up at the last meeting of the Tulelake City Council on April 21, 2014. Getting THE TRUTH OUT about Tulelake City Council Meetings on May 06, 2014 That to allow one group all the time in the world for their agenda item and another individual be limited to three minutes. The fact members of the other group were part of the same group that was responsible for getting the Mayor, Randy Darrow on the ballot for the recall on June 3, 2014. Randy Darrow the present Mayor. was trying to please this group against him for political reasons and made an error in the process of doing it. After that meeting the support for the present Mayor, Randy Darrow in favor of keeping him on as Mayor of Tulelake, lost, due to his showing of his favoritism of this group, who were against him, by trying to gain favor with them, so they will not vote "Yes" on the recall. This was a major error of judgment on Randy Darrow's, part. Mayor, Randy Darrow has no one else to blame if he loses the recall election on June 3, 2014, in Tulelake, CA. When someone else takes his seat until 2016 to complete his term in office."
All the above in on record and recorded from the meetings that took place at the Tulelake City Council Meetings, one on the 21st of April and February 18, 2014. Where people should take the time to listen to what really happens at Tulelake City Council Meetings. Like the Mayor's statement in the Herald and News story's with his point of view about what happened at the city council meeting that was not accurate as was reported by the Herald and News recent story by Lee Jullerat below and published April 30, 2014.
The Mayor, Randy Darrow has a lot to lose on June 3rd's recall election, his comments were biased in that news story as it was posted and printed. They were not the FACTS about what happened at that city council meeting on April 21, 2014, at Tulelake City Hall as reported by the Herald and News on Friday, April 30th, 2014. Randy Darrow the mayor's opinion is not FACT, as to what really happened on April 21, 2014 at the Tulelake City Council Meeting in Tulelake, CA.
Shameful, where the vigilante group succeeded in not only making false accusations against me but that of Councilmember and former Mayor Tom Cordonier. Who happened to be Tulelake city clerks' brother Joe Cordonier. Along with Margie Cordonier Tom's wife and the things they said about her. For none other than vindictive reasons. They ever try it again it will be the last time they do as I will see them in civil court next time and I will sue this time, even if it means I have to sue the city of Tulelake next time too. As I will do it if there is a next time, mark my words.
One of the main reasons I didn't follow through last time was because it was not the city of Tulelake's fault there are such idiots in Tulelake, including the Chief of Police, Tony Ross. But if it happens again I will not try and defend it myself. I will obtain legal counsel who will do it, no matter the legal costs involved. And that is a promise.
That all sounds about right but tulelake used to be a good place to live not much anymore I was born and raised there almost my whole life
ReplyDeleteWell, I spent quite a few years there too and it is not a great place to be anymore depending on what side you land on when it comes to the Tulelake Chief of Police. If you are on his good side then things will be fine but if you are on his bad side watch out he will be out to get you. All in a nut shell and he is a transplant. Chief Tony Ross.
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