Lorain resident Garon Petty isn’t giving up his legal battle against the city of Lorain, nor has he stopped keeping watch over City Hall.
In fact, just late last month as Petty’s attorney was filing for an appeal to the court’s ruling dismissing the case, Petty was requesting records to seek an explanation of why the city’s law director was texting on a telephone during a public meeting.
The email was sent Jan. 31 to Law Director Pat Riley’s office as well as surrounding media outlets.
“Hello, Can anyone answer my questions? Is texting during council committee meetings prohibited by ORC 121.22? Mr. Riley, who are you texting and smiling at in this video? Will the IT person be able to retrieve the text messages?
“Will the text messages be included in the minutes for the meeting of January 30, 2023? Thank you for a prompt response.”
A day later, Petty received the following response from Assistant Law Director Joseph LaVeck.
“Mr. Petty, Please find this correspondence to serve as Law Director Riley’s response to your public records request. As you know from prior responses Law Director Riley, you are entitled to text messages which involve City business.
“You can be assured that any texting made by Law Director Riley during a public meetings, as evidenced by apparently a smiling face, did not involve City business. As such, there are no records responsive to your request.”
Petty and his wife, Jeanne Petty, filed suit against the city last year under the basis that city officials “retaliated against Petty for exercising his right to free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and his rights to assemble and to free speech,” according to documents of the U.S. District Court.
Petty is described in the lawsuit as “a self-described citizen watch dog of the people and spirited and righteous patriotic soul.”
“Petty alleged that the City Council defendants retaliated against him by accusing him of various crimes and untoward behavior, suggesting he was unhinged, and defaming him to divert attention from their own wrongdoings,” the court documents stated. “He also alleged that the City Council Defendants defamed him in an effort to ‘tar and feather’ him and further described their conduct as ‘malicious and wicked’ and part of a dark malicious scheme to damage his reputation for honesty and integrity.”
Both the federal and local courts dismissed the cases, records show.
On Jan. 27, Petty filed a notice of appeal regarding the decisions to the Ninth District Court of Appeals, according to Lorain County Common Pleas Court records.
