I'm not writing this to brag, though I am proud of what I accomplished. This is here as a record, and to help others in similar situations. If you read my other blogs then you know a Whitehall WI cop spent over 20 years stalking the streets of a small Wisconsin searching for victims, and he did so while in uniform and on duty. I am not a cop and that is why I was asked to help stop the situation. It wasn't easy but I have to tell you about how this came about.
I will skip ahead in this story to the summer of 2004. I had spent the last 3 years wasting time talking to the local sheriff, (one Randy Niederkorn) the state of Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) several reporters, lawyers and the civil rights squad of the FBI. It seemed like no one wanted to hear this story let alone get involved. Some showed interest but there was no action taken and I was on my own.
Having sunk everything I had into this and getting nowhere I needed a low budget high impact plan. What I came up with,, got the ball rolling and in 6 months a cop was in jail for the sexual assault of a 14 year old.
This is how it came about;
Wisconsin is a 1 knowledge state. That is, anyone can record a conversation at any time as long as 1 person knows the conversation is being recorded and the recording will not be used for blackmail or extortion. Pretty simple, and this includes conversations with cops.
So in my last 3 years of talking to sheriff Niederkorn and the other cops I had quite the stack of little cassette tapes which were mine and mine to do with as I saw fit, including public airing and giving away copies.
Now I suppose you're wondering what was on these tapes? There was lots of interesting conversations between myself and Niederkorn!! here's some examples; I asked Niederkorn about the night of December 9, 1978 when my brother died and someone (a cop) stole the money from his wallet. His reply, "Back then we had a coroner that was a little evil, I can't remember her name" He then went on to tell me about a suicide in Galesville WI years later when $100 was stolen from the house after the money had been counted on the kitchen table and the only people in the house were 3 cops and a coroner. We talked about missing police reports, falsely written police reports, refusing to respond to burglary calls, refusing to investigate burglaries and of course we talked about a Whitehall cop named Dan Wineski and what we had heard about him forcing young girls to have sex with him. "Terry I've heard all the rumors" he told me. "Aww we can't do anything about that." "You're gonna have to take care of that on your own. I'm not gonna help ya." I had been told by a local lawyer Mark Franklin that Wineski had been investigated twice for sexually assaulting children so I asked Niederkorn. "Yeah, that sounds about right." These are just a few but you should get the point that Niederkorn then the sheriff of Trempealeau County with his office and department located in Whitehall was not going to help. He also told me to cut my losses and quit on more then one occasion.
Well I had these tapes, I had given copies to the FBI and several reporters but Dan Wineski was still a cop. So I picked up a pen and paper and wrote one page. On it I wrote the following;
HI, MY NAME IS TERRY MILES. I'M WORKING TO MAKE TREMPEALEAU COUNTY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE! DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM OR COMPLAINT ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT OR THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY? DO YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF MISCONDUCT OR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OR COURTHOUSE PERSONNEL?
*ABUSING POWER OR AUTHORITY FOR PERSONAL GAIN (TO GET MONEY, DRUGS, SEX OR MATERIAL GAIN)
*MISAPPROPRIATION OR MISUSE OF MONEY OR PROPERTY
*EXCESSIVE OR UNNECESSARY USE OF FORCE
*LAW ENFORCEMENT NOT RESPONDING TO CALLS
*LAW ENFORCEMENT TAKING HOURS OR EVEN DAYS TO ARRIVE AT THE SCENE OF AN INCIDENT
*INTIMIDATION OR THREATENING VICTIMS OR WITNESSES
*REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE OR TAKE STATEMENTS
*USING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL WHILE WORKING OR ON DUTY
I HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OR FIRST HAND INFORMATION OF ALL THE ABOVE. I WAS A RESIDENT OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY FOR 32 YEARS BEFORE WORK FORCED MY MOVE TO FOND DU LAC COUNTY. I DO PLAN ON RETURNING TO TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ONE DAY.I HAVE FRIENDS THAT HAVE BEEN HURT BY THE CORRUPTION THAT THRIVES IN THE AREA, THAT IS WHY THIS IS MY CONCERN.
CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ITEMS OR A COMPLAINT OR COMMENT OF ANY KIND ON THE LAW ENFORCEMENT/JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ON ANY LEVEL. I CAN HELP YOU DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINT AND INFORMATION TO THE PROPER CHANNELS TO BETTER THIS COMMUNITY! YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS BUT WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THIS COUNTY CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE. THIS SOCIETY DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. TOGETHER OUR VOICES WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE! THANK YOU!
I CLOSED THIS PAGE WITH MY NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER
Next I need this printed and I needed lots of copies for what I had in mind. I gave a copy to a friend in Ripon WI. She typed it up for me. I went to a gas station and made 200 copies. one of those went to Whitehall where a friend made 200 more.
On the weekend when Whitehall has it annual celebration "BEEF AND DAIRY DAYS" I drove back home with about 230 copies. Near a dumpster at an apartment complex in Whitehall I picked up a plastic bag with 200 more in it. I was ready!!
The Sunday of Beef and Dairy Days Whitehall has a parade. I knew the city council most likely would not allow me in the parade for my purpose, but there was no law against handing out fliers on the sidewalk. :-) So at 12 noon I stood at the end of the parade route and looked at the 4 blocks I had to cover. I had told the WEAU TV 13 news director what I was up to in case something went bad. Now it was just to do it.
I gave one of those to every person or group of people I met on that sidewalk. After 2 blocks I gave one to Gale Gabriel an old courthouse hand who had been forced to resign in the 70's after he got caught swindling people out of their land. I kept moving but about a block later Gale caught up to me and tried to talk me into stopping which obviously wasn't going to happen. What he did next was so funny I almost stopped for uncontrollable laughter. By this time we were crossing the railroad tracks and ahead at the intersection between Kwik Trip and the Courthouse I could see the cop Dan Wineski directing traffic. Gale in his 70's and standing over 6 feet ran towards Wineski waving the paper over his head Screaming Dan!! Dan!! Look at what Terry Miles is doing!!!! He looked like a child coming home from school with a good report card. A tall grey haired child but the way he waved it and yelled I couldn't help but to laugh which was good because I couldn't talk so I moved faster just handing papers out. I heard Wineski yell back "I already know all about it!!)As I passed Wineski I asked how it was going but he didn't want to talk to me.
The courthouse lawn was covered in spectators, but I made sure every group of people got a flier. Then I cross the street and went back the way I had come passing out fliers. At the end I only had a couple left and the local public access TV cameraman was there filming the parade. He asked what I was doing and I decided to read a flier for him. That was funny too. As I read his face got this OH SHIT look and he started backing up I think so the microphone wouldn't pick up my voice, but I didn't care over 400 fliers were out in the public.
After the parade I walked the route again and look in every garbage can and alley. I found one flier that had been left in the street but I remember giving one to a daughter of a courthouse employee in that spot, so 1 wasted was no big deal.
In the next week I got a few phone calls including one from Sheriff Niederkorn (He was scared) Only one real crazy person called with a wild story about cops hospitals and the VA conspiring to keep him on anti psychotic medication. Everyone else was genuine with stories about Wineski and other local corruption. The mass of response came in person when I returned to Whitehall the next weekend.
As the information poured in I told everyone where to file a complaint, how to contact the agencies and who to ask to speak to. The 7 months following this were a nonstop flow of information, threats and talks. I'll tell you about that some other time. But it was those fliers that ended Wineski's career as a sexual predator
No comments:
Post a Comment