I intend to sue officials of the City of Torrington in Federal Court for willful deprivation of my rights and conspiracy to deprive me of my rights. The suit will ask for an injunction to cease their attempts to enter homes under threat and/or with police escort unless armed with a Warrant. Stop using untrue, inaccurate and misleading verbal and/or written representations of law to area citizens. Future Orders against area citizens signed by city officials must name specific violations of law, must clearly state the danger making the Order necessary and the expected remedy. Any evidence presented against an area citizen in such an order must name any equipment used, who used it, and who verified. gathered and reported the evidence subject to perjury laws. And punitive damages.
Headed by Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health, Torrington, CT several as yet unknown city officials made false statements, threats and by their uniformed presence intimidated tenants into allowing entrance in order to find evidence of hazardous materials to be used for my arrest.
Undeterred by not finding hazardous quantities of lead or any other hazardous materials, and continuing the conspiracy and fraud; armed only with unsubstantiated claims of finding minute and non-hazardous quantities of lead, I was threatened with fines and arrest in an ORDER written by Rubbo.
From: Kent Johnson 233 East Main Street Torrington, CT 06790, August 23, 2015.
Dear State of Connecticut Commissioner of Public Health,
This is a NOTICE OF APPEAL according to CGS section 19a-9-14b (attached).I hereby notify you of the impending appeal of the ORDER issued to me by the Town of Torrington. I received the ORDER Thursday August 20, 2015. The first business day “after the date of…receipt of such order” is Friday August 21. By statute I have until end of business Tuesday, August 25, 2015 for you to receive this NOTICE.
The information required by Sec. 19a-9-14(attached) follows
- Kent Johnson, 233 East Main Street, Torrington, CT 06790 (860) 626-8486.
- Torrington Area Health District, Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health.
- The order is confusing and incomplete, to wit referring to “attached documents” which cannot be found and applications for the LAMPP project attached. Also the house and apartment to which the order refers has already been through lead abatement. A more complete listing of problems will follow with the appeal required by the practice book 19a-9-1 through 19a-9-29.
- This NOTICE refers to the ORDER dated August 18, 2015 sent to the aggrieved named in section 1 above sent by the authority named in section 2 above.
- This appeal is grounded in the fact that the ORDER is illogical, unreasonable, incomplete, unclear and impossible to perform. Clearly the “authority” who wrote it had no intention that it be followed. It is merely a threat of arrest, the sort of bullying that CGS Sec. 19a-229 is meant to abate.
For your convenience I will follow up with a “telephonic notice of appeal” and a faxed copy before the tenth business day, which is September 4, 2015.
I also require a notice that this Notice of Appeal has been received so that I will not be arrested by Torrington Authorities for not following a nonsensical ORDER.
Thank you for your kind attention — Kent Johnson
For your convenience all of this will be posted online under my AgainstGoliath brand. Please note no communication with me is confidential in any way.
Attached Connecticut State Statues
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Connecticut General Statutes § 19a-229 states, “(a) Any person aggrieved by an order issued by a town, city or borough director of health may appeal to the Commissioner of Public Health not later than three business days after the date of such person’s receipt of such order, who shall thereupon immediately notify the authority from whose order the appeal was taken, and examine into the merits of such case, and may vacate, modify or affirm such order.
Sec. 19a-9-14: Appeals of orders issued by a town, city, borough, or district director of health.
(a) Any person aggrieved by an order issued by a local director of health may appeal said order to the commissioner.
(b) The notice of appeal shall be filed with the commissioner not later than three (3) business days after the date of such person’s receipt of such order.
(c) The notice of appeal shall state:
1. the name, address, and telephone number of the person claiming to be aggrieved;
2. the name of the issuing authority;
3. the way in which the order adversely affects the person claiming to be aggrieved;
4. the order being appealed; and
5. the grounds for appeal.
(d) Telephonic notice of appeal to the office of the commissioner shall be satisfactory as the initial notice of appeal, provided written notice of appeal from the person claiming to be aggrieved is received by the department within ten (10) days of the telephonic notice.
(e) An appeal from an order issued by a town, city or borough, or district director of health shall be a de novo proceeding in accordance with the regulations governing contested cases as set forth in section 19a-9-1 through 19a-9-29 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(f) Any order issued by a town, city, borough, or district director of health shall include a notice of the right to appeal which shall indicate the name and telephone number of the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee, and shall be accompanied by copies of sections 19a-9-8 and 19a-9-14 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
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Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health
Torrington Area Health District
350 Main St. – Suite A
Torrington, CT 06790
Telephone (860) 489-0436 I 482-9787 August 24, 2015
Dear sir,
Imagine my surprise to receive your Order with no warning. If you need to contact me or you would like help of any kind from me or my employees or tenants I would appreciate a call or a note. I am very easy to find at the address and phone number below.
I assure you all lead that I could find has been removed from all three of my houses. Windows have been replaced and new sheetrock has been installed. I know of no lead problems and your Order of August 18, 2015 is to “Adequately abate … as more specifically described in the attached document”. There was no document attached. Your Order also mentions a “completed lead report” that I have not found.
Please forward to me those documents and any information you have about lead on my property as soon as possible so that we can take care of any lead problems.
In the mean time please do not further visit my property without me present. It is my belief that your only reason for visiting my property is to find evidence against me, as supported by your Order of August 18. Such actions will not help a little girl avoid getting lead in her system, I hope you agree and we can work together to that end.
In order to avoid arrest I have filed an appeal according to CGS 19a-229, attached. I certainly wish we could have handled this differently, but I don’t want to go to jail.
Sincerely,
Kent Johnson
233 East Main Street
Torrington, CT 06790
(860) 626-8486
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August 28 received a call from Robert Rubbo about 11 AM. He was nice enough and said that he believed he was required by law to do what he did. I said I didn’t want to argue with him, and I believed that he believed he had to do something like what he did. That I just wanted to avoid arrest. He said I am not going to be arrested. I said the Order said I would, and he said, well, if I didn’t respond I would have to appear somewhere and the police might issue a citation. In any case the papers that were attached are a pretty good deal. I got them in front of me, they were what he sent with the order, the LAMPP Project application. I said they appeared to be for the parents, for the tenants in my apartment. He said, well, maybe, but there is a part for the owner as well. I don’t see that part. Well, he said, he did not have it in front of him, but if I needed help filling it out he would call me back. He said in no uncertain terms there was something for the owner of the property to fill out. I said I would await his call.
About an hour later he called back and asked how he could help me with filling out the form. I said that all I see is a form for the tenants who are supposed to name the owner of the property. He said yes, but it is a very good deal and I should fill out the form. I stopped him and said this has nothing to do with me. All I got was an order that I cannot fulfill so I filed an appeal.
He said, okay, see you at the hearing. Goodbye.
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There is a Title 19a which is also called Chapter 368a, which I think is it.
In that section: “The Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to establish requirements and procedures for testing, remediation, abatement and management of materials containing toxic levels of lead. For the purposes of this section, “remediation” means the use of interim controls, including, but not limited to, paint stabilization, spot point repair, dust control, specialized cleaning and covering of soil with mulch.”
Chapter 54 is UNIFORM ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT which states how regulations of the sort that will guide the abatement of lead should be written. The adopted regulations are not found. It does refer to appeals of lead abatement orders 19a-229 (b) which I cannot find.
Not cited in the ORDER: Sec. 19a-110. (Formerly Sec. 19-65e). Report of lead poisoning. Parental notification. Availability of information regarding lead poisoning. (a) Not later than forty-eight hours after receiving or completing a report of a person found to have a level of lead in the blood equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter of blood or any other abnormal body burden of lead, each institution licensed under sections 19a-490 to 19a-503, inclusive, and each clinical laboratory licensed under section 19a-30 shall report to (1) the Commissioner of Public Health, and to the director of health of the town, city or borough in which the person resides: (A) The name, full residence address, date of birth, gender, race and ethnicity of each person found to have a level of lead in the blood equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter of blood or any other abnormal body burden of lead; (B) the name, address and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test; (C) the sample collection date, analysis date, type and blood lead analysis result; and (D) such other information as the commissioner may require, and (2) the health care provider who ordered the test, the results of the test. With respect to a child under three years of age, not later than seventy-two hours after the provider receives such results, the provider shall make reasonable efforts to notify the parent or guardian of the child of the blood lead analysis results. Any institution or laboratory making an accurate report in good faith shall not be liable for the act of disclosing said report to the Commissioner of Public Health or to the director of health. The commissioner, after consultation with the Commissioner of Administrative Services, shall determine the method and format of transmission of data contained in said report.
(b) Each institution or laboratory that conducts lead testing pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall, at least monthly, submit to the Commissioner of Public Health a comprehensive report that includes: (1) The name, full residence address, date of birth, gender, race and ethnicity of each person tested pursuant to subsection (a) of this section regardless of the level of lead in the blood; (2) the name, address and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test; (3) the sample collection date, analysis date, type and blood lead analysis result; (4) laboratory identifiers; and (5) such other information as the Commissioner of Public Health may require. Any institution or laboratory making an accurate report in good faith shall not be liable for the act of disclosing said report to the Commissioner of Public Health. The Commissioner of Public Health, after consultation with the Commissioner of Administrative Services, shall determine the method and format of transmission of data contained in said report.
(c) Whenever an institutional laboratory or private clinical laboratory conducting blood lead tests pursuant to this section refers a blood lead sample to another laboratory for analysis, the laboratories may agree on which laboratory will report in compliance with subsections (a) and (b) of this section, but both laboratories shall be accountable to insure that reports are made. The referring laboratory shall insure that the requisition slip includes all of the information that is required in subsections (a) and (b) of this section and that this information is transmitted with the blood specimen to the laboratory performing the analysis.
(d) The director of health of the town, city or borough shall provide or cause to be provided, to the parent or guardian of a child reported, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, with information describing the dangers of lead poisoning, precautions to reduce the risk of lead poisoning, information about potential eligibility for services for children from birth to three years of age pursuant to sections 17a-248 to 17a-248g, inclusive, and laws and regulations concerning lead abatement. Said information shall be developed by the Department of Public Health and provided to each local and district director of health. With respect to the child reported, the director shall conduct an on-site inspection to identify the source of the lead causing a confirmed venous blood lead level equal to or greater than fifteen micrograms per deciliter but less than twenty micrograms per deciliter in two tests taken at least three months apart and order remediation of such sources by the appropriate persons responsible for the conditions at such source. On and after January 1, 2012, if one per cent or more of children in this state under the age of six report blood lead levels equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter, the director shall conduct such on-site inspection and order such remediation for any child having a confirmed venous blood lead level equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter in two tests taken at least three months apart.
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I copied the forms (included in the link above) and took them to the tenants advising them to call Robert Rubbo at (860) 489-0437 which is the number he called me on. I told them Robert Rubbo had said he would help them.
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Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health
Torrington Area Health District
350 Main St. – Suite A
Torrington, CT 06790
Telephone (860) 489-0436 I 482-9787 August 28, 2015
Dear sir,
Thank you for your phone calls today, and your offer to help my tenants. I have passed the forms for the LAMPP project that you sent me with your ORDER of August 18th on to them, as you asked me to do on the phone today. These forms are not meant for me and sending them with the ORDER was your mistake.
Also thank you for clarifying that you do not believe Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 19a-230 means I can be arrested even though it says “Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or any legal order of a director of health or board of health, for which no other penalty is provided, shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor.”
You also said you believe the law requires you to issue the ORDER you wrote against me. It seems to me your obligation under the law is stated clearly in CGS Sec. 19a-111j (d)”A local health department’s educational services shall include the distribution of educational materials concerning lead poisoning prevention to the parent, legal guardian and the appropriate health care provider for each child with a confirmed blood lead level equal to, or greater than, ten micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.” I see no other requirement under the law. Please correct me if I am wrong.
It may very well be true, as you say, that the LAMPP project is a good program. However I am not in a position to judge that. You promised to help my tenants with the program if they should decide it is advisable to do so. That is not my decision.
So let me be clear with you again, please do not enter my house without me present. I am very easy to find as you now know. My tenants and I are very concerned about lead found in their child’s blood. You have offered to help my tenants. I hope we can concentrate on that issue alone.
Also please give me copies of any data, reports or evidence that you have of hazardous materials in or near any of my houses. I would do the same for you.
Thank you for your kind attention. Kent Johnson 233 East Main Street Torrington, CT 06790 (860) 626-8486
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September 2, 2015 I got more information from Robert Rubbo Link To Info
