Resident alleges harassment

By Kathy Baratta
Staff Writer

by code enforcement officer

By Kathy Baratta
Staff Writer

HOWELL — A township resident has filed formal harassment charges against township Code Enforcement Officer Christian Jackson. Thomas Dumansky, of Woodview Drive, is alleging a campaign of harassment by Jackson. Dumansky claims Jackson has come to his home 16 times in the past year.

Dumansky said the reason he believes Jackson keeps coming to his home is because he (Dumansky) frequently has Mex-ican employees of his lawn service business to his home. The resident alleges that Jackson told him he did not want Mex-icans at his house.

Dumansky provided a Dec. 19, 2000, letter from Jackson to Dumansky in which Jackson wrote, "None of your workers are to go to your property unless they are doing work on your lawn."

Dumansky asked what right anyone has to tell him who may visit his home.

"Not that it’s anyone’s business, but these guys are not just workers," he said, adding that he has sponsored two of the four individuals for citizenship. "If I want to have them here to work on my lawn or sit and watch TV, what right does Mr. Jackson have to tell me, or anyone else, who they can or cannot have at their home?"

Dumansky said each time Jackson has come to his home, the code officer has maintained he is there in response to a reported formal complaint. He said he was informed by Jackson’s supervisor, Land Use Officer Vito Marinaccio, that any registered township complaint (RTC) must be investigated and that is why Jackson was going to the Dumansky home.

Dumansky said when he checked with the township clerk’s office recently for the number of RTCs, he was told there was only one complaint against him on file.

Clerical assistant Judy Kloniecki confirmed there was one RTC on record regarding Dumansky. She did not have the date or nature of the complaint.

Jackson’s visits to Dumansky’s home over the past year never resulted in a summons being issued to the homeowner until Dumansky signed a harassment complaint against Jackson on July 2. Dumansky said he called police that day because he "had finally had it."

"I put up with Mr. Jackson’s visits all year, but enough was enough already," said Dumansky, adding it was "Mr. Jackson’s nasty attitude that day that was the straw that broke the camel’s back."

Dumansky said when Jackson came to his home on July 2, the municipal employee started cursing at him when Dumansky was able to produce the necessary permits for work that was being done at his house.

Dumansky said once he showed Jackson the permits, the municipal employee ordered him to open the garage. Dumansky said he told Jackson, "Enough is enough," and ordered Jackson to leave his property because "I didn’t have to show him anything."

After Dumansky called police and filed a formal complaint against him, Jackson signed a summons against Dumansky alleging the resident is running his lawn service business out of his home.

Dumansky, who lives in an ARE zone (agricultural and/or rural-residential), said he was aware he was not allowed to conduct business from his home and that is why he continued to lease a storage trailer at the Ramtown Industrial Park on Ramtown-Greenville Road.

"Mr. Jackson picked the wrong person to pick on, only he didn’t know it when he started this," said Dumansky, who moved to Howell from neighboring Brick Township a year ago.

Dumansky said he has also had impromptu visits to his home from representatives of the state Department of Envi-ronmental Protection and the Parkway Water Co. In both instances, he said, those agencies had received anonymous information alleging that he was illegally dumping chemicals in his back yard and that he had an illegal water sprinkler hookup operating in his yard for lawn watering.

Both agencies cleared Dumansky in writing and acknowledged that their initial information about his alleged activities had been anonymously received.

"It’s obvious to me, and it should be to anyone who bothers to look at it, that I am being harassed on the record and off," Dumansky said. "I don’t mind a fair fight, but somebody is lining things up against me behind my back and they’re doing it with lies."

When asked why Jackson appeared to have waited until Dumansky filed a complaint against him to issue a summons, Marinaccio, who is Jackson’s supervisor, said he "didn’t have the answer."

He said the summons was issued because "we presume Mr. Dumansky is operating a business out of his home." He said officials presume that the reason Dumansky would not open his garage for Jackson was because he was storing some of his business equipment there.

In a related matter, Dumansky, who at one time owned a racing car that he was keeping inside his fenced yard, received a visit and a follow-up letter from Jackson. The letter stated that because Dumansky lives in an ARE zone, any vehicles parked on his property must be parked on the driveway or a stone pad foundation.

To support his allegation of selective enforcement and harassment, Dumansky said there seems to be a "double standard operating in this town if you’re friends with the right people."

Dumansky explained that since he recently attended a Township Council meeting to lodge a harassment complaint with officials, he was informed by other residents of the ongoing litigation brought by Howell against resident William Lackey.

Lackey has been accused by Howell officials of operating an illegal junkyard and salvage operation in another ARE zone on Maxim-Southard Road. A fact that has come out of the Lackey matter is that Lackey’s property was used by the Howell environmental task force, of which Jackson is a member, to store 50 industrial drums owned by the town.

Hundreds of vehicles in various stages of decay are also parked on the Lackey property. Asked why Dumansky was cited for having one vehicle parked in his yard and Lackey was not cited for having vehicles not parked on a driveway or stone pads, Marinaccio said that since the Lackey matter is in litigation, he could not make any comment.

According to Deputy Court Adminis-trator Dominic Pondaco, following a July 12 plea of not guilty by Jackson, both matters have been moved to Freehold Town-ship municipal court.

Jackson will be represented in the court proceedings by Peter B. Shaw, an attorney retained and paid for by the township to defend him in the matter.