Dan Samaria Has His Day in Court. The Two Elephants in the Room Were Not in the Room.

Those of us (maybe 15, even including County Commissioner, Sally Heyman) who were there to support Dan had not even sat down after Judge Antonio Arzola invited us to, before the judge commented on the unusual number of members of the "public."  The judge was a bit stiff at first, becoming more relaxed as the hearing proceeded.  You can tell when Judge Arzola relaxes, because his very subtle accent gets a bit more pronounced, and he refers to everyone as "guys" and "you guys."  And he gets a bit more chatty.  The hearing lasted about 1 1/2 hours.

Dan's attorney, Village resident Drew Dillworth, made his presentation first.  Drew pointed out the obvious: that the hearing was about how to deal with a Commissioner who doesn't live in the Village, but Dan still lives in the Village.  Drew's request was simply that the matter be dismissed.  Not only is the issue only fanciful at the moment, but the petitioner, Village manager Krishan Manners, has no legal "standing" to bring this petition.

Next, it was Rebecca Rodriguez's turn to make a case.  I don't know why Rebecca does so many things wrong (well, of course I do) and gives such bad advice, but frankly, I think she's very smart.  She's also very fast-talking-- almost to the level of mumbling-- and it was hard to hear and follow everything she was saying.  But the dance she did was a lively one, and it was more about hypotheticals than it was about reality.

Then, because the judge had a sustained question as to where Dan lives, or would say under oath that he lives, Dan was sworn in to testify.  He lives at 1030 NE 121 St, Biscayne Park, 33161.  He's lived there 10 years.  But we all know Dan, and a simple question was never going simply to get a simple answer.  Dan has a story to tell, and he's going to tell it.  Dan doesn't leave out things like that the Haitian next door neighbor who agreed to rent him half of her duplex, and whom he paid, was evidently leaned on by some unnamed person who intimidated her by saying she would be deposed, at which she got scared, decided she didn't want trouble, and gave Dan back his money.  And she was the second BP neighbor who was going to rent to Dan, but reneged under similar pressure.

It's not that we don't all know, but we all wondered what person or people shook down our neighbors this way, to try to prevent Dan from finding an alternate place to live.  The alleged petitioner, Krishan Manners, wasn't at this hearing.  Rebecca Rodriguez told him not to come.  Krishan Manners, on the stand, under oath, would not have helped "the Village's" case.  And the ringleader/mastermind of this attempted hit job was also not there today.  She wasn't even mentioned.

Judge Arzola picked up all the clues, more or less all of them coming from Dan Samaria, that there were some nasty local politics at play, and he didn't want to know about them.  He was strategic, maybe even surgical, about avoiding or stifling any references to them.  He reduced the matter to its minimum, which was that the petition was to remove Dan, on the basis that he doesn't live in BP, but he does live in BP, so there's no issue.  The judge gave Dan a friendly reminder that Dan is in the "final stages" of losing his house, and he essentially advised Dan to figure out what he was going to do with himself once the house was gone.

The end of this hearing was that Judge Arzola did, in fact, dismiss the matter.  At least for now.  It's not "ripe."  But Dan was already told that the sheriff was at his house today, seizing it, and changing locks.  So, either that's true, and Dan's unhappy situation has suddenly gotten "ripe," or it's not true, but it soon will be.  In the meantime, we have an interesting Commission meeting coming up this coming Tuesday.  The new Commissioners have been sworn and installed, and Tracy Truppman cannot prevent this meeting from happening.  All she can do now is have a really busy rest of today, tomorrow, maybe the weekend, and Monday and Tuesday, and try to do something to get Dan Samaria removed from the Commission in the next few days.  It appears she's desperate enough, and pathetic enough, to try to do it.  Tick, tick, tick.

In the meantime, after the hearing, we all received news that 1) Gray Robinson have resigned as the Village's attorneys, citing, among unspecified other things, that they are worried about the safety of their attorneys, and 2) that Rebecca Rodriguez will be replaced by Julia Mandell for next week's meeting.  It was not explained why Julia Mandell presumably has less to fear from the fearsome, marauding, and frenzied BP Commission meeting-goers than does Rebecca Rodriguez.  But fortunately, Rebecca Rodriguez was instrumental in getting a gun-toting sergeant-at-arms right at the Commission table, so maybe no one has anything to fear.