Monday, March 1, 2010

An example of the wages sucked out of the former Community Centre



Jo Roffe has publicly denied that she was receiving $600 a week for her little 'craft courses' at the former Carterton Community Centre, which was the subject of serious allegations regarding the fraud and misfeasance being perpetrated by the committee by Roffe and her mates on the Carterton District Council, aided and abetted by corrupt local Constables Peter Cletus Cunningham and Harvey Alistair Pope (and others).

She was the recipient of what was then a considerable amount of money indeed for what she was actually doing, which was very dodgy indeed, after local police endorsed her funding applications in exchange for certain 'favours'.  Her "craft courses" were a local joke - until ratepayers and taxpayers found out how much she was getting paid, at which point the laughter and derision turned into anger.

Roffe was also very vocal about  her romantic relationship with local Constable Stephen Wakefield - who is mentioned in the letter from Senior Sergeant Reid of the Masterton police as the officer who conducted the alleged "thorough investigation" into our allegations of fraud and serious mismanagement at the Carterton Community Centre, in spite of the obvious conflict of interest given his relationship with Roffe.  The Carterton Community Centre was being run as a great big slush fund for Roffe and a group of people who were mainly associated with the Carterton District Council - a major funder of the Centre.  Evidence - INDISPUTABLE evidence shows how several of the instances of blatant fraud were committed, the financial records and the Minutes book confirm that thousands of dollars was stolen from different bank accounts to pay mates of committee members for so called "personal grievances" - grievances which never went anywhere near the Employment Tribunal because they were so corrupt - the payments were purely arbitrary and nothing more than thinly veiled bribes to get the 'aggrieved parties' to go away and shut up about the gross misfeasance at the Carterton Community Centre!

When I asked police for the file on the investigation into the allegations of fraud made by me and by my lawyer, Kamil Lakshman of Ainslie Hewton, I was arrogantly told by Ms Tara Sewell at NZ Police HQ that the "file does not exist".  This is because police corruptly covered up the fraud and malfeasance, violent assaults etc that occurred at the Carterton Community Centre involving Georgina Beyer (Beyer the Liar) and people associated with the Carterton District Council.  Corrupt lawyer Ainslie Hewton has done everything in her power to shut me up and have me falsely imprisoned while pocketing all the money she can get her grubby little hands on in legal aid, including pocketing fifty dollars she extorted from me as an "initial contribution towards your legal aid" - while she threw the legal aid application form in the rubbish bin, and told me to get stuffed.  Ainslie Hewton also conspired with slimy little ex cop Murray Henderson, the manager of the community law centre, to have me trespassed from the community law centre so I couldn't defend myself after Hewton refused to act for me after I began successfully challenging the Police on all the false and corrupt charges they suddenly started laying against me after I started making complaints about them.

 Funding was obtained for Roffe's 'programs' on the basis of funding applications incorporating recommendations from local police officers about the positive effect of her programs on troubled youth in the area. This was absolute rubbish, her part time courses in painting flower pots and puppet making benefited Roffe a great deal, to the tune of $600 a week plus all the perks she could rack up as "expenses" and "volunteer reimbursements" etc, but they did next to nothing for the 'troubled youth' or the community at large. These 'troubled youth' need competent and professional training in real job skills not the kindergarten level arty crafty "programs" run by Jo Roffe and Georgina Beyer, with names like Crafty Youth, etc. The programs were chaotically run and were a local joke.

 The Minutes book documents how when a question was asked about the money itemised in the financial reports as "housekeeping" it was explained that in order to get people to come to Roffe's courses they had to be bribed with free chocolate biscuits. The financial information, wages books, etc, showed that Tony Feinson was also involved in Roffe's 'courses', his 'job' appeared to be filling in the funding applications, for which he received about $300 per week - plus monthly 'bonuses' of more than $1000!

 The stark contrast in priorities was highlighted when the manager of the Community Gardens asked me, as committee liaison person for the Gardens, to ask the committee to authorise the purchase of a $20 gas burner to heat water for cups of tea for the workers at the Garden during the winter. I considered this a reasonable request and asked the committee to authorise the purchase in accordance with the Rules which required committee approval for spending. Tony Feinson, the Chairman of the committee, scoffed at the suggestion and told me to tell the workers, to bring thermoses. Thousands of dollars were being spent on Roffe's courses, and all the other ten organisations 'under the umbrella of the Community Centre, without the knowledge of the committee members, let alone their authorisation, while the only people who appeared to be doing anything worthwhile, or anything resembling real work and real work training, couldn't even offer their workers a cup of tea.  The Minutes book shows that a lot of money was spent on "chocolate biscuits" and when this was queried at a meeting, the committee was told that Roffe had to provide chocolate biscuits in order to get anyone to attend her 'courses'.

Funding applications for Roffe's 'courses' were being signed by Ruth Carter, purporting to be Secretary of the Carterton Community Centre when she was not even on the committee.  She did not attend the AGM of the Centre in 2000 and was not on the committee according to the Rules of the Society. Feinson and Roffe were paid these exorbitant sums for months after the 'courses' ended.

Roffe was also a signatory of the cheques despite not being on the committee.

Recently Roffe announced publicly that she hadn't received $600 per week for her 'courses', that the committee had offered her that amount but that she had turned it down and only received a third of that. That is an outright blatant lie. This is a copy of a page from the wages book (above), our organisation (Transparency NZ) has the cheque butts, bank statements and other information confirming indisputably that it is a lie. They also show that during the time I was acting Manager of the VOSP program (after Barb Lindsay left abruptly) set up to help people with intellectual disabilities into employment, I was paid six dollars and fifteen cents an hour.  The ten bank accounts controlled by the committee of the Carterton Community Centre were operating mainly for the benefit of the committee and their mates,  corruption and incompetence was the order of the day.

Here's the Minutes showing that money was stolen from six different bank accounts to pay a non existent personal grievance - to Helen Staples apparently - is Helen Staples related to South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples?  I made an OIA request to find out, Adrienne Staples refused to confirm or deny the proposition, which certainly leads one to believe on the balance of probabilities and the uncommonality of the surname that they are indeed directly related as many locals have claimed.

Carterton District Council employed - paid - an accountant to take care of Council accounting work.  Her name was Lyn Patterson.  As reward for covering up the fraud and malfeasance at the Carterton District Council Mrs Patterson was appointed Mayor of Masterton - there is NOTHING democratic about our local elections - that's the reason Beyer the Liar and Gary McPhee the drunken criminal bully got 'elected'.  Her fat husband Phil also got promoted - he bullies the hapless defendants in the Masterton District Court and does his bit to ensure criminals get off and good people get falsely convicted.

There have been not one but TWO substantial community petitions calling for the books of the Carterton Community Centre to be audited but they never have been - Beyer the Liar was booted out of parliament for trying to say they have been audited - that is a LIE - they have been only "complied" by Council accountant Lyn Patterson - who had a SERIOUS conflict of interest and deliberately concealed blatant and indisputable FRAUD!

The Carterton Community Centre was nothing but a private slush fund for a group of people associated with the Carterton District Council, a major funder of the Centre, and their mates - incompetent idiots like Roffe and Beyer!











The Minutes of the Carterton Community Centre committee meeting held on 31May 2000

This is a copy of the Minutes relevant to the letters that lawyer Ken Daniels sent to the Police in 2004.

The matter has been brought to the attention of the Police, and Georgina Beyer, MP, since 2001.

These Minutes clearly show that a deliberate decision was made to steal thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of six seperate organisations, each set up and funded to provide services to disadvantaged people in the community, and that the money was paid to one individual.  This is stealing from the poor.  There were two of these "personal grievances" underway when I joined the committee as Secretary and Finance Officer in 2000, one of the beneficiaries was Helen Staples, and unconfirmed sources say she is related to Adrienne Staples, the Mayor of South Wairarapa.  Queries regarding clarification have been ignored, so we will publish the name, and the claimed link, until advised otherwise.

The rest of the Minutes of the meetings of the Carterton Community Centre reveal a pattern of gross mismanagement and criminal activity by a group of people associated with the Carterton District Council, and will be uploaded to the internet soon so all can see the true abilities of Elaine Brazendale, Ruth Carter, Jill Greathead, etc, to manage an organisation.  They document a pattern of incompetence, corruption, fraud and theft over many years.

Carterton District Councillors ELAINE BRAZENDALE and RUTH CARTER were party to this particular theft. They were the instigators of it. Councillor Jill Greathead, Council staff Ewen Hyde, Julie Hallam, Martyn Preece and others were involved in this blatant fraud and in the concealment of it.

$7500 was paid in cash and a number of capital assets including computers, trailer, etc, were handed over to the claimant, this was typical of the activities of the committee of the Carterton Community Centre and the people associated with the Carterton District Council. The Centre was operated as a slush fund for a group of individuals who have had their snouts in the trough for far too long. Let Georgina Beyer and Gary McPhee and their mates try and get a real job and support themselves instead of bludging off the taxpayers and ripping off the disadvantaged members of our community - who in their right mind would hire an unemployed transvestite prostitute to teach the young people of the town "Life Skills"?  - Elaine Brazendale and Ruth Carter would, that's who!

Minutes, Carterton Community Centre 18th and 24th April 2001


Minutes of the CARTERTON COMMUNITY CENTRE

Special General Meeting-Ron Wakelin Centre Wednesday 18th April 2001

To discuss governance issues and elect a new committee.

The Meeting was opened at 7.30 pm
John Gordon was chairing the meeting, although he was not a member of the Society, appeared to have no mandate from the members, and had never ever attended a meeting of the Carterton Community Centre committee, or ever been to the Centre at all in fact.

Present – as per list removed by Martyn Preece.
Apologies: Errol Bruce, Elaine Brazendale, Ruth Carter, Mel Morris
Moved: by Kate Raue that the apologies be accepted. Seconded Craig Bayliss, Carried.

1. Election of new committee:
John Gordon tried to tell everyone this could only be done at an AGM, but Kate Raue pointed out that it could certainly be done at a Special Meeting called for that purpose, according to the Rules.

2. Governance:
John Gordon noted that currently the committee is dysfunctional, and then he stated that “either everyone resigns or we get new people on the committee”. Kate Raue stated that she saw no reason why she should resign, as she had done nothing wrong. Heather Crawford questioned whether Kate Raue had infringed the Rules by not attending three meetings in a row, and was quickly informed by John Crawford and John Gordon that was not the case. There was no further discussion, or question of removing Kate Raue from her Executive positions.

Motion 1: That this meeting appoint an acting Chairperson and co-opt sufficient members to the committee for the committee to operate efficiently until the next AGM. Proposed Kate Raue Seconded: Martyn Preece. Carried

Election of Officers:
John Gordon stated that the AGM was due to be held within the next two or three months, and suggested that the appointment be deferred until then.
John Gordon stated that the committee, not the persons at the meeting should appoint the chairperson.
Kate Raue stated that as John Gordon had already pointed out that the current committee was dysfunctional, and should resign, this was a ridiculous proposition, and that the meeting had been called to appoint some honest people.

Motion 2: That the maximum number of people be co-opted onto the committee as allowed by the Constitution. Proposed: Kate Raue Seconded: Martyn Preece. Carried.

John Gordon nominated John Crawford be appointed Chairperson. John Crawford replied that he was only prepared to do this if the past was forgotten.
Kate Raue opposed the nomination for reasons relating to John Crawford’s recent involvement with the Centre, false and unauthorised statements on behalf of the Centre, bad judgement, and serious breaches of the Constitution and the Rules of the Society; and his stated refusal to address the recent serious assaults at the Centre, deeming such a serious event, occurring only nine days earlier, to be “historic”. The nomination was not seconded, or supported in any way.

John Gordon then offered to become a committee member, and this failed to gain any support from the meeting either.

John Gordon then suggested the meeting be closed, this was opposed.

Motion 3: That the committee unanimously appoint an independent auditor at a meeting in one weeks time, to conduct a full audit before the AGM. Proposed: Kate Raue Seconded: Craig Baylis Carried.
Various amendments to the above motion were proposed and seconded, but had dubious support from the majority.
The meeting was closed at 8.15 pm.

The image above is a true copy of the minutes of 24th April 2001, and it can be seen that a Motion was passed that Mr R G Thompson be appointed Auditor. I later contacted Mr R G Thompson, and he told me that after he indicated the likely outcome of an audit, which in his view would be very unfavourable to the committee, who like Councillor Greathead were mainly associated with the Carterton District Council, she asked him to return the records to her and not complete the audit and to forget he ever met her basically. The reason for this is obvious when you look at the financial records of the Centre. Mr Thompson assured me that the audit was never undertaken, but that an inspection of the financial records showed obvious fraud, as lawyers Ken Daniels and Michael Appleby stated to police.

Fliers Accuse Man of Paedophilia: Secrets and Lies


- The Truth Will Set You Free - 

Dont just Rise Above 'It'
Name "It" and Stop "It"

Speak Up and Speak Out, 
Heal Yourself, and Stop the Cycle. 

Regarding recent “news” reports on or about the 23rd December 2009 about a Carterton man allegedly accused of paedophilia in pamphlets allegedly circulated in a Carterton street.

The story is biased and one sided.  It is full of emotive language carefully designed to engender sympathy for the accused.  The headline is speculative - Pamphlets accuse innocent man of paedophilia - he may be innocent or guilty of the accusation.

It is very interesting that the man and his family went to the media in the first place to seek publicity for the matter.  The pamphlets were allegedly distributed in one street only, and hardly anyone knew anything about the matter until it was trumpeted with great fanfare from every newspaper and television and radio in New Zealand, on internet sites, etc.
  I've been trying to clear my name ever since being accused of child abuse in March last year by Gavin Kennedy of the South End School Board of Trustees, a lie he and all the Boards of Trustees of Carterton Schools were told the malicious lie by Mayor Gary McPhee and the corrupt local police and I would like this opportunity to say that I have never been charged with any such offence ever in my life and am not a child abuser, but the local and national mainstream media told me to go away and hang myself with the garden hose.

carterton 'event centre/facility' white elephant

The widespread opposition to the proposed 'Carterton Events Centre' is well justified. We had a Community Centre in Carterton, and a Health Centre, and a Borough Farm. Gary McPhee and Georgina Beyer have divided and poisoned the community and closed, demolished and sold most of our most valuable community assets.

The Friends of the Carterton Community Centre is calling for a proper inquiry into the affairs of the Carterton District Council, particularly regarding the affairs of the former Carterton Community Centre, and a judicial review of the election on the grounds that there were several irregularities resulting in serious disadvantage and undemocratic practice, namely that the voters were sent the candidate profiles for the candidates for Central Otago, the electoral officers refused to publish one of my candidate profiles at all, the votes were counted in Christchurch by the same company who had demonstrated their incompetence by sending out the profiles for the candidates from Central Otago. It was wrong to count the votes in Christchurch, it disadvantaged me by preventing me having a scrutineer present at the counting of the votes.
Furthermore, after I submitted my declaration of expenses the electoral officers have refused to refund my nomination deposits, and falsely claimed to have not received the declaration of expenses after I wrote to ask what they delay was in returning my deposits.
It is no coincidence that the deputy returning officer was none other than Julie Hallam, who lied to NZ Post regarding who was on the committe of the Carterton Community Centre, shortly before joining her other associates from the Carterton District Council on the committee of the former Community Centre - an obvious conflict of interest as the Council was a major funder of the Centre. She was instrumental, along with others on the Council, in closing the Centre in order to conceal the fraud and mismanagement endemic under the administration of the group of people associated with the Council.
Several lawyers, and the petition, point to the need for a proper inquiry into the affairs of the Carterton District Council and the proposed ' Events Centre".
Nobody in their right mind would give the "trustees" of the "heart of Carterton" "trust" any money toward what they claim is a community facility because the group of people associated with the 'trust' would not know the meaning of the word community. My motto for the election was "vote for Kate and put the unity back in the community."
When I stood at the last election I used the time allocated to speak at the public meeting in Carterton to read out the report of the Office of the Auditor General on the Carterton District Council. I was the only one of the four candidates for the Mayoralty to mention this report, it took about eight minutes or so to read it out, and by the time I had finished, the audience was sitting in stunned silence as I pointed out that what they had just heard was not my opinion of the gross incompetence of the Carterton District Council, but the opinion of the Office of the Auditor General, but that although I have a good imagination, if I sat down and thought really hard I couldn't think up anything worse, because there quite simply wasn't anything worse that could be said. The report was utterly damning in every possible way.
Parts of it can be read towards the end of the post containing the submission to the Police Complaints Authority from Michael Appleby on this blog.
Now Environment Minister Nick Smith is talking about appointing a Commissioner to run the affairs of the Carterton District Council because of their continuing poor performance regarding compliance issues. The sooner the better for the people of Carterton.
The reason for the high rates of suicide, violence and crime in general in the Wairarapa are a result of the poor role models - recidivist violent offender Gary McGoofy and George-ina Beyer and the local police. Their claims that it will take 20 years or more to acheive any real results from their Rise Above It campaigns is right because these dubiously appointed community leaders, and others such as Tere Torea, Garth Gadsby, Councillor Boof Lyford, the members of the Martinborough 'community' vigilante group, and the young son of the local policeman who is accused of murdering Paul Irons in circumstances of extreme cruelty and degradation.

When we learn to elect people who are fit to lead, who know what to do and how to do it, we will acheive much more, and fulfill our potential.

One of the four mayoral candidates made a big deal of knowing the difference between governance and management, but failed to understand that history has taught us that good governance includes understanding and overseeing management. Kieran Shaw, CEO of the Carterton District Council at the time of the fraud at the Community Centre involving Council finds, committed by Council members, officers, employees and associates, quit giving virtually no notice right before the damning Audit Office report saying basically he couldn't be bothered with all the paperwork.

Join the call for a proper inquiry into the Carterton District COuncil and the involvement of persons associated with the Council in the affairs of the Carterton Community Centre/Events Centre/Facility Focus Group, etc, so the town can finally move on!
PS: The spell checker doesn't work on this site, and life is short.