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Trials of Leon Harris
Stephen Mitchell (aka Stefan) (39), administrator, Council House, 1501 17 Avenue, Seattle, orchestrated another in a series of unlawful eviction attempts against senior citizens. That incident took place after a monthly Coffee with Steve meeting held by Mitchell. It resulted from a verbal fracas that Mitchell provoked between two residents, Virginia D. Lambert (69) and Leon L. Harris (70).
Harris appeared in King County District Court, to answer harassment charges. Lambert, acting as straw man for Mitchell, had obtained an ex parte temporary anti-harassment order against Harris and filed a motion with the court to have it made permanent.
The case related more to a constructive eviction attempt by Mitchell not harassment. He has developed a practice of using frivolous anti-harassment orders and police action against senior citizens at Council House. The evidence suggested racial and religious motivation.
Judge Maureen A. Howard presided and denied the motion for the permanent anti-harassment order sought by Lambert. Attorney George F. Sjursen, Seattle, represented Harris. Lambert acted pro se with prompting by Mitchell.
Judge Howard said that anti-harassment orders can only apply when a person proves severe emotional distress which Lambert had not proved. She said that broadcast statements might offend many but do not bring stress upon an individual.
Harris, a black man, had voiced an opinion at a meeting about an incident that he considered racist. Donald L. Jackson (68), another black resident and a witness for Harris at the hearing, evidently saw a Jewish resident looking at predominantly black children playing in the T. T. Minor school yard across the street from Council House. He then heard her say in front of several other residents: "What is this - the planet of the apes?"
Harris, a long-term activist, and formerly an aide to an Oregon governor, and Council House residents’ association past president, had previously complained to Mitchell about racist language. Mitchell did nothing when told that a resident used the term "shvarzer" (Yiddish - nigger) in the public rooms. Historically, Mitchell has not addressed complaints, instead, he and his predecessor Mullen have used bizarre kill-the-messenger techniques.
Judge Howard had a no-nonsense grasp of the anti-harassment statute frequently abused by landlords and their lawyers. Howard teaches trial advocacy at University of Washington as adjunct faculty - she practices what she teaches.
Howard denied Lambert’s motion by saying that Harris had a right to act in a generally rude or surely fashion if he wished. She added that Lambert could only consider things that Harris did to her not what he said publicly and that the burden of proving emotional stress belonged to her. Lambert did not appeal the decision.
Despite Judge Howard’s finding, Mitchell again consulted lawyers. He asked for advice on how to evict Harris for “disruptive behavior”. For Mitchell, disruptive behavior presumably meant Harris defending himself and winning a frivolous lawsuit brought by Lambert under Mitchell’s direction.
Council House directors have employed Mitchell as administrator for more than eighteen months. Before that Mitchell worked for the former administrator Mark T. Mlln for five years. Both have followed absolutist policies in managing the project by consistently neglecting to comply with US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) directives when managing the building and dealing with residents.
Mitchell holds Coffee with Steve meetings each month. He claims that they allow him to hear resident comments and complaints. However, he uses the meetings as a forum in which to self-aggrandize and to attack anyone voicing an opinion contrary to his own ideology. He uses tactics that fascists generally employ.
Anyone who challenges him he provokes into loudly responding then he accuses them of violent behavior. He coerces them into writing apologetic letters or confessions for making innocent comments. Those letters form the basis for suborning false declarations later.
At the meeting that resulted in the court hearing, Mitchell allowed Lambert to call Harris a liar. That provoked him. Lambert, one of Mitchell’s five thugs, constantly instills fear into elderly residents at Council House with her violent disposition and takes part in Mitchell’s bizarre scenarios that provoke residents. [Five Kapos]
In court, Mitchell referred to himself alternately using his correct name “Stephen” and his stage name “Stefan.” Mitchell, a professional stage actor, doubles as Council House administrator although he has virtually no experience or qualifications for the position. His alleged credential falsification and misappropriation of public funds awaits government investigation.
Judge Howard seemed unhappy that Mitchell had not taken care of the altercation when it arose. She apparently did not realize that Mitchell deliberately escalates minor problems into major issues for his own purposes. He has frequently refused to use HUD administrative procedures to solve problems. Instead, he has escalated problems so that he can call the police when residents disagree with him. Many have never experienced police questioning in their lifetime and find it very intimidating.
Harris had previously complained to HUD about racial abuse at Council House. However, Diane B. Nelson, Acting Supervisor (HUD), brushed him off by writing (03 May 01) a ridiculous letter. Nelson missed the point made by Harris (a Christian), entirely. Consequently, the ethnic and religious debacle at Council House continues.
Through benign neglect, HUD allows Mitchell to use abusive enforcement tactics and witness tampering strategies. HUD officials have remained completely unresponsive to Harris’s plight and complaints by other residents. They give bureaucratic responses constructed in collaboration with Mitchell - an inveterate liar.
Noel A. Tognazzini, Special Agent in Charge, Robert W Woodard, Assistant District Inspector General for Audit, HUD/OIG-Seattle, and Clarence Nelson, HUD Contract Administrator for the State of Washington, have responsibility for investigation and oversight at Council House, respectively. They have apparently done nothing to resolve a problem that has escalated over fifteen years. Their supervisor, Anthony Crook, Deputy Director, Investigation Support Division, Washington, DC, evidently condones their neglect through willful blindness.
HUD has now closed its ranks by denying access to Council House documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Local auditors and administrators have become part of the problem and not the solution. Through alleged collusion they have covered up resident abuse and misappropriation of federal funds. Those officials will eventually have to explain themselves to independent investigators appointed under the auspices of Congress.
HUD officials continue to aid and abet both Mitchell and Mullen through lack of mandated federal oversight and Martha Dilts, Secretary’s Representative in Seattle, now presides over a cover-up. Both Mitchell and Mullen have consistently violated federal laws and resident rights. Mullen now manages Fred Lind, another senior housing project a few blocks from Council House, and maintains a “cozy” relationship with Mitchell and HUD.
The Harris lawsuit adds to a pattern and practice of behavior by Mitchell to evict residents for political, religious, or racial, reasons. He has constructively evicted three other residents this way and publicly stated his intention to continue using that unlawful strategy. He hounded Harris with threats of eviction for more than four months as he has the other witnesses in a similar case. Evidence in that case describes his attempts to silence residents for complaining and reporting his wrongdoing to government authorities.
A full twenty-four hours after the Lambert/Harris altercation, Mitchell instructed his assistant, Katrina M. Ramsburg (23), to drive Lambert to the courthouse to file an anti-harassment complaint against Harris. Lambert testified that Ramsburg gave her confidential information from Harris’s personal file - a contravention of the federal privacy act.
HUD regulations strictly forbid Council House employees from revealing any information held in personal files to third parties or supporting legal actions between residents. Moreover, Ramsburg should not have access to personal resident files at all. She neither holds the necessary academic or professional qualifications and experience nor HUD authority to access personal documents covered by HUD regulations.
Mitchell said that he would use a finding in favor of Lambert to evict Harris. Harris has opposed Mitchell in the past on racial and religious discrimination issues especially on an incident now known locally as the "Jesus Affair." Witnesses, and a signed statement by a musician/vocalist, state that Audrey F. Dumber (32), another Mitchell assistant, asked him: “to refrain from using the name Jesus or songs of Christian relevance in my [his] repertoire because of its offensive nature to Jewish residents.”
On another occasion, Dumber told a resident that he could not invite a gospel singer to entertain other residents because the board of directors had decided that it would offend Jewish residents: this despite frequent Jewish festivals held in the public rooms and regular services in a synagogue established in the building.
The Council House directors, in full knowledge of these and similar occurrences turn a blind eye. Instead of acting according to law, Mitchell ostracizes residents and uses kill-the-messenger techniques to intimidate them. The Lambert vs. Harris complaint has inflamed the inherent feelings of ethnic and religious minorities both inside and outside the project. By continuing to exhibit a large Israeli flag in the dining room (contrary to federal regulations) the directors pour more fuel on the fire.
In preparation for signing sworn declarations, Mitchell does not ask residents to report what they know, instead, he coerces them into testifying what they think. He tells them to base their thinking upon their feelings. He says that if they do not cooperate with him then he will throw them out of their apartments and they will have nowhere to go. Alternatively, he threatens to use restraining orders to make them prisoners in their apartments. In a public statement Mitchell repeatedly used the therapeutic term “feeling” as a weasel word to coerce residents into thinking that others pose a danger to them when they do not. [Transcript - Mitchell Statement]
Mitchell has frequently used anti-harassment orders unlawfully to evict residents. He tries to evict those he does not like or cannot control ideologically. He does not allow rational discussion, instead, he quashes complaints. This gives him and his thugs absolute power to terrorize residents who disagree with them. From fear, they decide to cooperate despite inherent ethical or moral reservations.
Mitchell wanted to evict Harris but had no grounds. He hoped that Lambert would obtain a permanent anti-harassment order so that he could use it to evict him as he has done with other residents. This time he failed miserably thanks to a hearing before a forthright judge.
Donald Jackson, who attended court as a witness for Harris, said that: “The case should not have gone to court because Harris did not put his hands on the other party or anyone else.” He said that he had spoken to Mitchell after the hearing to ask him about Lambert’s previous physical violence toward long-time resident Willie Mae Williams. Jackson said that Mitchell told him that the incident occurred during Mark Mullen’s watch as administrator. The record shows that Mitchell worked as Mullen’s assistant then.
Jerry Laners, Pastor, Cherry Hill Baptist Church, Seattle, attended the hearing. Afterwards he said: “I find it hard to imagine how Council House directors could let this matter go to court.” He said that he: “Thought that the judge handled the case evenhandedly.” He also said that he took the judge’s comments to Mitchell as an admonition for dereliction and managerial incompetence because he [Mitchell] did not act as mediator. Laners intends to take the matter further. He says that he will: “Explain the situation that exists at Council House in the Council of Churches for Seattle’s Central Area.”
Gilda Kabbani, another resident, witnessed Lambert’s previous violence toward Willie Mae Williams. She said that Lambert had put a stranglehold on Williams’s neck for no particular reason. Kabbani said afterwards: “It’s a disgrace that they brought this matter to court in the first place.” She went on to say that: “It’s very evident that the administrator and his staff are not emotionally or academically equipped to deal with aging or disabled folks.” [Racism]
Nmesis.
Read supporting articles:
[Ethnic Eviction Shenanigans]
[More Eviction Shenanigans]
[A Small Step toward Freedom of Expression]
[Leon L. Harris and Governor John McCall, Oregon]
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