Statement Read at the June 15 Mayor and Council Meeting

LONG-TIME VOLUNTEER FIRST AID SQUAD
THE VICTIMS OF VENDETTA BY CRESSKILL OFFICIALS

Since 1982, the Cresskill First Aid Squad members have loyally and steadfastly protected the citizens of Cresskill, providing round-the-clock coverage so that area citizens will have the comfort that an ambulance with trained technicians is but a few minutes away. In recent times, however, the Mayor and Council have deliberately endeavored to dismantle this exemplary volunteer First Aid Squad and take control of it. The members of the Squad believe that all of this reflects an effort to simply rid the organization of those dedicated members who have committed the "sin" of exercising their First Amendment rights and in showing civic responsibility, by questioning decisions and actions of the Mayor and Council that have, in the shared view of those members, adversely affected the citizens of Cresskill. Among other things, the Mayor and Council have:

- Seized the private financial records of the Cresskill Squad (which is a not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) corporation) without a search warrant and using local police officers concededly acting under the direct orders of the Mayor.

- Seized the Patient Care Reports of the organization, which included confidential patient information for all patients that were served by the volunteers in the five years since 2000.

- Threatened - through the local police - six members of the Squad with vague criminal charges, requiring them to quit the Squad to avoid such charges.

- "Audited" the seized records of the organization - including expenditures monitored by the Borough itself - and thereafter claimed the audit to show financial "improprieties " or "excesses" that are nothing of the sort.

- Without notice, discussion or deliberation, passed a seemingly illegal resolution and ordinance two weeks ago that effectively and most illegally destroyed the Squad and replaced several of its members.

- Hired an outside ambulance group at Cresskill taxpayers' expense to cover the services that had been faithfully provided by volunteers for the previous 23 years, under the strength of the aforementioned unlawful Resolution and under the guise of protecting the Borough's funds.

- Started a "smear campaign" both within and outside the media, concerning certain members of the First Aid Squad including statements made by Borough Officials that are demonstrably false and legally actionable.

- Engaged in a course of conduct, including the above actions, which on the one hand may be violations of Federal Laws that protect the Squad members' civil rights, but that also have the effect of strongly discouraging volunteer work in the Borough of Cresskill, whether as a Member of the First Aid Squad or in other volunteer work.

These instances of improper behavior and indeed downright bullying, are believed to have been inspired by a personal vendetta against one or more First Aid Squad members for having dared to question or oppose the decisions of the Mayor and Council - again, decisions that those First Aid Squad members believed would have a negative impact on the citizens of Cresskill. The Cresskill Volunteer First Aid Squad and those members of the Squad who have been adversely affected by the Borough's utterly outrageous conduct, will fight, in court if necessary, to restore their organization to its rightful position as the provider of quality emergency medical services to the citizens of Cresskill and to protect any and all other individual and organizational rights that the Mayor and Council have improvidently decided to trample.

David L. Epstein, Esq.
Post, Polak, Goodsell, MacNeill & Strauchler, P.A.
425 Eagle Rock Ave, Suite 200
Roseland, New Jersey 07068-1717
Appearing on behalf of David Payne, Esq, counsel for the Squad

Dated June 15, 2005