Slander

[kenron]

I live in Illinois. During a village board meeting, the mayor made a statement that my husband committed a crime of damaging a water shut off valve. This statement was made in front of all the board members and everyone attending the meeting. He has never asked my husband about this. When we moved to this property, the water shut off valve was broke and has never been attended too. Neighbors, one of which lived on the property about 30 years ago say it has been broke and was broke when they lived there. After being there about 1 year, the water pipe broke, we reported it to the village and it took 4 weeks to fix. We could not shut the water off at that time either. We ran a hose to the neighbors house for water use, otherwise we would not have had water for 4 weeks. The water supervisor came and looked at it at that time. It still was never fixed. My husband is being accused of "filling the hole with dirt to cover the shut off valve". The mayor filed a report of vandelism with the county sheriffs office. NEVER did anyone ask us or the neighbors about this. We were on vacation when this all happened. The village has worms in the water and I made a complaint to the local paper, after complaining to the village for a year with no results. I also called IPA. The mayor is making these remarks as retaliation, as everyone knows he does that. I am not afraid of him but am tired of him bullying everyone in the village. I have multiple people who can verify that the water shut off valve has been that way long before we ever moved here. Can you help?

 

[quincy]

I live in Illinois. During a village board meeting, the mayor made a statement that my husband committed a crime of damaging a water shut off valve. This statement was made in front of all the board members and everyone attending the meeting. He has never asked my husband about this. When we moved to this property, the water shut off valve was broke and has never been attended too. Neighbors, one of which lived on the property about 30 years ago say it has been broke and was broke when they lived there. After being there about 1 year, the water pipe broke, we reported it to the village and it took 4 weeks to fix. We could not shut the water off at that time either. We ran a hose to the neighbors house for water use, otherwise we would not have had water for 4 weeks. The water supervisor came and looked at it at that time. It still was never fixed. My husband is being accused of "filling the hole with dirt to cover the shut off valve". The mayor filed a report of vandelism with the county sheriffs office. NEVER did anyone ask us or the neighbors about this. We were on vacation when this all happened. The village has worms in the water and I made a complaint to the local paper, after complaining to the village for a year with no results. I also called IPA. The mayor is making these remarks as retaliation, as everyone knows he does that. I am not afraid of him but am tired of him bullying everyone in the village. I have multiple people who can verify that the water shut off valve has been that way long before we ever moved here. Can you help?

You can review all of the facts of your situation with an attorney in your area. There are so many issues going on here that a personal review will be necessary.

That said, what happened with the vandalism complaint?

What was the result of the "worms in the water" investigation? Were worms found?

Why did no one (including the prior owners of the house) act sooner to have the water shutoff valve repaired?

Again, I think there are too many issues involved for your concerns to be addressed adequately in a forum setting, but we can try to offer some direction if you can answer the questions I posed above. There may be additional questions later.