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Posted on 05/27/2006 12:20:39 AM PDT by freepatriot32
Ronald Michalowicz, a fire inspector for the village of Bedford Park, was given a 27 percent chance to live as he battled a rare form of tongue cancer.
The community rallied around him, raising about $25,000 to help.
He fought the cancer into remission.
But the village where he had worked for 28 years fired him for taking the contributions, in alleged violation of the Illinois Gift Ban Act and village code prohibiting employees from soliciting gifts that could affect their decision-making.
On Friday, Michalowicz sued Bedford Park, its mayor and village board in federal court for allegedly violating his rights. "The emotional stress I'm going through is unbelievable," Michalowicz said.
'His crime . . . he recovered'
His attorney, Michael Ettinger, said he doesn't understand why the village fired his client.
"His crime seems to be that he recovered from cancer," said Ettinger, who is representing Michalowicz with attorney Richard S. Zachary.
Michalowicz was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and continued working until March 2004 while undergoing chemotherapy. He left work when brutal radiation treatments began. He lost 107 pounds.
In January 2004, two colleagues at the village decided to solicit donations to help Michalowicz pay his mounting bills.
A building inspector, Steve Edwards, cleared a form letter with the mayor at the time, Ronald Robison, to ask for contributions.
"It just seemed like the right thing to do," said Robison, who is no longer mayor. Michalowicz looked so bad the mayor figured he was never coming back to work.
In January 2005, Michalowicz did return. In July, he got a letter from his fire chief stating he was being investigated for having "accepted gifts of cash and/or property from businesses or individuals associated with businesses that are subject to fire inspection," among other alleged misdeeds.
Wants fire inspector job back
A village attorney did not return a message requesting comment.
Michalowicz argues he has no conflict. After he returned to work, he notes, he wrote up four businesses that contributed to his fund.
Michalowicz wants damages from the village and his job back -- a job he loved.
At 54, he had a year left with the village before he could retire.
Bureaucrats just seem to be getting dumber and dumber these days...
The town needs to remove them post haste.
L
He made a flagrant dislay of weak genes; something the master race will not tolerate.
"At 54, he had a year left with the village before he could retire."
I think that is probably more of the reason he was fired.
Yeah, that part really jumped out at the end of the story. They might be disappointed that he didn't die before he could retire.
And of course, the Master race has it's weak genes too; but they will cover them up by sneaking around to help themselves. God forbid they should be considered human.
This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. And consider that he did not solict these donations himself, and that the folks who did advised the mayor, and had his permission. And now they are putting this man through this stress? I can't believe how evil some ordinary people actually are.
Simple solution: give him a different job until he retires, like Fire Engine inspector.
Stupidity solved.
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Bingo!
It's a good law and needs to be enforced. He COULD have played favoritism with the businesses that donated money, making them less safe for all.
That being said, I'm sure there are many jobs he could do for one year that didn't involve fire inspections.
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