Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Nygren fires Milliman

I'm sure it came as no surprise to Scott Milliman that Sheriff Keith Nygren terminated him. It happened today.

Nygren has fooled around for months with this. No doubt that Nygren was more than peeved with a deposition that Milliman gave last November in the Zane Seipler civil rights' lawsuit against Nygren, the Sheriff's Department and some named deputies. In fact, he may have been so peeved that he told his Undersheriff to give it to Jose Rivera. And wonder of all wonders, then the Northwest Herald got hold of it.

One of the actions that I believe Nygren took illegally was to place Scott Milliman on Family Medical Leave. The Family Medical Leave Act is a law that allows an employee to take time off from work for medical reasons. I do not know of any provision of that law that allows an employer to order an employee to go off paid-employee status and take unpaid family medical leave, even if he doesn't want it and doesn't qualify for it.

Milliman wasn't sick; he wasn't ill; and he sure enough was not off his rocker. Just wait until the whole story comes out!

My guess is that, when Milliman's lawyers get done with Nygren, the Sheriff's Department and the County, Milliman is going to collect a lot of back pay.

And my next guess is that the sheriff is going to find himself neck-deep in one more lawsuit. Will his attorney (that would be Lou Bianchi, the McHenry County State's Attorney) defend him? Or will Nygren throw a ton of tax dollars at a law firm he just loves to use (not even in McHenry County)?

And he is very likely to find that his feet are in quicksand while the noose is tightening. You'd think after 14 years as sheriff and 38 (or is it 42 or 44) years in the cops-and-robbers game, Keith Nygren would have learned how to run a department. Bullying and intimidation went out of style a long time ago.

But, wait. Maybe the beloved sheriff of the territory is really a good guy. Maybe we've all got him figured wrong. Maybe he is just trying to protect and to serve.

Maybe the sun will come up in the west tomorrow morning.

5 comments:

Curious1 said...

The old "wait until the whole story comes out" line...How about just telling the whole story?

Gus said...

I would, but it's not my story to tell.

It was a huge error for the Northwest Herald to end up with Milliman's November deposition.

To me it looked like "the best defense is a good offense."

The public should keep in clear mind the message in that deposition.

rommel said...

As Curious says, why not tell us the story? If it's not yours to tell, then why not keep your yap shut?

Error for the Herald to end up with the deposition? Possibly. You say it came from the sheriff's office. Maybe so, maybe no. Again, what dog do you have in this fight other than your personal animus towards Nygren and anyone associated with him.

The message in that deposition is one of two a) either Nygren is so incredibly stupid (as evidenced by continuing to recruit Millman to commit murders at his behest even after Millman is acting strange) to the point where if he IS that stupid, he'd probably be incapable of breathing on his own without coaching, or b) that Millman is nuttier than a fruitcake and is likely a danger to himself and anyone else if he's allowed to continue wearing a badge and gun.

You've heard the stories of Millmans self-aggrandizing self-promotion in nominating himself for various awards. No doubt he did some good things back in the day. That was then, this is now. He fancies himself the "caped crusader" Seems the cape got wrapped around his neck and he maybe suffered some brain damage!

Justin said...

Why keep this guy on paid status after the crazy statements made about the sheriff? What lengths do you think he should go ro before being fired? He made these wild accusations and expected NOT to get fired?

All I can say is WOW....

Gus said...

OK, so you and I were not at the November deposition. (At least, I know I wasn't.)

If you are asked a question and you are under oath, don't you answer it truthfully?

I hope you would. I know I would.

You can't fire someone, just because you don't like them. Well, at least you are not supposed to.