Petition Filed With New Jersey Court Administrator to Suppress Racially Motivated and Selective Non-Enforcement of Laws and Court Procedures
Investors and supporters of Renaissance Broadcasting Corporation (RBC), the first African American owned company in the U. S. to be awarded a license from the FCC to "build" a television station, filed a petition with the Administrative Office of the Courts of New Jersey to suppress the selective nonenforcement of State and federal laws and court procedures to prevent African American ownership of a New Jersey-based commercial television station.
Trenton, NJ (PRWEB) October 1, 2007
On Friday, September 28, 2007, more than one hundred investors and supporters of Renaissance Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) presented a petition to Judge Philip S. Carchman, acting Administrative Director of the Courts of New Jersey, requesting immediate action on RBC's June 7, 2007 New Jersey Appellate Division motion, Docket Number M-006059-06. The motion seeks to nullify prior state court orders entered against RBC in a consolidated action docketed as Township of Waterford v. Renaissance Broadcasting Corporation, Docket Number A-005114-92T1. The proceedings were initiated against RBC in the Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Docket Number L-1116-80, on September 3, 1980. Prior appellate court judgments were entered on June 23, 1982, August 5, 1985 and May 23, 1994, respectively.
The June 7, 2007 motion alleged that the prior actions against RBC constituted a clear, 27-year violation of the equal protection of the laws clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and section 3 of the Civil Rights Act of April 20, 1871 by the State of New Jersey. The civil rights violations resulted in the loss of RBC's TV station. Governor Jon Corzine and Lisa B. Jackson, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), were named as indispensable party defendants.
The Township of Waterford's opposition to DEP's lease of land within the Wharton State Forest to RBC generated the September 3, 1980 complaint. Specifically, the municipality demanded that RBC comply with the municipality's site plan ordinance as a precondition to constructing the TV broadcasting transmission system within the Wharton State Forest. The courts entered judgments that required RBC to comply with Waterford's zoning ordinances. The municipality later claimed it had zoned the Wharton State Forest for residential use only. The courts concurred in the pretext.
The earlier judgments against RBC were based on the false judicial presumptions that the Wharton State Forest was not state-owned and regulated, municipalities have an interest in land within the Wharton State Forest and the lease agreement between DEP and RBC was "for purposes beyond the legislative purposes" of DEP.
The recent discoveries of a 1966 edition of Title 58 of the Statutes of New Jersey and special reports prepared by the New Jersey Water Resources Advisory Committee in 1957 and 1958 proved the absolute falsity of all of the prior judicial presumptions. The courts' false presumptions and judgments allowed Waterford to challenge RBC's use of the TV facilities that it constructed and put into operation and to grant a white owned company the right to use the same facilities in exchange for a payment of $450,000.
The discoveries also prove that the Wharton State Forest and Liberty State Park are State parks under the jurisdiction of DEP. The September 27, 2007 petition notes that the City of Jersey City Planning Board filed a civil suit identical to Waterford's suit against RBC against a private white-owned corporation with regard to Liberty State Park. The published case is entitled Jersey City v. Department of Environmental Protection, 227 N. J. Super. 5 (App. Div. 1988). The Appellate Division, in agreement with the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General, dismissed the suit filed against the white developer because the Jersey City Planning Board lacked jurisdiction and standing. The Appellate Division further stated, "Generally, local zoning and planning regulations cannot affect the State's authority to carry out public functions for the benefit of all the people of the State, especially on the State's own land."
"The Wharton State Forest is the largest tract of land owned by the State of New Jersey, covering portions of three counties--Atlantic, Burlington and Camden Counties," Donald McMeans, founder and president of RBC said. "It was acquired and is regulated to secure the public health and welfare; the double standard is obvious."
The petition filed by RBC's supporters and investors cites United States Supreme Court decisions, which state that a court cannot proceed at all with any case for which the court lacks jurisdiction. The petition mentions numerous State laws that deprive courts of the power to hear and decide cases like the RBC and Jersey City cases. Therefore, the petition concludes that the courts could not proceed in the action against RBC and the decision in the Jersey City case is binding and conclusive in the RBC case.
The petition claims that the court has an independent and mandatory duty under New Jersey Court Rules 4:6-7 to dismiss the original action against RBC and to nullify all subsequent proceedings and judgments.
Reverend Morris K. Baxter, pastor of the Cathedral of Love Church in Willingboro, New Jersey, says, "The RBC case reveals the other side of racial profiling, involving selective and arbitrary enforcement of laws against Black people. The RBC case highlights the selective nonenforcement of the laws and reaffirms the lingering vestige of the infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford when the United States Supreme Court declared that the Black man has no rights that the white man is bound to respect." Rev. Baxter continued, "The key words are 'bound to respect."
" I am shocked by the failure of Governor Corzine to take immediate corrective actions as he is required to do under the New Jersey Constitution," stated Dr. Khemfoia D. Padu of Englewood, New Jersey. "It appears the Governor also believes that he is not bound to respect the rights of Black people."
Joyce Abrams, president of Markias, Inc., located in Willingboro, New Jersey, said, "There can be no other reason for the Governor's behavior. A child looking at the Jersey City case and the RBC case can see the bias and corruption. How can the Governor and the Commissioner of DEP honestly claim that they don't see it?"
For more information or for an interview, contact Donald McMeans, 609-410-0656.
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