Submitted by Wayne Oliveira
I am a lifelong resident of Fairhaven and I have served this Town for 40 years as a Firefighter/Paramedic. I have served on the Historical Commission for well over 15 years. I even spent over two years to plan and run the Town’s Bicentennial Celebration in 2012. I clean the Route 6 median strip annually on my own time. I have been on parade and event committees for the town and me and my wife have put on a free movie night at Livesey Park for the last 10 years.
I have never been treated so unfairly until Town Administrator Angie Lopes Ellison came to town.
To be barred from Town Hall with a No Trespass Order because I spoke up and protected my wife during a medical incident is absurd. In my 60 years of being in this town I have never been banned from any building. Unlike what was printed in the Fairhaven Neighborhood News here is the truth.
On August 11th my wife called me that she was being transported from Town Hall to St. Luke’s Hospital. When I got to Town Hall, Angie was just going through the door of the banquet room. When I got into the room, I looked at her and said “get away from my wife” Angie said “she’s my employee” to which I said “No she isn’t… you fired her”.
She continued to stand in the room listening to what was going on between EMS personnel and my wife. When the HR Director, Cam Durant, came into the room a short time later, I said to him “you need to get her out of here” and I pointed to Angie. She is making the situation worse and Vicki is upset.
I then asked one of the Paramedics to “call the Police for my protection” as I knew Angie would use this interaction against us at some point.
When Vicki was ready for transport, we left the room through the back ramp exit door and I closed it behind us so that Angie would not follow us any further.
Angie later fabricated details of the incident to put a spin on it and make herself look like the victim. She violated my wife’s HIPAA rights by staying in the room while she was being tended to by EMS staff even after we told her to leave. She is not used to people standing up for themselves. She likes her staff and board members to be submissive. This is truly bizarre and twisted behavior from a town leader.
She actually called a town hall staff meeting a few days later, and included the Council on Aging staff, to tell everyone that I “verbally abused her”.
To call a staff meeting to talk about a Board Chairman and resident is completely uncalled for and unprofessional. The interaction was not loud or threatening. Nor did the comments I made have any profanity. It was simply a quick verbal exchange to protect my wife.
I have never seen any Fairhaven Leader cause so much turmoil in such a short period of time. She has only been with the Town since April.
All I can think about while all this craziness is going on is… Why would anyone want to serve on a board or committee just to take on this kind of scrutiny and abuse? To be treated like this by someone who has only been here five months and is still trying to learn her way around, is mind boggling.
This all started when, as Historical Commission Chair, I tried to protect our Town Hall from the unnecessary damage she was planning during a move of the offices. Only to receive retaliation actions against me and my wife, who also serves on the Commission. Fairhaven is experiencing a Dictatorship like it has never seen before.
I recently heard a quote “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing”.
It’s time for all town residents to speak up and protect our town. You could be next.
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