A.B. family feels bullied by village
Received 22 summons in two years
Members of an Atlantic Beach family say they are being harassed by village officials because of their outspoken opposition to the policies of the administration.
Richard Libbey, his wife, Pamela Makea, and Libbey’s mother, Alberta, and 11-year-old son, Matthew, have all received summonses from the village in cases dating back to 2006, including 22 tickets in the past two years. They range from one issued to Makea for an alleged street-parking violation during a snow emergency, to one issued to Alberta Libbey for having mulch on a property, and another for a possibly illegal office sign that Richard Libbey said has existed since the 1930s.
Though Libbey said he is not being directly targeted now, he believes the village is picking on his family because of its history and because he is expected to testify against the village in a lawsuit (“Former employee files suit against Atlantic Beach,” July 8-14). That case involves Barry Silbowitz, a former Atlantic Beach employee, who has charged the village and Building Commissioner Steve Cherson with wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination and sex abuse.
“It is probably because I don’t keep my mouth shut and just sit there,” said Libbey, who has regularly complained about village policies, especially those focusing on protecting the beach and its ecosystem. Libbey’s sister, Victoria Simao, ran a failed campaign against Mayor Stephen R. Mahler in 2006.
Supporting Libbey’s claim that the village is targeting the family is former Acting Village Justice Tom Radow, who ties his failure to be reappointed to the volunteer post four years ago to not levying high enough fines on the Libbeys.
“[I am] not surprised at all,” Radow said when told of the number of tickets the family has received in the past two years.
In a 2006 letter to the Herald, Radow wrote that he was “shocked” when he learned he was not being reappointed “because of how I ruled on the Libbey cases. I fined the Libbeys a few hundred dollars, when I could have fined them thousands.” Radow, who grew up with Richard Libbey, had a falling out with Libbey years later over politics.
