ambassador bridge

The Jailin Judge of Wayne County Michigan says that a request by the Ambassador Bridge company to see reports used to jail two of its top people January 12 is "designed to annoy, harass, and intimidate" the author of the report Charles Scales, who the judge titles Monitor with a capital 'M.' Piling on, the county judge, Prentis Edwards says the company's request is "overly broad, confusing and unduly burdensome" and in a one-page order issued today he "quashes" th

It is one of the most fundamental tenets of English common law and of American justice that the accused have the right to know the evidence against them, and to dispute it - but not in the court being conducted by Judge Prentis Edwards in Wayne County District Court in Detroit. Two Ambassador Bridge men Manuel 'Matty' Moroun and Dan Stamper were sent to jail January 12 on the basis of a secret report.

Virtually without exception reporters, columnists and editorial writers in Detroit are big fans of Jailin Judge Prentis Edwards and insist he did the right thing to send Manuel 'Matty' Moroun  and Dan Stamper of the Ambassador Bridge company to the Wayne County lockup last Thursday. For the local press it's a simple morality play in which the state and the law are the white knights of virtue and the capitalist bridge tollers are the dark villains.

The legal soap opera over the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project in Detroit goes on. After about 30 hours in the Wayne County lockup for supposed contempt of court Manuel 'Matty' Moroun, 84, head of the bridge-owning family, and bridge company president Dan Stamper, 62, are being released this evening pending hearing of appeals February 2.

A county court judge has ordered Ambassador Bridge president Dan Stamper, 62, and the head of the bridge owning family, Manuel 'Matty' Moroun, 84, to jail this morning. He accused them of having no intention of complying with orders he had given in February 2010 to rebuild their portion of a new bridge "Gateway Plaza" in conformity with what Michigan DOT have said were plans to which they contracted in 2004.

Top Ambassador Bridge people are due in Wayne County Court Thursday in what is billed locally as a showdown that could see a Judge order some of them to jail for contempt, and/or appoint a receiver to take over the bridge plaza.

In Detroit the Ambassador Bridge company (DIBC) lost another round in court this week in its epic legal struggle with MIchigan DOT. In a largely technical case the state Court of Appeals refused to intervene against the rulings in favor of MDOT by Wayne County Judge Prentis Edwards.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and bridge cheerleaders in the local press often report that opposition to a new government sponsored toll bridge between Detroit and Windsor Canada lies with a diehard minority of state legislators 'bought' by their local villain Manuel 'Matty' Moroun, 84-year old head of the family that owns the rival Ambassador Bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge saga takes a sensational turn this afternoon with Matthew J Moroun, 38, vice-president of the Ambassador Bridge company saying that the Judge in the case has been seeking a favor from the state Governor Rick Snyder, and is compromised as a result.

Michigan DOT won the latest round in the longrunning court battle over the US Gateway plaza project. Wayne Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards, without hearing any new evidence on the state of construction, reiterated previous rulings he'd made that the bridge company was in contempt of court for not followings orders he'd made on demolitions and construction in the Gateway area.