Commissioner Polin: Enough is Enough

Commissioner  says he had enough with accusations by Barbara Gordon of wrong doing in 1988 Deaths of 2 Coral Springs Residents

by Howard Melamed

03/24/02 First Draft

Barbara Gordon Leaving the Commission meeting. The Mayor can be seen in the Background

At the last city commission meeting Commissioner Alan Polin launched a verbal assault on Barbara Gordon, a person who has become a familiar face at all city commission meetings since 1988. The purpose of his attack was to make it uncomfortable for Ms. Gordon to continue her relentless efforts to reopen the investigation into the death of her two friends Norman Weed and Jane Gosnell. They died at the home of Barbara Gordon on May 3, 1988 located in exclusive Coral Springs  neighborhood community of Running Brook Hills at 9909 NW 45th Street. The police department of Coral Springs investigated the deaths and determined that it was an accidental cocaine overdose. Ms. Gordon says that they were murdered and that it was covered up.

There are three players in this drama which unfortunately is based on the death of 2 citizens of Coral Springs. It is being televised on Coral Springs Cable TV to anyone that wants to tune in to the city commission meetings. What is this all about?

The City Commissioners believes that the deaths of these two people  was an accident and that the case has been investigated enough by our Coral Springs police department. They claim that all that could be done on investigating the deaths has taken place. As a means to discredit her, they point to the fact the Barbara Gordon lied to the police and that she cannot be trusted. They further claim that the FDLE has investigated the matter and found that the Police department has performed their functions and there was no evidence to say anything else. They also said that the Broward County Sheriff’s department has investigated the incident also. They even went so far as to have an announcement displayed on the bottom of the television screen during commission meetings indicating this. ( It turns out that Broward County Sherriff’s Department never investigated the deaths. They have yet to print a retraction). The Mayor has said that Barbara Gordon should get a life. Alan Polin says that Barbara Gordon’s life style has been questionable and that he will personally now attack her verbally at any commission meeting that she attends. He has made this his quest. Basically, all of the city commissioners (excluding Scott Brook) hate her. They want her to go away.

The City Police Department says that the deaths were an accident and that there is no substantial evidence that implicates anyone else. They claim that Barbara Gordon’s accusations are without merit and that she of all people shouldn’t be making any claims whatsoever. They point to her previous lifestyle and the statements that she made that indicated she was lying.    They even claim that she was living with the person that furnished the drugs in the first place. There were no arrest made in this case (not even the boyfriend). They do not want to waste their time with yet another investigation. They want her to go away also.

Barbara Gordon believes that the police are lying and that the City Commissioners are blind to the truth. She claims that the police from the beginning botched the investigation and their refusal to reinvestigate the events only implicate them further in a plot to hide the truth. She feels that her husband is the prime suspect and had both the money and the motive to kill her friends. She claims that there are substantial evidence that suggests that the city did not investigate the ‘truth’. She points to the statement by the medical examiner’s office that claims that the city of Coral Springs police department did not follow procedure. They did not contact the medical examiners office until the evening, they didn’t follow the leads, and they didn’t investigate the scene of the crime properly. She wants a full investigation on the evidence and some new discovered facts so that her friends death can be avenged. She talks of a possible conspiracy theory, where money may have played a motive in covering up the deaths of her friends. She does not want to go away.

It would be impossible for anyone of us to make any conclusions regarding these matters. The Police Department are professionals that are in charge of the investigations. Barbara Gordon certainly has first hand knowledge of the circumstances and has been after the police department and city commissioners ever since I can remember. There are several conclusions that you can make regarding this case without all of the information at hand. Certainly, given the  O.J. Simpson case and the way things were handled, perhaps anything is possible.

Perhaps the sad thing about it all is that rather than sitting down with Barbara Gordon, the commissioners, and particularly Commission Polin have elected to try to ridicule her and ignore her requests. Anyone can ask the question as to why they are refusing to do so. Why not reopen the investigation one last time and so that they can determine (including Barbara Gordon) once and for all that these deaths were nothing but accidental. It serves no purpose for any commissioner to ‘Challenge’ Barbara Gordon to a fight. It only lowers public opinion of the person who made the challenge and makes him seem to be little in the minds of most. Perhaps all they have to do is  reinvestigate and maybe, Barbara Gordon will be satisfied enough to go away and not bother them anymore.

What would the cost be to any one to reinvestigate the incident? What possible harm could it cause?  It doesn’t make any sense that it is easy enough  for our commissioners to go ahead and spend millions of our dollars on legal fees to settle every lawsuit brought against them , but have no money available to reinvestigate the deaths that occured in Coral Springs.

So stay tune to what will prove to be one of the best made for TV productions that the City of Coral Springs can muster. Polin Vs. Gordon.  Tune in every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month to the city commission meeting televised  at 7:30 on channel 19.

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Author: HelpMeHoward